South African coach Jake White says his controversial decision to protect top players ahead of the World Cup has been vindicated after an injury sidelined stand-in Springbok skipper Bob Skinstad. The player suffered a broken rib in Saturday night’s 25-17 Tri-Nations loss to Australia, ruling him out for at least six weeks and threatening his World Cup chances.
Some of the world’s biggest pop stars from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Madonna and The Police played Live Earth concerts worldwide on Saturday to urge fans and governments to fight global warming. Spearheaded by environmentalist and former United States vice-president Al Gore, the concerts spanned over 22 hours, ending at Rio’s Copacabana beach and a New Jersey football stadium.
They rocked the world, but as the clean-up at nine climate change gigs around the globe begins, many wonder if the galaxy of pop stars did much to change it. United States and British media were generally underwhelmed on Sunday by Live Earth, the mega-concert organised by former US vice-president and green campaigner Al Gore.
The Free State Cheetahs moved clear at the top of the Absa Currie Cup standings when they outclassed Griquas 51-10 in Bloemfontein on Saturday. After holding a narrow 14-7 (two tries to one) lead at halftime, the Cheetahs simply moved up a gear after the break and scored another five tries for their third success full-house of log points.
Algeria’s state oil and gas company KBR, a former Halliburton subsidiary, signed a ,88-billion deal on Saturday for a liquefied natural gas plant. The Skikda plant, on Algeria’s eastern Mediterranean coast, will be the country’s largest liquefied natural gas facility, with a capacity of 4,5-million tonnes of LNG a year.
The 15-month-old daughter of South African Airways (SAA) chief executive officer Khanya Ngqula drowned in a Durban North swimming pool, the Sunday Times reported. It was not clear who was supposed to be looking after the child.
Thousands of music lovers roared on Saturday in northern Johannesburg as international music stars set fire to the African leg of the round-the-clock Live Earth music concerts to highlight global warming. The event, backed by former United States vice-president Al Gore, rocked nine major cities on all continents.
Wladimir Klitschko beat Lamon Brewster with a technical knockout after six rounds to successfully defend his IBF and IBO heavyweight titles on Saturday. The Ukrainian clearly dominated the first five rounds, making repeated contact with his strong left jab that largely went unanswered.
Zimbabwean police have arrested 16 more business executives for raising prices above those stipulated by President Robert Mugabe’s government, a newspaper said on Sunday. The latest arrests bring to 33 the number of executives arrested since Friday under a police blitz dubbed Operation Reduce Prices.
The death toll from Saturday’s truck bomb attack in a market in the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khurmato may be as high as 150, local officials said on Sunday. Local police and the mayor, Mohammed Rasheed, said the confirmed death toll was 130, with 250 wounded. But police said 20 people were still missing and presumed dead.