Giles Elgood

The United States has revealed a military attempt to rescue slain journalist James Foley from terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

South Africa, short of accommodation for fans expected to flock to next year's soccer World Cup, plans to use cruise liners as floating hotels.

South Africa wants long-running power-sharing negotiations in Zimbabwe to move ahead more quickly, a senior member of the ANC said.

SA is confident that it will be ready to host the Soccer World Cup next year, but faces a challenge in transporting fans to matches.

Global growth will be very weak next year, a senior European banker warned on Tuesday.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing agreement on Thursday intended to end a post-election crisis that left 1 000 people dead. Crowds of onlookers clapped as the two rivals inked a deal at a televised ceremony to set up a coalition government.

A new round of talks to end Kenya's political crisis started on Tuesday with no clear sign of an agreement on power-sharing and with the opposition threatening to resume nationwide protests. The talks being mediated by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan had come to a standstill on Monday.

''I'd been given a ticket for parking illegally on the pavement near the Greek temples at Agrigento in southern Sicily more than a year ago. My excuse? Everyone was doing it and the car park looked full ... I'd been a fugitive for too long and it was time to turn myself in.'' Giles Elgood discovers it's rather hard to pay a Sicilian parking ticket.