Bombs killed at least 40 people at markets in two Iraqi cities, hours after key lawmakers said seven Sunni Arab insurgent groups offered the government a conditional truce. Meanwhile, a top Iraqi commander said Baghdad’s forces would not be ready to keep the peace for at least a year in Anbar province, the insurgent heartland.
South African media group Naspers on Tuesday reported a 63% increase in its core headline earnings per ordinary N share to 696 cents for the year ended March 2006 from 427 cents for the 12 months to March 2005. Naspers declared an annual dividend per N share of 120 cents, up 71% from 70 cents previously and 24 cents from 14 cents per unlisted A ordinary share.
A four-year-old boy who underwent a marathon 11-hour operation to repair his face, which was ravaged by dogs in his native Kenya, was set to leave Houston on Tuesday and return to Oklahoma City. His guardians, Larry and Frances Jones, said Daniel has been a blessing in their lives. ”I think he can be a role model for other children,” said Frances Jones.
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Luis Figo is no saint, as he proved against The Netherlands, and he plans to make David Beckham’s life hell when Portugal tackle England in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Figo was given the all-clear to play after Fifa ruled out further action for a headbutt on Holland’s Mark van Bommel in the second round match which saw 16 players booked and two from each side sent off.
Author JK Rowling said two characters will die in the last instalment of her boy wizard series, and she hinted Harry Potter might not survive either. ”I have never been tempted to kill him off before the final because I’ve always planned seven books, and I want to finish on seven books,” Rowling said in an interview on Monday.
Israel continued to mass forces on the borders of Gaza on Monday to reinforce its demand for the immediate release of a captured Israeli soldier while Palestinian security services attempted to track down the kidnappers. Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, said he had told the Israeli army ”to prepare for a broad and ongoing military operation to strike the terrorist leaders and all those involved”.
Opium poppy cultivation has been almost eradicated in Asia’s Golden Triangle, the border zone between Burma, Thailand and Laos that was once the world’s most prolific supplier of opium, according to a report published by the United Nations on Monday.
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has expressed concern at Zwelakhe Sisulu’s involvement in a commission of enquiry set up to probe whether the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) sought to gag commentators critical of President Thabo Mbeki.
In the mid-19th century Karl Marx claimed that European colonisers, though corrupt and violent, were the "unconscious tool of history" that would propel India and China into modernity. He described the backward "Asiatic mode of production", defined by the absence of private ownership and the presence of a rigid, centralised form of government that prevents change and modernisation.
The South African school principal of the future will have a special qualification in school management to prepare him/her for the job. The position will come with special conditions of service that mean if he/she does not perform, he/she can be removed from the position by the Department of Education.