Somalians arrested for watching game, and more

Witnesses say a Somali Islamic militia group arrested 30 people, including a 15-year-old boy, for watching a World Cup match on television. The witnesses say the militiamen stormed two private homes on Sunday night in the town of Afgoye, near Mogadishu, the Somali capital, while the football fans watched the Germany-Australia game. Somalia has banned people from watching the World Cup.

>>>> Authorities in Bangladesh asked all manufacturing factories yesterday in and around the capital of Dhaka to suspend operations each evening until the end of the finals. "We have issued the order to the factories to switch off for five hours every evening in a desperate move to save electricity so people can watch the play on televisions," Saleh Ahmed, the managing director of the Dhaka Electric Supply Company, said. "This is an undesirable decision from an economic point of view but we were rather compelled."

>>>> If Chile's opponents are to beat Claudio Bravo, they will have to get past his two young daughters first. Bravo has the names of his daughters, Maite and Josefa, printed along the fingers of his goalkeeping gloves. He is expected to debut the gloves in his side's opening match against Honduras tomorrow.

>>>> Police took over responsibility for security at stadiums in Cape Town and Durban yesterday after a wage dispute escalated between stewards and a security contractor. World Cup organisers say they called in police after stadium staff left their posts. A protest by stadium security workers occurred on Sunday night in Durban following the match between Germany and Australia. Around 500 safety stewards stormed through the Moses Mabhida Stadium three hours after the game, hurling objects at the office of the security manager. "It's an employer-employee dispute over wages, that's all it is," said Rich Mkhondo of the Local Organising Committee.

>>>> Sepp Blatter has defended South African fans' right to blow their vuvuzela horns at matches despite global criticism from television viewers of the constant blaring noise. The Fifa president said Africa has "a different rhythm, a different sound", and the fans' tradition should not be stopped.

>>>> Not only are teams having a problem with the ball, but they are starting to raise issues over the pitch, too. The coaches of Slovenia and Algeria have blamed the lacklustre performances of their teams in the Group C match on the surface at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, which hosted the first World Cup game to be played on artificial grass. Rabah Saadane, the Algeria coach, said the conditions "put our goalkeeper off" although "the ball and the turf caused problems for both teams." Matjaz Kek, the Slovenia coach, said "I don't agree with this turf ... it's a different game."

>>>> Heavy downpours struck Cape Town yesterday, sending fans scurrying for shelter. As temperatures fell and the wind picked up, fans of Italy and Paraguay shivered inside their velvet top-hats and huddled in groups outside the Green Point stadium. >>>> South Africa are hoping to make the country proud when they play Uruguay tomorrow on Youth Day. Youth Day celebrates the June 16, 1976, Soweto Uprising, when black students rebelled against the educational policies of the former apartheid government. "It is a big day in South African history, and we as players want to beat Uruguay and take a step closer to reaching the knockout phase and thereby making it a double celebration for South Africa," Steven Pienaar, the midfielder, said yesterday.

>>>> North Korean state television aired coverage of rival South Korea's match against Greece yesterday, two days after the event. The broadcast was monitored by The Associated Press in Seoul. Commentators dryly narrated the game and offered mostly background information on the teams' rankings and game rules. They expressed little excitement at the goals, offering analysis into the technical skills leading to the scores. North Korea is at the World Cup for the first time since 1966. South Korea's SBS television owns the broadcast rights to the entire Korean peninsula, and says it will not give footage to North Korea because of political tensions.