Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy has verbally agreed to join Real Madrid on a three-year deal, according to a Dutch press report on Friday. The country’s biggest newspaper De Telegraaf said: ”Ruud van Nistelrooy (30) has come to a verbal agreement with Real Madrid.
Zimbabwe has missed its target to raise wheat output to a record 500 000 tons after farmers reduced plantings, raising fears of bread shortages, the official Herald newspaper reported on Friday. Farmers planted about 58 000ha of wheat, considerably lower than the 110 000ha targeted by the government in a bid to boost food security, the newspaper said.
Hailed as a hero only a month ago, John Connolly now confronts the downside of coaching Australia. Connolly takes the Wallabies into Saturday’s Tri Nations rugby Test at Suncorp Stadium with many questioning his game plan, tactics and selections. The long-serving Queensland coach was seen to have turned around Australia’s fortunes last month.
An international relief worker was killed on Wednesday in northern Darfur, the United Nations said. The aid worker was shot dead by unknown assailants who attacked a car carrying three international relief workers near al Sireaf, 60km north of Saraf Omra, according to a UN situation report issued on Thursday.
Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio will be relegated to the Italian second division, according to a report in the Gazetta dello Sport newspaper on Friday. Italy’s premier sports newspaper claimed it was revealing the long-anticipated ruling in Italy’s match-fixing scandal, due to be given on Friday evening.
A North West woman said armed men attacked and tortured her family, pouring boiling water on her husband, slashing open his forehead, then strangling him with a shoelace. The family, from Swartruggens near Rustenburg, were attacked on Wednesday night, media reports said on Friday.
Meerkats actively teach their young how to catch and eat their prey, British researchers said in a study that is one of the first to prove that animals show such complex behaviour. While animals are known to learn from one another by watching, the team at Britain’s University of Cambridge said they had demonstrated that the animals actually teach, as defined by clear principles.
More than 100 000 knives, including machetes, meat cleavers and axes, were handed over to police during Britain’s five-week knife amnesty which ended last month, the country’s Home Office said on Friday. Another 12 645 were handed over in Scotland.
The World Bank is preparing funding for Tanzania and Uganda to help the East African countries cope with a power crisis triggered by a three-year drought, bank officials said on Thursday. Tanzania and Uganda have been worst hit by the power crisis and are currently enforcing rolling blackouts that are hurting their economies and stretching financial resources.
Somalia’s nearly powerless interim government said on Friday it wants to postpone this weekend’s peace talks with an Islamic militia that has seized control of nearly all of southern Somalia, saying the group has become increasingly radical. The talks were expected to be a move toward international acceptance for the militia.