Cycling was in the first modern Olympic Games 111 years ago. Some Olympic officials, however, are starting to question if keeping cycling in the family could tarnish the Games as the sport’s doping problems spiral out of control. Cycling’s doping crisis has reached new lows at the Tour de France.
David Beckham will not play on Saturday for LA Galaxy in a Superliga match in Los Angeles against Chivas of Mexico because of his injured left ankle, the Major League Soccer club announced on Friday. The English superstar only made his Galaxy debut last Saturday in the 78th minute as a substitute because of the nagging injury.
Vijay Singh patiently worked his way up the leader board, leaving playing partner Mike Weir behind again in the Canadian Open on Friday. The 2004 winner in a play-off with Weir, Singh shot a six-under 65 to finish the second round a stroke behind leaders Steve Allan and John Mallinger.
Two Afghan lawmakers — one of them a former Taliban member — and several influential elders have joined negotiations with the hard-line militia to step up pressure for the release of 22 South Korean hostages, an official said on Saturday. The Taliban has demanded the release of insurgent prisoners in exchange for the hostages.
The extent of the deterioration in United States-Saudi relations was exposed for the first time on Friday when Washington accused Riyadh of working to undermine the Iraqi government. The Bush administration warned Saudi Arabia, until this year one of its closest allies, to stop undermining the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
Close to a school playing field on the edge of Nayagarh, a small town in eastern India, is an innocuous damp circular patch covered with what appears to be sticks and stones. A closer look reveals that the debris is shards of tiny skulls and bones, all that remains of more than 40 female foetuses.
Richard Branson’s plans to run the first commercial space-flight service were thrown into disarray on Friday after an explosion during a test of the rocket’s propulsion system left three workers dead and three seriously wounded with shrapnel injuries and burns. Witnesses said the explosion was accompanied by a blast that sounded like a bomb.
A Bellville medical doctor who refused to pay ”excessive” legal fees on Friday won the first round of his Cape High Court battle against his own lawyers. In court papers, Dr Ben Broens said he requested a detailed account after being billed R204 135 by his divorce lawyers, advocate Andre Ferreira and attorney Johannes Brink.
Eight community halls have been opened for people forced out of their homes by flood waters after a massive cold front brought heavy rain to Cape Town and surrounding areas on Thursday night. About 15 000 people have been displaced by heavy rains in the Cape peninsula, reports said on Saturday.
Flowers for Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba’s wife were wrongfully bought from the department’s budget, a preliminary investigation into a newspaper’s allegations of corruption has found. On other allegations in the report, published on Friday, the investigation did not find wrongdoing on the part of the minister.