As a teen prodigy, Rafael Nadal’s achievements match or surpass those of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Mats Wilander, suggesting that his first grand-slam title is unlikely to be his last. Few expect 19-year-old Nadal to become a one-slam wonder. He’s too big and strong, too cool and creative, too pugnacious and precocious.
Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema on Sunday pardoned six Armenian pilots who had been sentenced to prison for their alleged roles in an attempted coup last year. The president granted the pardon as a ”humanitarian gesture” on the occasion of his 63rd birthday.
South African telecommunications group Telkom on Monday reported a 53% increase in its basic earnings per share for the year ended March 2005 to 1 241,8 cents, from 812 cents in the previous comparative period. Profit for the period increased to R6,807-billion, from R4,592-billion in the 2004 financial year.
Mighty Nigeria surrendered first place in a 2006 World Cup qualifying group to Angola on Sunday after being held 1-1 by minnows Rwanda. The top-versus-bottom clash in the central African city of Kigali took a dramatic turn nine minutes into the second half when Rwanda striker Jimmy Gatete completed a dazzling dribble with a chip over goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama into the net.
Three newcomers have been named in the All Blacks starting line-up for their one-off Test against Fiji at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland on Friday. Hooker Derren Witcombe, lock James Ryan and winger Sitiveni Sivivatu will make their Test debuts in a side that has an experimental look about it before the All Blacks face the British and Irish Lions.
Vodacom’s revenue for the period ended in March 2005 rose 19,5% to R27,3-billion, with profit from operations increasing 24% to R6,5-billion, the firm announced on Monday. During the period under review, the company’s subscriber base surged 38% to 15,5-million.
Members of a labour union taking part in strike action against Metrorail will march to the train operator’s head office in Johannesburg on Monday. Chris de Vos, the general secretary of the United Transport and Allied Trade Unions, said no Metrorail trains were running in Cape Town.
For 26 years the assassin’s work has been one of the most ubiquitous and chilling episodes of the Cold War, but his identity one of its enduring secrets. The Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov (49) felt a sharp prick in his leg as he waited for a bus in 1978 on Waterloo Bridge.
Deputy President Jacob Zuma is ”fine” amid a chorus of calls for his resignation since the outcome of the Schabir Shaik fraud and corruption trial, his office said on Monday. ”Life goes on,” said spokesperson Lakela Kaunda in Pretoria. ”The deputy president is fine. We are going to have a normal working day today [Monday].”
To some it may sound dysfunctional and autocratic, but in Russia, it is the model family. The man — a terse, authoritarian workaholic — comes home, knackered, to his kitchen table in the leafy suburbs between 11.30pm and midnight, slumps into a chair, and drinks a glass of yoghurty milk.