More than 8 000 Mozambican nationals living illegally in South Africa were repatriated to their country in March, one of the highest monthly figures after a visa-waiver agreement was introduced in April 2005. In February, at least 3 577 illegal Mozambicans were repatriated through the Ressano Garcia border post.
Canada will probe how blueprints for the new headquarters of an elite military counter-terrorism unit ended up in a pile of garbage, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said this week. The Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit, housed inside an armed forces base in Trenton, Ontario, is designed to cope with the aftermath of an attack using weapons of mass destruction.
South Africa are confident they will put their selection problems behind them during Test series in India, skipper Graeme Smith said on Saturday. The tourists arrived for the three-Test series amid a storm or controversy following the omission of paceman Andre Nel to fulfil the team’s quota of black players.
Brazilian Felipe Massa secured pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix on an all-Ferrari front row on Saturday. Driving in hot and humid conditions under heavy cloud cover, Massa was joined at the head of the field by Formula One world champion team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who lapped 0,482 seconds slower than the pole sitter’s time of 1,35.748.
Auckland centre Ben Atiga kicked a last-minute penalty to steer the Blues to a 17-14 win over the Stormers in a Super 14 match at Eden Park on Saturday. Atiga regained his composure after missing three earlier attempts, including one that struck the upright, to land the long-range shot from near the sideline and snatch victory with the last play of the match.
A son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi is mediating over two Austrians held by al-Qaeda in North Africa and is hopeful they will be freed soon, an Austrian politician was quoted as saying. Saif al-Islam, who heads the Gadaffi Foundation charity, has been in touch with the kidnappers, said Carinthia governor Joerg Haider.
Efficient cross-border infrastructure is needed to facilitate trade and development in Africa, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Friday. She also said the private sector had a key role to play in the development of Africa by advancing the vision of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
China said 19 people were killed in riots in the Tibetan capital last week and official media warned against the unrest spreading to the north-west region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims bridle under Chinese control. Eighteen were burnt or hacked to death in the Lhasa violence, Xinhua news agency said.
”Nappy-headed hos,” the phrase that cost radio shock jock Don Imus his job and triggered a debate on how far free speech can go, was named on Thursday as the most egregious politically incorrect turn of phrase in 2007. Trailing behind that phrase in the annual survey by Global Language Monitor, a word usage group, were ”ho-ho-ho” and ”carbon-footprint stomping”.
Wanted for unique opportunity: brilliant, physically fit people. Must be cool under pressure, willing to work away from home and have a good head for heights. Free uniform included. The wording might be a little different, but when the advert appears in newspapers in the next few weeks, it will mark the beginning of one of the most exciting recruitment drives in more than 40 years.