Troops stepped up security across the Somali capital on Saturday after Islamists threatened to disrupt this weekend’s peace conference, saying anyone who takes part ”is sentenced to death”. The threat came from the Shabab, the militant wing of an Islamic group that ruled much of southern Somalia for six months last year.
Osama bin Laden praises martyrdom in a new videotape posted on a militant website on Sunday by al-Qaeda’s media-production wing. The Bin Laden clip, which lasted less than a minute, was undated and part of a 40-minute video featuring purported al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan paying tribute to fellow militants who had been killed.
Skyrocketing inflation, erratic power supplies, a skills shortage and a dearth of foreign exchange have combined to ensure Zimbabwe is missing out on a global boom in gold prices. The potential benefits for manufacturers and miners are being rapidly eroded by the collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar.
The United Nations and African Union host a meeting in Tripoli on Sunday to evaluate the troubled peace process in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur, which is bedevilled by fragmented rebel groups and competing initiatives. The meeting brings together those countries and organisations trying to end the four-year conflict.
Olympic champion Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe won two swimming gold medals on Saturday at the All Africa Games and was denied a silver when her team were disqualified from the 4x100m relay. In men’s swimming, South Africa claimed two more gold medals, bringing the team’s total haul of swimming golds to 12.
The Sharks, with too much pace and abundant skill, earned a comfortable bonus point win over a plucky Griqualand West side in their Absa Currie Cup rugby match as they posted a 43-20 victory at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday. The Sharks, who led 24-6 at half-time, scored six tries against two by Griqualand West.
In a game that promised to be the comeback of the Western Province rugby team, they managed to defeat the SWD Eagles 30-8 in front of about 2 000 spectators. The half-time score was 22-3. From the start, Province showed their intentions to run the ball when fullback Gio Aplon joined the back line and scored within seconds.
Linus Gerdemann of Germany won Saturday’s seventh stage of the Tour de France to take the overall leader’s yellow jersey as the race entered the Alps. Gerdemann won by speeding out from a group of breakaway riders during the 197km ride from Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand-Bornand.
Free State were crowned the top team at the 2007 Coca-Cola Under-18 Craven Week after scoring a one-sided 52-3 win over hosts Western Province (WP) in the tournament’s final game at Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch on Saturday. WP scored first, but from there on it was all one-way traffic.
Tazmin Brits, number one on the javelin world list and South Africa’s best candidate for a gold medal, qualified in style for Sunday’s final when the IAAF World Youth Athletics Championships continued in the Czech Republic on Saturday. Willem Voigt, of South Western Districts, was one of the sensations of the high-jump competition.