Put aside tactics, history and sentiment and just carve out a win. That seems to have been Springbok coach Jake White’s message to his team ahead of their season-opening Test against Scotland in Durban on Saturday. With much fanfare being made by the Scottish contingent about how they will take on the Bok forward challenge, White’s chief priority is victory.
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Hours to go before the World Cup started on Friday, the streets of Munich were alive with exuberant fans singing, showing their colours and waiting for the whistle to blow as hosts Germany meet Costa Rica in the curtain-raiser. A giant screen set up by German public television station ZDF in Munich’s central Marienplatz counted down the seconds.
A summit of African leaders, farmers and international agriculture experts aimed at tackling soil degradation and food shortages in the world’s poorest continent opened on Friday in Nigeria. The African Fertiliser Summit, which began in Abuja with a two-day technical session, was being attended by about 500 delegates from across the world.
Health for all is one of the central goals of South Africa’s reconstruction and development, says South African President Thabo Mbeki, who on Friday indicated that South Africa is putting too few resources into the development of sport, which is currently in the doldrums on the international stage.
Fighters loyal to a United States-backed warlord alliance reinforced their last remaining stronghold on Friday as Islamist militia in control of the capital gathered for a feared attack, witnesses said. Heavily armed gunmen backed by machine-gun mounted pick-ups set up barricades and took up positions around the town of Jowhar.
The former executive chairperson removed from Zimbabwe’s troubled power utility says his tenure at the helm of the company was a ”nightmare”. Sydney Gata had his post abolished this week when the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, which is experiencing serious viability problems, was restructured.
A United States federal judge, miffed at the inability of opposing attorneys to agree on even the slightest details of a lawsuit, ordered them to settle their latest dispute with the hand-gesture game of ”rock, paper, scissors”. The argument was over a location to take the sworn statement of a witness in an insurance lawsuit.
Global stock markets advanced on Friday as bargain hunters snapped up shares after a turbulent week of sharp losses, the result of concerns about rising inflation and interest rates. European stock markets recovered some ground on Friday, following Thursday’s massive sell-off, and after a steadier overnight performance on Wall Street.
Security guards will be urged to accept a revised offer made by their employers after marathon talks, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) said on Friday. ”We are going to report back to our members in a positive light,” Satawu general secretary Randall Howard said after the two-day discussions.
Economically ravaged Zimbabwe’s inflation rate soared to a record high of 1 193,5% for May, officials said on Friday. ”The year-on-year rate of inflation in May 2006 was 1 193,5%, gaining 150,6 percentage points on the April rate of 1 042,9%,” said Moffat Nyoni, acting director of the Central Statistical Office.