Andre Agassi’s record 58th grand slam appearance ended in a shattering first-round defeat at the French Open on Tuesday, the loss surely marking the final act of the 35-year-old American’s Roland Garros adventure. Dominant at the start and shaky at the finish, Justine Henin-Hardenne won her first-round match on Tuesday.
The Colombian government said on Tuesday it will evacuate 9 000 people living near a volcano in south-west Colombia amid concerns it is about to erupt. The Galeras Volcano Observatory last month set its new warning system at level two, indicating a ”probability of an eruption within days or weeks”.
The Department of Health has approached the International Organisation for Migration as part of moves to bring nurses back to South Africa, Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Tuesday. South Africa is not the only country battling with the departure of health professionals, she said.
Authorities in Zimbabwe’s capital who have destroyed thousands of market stalls as part of a clean-up campaign are now planning to rid Harare of backyard shacks housing tens of thousands of people, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. Operation Restore Order has led to the arrest of nearly 10 000 people.
Sensitive diplomatic talks over Iran’s nuclear programme appear doomed to failure, a leading think-tank said on Tuesday on the eve of crucial negotiations between European foreign ministers and Iranian officials in Geneva. Britain, France and Germany hope to persuade Tehran to scrap its uranium-enrichment programme.
World media chiefs meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, demanded action on Tuesday from the Gambian government on the as-yet unsolved December murder of a journalist, and pilloried the country for repressing the independent press. Deyda Hydara, the co-founder and editor of the independent newspaper The Point, was killed last year.
The spiralling use of the drug ”tik” in South Africa, especially among the youth, came under the spotlight in Parliament on Tuesday, with Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour vowing to ”break the back” of those peddling the deadly substance. He also spoke about the issues of prison gangs and overcrowding.
Unbearable smells and huge rats raiding their houses will soon be history for a community living near an illegal waste site in Alexandra, which was closed down on Tuesday. Gauteng environment minister Khabisi Mosunkutu visited the site to issue a final warning to SA Waste company management for operating an illegal waste site.
South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen expressed regret on Tuesday that the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee has called on the top leadership structure of his organisation to step down. ”We can’t arbitrarily dismiss elected officials,” he said.
The price of petrol will drop to below R5 a litre from Wednesday next week, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Tuesday. The department said the price of petrol of all grades will decrease by 24c a litre. That means motorists in Gauteng using 93 octane petrol will pay R4,98 per litre, effective from June 1.