Nearing 35, Andre Agassi still has plenty of bounce in his step — and his game. Agassi rolled to a 6-4, 6-1 victory on Wednesday over Guillermo Coria in the Pacific Life Open. In an earlier match, Andy Roddick, knocked out of the Olympics the last time he faced Fernando Gonzalez, returned the favour.
League champions Kaiser Chiefs kept the pressure on log leaders Orlando Pirates when they were fortunate to beat Santos 1-0 in a Castle Premier League match played at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday. The goal came in the 68th minute when Santos goalkeeper Brenden Wardle spilt a shot from John Moshoeu and Collins Mbesuma was on hand to tap the ball in.
Bush Bucks shared the points when they played to a goaless draw with Black Leopards in a closely contested Premier Soccer League match at the Absa Stadium in East London on Wednesday night. Imbabala have only themselves to blame for failing to grab maximum points.
South African banking group Absa is hoping to almost quadruple the size of its NewGold exchange traded fund from its current take-up value of just more than R240-million to R1-billion by the end of 2005, Absa Corporate and Merchant Bank’s Dr Vladimir Nedeljkovic has said in an interview.
Kagiso Strategic Investments, the investment arm of the Kagiso Charitable Trust, has acquired a 25,1% stake in vehicle-recovery operator Matrix Vehicle Tracking for an undisclosed amount. Distinguishing the transaction, the group noted, is Kagiso’s upfront multimillion-rand cash payment in full for its direct stake in Matrix.
Global resources group Anglo American saw 49 fatalities at its managed operations worldwide during its 2004 financial year, up from 44 deaths in the group’s previous financial year, Anglo chairperson Mark Moody-Stuart said in the group’s 2004 annual report.
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State torture and violence in Zimbabwe makes it impossible to have free and fair elections on March 31, says a report released on Thursday. The report by the anti-torture group Redress criticises President Robert Mugabe’s government for failing to arrest and try several police and army officers suspected of torture.
Nearly 7Â 000 drivers, mainly foreign diplomats and French officials including top civil servants and senior policemen, escaped fines after being caught by France’s new automatic speed traps last year. The satirical weekly Le Canard Enchainé, citing a leaked interior ministry document, said the diplomatic corps was clocked over the speed limit 2Â 590 times.
The fabled Milan opera house, La Scala, was on Wednesday night in turmoil after its musicians and other employees voted overwhelmingly for the resignation of its musical director, Riccardo Muti, and the entire governing board. In a day of operatic drama, rumours swept Milan that 64-year-old Muti had agreed to go. But they were denied by theatre officials.
United States President George Bush on Wednesday chose one of the most controversial figures in his administration, the Pentagon’s chief ideological proponent of the Iraq war Paul Wolfowitz, to head the World Bank. Bush tried to beat back some of the criticism on Wednesday, telephoning world leaders to lobby for his choice.