$750,000 banknote
HARARE Zimbabwe will introduce Z$250,000, Z$500,000 and Z$750,000 notes in an attempt to ease cash shortages because of runaway inflation. Gideon Gono, the Reserve Bank governor, said corruption was damaging the economy. (AFP)
Rebuilding 4m lives
Geneva Four million people affected by the 2004 tsunami will have been helped by €1.2 billion (£860 million) of aid by the end of the year. The Red Cross and Red Crescent three-year progress report said that 21,000 homes had been built so far. (AFP)
Government deal
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Brussels Belgium’s feuding Dutch and French-speaking parties have agreed to form an interim government to run the country. The new 14-member Cabinet, led by Guy Verhofstadt, the Prime Minister, is due to take office in the next few days. (AFP)
Putin is man of Time
WASHINGTON Time magazine has named President Putin as its Person of the Year. It said that Mr Putin had taken Russia from chaos to “the table of world power”. Al Gore was Time’s second choice and the author J. K. Rowling third. (Reuters)
Cheer for vineyards
Brussels European Union farm ministers have agreed to compromise on plans to shake up Europe’s struggling wine sector, to focus on reclaiming market share from foreign competition. The reform will come into force in August. (AFP)
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Saddam remembered
Awja Supporters laid flowers on Saddam Hussein’s grave in central Iraq yesterday to mark the first anniversary, according to the Muslim calender, of the ousted president’s execution. He was hanged last year on the eve of the Eid al-Adha festival. (AFP)
Aid for exiles’ return
Nouakchott Japan gave the UN High Commissioner for Refugees $1.3 million (£650,000) to help with the return of about 30,000 Mauritanian refugees exiled by ethnic violence. The repatriation from Senegal is due to begin next month. (AFP)
Musical conservation
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Casablanca The oldest musical conservatoire in Africa is to be renovated with the help of an American arts charity. Genesis at the Crossroads, based in Chicago, will share the £1 million cost of work on the 1942 building with the Moroccan city. (AFP)
Claws out for Santa
Madrid An advertising video features the machinegunning of Santa Claus, the “elf exploiter”, and plugs Spain’s traditional present-givers, the Three Kings, in an attempt to rebuff festive commercialisation and the influence of Hollywood. (Reuters)