As the death toll in the siege of Beslan’s School Number One climbed to 330 — 156 of them children — Russia warned that terrorists had declared ”a full-scale war”. Officials said all 35 hostage-takers were dead as doctors struggled to cope with more than 600 injured children and adults.

For Borik Rubaiv and hundreds of other pupils at Beslan’s Middle School Number One, it was to have been a celebration of the first day of the new school term. Parents carried flowers and teachers wore their best clothes. It was some of the older children who noticed them first — a masked group quickly crossing the railway tracks that run behind the school.

There has been a fundamental shift in the presidential race. Bush’s offensive has left Kerry’s campaign floundering. Last week, he shook up his top staff, bringing in Clinton era experts. He also went negative, too, lambasting Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney for dodging Vietnam. For Democrats that means Kerry, at last, has come out swinging.

The European Union (EU) has renewed a threat to slap sanctions on the Sudanese government if it does not do more to rein in militias in the western Darfur region. Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot welcomed some progress on the humanitarian situation in Darfur, but lamented that security remains a problem.

The fifth TDK Golden League meeting of the year in Brussels produced two new world records but, following the failures at the Olympic Games, for South Africa’s representatives it was not a good meet on Friday evening. Most of the athletes looked tired after the hectic period in Athens.

The All Blacks are set to lose a cornerstone of their Test pack, with 42-Test veteran prop Kees Meeuws to take up a European contract at the end of the year. Media reports have linked Meeuws to a French club and it is understood the loosehead prop was leaving the country for lifestyle reasons.

A strike four minutes from the end by substitute striker Kabamba Musasa earned the Democratic Republic of Congo a 1-0 win over Bafana Bafana in a hard fought World Cup Group 2 qualifier played at the Stade de Martys. Bafana had the better of a tense first 45 minutes and should have had a penalty in the 13th minute.