Andre Agassi’s retirement will have to wait a little longer after the eight-times grand slam winner battled to a 6-7 7-6 7-6 6-2 victory over Romania’s Andrei Pavel in the US Open first round on Monday. At times looking like a maestro and others like the 36-year-old he is, Agassi needed three hours and 31 minutes to clinch victory.
United States Vice-President Dick Cheney, seizing on Democratic calls to pull troops out of Iraq, on Monday linked early withdrawal to the possibility of terrorist attacks in the United States. As Cheney and President George Bush try to help Republicans keep control of the US Congress on November 7, polls show public support for the war ebbing.
A separatist group on Monday warned tourists to stay away from Turkey after a wave of bomb blasts killed three people and injured dozens. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons claimed responsibility for four of the five bombs and warned on its website: ”Turkey is not a safe country; tourists should not come to Turkey.”
Pakistan have asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to hold an inquiry into umpire Darrell Hair’s conduct in the Oval Test before captain Inzamam-ul-Haq’s disciplinary hearing. After the cancellation of the ICC board meeting in Dubai on September 2, the Pakistan Cricket Board has written a letter demanding an urgent investigation into Australian Hair’s conduct during the fiasco.
An elderly blind man who allegedly stole about R4-million with his wife held up proceedings in the Pretoria Commercial Crime Court on Monday because he was drunk. Magistrate Desmond Nair postponed proceedings until after lunch in order for Petrus Engelbrecht (60) to sober up.
The Austrian teenager who spent more than eight years imprisoned in a dingy underground cell until her escape last week on Monday spoke fondly of the man who kidnapped her, describing him as ”part of my life”. Natascha Kampusch (18) said that she was now ”mourning” her 44-year-old kidnapper Wolfgang Priklopil, who killed himself hours after her escape from his Vienna home.
Few views of China’s spectacular economic growth could be more impressive than the one offered by the property company Tomson Riviera in Shanghai. From the top floor of its sleek, luxury apartment blocks in the Pudong development zone you can, say the brochures, look out across the Huangpu river at one of the world’s most futuristic skylines.
The owner of historic Greek basketball club AEK Athens, winners of the 1968 European Cup, has put the team on sale for €1, the club announced this week. "Those interested in taking over the club’s shares for the price of €1 should contact [our] legal counsel," AEK said in a statement.
A headline in one of the country’s largest newspapers a few weeks back told us that five of the members of the African National Congress’s national executive committee have amassed R1,5-billion from empowerment wheeling and dealing. The <I>Sunday Times</I> based its story on the publication of its annual Rich List, which calculates the wealth of leading South Africans based on their shareholdings in JSE-listed companies.
The Vodacom Journalist of The Year awards kicked off in Johannesburg on Monday evening, recognising the weekly Mail & Guardian newspaper and Moneyweb for exceptional investigative journalism.<