11 July: Fan nearly makes it to the trophy
Madiba makes it to closing ceremony, briefly; Fan tries to steal trophy; Spanish artists beat Dutch thugs 1-0 in extra time; Referee Howard Webb dishes out 14 yellow cards; Germany’s Thomas Mueller wins the Golden Boot award.

10 July: The refs weren’t so bad after all
Dressing room journalist let off with fine; German fan given suspended sentence for plane craziness; Germany beat Uruguay 3-2, win bronze; Referees score 96% in World Cup test; Johan Cruyff may be Dutch, but he supports Spanish soccer.

9 July: The vuvu is haram
UAE issues vuvuzela fatwa; Paul the psychic octopus spawns menagerie of clones; World Cup closing concert takes place; Robben doesn’t mind ugly football – as long as the Dutch win; “Pick me, pick me!” Torres pleads.

While you were sleeping

As many as 64 people may have died in two, or perhaps three, separate explosions in Kampala at restaurants packed by crowds watching the World Cup final. Police immediately blamed Somali terror group al-Shebab, and believe the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers. Reports, including the actual number of bodies recovered, were still confused early Monday morning.
BBC, New Vision

Spain erupted into the biggest celebrations the country has seen in a generation, with people dancing in the streets in every city and just about every town. Ambulance services in Madrid reported treating several people who fainted from the heat, but no other incidents.
AFP, AP

In World Cup tournament awards, Uruguayan Diego Forlán received the the Golden Ball as most valuable player, German Thomas Mueller received the Gold Boot as best striker (and was also named the best young player) and Spain’s Iker Casillas received the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper.
AP, AFP

Colombian commandos killed 12 rebels they say were bodyguards of Farc leader Guillermo Sáenz (who also goes by the name Alfonso Cano), as well as Magaly Grannobles (AKA Marleny Rondon), a legendary Farc commander and close confidant of Sáenz.
Latin American Herald Tribune, BBC

The Guatemalan navy captured a home-made submarine it says contained five metric tons of cocaine on its way to the United States.
Reuters

Japan‘s ruling Democratic Party lost its majority in the upper house of Parliament in elections yesterday, making prime minister Naoto Kan if not a lame duck, then a severely hobbled one. A hostile Parliament is expected to make it difficult for Kan to reduce public debt, which in turn imperils his promised revitalisation of the economy
Chosun Ilbo, Bloomberg

The population of Easter Island briefly doubled as an estimated 4,000 tourists pitched up to watch a total solar eclipse, and in Tahiti crowds briefly turned away from the World Cup final to see the start of the phenomenon.
Radio New Zealand, BBC

In one of the last spasms of the World Cup, President Jacob Zuma will be talking about the tournament at a closing media conference this afternoon. He’ll be repeating the song he’s been singing for weeks: nah-nah, nah-nah, who’s the coolest country of them all?

In one of the second last spasms of the World Cup, Fifa president Sepp Blatter will have his own press conference a couple of hours before Zuma’s. He will be less of a braggart, or at least less obvious about it, but we’ll be looking for further goal-line technology discussion under the “lessons learned” agenda topic.

The International Youth Nuclear Congress, a biannual event never held in Africa before, starts in Cape Town. They won’t just be moaning about those damned hippy activists that have held back the wider introduction of nuclear power; there are some hardcore technical presentations on fusion research, nuclear fuel management and reactor safety.

The International Monetary Fund is holding a conference with the government of Korea today and tomorrow, bringing together financial leaders from all over the continent. It’s mostly an opportunity for the IMF to apologise for having either ignored the region or come down all paternalistic in the past.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will give a rare television interview during prime time today, where he’ll have to answer tough questions about alleged corruption involving the Bettencourt family. Although he has some breathing room until elections in 2012, his approval ratings are at an all-time low. 

Kagame’s Rwanda: Investment magnet or pressure cooker about to burst?
Dark clouds may be gathering again over Rwanda these days; clouds of an increasingly autocratic regime, led by a man once seen as a liberator and influence for good. Let’s take a journey through this African country’s reality.

Acsa’s Hlahla and how not to talk to an angry public
There’s some competition for the 2010 “Worst media move of the year award”. There’s Julius Malema’s “bloody agents” tirade, Sepp Blatter’s let’s-arrest-good-looking-girls-in-mini-skirts moment and, of course, “don’t touch me on my studio”. Now the head of Acsa, Monhla Hlahla, joins this esteemed group.

Tri-Nations will set tone for 2011 Rugby World Cup
Just as the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet draws to a dramatic close for the first time on African soil, the greatest annual rugby spectacle kicks off in Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud.

Analysis: Good luck Guptas – The New Age is gonna cost you, big time
Balls of steel. Buckets of courage. Deep, deep pockets. That’s what newspaper people say friends of Zuma and allies of the ANC, the Gupta family, will need to launch a daily newspaper, The New Age, in a troubled, overcrowded market. Whether people will read the paper is another matter entirely.

Firing of CNN’s Octavia Nasr and the myth of objectivity
This week one of CNN’s senior editors, a reporter who’s been with the broadcaster for 20 years, was fired for tweeting about her “respect” for a Hezbollah founder. The story, we think, says something about CNN’s identity crisis and the ascendancy of opinionated journalism.

All Blacks hammer Boks in Tri-Nations opener
Oh Bakkies. What were you thinking? Sent off in the 14th minute for a professional foul, it was the key moment that saw the All Blacks give the Springboks a harsh lesson in Test rugby.

Xhanti Payi: Becoming a man ain’t what it used to be
There are similarities between the controversies around “botched circumcisions” among Xhosa youths and allegations of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church – all the more so in the light of sensitivities clouding who may or may not discuss these.

Chris Gilmour: Marcus and the dreaded double-dip
At a recent presentation in Johannesburg, SA Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus warned of the dire implications for South Africa were Europe to descend into a so-called “double-dip” recession. The governor is a canny observer of financial markets so her warning should be heeded closely. But there are reasons to be more cheerful.

World Cup match reports

Spain win the 2010 World Cup, defend soccer’s honour against the disgraceful Dutch
Spain and the Netherlands fought for two back-breaking hours in the cold highveld winter night. The problem was, Spain played the game of soccer, while the Dutch played the game of kickboxing. To the delight of every true soccer lover in the world, it ended Spain 1, the Netherlands 0.

In a gripping match, Germany outlast Uruguay, win 2010 bronze
It is the cruellest of the matches that any team has to play, after the heartbreak of losing their hopes of winning the World Cup just days before. In the end, Germany’s young machine kept its concentration just a bit longer then the fabulous Forlan and Co, winning 3-2.