Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo has vowed that he will remain in power as long as elections have not been held in the crisis-ridden and politically divided West African country. ”The Constitution on which I took [my] oath gives me a responsibility,” he declared on Sunday on a United Nations-run radio station.
Nigeria’s Central Bank opened a media campaign on Monday to try to discourage people from defacing or abusing the naira currency or hiding it in their underwear. In adverts on television, radio and in the press, the Central Bank said the naira should be handled with care and not defaced, squeezed, stained, torn or written on.
German and Polish hooligans will present the biggest risk of violence at the World Cup finals in Germany, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a newspaper interview on Monday. ”The biggest problem we have is with German hooligans. We must not place the blame on neighbouring countries,” Schaeuble told Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>The African National Congress Women’s League has welcomed the resolution of the ruling movement’s national executive committee to accept the request by the movement’s second-in-command, Jacob Zuma, to resume his duties. The committee made the decision following the acquittal of Zuma — who was dismissed last year as South Africa’s deputy president — for rape.
Pakistan said on Monday that Osama bin Laden was likely to be in Afghanistan, rejecting a reported claim by Kabul’s foreign minister that the al-Qaeda chief is hiding in Pakistani territory. In the latest verbal salvo between the neighbours, Islamabad dismissed criticism by new Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta of its attempts to catch Bin Laden.
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The Durban High Court has dismissed a bid by arms company Thint for further particulars on the corruption charges it is to face alongside former deputy president Jacob Zuma. However, Thint attorney Ajay Sooklal said the court’s decision amounts to a ”postponement of the matter”.
Teachers may search anyone on school property without a search warrant, the Department of Education said in Pretoria on Monday at a meeting following a month of violence in schools that has resulted in the deaths of at least two pupils and numerous injuries through stabbings and gun violence.
Talks between striking security guards and their employers were in progress in Johannesburg on Monday, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) said. The talks started at noon. On Monday, Satawu spokesperson Ronnie Mamba said the talks would carry on as planned.
Surveillance cameras have led to an 80% drop in fraud at First National Bank’s (FNB) ATMs, the bank said on Monday. FNB ATM chief executive officer Mike Arnold said cameras had been installed at 75 FNB ATMs countrywide. ”FNB’s investment in this system has saved customers and the bank large sums of money,” said Arnold.
United States and Iraqi forces said on Monday they had killed 47 suspected insurgents, including an al-Qaeda member wanted over the downing of a US helicopter, and arrested about 260 in weekend raids. The wanted man, Abu Mustafa, was killed along with 15 other alleged rebels in a series of raids, the US military said.