Edwin van der Sar has vowed to become Manchester United’s new Peter Schmeichel and put them back on top of English football. The former Juventus and Ajax goalkeeper has agreed a two-year contract at Old Trafford, who have tried 10 ‘keepers since Schmeichel left in 1999 after the treble-winning season.
Samoan coach Michael Jones said on Tuesday the gap between rugby’s rich and poor nations is extending ever further and that he is dismayed over the official indifference to the plight of the sport in the Pacific Islands. Jones is preparing his team for Saturday’s one-off international with Australia in Sydney and is looking to show what Samoan rugby can offer the rugby world.
Cautious buyers and market saturation is contributing to a slowdown at the top end of the residential property market, with houses priced over R2-million staying unsold for longer, First National Bank chief economist Cees Bruggemans said on Tuesday.
South African financial services group African Life Assurance Company on Tuesday reported a 37% increase in headline earnings per share to 244,2 cents for the year ended March 31, from 178,4 cents a year ago. A strong performance from African Life Health helped increase operating profit by 28% to R226,7-million.
Although the South African Chamber of Business’s (Sacob) business confidence index (BCI) eased for the third consecutive month, the May level of 127 was little changed from the readings in April, March and February. Sacob said this could imply that the BCI has reached a plateau from which it may drift downwards.
With a month to go, Paris remains the city to beat in the race for the 2012 Olympics. The French capital solidified its front-runner status on Monday, receiving a glowing review in an IOC report evaluating the five cities in the most competitive and glamorous field in Olympic bid history.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) wants at least 200Â 000 people on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment by 2006, thereby holding the government to its own commitment in the operational plan. Of the proposed figure, at least 20Â 000 should be children, the TAC said.
A little-known massacre at a village where residents tried to assassinate Saddam Hussein in 1982 will be the focus of the first case in the trial of the former Iraqi president. Dozens of people were killed in reprisal after the president’s convoy was fired on as it drove through Dujail, a farming village about 65km north of Baghdad.
Subsistence agriculture makes for a hard life, particularly in areas that are badly hit by HIV. Put farming and Aids together, add drought or disease, and you have a diabolical mixture of circumstances. This assertion has become an article of faith in many African countries, not least South Africa — said to have the highest number of HIV-positive citizens in the world.
The introduction of Toyota’s new Hilux range is a significant move by the country’s largest vehicle manufacturer. Not only has this legendary LCV/SUV shattered sales and performance records and assisted Toyota in earning itself its superb reliability record, but the newcomer is likely to yield significant increases in forex.