New Zealand rugby officials have defended the decision to go ahead with the fog-bound Super 14 rugby final in Christchurch on Saturday, but said the match would have been postponed if it was any thicker. The match was reduced to a farce at times in the pea-souper that shrouded Jade Stadium, where the Canterbury Crusaders emerged from the fog as 19-12 victors over the Wellington Hurricanes.
The 19 South African passport-holders arrested by the Democratic Republic of Congo authorities on allegations that they were hatching a coup have been deported from Kinshasa and were expected to arrive at the Johannesburg International Airport on Sunday evening.
Fresh photographic evidence seen by United States investigators is believed to reveal that some of the 24 unarmed Iraqis killed in the Iraqi town of Haditha after an American died in a roadside bomb in November were in effect executed, it was reported on Saturday.
England beat Sri Lanka by six wickets on Sunday after a career-best performance from paceman Liam Plunkett gave his team an easily attainable victory target on day four of the second Test at Edgbaston. England, led by Kevin Pietersen’s 142 off 157 balls, reached 295 in reply to Sri Lanka’s first-innings 141.
President Thabo Mbeki should open the succession debate, the National Union of Mineworker’s (NUM) president Senzeni Zokwana said on Saturday. Speaking at NUM’s 12th congress at Midrand, he said this would dispel perceptions that some leaders, especially African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma, were being marginalised.
Brothels should be exempt from Australia’s tough anti-smoking laws because its a tradition for prostitutes and their customers to enjoy a cigarette together after having sex, an industry lobby group said on Sunday. The Australian Adult Entertainment Industry (AAEI) argues that working girls and their clients shouldn’t have to leave the brothel to light up.
In conference rooms and in academic papers, the experts call it ”pervasive pre-famine conditions”. In the village, squatting on his brick-sized wooden stool in the red dirt of East Africa, Lokuwam Lokitalauk calls it a death sentence. His curses ricochet round the quiet village and his glaucoma-misted eyes dart off, surveying the stick-like spectres of children drifting listlessly about.
Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have a baby girl, United States media reported on Saturday. People magazine cited an official spokesperson for the actors as saying the child named Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt was born on May 27, at night, in Namibia
A Japanese whaling expedition has caught 60 minke whales in the Pacific Ocean, the government said, the maximum number allowed under a research programme that critics say is disguised commercial whaling. The 43-day expedition off the coast of Sanriku, about 500km north-east of Tokyo, also found that the minkes feed on sand eels and sardines.
Michael Schumacher denied cheating deliberately to gain pole position as the Monaco Grand Prix plunged into controversy during qualifying on Saturday. The seven-times champion dominated the session to grab his 67th pole position but was afterwards accused of cheating by rival drivers and his former boss, Renault chief Flavio Briatore.