Dmitry Tursunov expects he’ll be fined for an outburst during his fourth-round loss at Wimbledon on Monday. If not, a few things the Russian said in his news conference — such as calling the chair umpire an ”idiot” — should do the trick. After losing his service in the 15th game of the fifth set to give Jarkko Nieminen an 8-7 lead, Tursunov hit a ball in anger towards chair umpire Fergus Murphy.
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The World Cup is soccer’s greatest spectacle. It’s also a month-long grind, and the fatigue is starting to show. Games every few days, many played under a summer sun. Travel back and forth across Germany. Pressure that grows with every game. And that’s on top of the nine months that many players just spent with soccer’s best clubs.
South Africa is ready to cooperate with a German probe into alleged kickbacks paid in the sale of four warships to South Africa in 1999, Minister of Public Enterprise Alec Erwin said on Tuesday. He said South Africa will assist in the investigation if asked, but added he had received no formal notification on the issue.
Businesses are bracing themselves for a rand at R8 or even R8,50 to the United States dollar after the shock 20% weakening in the local currency since early May. The Reserve Bank is likely to tighten interest rates aggressively from here to stem the slide in the rand. Some economists are forecasting a further 1,5% to 2% increase in rates over the next year.
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Angry Brazilian football fans have destroyed a seven-metre tall statue of World Player of the Year Ronaldinho following the national team’s World Cup quarterfinal exit at the hands of France. The statue, made out of resin and iron, in the southern town of Chapeco in Santa Catarina state, was burnt overnight on Saturday, after the Selecao’s 1-0 defeat to Les Bleus
The All Blacks have ditched their experimental line-ups and included their big guns to face a resurgent Australia in the opening Tri-Nations Test in Christchurch on Saturday. New Zealand split their best players between two different line-ups in their less than emphatic wins over Ireland and Argentina last month.
Justo Gallego was perched 6m up on a precarious plank on Monday, slapping concrete on to yet another column in the cathedral he has been building single-handedly for 45 years. With a red woollen cap soaking up the baking midday sun and his blue coat covered in dust and drying cement, the wiry, reclusive 81-year-old was in the middle of a self-imposed working day that started at 6am.
The United States should be prepared to move quickly to pour aid and advisers into Cuba in the event of Fidel Castro’s death, to turn the island away from communist rule, a government report due for release this week will recommend. The report calls for -million to be put aside to step up opposition to Castro.
At least 41 people were killed on Monday and 47 injured when a packed metro train was derailed on the underground railway system of the eastern Spanish city of Valencia. ”There may be other bodies, forensic police are working intensively at the accident scene,” said Antonio Bernabe, a central government official.
An awaiting trial prisoner shot during an attempted escape in Lenasia, Johannesburg, has died, police said on Tuesday. He was wounded during a shoot-out with two policemen who were transporting him and two other men to Potchefstroom in the North West province. Sergeant Modukeng Riba (44) was shot and killed and Inspector Piet Maleka (49) was critically injured.