Roger Federer admits he would have preferred a more low-key way to start his clay court season, but remains content to take his chances as top seed at the high-profile Monte Carlo Masters Series tournament starting on Monday. ”Here I’m a favourite, but the draws are tough and you have to back it up every other day, ” said the seven-time Grand Slam winner.
The South African government needs to wake up to the reality and brutality of crime, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday. The opposition party’s call came after Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, reported that 52 people are killed daily, 1Â 566 per month and 18Â 793 annually in South Africa.
Jonny Wilkinson has admitted he has struggled to cope with a series of injuries since kicking England to World Cup glory. The 27-year-old made his sixth comeback from injury since landing the drop-goal that won England the Webb Ellis trophy, coming on as a second-half replacement in Newcastle’s 32-21 Premiership win over Sale at Kingston Park.
Former Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) leader Vusi Make died at the HF Verwoerd hospital in Pretoria on Saturday night. PAC national chairperson Joe Mkhwanazi said his party was shocked by the news of his death. Mkhwanazi, who worked under Make in Tanzania, said Make was in and out of hospital since he was involved in a car accident years ago.
Post-war stringent diamond mining rules have bolstered export earnings in Sierra Leone, but the country’s nationals, rated among the poorest in the world, are yet to benefit from the boom. Diamond exports, the West African country’s major source of hard currency earnings, have increased fivefold in as many years.
Lieutenant Arjuman of the Kirkuk police lay unconscious in the recovery room after a successful operation to remove an insurgent’s bullet from his chest. Al-Jumhuriya hospital was quiet. At 10.30pm, a doctor moved along the corridor on the second floor and entered the recovery room. He leaned across the bed and turned off the oxygen supply. Half an hour later, Arjuman was dead.
Zimbabwe celebrates 26 years of independence from Britain on Tuesday with a shadow of seven years’ economic woes hanging over its freedom day. Zimbabwe gained independence from colonial master Britain on April 18 1980 after a protracted liberation war against white Rhodesian settlers, with President Robert Mugabe then winning plaudids for his conciliatory attitude to minority whites.
The gold mines are long exhausted but there is a new way to get rich in Johannesburg: property. An economic boom is transforming what was once South Africa’s byword for crime and decay into a vibrant metropolis. By some estimates the value of real estate has risen 35-fold in six years, an extraordinary surge that outstrips growth rates in Manhattan, London or Sydney.
World leaders, as well as Americans close to George Bush’s administration, called for calm over Iran’s nuclear programme on Sunday amid persistent reports that the United States is considering a military attack. In his Easter message from the Vatican, Pope Benedict spoke of ”international crises linked to nuclear power” and urged: ”May an honourable solution be found for all parties, through serious and honest negotiations.”
At least eight people were killed in two separate mine blasts in northern Sri Lanka on Monday, hours after Tiger rebels announced they are suspending participation in peace talks. The latest deaths raised to 64 the number of people, mostly police or troops, killed in bomb attacks in the past week in the latest surge of violence linked to the decades-old Tamil separatist conflict.