Bernadette Pelger leans out of her window to curse "the gendarmes, the drug-dealers, the kids who make all the noise at night, the fights" — in short, all the things that make her life on a council estate on the outskirts of a poor central French city a misery.
A Cambodian-born French woman faces prosecution for criminal damage after planting a kiss on a painting by the artist Cy Twombly, leaving the imprint of her lipstick on the otherwise immaculate white canvas.
Embattled Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride will be given ”time off” pending the outcome of a court case against him. Ekurhuleni mayor Duma Nkosi would not be drawn on whether McBride would be suspended or given paid or unpaid leave.
Harry Potter fans poured into book stores around the world on Saturday to get hold of the seventh and final volume in the series and discover the secret of the boy wizard’s fate. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hit the shelves across most of the world at 2301 GMT on Friday, in a release carefully orchestrated to maximise suspense and sales.
Bill Clinton charmed crowds in Southern Africa this week, mingling with barefooted children and joking with Malawians — showing the diplomatic skills he could put to use if his wife becomes America’s first woman president. Hillary Clinton has said she would make her husband a roaming ambassador, using his talent to repair America’s tattered image abroad.
The United Nations said on Friday it is investigating allegations of widespread sexual abuse by a unit of peacekeepers in Côte d’Ivoire and confined the soldiers in question to base. A United Nations statement did not say which country the soldiers were from or how many were under investigation.
Twelve African migrants who were rescued after their boat capsized in the Atlantic arrived on Spain’s Canary Islands on Friday as hopes faded that roughly 50 others who are still missing will be found alive. The 36 other survivors of the accident were brought by a rescue ship into Puerto de los Christianos on Tenerife late on Thursday.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union on Friday threatened to go on strike if Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride was not suspended. ”We are going to say to the municipality, suspend Robert McBride or municipal service delivery is going to be hampered,” said Samwu branch secretary Koena Ramotlou.
Manchester United will tour South Africa in 2008 after admitting that Africa and Asia, rather than the United States, are the regions where their fan-base is most fanatical. The Premiership champions, currently in Asia on a four-leg pre-season tour, were due to land in Macau on Saturday after wowing fans in Tokyo and Seoul.
Justine Robbeson, African record holder in the women’s javelin, won South Africa’s first athletics gold medal at the All Africa Games on Friday with a throw of 58,09m. Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, the world number one 800m athlete of 2006, was pipped at the post in a thrilling 800m final by an 18-year old Sudanese athlete, Abu Bakr Kaki.