The government’s taxi-recapitalisation programme is for the benefit of the commuter and not the operator, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said on Monday. In a statement, the council’s secretary general, Philip Taaibosch, said miscommunication and incorrect reporting had been allowed to carry on for too long.
Pressure mounted on Monday on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to halt the executions of two of Saddam Hussein’s henchmen amid growing international criticism over the way the ousted dictator was hanged. New York-based Human Rights Watch said the executions would further highlight ”the Iraqi government’s disturbing disregard for human rights”.
A Russian oil pipeline carrying supplies across Belarus to Poland and Germany stopped pumping overnight in a trade dispute between Moscow and Minsk that could lead to fuel shortages across Europe. Only last week the ex-Soviet states promised to put their argument to one side and keep providing oil to the rest of Europe.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on Monday arrived in the capital, Mogadishu, for the first time since he was elected in 2004 while his Ethiopia-backed government struggles to exert authority over the city. Yusuf was welcomed at the capital’s main airport by Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi under tight security.
The South African biofuels industry on Monday welcomed the government’s approval of a draft biofuel strategy, to be fine-tuned in consultation with the industry. ”This is an enormously positive step for the development of a local renewable fuel industry, which is welcomed by all involved role players,” said Fanie Brink, managing director of Biofuels Industry Development.
Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov has resigned, forcing the entire government to step down, a government source told Reuters on Monday. ”The prime minister has resigned,” the source said, giving no reason for Akhmetov’s resignation.
Pakistan have lost batsman Mohammad Yousuf and all-rounder Shoaib Malik for the first Test against South Africa while fast bowler Umar Gul is also a doubt, a Pakistan Cricket Board official said on Monday. Saleem Altaf, director cricket operations, said Malik had been ruled out with a knee injury while Yousuf would miss the first Test to be with his pregnant wife.
The JSE was a mixed bag just after midday on Monday following a quiet morning’s trade. While a weaker rand gave resources stocks a lift, uncertainty as to what the year held weighed on industrials and financials. By 12.04pm, the all-share index dipped 0,06%. Industrials lost 0,29% and financials fell 0,3%, while the banks index surrendered 0,73%.
Confusion reigned at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday when a Pretoria High Court judge arrested for drunken driving failed to appear at the court. After waiting outside the court for about half an hour, journalists learnt that Judge Nkola Motata, who was arrested on Friday, had already been released on bail. He will appear at the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court on February 27.
An Indonesian navy ship, part of the search effort for a missing commercial airliner, on Monday detected a large object under the sea off the west coast of Sulawesi, but it has not been confirmed whether it is the plane. The 17-year-old Boeing 737-400 operated by Indonesian budget carrier Adam Air went missing in bad weather on January.