by Tshego Letshwiti

JOHANNESBURG (AP) —Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren underwent a harrowing ordeal with gunmen following the South African icon’s 92nd birthday party, but no one was hurt and the attackers fled after an exchange of gunfire, police said July 22.

Police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said the grandchildren were returning to their Johannesburg home following the family birthday party July 18 when two gunmen approached their car. They ordered the occupants to lie down near the entrance to the home of Mandela’s daughter Zindzi.

HEROE’S WELCOME—Former South African President Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel wave to the crowd during the closing ceremony before the World Cup final soccer match between the Netherlands and Spain at Soccer City in Johannesburg, July 11.

JOHANNESBURG (AP)—Nelson Mandela waved to the crowd and Shakira had fans dancing in their seats as South Africa began saying

farewell to the 2010 World Cup in emotional and pulsating fashion.

The anti-apartheid icon, who celebrated his 92nd birthday July 18, had kept a low profile during the month-long tournament, having decided against attending the opening game following the death of his great-grand daughter.

Driven in a small golf cart alongside wife Graca Machel, a smiling Mandela was welcomed by a thunderous mix of vuvuzelas and roars from the crowd. He shook hands with officials before leaving the field a few minutes later.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP)—The South Africans have a new soundtrack of success. The drone of the vuvuzela has been succeeded by the skirl of the bagpipe.

One week after beaming in pride at its historic hosting of soccer’s World Cup, the nation torn apart by apartheid just a generation ago had another reason to stick out its chest: Louis Oosthuizen won the British Open in a dominating romp. On Nelson Mandela‘s 92nd birthday, no less.

SHADES OF BAGGER VANCE—South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen celebrates on the 18th green with his caddie Zack Rasego after winning the British Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, July 18.

by M. M. Muhumed

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)—Somali clerics who are worried that their country could become a launching pad for global jihad are stepping up efforts around the globe to stop young men from joining a feared al-Qaida-linked group.

The clerics are spreading their message in Somalia and to diaspora communities of Somalis in Kenya, Europe and the United States. And they’re using the same text the militants cite to back up their argument: the Quran.

WARNING ISSUED—Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister, Moses Wetangula, in an interview with the Associated Press in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 8, said that Kenya’s intelligence reports show that Afghans, Pakistanis and other fighters from Middle Eastern countries have joined Somali militants.

“As Islamic scholars, we should warn people, especially the youth, against al-Shabab’s destructive ideology,” said Sheik Abdi Mahad, a cleric who preaches in Somali mosques in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. “What we are telling our people is al-Shabab is wrong and its members are extremists who don’t represent the peaceful nature of the Islamic religion.”