By the time you get into bed tonight, more people will have died brutal deaths in Iraq. The toll in the two weeks after the destruction of the Samarra mosque was 500, which averages 35 people a day — men, women and children. The explosions and the deaths have become so routine, they barely register with public opinion any more.
Violent clashes erupted on Saturday on the streets of Minsk, capital of the authoritarian state of Belarus, when riot police attacked protesters with teargas, stun grenades and batons, injuring several people. Hundreds of demonstrators, who had been protesting against the allegedly fraudulent outcome of last weekend’s presidential elections, marched on a police station where their fellow protesters had been taken.
Charles Taylor, Liberia’s exiled former warlord and president wanted internationally on crimes against humanity charges, was set to return on Saturday after Nigeria agreed to his extradition. Taylor (58) gained notoriety for plundering his own West African state, encouraging rebellion in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire and making Guinea anxious about its own potential for revolution.
A new phobia has exploded among cellphone users in Greece. The ”fear of fear” has been brought on by revelations of eavesdropping at Vodafone, the country’s biggest mobile operator, say psychoanalysts reporting a boom in patients. Greeks, anxious their phones may have been tapped by bosses or spouses, have sought medical help.
Tiger Woods plans to reduce his golfing schedule when he becomes a father so he can spend more time with his children, the 10-time major champion told the United States television show 60 Minutes. In an interview to be aired on Sunday, excerpts of which were posted on the show’s website, Woods tells Ed Bradley that fatherhood comes before golf feats and when wife Elin gives birth to his children he will put his family first.
On first examination, Hill E1 does not suggest that it could stir deep political passions. A barren knob of earth and rock, topped by stunted pines, it spreads out in steep ridges north of Road One from Jerusalem to Jericho. To the south is spread out the vast settlement block of Maale Adumim, overlooking the road; to the north, the land unfolds to the distant Jerusalem neighbourhoods of Mount Scopus and French Hill.
Three more Sierra Leone athletes have gone missing at the Commonwealth Games, bringing to 14 the number that have vanished, sparking a furious response from the government in Freetown. Victoria state police said team officials had now filed 14 missing persons reports, meaning two-thirds of their 21-strong squad have absconded amid concerns that they will seek political asylum.
The Commonwealth Games were ending on Sunday much the way they started –tarnished by an unsavory event and a drug controversy that just won’t go away. While 19-year-old Canadian gymnast Alexandra Orlando won her record-equaling sixth gold medal and Australia increased its massive lead in the overall count, a Bangladeshi athlete was charged with indecent assault.
Stephen Gray reviews Antjie Krog’s new collection of poetry, a candid portrayal of the body beautiful — and not so beautiful.
Australia had the best of the second day of the second Castle Lager Test against South Africa at Kingsmead on Saturday although Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers fought back well in the last session of the day with a partnership of 130. At close of play, South Africa had 140 for two — still trailing Australia by 229 runs.