Former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova admitted she was surprised to be in the semifinals of the French Open after she ousted compatriot Dinara Safina 7-6 (7/5), 6-0 on Tuesday. The eighth-seeded Russian will face Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova in the last four after the 16th seed beat Wimbledon champion Venus Williams 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-3.
Eighteen people died and 43 were injured early on Tuesday when a truck carrying mourners crashed into a tree in western Zimbabwe, a police spokesperson told Agence France-Presse. ”Eighteen people were killed on the spot after the truck they were travelling in veered off the road and hit a tree,” police inspector Andrew Phiri said.
South Africa had an obligation to oversee and regulate the thousands of militarily-qualified citizens selling their skills abroad, Parliament’s Defence Portfolio Committee heard on Tuesday. ”If you keep dangerous animals in your yard, you have responsibility to ensure they don’t get out and harm people,” Defence Department official Siviwe Njikela told committee members.
The semi-arid Sahel stretches across Africa just south of the Sahara. The region suffered severe drought during the second half of the 20th century, but there is disagreement between scientists on the reasons for the decline in rainfall — and on the Sahel’s future prospects of increased rainfall.
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A band of thieves described as ”very organised” broke into a warehouse in a Paris suburb and made off with hundreds of plasma TV sets, ”probably for the 2006 World Cup”, French police sources said on Tuesday. The robbery was carried out by six armed men, who drove up to the warehouse in the Paris suburb of La Courneuve in a lorry.
The T-shirt says it all: ”9% of Americans like cereal; 57% like sex.” A new restaurant chain is poised to capitalise on the most important meal of the day by offering consumers tantalising combinations of their favorite cereals in trendy shops that scream fun.
Six years after barely losing the most contested presidential race in recent United States history, Al Gore has ridden a popular new film on global climate change to the centre of American politics. Former vice-president Gore denied again Sunday that he intended to contest the Democratic nomination for president in 2008 — which could pit him against his former boss’s wife, Senator Hillary Clinton.
Business confidence could decline in months to come, the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) warned on Tuesday. However, in May, the Business Confidence Index was still in ”comfortable territory”, said Sacob consulting economist Richard Downing.
Seven people have died in Namibia and 27 have fallen ill after an outbreak of polio, the first in the Southern African country since 1995, the health ministry said on Tuesday. "We have 34 cases and I can confirm today that it is polio," said Kalumbi Shangula, the permanent secretary of the health ministry.
Draped in the traditional jackets and robes of southern Iraq, the skeletons lie in a grim tableau at the bottom of the sandy ditch, their jaws open and blindfolds of tattered Arab scarves tied around their empty eye sockets. "I believe they were shot here," said Michael Trimble, head of the mass graves unit for the Regime Crimes Liaison Office in Iraq.