Wine consumers were expected to bear the brunt of a white wine shortage, the chairperson of Wine Cellars South Africa said on Friday. ”Due to the exhaustive drought experienced last year, the crop was 11% down on that of 2004, resulting in a colossal shortage of white wine for the domestic and export markets,” Henk Bruwer said in a media statement.
MPs from France’s ruling conservative party have blocked a move to legalise internet downloading of movie and music files, after several days of sharp debate in Parliament. MPs from the Socialist, Communist, Green and UDF parties walked out in protest ahead of the vote, allowing it to be adopted nearly unanimously.
Three men have drowned in Malawi, swept away in the swollen rivers that have caused flooding in the south and centre of the Southern African country, an official said on Friday. Meanwhile, at least seven illegal gold panners have died in the past week just over Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique after heavy rains brought chaos to the area.
Mat Rogers scored a stepping, weaving try which Peter Hewat converted, before crossing for a try himself from the restart as the New South Wales Waratahs thrashed the Cats 50-3 on Friday in a Super 14 match. Rogers opened the scoring in the 6th minute when he stepped inside two defenders on his way to the try line.
A suicide truck bomb ripped through a line of vehicles waiting at a checkpoint on Friday in Fallujah and killed at least seven civilians, while authorities in the capital discovered the bodies of six more men who were blindfolded, handcuffed and shot in the back of the head, police said. A powerful bomb hit a United States tank in east Baghdad.
Sri Lanka spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan joined Shane Warne as the only cricketer to reach 600 Test wickets on Friday, ensuring their fierce rivalry continues. The landmark wicket sparked celebrations from the Sri Lankan players, who mobbed their star bowler, completing the feat 13 years after his Test debut.
South Africa’s third-largest gold miner, Harmony Gold, is expected to make an offer for Western Areas in the future to increase its stake in the company following its acquisition of a 29% stake, analysts and fund managers said on Friday. "I think that Harmony could make an offer to Western Areas’ minorities," an analyst said.
At least seven illegal gold panners have died in the past week just over Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique after heavy rains brought chaos to the area, reports from eastern Zimbabwe said on Friday. There are fears the casualty figure could be much higher.
India leg-spinner Anil Kumble moved closer to the 500-wicket mark by clean bowling England batsman Paul Collingwood before poor visibility disrupted play on Friday in the second Test match. England were 200-5 in their first innings when umpires Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel decided to call off play.
Zimbabwe’s inflation rate hit an all-time high of 782% in February, according to government statistics released on Friday. ”The year-on-year rate of inflation in February 2006 was 782%, gaining 168,8 percentage points on the January rate of 613,2%,” Moffat Nyoni, acting director of the Central Statistical Office, said.