Martina Hingis was banned for two years on Friday for testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon last year. The International Tennis Federation said an independent anti-doping tribunal found that Hingis, who announced her retirement November 1 on the day she revealed the positive test, had committed an offence.
China has announced new rules to control the explosion of audio-visual content on the internet, in a move seen as an effort to transfer the government’s television- and radio-censorship model to websites. Only state-controlled entities will have the right to operate websites that post audio-visual material under the new regulations.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla had studied the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) decision on whether police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi ”had a case to answer”, her spokesperson said on Friday. Zolile Nqayi said the minister had studied the report last year.
Four more people have drowned in Zimbabwe, bringing to 31 the numbers killed in flooding caused by a month of heavy rains, which have also claimed two lives in neighbouring Mozambique, according to various reports on Friday. In Zimbabwe, three people travelling in an ox-drawn cart were swept away by floodwaters in an area in northern Mashonaland West province.
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South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) leader, Jacob Zuma, has denied allegations of corruption and vowed to fight charges laid against him in court, local media reported on Friday. ”I am innocent. I have not committed any crime,” Zuma was quoted as saying in Beeld.
Trade in Kenya’s foreign exchange and stock markets was slow and volumes thin on Friday, as fears of more post-election violence kept many dealers at home. ”There’s not much activity. Most players are out,” said Bank of Africa forex dealer Robert Gatobu. ”It’s a wait-and-see attitude with players waiting for the political climate to calm down.”
The recent spate of light-aircraft accidents was largely a result of human error and negligence, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Friday. ”It’s not the machine that is a problem — it’s the human; the pilot, the maintenance engineer …” said the CAA’s executive manager of air-safety investigations, Gilbert Thwala.
A lone trader out to win a little fame made the purchase that took oil prices to the historic level of dollars a barrel this week but he lost on the deal, analysts said. The trader has been named by United States and British media as Richard Arens, who runs a one-man oil brokerage, ABS.
A British police team flew into Pakistan on Friday to help probe the killing of Benazir Bhutto after President Pervez Musharraf admitted he was unhappy with his country’s handling of the investigation. The detectives from an elite anti-terrorism team at Scotland Yard flew in amid raging controversy over the assassination of the opposition leader.
A diarrhoea outbreak has hit Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, following weeks of uncollected garbage, sewer blockages and erratic water supplies, the state-owned Herald daily reported on Friday. More than 400 cases of diarrhoea have been recorded in Mabvuku and Tafara, two of the capital’s suburbs, but there is no confirmation of deaths.