Harry Potter’s magic has failed to work on Japanese tax authorities, who accuse the translator of the blockbuster books on the boy wizard of failing to declare millions of dollars in income. Yuko Matsuoka (62) who has translated the books into Japanese since 1999, declared her income in Switzerland, saying she was a Swiss resident.
Four people were killed when torrential rains from Typhoon Kaemi caused widespread flooding in south-eastern China on Wednesday, as more than 700 000 evacuees remained in shelters. The typhoon, which hit south-east China’s Fujian province on Tuesday, packing winds of 120kph, was downgraded to a tropical storm on Wednesday morning.
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday welcomed a donation of â,¬30-million euros from the European Commission (EC) for its food-assistance projects in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. The donation forms part of the EC’s â,¬105-million donation to the WFP for its operations worldwide in 2006.
Quinton Fortune looks set to join Premiership club Bolton and manager Sam Allardyce cannot wait to add the South African to his squad. The former Manchester United midfielder played his second game for the club in the 1-1 draw against Rangers behind closed doors.
Female boxer Laila Ali has jetted out of South Africa following the cancellation of and controversy surrounding her planned bout with challenger Gwendolyn O’Neill, local television reported on Tuesday night. The 28-year-old light-middleweight champion arrived in the country last week for a much-touted fight against O’Neill, a 36-year-old mother-of-five.
Juventus’s relegation from the top-flight of Italian football was confirmed on Tuesday but Lazio and Fiorentina were reinstated after a final appeal into the match-fixing scandal that has rocked Serie A. Fiorentina and Lazio were both restored to the top division, having originally been demoted to Serie B for their part in the scandal.
Getting a team on the field for the second Test at Old Trafford starting on Thursday is threatening to become a major achievement for England and Pakistan as both sides try to cope with mounting injury lists. Last week, England suffered a major setback when Andrew Flintoff was ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
Fierce fighting raged in Lebanon on Wednesday as an international conference opened in Rome on how to end Israel’s 15-day-old war with Hezbollah guerrillas. Al-Jazeera television said nine Israeli soldiers had been killed during clashes with Hezbollah guerrillas in a south Lebanese village. Israeli medics reported heavy casualties.
The JSE was in positive territory in noon trade on Wednesday after the turnaround on the Dow overnight encouraged investors. The gains came on thin volumes however. By 12.03pm, the all share index added 0,55%, while the all share industrial and financial indices firmed 0,39% and 0,73% respectively.
A defiant Saddam Hussein, who has been receiving medical care for his hunger strike to protest against his trial for crimes against humanity, said on Wednesday that he was brought to court against his will. The defence team for the former leader and seven co-accused boycotted the latest session in a trial approaching its conclusion.