Some held their heads in their hands. Others wept openly. A few stared straight ahead. It was the end of the 11 September commission’s public hearings and those in the cavernous auditorium in Washington knew that they had just heard the final, definitive account of the world-changing events 33 months before.
The beheading of US hostage Paul Johnson highlights once again the tense relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and revives a sometimes bitter debate whether the Saudis are doing enough to rein in violent Islamic factions.
Veteran journalist and former Sowetan newspaper editor Aggrey Klaaste died in the Garden City Clinic in Johannesburg on Saturday morning, aged 63. Klaaste was editor of the Sowetan in the stable of New Africa Publications between 1988 and 2002, taking the newspaper into a democratic South Africa in 1994.
The success achieved by Australia in quelling unrest in the Solomon Islands, by means of the surrender of firearms through a gun amnesty, may have inadvertently given rise to a new menace on the Pacific archipelago — that of attacks by crocodiles. People on the main island, Guadalcanal, have reported many deadly encounters since the gun amnesty came into effect last year.
Bill Clinton says in his new autobiography that his wife looked as if he had punched her in the gut when he finally confessed to his affair with Monica Lewinsky, and he slept on the couch for at least two months after that. In My Life, the former president wrote that the affair with the White House intern revealed ”the darkest part of my inner life”.
More than 5 000 supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide marched through Haiti’s capital on Friday, calling for his return and accusing the United States government of forcing his departure. The demonstration began in the hilltop slum of Bel Air and wound its way through neighbourhoods near the presidential palace.
Al-Qaeda’s suspected leader in Saudi Arabia was reported killed on Friday night, after the group he was believed to lead said it had beheaded a kidnapped United States engineer. It posted what appeared to be three photographs of the American’s body on an Islamist website.
US-Saudi relations on the rocks
Yasser Arafat has told an Israeli newspaper that he recognises Israel’s right to remain a Jewish state and is, therefore, prepared to accept the return of only a fraction of the Palestinian refugees. In an interview with Ha’aretz, published on Friday, the Palestinian leader was asked if he understood that ”Israel has to keep being a Jewish state”?
The All Blacks beat England 36-12 in a brutal rugby Test on Saturday which saw the world champions reduced to 14 men for much of the match. A five-tries-to-nil blitz, three by flying winger Joe Rokocoko, put the sparkle in what was otherwise a rugged affair, with England lock Simon Shaw lasting just eight minutes before being red-carded for blatantly trampling on the head of Keith Robinson.
The Springboks secured an incredible series victory over the Irish with a bruising 26-17 win in the second Test played at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon. The Boks led 20-10 at half-time. It was a superb team effort throughout the 80 minutes, that saw the Boks complete the series whitewash that most pundits expected would be achieved by the Triple Crown champions.