Sri Lanka closed in on an innings victory in the first cricket Test after breaking Bangladesh’s dour resistance with the bat on Wednesday. Bangladesh, trailing by 488 runs on the first innings, were 233-5 in their second knock when bad light stopped play 10.3 overs early on the third day at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
Accountant Shawn Kureva was left cursing his decision to delay buying cement at a Harare hardware store until he had compared prices elsewhere in inflation-ravaged Zimbabwe. ”The price for a bag of cement was Z 000 and I had enough money for five but thought it was not a bad idea to compare prices,” he said of his shopping trip last Friday.
Multi-award-winning, multi-platinum-selling artist Pink will head to South Africa for the first time this September, Big Concerts announced on Wednesday. "Pink is set to put on a powerful, hit-packed show, whipped up with her unique blend of soulful funk and punk-pop rock’n’roll," the organisers said.
The Mail & Guardian on Wednesday faced possible legal action and even an interdict over a new instalment it plans to publish in its series of articles detailing the criminal networks surrounding Glenn Agliotti, a friend of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Jacob Zuma’s aide Ranjeni Munusamy has been refused media accreditation for the African National Congress (ANC) national policy conference in Midrand. This effectively prevents her from attending the event, she said on Wednesday. Munusamy worked as a political journalist before she joined Zuma’s camp.
She wows with glittering outfits, has a host of friends from various backgrounds, is always perfectly manicured and preened, and makes a killer bobotie. And she’s running for president. Evita Bezuidenhout is one of the many entertainers lining up for the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, which starts on Thursday.
Recent floods in Asia and Britain and heatwaves in southern Europe show the world must be better prepared to cope with the impact of climate change, the United Nations’s top disaster-prevention official said on Wednesday. ”We cannot wait to be taken by surprise,” said Salvano Briceno, director of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
Springbok captain John Smit confirmed on Wednesday that he is to join French club Clermont-Ferrand following the Rugby World Cup. A statement from the South African Rugby Union said that Smit had signed a two-year contract from 2008 to June 2009. Smit (29) has led the Springboks a record 42 times in his 67 caps and will lead South Africa at the Rugby World Cup.
A German man making a routine trip to the police station to reclaim his stolen car ended up being busted for drunken driving twice in the same day, police said on Wednesday. In order to claim the recovered car, the 45-year-old had driven to the station in another vehicle, police in the western city of Marburg said.
South Africa’s inflation rate, targeted by the central bank, quickened to 6,4% year-on-year in May, official data showed on Wednesday, strengthening the likelihood of an interest-rate rise in August. The annual CPIX measure — consumer prices minus mortgage costs — rose slightly above market expectations, and April’s increase, of 6,3%.