The Hurricanes will call on every iota of guile, experience and aggression to win Saturday’s Super 12 rugby semifinal in Christchurch, says Crusaders coach Robbie Deans. Ahead of the Jade Stadium showdown between the best two New Zealand teams in this year’s competition, Dean said his side know what to expect from the Hurricanes.
A cat was killed by being cooked alive in a microwave oven belonging to students at a men’s residence at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, reports said on Thursday. The cat reportedly died an ”extremely painful” death. Provincial education minister Ina Cronje has condemned the act as ”barbaric” and ”shocking”.
Almost two-thirds of South Africa’s municipalities cannot say whether the water they supply to consumers meets specified standards, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Buyelwa Sonjica told MPs on Wednesday. Director General of Water Affairs and Forestry Mike Muller said the problem is confined to rural areas.
Global brewing giant SABMiller on Thursday reported basic earnings per share of 94,1 United States cents for the year ended March 31 2005, from 54,1 cents a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were up 33% to 103,2 US cents, while in sterling terms, earnings per share were up 22% to 55,9 pence, from 45,8 pence a year ago.
International specialist banking group Investec CEO Stephen Koseff believes the hard work of the past few years and the group’s focus on its core businesses has paid off. "We have achieved the majority of our stated growth and financial return objectives, and we have made significant progress towards achieving the others," he says.
The international journalists’ organisation Reporters sans Frontières has been accused of receiving money from the United States State Department and Cuban exile groups, and of pursuing a political agenda. The claims of political bias, published in a report in Washington this week, were denied by the group on Wednesday.
The release of global brewing giant SABMiller’s final 2005 results on Thursday have highlighted the continued robust growth in its South African beer business, with Beer South Africa recording a 20% rise in its earnings before interest, tax and amortisation in rand (constant currency) terms.
A hand grenade thrown at George Bush in Georgia last week was live and could have exploded, says the FBI. But Georgian officials insist the explosive device found during the pro-democracy speech Bush gave in the capital was an ”engineering grenade” which would have had to be very close to the US president to cause any damage.
Nato ordered its planners to begin urgently drawing up proposals to help out in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than a million displaced. Nato has approved a request for help from the African Union, the pan-continental organisation, which has 2 600 troops on the ground.
A strike at Volkwagen SA is to continue after the company and a metal workers union failed to reach an agreement on the livelihood of 19 employees. Members of the National Union of Metalworkers went on strike two weeks ago, demanding an end to the outsourcing of VWSA’s packing department to a labour broker.