Gary Neville has admitted only a monumental disaster for Chelsea can lead to Manchester United winning the Premiership title this season. The United defender hopes to make his return for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side against Chelsea’s west London rivals Fulham at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer has made five changes to the side who lost 23-0 to the Highlanders last week for Saturday’s Super 12 clash against the Hurricanes in Wellington, New Zealand. Meyer has decided to keep Bryan Habana at centre, and there are reprieves for out-of-form midfielder Ettienne Botha and flyhalf Derick Hougaard.
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has told the National Assembly that the secondary tax on companies (STC) "will not disappear as long as the African National Congress is in government". The official opposition Democratic Alliance has called for "the usefulness of the secondary tax to be reassessed".
World number six gold-miner Harmony Gold has issued Section 189 notices of restructuring at four more shafts, a Solidarity spokesperson said on Tuesday. "Harmony is restructuring as we have excess labour at the current rand environment," Harmony marketing director Ferdi Dippenaar said.
The chiefs of Moscow’s Olympics bid committee expressed confidence on Tuesday that existing sport venues were already capable of hosting world-class events, as representatives from the International Olympic Committee continued to evaluate the Russian capital’s bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
South African peacekeeping soldiers in Burundi are becoming increasingly unpopular with the local population, the News24 website reported on Wednesday. It quoted the latest intelligence report by The Economist newspaper as saying: ”They got themselves the unfortunate reputation for excessive drinking and the abuse of prostitutes.”
The Gautrain Rapid Rail Link will be ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the project leader said on Tuesday. ”It’s a brave man who says it straight like that but the answer is yes, we will commission the whole system in time for the World Cup,” said Jack van der Merwe, chief executive of the Gautrain project.
Hogging the headlines about the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in recent times has been the resignation of the broadcaster’s CEO, Peter Matlare, and speculation about his successor. Whoever takes his job will face the fundamental tension of running a public broadcaster service through commercial means. And by the rules.
Never since independence has Zimbabwe desperately needed President Robert Mugabe as much as it does now. The country, the ruling party and the opposition are all in chaos and only he can get the nation out of this hole. Zimbabwe faces an acute leadership crisis that only Mugabe has the capacity to resolve, if he so decides. He Mugabe still has the nation’s future in his hands.
Italy’s Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, on Tuesday announced that he would begin withdrawing his country’s troops from Iraq in September under pressure from public opinion. ”I’ve spoken to [Tony] Blair about this,” he told a TV interviewer. ”We’ve got to construct a precise exit strategy. Public opinion expects it, and we shall be talking about it soon.”