A reporter with one of Zimbabwe’s official newspapers got ”a taste of state medicine” last week when police angrily confiscated his camera and press card after a Cabinet minister accused him of spreading falsehoods, it was reported on Friday.
Sri Lankan troops killed nearly 40 Tamil Tiger rebels over the past week, the military said on Friday, after a spate of clashes in the island’s war-ravaged north and east. ”There have been several confrontations. There are 38 confirmed dead in the past week, but we think the number could be higher,” said military spokesperson Prasad Samarasinghe.
Israel launched a second air strike on Hamas militants in Gaza on Friday and the Islamist group’s fighters again clashed with Palestinian rivals on the streets. A Palestinian hospital official said at least one man was killed and others were wounded when Israeli helicopter gunships fired on them.
South Africa must do much more to train and create a public service that meets the highest professional standards and ”that is proud of the fact that it exists to serve the people”, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday. While he does not refer to the upcoming national strike, he clearly has this in mind when he refers to the need for public servants to be ”patriotic and selfless”.
Algeria saw the lowest election turnout by far in its history as only 36,51% of the electorate turned out to vote in parliamentary elections, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said on Friday in Algiers. A total of 19-million people had been eligible to vote in Thursday’s elections for 389 seats in the Algerian Parliament.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair will pay a farewell visit to South Africa at the end of the month, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Friday. Blair, who earlier this month announced he would leave office on June 27, will arrive in South Africa on May 31 for his last official visit to the country.
The last little piles of sawdust have been swept away, the builders have being paid off and the two biggest acts in the country have been lined up for the grand reopening. Few places did football as theatre as well as the old Wembley but now, finally, an FA Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester United offers the new arena the opportunity to start establishing its own tradition.
It is all very well noting that Ryan Giggs has just won his ninth league title, breaking the record held by Liverpool’s Phil Neal and Alan Hansen, and will become the most decorated player in English football should he add a fifth FA Cup winner’s medal to his collection at Wembley on Saturday.
On Saturday, after the end of the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley, John Terry is hoping to do what he likes to call a ”Wisey”. Seven years ago the Chelsea captain was 19 and, having just returned from a six-game loan spell at Nottingham Forest, watched from the bench as the last final to be decided in north-west London was won by a 73rd-minute Roberto Di Matteo goal.
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq on Friday hit back at an official report that described him as a ”dictator” and blamed him for the team’s disastrous World Cup showing. The Pakistan Cricket Board inquiry concluded that Inzamam’s attitude was ”haughty and that of a dictator” and said he should have been removed as captain before the World Cup.