FORMER Ghanaian football captain Abedi Pele and fellow ex-international Tony Yeboah have rejected an invitation to re-join the national team. The Ghana Football Association invited the two to strenghten the Black Stars in their preparation for the 2002 World Cup qualifying series which will begin in June. In separate radio interviews in Accra on Monday, […]

ERIK DE CASTRO, Jolo | Tuesday 2.30pm. DECLARING they wanted peace, about 100 armed Islamic rebels descended from their mountain hideout in the southern Philippines on Tuesday to negotiate on the fate of 21 mostly foreign hostages. The unexpected meeting between the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas and Moslem provincial governor Abdusakur Tan in a local town […]

PUBLIC sector unions and government begin their second round of wage talks on Tuesday. At the top of the agenda at the Pretoria meeting, is a new wage proposal after the 12 unions rejected a five percent salary increase offer. Unions are demanding 10%, which they say is in line with inflation. It is hoped […]

RETIRING ACT Brumbies skipper Brett Robinson will lead his team into Saturday’s Super 12 rugby final against the Canterbury Crusaders provided his body stands up to the rigours of contact training this week, the Brumbies coach said. Robinson, 30, was one of the form openside flankers of the competition before being sidelined by a torn […]

A NEW survey of the hotel industry shows that hotel occupancy rates declined throughout South Africa last year, with only Mpumalanga showing a growth of 2,7%. The South African edition of the annual Arthur Andersen Hotel Industry Benchmark Survey covers 185 hotels nationwide. Hotel occupancy in the Western Cape was down 4,7% for the year […]

FIVE players from the 1999 title-winning squad make their return to the South African Under-21 rugby squad that will travel to New Zealand in June to defend the SANZAR/UAR crown. Blue Bulls prop Eduard Coetzee, Free State winger Wylie Human and flanker Hendro Scholtz, Natal flyhalf Butch James and Border lock Bandile Ncunyana were amongst […]

ANDRE Watson will referee Saturday’s Super 12 rugby final between the ACT Brumbies and the Crusaders in Canberra. Watson will lead a trio of South African officials, assisted on the touch lines by Jonathan Kaplan and Tappe Henning. Watson, South Africa’s top ref, blew last year’s Rugby World Cup final.

SUSAN NJANJI, Harare | Tuesday 2.00pm. A SENIOR member of Zimbabwe’s ruling party has admitted it could be trounced by the new opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in next month’s elections. At the same time the government of President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday gazetted legislation empowering the government to acquire 841 white-owned farms for […]

THE Zimbabwean government said on Monday that it expectes Zimbabwe to produce nearly 2,2-million mt of maize in the current farming year, up from the 1,5-million mt produced in 1999. However, a spokeswoman for the Commercial Grain Producers Association in Harare said that “at best” only 1,7-million mt of maize will be produced. She said […]

STOCKS of export tobacco from Zimbabwe are at their lowest level in five years, a tobacco industry official said on Tuesday. But Zimbabwe Tobacco Association marketing director Pat Davis said the sector — the country’s top foreign exchange earner — could withstand the knocks caused by current political strife provided there was a return to […]