Fresh fighting erupted on Thursday between Islamic militia and a United States-backed warlord alliance on the outskirts of the lawless Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least three. Stung by the loss on Wednesday of a key position in north-east Mogadishu, the alliance attacked the Islamists at the nearby village of El Arfid.
The man already on death row for terrorising the Washington area in a 2002 sniper rampage was found guilty this week on six counts of murder in Maryland and sentenced to six life terms in prison on Thursday, United States media reported. The jury’s verdict came after a drama-filled trial.
An Orthodox Jew was threatened with divorce after blowing several thousand dollars on a parrot that swore like a trooper, Israel’s mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot daily said on Thursday. The man’s religious household in the Tel Aviv area was bombarded by insults such as ”son of a bitch” and ”homo” from the bird.
Seismic activity in the only active volcano on the Comoros islands ceased on Thursday after a spectacular but contained eruption created eerie red clouds over the Indian Ocean archipelago this week. ”The seismic signal is null,” said vulcanologist Julie Morin, one of a team of experts from the nearby French island of Réunion.
Iran will never negotiate its nuclear programme with the United States, its oil minister said in a television interview while in Venezuela for an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting. ”We are never going to negotiate the nuclear fuel cycle,” Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said.
South Africa will officially unveil its Soccer World Cup 2010 emblem in Berlin on July 7. Significantly, this will be before the end of the World Cup in Germany and, as such, is a first in the history of the tournament. This was announced on Thursday by Danny Jordaan, CEO of the South African World Cup committee.
An East London man who caused the death of six children when he lost control of a bakkie has been sent to prison for seven years, the Dispatch Online reported on Thursday. It said East London Regional Court magistrate Fungile Dotwana handed down the sentence on Wednesday.
Three men, including two Chinese nationals, are expected to appear in court in June after the Scorpions arrested them and confiscated more than three tonnes of perlemoen (abalone) and R263Â 000 in cash, the elite unit said on Thursday. In a statement, the Directorate of Special Operations said it acted on a tip-off.
The North West government is wasting public funds on the disciplinary hearings of two executive managers who have resigned from the North West Housing Corporation. This is according to Lesedi Matlholwa, who along with Wandile Bozwana was suspended pending a forensic investigation that led to their facing internal charges.
The parliamentary caucus of the ruling African National Congress has backed the movement’s national executive committee in declaring that it was not over-centralised and that the country was not systematically shifting towards a dictatorial leadership style.