United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart, Jack Straw, made a surprise visit on Sunday to Iraq, carrying a sharp message of international impatience with delays in the formation of a new government. The ministers flew in secretly under tight security in pouring rain from Britain.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has admitted in an interview that he made errors and was misunderstood in his management of a hotly contested youth labour law that has sent students and unions into the streets in violent protests. He denied, however, that he has been disavowed by President Jacques Chirac.
It was not pretty to watch, but the Sharks finally overcame a strong Queensland defence to topple their old nemeses, the Queensland Reds, by five tries to four as they won their Super 14 rugby encounter 36-26 at the Absa Stadium on Saturday evening. Both sides picked up a bonus point as a result of the nine tries scored.
The Wildebeest moved to the top of the Vodacom Cup log and edged closer to a home semifinal with a seven-try hammering of the Cheetahs in their 51-14 victory in Durban on Saturday. The result takes the Wildebeest to the top of the log on 30 points, with the Falcons slipping off the pace slightly after their defeat at the hands of the Blue Bulls.
Manchester United won 2-1 at Bolton on Saturday to cut Chelsea’s Premier League lead to seven points after the champions were held 0-0 by relegation-threatened Birmingham. Substitute Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the winner at the Reebok Stadium after United had trailed to Kevin Davies’s 25th-minute goal and Louis Saha equalised.
Moroka Swallows enhanced their log standing when they beat their visitors, Bloemfontein Celtic, 1-0 in their Premier Soccer League encounter played in Germiston on Saturday. In other matches, Santos beat Jomo Cosmos, Black Leopards beat a determined Supersport United and Free State Stars beat Ajax Cape Town.
For 90 minutes, Svetlana Kuznetsova kept Maria Sharapova on the run, dashing from corner to corner in vain pursuit of a championship. As a weary Sharapova found herself on the verge of defeat, she went scrambling yet again after a shot and exclaimed: ”Ai-yi-yi.” The crowd laughed, and Kuznetsova won the exchange.
Spain’s Fernando Alonso won the Australian Grand Prix in a dominating drive in Melbourne on Sunday as the Renault world drivers’ champion led for all but a couple of laps. McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen was behind him 1,8 seconds off the pace with Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher third a further 22,9 seconds back.
Miracles in France are not, apparently, what they were. Or not according to the critics of a new initiative in Lourdes, the famous centre of Christian pilgrimage in the mountains of south-west France, known for the scores of Catholic believers who, it is claimed, have recovered from serious illnesses there.
Celebrities always complain about invasions of privacy, so when the gossip website Gawker allowed fans to post sightings of their favourite stars on a street map of Manhattan, it was bound to cause a stir. But one of Hollywood’s biggest names, George Clooney has taken the battle back to the stalkers.