South Africa coach Jake White says the Wallabies still have problems with their scrum and he wants a fair contest in Saturday’s Tri-Nations rugby Test in Sydney. White says he plans to speak with New Zealand referee Paul Honiss before the Test to ensure what he calls a ”fair” scrum contest against the Australians.
Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno’s son, Brahim, was found dead on Monday morning in the underground parking lot of a building he lived in near Paris, police and court officials said. President Déby sacked Brahim as his adviser in June 2006 after the then 27-year-old was arrested in a Paris discotheque for possessing an illegal firearm and drugs.
A deal between Starbucks and Ethiopia that ends their trademark dispute and offers more benefits to Ethiopian coffee farmers has been hailed as a potential model for other poor nations seeking to better use the modern trading system, especially the often-controversial intellectual property rights provisions.
In a vast wilderness in eastern Russia, scientists and tourism entrepreneurs are anxiously working out how much is left of one of the world’s great natural wonders, Geyser Valley. The far eastern Kamchatka peninsula boasts nature at its most unpredictable, as demonstrated by a recent landslide that obliterated many of its prized geysers.
Britney Spears, Paul McCartney, Sting and Paul Simon have all travelled to Sri Lanka for a big-bucks taste of tropical luxury. But an escalating war with Tamil Tiger rebels and increasingly gruesome headlines on the human rights situation means that the rich or famous are now staying away — and rooms in the island’s boutique hotels are going for a song.
South Africa’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) slipped for the third consecutive month to 56 in June, on a seasonally adjusted basis, after falling to 57,2 in May. The measure of the country’s manufacturing activity was weighed down partly by a drop in inventories while growth in new sales orders also moderated.
Celebrities and sun-seekers from the East and West are fuelling a property boom in Montenegro that has seen prices surge two-fold in the year since the tiny Balkan state won independence. Investment speculators led the influx, snapping up houses, apartments and plots of land wedged between Montenegro’s craggy mountains and its coastline.
The JSE started to strengthen at midday after a weaker opening on Monday morning. At 12.05pm the all-share index was up 0,45%. Resources strengthened 0,93%, while the gold and platinum indices were 1,03% and 0,75% firmer respectively. Industrials climbed 0,08% and financials lifted 0,15%. Banks increased 0,66%.
The South African Football Association (Safa) has denied that members of its executive committee are seeking R500Â 000 each for supporting South Africa’s successful bid to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Safa has now agreed to pay an honorarium of R30Â 000 to members who supported the bid.
An Egyptian engineer who was convicted in 2002 of spying for Israel has died in jail in unclear circumstances. Sherif al-Filali had initially been found innocent of espionage in 2001, and a judge called him a true patriot because he turned himself in as soon as he realised he may have been involved in a crime.