World oil prices slipped lower on Tuesday as a fragile truce between Israel and Lebanon entered its second day. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, slid 18 cents to ,35 per barrel in electronic deals before the official opening of the United States market.
The death toll from China’s strongest typhoon in five decades jumped to 295 on Tuesday and was expected to climb higher as scores of bodies of fishermen and sailors were found at sea, a state news agency reported. At least 59 bodies were found on Monday in waters off Fuding, a port on the south-eastern coast.
The Department of Minerals and Energy could implement a retail petrol-price cut of 32c per litre (c/l) on September 6 2006, provided the daily over-recovery remains at or above the August 14 level. South Africa’s daily unleaded petrol-price over-recovery soared to 51,158 c/l on August 14 from only 21,136 c/l on August 9.
Partners wanting to tie the knot on the Thai paradise island of Phuket will have to wait a while or find another venue after the main city ran out of marriage certificates, officials said on Tuesday. An official from Muang Phuket registration department said it used its last certificate two weeks ago.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea on Monday named Ricardo Mangue Obama Nfubea the country’s new Prime Minister and asked him to form a government, national television said. Mangue Obama Nfubea’s predecessor and the whole government of the West African state had resigned on Thursday.
Armed men on Monday kidnapped four more foreign oil workers in Nigeria’s southern oil city of Port Harcourt but released three Filipinos abducted more than 10 days ago in the latest of a series of incidents in volatile Niger Delta. ”The situation is becoming worrisome,” a River state police spokesperson said.
Sri Lanka cricket officials announced on Tuesday that the first one-day international of the triangular series with South Africa and India has been postponed. South Africa are on the verge of pulling out of the series over heightened security fears following a bomb blast in Colombo on Monday.
The Springbok team kicked off their preparations for the Vodacom Tri-Nations home leg in Johannesburg on Monday in high spirits, as they took the field to do light training exercises at Randburg’s St Stithians School. Coach Jake White said during the open session his charges are looking forward to the next half of the series.
An astute betting man would have had his money firmly on Monday’s chances of Bafana Bafana stars Benni McCarthy, Quinton Fortune and Macbeth Sibaya materialising from the very outset. McCarthy, Fortune and Sibaya have all pulled out of the South African squad for the friendly international against Namibia.
Another United States National Football League team owner — and American billionaire — is set to take over an English soccer club. Randy Lerner, who owns the Cleveland Browns, put in a £62,6-million bid on Monday to buy Aston Villa, one of the oldest clubs in English soccer.