Sporadic clashes in the last two days between Tamil Tiger rebels and the military have killed 37 rebels, the military said on Wednesday, as daily land, sea battles and air raids continue in Sri Lanka’s far north. The fighting came amidst news that Tamil Tiger second-in-command, Brigadier Balraj, died from a heart attack in rebel-held north on Tuesday.
President Thabo Mbeki abdicated his power in deciding to disband the Scorpions, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday. United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa was in court listening as counsel for his and four other opposition parties argued that Mbeki and the Cabinet took their cue from the African National Congress on a decision to dissolve the Scorpions.
Springbok captain John Smit will be released from national duty to fulfil his commitments to French club Clermont, SA Rugby announced on Wednesday. Smit would return to Clermont on June 15 to play in the French Top 14 semifinals on June 21 and the final on June 28 if necessary, SA Rugby said in a statement.
Oil held above a barrel on Wednesday, within sight of the previous session’s record high, supported by a weak United States dollar and concern about supplies. Attention will shift later to a US government report expected to show that crude inventories rose for a fifth straight time last week while petrol and distillates supplies also increased.
Departing Auckland Blues coach David Nucifora will take up the position of the Australian rugby Union’s (ARU) high performance manager in June, ARU chief executive John O’Neill told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday. The former Wallabies hooker will replace Pat Howard, who returned to Australia last year after a successful stint with English club side Leicester Tigers.
A stray parrot was reunited with its owner in Japan after repeating his name and address at the local veterinary clinic that took it in, police said on Wednesday. Police captured the red-tailed African Grey parrot earlier this month after a woman called to say it was sitting on a fence in her backyard outside Tokyo, a Chiba police official said.
In Swaziland the mystery of why people refuse to use condoms is slowly being unravelled.
Metrorail has beefed up security in response to possible xenophobic attacks on train commuters, it said on Wednesday. ”Our own protection services, the South African railway police and contracted security staff have been beefed up in response to the perceived threat and in support of our security plan,” the company said in a statement.
Somali gunmen kidnapped two Italian aid workers on Wednesday in the latest abduction of foreigners in the Horn of Africa country, officials and residents said. One official said the abducted Italians were a man and a woman. One resident said a Somali aid worker was also seized in the town of Awdigle south of the capital Mogadishu.
The former Times editor Robert Thomson was named managing editor of the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday night as Rupert Murdoch tightened control of the world’s top selling business newspaper. Thomson’s new role is the top editorial position at the Journal.