It’s official: President Thabo Mbeki’s Aids panel is still very much in existence. But who its current members are, how much money the whole exercise has cost to date, what research it is still conducting, and when its cryptic work will be finalised remain a mystery.
South Africa’s 2010 bid committee will have 30 minutes on Friday to give the executive of the Federation of International Football Associations (Fifa) a final arm twist to award South Africa the prestigious event. The 24-member Fifa executive will decide on Saturday morning who will host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, by way of a ballot starting at 9am.
England goalkeeper Paul Robinson has become the first big-name player to leave Leeds following their relegation after the club agreed to sell him to Tottenham Hotspur for £1,5-million. But Spurs have been rebuffed in a bid to bring Leeds’s teenage forward James Milner to White Hart Lane.
Australia’s ACT Brumbies are looking to their clinical structured play to blot out the Waikato Chiefs for a second straight week on Saturday and secure a place in this year’s Super 12 rugby final. If the Brumbies repeat their performance from last week’s win over the Chiefs in Hamilton they are confident of playing in their fifth final.
South Africa’s new coach Jake White reacted mischievously to the draw for the Rugby World Cup 2007 in Dublin on Wednesday by saying bitter rvials England will feel the pressure more than the Springboks. South Africa have again been drawn to face England in the pool stage, as they were at last year’s tournament in Australia when they lost 25-6.
Springboks to face England again
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Inkatha Freedom Party national chairperson Lionel Mtshali denied on Wednesday having ”begged” for a post in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial cabinet. Mtshali denied what he called ”malicious” newspaper reports that he had asked Premier S’bu Ndebele for a post in his African National Congress-led provincial government.
The draft information communications technology (ICT) empowerment charter needs substantial changes to prevent significant additional costs to foreign investments in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance said on Wednesday. Stakeholders are to meet on Friday to finalise black empowerment goals in the ICT sector.
Four Palestinians were killed on Wednesday during an Israeli army operation in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Zeitun to recover the remains of six soldiers killed a day earlier during a raid, Palestinian medical sources said. Three Palestinians were killed and 10 wounded earlier in an Israeli helicopter raid on a house in Zeitun.
Thousands of Christians have fled the suburbs of the northern Nigerian city of Kano to seek police protection after coming under attack from Muslim mobs. Also, security was tightened on Wednesday in many parts of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, amid fears that the fighting between Muslims and Christians could spread south.