Pakistan cricket officials said on Thursday they might move two matches against South Africa from Peshawar and Rawalpindi, but denied any action would be linked to security concerns. ”There may be changes in two venues of one-day internationals in the home series against South Africa,” Pakistan Cricket Board director of operations Zakir Khan said.
A man was killed in a scuffle over a loaf of bread in Zimbabwe, where food shortages are worsening, press reports said on Thursday. The man, believed to have been an illegal gold panner, was killed on Thursday on the outskirts of the city of Gweru, central Zimbabwe, the official Herald daily said.
The influx of Zimbabwean refugees into South Africa is a ”serious problem” and should be dealt with, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Thursday. ”Clearly we must do more to see what we can do to deal with this large influx of refugees,” he told reporters in Pretoria.
The latest HIV-infection figures of 29% among pregnant women suggest a first-time decline may be starting for the pandemic, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Thursday. ”The overall picture suggests that HIV-prevalence in South Africa may be at a point where we should begin to witness a downward trend,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.
Tonga has delayed the naming of its 30-person World Cup squad following court action over continuing turmoil in the Pacific nation’s rugby union. Tonga was due to name its squad for September’s World Cup on Thursday but the country’s Supreme Court the same day ordered the Tongan Rugby Union to hold an annual general meeting to resolve long-running divisions.
A 27-year-old man who admits he cannot control his sexual urges will spend 12 years behind bars for raping his 10-year-old cousin. The man from Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, told the Vereeniging Circuit Court he committed the crime because of too much pornography.
British police were criticised on Thursday over the mistaken killing of an innocent Brazilian man in the wake of the 2005 London bombings, although the head of Scotland Yard himself escaped censure. The long-awaited report found ”serious weaknesses” in police management, and in particular said a top officer misled his boss and the public.
Five African nations pledged on Thursday to send peacekeepers to a mission in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region that was approved this week by the United Nations Security Council, a top African Union official said. Said Djinnit, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, said member states had responded positively during talks.
More than 700 complaints about behaviour, competency and attitude were lodged against public servants via the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) in 2005/06. The Public Service Commission said on Thursday that 389 complaints were lodged against staff at national departments and 353 at provincial departments.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has pulled out from Ethiopia’s restive Ogaden region following a government order, but still hopes to return, a spokesperson said on Thursday. Authorities in Ethiopia’s Somali regional state last week gave the Red Cross seven days’ notice to leave, accusing it of consorting with rebels.