An evangelist church pastor in New Zealand has apologised for making flippant remarks about Pope John Paul II to parishioners during his sermon on the day he died, The Nelson Mail newspaper reported on Tuesday. Pastor Brent Liebezeit, of the Annesbrook Church, in the South Island city of Nelson, said: ”He looked pretty much dead when he was speaking for years, really.”
South African batsman Jacques Kallis has been cleared of any wrongdoing following a misconduct hearing in Trinidad with International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Jeff Crowe on Sunday. Kallis had been charged of breaching the section of the ICC Code of Conduct that relates to showing dissent at an umpire’s decision.
Golfing order was restored at Augusta National on Sunday. Tiger Woods is Masters champion, for a fourth time, and back on top of the world rankings. Suddenly all the early season talk of the ”Fab Four” — Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els — is all sounding a bit hollow.
Several Stormers are recovering well from injury. Hanyani Shimange, who has a rib cartilage injury, is expected to be fit for the match against the Blues on April 23. Joe van Niekerk, who has an injury to the cartilage in his left knee, is expected to be fit for the Crusaders game on Saturday.
Adam Gilchrist says the 2007 World Cup will likely be his last cricket series for Australia. The 33-year-old Gilchrist, the world’s premier wicketkeeper-batsman, told Inside Cricket magazine that he won’t be playing for Australia in three years’ time, domestic media reported on Tuesday.
Mike Tyson is returning to the ring. The former heavyweight boxing champion will fight for the first time in nearly a year, facing journeyman Kevin McBride on June 11 at Washington’s MCI Centre, a boxing source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Monday.
A Zimbabwean court trying two British journalists accused of illegally covering last week’s parliamentary polls heard on Monday that a camera they apparently used to photograph the vote did not contain any images. A police officer testifying last week said he seized the camera from the journalists and took it for safekeeping at a local police station.
Shane Warne has insisted it will be England who will be under pressure when the Ashes series against Ricky Ponting’s Australian tourists gets under way in July. Australia have won the last eight Ashes series dating back to 1989 and, although England are now ranked second in the world, Michael Vaughan’s men will be outsiders to break the sequence.
South Africa claimed West Indies star Brian Lara among three quick wickets before tea to take command on the fourth day of the second Test at Queen’s Park Oval on Monday. The West Indies, who trailed by 51 runs on the first innings, went to the break tottering on 86 for four, a lead of just 35.
IT solutions and retail group Connection Holdings on Tuesday reported a 50,7% increase in headline earnings per share to 52,44 cents for the six months ended February 28 this year, from 34,79 cents for the corresponding period a year ago. In line with current practice, the group declared no interim dividend.