Iran is ready for unconditional talks over its nuclear programme but rejects the West’s ”language of force” over the issue, one of the Islamic republic’s religious leaders said on Friday. Iran also said that it will soon announce new nuclear successes in its quest for nuclear power that the West fears is aimed at acquiring atomic weapons.
Immigration officers belonging to the Public Servants Association (PSA) will go on strike from the beginning of September, the union said on Friday. ”The strike will adversely affect all South African points of entry and international airports, and the department [of home affairs] should accept full responsibility for the situation … ,” PSA deputy general manager Manie de Clercq said.
A 20-strong alliance of opposition parties denounced on Friday what they called the slow rate of preparations for staging Angola’s first elections since the end of the civil war four years ago. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, in power since 1979, has pledged to stage the historic ballot before the end of next year.
A multimillion-rand scam has been uncovered in which expired food products have been sold from the shelves of major supermarkets, Dispatch Online reported on Friday. The scheme has been run for years by an East London food distributor, operating out of a back-street warehouse in Quigney, East London.
The authorities in Zimbabwe have closed nearly 70 hotels and restaurants in the last week for operating without licences or being used for illicit sex, a minister said on Friday. ”We ordered the closure of these restaurants and some of these small hotels that were being turned into brothels since they were not registered,” Environment Minister Francis Nhema said.
Childhood allergies are on the rise around the world, including in many developing countries where asthma, eczema and hay fever are emerging as important public health problems, scientists said on Friday. Asthma, in particular, is responsible for millions of children missing school, ending up in hospital or even dying.
The top United States general in the Middle East praised a major security clampdown in Baghdad on Thursday and said Iraq was far from civil war. On a day when three car bombs and two roadside bombs killed four people and wounded 24 in the capital, General John Abizaid told reporters: ”I think there has been great progress on the security front in Baghdad recently.”
Japanese lawmaker Shinzo Abe, widely expected to become the country’s next prime minister, said on Friday the military should have a greater role in global security and should increase cooperation with United States forces. Abe called for a permanent law allowing Japanese forces to take part in international cooperation missions overseas.
Lebanon should cling to the United Nations Security Council to avoid being sucked into the orbit of any outside power as it emerges from Israel’s devastating war with Hezbollah guerrillas, former President Amin Gemayel said. ”Lebanon is a battlefield for others,” said the 63-year-old Maronite Christian leader — who should know.
Archaeologists from a television team will celebrate the 80th birthday of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth by digging up the manicured lawns and gardens at three of her palaces to trace their history. At Windsor Castle they hope to unearth Edward III’s Round Table building which they believe lies under the Queen’s ceremonial lawn.