Hundreds of dead dolphins have washed up along the shore of a popular tourist destination on Zanzibar’s northern coast, and scientists have ruled out poisoning. It was not immediately clear what killed the 400 dolphins, whose carcasses on Friday were strewn along a 4km stretch of Nungwi.
Al-Qaeda’s number-two leader has issued a video saying that hundreds of suicide bombings in Iraq have ”broken the back” of the United States military — the latest in a volley of messages by the terror network’s most prominent figures. Ayman al-Zawahri said US and British forces ”have achieved nothing but loss, disaster and misfortune”.
Unheralded Pretoria professional Chris Swanepoel flew to the top of a logjam leader board on Friday to set the stage for a thrilling finale to the inaugural SAA Pro-Am Invitational at Paarl Golf Club. The easy-going 21-year-old capitalised on a hot putter to card an eight-under-par 64 and claim the sole lead at 13-under-par 131.
In a season for Kaizer Chiefs that has ominously contained more Downs — with a capital D — than ups, the form of tough acting captain and central defender Fabian McCarthy has stood out like a shining beacon. But now an injured McCarthy will be out of Saturday’s prestigious Absa Cup semifinal against Mamelodi Sundowns.
The Boland Cavaliers pulled off one of the surprises of the Vodacom Cup season when they beat the second-placed Falcons 36-29 in Brakpan on Friday night. In other matches, the Wildebeest beat the Mighty Elephants, the Cheetahs beat the Lions, the Border Bulldogs beat the Leopards, and Griquas beat the Eagles.
New South Wales throttled Otago 20-3 to earn a provisional share of the lead in Super 14 rugby on Friday, while the Western Force remained stuck on the bottom with a second straight draw. Centres Morgan Turinui and Sam Norton-Knight scored the only tries in rainy Dunedin, New Zealand.
Gougou, Gugu, Gege, Goule or Guge? A furious online debate has opened up in China over the recent adoption of a Mandarin name by Google — the latest in a series of controversies to hit the American online search company since it launched a Chinese service earlier this year.
Oil companies such as BP make the bulk of their money from the ”upstream” oil-production business. Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil exporter in the world and rising oil prices have swollen government coffers. Massive demand for oil around the world has helped fuel the biggest shipping boom in history. Where else does the money go?
Sri Lanka and rebel guerrillas on Friday stepped back from restarting one of the world’s bloodiest civil wars, agreeing to peace talks as the government called off air strikes and opened roads to Tamil Tiger-held areas. Jon Hanssen-Bauer, a Norwegian peace envoy, told reporters the two sides would resume talks.
Three years after the start of the Iraq war, one thing New York police do not lack is experience in dealing with protesters — so when they were called to a disturbance at the military recruitment centre in Times Square last October, it sounded like just another routine demonstration. Instead, they found 18 elderly women.