Two people died and three were injured — two of them seriously — in a three-car pile-up on the N1 south near the Grasmere toll plaza on Saturday night. Netcare 911 has responded to more than 280 accidents on the country’s roads since the start of the Easter weekend, said spokesperson Nick Dollman.
The people of Mizoram, a tiny, remote state of north-east India, have known for the past 48 years that they would face famine in 2008. Confirmation came last November when the local species of bamboo that dominates the state’s landscape began to burst into flower. A plague of rats rapidly followed.
It has only taken two races of the new season for McLaren to get on the wrong side of Formula One officials — and Fernando Alonso — again. The team — kicked out of last year’s constructors’ championship — were back in trouble on Saturday, penalised for their drivers causing interference during qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Waikato Chiefs ran away with a 43-27 win over the Northern Bulls in a Super 14 rugby match that came alight with a flurry of second-half tries in New Zealand on Saturday. Their third win from six matches produced Chiefs’ first bonus point of the season and lifted them from 10th to eighth on the ladder.
Lamontville Golden Arrows and Bidvest Wits drew 2-2 in their Premier Soccer League clash at the King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi on Saturday afternoon. Abafana Besithende, as Arrows are known, dominated the first 20 minutes of the game and were rewarded in the 10th minute with a goal.
The Reds scored a converted try in the dying seconds of their Super 14 match against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday to snatch a lucky 24-all draw. The result meant that no South African side could win a match in this weekend’s round of matches. The visitors came back from an 11-point deficit to take two points from the match.
Goals from Mark Viduka and Michael Owen ended Newcastle United’s wretched run of 13 English Premiership games without a win as they beat struggling Fulham 2-0 at St James’ Park on Saturday. At the other end of the table, Everton were left two points behind city rivals Liverpool.
In-form Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns eased to a 3-0 victory over the unsophisticated Curepipe Starlight of Mauritius in the MTN Champions League’s first-round, first-leg encounter at the Super Stadium in Atteridgeville on Saturday.
Somerset batsman Marcus Trescothick on Saturday announced his retirement from international cricket with England due to health problems. Trescothick has long suffered from a stress-related illness and pulled out of England’s 2006 tours to India and Australia, where the tourists were thrashed in the Ashes series.
President Robert Mugabe made a defiant campaign speech on Saturday a week ahead of perhaps his toughest election battle, saying Zimbabwe’s main opposition party will never rule during his lifetime. Mugabe also threatened to expel companies from former colonial ruler Britain after the March 29 polls.