Members of Gauteng minister of safety Firoz Cachalia’s security detail shot at two men outside his Emmarentia home on Friday morning, police said. Spokesperson Sergeant Sanku Tsunke said the men were seen approaching Cachalia’s front gate by members of the security and protection services. ”One man was carrying a firearm,” he said.
Iran broadcast video on Friday of a captured British sailor who said he and 14 colleagues had entered Iranian waters illegally, ramping up tension over the week-long crisis. British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed disgust at the broadcasting of footage of three of the captives and said Iran risked further isolation unless it released them.
Rather than scrapping provinces, South Africa should adopt a ”fully fledged federal system”, acting Democratic Alliance (DA) leader James Selfe said on Friday. In a weekly newsletter published on the DA’s SA Todaywebsite, he said a resurgence of regional identity was one notable feature of a globalising world.
The United Nations’s top human rights body on Friday kept up the pressure on Sudan over Darfur, but stopped short of explicitly blaming Khartoum for widespread killings and rape in the vast western region. The Human Rights Council asked a group of six of its special investigators on human rights violations to work with Sudan on implementingrecommendations.
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Murdered Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer’s memorial service will be held in Cape Town on Wednesday, according to a press release by the Bob Woolmer Trust Fund on Friday. The service will take place at the Wynberg Boys’ High School where former South African and Warwickshire fast bowler Allan Donald will be among the speakers.
The Otago Highlanders kept their Super 14 rugby semifinal hopes alive on Friday after stopping a late charge by the Central Cheetahs for a 21-17 victory. With eight minutes remaining the Highlanders, previously languishing at 10th place on the table, were cruising towards victory with a 21-10 lead after dominating possession and territory.
Discount shoppers the world over were put on guard on Friday after retail group TJX disclosed that 45,6-million credit and debit card numbers were stolen by hackers in 2005 and 2006. The company also said on Thursday about 455Â 000 customers may have had personal information compromised.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party was expected to pick Robert Mugabe again as its candidate on Friday for next year’s presidential election after the beleaguered leader won strong public backing from his peers. The central committee of the Zanu-PF was to meet in Harare where it was set to rubberstamp a decision by its politburo earlier this week to extend Mugabe’s tenure.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe can expect to come under growing behind-the-scenes pressure to engage with his opponents despite escaping public censure from his peers, analysts said on Friday. Leaders of a 14-member regional bloc held off from criticising the veteran president over the political and economic crisis on their doorstep at a summit on Thursday.
Parents of dozens of Philippine children held captive this week by the man who operated their day-care centre held a protest rally on Thursday to urge the government to free him and another man behind the hostage drama. Parents and residents at the Parola compound in one of Manila’s poor slum communities said they were pressing no criminal complaints.