The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) rallied to a new high on Tuesday morning, fuelled by the rand, which broke above the psychological R6 per dollar level. There was no other news to give the bourse direction, dealers said. By 12.06pm, the all-share index added 0,3% to 13 685,84. It touched a record high of 13 674,360 earlier in the session.
Clyde Rathbone has questioned the viability of a fifth South African franchise in the expanded Super 14 competition, saying there are not enough quality players in the country to support it. A South African franchise will be selected in the coming months to join Perth as the two new teams in the 2006 Super 14 competition.
The United Nations Security Council on Monday extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (Unmee) until 15 September 2005, and called on both countries to refrain from any threat of use of force against each other.
Preliminary reports suggest that Jonny Wilkinson’s knee injury is not as bad as first thought, his club, Newcastle, said on Monday in a statement. Wilkinson was carried from the field just 34 minutes into his comeback match for Newcastle against Premiership opponents Harlequins on Sunday.
South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma will host the Vice-President of the Presidium of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Yang Hyong Sop, who is scheduled to pay an official visit to South Africa from Wednesday to Sunday. According to foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa, Zuma will brief his counterpart on peacekeeping and conflict resolution efforts on the continent.
Newcastle manager Graeme Souness was cautiously optimistic about Wednesday’s Uefa Cup match at home to Olympiakos, especially as his side have not lost a single match in Europe this season. Following the 3-1, last 16, first-leg win, Souness said: ”I have been in professional football 37 years and nothing is over until it is over.”
Move over Michael. Here comes a former Japanese race queen raring to become a ”racing” queen in the man’s, man’s world of formula one. Keiko Ihara, who swapped the model’s leotard and make-up for a racing suit and helmet in 1999 at the age of 26, declares her goal to be Germany’s seven-time formula-one champion Michael Schumacher.
David Beckham is preparing for life after soccer. Following this season, he has two years remaining on his contract with Real Madrid. He arrived at the club 20 months ago, and he’s won nothing. He’ll turn 30 in May, and he knows Madrid fans are demanding and impatient.
The Constitutional Court is due to hear an application by the Department of Health on Tuesday about its controversial medicine pricing regulations. Part of the regulations, which were introduced last May to make medicines more affordable, include formulas to set the manufacturer’s price and cap the profit that pharmacists may make from selling medicines.
Controversial vitamin therapist Matthias Rath has blitzed Cape Town townships with pamphlets and posters attacking the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) as a spreader of ”disease and death among our people” and the Advertising Standards Authority as ”helping to protect drug industry monopolies”. It emerged this week that the South African National Civics Organisation in Khayelitsha has endorsed the pamphlet.