Foreign

Pakistan overtake SA as Cup favourites
By Derek Hindman EAST LONDON -- Pakistan are new favourites to win the the cricket World Cup with South Africa relegated to second place on the bookmakers' boards. At the start of the tournament, Zimbabwe were rated as 250-1 outsiders but after ...

Pakistan claims border attacks repulsed
ISLAMABAD -- Tension increased in embattled Kashmir yesterday as the Pakistan army said it repulsed three border attacks by Indian troops and reports said at least 10 children died in Indian shelling. A senior military official said the situation...

Russia may default on debt
MOSCOW -- Russia's new Cabinet, which has been plagued by political in-fighting, convened yesterday to tackle economic troubles, including the country's worsening foreign debt problem. Russia is widely expected to default on a $578 million paymen...

Balloons go adrift in Japan
TOKYO -- More than 10 unidentified balloons were found yesterday morning scattered over a wide swath of western Japan, police said. The balloons, each measuring 20 metres in length and two metres in width, were found in Hiroshima, Shimane, Okaya...

Jordan coronation on June 9
AMMAN -- The official coronation of Jordan's King Abdullah and his wife, Queen Rania, will take place in a simple ceremony on June 9, an official said yesterday. "It will be a symbolic ceremony rather than a full-blown traditional coronation. It ...

Huge Ethiopian mineral find
ADDIS ABABA -- Huge deposits of minerals including potash and sulphur have been discovered in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar state, officials said. Ethiopian and foreign prospectors have found "a huge deposit in the form of salt, potash, sulphur, m...

Zambian dies in mine blast
LUSAKA -- An employee of a Norwegian aid organisation was killed when his car drove over a landmine in southern Zambia on Sunday, police said. Denis Berejena, a Zambian national, was in the last of a convoy of nine vehicles travelling close to th...