A 30-year-old man was arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a two-year-old girl from Valhalla Park in Cape Town, police said on Saturday. Spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said that the child’s mother went to work at a nearby spaza-shop and left the child in the care of her sister on Thursday.
It is impossible to underestimate quite how much life for Rachel Corrie’s family has changed since she was killed by an Israeli army Caterpillar D9 bulldozer in the Gaza Strip on 16 March 2003. As Rachel’s elder sister Sarah puts it: ”What was normal doesn’t exist for us now.”
Zimbabwean orphans Evans (13) and Edmond Mahlangu (8) crossed a mountain range on foot to get to Mozambique where they are slowly recovering on life-saving Aids drugs in short supply back home. ”We walked for a day in the mountains. We had to keep quiet because of the guards,” recounted the boys’ 17-year-old sister, Emmaculate.
International aid agencies on Saturday called for emergency food programmes to be overhauled as the soaring price of grain and other staple crops threatens to bring further misery to many parts of the developing world. The call came after it emerged that the United States is to slash the amount of food aid it gives to some of the poorest countries in the world.
Bangladesh were staring down the barrel after losing a clutch of wickets on the third day of the second and final Test against South Africa on Sunday. The hosts limped to 245-7 at tea with tailenders Mohammad Rafique, batting on 10, and Mashrafe Mortaza (0) at the crease.
Bangladesh’s Shahriar Nafees hit an unbeaten fifty to lead the home side to 169 for four at lunch on the third day of the second Test against South Africa on Sunday. Bangladesh are replying to South Africa’s record-studded score of 583 for seven declared. Nafees (61) and Aftab Ahmed (21) were unbeaten at the interval.
Colombia’s military said on Saturday its troops had killed a top rebel commander in an attack on a jungle camp across the border in Ecuador in a severe blow to Latin America’s oldest guerrilla insurgency. Raul Reyes, one of seven members of the secretariat of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, was killed in an operation that included air strikes and fighting with rebels across the border.
The Auckland Blues took the outright lead in rugby’s Super 14 when they racked up 50 points for the second straight week against a South African opponent. The Blues followed last week’s 55-10 win over the Lions with a 50-26 win Saturday over the Cheetahs to secure their third straight bonus point and to open a one-point lead over their compatriots, the Canterbury Crusaders.
Locked together with 31 points each, Orlando Pirates and Golden Arrows were inseparable in an evenly-matched, engrossing 0-0 Absa Premiership draw at Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday night. Whoever said a goalless game cannot be entertaining could not have witnessed the clash between two teams who both look worthy of Top Eight finishes in the log.
Arsenal left it late to stay top of the Premier League as second-placed champions Manchester United closed to within a point on Saturday. The Gunners were seconds away from being knocked off top spot at the Emirates Stadium when Nicklas Bendtner cancelled out an early Philippe Senderos own-goal to secure a 1-1 home draw against Aston Villa.