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Ten-man England were sent crashing out of the World Cup on Saturday, losing a penalty shoot-out to Portugal after a controversy packed quarterfinal battle. Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo scored the decisive spot-kick to hand Portugal a 3-1 shoot-out victory and shatter England’s dream of a first World Cup for 40 years.
German prosecutors are investigating possible kickbacks in a sale of warships to South Africa by a German shipbuilding consortium, a prosecutor confirmed on Saturday. The German news magazine Der Spiegel was to appear on Monday with a report that the ”irregularities” were suspected of occurring in 1999.
Zimbabwean prison officials on Saturday released three South African spies who were jailed for life in 1988 for murder and sabotage, a state daily reported. ”Three South African spies, who were jailed for life in 1988 for murder and sabotage … will be released today [Saturday} from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison following a Presidential pardon,” the Herald reported.
There are three perennial passions in Argentina: football, the tango and the country’s claim to Britain’s South Atlantic outpost, the Falkland Islands. Even the build-up to Argentina’s World Cup game against Germany on Friday failed to entirely deflect attention from what in the last few months has become the hot political issue.
It will be cheaper to make love in Britain from Saturday thanks to a reduction in sales tax on condoms announced by the Treasury on Friday. Value-added tax on condoms and other non-prescription contraceptive products will be 5%, rather than the standard 17,5%, "leading to immediate reductions in the prices paid by consumers", it said in a statement.
Roger Federer was left with a clear run to a fourth successive Wimbledon final on Friday when danger men David Nalbandian and James Blake both crashed out in the third round. Argentinian fourth seed Nalbandian, one of just four men to have beaten Federer since the start of 2005, was dismissed by Spanish 28th seed Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (11/9), 7-6 (11/9), 6-2.
Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza for a second straight night as Palestinian militants holding an army corporal issued new demands on Saturday for the release of prisoners from Israeli jails. The regional fallout of the crisis also deepened, with Washington backing its key ally in holding arch foe Syria at least partially responsible for the escalation.
As South Africa takes on the responsibility of organising the next World Cup, exuberance — and not necessarily efficiency — appears to be paramount. World soccer governing body Fifa kicks off the journey to the 2010 World Cup at a July 7 ceremony in Berlin. Dubbed Africa’s Calling, it will be attended by South African President Thabo Mbeki. But will South Africa be ready?
Thirteen people, including one soldier, were killed in political violence as campaigning began for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) first competitive elections in decades. Demonstrators in the western city of Matadi attacked and killed the soldier on Friday before troops retaliated, said Christian Malidini, of DRC’s Association of Human Rights Defenders.
At least 60 people were killed and scores wounded on Saturday when a car bomb struck the Baghdad Shi’ite district of Sadr City, ripping through a massive security crackdown in the Iraqi capital. A Sunni woman MP was also kidnapped in north Baghdad, a day after al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden vowed the war would go on despite a peace plan launched by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.