The day after his teammates crumbled, Lance Armstrong surrendered. But it was a calculated move designed to make the coming days easier to manage. Armstrong relinquished the Tour de France leader’s yellow jersey on Sunday’s ninth stage, allowing Team CSC rider Jens Voigt to ride away in pursuit of stage winner Mickael Rasmussen.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has warned his English Premiership rivals to improve or finish second again. Chelsea romped to the title by 12 points last season, and Mourinho says unless Arsenal and Manchester United raise their game, they will be left with the consolation prizes again.
Australian cricket star Shane Warne on Monday spoke of the pain at the end of his 10-year marriage, but assured fans he would not allow his personal life to impact on his performance during the Ashes. Warne took responsibility for the failure of his marriage which has been blamed on several highly publicised dalliances with young women.
During the running of Saturday’s eighth stage of the 2005 Tour de France, six-time champion Lance Armstrong smiled warmly at a France 2 television camera and said, ”Bonjour, France.” It was a telling moment, for the camera lingered on Armstrong and Armstrong continued to smile, a mutual declaration of love between the rider and his French spectators.
Britain and the United States are privately planning to withdraw most of their forces from Iraq by early next year, according to a secret memo written by John Reid, the United Kingdom defence secretary. Under the plans, Britain will cut the number of its troops from the present 8 500 to 3 000 by the middle of next year.
The Wallabies were on Monday bolstered by the return from injury of first-team players Daniel Vickerman, Chris Latham and Stirling Mortlock for this month’s two rugby Tests in South Africa — the return Mandela Challenge Plate Test against the Springboks in Johannesburg on July 23 and the Tri-Nations Test in Pretoria on July 30.
Verimark Holdings (VMK) debuted on the JSE on Monday, opening with an inaugural trade of R3,05 and subsequently trading in a range of R2,99 to R3,01 per share in early dealings. The company develops and retails a range of products including household goods, DIY, beauty and exercise equipment.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has been hijacked by corrupt opportunists driven mainly by personal greed, party member and Member of Parliament Roy Bennett says in an article published on Monday.
More and more people will cycle into London this week as the fear of being caught in a terrorist attack on public transport overrides concerns of being knocked off their bike by a car, experts say. Sales of bikes — from fold-away models to multi-gear machines — have rocketed at cycle shops across the capital since last Thursday.
About 2 300 families in Stilfontein are battling to make ends meet after their breadwinners were retrenched when DRDGold provisionally liquidated its two North West mines in March. Simmer & Jack Mines has signed an interim agreement with the provisional liquidators, under which Simmers will restart the mines.