Hurricane Dean, a monster category-five storm, smashed into Mexico’s Caribbean coast on Tuesday, its roaring winds and heavy rain battering beach resorts where thousands of tourists huddled in shelters. Seas churned as the storm, which killed 11 people earlier on its rampage through the Caribbean, came to shore around the cruise-ship port of Costa Maya.
Organisers of a race in Scotland have taken out a £1-million insurance policy against attack by or sighting of the fabled Loch Ness monster. Transport operator FirstGroup said in a statement that its policy with insurers Royal & Sun Alliance would pay out should "Nessie" emerge from the murky depths of the vast watercourse and/or attack one of the competitors.
Railway safety in South Africa requires urgent and sustained intervention, the Railway Safety Regulator said on Tuesday. The Regulator released its State of Railway Safety in South Africa report, which showed a high number of incidents including collisions, derailments and security-related issues.
South African President Thabo Mbeki led a delegation of more than a dozen ministers to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday to sign deals on defence, transport and health as the former Belgian colony rebuilds after historic elections. The visit was the first such high-level meeting between the two nations since DRC elections last year.
South Africa’s Standard Bank has bought control of IBTC Chartered Bank, it’s adviser said on Tuesday, in the first foreign takeover of a Nigerian bank since a sector reform in 2005. Standard Bank had already secured a 33% stake in an agreed purchase last September and offered -million for a further 17% in a tender offer that closed on Monday night.
South Africa will become the first World Cup hosts in more than 70 years to participate in their own qualifying competition, although they will play in the finals regardless of their performance, officials confirmed on Tuesday. The African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup are to be combined with the preliminaries for the African Nations Cup finals earlier the same year.
South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Tuesday that 26Â 000 of its members at Lonmin Platinum mines were on strike over a pay dispute. Union spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said the strike began on Sunday night over a new pay system that he said cheated workers.
Sudanese forces surrounded and attacked Darfur’s most volatile camp on Tuesday to flush out rebels they say are behind recent attacks on police, an army source and camp residents said. The move on Kalma camp, home to 90 000 people, follows two attacks in the past week on police posts in South Darfur.
Zimbabwe’s government has reopened dozens of private slaughter houses to try to end severe meat shortages after it slashed consumer prices and assumed temporary responsibility for meat sales. Zimbabwe state media said on Tuesday that the government had re-registered 42 private abattoirs to try to ease beef shortages in the country.
The number of foreign tourists visiting South Africa has grown by 10% ahead of Tourism Month in September, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday. ”South Africa is following the global trend with a rise in travel and tourism to our country. Overall foreign arrivals grew by 10% from January to May 2007,” he said.