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Ecuador began their World Cup campaign with a precious 2-0 win over Group A rivals Poland on Friday. Carlos Tenorio broke the deadlock in the 24th minute with a stooping header and Agustin Delgado made the points safe with a simple tap-in 10 minutes from time. Poland enjoyed plenty of possession but were short on ideas in the final third of the pitch.
It was a rout. After months of fighting that left hundreds dead, Mogadishu fell suddenly this week: pick-up trucks with mounted machine-guns and young warriors scrambled to leave the city. The victors broadcast a triumphant announcement that the warlords had been ousted.
The Western Cape department of local government had its electricity and water reconnected on Friday after it paid R242 000 towards its arrears bill. The department’s city centre building was disconnected on Thursday over what the City of Cape Town said was an outstanding amount of over R724 000.
The world’s most-influential finance chiefs convened in Saint Petersburg on Saturday and were to call for greater international cooperation on energy policies and increased investment in the energy sector, according to a draft text of their statement.
The Department of Correctional Services has deployed a team of investigators to probe the possibility of a syndicate assisting prisoners to escape from the Middledrift and St Albans prisons in the Eastern Cape. Spokesperson Zukisa Nduneni on Friday said a team from the department’s investigation unit has been deployed.
Cramped in a single tent sheltering 41 people, survivors of last month’s Indonesian earthquake at this hamlet complain they receive only one meal a day, with assistance still slow to fully flow here two weeks after the disaster. ”We don’t know how much longer we have to endure this situation,” said a weary looking Endang.
One of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes continued spewing ash overnight, raising fears of a possible eruption and leaving one man dead, officials said on Saturday. The Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology said an explosion from the 1 565m summit of Bulusan sent ash and steam 1km into the air and showered ash on surrounding villages.
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Germany got the win they wanted at the start of the World Cup. The hosts beat Costa Rica 4-2 on Friday in the opening match of the tournament, hoping to inspire enough confidence in the team for the rest of the World Cup. Striker Miroslav Klose celebrated his 28th birthday by scoring two goals.
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An army of police and stadium guards met tens of thousands of partying soccer fans at the World Cup’s opening games on Friday — and aside from a handful of arrests the biggest problem was long lines caused by tight security. Officers on horseback patrolled outside the stadium where Germany played Costa Rica.
At least 47 people were killed on Friday when a bus plunged into a river in northern Tanzania, bringing the death toll from traffic accidents in the region to at least 75 this week. The bus, going from the town of Melerani to Arusha, spun out of control on a bridge and toppled into a river at Makumira, about 20km from its destination, killing the victims.