East African states on Tuesday imposed travel sanctions and froze the bank accounts of Somali warlords who have been blamed for igniting the latest round of deadly fighting in Mogadishu. A ministerial meeting of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, a regional bloc key to the formation of Somalia’s transitional government, agreed to the sanctions.
Talks about the continuing security guards’ strike were adjourned on Tuesday for the parties to ”clarify and reflect on issues still in dispute”, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) said. ”Given the fact that discussions continued to approximately 2am, parties agreed to adjourn to clarify and reflect on issues,” CCMA spokesperson Lusanda Myoli said.
Former South African president FW de Klerk is to undergo a tracheotomy, his spokesperson Dave Steward confirmed on Tuesday afternoon. De Klerk originally went to hospital the weekend before last to have a cancerous growth removed from his colon. He has been sedated for about a week.
Hiroyuki Iwaki, who conducted major orchestras across Europe and the United States, died of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital on Tuesday at age 73, his agency said. On New Year’s Eve 2004 in Tokyo, Iwaki conducted performances of all nine symphonies written by Ludwig van Beethoven.
The commander of a European Union force helping to provide security for elections next month in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) expressed confidence on Tuesday that his mission will be successful despite rising ethnic tensions ahead of the poll. But critics say the mission is largely a promotional exercise.
Mushin Ertugral has been appointed Ajax Cape Town head coach with immediate effect, Ajax CEO John Comitis announced on Tuesday. The former Kaizer Chiefs coach is a replacement for Gordon Igesund, who was fired last week although he still had 12 months to go on his contract.
The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of contaminating hundreds of Libyan children with Aids reopened on Tuesday with the judge calling for the process to be speeded up. Judge Mahmud al-Huweissa adjourned the trial to June 20 after a brief session.
United States President George Bush arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday on a surprise five-hour visit in a bid to boost the new government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in its fight against the raging insurgency. A White House spokesperson confirmed that Bush was in Baghdad. ”I can confirm President Bush is in Iraq,” Ken Lisaius told Agence France-Presse.
Residents of western Florida heaved a sigh of relief on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Alberto appeared increasingly unlikely to strengthen into this year’s first Atlantic hurricane. ”There is now only a slight possibility that Alberto will become a hurricane prior to landfall,” said a forecaster with the National Hurricane Centre.
British physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking said on Tuesday that the human race should reach for the stars in order to survive. Speaking on a six-day visit to Hong Kong, Hawking said: ”It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species.