Opener Wasim Jaffer hit an unbeaten 138 to help India pile up 326 without loss at the close of play on the opening day of the second and final Test against Bangladesh on Friday. Resuming on 175-0 after the tea break, opener Dinesh Karthik retired hurt on 82. Captain Rahul Dravid, who joined Jaffer, was unbeaten on 88.
News that three highly qualified medical doctors nominated for posts in two under-staffed public hospitals have been rejected by the Western Cape provincial health department — because they are white — has been slammed by Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille.
More than 110Â 000 people were displaced in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur in the first three months of 2007 as armed confrontations pitting rebels against government forces and their allies continued, a United Nations report said. Those confrontations included a renewal of air attacks, militia attacks on civilians and increasingly violent inter-tribal fighting.
Zimbabwe’s soldiers are not starving, a government minister was quoted as saying on Friday, refuting press reports that the army was running out of food and might have to suspend training of recruits. ”It is not true that the soldiers are starving as reported,” Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said.
A South African judge on Friday rejected a government request for a media ban in a trial of two men accused of links to a black market in atomic weapons technology. Prosecutors had argued that national security might be compromised by information revealed in the trial of Gerhard Wisser and Daniel Geiges.
The planned R12-billion monorail between Johannesburg and Soweto was a first step in addressing the daily traffic chaos on South African roads, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Friday. It was surprised that Transport Minister Jeff Radebe opposed the move, said FF+ transport spokesperson Corne Mulder.
In a corner room of Britain’s Royal Courts of Justice, law lords this week handed victory to David over Goliath. It may not be the last bout in a struggle by residents to return to Diego Garcia, a remote island in the Chagos archipelago turned into a strategic United States military base, but it certainly brought that prospect closer.
Gunmen kidnapped six foreign oil workers including a South African from a ship off the coast of Nigeria on Friday, industry sources said, bringing to 22 the number of foreigners held in Africa’s top oil producer. Shots were fired during the abduction by suspected militants in two speed boats, which took place off the coast of the Niger Delta.
World number one Roger Federer faces a tough task in his bid to win the French Open for the first time. The Swiss, dreaming of capturing the only grand slam title to have eluded him, was drawn on Friday in the same half as several dangerous opponents, including former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The Democrat-controlled United States Congress bowed to President George Bush on Thursday night and voted to approve a further -billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, without setting the timetable for troop withdrawal that drew his earlier veto.