The rain was everybody’s enemy but Justin Gatlin’s. A torrential storm delayed the 200m quarterfinals until Wednesday and gave the 100m champion some much-needed extra rest for his pursuit of three gold medals at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki. For the Finns, however, the javelin is the main attraction.
African Union envoys who met Mauritania’s new military strongman said on Wednesday they were reassured by the country’s junta leaders, and urged them to follow a plan to hold democratic elections in less than two years. Pointedly, they said nothing about restoring to power the country’s exiled president.
More than 600 children were raped in two years by previously convicted rapists, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. ”In 2002, 277 children were raped by persons previously convicted of rape, while in 2003 this figure has increased by 15% to 320, said DA Member of Parliament Mike Waters.
Rafael Nadal didn’t let a jammed finger deter him from an opening-round hard-court victory, overcoming long-time mentor Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-7 (0-7) 6-3 on Tuesday at the ,2-million Montreal Masters. The 19-year-old from the Spanish island of Mallorca needed treatment on a finger on his left hitting hand.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry is bracing for a Wallaby backlash when his All Blacks take them on in Saturday’s Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup rugby Test match at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium. The Wallabies are smarting after last month’s disastrous tour of South Africa.
Everton manager David Moyes insisted his side can still rescue their Champions League dream and qualify for the group stages despite watching them lose 2-1 to Villarreal in the third qualifying-round first leg at Goodison Park. The Merseyside club have a mountain to climb in Spain in two weeks’ time.
Zinedine Zidane wants to make something clear: He’s not hearing voices. The French soccer star said on his website that an interview he gave to France Football magazine was misinterpreted. In those comments, published this week, Zidane told of a mysterious conversation in the dead of night.
Mark Scott-Crossley has a previous conviction for theft, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Tuesday while considering his sentence for throwing farmworker Nelson Chisale to lions last year. Accomplice Simon Mathebula has a clean record, prosecutor Ivy Thenga told the court.
President Thabo Mbeki is ”trying his best” to resolve the situation in Zimbabwe, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said in Cape Town on Wednesday after a two-and-a-half-hour meeting in Pretoria on Tuesday night between Mbeki and a South African Council of Churches delegation.
William Nkuna, accused of murdering missing police constable Frances Rasuge, handed himself over on Wednesday, police said. North West police spokesperson senior superintendent Pieter du Plessis said Nkuna had handed himself over at the Pretoria North police station.