It may not have been such a smart idea to agree to allow Africa to stage the World Cup for the first time in 2010, according to Franz Beckenbauer, who says Europe cannot wait 24 years to hold the tournament. ”Uefa made a big mistake to accept this rotation in my opinion,” said the Bayern Munich president.
European Olympic broadcasting rights for the 2010 Winter Games and 2012 Summer Games were put on sale on Wednesday in a break with tradition. The move breaks with the tradition of negotiating only with the European Broadcasting Union consortium of 55 networks.
Cape Town will have the honour of playing host to the Olympic flame during the Athens 2004 Olympic Torch Relay on June 12, sharing in the first time its travels of the globe. The Olympic flame will be kindled in ancient Olympia and will, for the first time, travel to all five continents before returning to the country of its birth.
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The final list of hopefuls for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize totals 194 candidates, making it the longest to date in the history of the prestigious award, the Nobel Institute announced on Tuesday. The list of candidates includes names such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States President George Bush.
The plight of white South Africans feeling the pressure of affirmative action was taken up on Tuesday by a seemingly unlikely benefactor in the form of the Inkatha Freedom Party. IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi signed an accord with labour union Solidarity on non-discriminatory affirmative action.
About 11 000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) will stage a sympathy demonstration against a Germiston electrical manufacturing plant next week, the union said on Tuesday. The protest will be carried out against the planned retrenchment of 100 workers from Alstom.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>A thunderstorm interrupted President Thabo Mbeki’s canvassing for votes in Botshabelo, east of Bloemfontein, on Tuesday afternoon. Mbeki visited Botshabelo, a Bloemfontein suburb with about one million people, in order to canvass for votes for the African National Congress in the upcoming general election.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
At least 29 people were killed in three-way gunfire triggered by an attack on a procession of Shiite Muslims in the southwest Pakistani city of Quetta on Tuesday, a senior official said. The chaos forced authorities to declare a curfew and call in troops.
Officials caught two suspects red-handed in the deadly attacks in Karbala on Tuesday, a security spokesperson said. "They were caught red-handed as they prepared to launch new mortar attacks," said Colonel Zdzislaw Gnatowski. Twin blasts in Karbala and Baghdad killed at least 125 people on Tuesday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=32059">At least 29 Shiites dead in Pakistan</a>