The hockey section of the SA Games was in turmoil at the end of the third day on Wednesday, after SA Sports commissioner Dan Moyo overturned the decision taken by the tournament director, Mark Taljard, on Monday to penalise provinces that had included provincial players in their squads.
Natal Sharks hooker John Smit will captain the Springboks this year. Smit was appointed by the board of SA Rugby on Thursday. He will replace Corne Krige who announced his retirement from international rugby after the World Cup last year. Smit has played 26 Tests and captained the Springboks against Georgia in Australia at the World Cup last year.
Microsoft’s rivals lauded Wednesday’s European Union antitrust decision imposing a record fine on the software giant and ordering changes to the Windows operating system used in Europe. The EU ordered Bill Gates’s firm to offer a European version of its all-conquering Windows operating system without the Media Player program within 90 days.
Six leaders of an Arab tribe have been killed in an attack by insurgents in western Sudan’s South Darfur state, the governor, General Adam Hamid Mussa, said on Wednesday. Mussa said a group of ”armed outlaws” attacked Buram town on Monday night, killing six prominent leaders of the Habbaniyah tribe.
Liberia’s Supreme Court has authorised a lower court to rule on a claim by exiled former president Charles Taylor that his properties were illegally searched. The decision was made on Tuesday after consultations between the Liberian courts concerned in a legal wrangle that also involves neighbouring Sierra Leone.
The Aids Law project has welcomed Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s response on Wednesday to an ultimatum from the Treatment Action Campaign. The minister ordered that there should be an urgent accreditation of facilities that meet the requirements to provide quality Aids care.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=33110">Minister responds to TAC’s call</a>
Caxton’s urgent interdict application against Naspers was dismissed with costs by the Competition Tribunal on Wednesday. The media group had hoped to prevent Naspers from buying out the minority shareholding in Electronic Media Network (M-Net) and Supersport International Holdings (Supersport).
Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Wednesday responded to the Treatment Action Campaign’s call last week for her to authorise the immediate procurement of anti-retroviral drugs. The minister said a meeting agreed there should be an urgent accreditation of facilities that meet the requirements to provide quality care.
South Africa’s inflation outlook remains favourable for the next two years, South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni told investors on Wednesday. ”Most analysts … expect CPIX inflation to remain within the inflation target range over the next two years,” he said.
Ghanaian President John Kufuor on Wednesday flew to Côte d’Ivoire in a bid to defuse a looming crisis as opposition parties prepared to defy a ban on demonstrations by President Laurent Gbagbo. Kufuor is to intervene in his capacity as president of the Economic Community of West African States.