Tiger Woods opens his quest for an unprecedented Grand Slam of golf at Augusta National on Thursday, carrying the lowest odds ever for a player at the outset of a Major. The world number one is quoted at evens or just above evens to win a fifth Green Jacket, with the next best being two-time winner Phil Mickelson.
A new war could break out between Eritrea and Ethiopia if the United Nations peacekeeping mission that has been prevented from patrolling both sides of the border withdraws entirely, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned on Wednesday. The two neighbours have been feuding over their border since Eritrea gained independence in 1993.
Uganda’s top rebel leader, Joseph Kony, was expected to sign an historic peace deal on Thursday to end one of Africa’s longest and most brutal civil conflicts. The Lord’s Resistance Army chief was due in the southern Sudan jungle town of Ri-Kwangba to initial an agreement that is to be signed separately by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni four days later.
Hillary Clinton hit out at Democratic White House rival Barack Obama over Iraq on Wednesday, as a report by war commander General David Petraeus ignited new campaign brush fires. The New York senator questioned whether Obama could live up to his pledge to bring United States troops home and lashed out at Republican nominee John McCain.
The San Francisco leg of the Olympic torch relay descended into a farce on Wednesday after the authorities cut the route in half and hustled the torch away from waiting protesters and supporters of the Beijing Games by driving it over a kilometre inland. A closing ceremony for the torch rally was also suddenly relocated.
The United States mortgage crisis has spiralled into ”the largest financial shock since the Great Depression” and there is a one-in-four chance that it will cause a full-blown global recession, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Wednesday.
Political writer Ebrahim Harvey on the relevance of the Forum for Black Journalists’ exclusivity rule: ”Surely, these editors are in a powerful position to change the conditions that aggrieve black journalists. And are there racial perceptions about power relations in the newsroom not corroborated by clear evidence of conscious discrimination but influenced by available skills and experience?”
Tens of thousands of starving swallows simply dropped dead out of the sky in Limpopo after a cold snap stopped them feeding, an expert said on Wednesday. The birds fell victim to plunging temperatures towards the end of March and were unable to feed properly as they prepared for their annual migration to Europe.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe faced mounting pressure on Thursday over presidential poll results as rival Morgan Tsvangirai ramped up his charm offensive ahead of a regional weekend summit on the crisis. While Mugabe has lain low at home, Tsvangirai has launched a diplomatic drive in recent days.
One of South Africa’s favourite pastimes is debating race — driven by controversies such as the schools pledge and the University of Free State debacle. But the weird thing about these debates is that they do not reach a consensus on the contentious issues that divide the rainbow nation. There is simply an ongoing din.