Has there ever been a face quite as misleading as Lewis Hamilton’s? With the sweetest of smiles, pencil-thin sideburns and an almost hairless face, he looks like a cherub in leathers. But don’t be fooled. Hamilton is one of the toughest men in sport.
Arsène Wenger may be going for a fourth Premier League title, but he continues to rethink and revise his methods. ”Success is paralysing,” says the Frenchman. ”If you don’t change anything, three years later you are suddenly not successful and you don’t know why. You want to repeat quality but also to improve quality, so you have to change.
The South African Reserve Bank is expected to forge ahead with its monetary tightening at Thursday’s policy meeting, say global analysts Moody’s Economy.com. The analysts highlight that August credit and sales figures have helped to underpin opinion that the Reserve Bank will raise interest rates by another 50 basis points.
By now Finance Minister Trevor Manuel must be conceding — privately — his allegation that Absa corruptly won the right to use its name for the premiership championship was as hasty as it was uninformed. OnTuesday, the Premier Soccer League dismissed out of hand that some of its executive committee members had received or stood to receive a 10% commission.
The JSE was slightly negative by midday on Friday, as profit-taking among platinum stocks led the bourse to give up some of its earlier gains. By noon on the JSE, the all-share index had given up 0,06%, as platinum stocks dipped 3,23%. Resources were 0,24% lower, but the gold-mining index advanced 1,67%.
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A knockout place is a minimum requirement for a top team. Looking at the weekend’s results, you can’t be happy about the state of rugby among the Six Nations. When Wales, Italy and Ireland go out of the World Cup at the pool stage, when Scotland, England and France struggle, you have to conclude that the old tournament is no longer quite what it was.
The allure of the cosmopolitan display of rugby on the global stage in France has provided overwhelming competition for this year’s domestic showpiece, the 2007 Currie Cup. Despite the welcome panache and entertainment that have been provided by the two dominant sides, the Cheetahs and the Sharks, the Currie Cup has crept to its final stages almost unnoticed.
Visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel was expected to urge South African President Thabo Mbeki in talks in Pretoria on Friday to increase pressure for a resolution to the crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe. German sources said Merkel was determined to press Mbeki to do more to ensure an end to alleged human rights abuses in the country.
Condemning Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is counterproductive and international powers should instead put their weight behind regional diplomatic efforts to unseat him, Tanzania’s president said on Friday. Jakaya Kikwete insisted the diplomatic approach favoured by African leaders ”will pay dividends”.
The French woman who underwent the world’s first partial face transplant has learned to eat and speak but has yet to manage her biggest challenge: a kiss. Isabelle Dinoire, who lost her mouth and nose after a dog bite, describes life with another woman’s face in Le Baiser d’Isabelle — Isabelle’s Kiss.