French football icon Zinedine Zidane on Wednesday said he was sorry for headbutting an Italian opponent during the World Cup final against Italy. But he said in a French television interview that defender Marco Materazzi had deserved it for insulting him with some ”very hard words” aimed at sullying his mother and sister.
Jewish bodies on Thursday hit back at the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) following its call for boycotts against Israel. The union federation also denounced Israel’s military incursions into Gaza. Israeli jets bombed the Palestinian foreign ministry in Gaza and Beirut’s international airport on Thursday.
The European Commission slapped Microsoft on Wednesday with a new fine of €280,5-million for failing to fully respect a 2004 antitrust ruling, but the software giant vowed to appeal. Raising the pressure on Microsoft, the European Union competition watchdog also threatened additional fines of €3-million ($3,82-million) a day from the end of the month if the company continued to defy the ruling.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday blamed Lebanon for the capture of two soldiers by the Hezbollah militia, branding the attack an "act of war" and threatening a "painful" response. He ruled out any negotiations with Hezbollah in a bid to free the servicemen, snatched on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
Gunmen stormed a bus station north-east of Baghdad on Wednesday and seized 24 people, killing all but four of them, authorities said. An Iraqi general said the victims were Shi’ites, but police said their identities were unclear. The gunmen arrived in several cars at the bus station in Muqdadiyah at about 6am.
A Kremlin public-relations blitz ahead of the Group of Eight (G8) summit and an apparent softening of Washington’s stance have failed to disguise an ill-tempered debate gnawing at the heart of East-West relations: is Russia democratic? By some counts, cooperation between Russia and its G8 partners is in rude health ahead of the summit.
Six major South African businesses will officially back the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, the local organising committee announced in Pretoria on Wednesday. First National Bank has already announced that it will sponsor the soccer extravaganza to the tune of -million (about R212,7-million).
The entourage of Nigerian Vice-President Abubakar Atiku has alleged there is a plot to bar him from contesting next year’s presidential election by trying to implicate him in a corruption probe involving a prominent telecoms businessman who is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
South Africa coach Jake White compared the pressure on his team to that faced by soccer superpower Brazil on Wednesday as he named two debutants for the Tri-Nations clash against Australia this weekend. Uncertainty over White’s future overshadowed the team announcement for Saturday’s match.
As the charismatic, 41-year-old Jurgen Klinsmann on Wednesday stunned about 82-million Germans by declaring he was stepping down as national soccer coach after a tenure of two years, South African observers in Germany gathering ideas for the hosting of the 2010 World Cup were echoing the sentiment: ”Where can Bafana find another Klinsmann?”