Liverpool without Michael Owen? It’s like Japanese without cameras, Arsenal without Patrick Veira … it just doesn’t feel right. But it looks like that’s the way it’s going to be. Just when it looked like Owen was about to join Steve Gerrard, along came the news that the 24-year-old is set to leave his beloved Liverpool with a year left on his contract.
Jake White has a plan. Some of the previous incumbents of the Springbok coaching position have often claimed to have a plan, but White actually has one. If this were not the case the team to play New Zealand at Ellis Park on Saturday, announced on Tuesday, would deserve to attract a great deal more derision than it has.
The SAA Supa 8 kicks off this weekend with only one thing certain: new champions will be crowned. Last year’s winners, Jomo Cosmos, failed to make the top eight in the league last season and so are unable to defend their crown. Those who did end up in the table’s top half will be able to recoup some of the money they spent in the transfer market.
Jacques Rogge should look traumatised. He should look exhausted. Even a nervous twitch or mild hysteria would not be out of place as the most chaotic, depressing and quietly terrifying build-up to an Olympic Games crawls to a close this week and the Athens Games are finally declared open on Friday.
Special Report: Olympics 2004
The transition from conservative Zurich to easy-going Athens was great, the difference between Swiss chocolate and ouzo. The week leading up to the start of the Olympic Games, when nothing is happening on the sports front, is an ideal opportunity for journalists to dig up dirt and scout the lie of the land.
Special Report: Olympics 2004
They are falling like skittles in a bowling alley. One by one, the arguments for the 2003 invasion of Iraq keep tumbling. First to go was the big one. War was necessary because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Next was the insistent promise that a US-led conquest of Baghdad would end completely and for ever human rights abuses. The past week has sent one more Iraqi ninepin wobbling.
Having earned more than -million in prize money last year, Maria Mutola could buy herself almost any piece of jewellery she wanted — except the one she desires most: another Olympic 800m gold medal. ”The money last year was nice and kind of unexpected,” said Mozambique’s national heroine. ”But my biggest dream remains to do well in the Olympic Games.”
Stand at any border post in Southern Africa and watch who goes through it: women with heads and arms laden, people on bicycles and cars that have teetering piles of goods, mini-bus taxis with stacked roofs, dragging trailers. Previously disregarded, these informal vendors are increasingly seen as part of the solution to the region’s many economic problems.
Let’s start with some assertions, all of which can be supported. Everybody knows that quality jobs are better than social grants. We also know that fast, job-creating economic growth is required. The problem is, it is elusive and looks set to remain so. Social grants are the quickest way to alleviate chronic poverty, reckons Charles Meth.
Oil prices were nudging record levels on global markets this week after Iraqi insurgents threatened to blow up the country’s key southern oilfields if the Americans launched a full-scale onslaught on the holy city of Najaf. Dealers shrugged off an earlier move by Saudi Arabia to calm global energy markets after Wednesday’s frenetic trading that saw fresh concerns about terrorism.