The John Vorster Avenue offramp from the N1 south highway in Centurion will be closed to traffic for the greater part of Wednesday after a toxic spill, Tshwane metro police said. Spokesperson Louise Britz said the highway remained closed after about 10Â 000 litres of sulphuric acid spilled on to the offramp when a truck overturned on Tuesday afternoon.
Desperate efforts to save 181 Chinese coal miners from two shafts flooded with water and mud faced near impossible odds on Wednesday, as a safety official said mine owners had failed to anticipate the threat of disaster. The miners have been trapped since Friday, when a river dyke burst in torrential rain, sending water surging into the shafts.
India captain Rahul Dravid said England had played the ”perfect” one-day game after defeating his side by the huge margin of 104 runs in the opening match of a seven-match series at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday. Dravid, who sent England in to bat, saw the home team pile up 288-2 with Ian Bell and Alastair Cook both scoring their maiden one-day international hundreds.
South Africa stuttered to a narrow 18-3 win over Irish provincial side Connacht on Tuesday. Fresh from last week’s 105-13 hammering of fellow World Cup team Namibia, the Boks laboured against the weakest of the four Irish teams, who won only four games from 20 in last season’s Celtic League.
Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has told the United Kingdom media that he expects an exciting clash when South Africa takes on Scotland in the Tennent’s International Challenge match at Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen on Wednesday. ”I think this will be a game of contrasting styles, which I think will make the whole affair exciting,” said Parreira.
Senegal striker El-Hadji Diouf impressed a host of Premiership managers and scouts as his predatory strike earned Senegal a 1-1 draw against Ghana in Tuesday’s friendly international in London. Birmingham manager Steve Bruce, West Ham boss Alan Curbishley and several representatives from other English clubs were in the crowd at Millwall’s New Den.
Neither food nor food supplements are alternatives to drug therapy in treating people with HIV/Aids, South Africa’s top scientific advisory panel said on Tuesday, amid a controversy over the nation’s Aids policies. The report by the Academy of Science of South Africa was issued as President Thabo Mbeki faced new criticism over support for his health minister.
Hurricane Dean raced through Mexico’s southern Gulf on Wednesday, whipping up wild winds and roaring seas around oil platforms that produce crude for export to the United States. Dean hammered Mexico’s Caribbean resort of Tulum and swallowed sand from the famous beach at Cancun before crossing the Yucatan Peninsula out into the Gulf of Mexico.
Zimbabwe’s government will table a proposal in Parliament on Wednesday to give majority control of foreign-owned firms to locals. The new parliamentary session will also debate a Bill giving President Robert Mugabe room to pick a successor if he retires. If passed, the Bills could tighten Mugabe’s grip on power.
Seeing buses full of tourists looking for a glimpse of South African poverty, squatter camp resident Lawrence Rolomana decided to try to earn a share of the cash they were spending. Bored and jobless, the 22-year-old approached the tour guides and asked: ”Can you please share your guests with us?”