Portugal have already made history. Now they are looking for glory. A 2-1 win on Wednesday over The Netherlands put the Euro 2004 host nation into their first major final, bringing the Portuguese closer than ever to the silverware they have craved for so long.
Oom Krisjan was a little confused (or a little more confused than usual, anyway), after a cyber visit at the South African embassy to the United States. Lemmer was surprised to see that the prez had written a letter especially for the website. Intrigued by what Oom Thabo might want to share with disciples of the Great Satan, Lemmer clicked on the link …
Paul Bremer’s departure and the handover of limited sovereignty to an unelected Iraqi government was to be the end of military occupation and the beginning of independence. From London and Washington it may look that way. As the United States pulled out of Iraq this week it left behind 160 000 troops, an unstable government and a poorer nation crippled by debt.
George W Bush may not have read much history but he likes making it. The recent run of insider accounts of the Bush White House, show the president is a man with a constant eye on the historians of the future, anxious to lend every moment just enough semi-Churchillian gravitas to make him look good in the decades to come. Bush is right about the lack of freedom in the region, but wrong about its solution, writes Jonathan Freedland.
Kenya has stepped to the forefront of African agricultural biotechnology with the inauguration of a ”level II biosafety greenhouse” in Nairobi that will allow containment of genetically modified crops at the experimental stage. Neighbouring Uganda also has a biotechnology laboratory, which is now carrying out tissue culture of bananas, coffee and other crops.
A top American general has predicted that anti-government insurgency in Iraq may never end. Lieutenant General Thomas Metz, the second most senior American officer in Iraq and the force’s tactical operations commander, said: ”I think there is enough turmoil in this part of the world that there will be some element out there that will be opposed to the government and will be violent and lethal.”
The realisation of a rugby dream to pull together all the forces of Pacific’s rugby nations comes to fruition on Saturday when the Pacific Islanders take on the Wallabies in their first-ever international. The best players of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa will pool their immense talents and physiques to test themselves against Australia, who only last week overpowered World Cup champions England 51-15 in Brisbane.
Were it not enough to be dispatched in straight sets by an outsider in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Tim Henman was waking up on Thursday to a near-unanimous press verdict that he will now never win his home tournament. Henman is now approaching 30, an age at which tennis players generally begin to decline.
Russian teenager Maria Sharapova became the second-youngest woman in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon final on Thursday when she launched a stunning fightback to defeat former champion Lindsay Davenport of the United States 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.
Big-spending Premiership side Mamelodi Sundowns continue to lead the pack during the 2004 edition of the Telkom Charity Cup voting standings. The Chloorkop-based side, who failed to qualify to participate in the past two editions of the tournament, had by late on Wednesday collected 23 748 votes.