An oil tanker truck rolled down a hill and smashed into four minibuses in Kenya, killing 29 people and injuring more than 30, police said on Friday. The tanker’s driver had stopped to refuel on Thursday when the vehicle started rolling, police chief Grace Kaindi said in Kisii, about 270km west of the capital, Nairobi.
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There’s no question that great athletes take their sports to the level of art. But as the French host the Rugby World Cup, they’re pushing that concept a step further by bringing rugby into an art museum. It’s a genteel Parisian touch to a sport more often associated with muscle, body-crunching tackles.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said on Friday it was ”angered” by Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula saying the integration of metro police forces into the South African Police Service (SAPS) was inevitable. On Thursday, Nqakula told a media briefing at Parliament that no one could stop the incorporation of metro police into the SAPS.
Forest fires that have devastated southern Greece and claimed 63 lives in eight days died down on Friday, but emergency services feared a new heatwave could rekindle some blazes. ”Things are going well,” a fire-service spokesperson said, adding that the fires were no longer threatening populated areas.
The Iraqi government has called on armed groups to follow the lead of the biggest Shi’ite militia and freeze their operations, even as the United States military on Friday reported the deaths of two more American service members in fighting against Sunni insurgents.
The Israeli military said on Friday that three Gaza children killed this week were playing next to a rocket launcher when the army mistook them for militants and opened fire. The three young cousins were killed on Wednesday when Israeli troops combating Palestinian rocket squads spotted figures moving near rocket launchers in northern Gaza.
Princess Diana’s family solemnly marked the 10th anniversary of her death on Friday, with her younger son eulogising her as ”the best mother in the world”. The bishop of London used his sermon to call for an end to the sniping between Diana’s fans and detractors, and a priest who has led an annual memorial said it may now be time to let go.
Piet Bothma, the suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court in connection with the Fidentia saga. It was Bothma’s second court appearance. He was recently arrested as a third suspect in the affair.
Hilly Kristal, the founder of New York punk rock club CBGB, which helped make the Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads stars, has died at age 75, his daughter said on Wednesday. Kristal died on Tuesday from complications of lung cancer, his daughter, Lisa Kristal Burgman, said.
South Africa has denied it blamed Britain for Zimbabwe’s isolation in a report prepared for a regional summit earlier this month. The office of President Thabo Mbeki denied that the government produced a report on Zimbabwe critical of Britain before Mbeki briefed leaders of the Southern African Development Community on his mediation efforts in mid-August.