Staff Reporter

COACH Jo Bonfrere has appealed for Nigerian fans to support the Super Eagles properly and not turn against the team if it fails to score early in Thursday’s crunch match against Morocco. Nigerian supporters went on the rampage last week, throwing bottles, attacking the players and smashing up the team bus and local football association […]

CHRISTIAN Solidarity International (CSI) said on Tuesday it bought the freedom of 4_ 092 slaves in Sudan last week. The Zurich-based Protestant non-governmental organization said it had liberated 25053 slaves since 1995 using the controversial method at the price of 50 dollars per head paid to slave traders. Most had been abducted in southwestern Bahr […]

DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Wednesday 5.00pm. WORLD Boxing Organisation junior middleweight champion Harry Simon will have to defend his title against the WBO’s top-rated contender before embarking on his campaign to meet International Boxing Federation kingpin Fernando Vargas. It was announced on Tuesday that Simon will face Rodney Jones on 19 February in Dagenham, England. […]

BLACK empowerment group New Africa Investments Ltd (Nail), said on Monday that it has spun off its media assets into a separate entity as part of its ongoing restructuring. “New Africa Media (NAM), at this stage a wholly owned subsidiary of Nail, will assume control of all Nail’s media assets and hopes to list in […]

FOURTEEN people died at the weekend after armed robbers spread oil over a major expressway out of Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos causing three vehicles to slide and crash, police said on Tuesday. The accident took place on Friday evening when a gang of robbers hidden by the side of the road hurled rocks at a […]

DUDU Nkosi, the lover of alleged cash-heist kingpin, Collin Chauke, has decided to defend herself when her trial begins in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Wednesday. Nkosi, 31, has been in jail for over 10 months since she was first remanded in custody on March 29 last year on charges of harbouring a wanted criminal […]

HOME Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi launched a new R800-million national identification system on Tuesday night. Buthelezi said the multi-purpose “smart cards” will replace the bar-coded identity documents and regulate welfare grants and other State payouts. The new system, expected to come into effect in September next year, will help combat the illegal use of identity […]

KEY defender Furo Iyenemi will be available for Nigeria’s next African Nations’ Cup match against Morocco, the Confederation of African Fotball said on Tuesday. Iyenemi was understood to have collected two yellow cards in Nigeria’s previous two matches, meaning automatic suspension from the next game. “The Nigerians came to check our technical report and we […]

MEMBERS of Cte d’Ivoire’s football team are being held in the capital Yamoussoukro on Tuesday, following their elimination from the African Nations Cup. The players have been taken to a “military camp” and have had their passports and portable phones seized, said Catherine Loiseau, a sports management consultant who spoke with the wife of Modibo […]

THE Egyptian Olympic Committee on Tuesday said that the country has expressed interest in hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics in Cairo. An official letter declaring Cairo’s candidacy was sent to the International Olympic Committee, a day before the Tuesday midnight deadline for cities to make their bids, said Committee spokesman Hasan el-Husseini. El-Husseini said the […]

A RWANDAN human rights official on Tuesday accused Belgian army officers of having protected an exiled former mayor wanted by a UN tribunal to answer charges of genocide. The Belgian justice minister said on Tuesday that former mayor and top paramilitary Augustin Ndindiliyimana was arrested on Friday at his home in Belgium at the request […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Uitenhage | Tuesday 3.00pm. VOLKSWAGEN South Africa has given its striking workers at its Uitenhage plant two days to return to work or face dismissal. This comes after more than a third of the plant’s workforce did not heed calls to return to work on Tuesday — dragging on a week-long illegal strike. […]

TOGOLESE coach Gottlieb Goller said on Monday his team’s 1-0 defeat of the more experienced Cameroon in their last Group A encounter shows that no team should be underrated. The ‘Hawks’, as the Togolese are called, collected the three points at stake to finish on four points along with Ghana, Cameroon and Cte d’Ivoire in […]

GENERAL Robert Guei, who seized power in Côte d’Ivoire on December 24, has reimbursed 28-million euros in EU funds “misappropriated” by the regime of the elected president he overthrew, an EU source said on Saturday. Speaking on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU cooperation and development ministers, the source said the “entirety” of […]

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said on Saturday that the process of awarding the country’s third cellular telephone licence will proceed after a probe by the Auditor General found no reason for further delays. The granting of the lucrative licence had been delayed by the Auditor General’s investigation into allegations of incompetence and graft in the […]

ENGLISHMAN Lee Westwood won the Dimension Data Pro-Am on Sunday by five shots to claim the R2-milion prize. Westwood’s win at Sun City — his first win in this part of the world and his 18th pro win — follows his 10th joint placing at last week’s SA Open in Randburg and was “a nice […]

THE Nigeria Football Association has paid a $3000 bonus to each player for the 4-2 victory over Tunisia in the African Nations Cup, ending a major row, a team official said Sunday. The NFA held an emergency meeting in Lagos Saturday with the perennial problem of team bonuses one of the matters discussed, officials said. […]

TWENTY-ONE people were killed on Sunday in landmine explosions and gun battles in the Hiran region of central Somalia. On Sunday, five escorts of a food convoy were killed and six wounded when their vehicle went over a landmine near El-Ali. After the convoy turned back, it was attacked again, according to an eyewitness, who […]

NIGERIA and Morocco will both be without suspended key defenders when they meet in the African Nations Cup on Thursday. Moroccan captain and centre-back Nourredine Naybet and Nigerian defender Furo Iyenemi were booked in both the first two series of matches and are automatically suspended for one game. Nigeria lead Morocco in group D on […]

ENGLAND topped the triangular series standings — between themselve, South Africa and Zimbabwe — after thier eight wicket victory over Zimbabwe on Sunday: (Tabulate as played, won, lost, no result, tied, points): England 4 2 2 0 0 4 (+0.03) South Africa 3 2 1 0 0 4 (-0.24) Zimbabwe 3 1 2 0 0 […]

AFRICAN Nations Cup co-hosts, Nigeria, have doubled the prices of tickets for their national side’s remaining matches in the competition. A statement from the Nigerian organisers on Sunday said the cheapest seats will now cost 200 naira ($2), while the most expensive will cost 2000 naira ($20). “This is not to discourage the fans from […]

SARAH BULLEN Johannesburg | Monday 5.00pm. SHARES on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange pulled back from heavy earlier losses on Monday with a major boost when it was announced that the country’s December trade balance unexpectedly swung into its largest surplus for the whole year. The the country’s trade balance surged to a surplus of R3,56-billion […]

THE lions of Marloth Park in Mpumalanga struck again last week, attacking two men in the streets of the exclusive holiday town. The attacks took place just four months after lions killed and ate a man in the town, which borders the Kruger National Park east of Malelane, and where wild animals are allowed to […]

THE leader of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia, Mulla Mohammad Omar, has denounced a new Egyptian law making it easier for women to obtain divorces as an insult to Islam. Omar asked the Muslims around the world to protest against the decision. Under the new Egyptian law passed by parliament last Wednesday, and which takes effect […]

MARKETS are expecting a mix of good and bad news this week, with the rand expected to benefit from Reserve bank data but private credit figures expected to show inflationary pressures. A Reuters consensus forecast sees M3 money supply rising on a year-on-year basis by 9,7% after rising 8,52% in November. The consensus on private […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 1.30pm. THE annual African club championships kicked off this weekend in the shadow of the Nations Cup with several surprises in preliminary-round matches. Tusker of Kenya needed a late goal from George Maina to draw 1-1 in Nairobi with Red Sea of Eritrea, who moved ahead 16 minutes into the […]

THE Indian government has agreed to send a team of industrial experts to help Nigeria in drawing up policies to boost small-scale industry. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, accompanied by Industry Minister Iyorcha Ayu, met the Indian Minister for Small Scale Industries Vasundhana Raji for talks on policy when he visited India last week, Obasanjo’s spokesman […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 3.45pm. A REPORT on the state of South African soccer compiled by the sport’s administrators was presented to government on Monday following an ultimatum issued last year to soccer administrators to clean up their act. Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour met in Cape Town with South African Football Association chief […]

SUGAR and aluminium firm Tongaat-Hulett Group Ltd is in talks to acquire Transvaal Sugar from Hunt Leuchars & Hepburn Holdings for R900-million, the companies said on Friday. Shares in HL&H jumped 11,3% or 74 cents to 730 cents, while Tongaat traded flat at R45,00 a share. HL&H separately said the deal needs the approval of […]

A SENIOR Justice Department official arrested in Mpumalanga this week for allegedly trying to issue 14 fraudulent licences was denied bail on Friday after being charged with fraud and corruption. All 14 of Charles Langa’s co-accused and alleged clients were, however, released on bail when the case was transferred from the Mdutjana to the Middelburg […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Accra | Monday 9.20pm. CAMEROON and co-hosts Ghana scraped into the African Nations Cup quarter-finals on Monday despite both losing in a thrilling finish to Group A. Cte d’Ivoire defeated Ghana 2-0 in Accra through goals from Bonaventure Kalou and Donald Olivier Sie while an early Massamesso Tchangai goal gave outsiders Togo a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Monday 1.20pm. VETERAN Zambian star Kalusha Bwalya will finally bid farewell to the African Nations Cup unless his team defeat Senegal on Tuesday in a Group C match. Surprise packets Senegal enter the last-round showdown with a two-point advantage over their opponents and a draw will take them into the knockout […]