A cautious Tiger Woods withstood a first round test of patience at the US Open, the Masters champion firing a par 70 on Thursday to stay in contention at the year’s second major tournament. ”I was as patient as possible, just kept hanging in there, kept grinding,” Woods said.
Cambodian officials on Friday were interrogating four men who took dozens of mostly foreign nursery school pupils hostage at an international school near the famed Angkor Wat temples and allegedly killed a 2-year-old Canadian boy. Dozens of other children — from as many as 15 countries — managed to hide or scramble from the grounds.
Kenya, facing fierce criticism over rampant sleaze, on Thursday said it would have followed South Africa’s example of sacking graft-tainted officials, but lacked evidence to take such a move, a government spokesperson said. Several graft investigations are under way in Kenya, the most vibrant economy in the East African region, but no action has been taken against top government officials.
The trouble with middle-class celebrations of middle-class values is not that they invariably devolve into orgies of materialism and one-upmanship, but that they unblinkingly reveal middle-class prejudices. Valentine’s Day is a repulsive kangaroo court where paramours are tried and convicted on the weight of their wallets.
Rocco Mediate insisted he never lost faith in his ability to play golf, even while chronic back trouble turned him into an also-ran on the PGA Tour. The pain is finally gone, and armed with a new swing and a fit, trim body, the 42-year-old went to the top of the leaderboard on Thursday at the US Open.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Friday said that a one-day wage strike on June 27 in the steel industry would continue as planned. The union said that this came after wage talks between itself and the Steel Engineering Industry Federation Of South Africa failed.
Hurricanes are likely to get more extreme as a result of climate change, say scientists. Computer models of the Earth’s water cycle suggest that hurricanes will intensify as warmer temperatures draw more ocean water into the atmosphere. The research follows a record number of hurricanes affecting Florida and typhoons striking Japan last year.
Insurgents have taken over much of the Iraqi city of Ramadi and used it to launch attacks against United States forces while terrorising the population with public beheadings. A huge bomb killed five marines on Thursday and showered body parts on to rooftops, fuelling suspicion that armour-piercing technology is being developed and tested in Ramadi.
Aids has accelerated the death rate in Swaziland, causing home-based hospice care to expand into an entire support system for affected families. According to the health ministry, the country has the world’s highest HIV prevalence rate, with 42,6% of its adult population infected. Fifteen years ago, hospice patients were primarily cancer victims; now a substantial number are HIV-positive.
The death of the youngest and most short-lived of the rain queens, Makobo Modjadji, this week has thrown the Balobedu nation into mourning. Mathole Motshekga, former Gauteng premier and legal adviser to the royal family, says the question of Queen Makobo’s daughter succeeding her has not yet arisen. A new queen will be chosen after a spiritual ceremony has been completed.