Helicopter gunships opened fire on Shi’ite militants hiding in Najaf’s massive cemetery on Tuesday as United States patrols armed with speakers warned the militants to leave the city immediately. US tanks drove into the cemetery, explosions shook the streets and black smoke rose over parts of the city.
Violence spreads in Iraq
The death toll from an accident at an illegal drag race at the Odi airstrip in North West on Sunday rose to six when a second man died in hospital on Tuesday. A spokesperson at George Mukhari hospital said Lucky Simbambo (19) died of multiple injuries in the hospital’s intensive-care unit.
World oil prices hovered on Tuesday close to record high levels as concerns about supply disruptions lingered in the wake of a decision by Iraq to cease pumping crude from its southern oil fields. Brent North Sea crude oil for September fell 27 cents to ,29 per barrel in early afternoon trading in London, below Monday’s record high closing level of ,56.
Two Turkish soldiers were killed on Monday night by simultaneous roadside bombs that rocked two hotels in a tourist area of Istanbul. The blasts, triggered by remote control, injured at least seven other people, including a Turkish non-commissioned officer, and were described by police as ”terrorist attacks”.
Vending operators have started adjusting the electronic validation mechanisms of their machines to accept the new R5 coin, the Vending Association of South Africa said on Tuesday. The first machines to be upgraded were the pay-on-foot parking machines at Cresta shopping centre in Johannesburg.
President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday said military spending will always be a priority to ensure that Zimbabwe’s forces are able to confront ”imperialistic efforts to destabilise the nation”. ”We should always maintain a high level of preparedness,” Mugabe said in a speech.
Mugabe accused of election torture
With their decision to disband and join the African National Congress, New National Party leaders had ”sold out” the 250 000 people who supported the party in the last election, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Tuesday. Many South Africans were clearly quite happy to see the NNP disappear while others had been left confused and angry, he said.
Film historians have found a rare Laurel and Hardy short that the famed comedy duo filmed for German audiences — speaking their lines in phonetic German. The 1931 short is being hailed as one of the rare examples of the fad in early talkies of having stars speak their own lines in another language for foreign audiences.
The death toll in floods that have devastated Bangladesh has risen to more than 700, the official news agency BSS said on Tuesday as the United Nations prepared to launch an appeal for post-flood rehabilitation projects. The flooding had claimed 703 lives, including 64 deaths from severe diarrhoea.
The buyout of Secureco Armed Response (Gauteng) by Stallion Security has transformed Stallion into the largest privately held black economic empowerment (BEE) armed-response company in South Africa, according to Stallion Security CEO Clive Zulberg.