An air strike by foreign-led forces killed 25 civilians, including 12 members of a family, and 20 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, the provincial police chief said on Friday. Hussien Andiwal said the raid took place on Thursday night as part of an operation against Taliban fighters by foreign forces and Afghan troops.
President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s ruling party is expected to be the big winner of legislative elections on Sunday in Congo, where opposition complaints have had little impact. Sassou Nguesso has been back in controversy this week after French prosecutors started investigating allegations that he used embezzled state funds to buy luxury Paris apartments.
Muslims angered by Britain’s decision to honour author Salman Rushdie with a knighthood were rallying in London on Friday, warning that anger over the award could match the fierce reaction to publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark last year.
Two game farmers with tape measures in hand say Free State authorities break their own rules for housing confiscated wildlife, including lions, a media report said on Friday. Free State department of environmental affairs spokesperson Kgotso Tau said: ”Individuals should stop kicking up dust and dramatising.”
Two boys have been rescued from a Transkei initiation school after a so-called traditional surgeon cut off the ends of their penises, the Eastern Cape health department said on Friday. Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the boys, plus a third youth, were found at the village of Swazini near Port St Johns.
The Democratic Alliance accused the Nokeng tsa Taemane municipality on Friday of hiding the truth by denying it faced collapse and needed R20-million from Gauteng province to survive. Municipal manager Mpho Mogale admitted the municipality had a cash-flow problem, and said plans were already in place to deal with it.
A man and a woman died, four people were injured and 45 shacks were destroyed in a fire in Malvern, Johannesburg police said on Friday. A 46-year-old man — thought to have started the blaze at about 11pm on Thursday night — has been arrested, said police spokesperson Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht.
Paul Collingwood was named on Friday as England’s new one-day captain and put in charge of a new-look squad for the upcoming series against the West Indies. The Durham all-rounder replaces Michael Vaughan, who has opted to concentrate on his role at the helm of the Test team.
The death-sentence fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie by Iran’s revolutionary leader 18 years ago is still valid and will remain so, a leading cleric said on Friday following Britain’s knighting of the controversial author. ”In Islamic Iran, the revolutionary fatwa issued by Imam Khomeini remains valid …,” Hojatoleslam Ahmad Khatami said.
A judge ordered a bail hearing for suspects accused of trying to topple Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to be held behind closed doors on Friday to protect the identity of the alleged ringleaders. ”This case is a very sensitive one,” High Court Judge Tedius Karwi said, granting a prosecution request to bar the media.