The All Blacks on Tuesday named one of their strongest combinations for their first Test of the year as second-string France arrived in New Zealand admitting they would rather be somewhere else. Despite most of France’s top players staying home to complete club commitments, All Black coach Graham Henry chose most of his top players.
All religious artefacts in places of worship in Tibet belong to the Chinese state, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday, in Beijing’s latest attempt to exert control over religion in the restive Himalayan region. Beijing is wary of religious groups and has jailed Tibetan monks and nuns it accused of stoking ”separatism”.
A consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has launched a â,¬71,1-billion (,7-billion) bid for Dutch group ABN Amro, trumping Britain’s Barclays in a battle for the world’s biggest bank takeover. The offer was pitched at â,¬38,40 euros per ABN share — â,¬30,40 in cash plus 0,844 new shares in RBS.
South Africa’s real gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis rose by 4,7% in the first quarter of 2007 from 5,6% in the fourth quarter of 2006, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday. GDP was also reported to have risen 5,4% on a year-on-year basis from a revised 6,2% (6,1%) y/y reported in the fourth quarter last year.
While it was absolutely no surprise that South Africa’s gold output continued to slide in the first quarter, the sharp rise in costs ahead of tough wage negotiations that get under way next month must be a worry for gold-mining companies, which invested an impressive R1,6-billion in capital expenditure between the beginning of January and the end of March.
It could hardly have been a more harrowing Monday for Bafana Bafana as Godfrey Sapula dropped out of the squad to play Chad in an African Nations Cup qualifier on Saturday — and the prodigal Benni McCarthy was a conspicuous absentee from the training camp in Durban.
South African short-term insurer Santam said on Tuesday that its overall growth of quality business is in line with expectations for the period, while the underwriting result for the year to date is pleasing. It released an operational update following its annual general meeting on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe will put 40 000 more people on antiretroviral (ARV) drugs by the end of the year despite an economic crisis that has hobbled the country’s healthcare. The Southern African country is among the worst hit by the HIV/Aids pandemic, killing more than 3 000 people every week.
More than 20% of toys made in China for its domestic market are substandard or potentially dangerous, state media said on Tuesday in the latest example of the country’s lax consumer-product controls. At least 10 000 children are hurt by dangerous toys each year, the China Daily newspaper said.
Durban businessman Elias Khumalo on Monday confirmed that his house and offices had been raided by the police.