Talks to boost chances for the conclusion of a global trade pact in 2006 turned to the thorny issue of agriculture in Ukunda, Kenya, on Friday with a landmark World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling against United States cotton subsidies weighing heavily in discussions.
Five people suspected of involvement in last year’s Beslan school massacre have been killed by Russian authorities while resisting arrest, an official said on Friday. Four suspects were also said to have been arrested in an operation that targeted some of the alleged organisers of the hostage-taking raid at the school in the town of Beslan, in southern Russia, last September.
Over a quarter of the rapes reported in Johannesburg’s inner city were gang rapes, a study to be released on International Women’s Day has found. ”We found that more than one in four of rapes reported at these stations involved multiple perpetrators,” the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation said in a statement on Friday.
The first morning of the first Castle Lager/MTN Test between South Africa and Zimbabwe at Sahara Park, Newlands, saw two South African players reach significant career milestones on Friday. Makhaya Ntini took his 200th Test wicket, and Mark Boucher reached 300 Test dismissals. Ntini is the 11th current Test player to take more than 200 wickets.
If Liverpool lose at Newcastle on Saturday, our Scouse friends should treat it not as just another dip in a roller-coaster season, more as the start of a long goodbye to most of their men in red. If the whispers emerging from Anfield are right, just six of the current inconsistent, overpaid foreigners will survive a major summer clear-out by Spanish boss Rafael Benitez.
Andriy Shevchenko missed Milan’s Champions League victory at Old Trafford through injury, and Manchester United will be hoping Europe’s footballer of the year is absent from Tuesday’s return at the San Siro. By the age of 28, ”Sheva” has amassed an outstanding hoard of personal and team honours, but he is desperate not to become pigeon-holed.
With most of the ties still undecided, there’s plenty to look forward to in next week’s Champions League as we go from 16 teams down to eight. The first-leg games in the first knockout round lived up to all expectations. Fortunately, with many questions left unanswered, it’s only half time. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the cream of Europe will clash again.
Toxic waste washed on to Somalia’s coastline by last December’s tsumani have spawned diseases bearing symptoms of radioactive exposure in villagers along the shorelines of the shattered African nation, the United Nations Environment Programme said on Friday.
Togo’s electoral commission has set April 24 as the date for presidential elections, news reports said on Friday. The way for elections was cleared when Faure Gnassingbe stepped down as president last weekend after heavy international pressure.
Swedish public television (SVT) mistakenly published an obituary for Pope John Paul II on its website, where it remained for more than five hours before it was taken down, the broadcasting company said on Friday. "This was a very unfortunate mistake," SVT spokesperson Johanna Niemi said.