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South Africa coach Jake White said on Wednesday that injured prop CJ van der Linde will be fit to face Fiji in the World Cup quarterfinals. Van der Linde had picked up a knee injury and had been considered a doubtful starter for Sunday’s game at the Stade Velodrome.
The European Union is to hold an extraordinary meeting of national gas experts to discuss the dispute between Ukraine and Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, officials said on Wednesday. The EU Gas Coordination Group will hold an ad-hoc meeting later this month to ”evaluate the situation” and assess its ”possible consequences”.
Insurer Old Mutual plans to buy back £350-million of its shares, roughly 4% of its capital, as part of a programme to improve capital efficiency, it said on Wednesday. South Africa’s largest insurer had said earlier this year it was not considering major acquisitions and could hand excess cash back to shareholders.
If it achieves nothing else, the visit by the South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, will at least make its mark on one of North Korea’s most spectacular and unusual tourist attractions. The International Friendship Exhibition Hall is a monument to the price that dignitaries pay when courting one of the world’s most reclusive nations.
It has been called the greatest show on earth, an unparalleled propaganda spectacle and a display of indoctrination like no other. The Arirang ”Mass Games”, which involves 100 000 performers, is among the most colourful and contentious items on the itinerary of the South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, during his stay in Pyongyang.
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South Africa are facing a front-row crisis ahead of Sunday’s World Cup quarterfinal clash against Fiji. BJ Botha has already been forced out of the competition with knee ligament damage suffered in the 64-15 Pool A win against the United States last week, while fellow tighthead prop CJ van der Linde has bruising on one of his knees.
Former South Africa coach Nick Mallett was on Wednesday named as the new man in charge of the Italian national side, the country’s rugby federation announced. Mallett succeeds Pierre Berbizier, whose time at the helm of the Azzurri came to an end with Italy’s first-round elimination from the World Cup in France.
A suspended bus company manager may have sparked a fierce bus blaze that killed 27 and put another 11 passengers in hospital, the official Xinhua agency said late on Tuesday. The bus, with 38 people on board, was heading downtown when the fire erupted just after 5pm local time.
Trade union Solidarity has accused Denel of using employee salary funds to pay bonuses to top management. While Denel is locked in a dispute with four trade unions about exemption from national wage increases, 49 top management members have been paid performance bonuses totalling R2,2-million.
The United States House of Representatives has passed a Bill that would force Ethiopia, one of Washington’s strongest military partners in Africa, to make democratic reforms or else lose security aid. The Bill would deny US entry visas to Ethiopian government officials involved in what it calls human rights violations .