Tutu would welcome new SA party

JOHANNESBURG – Archbishop Desmond Tutu would welcome the creation of a viable opposition in South Africa, after ruling party infighting forced former president Thabo Mbeki to resign, he said in remarks published yesterday.

Thirty dead as groups clash in India * GUWAHATI – Indian police battled with rampaging mobs yesterday, killing four people, in a bid to contain clashes between Muslims and tribal groups in the northeast that have claimed 30 lives, officials said. Turkey buries 15 soldiers * ANKARA – Tens of thousands of Turks in cities across Turkey attended the funerals yesterday 15 soldiers slain in a Kurdish rebel attack.Delta militants say hostages freed * LAGOS – The main militant group in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta said yesterday it had released around 19 Nigerian oil workers kidnapped last month but was still holding two Britons and a Ukrainian.Taliban mad over alleged US strike * DERA ISMAIL KHAN – The Taliban are unusually angry about the latest suspected US missile strike in Pakistan, a sign a top militant may have died in the attack, officials and residents said yesterday amid reports the death toll rose by two to 24.US not trying to undermine Russia * ASTANA – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday rejected any suggestion that US efforts to build closer ties to this former Soviet republic are meant to undermine Russian influence in Central Asia.Tainted Cadbury in Hong Kong * BEIJING – Hong Kong said yesterday it found two Cadbury chocolate products contained considerably more of the industrial chemical melamine than the city’s legal limit in a growing scandal over tainted food made in China.Egyptian bus crash kills 11 CAIRO – At least 11 Egyptians were killed when an intercity bus collided head-on with a truck on a highway south of Cairo yesterday, and 23 others were injured, security and medical sources said.Health scare in Gauteng JOHANNESBURG – Three people have died following cases of an infectious disease in Johannesburg, the Health Department said yesterday.Turkey buries 15 soldiers * ANKARA – Tens of thousands of Turks in cities across Turkey attended the funerals yesterday 15 soldiers slain in a Kurdish rebel attack.Delta militants say hostages freed * LAGOS – The main militant group in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta said yesterday it had released around 19 Nigerian oil workers kidnapped last month but was still holding two Britons and a Ukrainian.Taliban mad over alleged US strike * DERA ISMAIL KHAN – The Taliban are unusually angry about the latest suspected US missile strike in Pakistan, a sign a top militant may have died in the attack, officials and residents said yesterday amid reports the death toll rose by two to 24. US not trying to undermine Russia * ASTANA – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday rejected any suggestion that US efforts to build closer ties to this former Soviet republic are meant to undermine Russian influence in Central Asia.Tainted Cadbury in Hong Kong * BEIJING – Hong Kong said yesterday it found two Cadbury chocolate products contained considerably more of the industrial chemical melamine than the city’s legal limit in a growing scandal over tainted food made in China. Egyptian bus crash kills 11 CAIRO – At least 11 Egyptians were killed when an intercity bus collided head-on with a truck on a highway south of Cairo yesterday, and 23 others were injured, security and medical sources said. Health scare in Gauteng JOHANNESBURG – Three people have died following cases of an infectious disease in Johannesburg, the Health Department said yesterday.