It’s going to be the strangest Champions League defence of all time — and the longest. After their sensational triumph over Milan in Istanbul less than a month ago, Liverpool have already been embroiled in a lengthy battle just to be allowed to defend their crown in the traditional (and, indeed, regulation) manner.
”I don’t want to come across as a demagogue,” interrupts Claude Leroy, instantly proving he’s not your everyday football manager, ”but can you hear that sound in the background? It’s wonderful!” The extraordinary French coach Claude Leroy speaks about his dream of achieving World Cup qualification with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country ravaged by war, disease and malnutrition.
Rafael Nadal’s mum, Ana Maria, had other things on her mind on the Sunday that her 19-year-old son was playing in the French Open final. ”I watch him on court and the way he behaves is the way he behaves in life — all heart, very responsible, hard-working and much more mature than most boys his age. But he is very untidy and disorganised.”
Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are guaranteed to avoid the most powerful sides in Europe should they all reach the group stage of the Champions League. Uefa this week confirmed the club coefficients which are used to calculate each side’s seeding in Europe’s elite club competition.
Ethiopian federal police confirmed on Friday the release of 2 665 people detained during week-long disturbances in Addis Ababa against alleged fraud in the May 15 general elections. At least 36 people were killed by police gunfire during the violent clashes, which the government said were instigated by the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy.
Drugs alone will not help Africa beat HIV/Aids, one of the scientists who discovered the virus that causes the disease said on Thursday at an African business summit. Robert Gallo said merely providing drugs to countries battling HIV/Aids ”is not scientifically sound” and that it will give rise to multi-drug resistant strains.
Family advocacy groups lauded Yahoo for closing its chat rooms to clean up areas that allegedly were used to prey on children. Over the past month, pressure has been building on Yahoo to crack down on chat rooms that promoted sex with minors.
The JSE Securities Exchange was weaker at noon on Friday, with a sizzling oil price burning global bourses. Higher bullion price lent sheen to gold stocks, however. At noon, the all share and all share industrial indices were both down 0,62%. The financial and banks indices had fallen 0,83% and 1,53% respectively.
Economists have warned that the recent extension of targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe by the European Union (EU) is likely to further isolate an already weak economy. Deputy information minister Bright Matonga said that the government was unperturbed by the EU decision.
Zuma’s jackboot bulldozing President Thabo Mbeki had no choice but to dismiss Jacob Zuma. Right? Wrong! There were several alternatives to deal with a man with struggle credentials second to none and a more affable personality than any other in government. As deputy president, he deserved to be treated with dignity befitting his status, not […]