Oil prices dipped on Thursday, after leaping to a lifetime high of the day before, fuelled by expectations of thinning United States stockpiles, the falling dollar and geopolitical risks. US light crude for February delivery fell 32 cents to ,30 a barrel in Globex electronic trading by 5.24am GMT. US crude touched a barrel in the previous session.
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is looking to put an ”awful Christmas” behind him as the English champions continue their quest to retain the Premier League title. A narrow 1-0 New Year’s Day win at home to Birmingham City kept United in second place, two points behind leaders Arsenal.
American ace Venus Williams said she did not think corruption was a big problem in tennis, as she limbered up in Hong Kong for the Australian Open. ”No. I don’t think it is a big thing for tennis, to be honest,” she told reporters, when asked whether she had seen any evidence of match-fixing.
England fast bowling duo Sajid Mahmood and Simon Jones are among several Test cricketers set for on-screen roles in a new Bollywood movie about cricket. Victory is a film that charts the story of a boy fulfilling his dream of playing for India. Shooting will start this month in Australia.
Manchester City added to the pressure on the shoulders of Newcastle United manager Sam Allardyce with a 2-0 Premier League away win at St James’s Park on Wednesday that saw them leapfrog Liverpool into fourth place on the table. Defeat meant Newcastle had taken just one point from a possible 12.
It is Saturday in Soweto and the Aids-ridden township is geared up for its foremost weekend activity: funerals. Traffic officials are dispatched en masse to the major streets where the sheer number of funeral processions would render chaos if one had to rely on traffic lights alone. ”Nowadays young people are dying like flies,” reflects 27-year-old Modise Selebogo.
The people of Cape Town should bury their differences and build bridges between communities in 2008, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Wednesday. Addressing thousands who gathered to celebrate the minstrel carnival, Rasool said 2008 should be the year in which the Cape took greater strides in realising the vision of a ”home for all”.
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and other White House hopefuls beseeched Iowans to vote to change America as they sought to land an early blow in Thursday’s crucial first 2008 nominating clash. Both Democratic and Republican races were too close to call, before more than 200 000 activists cast their judgements in the fabled Iowa caucuses.
Oil prices vaulted to a record a barrel on Wednesday as violence in Nigeria, tight energy stockpiles and a weaker dollar triggered a surge of speculative buying, dealers said. Oil’s climb to the psychologically key triple-digit price helped send stocks tumbling on Wall Street and further darkened an already gloomy economic outlook in the United States.
Police and security forces went on alert across Sri Lanka on Thursday, hours after the government announced its withdrawal from a tattered ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels, security officials said. The already tight security in the capital was further strengthened one day after suspected rebels set off a roadside bomb that killed five and wounded 28.