The United Nations and African Union host a meeting in Tripoli on Sunday to evaluate the troubled peace process in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur, which is bedevilled by fragmented rebel groups and competing initiatives. The meeting brings together those countries and organisations trying to end the four-year conflict.
Olympic champion Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe won two swimming gold medals on Saturday at the All Africa Games and was denied a silver when her team were disqualified from the 4x100m relay. In men’s swimming, South Africa claimed two more gold medals, bringing the team’s total haul of swimming golds to 12.
The Sharks, with too much pace and abundant skill, earned a comfortable bonus point win over a plucky Griqualand West side in their Absa Currie Cup rugby match as they posted a 43-20 victory at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday. The Sharks, who led 24-6 at half-time, scored six tries against two by Griqualand West.
In a game that promised to be the comeback of the Western Province rugby team, they managed to defeat the SWD Eagles 30-8 in front of about 2 000 spectators. The half-time score was 22-3. From the start, Province showed their intentions to run the ball when fullback Gio Aplon joined the back line and scored within seconds.
Linus Gerdemann of Germany won Saturday’s seventh stage of the Tour de France to take the overall leader’s yellow jersey as the race entered the Alps. Gerdemann won by speeding out from a group of breakaway riders during the 197km ride from Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand-Bornand.
Free State were crowned the top team at the 2007 Coca-Cola Under-18 Craven Week after scoring a one-sided 52-3 win over hosts Western Province (WP) in the tournament’s final game at Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch on Saturday. WP scored first, but from there on it was all one-way traffic.
Tazmin Brits, number one on the javelin world list and South Africa’s best candidate for a gold medal, qualified in style for Sunday’s final when the IAAF World Youth Athletics Championships continued in the Czech Republic on Saturday. Willem Voigt, of South Western Districts, was one of the sensations of the high-jump competition.
In a real thriller, the Border Bulldogs gave the Golden Lions a scare in their compulsory friendly rugby match at the Absa Stadium on Saturday before going down 35-31. By half-time, the Lions had built a handy 21-11 lead, scoring three converted tries to one, and after the break scored another two goals to extend the gap to 35-14.
Phil Mickelson put his recent troubles behind him to take a one-shot lead at the Scottish Open on Saturday. The American, whose injured left wrist caused him to miss the cut at the United States Open at Oakmont, leads from Frenchman Gregory Havret. England’s Steve Webster is in third place.
This weekend the mosque is overcrowded, the café grubby, the social centre and offices scruffy and uncomfortable. Not for long, hopes Kilic Iqbal (27), who works for the Turkish religious and cultural association that runs the complex. Germany’s biggest Islamic centre is to be built in a suburb of Cologne.