Price increase fails to cure bread shortage

HARARE Bakeries in Zimbabwe remained closed and shops had no stocks of bread after a 300 per cent rise in the official price of a loaf. The National Prices and Incomes Commission had allowed the price to increase to Z$100,000 as part of a review to help businesses to remain viable.

The Government had slashed the price of bread by more than half in June in an attempt to counter inflation, now the highest rate in the world at 25,000 per cent. The National Bakers’ Association said that bread shortages would continue despite the price rise until flour supplies improved. (AP)

Road tunnel in flames

SANTA CLARITA Three people were killed and more are feared dead after a vehicle pile-up engulfed a motorway tunnel in flames north of Los Angeles. About 300 firefighters battled the blaze, which spread after five lorries involved the crash burst into flames. (AP)

Editor faces arrest

JOHANNESBURG The editor and deputy managing editor of the Sunday Times are expected to appear before a magistrate in Cape Town this week on charges of illegally possessing the medical records of Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang, the South African health minister. (Reuters)

Thai king ‘improving’

BANGKOK King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, 79, who was taken to hospital on Saturday suffering from a blood clot and weakness on one side, was improving after treatment. Hundred of people flocked to the hospital to wish their revered king a speedy recovery. (Reuters)

Ex-mercenary dies

PARIS Bob Denard, France’s most notorious mercenary, has died aged 78. Denard, who had Alzheimer’s, was involved in many wars in Africa. He received a suspended sentence last year for his failed 1995 coup d’état in Comoros but he never served it because of ill health. (AFP)

Lula speculation

SÃO PAULO President Lula da Silva of Brazil, barred from seeking reelection in 2010, has refused to rule out running for office again in 2014. He told Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that it would depend on conditions in the future, and that it would be “childish” to decide now. (AP)

General warns US on Armenian killings

ISTANBUL Turkey’s top general has cautioned that military ties with the US will be irreversibly damaged if Congress passes a resolution that labels the First World War killings of Armenians as genocide. General Yasar Buyukanit told the daily newspaper Milliyet that a congressional committee’s approval of the resolution had already strained ties between the two countries.

About 70 per cent of US air cargo to Iraq goes through Turkey. (AP)

Castro live on TV

HAVANA President Castro of Cuba made his first live broadcast since falling ill last July, exchanging mutual praise and jokes with Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan President, who broadcast his weekly Álo Presidente! television programme in Cuba by a live link. (AP)

President attacked

FRANKFURT Horst Köhler, the President of Germany, escaped unhurt after an attempted attack as he left a Frankfurt Book Fair awards ceremony. Police denied reports that a man, 44, had tried to strangle Dr Köhler, but said that his motive was connected to personal problems. (AFP)

Migrants rescued

MADRID Spanish fishermen saved 50 illegal migrants from the sea off the Libyan coast and were seeking permission for them to disembark there, the Spanish Government said. No details of nationalities were given but they included three children and five women. (Reuters)

Military kills Tamils

COLOMBO The military killed 11 rebels in four separate clashes at the weekend, officials said. The fighting took place in Sri Lanka’s disputed north, the focus of a renewed civil war between the Government and the Tamil Tigers. Officials said that a soldier was also killed. (Reuters)

6 die in ferry accident

CAIRO At least six people drowned and fifteen were said to be missing when a railing and a ramp onto a small, overcrowded ferry collapsed, sending dozens of people into the Nile, Egyptian police said. The ferry was docked at Bani Hassan, a village in Minya province, south of Cairo. (AP)

Bear attacks hunters

STOCKHOLM A bear attacked and injured two elk hunters in Jamtland, northern Sweden, where a hunter was killed by a different bear last week. The men were flown to hospital by helicopter but their condition was not known. Police are hunting the animal. (AFP)

Activist arrested

TEHRAN A prominent campaigner against the death penalty was arrested on charges of spreading propaganda and publishing secret documents, his lawyer said. Emaddedin Baghi, who criticised the recent wave of hangings in Iran, has been jailed before over his protests. (AFP)

Residents buoyant

ITALY Tired of competing with 20 million tourists annually for a place on the city’s water buses, Venice inhabitants will have their own residents-only ferry service on the Grand Canal from January, Italian media reported. It will run from Piazzale Roma to Piazza San Marco. (Reuters)

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