The United States Department of Defence on Friday announced that it was to conduct what it called foreign comparative testing on two types of South African artillery ammunition. The Pentagon annually selects a number of promising military technologies from around the world.

Nigeria launched an anti-corruption drive on Friday when five former government officials charged with accepting bribes appeared in court for a test case of the country’s desire to clean up its image. Nigeria is second from the bottom in a corruption index of 133 countries. The joke goes that Nigeria bribed the corruption watchdog to rank Bangladesh lower.

A former bank manager jailed for the murder of Mozambique journalist Carlos Cardoso, who was probing the country’s biggest bank fraud, admitted on Friday that he was involved in the -million scandal.

Africa will witness several key elections this year, with some constituting a litmus test for nations emerging from war and unrest and others marking a milestone, as in South Africa which fetes the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid. Many nations will see veteran rulers stepping down — a sign that things are changing.

The European mission to Mars has found the first hard evidence of water on the planet, a discovery which raises questions about the possibility of life on other planets. Mars was once much more like Earth: it had active volcanos and probably a denser atmosphere.

Tony Blair last night suffered a blow on the eve of the most testing week of his premiership when the US official at the helm of the hunt for Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction asserted Iraq did not have large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.

The South African Football Association (Safa) met Bafana players after their morning training session in Sousse, Tunisia on Friday, to give them feedback on their request for a consolidated payment for the African Cup of Nations tournament.

South Africa will play Australia in two internationals over the next year in an agreement announced by the Australian Soccer Association (ASA) on Saturday. The ASA said the Socceroos will play South Africa in London on March 30 and meet again in South Africa on February 9 next year.

England cricket officials said Friday they had delayed making a decision on whether to tour Zimbabwe later this year because they want to study the advice of the British government. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have set themselves a deadline of next Thursday to decide.