Efforts to end the four-year conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region by paving the way for new talks between Khartoum and fragmented rebel groups took a step forward at a meeting in Libya on Monday. International envoys and rebel groups, which failed to sign up to a May 2006 peace deal, will meet next month to fix a date and venue for the start of negotiations.
By the standards of today’s reveal-all culture, the photographs were not particularly shocking. They were more Benny Hill than pornographic. One showed a fully dressed young woman beaming up to the camera as her boyfriend playfully bit her breast.
A strong earthquake killed at least seven people in Japan on Monday, injured more than 800, flattened houses and started a small fire at the world’s largest nuclear power plant, Japanese media and officials said. Two women in their 80s died when their homes collapsed due to the magnitude 6,8 tremor, centred in Niigata prefecture about 250km north-west of Tokyo.
Libya’s top legal body meets on Monday for a session that could see it commute to prison terms the death sentences on six foreign medics convicted of infecting children with the virus that causes HIV/Aids. The meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council comes after families of the children were said to have accepted compensation totalling around -million.
High-profile trio Tyson Gay, Jeremy Wariner and double amputee Oscar Pistorius all suffered in the rain at Sunday’s IAAF British Grand Prix. Gay admitted he was unhappy with his performance after winning the men’s 100m. Pistorius was disqualified for running outside of his lane after trailing in last in 47,65 on the wet track.
The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months. The shift follows an internal review involving the White House, the Pentagon and the state department over the last month.
Australia fullback Julian Huxley has been ruled out of the Tri-Nations decider against the All Blacks on Saturday after picking up an injury when he was playfully tackled by a teammate at a party. The 27-year-old has played in all Australia’s six Tests this year in the absence of the injured Chris Latham.
Cardinal Roger Mahony, the leader of Los Angeles’ Catholics, on Sunday apologised to hundreds of victims of predatory priests after the archdiocese agreed to pay -million to settle claims of sexual abuse. The settlement was the largest since the revelations about sexual abuse within the church surfaced in Boston in 2002.
Zimbabweans are shopping like there’s no tomorrow. With police patrolling the aisles of Harare’s electrical shops to enforce massive price cuts, the widescreen TVs were the first things to go, for as little as R283 ($40). The police and groups of ruling party supporters could be seen leading the charge for a bargain.
"There is no magic wand that can solve transport issues," says Rehana Moosajee, the Johannesburg mayoral committee member for transport, "but we can begin to change things." While road rage, safety, traffic congestion, public transport strikes and minibus-taxi violence have grabbed media headlines, solutions to transport crises are quietly under way.