At least 29 people were killed when a blast ripped through scavengers siphoning petrol from pools around a breach in a disused pipeline in central Iraq late on Monday, health officials said. A reporter at the rural site near Diwaniya, 180km south of Baghdad, saw 15 charred bodies, including that of a boy. The explosion severely wounded 26 people.
The South African Hockey Association on Tuesday announced the Spar South African women’s hockey squad to participate in the 2006 Samsung Hockey World Cup, which takes place in Madrid, Spain, from September 27 to October 8. Marsha Marescia takes over the captain’s armband from recently retired Lindsey Carlisle.
One of South Africa’s most wanted gangsters was arrested on Monday after a botched cash-in-transit heist in the East Rand’s Tsakane township, police said. Christian ”Seuntjie” van Wyk was one of eight people caught at a house in Palm Ridge in connection with the robbery, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Electronic equipment was stolen from Lufthansa in a robbery at Johannesburg International airport, the airline said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Karin Duncker said the armed robbery took place on Sunday. No one was injured in the incident. ”The police are currently investigating the case,” she said.
For more than 120 years Alexander Pushkin has seen off every threat. Joseph Stalin deported him (if only 100m), McDonald’s first outlet in Russia opened nearby and Chechen militants allegedly detonated a bomb not far from his left foot. All along, the statue of Russia’s most famous poet preserved a bubble of calm in the centre of Moscow. Now, finally, it seems the killer blow is at hand.
Andean glaciers are melting so fast that some are expected to disappear within 15-25 years, denying major cities water supplies and putting populations and food supplies at risk in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia. The Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia, the source of fresh water for the cities of La Paz and El Alto, is expected to completely melt within 15 years.
Ronaldo will reportedly stay with Real Madrid this season although the club aims to offload several of his teammates before the imminent transfer deadline. Ronaldo pledged his future to Madrid after talks with club president Ramon Calderon following Sunday’s 0-0 season-opening draw with Villarreal, sports daily Marca said on Tuesday.
One of South Africa’s colourful boxing sons, Dingaan Thobela, will attempt to defy Father Time when he makes a boxing come back on October 27. Thobela, also known as the Rose of Soweto, will be vying to relaunch his career at the expense of Soon Botes, whom he will challenge for the South African light-heavyweight crown in Johannesburg.
Formula One chiefs have launched a probe into how breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat managed to officiate at the prize-giving ceremony for the Turkish Grand Prix. The race in Istanbul on Sunday, won by Brazilian Felipe Massa in a Ferrari, was watched by an estimated viewing audience of 2,5-billion worldwide.
South Africa will not take up the role of mediator in the peace process between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. Pahad said South Africa received a letter from the LRA last week asking it to mediate the process.