China’s Liang Wenon-Chg parred the 18th hole to beat Malaysia’s Iain Steel on the first hole of a sudden-death play-off to win the joint-sanctioned Singapore Masters on Sunday. The 28-year-old Liang’s maiden victory outside China ensured he became the second Chinese player to win on the European Tour, emulating Zhang Lian-wei, who captured the same event in 2003.
A gay couple who only tied the knot in January look set to become the first same-sex partners to divorce in South Africa after one of them moved in with another man. Theatre director Richard Thornton (52) told the <i>Sunday Times</i> that he had filed for divorce from 20-year-old Andries Jacobs on the grounds of desertion and irreconcilable differences.
Blue-helmeted riot police cordoned off roads leading to a Zimbabwean township early Sunday where an opposition prayer rally was due to take place. Riot police in open-topped trucks milled around the area. A coalition of churches and civic groups has called a prayer rally in Highfield suburb despite a ban on political meetings.
A second tropical cyclone menacing Australia’s north-west coast was downgraded Sunday as the prime minister offered to send troops to help clean up damage from last week’s storm. Residents have been scrambling to clean up the rubble left by Cyclone George, which slammed into Australia’s remote Pilbara region on Thursday, killing two people and injuring about 20 others.
The Richtersveld community is taking legal action against a merger between De Beers Namaqualand and Alexkor, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Saturday. The Communal Property Association is to meet with Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin on Monday to discuss the merger, announced by President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation address.
The United States army is lagging behind Iraq’s insurgents tactically in a war that senior officers say is the biggest challenge since Korea 50 years ago. In a bleak analysis, senior officers described the fighters they were facing in Iraq and Afghanistan ”as smart, agile and cunning”.
Northern Bulls centre JP Nel was suspended for three weeks on a striking charge by a judiciary hearing on Sunday following Saturday’s Super 14 win over the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney. Nel was cited for striking Waratahs flanker Rocky Elsom in the 70th minute of the match, won by the Bulls 32-19.
The Sharks continued their impressive form in the Super 14 and maintained their unbeaten status with a hard-fought but deserved 30-14 win over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The Sharks trailed 13-14 at the break, but were more purposeful in the second half, scoring two of their tree tries in this period.
Kaizer Chiefs went on the rampage and blasted Bloemfontein Celtic 4-0 in a Premier soccer League game played at Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday night. Chiefs led 2-0 at the interval. Chiefs, under the guidance of Kostadin Papic and Johannes Mofokeng for the first time, started attacking from the first whistle.
FW De Klerk, in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper, said that non-black people in South Africa feel like ”second-class” citizens. ”… affirmative action has led to a substantial percentage of not only Afrikaners, but of all whites and coloureds and Indians feeling that their groups are being reduced to a sort of second-class citizenship,” he told the paper.