Rival militiamen battled for control of a district in the lawless Somali capital on Sunday and at least seven people were killed, medical workers said. Fighting began after militias loyal to an alliance of warlords-turned-Cabinet ministers and businessmen deployed in a house in the Hamarweyne district of central Mogadishu.
Nepal’s pro-democracy movement called for a final push to remove the country’s monarch tomorrow as demonstrators clashed with armed police, defying curfews, teargas and bullets on the edge of the capital. In Gongabu leaders from the political parties appealed to a crowd of thousands to regroup peacefully as King Gyanendra had ”only two days left now”.
The head of the Polisario Front on Sunday claimed a report by the United Nations chief Kofi Annan amounted to a ”plot against the Sahrawi cause” and threatened a returned to ”armed struggle” if it is approved by the Security Council. Mohamed Abdelaziz, head of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, said Annan’s report was a ”plot against the legitimate right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination”.
The JSE was marginally firmer at midday on Monday, with heavyweight resources stocks keeping its head above water. Losses were seen in financials and industrials, however, and decliners outnumbered advancers on the all-share index by about three to two. By 12.10pm, the all-share index was up a marginal 0,04%.
A hugely destructive cyclone described as a ”perfect” storm bore down on Monday on the isolated northern Australian city of Darwin, devastated by a killer cyclone in 1974. Packing winds of up to 350kph, Tropical Cyclone Monica was moving relentlessly towards Darwin as it turned towards the coast from the Arafura Sea, the government’s weather bureau said.
A hiatus in South Africa’s biodiversity legislation, dealing with a proposed national electronic permit system, is inadvertently aiding a run by traffickers on the country’s endangered wildlife. According to Traffic, the world’s largest wildlife trade monitoring organisation, global wildlife trade was huge, with an annual turnover estimated at billions of dollars.
Famed test pilot and aviation pioneer Scott Crossfield, the first man to travel at twice the speed of sound, died when his plane crashed in the American state of Georgia, the Civil Air Patrol said on Thursday. He was 84. Crossfield was flying from the southern state of Alabama to Virginia when his Cessna disappeared from radar.
So far in Enron founder Kenneth Lay’s fraud and conspiracy trial, a slew of prosecution witnesses have pointed the finger at him while a few — including his co-defendant, former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling — spoke up for him. On Monday, he aims to speak for himself.
The Falcons would have come away from this weekend’s Vodacom Cup action full of self-belief as they charge towards a place in the final of the competition. With the Blue Bulls beaten by the Lions and the Falcons beating the Leopards, it looks likely that the men from the East Rand will join the Wildebeest in this year’s final on May 20.
Kaizer Chiefs, showing more composure and direction than they had in recent games, dimmed Silver Stars’ bright lights and gained a revenge 2-1 Premier Soccer League victory at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace on Sunday afternoon. In the process, the Amakhosi ensured the consolation prize of finishing at least third in the log.