Lou Vincent compiled a watchful century, and Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming made half-centuries on Wednesday to give New Zealand a 91-run victory over the West Indies in the fourth limited-overs cricket international. New Zealand compiled 324 for six at McLean Park after being sent in to bat.
World 4x100m freestyle record holders Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman will be joined by two of Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend, Gerhard Zandberg and Karl Thaning when the aquatics action takes centre stage on the first day of action at the 18th Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, on March 16.
United States President George Bush on Tuesday extended by one year a series of sanctions against Zimbabwe officials, including President Robert Mugabe, deemed to be undermining democracy. The decision renews Bush’s executive orders of March 2003 and November 2005 freezing the assets of more than 100 people and 30 entities considered to be opposing reforms in Zimbabwe.
The football World Cup kicks off in Germany in exactly 100 days with the organisers determined to use the tournament to improve the country’s image abroad. The organising committee has dismissed criticism about stadium safety, but the question of whether the army should be allowed to help the police reinforce security is still unanswered.
For all the talk of a globalised world, America’s national pastime of baseball still baffles most of the planet. The inaugural 16-nation World Baseball Classic opening this weekend in Japan is the latest bid to globalize the sport described almost a century ago as America’s secular religion.
British charity Oxfam has criticised the United Kingdom for a legal loophole that allowed the sale of military equipment to Uganda which were used to violently quell opposition demonstrations. ”The lack of international controls on the arms trade is making a mockery of national arms laws,” said Phil Bloomer, Oxfam’s policy director.
It is up for several honours at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony, but already Crash has taken first prize when it comes to most curse words in a movie nominated for a best picture Oscar, according to the movie watchdog group FamilyMediaGuide.com.
The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven aides on charges of crimes against humanity resumed on Wednesday with all the defence lawyers attending the session, except Saddam’s lead lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi. All the eight defendants came to the court and sat down quietly, an Agence France-Presse correspondent reported.
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Voters were streaming to polling stations in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning. In Hyde Park, parking was a battle with cars stretching up and down the streets around voting stations. A woman who refused to be named had only one request: ”Politicians should just learn to apologise and admit when they are wrong or else they will discourage people from voting for them”.
Kenyan police said on Wednesday they had arrested three journalists over an article alleging that President Mwai Kibaki held secret talks with a lawmaker who had successfully rallied opposition to constitutional reform last year. After recording statements, the men were locked in the capital’s Kileleshwa police post, said Danson Diru, a police’s criminal police investigations officer.