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/ 10 January 2005
Cricket provided the spectacle and the fund-raising vehicle as Ricky Ponting’s World XI beat an Asian XI by 112 runs on Monday in a benefit match that generated Aus,6-million (R66,3-million) for the tsunami relief fund. Ponting stroked 115, New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns smashed 69 off 47 balls and West Indian Brian Lara hit 52.
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The Merafong municipality, which includes Carletonville and Khutsong, may soon be incorporated into the North West province.
In a rare meeting of artistic licence and creative accountancy, France’s most successful actor, Gérard Depardieu, is this week due to be questioned by fraud investigators about his links with a disgraced tycoon said to be hiding in Britain after his empire collapsed, leaving 14Â 000 people jobless.
A ceremony to mark the signing of a peace deal between the Sudanese government and southern rebels opened in Nairobi on Sunday amid high hopes for a final end to Africa’s longest-running conflict. The pact, which formally ends 21 years of war, was to be signed by Sudan’s Vice-President Ali Osman Taha and rebel leader John Garang at Kenya’s Nyayo National Stadium with a host of African heads of state and other witnesses looking on.
In a thick Australian accent, Dave Shaw’s first words to me on Thursday evening were: ”How you doin’, mate?” He reminded me somewhat of Captain Haddock from the Tintin comics. He would be diving to a depth of 270m to attempt to recover the body of Deon Dreyer who drowned at Boesmansgat in December 1994. He never returned.
Diver’s body to be raised from the deep
As Palestinians go to the polls on Sunday to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat, senior members of Hamas have revealed that a long-term ceasefire may well follow. The revelation follows a major escalation in the Hamas campaign of firing missiles at Israeli targets in and around the Gaza Strip.
Abbas raises ceasefire hopes
They are still bringing out the dead in Meulaboh. Two weeks after the tidal wave that destroyed half the town, days after a stream of international dignitaries had their pictures taken in Banda Aceh, 320km to the north west, Meulaboh’s ruined streets are still strewn with corpses.
As you drive west of Banda Aceh, through the splintered streets, you soon reach the groves of palm trees that flank the scarred road but fail to conceal the devastation on either side. You keep the vehicle’s windows up to shut out the smell of the thousands of bodies that still lie, unclaimed and unidentified, under the rubble, the thick silt, the smashed timber and the standing, stagnant saltwater.
Orlando Pirates maintained their unbeaten record after their 1-1 draw with Wits University in their Premier Soccer League match at the Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday. Pirates are yet to taste defeat after 14 games. They still lead the pack on the table with 30 points while Wits, who added their 14th point from their 13th league match, remained in ninth position.