African leaders on Tuesday gave South African President Thabo Mbeki more time to negotiate peace in Côte d’Ivoire, but his mediation initiative ran into trouble hours later when rebels boycotted a special Cabinet meeting on Tuesday night at which he was guest of honour. A rebel spokesperson accused Mbeki of ”betrayal”.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has written off Chelsea’s chances of winning four trophies this season, but Jose Mourinho’s right-hand man, Steve Clarke, believes the best is yet to come from Chelsea. Chelsea are seven points clear of second-placed Arsenal at the top of the Premiership.

Roger Federer closed with an ace and then a rifling forehand on Wednesday, starting his finetuning for an Australian Open title defence with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 win over Gaston Gaudio at the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament. Andre Agassi unveiled a sleeker physique in his 6-1, 7-6 (4) win over Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu.

The death of Italian motorcyclist Fabrizio Meoni — a two-time Dakar winner — overshadowed the 11th stage of the Dakar Rally in Kiffa, Mauritania, on Tuesday, won by Germany’s Jutta Kleinschmidt, driving a Volkswagen, and Spain’s Marc Coma, riding a KTM. Meoni died of a heart attack after a crash, organisers said.

Juan Pablo Montoya has issued a challenge to his new teammate, Kimi Raikkonen. Montoya moved in the off season from Williams, joining the Finn at McLaren. ”I had hard races with Kimi when I was in the Williams and he was in the McLaren, so you are going to be seeing the same thing when we are both in McLarens,” Montoya said on Tuesday.

South African Football Association CEO Danny Jordaan would be ”perfect” for the position of chief executive of South Africa’s local organising committee for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Fifa president Sepp Blatter said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Blatter was briefing editors on his whirlwind two-day visit to the country.