Lawyers representing Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky said on Tuesday it is a foregone conclusion their client will be found guilty as judges continued reading the protracted verdict in the controversial trial. For a third day in a row, the Moscow court’s three-judge panel took turns in reading out the mammoth judgement.
The star-studded Monaco paddock will be home to Darth Vader and the Star Wars cast for this weekend’s grand prix, but with the field wide open, there is no need for gimmicks to guarantee excitement in the sport’s flagship race. There are plenty of contenders for one of the biggest prizes of the season.
All Blacks flanker Richie McCaw will lead the Canterbury Crusaders in their Super 12 rugby semifinal against the Wellington Hurricanes at Christchurch on Friday. He was confirmed in the Crusaders’ starting line-up on Wednesday, taking the place of Johnny Leo’o, who scored two tries in the win over the Hurricanes.
South African clothing retailer Edcon on Wednesday reported a 68% increase in headline earnings per share to R26,61 for the year ended April 2 2005, from R15,88 a year ago. A final dividend of 851 cents per share was declared, up 63% from a year ago, making a total dividend of R13,45.
The arrest of accused airline bomber Luis Posada Carriles in Florida poses a thorny problem for United States President George Bush, who has vowed to battle terrorism anywhere, analysts said. Federal agents arrested Posada Carriles (77) on Tuesday two hours after he held a secret press conference with selected reporters.
People who suffer rape as children often face secondary victimisation when those whom they confide in react non-supportively, a researcher said on Tuesday at the sixth annual conference of the South African Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, held at the University of Pretoria.
A three-year undercover investigation into illegal diamond deals in the Northern Cape ended on Tuesday in the arrest of five people, police said. Police spokesperson Superintendent Mashay Gamieldien said the four men and a woman were arrested in Kimberley, Hopetown and Schweizer-Reneke on Tuesday morning.
A black economic empowerment (BEE) consortium is to be set up in a bid to save the embattled Rex Trueform clothing company, Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Tuesday. This follows talks between textile-factory owners and trade-union leaders on ways to avert the closure of a Rex Trueform plant outside Cape Town.
An off-duty police officer allegedly killed five relatives, including two four-year-old twin girls, in a bloody killing spree in the Cape Town area on Tuesday night, police said. The 48-year-old inspector, who had taken leave, shot each of his victims in the head, execution-style, said a Western Cape police spokesperson.
The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday called on the Zulu nation not to attend an imbizo (meeting) at KwaMashu, south of Durban, on Saturday. The imbizo was called by Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi in his capacity as traditional prime minister.