Coca-Cola in court hearing

Nigeria: Coca-Cola’s Nigeria arm faces a court hearing after apparently refusing to comply with orders from the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to appear before it and subject its manufacturing process to inspection.

Its chief executive in the country could face three to five years in jail if found guilty.

Nigeria is not “a dumping ground for substandard products,” the CPC has warned the company.

Amazon faces classification strikes

Germany: Internet retailer Amazon faces more strike action after the Verdi union called out workers at five sites.

Staff at logistics centres in Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Rheinberg and Graben will strike till the end of Wednesday’s late shift and those at Werne till the end of today’s shift.

Verdi says Amazon workers should be classified as retail workers, which would entitle them to a higher minimum wage, while the firm insists they are “logistics” workers who earn less on average.

Ship captain faces death penalty

South Korea: Prosecutors demanded the death penalty yesterday for Captain Lee Joon Seok, whose ferry sank in April with the loss of over 300 lives.

They have also demanded life in prison for three other crew members, arguing that Mr Lee and others “made no rescue efforts after issuing a broadcast asking passengers to stay in their cabins.

“He didn’t organise any rescue operations after leaving the ship.”

Eleven killed in suicide car-bomb

Iraq: A suicide car-bomb struck a military checkpoint in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar yesterday, killing at least 11 people.

Another 23 were injured, police said. The checkpoint was manned by both soldiers and Shi’ite militiamen but no breakdown of casualties was issued.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but the town was only reclaimed from the Islamic State (Isis) terror group a day earlier and it is suspected.

Pupil shoots and kills teacher

Estonia: A pupil shot and killed a teacher yesterday in Paalalinna school, Viljandi.

The 15-year-old who fired the weapon, which was registered as his father’s, has been detained. The victim has not been named but taught German at the school and was 53 years old.

Prime Minister Taavi Roivas said it was “a shock to us all.” School shootings are common in the United States but this is believed to be the first case of one in the former Soviet republic.

Prosecutors to appeal Pistorius case

South Africa: Prosecutors will appeal both the conviction and sentence handed to athlete Oscar Pistorius, the National Prosecuting Authority said yesterday.

Mr Pistorius’s five-year sentence for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp has outraged public opinion and prosecutors say they believe the verdict of culpable homicide rather than murder was flawed.

The African National Congress Women’s League had already said it would appeal, calling for “harsh sentences in all cases of violence against women and children” and noting that a “femicide” occurred every eight hours in South Africa.

Over a hundred inhale toxic gas

Iran: At least 130 people have been hospitalised after inhaling toxic gas in Zahedan, local officials said yesterday.

Most victims were apparently schoolchildren. Zahedan Governor Abbas Ali Arjmandi said gas was released after a private company dumped expired pesticides into a canal.

Mr Arjmandi said the worker who had dumped the chemicals acted out of ignorance and did not intend to harm anyone.

Police defend their conduct at rally

Germany: Police yesterday defended their conduct at Sunday’s far-right Hooligans Against Salafism rally, which saw 49 officers wounded and 17 people arrested.

Neonazi thugs planned the rally, which eventually attracted 4,000 people, online and started attacking police and bystanders after being “provoked” by the sight of someone wearing a Turkish football shirt.