The World Bank believes Zimbabwe has the capacity to reclaim its position as the breadbasket of Southern Africa, Harare’s The Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday. For this to happen the country would have to revitalise its road, railway and water infrastructure, the paper’s website quoted World Bank country manager Sudhir Chitale as saying.
The Wallabies will play a more forward-orientated game under new coach John Connolly, team vice-captain Nathan Sharpe said on Wednesday. Connolly has shown his intentions to restore order at the set pieces by appointing noted ”scrum doctor” Alec Evans as an assistant to forwards coach Michael Foley.
Former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz took the witness stand on Wednesday to defend Saddam Hussein and his associates in a case involving the killing of Shi’ite civilians from Dujail in the 1980s. His testimony focused on the series of assassination attempts against officials of the Ba’ath regime at that time.
Suppliers of gas cylinders for heating have run out of stock after this week’s cold spell and customers in Johannesburg and other inland and KwaZulu-Natal regions have been turned away empty-handed, media reports said on Wednesday. Liquid-gas supplier Afrox is experiencing an unprecedented demand, the company said.
Sixty suspected Taliban and five members of the Afghan security forces were killed in a major new clash in southern Afghanistan, a top Afghan army commander and police said on Wednesday. The fighting erupted on Tuesday after an Afghan army patrol came under attack in volatile Uruzgan province.
Nineteen South Africans have been arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) alongside three Americans and four Nigerians on allegations of ”destabilisation of government institutions”, the South African Department of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.
The JSE was back in the red in noon trade on Wednesday, with weakness in global markets preventing it from building on Tuesday’s bounce. A weaker rand helped stem the bourse’s losses. By 12.10pm, the-all share and all-share industrial indices shed 1,04% and 1,02% respectively.
The Hamas-led Palestinian government accused Israeli leader Ehud Olmert on Wednesday of having no interest in negotiating a peace settlement, despite his pledge to meet Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. On Tuesday Olmert said that he would seek to set the final borders of Israel on a unilateral basis only after exhausting negotiation efforts.
Amelie Mauresmo goes into the French Open as top seed for the first time, but her hopes of finally banishing the demons that have haunted her at Roland Garros are endangered by a new and unexpected threat. Twelve months ago, no-one would have given credence to the idea that former tennis queen Martina Hingis could still win the one Grand Slam title that has eluded her.
Thirty-two men — including South Africans, an American and a Nigerian — have been arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a reported coup plot, news reports said on Wednesday. The South African Department of Foreign Affairs said it is trying to get comprehensive information on the incident.