An Australian musicologist has identified a major choral work by Italian baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi during research at the Saxony State library in Dresden, the library announced on Monday. The piece for solo voices, choir and chamber ensemble was based on the Biblical 110 Psalm and represents the most important Vivaldi work to have been discovered in nearly a century.
Facing its 21st Champions League game in a little over a year, defending champions Liverpool look certain to reach the lucrative group stage of Europe’s premier soccer competition on Tuesday. Then Rafa Benitez’ players hope to celebrate on Friday by beating CSKA Moscow in the European Super Cup.
The United Nations refugee chief was due to visit Sudan on Monday to assess the fate of millions of displaced civilians in war-torn Darfur and the recently pacified south of the country. Antonio Gutteres, starting a 10-day tour that will also take him to Chad and Kenya, voiced his concern ahead of his arrival that the world community was ignoring conflicts in Africa such as those in Sudan.
Hundreds of West Bank settlers, some armed with primitive weapons and stun grenades, on Monday prepared to confront troops sent to evict them from their homes in the heart of biblical Israel. Israeli officials expressed fears that the settlers may have even stockpiled pistols in a bid to thwart their evacuation.
Firefighting aircraft from Germany, Italy and The Netherlands headed to Portugal on Monday as the country struggled to contain its biggest wave of wildfires to hit so far this year amid rising temperatures. More than 2 700 firefighters were battling dozens of wildfires, including 27 that threatened some built-up areas.
Israeli troops on Monday began removing residents from the final Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. Soldiers entered the Netzarim settlement five days after a combined Israeli police and army force began the forced evacuation of 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Pilots at South African Airways (SAA) have postponed their attempt to go on strike after talks with management took a positive turn, the SAA Pilots’ Association (Saapa) said on Monday. ”The discussions … have resulted in important progress being made,” said Saapa chairperson Captain Piet Taljaard.
Zimbabwean officials on Monday began a week of crunch talks with a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is weighing whether to expel the Southern African country from its ranks.
A seemingly endless cycle of extreme violence in lawless Somalia is having a ”catastrophic” effect on the war-shattered nation’s civilian population, the international charity Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) said on Monday. ”The frightening fact is that Somalia is officially not even at war,” MSF said.
The Department of Labour has called on employers to make workplaces safe after a second person died of injuries from an accident at Samancor’s Middelburg Ferrochrome furnace last week. Jaji Jan Mtsweni was one of 13 people injured when ”hot gases were released” at one of the furnaces last Wednesday morning.