The football World Cup kicks off in Germany in exactly 100 days with the organisers determined to use the tournament to improve the country’s image abroad. The organising committee has dismissed criticism about stadium safety, but the question of whether the army should be allowed to help the police reinforce security is still unanswered.
For all the talk of a globalised world, America’s national pastime of baseball still baffles most of the planet. The inaugural 16-nation World Baseball Classic opening this weekend in Japan is the latest bid to globalize the sport described almost a century ago as America’s secular religion.
British charity Oxfam has criticised the United Kingdom for a legal loophole that allowed the sale of military equipment to Uganda which were used to violently quell opposition demonstrations. ”The lack of international controls on the arms trade is making a mockery of national arms laws,” said Phil Bloomer, Oxfam’s policy director.
It is up for several honours at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony, but already Crash has taken first prize when it comes to most curse words in a movie nominated for a best picture Oscar, according to the movie watchdog group FamilyMediaGuide.com.
The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven aides on charges of crimes against humanity resumed on Wednesday with all the defence lawyers attending the session, except Saddam’s lead lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi. All the eight defendants came to the court and sat down quietly, an Agence France-Presse correspondent reported.
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Voters were streaming to polling stations in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning. In Hyde Park, parking was a battle with cars stretching up and down the streets around voting stations. A woman who refused to be named had only one request: ”Politicians should just learn to apologise and admit when they are wrong or else they will discourage people from voting for them”.
Kenyan police said on Wednesday they had arrested three journalists over an article alleging that President Mwai Kibaki held secret talks with a lawmaker who had successfully rallied opposition to constitutional reform last year. After recording statements, the men were locked in the capital’s Kileleshwa police post, said Danson Diru, a police’s criminal police investigations officer.
Apple Computer on Tuesday unveiled a new mini-computer designed as a hub for digital entertainment, and a home stereo system linked with its popular iPod music player. The mini-PC is Apple’s answer to the so-called digital media hubs that run on Microsoft’s Windows Media Centre platform.
Google lost yet more of its shine on Tuesday after a senior executive at the internet search giant admitted growth at the company was slowing. Shares in Google fell 13% in early trading on Wall Street and dragged stock markets lower on both sides of the Atlantic after chief financial officer George Reyes told an investor conference in New York that ”growth will slow”.
Archaeologists have uncovered remains of an Indonesian civilisation entombed by debris from the largest volcanic eruption in modern history. Mount Tambora’s eruption on April 10 1815 smothered villages on the island of Sumbawa with pumice, ash and rock, and claimed the lives of 90 000 people.