Tuareg-led rebels in Niger said late on Tuesday they had killed 15 government soldiers in a clash at Gougaram in the West African country’s remote Saharan north, where uranium is mined. The rebel group said a large convoy of military vehicles had advanced towards the town of Iferouane on Monday, prompting Tuesday’s clash.
Fruit bats that roost in caves are apparently the source of Marburg virus, which causes a deadly hemorrhagic fever related to Ebola virus, researchers said on Tuesday. Tests of 1 100 bats of various species turned up the virus in only one common species of fruit bats.
As many as 60 people within the CIA read a cable referring to two of the 19 hijackers involved in the attacks on America on September 11 2001 before the event, yet the information was not shared with the parts of the organisation able to do anything about it, according to the agency’s own internal investigation.
The John Vorster Avenue offramp from the N1 south highway in Centurion will be closed to traffic for the greater part of Wednesday after a toxic spill, Tshwane metro police said. Spokesperson Louise Britz said the highway remained closed after about 10Â 000 litres of sulphuric acid spilled on to the offramp when a truck overturned on Tuesday afternoon.
Desperate efforts to save 181 Chinese coal miners from two shafts flooded with water and mud faced near impossible odds on Wednesday, as a safety official said mine owners had failed to anticipate the threat of disaster. The miners have been trapped since Friday, when a river dyke burst in torrential rain, sending water surging into the shafts.
Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has told the United Kingdom media that he expects an exciting clash when South Africa takes on Scotland in the Tennent’s International Challenge match at Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen on Wednesday. ”I think this will be a game of contrasting styles, which I think will make the whole affair exciting,” said Parreira.
South Africa stuttered to a narrow 18-3 win over Irish provincial side Connacht on Tuesday. Fresh from last week’s 105-13 hammering of fellow World Cup team Namibia, the Boks laboured against the weakest of the four Irish teams, who won only four games from 20 in last season’s Celtic League.
Senegal striker El-Hadji Diouf impressed a host of Premiership managers and scouts as his predatory strike earned Senegal a 1-1 draw against Ghana in Tuesday’s friendly international in London. Birmingham manager Steve Bruce, West Ham boss Alan Curbishley and several representatives from other English clubs were in the crowd at Millwall’s New Den.
India captain Rahul Dravid said England had played the ”perfect” one-day game after defeating his side by the huge margin of 104 runs in the opening match of a seven-match series at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday. Dravid, who sent England in to bat, saw the home team pile up 288-2 with Ian Bell and Alastair Cook both scoring their maiden one-day international hundreds.
Neither food nor food supplements are alternatives to drug therapy in treating people with HIV/Aids, South Africa’s top scientific advisory panel said on Tuesday, amid a controversy over the nation’s Aids policies. The report by the Academy of Science of South Africa was issued as President Thabo Mbeki faced new criticism over support for his health minister.