Cricket-New Zealand 157-4 v South Africa - close, day three

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Jan 13 (Reuters) - New Zealand were 157 for four wickets in their second innings, trailing hosts South Africa by 247 runs, at the close on the third day of the second test at St. George's Park on Sunday.ScoresSouth Africa first innings 525-8 declared (Graeme Smith 54, Hashim Amla 110, AB de Villiers 51, Faf du Plessis 137, Dean Elgar 103 not out)New Zealand first innings...

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Cricket-S.Africa v N.Zealand - second test scoreboard

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Scoreboardat the close on the third day of the second cricket test betweenSouth Africa and New Zealand at St. George's Park on Sunday:South Africa won the toss and elected to batSouth Africa first innings 525 for eight declared (F. DuPlessis 137, H. Amla 110, D. Elgar 103 not out)New Zealand first innings 121 all out (BJ Watling 63; D.Steyn five for...

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UPDATE 3-Cricket-New Zealand show fight against South Africa

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Jan 13 (Reuters) - New Zealand fought bravely to move to 157 for four in their second innings, following on and still 247 runs behind South Africa, at the close of the third day's play in the second test on Sunday.Unbeaten pair BJ Watling (41) and Dean Brownlie (44) provided stern resistance and the duo looked relatively untroubled as they added an unbroken fifth-wicket...

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AP names Torchia as bureau chief in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Christopher Torchia, The Associated Press bureau chief in Turkey who has reported from five continents, has been appointed chief of bureau for AP for southern Africa.The appointment was announced Thursday by Africa Editor Andrew Selsky."Torchia is one of the best foreign correspondents in the business and has the experience and talent to deliver fascinating stories from this important...

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Nigeria airline in June crash resumes flights

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian airline involved in a June crash that killed at least 163 people resumed domestic flights Thursday, even though officials acknowledge they still don't know what brought the aircraft down and that the families of the dead still haven't received insurance settlements.Government authorities cleared Dana Air to again fly the same type of planes involved in the crash,...

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C. African Republic leader fires son from post

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Facing an insurgency by a new rebel coalition, the president of Central African Republic consolidated military power under his control Thursday after dismissing his own son as acting defense minister along with his army chief of staff.President Francois Bozize said in a decree read on state radio late Wednesday that he was taking over the position held by his...

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South Africa's Tutu prays for Mandela

 South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu says he is praying for a prompt recovery for former leader Nelson Mandela, who has been hospitalized for more than two weeks.Radio 702, a South African station, on Sunday broadcast an interview with Tutu in which he says he exchanged telephone text messages about Mandela with the anti-apartheid icon's wife, Graca Machel.Mandela who is 94, has been hospitalized...

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South Africa: Mandela's hospital stay extended

Former South African leader Nelson Mandela will probably spend Christmas Day in a hospital because his doctors want to be satisfied his health has improved satisfactorily before sending him home, a South African media outlet reported Sunday.Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said the physicians caring for Mandela had given no indication of an "imminent discharge" from a hospital in Pretoria, the capital,...

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Mali Islamists destroy Timbuktu mausoleums

A tourism official says that Islamist extremists destroyed four mausoleums in Timbuktu Sunday.The director of Mali's Timbuktu tourism office, Sane Chirfi, said that Ansar Dine rebels linked to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb tore down the mausoleums, which were historic but not included on the United Nations list of World Heritage sites. The mausoleums housed the remains of Muslim scholars and teachers...

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Traditions in Chad harm, kill underfed children

On the day of their son's surgery, the family woke before dawn. They saddled their horses and set out across the 12-mile-long carpet of sand to the nearest town, where they hoped the reputed doctor would cure their frail, feverish baby.The neighboring town, almost as poor and isolated as their own, hosts a foreign-run emergency clinic for malnourished children. But that's not where the family headed.The...

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Tablet as teacher: Poor Ethiopian kids learn ABCs

The kids in this volcano-rim village wear filthy, ragged clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud. They don't go to school. Yet they all can chant the English alphabet, and some can spell words.The key to their success: 20 tablet computers dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a group called One Laptop Per Child.The goal is to find out whether children...

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Violence, fear & suspicion imperil Pakistan's war on polio

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani health worker Bushra Bibi spent eight years trekking to remote villages, carefully dripping polio vaccine into toddlers' pursed mouths to protect them from the crippling disease. Now the 35-year-old mother is too scared to go to work after masked men on motorbikes gunned down nine of her fellow health workers in a string of attacks this week. "I have seen...

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Egypt's constitution approved in vote, say rival camps

CAIRO (Reuters) - A constitution drafted by an Islamist-dominated assembly was approved by a majority of Egyptians in a referendum, rival camps said on Sunday, after a vote the opposition said drove a wedge through the Arab world's most populous nation.The Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power in a June election, said 64 percent of voters backed the charter after two...

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Egypt's draft charter gets 'yes' majority in vote

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist-backed constitution received a "yes" majority in a final round of voting on a referendum that saw a low voter turnout, but the deep divisions it has opened up threaten to fuel continued turmoil.Passage is a victory for Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, but a costly one. The bruising battle over the past month stripped away hope that the long-awaited constitution would...

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North Korea could have U.S. within missile range, says South

SEOUL (Reuters) - This month's rocket launch by reclusive North Korea shows it has likely developed the technology, long suspected in the West, to fire a warhead more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles), South Korean officials said on Sunday, putting the U.S. West Coast in range.North Korea said the December 12 launch put a weather satellite in orbit but critics say it was aimed at nurturing the kind of...

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Apple Australia map glitch: Snakes! In the desert!

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian police have warned travellers off using Apple's troubled iPhone mapping software after several motorists became stuck in a snake-infested, desert corner of the country while using their phone for directions.Police in southeast Victoria state said they had been forced to rescue a number of motorists who had become stuck for up to 24 hours "without food or water" after...

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Police: Apple Maps stranding drivers in Australia

SYDNEY (AP) -- Australian police are warning that Apple's much-maligned mapping application is stranding drivers headed to the southern city of Mildura in the middle of a remote state park.Victoria state police said Tuesday that an error in Apple's Maps service places the city of Mildura about 70 kilomters (44 miles) away in the Murray Sunset National Park. The park is a desert-like 5,000-square-kilometer...

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Andy Serkis plays dual role in "Hobbit" - Gollum and director

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Andy Serkis reprises his role as Gollum in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," to be released worldwide this week, but his main role this time was as a second unit director, shooting battle sequences in 3D for director Peter Jackson.The British-born actor, 48, who rose to fame as the obsessive Gollum in Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, spoke with Reuters about playing...

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Andy Serkis plays dual role in "Hobbit" - Gollum and director

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Andy Serkis reprises his role as Gollum in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," to be released worldwide this week, but his main role this time was as a second unit director, shooting battle sequences in 3D for director Peter Jackson.The British-born actor, 48, who rose to fame as the obsessive Gollum in Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, spoke with Reuters about playing...

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Apple Maps stranding drivers in middle of desert-like state park in Australia, police warn

SYDNEY - Australian police are warning the public that errors in Apple's much-maligned mapping application are leading drivers headed to the southern city of Mildura to take a potentially "life-threatening" wrong turn into the middle of a remote state park.Victoria state police said this week that Apple's Maps service places the city of Mildura about 70 kilometres (44 miles) away in the Murray Sunset...

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