Three years after Ireland adopted the euro, up to 130 people a day are still turning up at Central Bank headquarters in Dublin to turn their old Irish punts into the single European currency. ”There is still about 310-million punts’ [R2,9-billion] worth of old money outstanding,” a Central Bank spokesperson said.
A British man celebrated his 100th birthday more than £7 000 (R75 000) the richer on Sunday after placing a bet 10 years ago — on his own long life expectancy. Arthur Best bet he would reach the age of 100, which he did on Sunday.
The South African government has set up an interministerial committee, assisted by a task team of senior officials, to coordinate relief efforts for countries affected by last week’s tsunami disaster. South Africa will also send a delegation to an international donor conference to be held in Indonesia on Thursday.
The provincial department of education in Mpumalanga will not take any disciplinary action against the whistleblower who reported irregularities in the province’s matric exams to the police. The Sunday Times reported this week that the department planned to take actions against the whistleblower.
DA slams action against whistleblower
Hundreds of Israeli settlers danced, sang and studied Jewish texts in the rain outside Parliament on Monday in a sit-in against government plans to dismantle settlements in the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank. The protest was part of a mass campaign by settlers against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza ”disengagement plan”.
About 20 circumcision initiates in Port Elizabeth turned on their traditional nurse and killed him, an Eastern Cape health department official said on Monday. Sizwe Kupelo said the incident occurred on Friday, when the unnamed nurse was assaulted with sticks and died from his injuries.
As Kenya goes into the new year, the country’s political landscape remains unchanged in at least one key respect: a new Constitution is as elusive as ever. While President Mwai Kibaki came to power in December 2002 promising that a new Constitution would be in place within 100 days, nothing of the sort happened.
A permanent ceasefire agreement signed between the Sudanese government and the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on Friday spells out how a final peace accord between the two parties will be implemented, officials said. SPLM/A spokesperson Yasser Arman said: ”The mood is joyful. It is a historical moment.”
Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said on Monday that apart from a crisis centre at the Department of Foreign Affairs, there has been "very little concern and involvement by President Thabo Mbeki’s government in helping to relieve the suffering of those affected by the Asian tsunami".
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177318">Tsunami toll passes 144 000</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-Business&ao=177348">Insurers cautious about tsunami claims</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177278">SA’s tsunami death toll rises</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177286">Record aid operation, but progress slow</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177284">Will the $2bn aid actually materialise?</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177271">More SA tsunami survivors return</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=177268">World tsunami aid tops R12bn</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=Insight-International&ao=177270">Tsunami warnings could save thousands</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=Insight-International&ao=177269">Focus: Tsunami catastrophe</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/content/l3_fl2.asp?cg=tsunami%20disaster&o=194303">Tsunami disaster special report</a>
Insurgents have exposed the vulnerability of Iraq’s security forces again, killing at least 22 national guardsmen and their driver in a suicide bombing and 10 other people in separate attacks by the end of the weekend. On Monday, a suicide car bomber killed a further three people and wounding 25, officials and witnesses said.