A ”frightening” number of police officers have died in Gauteng so far this year, with almost as many slain in the first six months of 2006 as in the whole of last year, said the office of National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. The deaths of four police officers in a bloody siege in Jeppestown last Sunday brought the tally to 19 since the start of the year.
Western Province carried on from where the Stormers left off by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as they went down 28-25 to the Sharks in their Currie Cup match at Newlands on Saturday. The Sharks were heavily favoured going into the match and seemed well on their way as they took a 10-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Iran on Sunday rejected a deadline to respond to an international offer aimed at resolving a nuclear stand-off, saying it would answer during the next Iranian month which begins July 23. ”A deadline is not an issue. We think such statements are not constructive and they will not help resolve the problem,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused Iraqi Shi’ites of waging ”genocide” against Sunnis and warned of retaliation, according to a new audiotape posted on the internet on Saturday. The message, the second in as many days purportedly from the Western world’s most-wanted man, came as yet another sectarian car bombing shook Baghdad.
The second week of Wimbledon will be a virtually American-free zone after Andy Roddick and Venus Williams joined Andre Agassi in crashing out before the halfway stage. The unexpectedly early demise of defending champion Williams and Roddick, a beaten finalist in the last two years, left the unheralded Shenay Perry to fly the Stars and Stripes on her own.
Does dancing in a circle, decked out in ancient garb, in the dead of night, while banging a tambourine constitute a crime? This is the question many of the big-beards in the Greek Orthodox Church have been forced to ask as the realisation has dawned that Apollo-loving pagans are among us again.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has held talks with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Gambia, and Annan will definitely not be going to Harare later this year, Zimbabwe state television reported late on Saturday.
The Blue Bulls showed glimpses of a championship outfit when they recorded a morale boosting 39-24 win over the Lions in their Currie Cup encounter played at Ellis Park on Saturday. It may not have been the prettiest game to the eye but pretty was not what Heyneke Meyer and his troops crossed the Jukskei River for.
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France have put their slow start to the World Cup on the backburner and have fixed their sights firmly on a second final after outclassing defending champions Brazil. Powered by tireless captain Zinedine Zidane, France recorded a 1-0 win over a lacklustre Brazilian team thanks to a sumptuous 57th-minute Thierry Henry volley.
Budget cuts on the upgrading and maintenance of railway signals is to blame for the train accident that claimed a life and left 42 people injured in Kempton Park on Friday night, the Democratic Alliance said. ”The government must take full responsibility for deaths and injuries,” DA transport spokesperson for Gauteng James Swart said on Saturday.