Pirates off the coast of Somalia released 30 hostages seized aboard a French yacht a week ago following negotiations that ended the stand-off peacefully, French officials said. The hostages, including 22 French crew aboard Le Ponant, were freed ”without incident”, President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement, without providing details.
Taliep Petersen’s death looked ”suspect” from the start, his younger brother, Igsaan, told the Cape High Court on Friday. Igsaan was the third witness to be called in the trial of Taliep’s wife, Najwa, and three alleged hit men, who are accused of murdering him on the night of December 16 2006.
Ugandan government officials quit peace talks on Friday after fugitive rebel leader Joseph Kony delayed signing a final deal, casting doubt over the fate of nearly two years of tortuous negotiations. The draft deal with Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army had been due to be signed on Thursday.
South Africa’s Sharks overcame an 11-point deficit after 20 minutes to beat the Otago Highlanders 19-17 Friday and maintain their unbeaten record through nine rounds of rugby’s Super 14. Twelfth-placed Otago threatened one of the bigger upsets of the season when they scored early tries to lead the second-placed Sharks 14-3.
China said it was outraged by a resolution by United States lawmakers urging an end to a crackdown in Tibet as a Beijing-run newspaper linked al-Qaeda to claimed plots to attack the Beijing Olympics. The condemnation came in response to a US House of Representatives resolution urging China to open dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai said on Friday she has pulled out of the Olympic torch relay this weekend in Tanzania to protest human rights abuses. The torch has been met by major demonstrations on its relay around the world to the Beijing Games, with thousands of protesters angry at China’s human rights record.
Former bouncer Gary Beuthin and his two co-accused will go on trial in the Johannesburg High Court on October 20 for attempted murder and kidnapping. Beuthin (43) and his co-accused, Melanie van Nierkerk (31) and Warren Schertel (34), were formally served with a high court indictment in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
World oil demand will rise much less than expected in 2008 because of slower economic growth in the United States and other industrialised countries, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday. The IEA, adviser to industrialised countries, also pointed to a drop in oil inventories.
Argentine police mobilised on Friday to guard the Olympic torch through Buenos Aires, bracing for protests against the human rights record of Olympic Games host China. The torch arrived in Argentina on Thursday to little fanfare. It will be carried past the country’s pink presidential palace and along the city’s broad avenues.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who says he won Zimbabwe’s election, has met South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki and pressed the key regional leader to use his influence to persuade President Robert Mugabe to step down, an opposition spokesperson said on Friday.