A solid defence and clinical efficiency in front of goal allowed Germany to triumph 2-0 over a desperate Brazil to become the first back-to-back winners of the women’s World Cup on Sunday. German midfielder Simone Laudehr’s headed goal in the dying minutes sealed the win, after evergreen captain Birgit Prinz had coolly slotted home a crossed ball.
A Pakistani man broke the world-record for "ear-lifting" in Vienna on Sunday, carrying almost 62kg from a cord attached to his right ear. Zafar Gill’s feat earned him a place in the <i>Guinness World Records</i>, as part of a day of record-breaking attempts in the Austrian capital, organised under the slogan "Vienna — Recordbreaker".
While the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has moved towards liberalising trade to make the flow of goods between countries easier and economically more rewarding, non-tariff barriers such as border delays continue to be a concern, a recent study found.
The unveiling of a multimillion-rand extension to the international terminal building of the OR Tambo International Airport was a milestone in preparing for the 2010 World Cup, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said in Johannesburg on Sunday.
A suicide bomber wearing a burqa set off explosives in the north-western Pakistani town of Bannu on Monday killing up to 15 people, including four policemen, security officials said. The blast was the lastest in a wave of attacks, most in the north-west of the country near the border with Afghanistan.
The shutdown of communications in Burma has slowed information to the outside world to a trickle, with the number of reports to one exile group cut by half and websites with the .mm Burma suffix being unavailable, campaigners said on Sunday.
South African captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against Pakistan on Monday after Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf pulled out at the last minute. The 33-year-old Yousuf last week cancelled his contract with a rebel Indian league and made himself available for Pakistan.
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari may not have met Burma junta supremo Than Shwe at the weekend, but the fact he is still in the country suggests his mission is far from failed. The schedule for Gambari’s mission was threadbare — 24 hours and one meeting with Than Shwe.
The United States military presents its new Africa Command as a helping hand offering aid and training to the world’s poorest continent, but many Africans fear it could bring double trouble to a conflict-racked region. US officials dress the new regional command to be launched on Monday in a shiny altruistic uniform, saying it is designed to help Africa improve its own stability.
Crime is booming in sprawling cities of the developing world but fear of attack outweighs the reality and is further dividing already divided populations, a United Nations agency said on Monday. ”Perceptions are worse than reality,” UN-Habitat’s executive director Anna Tibaijuka said.