The British public is getting the chance to vote for their favourite actress to take the lead role of Maria von Trapp when The Sound of Music returns to the London stage in December. Ten remaining candidates will compete to land the part of the singing nun in a series of live televised knock-out rounds.
The victims of the Port Elizabeth floods have enough food and blankets but urgently need help rebuilding their homes, the Nelson Mandela metro said on Monday. ”About 90% of those people evacuated from informal houses will have to rebuild their homes,” said metro spokesperson Lourens Schoeman.
Global media baron Rupert Murdoch is to launch a free London evening newspaper, to be called thelondonpaper, on September 18, his News International publishing group announced on Monday. The paper will break the monopoly on London evening titles held since 1980 by the Evening Standard.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who is seeking a second term in office in next month’s elections, is likely to face at least 11 challengers, according to a preliminary nominations list released on Monday. Eleven opposition candidates have indicated they will run in the September 28 polls.
Rescuers clawed through mud and debris with their hands, garden tools and heavy equipment in eastern Ethiopia on Monday, searching for hundreds of people missing after lethal flash floods. Officials said 206 bodies had been recovered but the toll was expected to climb as 300 people were still unaccounted for.
Some unfamiliar names could reach this season’s 32-team group stage of the Champions League. Some of Europe’s powers, including last season’s runners-up Arsenal, six-time champions AC Milan and 2005 champions Liverpool, face tough opposition in the final qualifying round for the Champions League.
Cycling chief Pat McQuaid on Monday called for team bosses to be punished along with riders amid the furore of the failed drugs test of Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. Meanwhile, Landis, who risks being stripped of his Tour title, hit back on Monday at world cycling authorities.
Western Province got off to the best possible start at the Spar National Netball Championships in Port Elizabeth on Monday, beating defending champions Central Gauteng by 45 goals to 38 in their opening match. Central Gauteng certainly did not appear to be champion material in the first quarter.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene and veteran Sanath Jayasuriya hit aggressive half-centuries to push Sri Lanka closer to a remarkable victory in the second Test against South Africa in Colombo on Monday. Jayasuriya smashed 73 off 74 balls and Jayawardene was unbeaten on 77 as Sri Lanka ended a tense fourth day’s play on 262-5.
The first koala to be born in Africa has finally emerged from his mother’s pouch, the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria said on Monday. Conservation staff at the zoo have reported that the young joey, as young koalas are known, is regularly seen with its head out of mother Renée’s pouch.