Reigning champion Rafael Nadal advanced to the semifinals of the French Open on Wednesday after Serbian teenager Novak Djokovic withdrew injured when trailing by two sets to love. The 20-year-old Spaniard extended his winning streak on clay to 58 matches after his 6-4, 6-4 victory.
There have been further sightings of the critically endangered riverine rabbit beyond its normal distribution, CapeNature said in a statement on Wednesday. ”This is very significant for conservation as it means there is now a whole new area to discover,” read a statement from CapeNature’s Natasha Rockman.
Lawyers for seven men accused of a multimillion-dollar heist at Johannesburg International airport have objected to a police demand for samples of their blood. The state wants the men’s DNA tested to determined whether any of it matches a trace of sweat found on a bolt-cutter left at the scene of the robbery.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday he would announce the date of a controversial statehood referendum by the the end of the week. "After the end of the 10 days of dialogue, we are now working on the decree [allowing the referendum] and this will take a little time to complete," Abbas said.
Financial services group Sanlam said in a trading update on Wednesday that strong growth in new business volumes and a sound operational performance, coupled with South African equity markets reaching new record heights in April 2006, have contributed to overall satisfactory group results for the first four months of 2006.
Major funding has been earmarked to find faster-acting tuberculosis (TB) drugs that do not clash with anti-retroviral medications.
President Thabo Mbeki is "not a dictator", but there is no way to hide the dissent within his government over leadership issues, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said it is unfortunate that Mbeki is head of state, government and his political party.
Well-known Zimbabwean business tycoon John Bredenkamp has fled the country after the authorities began investigating him for alleged economic crimes, a media report said on Wednesday. Bredenkamp slipped out of the country in a private jet on Tuesday, the Herald newspaper said.
Nearly 1 400 Iraqi civilians were murdered in targeted killings last month in Baghdad alone, and many more died in indiscriminate bomb blasts, making May the bloodiest month in the capital since the war began, Iraq’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
An international media watchdog group on Tuesday welcomed the release of a local correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation in Gambia, but lashed out at the tiny country for the continued imprisonment of two other reporters. Lamin Cham had been held since May 30 by Gambian authorities as part of a government crackdown on the Freedom Newspaper website.