Kenya police on Monday said they had killed eight suspected members of a gang blamed for a spate of murders and beheadings, as part of a widening crackdown. Once a religious group of dreadlocked youths who embraced traditional rituals, the politically linked Mungiki sect has fractured into a gang notorious for criminal activities.
Deprived of international competition for 15 years due to the threat of Islamic terrorism, Algeria is primed and ready this week to host the ninth edition of the All Africa Games. The North African state will be only the second country after Nigeria in 1973 and 2003 to host the event on two occasions, having already been the venue for the Games in 1978.
South Africans have taken the bait for the FishMS line that can tell you whether the fish you are about to eat is in plentiful supply or illegal, a spokesperson for the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative said on Monday. The instant access to accurate information and an informed choice has ”struck a chord with South Africa’s seafood lovers”, Timony Siebert said.
The JSE extended gains at noon on Monday paced by miners on better metal prices, while banks rose on talks that the local monetary authorities were unlikely to raise interest rates. At 11.58am, the all-share index was up 1,10%. Resources gained 1,17%, the gold and platinum mining indices surged 1,35% and 2%.
”I’d been given a ticket for parking illegally on the pavement near the Greek temples at Agrigento in southern Sicily more than a year ago. My excuse? Everyone was doing it and the car park looked full … I’d been a fugitive for too long and it was time to turn myself in.” Giles Elgood discovers it’s rather hard to pay a Sicilian parking ticket.
Bali, the lush Indonesian island famous for its sun-kissed beaches, is drawing tourists in droves, and travel warnings that Islamic militants might strike again has done little to dampen the spirit. Almost five years after 202 people were killed in the bombing of a Bali nightclub, tourists are back enjoying the island’s nightlife and soaking up the sun on Bali’s palm-fringed beaches.
Zimbabwean police have arrested more than 1Â 300 shop owners and business executives for defying the government’s orders to reduce prices. President Robert Mugabe’s government, concerned by rocketing prices that could trigger social unrest, had ordered shops and businesses to reduce their prices to levels used on June 18, or face arrest.
Nantucket is classic New England: sailing ships, cobblestone streets, grey shingle cottages with white trim, clam-chowder competitions — and class warfare. The latest outbreak is over a proposal by the island’s super-rich residents to try to hold back the Atlantic, which threatens to send their coastline mansions toppling.
Women in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, world-famous for its ferocious bull-running festival, are demanding their own version complete with cows instead of bulls. A student website set the ball rolling with its campaign ”Cows want to run” which asks for a separate encierro where only women are allowed to take part.
A debate is intensifying inside the White House over whether President George Bush should try to prevent more Republican defections by announcing intentions for a gradual withdrawal of troops from high-casualty Iraqi areas, the New York Times said on Monday.