The South African cricket team arrived in Johannesburg on Saturday morning, after withdrawing from a triangular one-day tournament in Sri Lanka earlier this week. Coach Mickey Arthur said the players were relieved to be home, although they were disappointed at having to pull out of the tournament.
The All Blacks came from behind to pull off a 34-27 victory over the Wallabies in a passionate and bruising rugby Test in Auckland on Saturday to clinch the Tri-Nations crown with two matches to spare. Two tries in three minutes inside the final quarter swung the game the All Blacks’ way.
Israeli aircraft and commandos raided a Hezbollah bastion in eastern Lebanon on Saturday in the first big attack since a truce halted Israel’s 34-day war with the guerrillas, Lebanese military and Hezbollah sources said. Three Hezbollah guerrillas were killed in a firefight with the Israeli commandos, Lebanese security sources said.
United States President George Bush warned on Friday that a North Korean nuclear test would be a threat and urged the international community to work toward ensuring Pyongyang cannot jeopardise stability. A media report said US intelligence agencies suspect North Korea is planning an underground detonation of a nuclear device.
Blanca Hernandez sobbed as she recalled how the uncle she was mourning had been buried by lava while trying to save a television during the eruption of Ecuador’s ”throat of fire” volcano. At least five people were killed, 13 more were injured and entire villages were buried under ash and lava.
Star signs and astrology charts — relied on by millions as a key to divining the future — would not be much affected if three new planets were added to the solar system, experts said on Friday. Leading astronomers meeting in Prague are planning next week to add three new planets to the nine known to children around the world.
A worker slipped into a vat of chocolate in a Wisconsin candy factory and was trapped for hours when the confection hardened around him, according to local media reports on Friday. Other workers tried to pull 21-year-old Darmin Garcia from the chocolate vat, but his clothes were caught on the mixing machinery.
Hundreds of people thronged to a midtown city beach in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, on Saturday after word spread that sea water there had turned sweet, with many seeing the development as a divine sign. People, largely Muslims, started gathering late on Friday to collect the water off Mahim beach on the shores of the Arabian Sea.
Incumbent Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila still enjoys a substantial lead in the presidential poll, but his score has dipped yet further below the 50% needed to avoid a run-off election, latest partial results showed on Friday.
A court in the Central African Republic sent a rebel leader accused of plotting to assassinate President Francois Bozize to prison for life on Friday for endangering state security. Jean-Noel Bangue was also found guilty of complicity, rebellion, assassination, looting, theft, grievous bodily harm and several other charges.