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Justine Henin-Hardenne is one victory away from a career grand slam. Henin-Hardenne defeated fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Thursday to reach the Wimbledon final and close in on the one major title missing from her collection. She will face Amelie Mauresmo on Saturday, who beat Maria Sharapova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insisted on Thursday he expects Ruud van Nistelrooy to return to Old Trafford for pre-season training. Dutch striker Van Nistelrooy (29) has been linked with a move away from the English Premiership club after losing his place in the United team towards the end of last season.
Rafael Nadal shrugged off a controversial doping storm to move closer to a dream Wimbledon title clash against Roger Federer with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 semifinal victory over Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen on Thursday. The 20-year-old Spaniard became the first French Open champion to reach the last four here in the same year since Andre Agassi in 1999.
Somali Islamists said on Thursday they had arrested two Muslim militiamen accused of shooting dead two people this week during a protest in central Somalia against a ban on watching the World Cup. The pair is to be tried, possibly for murder, under Sharia law according to two senior clerics involved in the case.
Spaniard Oscar Freire of Rabobank won the fifth stage of the Tour de France held over 225km between Beauvais and Caen on Thursday. Belgium’s Tom Boonen, who finished second on the stage ahead of Spain’s Inaki Isasi in third, retained the race leader’s yellow jersey by 13 seconds from Australian Michael Rogers ahead of Friday’s 189km.
Zimbabwe is facing billions of dollars in foreign debt while internal debt has risen to the highest figure since independence from Britain in 1980, its central bank said on Thursday. Statistics by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe showed that the crises-hit Southern African country owed ,9-billion against export receipts, while internal debt rose to -million.
The National House of Traditional Leaders is to appoint a four-member task team to get ”first-hand information” on ongoing problems with traditional circumcision ceremonies. The resolution follows the deaths of 16 youths and the hospitalising of dozens more in the Eastern Cape over the past few weeks.
Making cities like Johannesburg safer also involves helping the people who live there feel safer, urban experts said on Thursday. ”Fear is such a powerful element associated with cities,” said Professor Sophie Body-Gendrot, of the Centre for Urban Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.
South African Airways’ (SAA) profits fell by 90% from R648-million last year to R65-million in the past financial year, the company said on Thursday. SAA chief executive Khaya Ngqula said: ”We got what we deserved … We have no one to blame.” He announced that SAA plans to launch its own low-cost carrier by the end of the year.