When the novelty of astronauts on Mars begins to wear off, some time in 2020, historians will note that it took humanity 120 years to wobble into the air in a Kitty Hawk, go faster than sound, ride into space, walk on the moon and begin colonising the red planet.
When Manchester United were last in South Africa, in 1993, the club were on a high. A campaign driven by Eric Cantona had seen them crowned inaugural Premier League winners — their first English top division title in 26 years. They then lost to Arsenal at Ellis Park in a match marred by referee Errol Sweeney’s dismissal of United skipper Bryan Robson.
The World Cup was an absorbing diversion from the bad news that dominates our attention. Despite the manic nationalism and its inherent tribalism, part of the naive beauty of the past weeks has been the sense that for once the human race was looking in the same direction.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress had initially stopped glorifying politicians in place names — like airports — but had now turned the clock back to the days of the National Party (NP) with the proposed renaming of the Johannesburg International airport, said official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon in his weekly internet column <i>SA Today</i> on Friday.
Independent music labels, who have seen their market share come under pressure in the last decade as the industry goliaths merged, have struck back. After a lengthy court battle, a European court surprised just about everyone by annulling the European Union’s approval of the 2004 Sony BMG merger, which created the world’s second-biggest music company.
Do not fret. Everything will be in place by 2010. Everything. The stadiums will be in place. The trains and taxis will be in place. Naturally it is possible that the stadiums will be in place somewhere else, a decimal on the GPS display overlooked, to provide concrete amphitheatres in which demagogue dassies harangue termites and sun-bleached Pick ‘n Pay packets.
Giant petrochemicals firm Sasol said it was confident that workers who planned to strike at the company would accept a new pay offer given to trade unions on Thursday. On top of its 6,5% salary increase, Sasol also offered a further 1,5% hike on employees’ housing subsidies.
Legendary rugby winger Jonah Lomu will renew his bid to regain his All Black place on Saturday when he takes the field in an Auckland club match. Since receiving a kidney transplant in 2004, 31-year-old Lomu has been trying to resurrect his glory days but a stint with Welsh side Cardiff was cut short in April by an ankle injury.
Israel pressed on with its air assault on Gaza on Friday in a bid to retrieve a soldier abducted nearly three weeks ago and stop rocket attacks but troops withdrew from the centre of the territory. The continued offensive came as the United States vetoed a United Nations resolution calling on Israel to halt its military operations in Gaza.
The top World Cup official in Berlin has died four days after shooting himself in the head just hours after the final, the German press reported on Friday. The <i>Berliner Morgenpost</i> quoted a spokesperson of the Charite hospital as saying Juergen Kiessling (65) passed away on Thursday.