The Democratic Alliance on Sunday accused Parliament’s questions office of ”obstructing” the party’s parliamentary questions probing corruption. The questions office had disqualified two written questions on the grounds that they were too vague in terms of the National Assembly’s guide to procedure.
Egyptian authorities have arrested 13 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood around the country, a security official said on Sunday. Nine members of the banned group were arrested on Sunday in the Nile Delta town of Abu Hammad in Sharqiya province ”for trying to organise a speech at a mosque after prayers”, the official said.
Alex Ferguson will quit as Manchester United manager within three years, he told The Mail on Sunday newspaper. Ferguson, who has been in charge at Old Trafford since 1986, said he would be gone by the time he reaches 70 in December 2011. The Scot reneged on his original plan to retire six years ago.
It starts as it means to continue: ”Ever since I could think, I’ve had haemorrhoids.” And through the next 229 unflinchingly explicit pages, there is little respite. Feuchtgebiete, which translates as ”wetlands” or ”humid zones”, is the first book by 30-year-old High Wycombe-born Charlotte Roche.
A 10-year-old girl was in a critical condition and another child was severely injured after a helicopter crashed at the Polokwane Civil Airport on Saturday afternoon, Netcare 911 said. Spokesperson Mark Stokoe said the pilot and an adult passenger sustained minor injuries and suffered about 20% burns over their bodies.
Afghanistan, struggling with a huge indigenous drug problem, has a new crisis. Its drug treatment centres — particularly in the capital, Kabul – are being inundated by heroin-addicted former refugees, many forcibly expelled from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.
While big international donors try to persuade Burma’s military rulers to open their doors wider to aid, small groups of volunteers are getting past army checkpoints to reach desperate survivors of Cyclone Nargis. Among them were Catholics and Buddhists seeking to fulfil a charitable mission under extreme circumstances three weeks after the devastating storm left 2,5-million people destitute.
A motorcyclist punched a KwaZulu-Natal VIP driver on Saturday afternoon after the driver had crashed into the back of another car, seriously injuring its occupant. KwaZulu-Natal transport spokesperson Rajen Chinaboo said road traffic inspectorate officials at the scene reported that there ”had been some sort of altercation”.
New South Wales (NSW) will travel to Christchurch to play the Canterbury Crusaders in the Super 14 rugby final after beating the Sharks 28-13 in Sydney on Saturday. The Waratahs scored four tries to one and were never in any real trouble against a disappointing Sharks outfit.
More than 20 people were killed in three days of clashes over land in western Ethiopia last week. ”A long-standing dispute over land along the border between Oromia and Benishangule states in western Ethiopia erupted into violence claiming the lives of more than 20 people from both sides last week,” said police spokesperson Demsash Hailue.