Free State Stars coach Kinnah Phiri is hoping that lightning will strike twice in the same place in one season when they host Santos in the quarterfinals of the Nedbank Cup at Goble Park on Sunday at 3pm. Stars are the only side to have beaten high-riding Santos in the Absa Premiership this year.
Thousands of members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) took to the streets of Johannesburg to protest against the rising prices of food, fuel and electricity. The march proceeded to the offices of Eskom and supermarket chain Pick n Pay, where memorandums of understanding were delivered.
World business chiefs gathered in Tokyo on Thursday to discuss ways to tackle global warming as transatlantic tensions emerged over how far industry should go to reduce emissions. The heads of the business federations of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations agreed that climate change needs serious attention.
China on Thursday snubbed an apology from CNN over remarks by one of its commentators as a wave of verbal assaults on foreign media raised concerns over coverage at this summer’s Beijing Olympics. CNN’s explanation that a commentator was referring to China’s leaders — not the people — as a ”bunch of goons and thugs”.
Russians have long used drink to take the edge off workplace stress: lately one man’s senses were so dulled he failed to notice a knife stuck in his back by a colleague, newspapers reported on Thursday. A factory electrician in the town of Vologda was stabbed by the building’s security guard as they were having a drunken argument.
At least four people were killed and seven missing after a plane crashed on Wednesday into the Atlantic Ocean off the Equatorial Guinea island of Annobon, the Malabo government announced. There was no confirmation of earlier reports that said that leaders of the ruling party were on board the plane when it crashed.
An international piracy watchdog on Thursday announced an increase in pirate attacks in global waters and warned seafarers of increasing, violence especially in waters off Nigeria. The London-based International Maritime Bureau (said that worldwide piracy attacks jumped to 49 incidents from January to March this year.
Correspondence published by Zimbabwe’s state media that was purported to be between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) chief Morgan Tsvangirai is a hoax, the United Kingdom embassy said on Thursday.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday it will cut food rations by half for up to three million people in Darfur starting next month because attacks on its trucks have reduced stocks. The agency said 60 WFP-contracted trucks have been hijacked in the western Sudanese province since the start of the year.
Sri Lanka’s national power grid crashed on Sunday, a holiday for the Sinhala-Tamil New Year, most likely due to overload, a senior state electricity company official said. Sunday was the first day of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, when people traditionally stay at home and observe religious ceremonies.