Gang fighting entered its sixth day in the anarchic oil city of Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria on Saturday with authorities acknowledging 11 deaths and residents and media putting the toll much higher. Residents and security sources gave conflicting reasons for the gang war that erupted on Monday and has spread all over the city.
Former deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was fired for her inability to work as part of the ”collective” and for undertaking a trip to Madrid against President Thabo Mbeki’s orders. This is according to the letter Mbeki sent to Madlala-Routledge on Wednesday firing her. The Presidency released the letter on Saturday to ”prevent further speculation.”
Two Somali broadcast journalists were killed on Saturday in the capital, Mogadishu, where murder and armed attacks have become almost daily events, hours after four officials were shot dead. Ali Iman Sharmarke, the head of local private media group Horn Afrik, and one of his staff, Mahad Ahmed Elmi, were killed in separate incidents.
At least 35 people were killed after violent rainstorms triggered floods and landslides in various parts of China, state media reported on Saturday. At least 25 people were killed and 37 went missing in north-west China after continuous downpours began to hit cities and counties in Shaanxi province on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Gunmen shot dead a popular Somali radio journalist and talk-show host outside his independent FM station on Saturday in an apparent assassination, colleagues said. Mahad Ahmed Elmi’s broadcasts on Horn Afrik radio had upset both the government and Islamist insurgents. There was no indication as to who had killed him.
President Thabo Mbeki made 80-year old Evelina Mokwena of Dukathole, Aliwal North, in the Eastern Cape, the proud owner of a house on Saturday. The president handed over the house to Mokwena who has lived in a shack for more than 10 years.
Two Taliban negotiators said on Saturday they were ”optimistic” about talks to release their 21 South Korean hostages but insisted that some jailed rebels must be freed first. The Afghan government has consistently rejected the demand since the group of Christian aid workers was captured in the southern province of Ghazni more than three weeks ago.
United States astronauts prepared early on Saturday for the first spacewalk of the shuttle Endeavour mission following discovery of damage in the spacecraft’s protective shield. The two spacewalkers, mission specialists Rick Mastracchio and Dave Williams, were to spend the night at a special airlock to prevent decompression sickness.
An international scramble for the Arctic’s oil and gas resources accelerated on Friday when Canada responded to Russia’s recent sovereignty claims with a plan to build two military bases in the region. On a trip to the far north, the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, said: ”Canada’s new government understands that the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is: use it or lose it.”
Argentine striker Carlos Tevez completed his move to Manchester United on Friday, the Premier League champions said. ”Manchester United is delighted to announce that Carlos Tevez has been registered as a member of its first-team squad by the Premier League,” United said in a statement.