Rafael Benitez believes Liverpool can achieve the impossible and see off Chelsea in the Champions League semifinals despite losing to Jose Mourinho’s men three times already this season. The first instalment of the all Premiership clash takes place at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday with Benitez promising Liverpool would be at their European best rather than their domestic worst.
An inmate who fatally stabbed his grandmother more than 30 times to get cash for crack cocaine was executed early on Wednesday in Missouri’s new death chamber. Donald Jones (38) died by injection at 12.07am. Jones’ relatives had asked governor Matt Blunt to spare his life, arguing the 68-year-old victim would not have sought vengeance against her grandson.
A British police officer investigating allegations of child sex abuse on Pitcairn Island tried to extract information from an islander by getting him drunk, judges in New Zealand have been told. The evidence was given during a sitting in Auckland of the Pitcairn Supreme Court, which is hearing appeals by six islanders against their convictions last October for rape and other sexual offences against underage girls.
Emfuleni local municipality mayor Johnny Thabane and two other senior officials will be replaced by a ”political collective”, the African National Congress in Gauteng said on Tuesday. ”We did not — yesterday, or today — fire the mayor. He is still the mayor. We will introduce changes and redeploy the mayor,” said the provincial premier, Mbhazima Shilowa.
Angry opposition supporters took to the streets of Togo’s capital, Lome, on Tuesday, erecting burning barricades, throwing rocks and attacking cars after the son of the country’s last dictator was declared winner of the presidential election. Plumes of black smoke rose across the city and frightened residents sought refuge as gangs of youths set up road-blocks.
Syria tried to turn humiliation into celebration on Tuesday as as its troops bade farewell to Lebanon and were welcomed across the border by crowds waving Syrian flags and pictures of the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.
Marilú Torres’ knees hurt when they swell, her varicose veins are a constant bother, and cataracts are slowly stealing her vision away. Even so, the 72-year-old hits the streets looking for work every day, although she has to walk much further to find clients than she used to.
Fraud and corruption accused Schabir Shaik was neither an honest nor a credible witness, the prosecution in his trial case in the Durban High Court said on Tuesday.
”Shaik’s evidence is littered with evasion and equivocations,” prosecutor Billy Downer said.
Zimbabweans are reeling under a serious shortage of basic commodities and erratic power supplies following the March 31 parliamentary elections, and experts partially blame this on dwindling foreign exchange reserves and a poor harvest. Captains of industry and trade union leaders say the shortages were anticipated.
Rescuers on Tuesday pulled three survivors and more bodies from the wreckage of a Japanese train as the death toll rose to 76, with a new derailment raising fresh safety concerns following recent rail privatisation. With hundreds of residents watching, rescuers squeezed into flattened carriages in a last effort to find survivors.