Hey all, this is Gavin from the pod, just letting you know that this’ll be a new weekly feature for On the Fringe, sharing some characteristically on the fringe stories from the previous week that may have passed you by.
Japanese minister resigns after saying he doesn’t buy rice because he gets it free—Turns out there is such a thing as a free lunch, or maybe not, as Taku Etō, formerly the Japanese Minister of Agriculture, succeeded in sticking his foot fully in his mouth while trying to deal with a question about rapidly rising rice prices (try saying that five times fast), quite a serious issue at the moment. It also got him into some hot water at home, as his wife was apparently forced to remind him that she did have to go and buy rice from the store from time to time, a detail that arrived too late to save the (ex) Minister from having to resign after bringing shame upon the government.
Why did rumours of a coup sweep Ivory Coast this week?— Why not? As the Ivory Coast approaches a general election in October tensions continue to bubble over, particularly in the aftermath of the main opposition candidate (one Tidjane Thiam, formerly CEO of Credit Suisse) being barred from standing due to a technicality. Though the current president, Alassane Ouattara, would be going into his fourth term, a constitutional amendment was previously (and controversially) introduced to allow him to sidestep the two-term limit and run again. People are generally unhappy about this and the situation in the large West African country remains tense.
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