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/ 31 December 2007
Gold rallied to a seven-week high on Monday and close to a record high of on speculative buying driven by a weak United States dollar and tensions in Pakistan following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Gold has risen more than 30% this year — the biggest annual gain since 1979.
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/ 31 December 2007
Sri Lanka’s air force bombed a Tamil Tiger training base in the north and nine rebels and two soldiers were killed in ground battles, the military said on Monday. The air raids in the district of Mullaitivu and clashes in the northern district of Vavuniya and the north-western district of Mannar were the latest engagements in intensified fighting.
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/ 31 December 2007
Several Australian players may withdraw from next year’s tour to Pakistan even if Cricket Australia’s security team gives a positive account after its February pre-tour inspection, according to reports on Monday. The assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and subsequent unrest have placed a question mark over the tour.
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/ 31 December 2007
Liverpool missed the chance to close within eight points of Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday as they could only draw 0-0 at Manchester City. Rafa Benitez’s side still have a game in hand, and City remain unbeaten at home this season, but with Manchester United losing on Saturday and Arsenal only drawing on Boxing Day, this still felt like an opportunity missed.
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/ 31 December 2007
Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum put in record performances as New Zealand thrashed Bangladesh by 10 wickets with 44 overs to spare in a one-day international on Monday. Bangladesh were all out for 93 in the 38th over, with Vettori returning a magnificent 5-7.
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/ 31 December 2007
The presidential candidates in the United States stepped up their personal attacks on Sunday to try to squeeze out an advantage in the extremely tight contest for the Iowa caucuses, now only three days away. As Democratic and Republican candidates toured in the final push before the January 3 caucuses, new polls showed the negative campaigning was effective.
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/ 31 December 2007
Disguised as an Irish priest and taking advantage of the New Year festivities, Donald Woods launched a dramatic escape 30 years ago to expose one of South Africa’s most notorious apartheid crimes. As the country prepared to ring in the new year, the white liberal editor managed to evade house arrest and cross over into the tiny kingdom of Lesotho.
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/ 31 December 2007
Defeated opposition candidate Raila Odinga is set to press his claims of vote fraud on Monday at a Nairobi rally to declare him Kenya’s ”People’s President” despite threats of arrest. Mwai Kibaki was sworn in for a second term as Kenyan president on Sunday after being officially declared the winner.
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/ 31 December 2007
Pakistani officials were to meet on Monday to decide the fate of scheduled January 8 elections, after Benazir Bhutto’s party announced it would contest the vote despite her assassination. The vote, seen as a key step in the nuclear-armed nation’s transition back to democracy after eight years of military rule, has been thrown into disarray by her slaying.
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/ 31 December 2007
Nii Narku Quaynor in December became the first African winner of the prestigious 2007 Postel Prize from the Internet Society, the international body that regulates the technical standards of the internet. On December 22, Quaynor, a professor at Cape-Coast University in Ghana, participated in a weekly pan-African Skypecast press conference.