A British schoolteacher, her two female Kenyan colleagues and a Somali headmaster were killed in an overnight attack in central Somalia blamed on Islamist insurgents, witnesses said on Monday. The four were killed when suspected rebels attacked and briefly took control of Beledweyne, the capital of Somalia’s Hiraan region.
Kenyan Martin Lel retained his London Marathon title in a fantastic men’s race on Sunday when the first three broke the course record and the first six finishers recorded personal bests. In the women’s race, German Irina Mikitenko won her first major marathon title on only her second outing over the distance.
Oil prices eased from recent highs in Asian trade on Monday after international finance ministers warned that near-term global economic prospects had weakened. In afternoon trade, New York’s main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, fell by 29 cents to ,85 per barrel.
Kenya’s president unveiled a power-sharing government on Sunday, with opposition leader Raila Odinga as Prime Minister, aimed at ending a long-running political crisis sparked by contested elections. ”Let us put politics aside and get to work,” President Mwai Kibaki said in a televised speech announcing the Cabinet line-up.
Formerly warring north and south Sudan were at loggerheads on Sunday as the south pulled out of a national census, a cornerstone of their fragile peace agreement, citing a barrage of grievances. ”We have deferred the census until sometime this year,” the information minister in the southern government confirmed.
Ethiopians voted on Sunday in a first round of general elections that the opposition coalition boycotted to protest alleged intimidation of its candidates, and that an international rights group said would be unfair. Governing coalition candidates are running virtually unchallenged after the main opposition coalition pulled out.
Gospel singer Solly Moholo performed outside the Swartruggens Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning as the public started to gather for the trial of murder accused Johan Nel. Moholo sang Umshini Wami, which is popularly known as African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s trademark song.
The bodies of two teenagers were found on top of a grave in the Azalea Cemetery in Imbali, Pietermaritzburg police said on Sunday. Inspector Joey Jeevan said the girls — believed to be aged 16 and 17 — were found at about 10am on Saturday. They had been shot and stabbed several times in the head and body, she said.
A doubling of food prices over the past three years could push 100-million people in poorer developing countries further into poverty and governments must step in to tackle the issue, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said on Sunday at the end of the World Bank spring meeting in Washington, DC.
Manhattan is a famously elitist place when it comes to fine dining. Who you know is often the key to securing a table at one of the hot new restaurants. Imagine the horror then, when the latest hyper-chic establishment of New York’s most happening chef opted for an egalitarian alternative.