The KwaZulu-Natal Transport Alliance agreed on Monday to end a proposed week-long taxi strike, following discussions with the provincial transport department. The alliance was protesting against certain aspects of the government’s taxi recapitalisation programme, which is intended to replace the country’s ageing taxi fleet.
The authorities in Zimbabwe, who are battling to restore lost production on farms, are scheduled this week to visit new black farmers in the west of the country to see if they qualify for 99-year land leases, local reports said on Monday. Members of the National Land Board are to visit farmers in Matabeland North and South, Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa told the state-controlled The Herald newspaper.
Tourists and young couples ambling through the historic centre of Krakow on a warm spring afternoon were stopped in their tracks by a sight reminiscent of the era of martial law. As drinks flowed in the open-air cafes of Poland’s ancient royal capital, a phalanx of armed police in full riot gear inched its way slowly through the medieval city.
Eight of former Movement for Democratic Change legislator Roy Bennett’s ex-farm workers have been denied asylum by the South African government, ”in what could be a prelude to the outcome of the application for political asylum” by Bennett himself, the state-owned Zimbabwean The Herald newspaper reported on Monday.
The donor-starved Palestinian Authority may cease to function if government employees continue to go without salaries for much longer, the World Bank warned in a new report released on Monday. Civil servants will simply down tools and discipline in the ranks of the security services could well collapse if pay cheques are not forthcoming, the Washington-based body said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced warnings on Monday of the need to avoid a ”corrosive” power struggle as he prepared to take on Labour Party rebels accused of trying to oust him after poor local election results. Blair has pledged to complete a third term in power but not stand for a fourth straight term in office.
Three people were arrested in Vietnam for trafficking fake -million bills although the largest number on the real thing is , a newspaper reported on Monday. The counterfeiting ring was uncovered by police in Tay Ninh province, according to the Thanh Nien, [Youth], newspaper.
British tactics in Southern Iraq were under review on Sunday night as military chiefs studied whether the dramatic loss of an army helicopter at the weekend signified a new vulnerability in the air, as well as a growing hostility from Iraqis on the ground. The ministry of defence said a ”maximum of five” British personnel were on board, but had yet to confirm a death toll.
A four-year-old Indian child who ran 65km in seven hours last week was on Monday banned by worried welfare officials from running marathons. The child welfare department of the eastern state of Orissa announced the ban following a medical report that Budhia Singh was ”undernourished, anaemic and under cardiological stress”.
When Oscar de la Hoya gets back to his adopted home in Puerto Rico, he’ll have plenty of lucrative choices to make about his revitalised career — whom to fight, when to fight and when to stop. But deciding to stay at home with his wife and son might be the bravest choice of all. De la Hoya got the boxing world buzzing on Saturday night after a 20-month absence from the ring.