Heavily armed Somali fighters have occupied Mogadishu’s main hospital, forcing a near shutdown in key services to patients wounded in factional fighting that has rocked the city, witnesses said on Tuesday. Dozens of gunmen from a United States-backed warlord alliance took over the Keysaney Hospital in northern Mogadishu.
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Striker Michael Owen has been given the all-clear to play in the friendly against Hungary at Old Trafford on Tuesday after a new injury scare. Owen has only just fully recovered from breaking a bone in his foot on New Year’s Eve, but it was a ”tight thigh” after training on Monday that caused manager Sven Goran Eriksson to send him to hospital for a scan.
Only the Constitutional Court can help axed Cape Town municipal manager Wallace Mgoqi after his bid to appeal a high court decision against him was dismissed. The Cape High Court dismissed with costs Mgoqi’s appeal against a full-bench decision in May, setting aside a one-year extension of his contract as city manager.
An African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) city councillor was threatened with firearms by a drunken Western Cape police officer and his brother on Monday night. The ACDP allege that the drunken police officer threatened ACDP councillor Sipho Xasana with a firearm after the vehicle he [the police officer] was in hit a parked car outside Xasana’s house on Monday night.
The JSE was weaker in noon trade on Tuesday, taking its cue from European markets. The losses came on fairly light volumes. By 12.17pm, the all-share index shed 0,89%. Industrials and financials fell 0,46% and 1,05% respectively, while the banks index slid 1,64%.
Rafael Nadal’s blockbuster success story opened another chapter on Monday when the Spanish teenager set a new record of 54 successive clay-court victories. Defending champion Nadal, the second seed, brushed past Sweden’s Robin Soderling 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 to get his French Open title defence off to a flying start.
An earthquake measuring 6,0 on the Richter scale rocked Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province on Tuesday, causing panic among residents but no reported casualties, meteorologists said. The temblor came just days after a powerful quake left more than 5 400 dead on the central Java island.
Israel has condemned a ”repulsive” vote by Britain’s main university lecturers’ union to boycott colleges and academics unless they publicly oppose government policy in the Palestinian territories. Education Minister Yuli Tamir said on Monday that the decision would only serve to undermine academic independence.
President Robert Mugabe’s government is heightening repression against Zimbabwe’s opposition and critics of the veteran leader’s long rule, analysts say. Last week, the government published proposed legislation that would give it the authority to monitor phones and mail — both conventional and electronic.
Geologists warned on Tuesday that simmering Mount Merapi volcano could blow its top in the wake of the powerful quake that devastated swathes of Indonesia’s main island of Java. "There is a very large possibility that tectonic activities trigger or increase volcanic activities," said Syamsulrizal, who works at Indonesia’s national vulcanology office.