Gerhard Zandberg’s African record-breaking performance in the 100m backstroke, plus speedy times set by Cameron van der Burgh and Jessica Pengelly, gave the South African team much to cheer about on the opening morning of the Fina World Short-Course Swimming Championships on Thursday.
South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis was on Wednesday named as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2007 by the 2008 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, cricket’s major annual reference work. He became the fifth recipient of the award, introduced in 2004.
China became the world’s biggest producer of gold last year, overtaking South Africa, which held top spot for 100 years, independent precious-metals consultancy GFMS said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the price of gold was on course to reach a record high of $1 100 an ounce in 2008, the group added in its latest annual <i>Gold Survey</i>.
Michael Ballack put Chelsea on course for another Champions League semifinal collision with Liverpool as his goal set up a 2-0 win over Fenerbahce in Tuesday’s quarterfinal, second leg. Ballack’s first-half header was followed by a late Frank Lampard strike at Stamford Bridge to send Avram Grant’s side through 3-2 on aggregate.
Rafael Benitez has identified his players’ self-belief and the passion of the Anfield faithful as the keys that opened the door for Liverpool to progress to their third Champions League semifinal with Chelsea in four seasons. The Liverpool boss watched his side come from behind to seal a memorable 4-2 victory over Arsenal.
Gerhard Zandberg’s South African swimming contingent was caught up in the chaos at Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow airport in London, which caused the swimmers to miss their connection flight to Manchester. The terminal opened recently only to descend into disorder as its baggage-handling system broke down.
Monty Python legend John Cleese is to offer his services as a speechwriter to Barack Obama if he wins the Democratic nomination to become United States president, he told a British newspaper on Tuesday. The British comedian, who lives in California, told the Western Daily Press that his jokes could help the Illinois senator get into the White House.
Arsene Wenger bullishly insisted that Arsenal would take the next step towards a league and European Cup double by beating Liverpool in their Champions League quarterfinal second leg at Anfield on Tuesday. Wenger’s side arrive on Merseyside having failed to overcome Rafael Benitez’s side in the first leg.
Princess Diana and her lover, Dodi al-Fayed, were unlawfully killed by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur Henri Paul and paparazzi photographers pursuing their limousine into a Paris road tunnel in 1997. The jury, which had spent almost six months listening to more than 250 witnesses from around the world, reached their majority decision on Monday.
Wayne Rooney scored an equaliser as Manchester United hit back for a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough on Sunday, which left them three points clear in the Premier League. After second-place Chelsea’s 2-0 victory at Manchester City on Saturday, the Red Devils needed to win at the Riverside and took a 10th-minute lead through Cristiano Ronaldo.
Workers in Britain are "safer" to greet colleagues of the opposite sex with a handshake than a kiss, a common greeting in other parts of Europe, a study released on Friday said. A survey was conducted among 1 200 workers by recruitment firm Office Angels.
Cardiff City booked a place in the FA Cup final for the first time in 81 years as Joe Ledley’s goal clinched a 1-0 semifinal win over Barnsley on Sunday. Cardiff-born Ledley’s first-half volley at Wembley was enough to set up a final clash against Portsmouth on May 17.
The Beijing torch relay was conceived as ”a journey of harmony”. But there was precious little unity on display in London on Sunday as the most powerful symbol of the Olympic movement completed a troubled and occasionally violent passage across the capital.
One of the world’s most distinguished physicists has scrutinised some science-fiction concepts, such as teleportation and forcefields, and is convinced that they can become reality. Professor Michio Kaku, of City University in New York, believes invisibility cloaks and teleÂpathy could be possible this century.
Cardiff City booked a place in the FA Cup final for the first time in 81 years as Joe Ledley’s goal clinched a 1-0 semifinal win over Barnsley on Sunday. Ledley’s first-half volley at Wembley was enough to set up a final clash against Portsmouth on May 17 and make Cardiff the first Championship club to reach English football’s domestic showpiece since Millwall in 2004.
British police battled to keep pro-Tibet protesters away from the Beijing Olympics flame, making 30 arrests as the torch went on a high security tour of London on Sunday. Police on bikes and running alongside the flame escorted each member of the relay.
After nearly two weeks of baggage chaos and hundreds of cancelled flights, London Heathrow airport was hit by bad weather on Sunday, which forced British Airways (BA) to cancel 114 flights. Two runways at Heathrow were briefly closed for de-icing as snow fell in London and air-traffic control reduced the number of take-off and landing slots.
Anti-China protesters draped in Tibetan flags disrupted the Olympic torch relay through London on Sunday, billed as a journey of harmony and peace. Scores of Chinese officials in blue suits and British police on foot and bicycles guarded the celebrities and athletes carrying the torch, but demonstrators repeatedly broke through their security cordon.
Portsmouth reached the FA Cup final for the first time in 69 years on Saturday when a 54th-minute goal from Nwankwo Kanu gave them a 1-0 semifinal win over West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium. Portsmouth will now play either Cardiff City or Barnsley, who meet in an all-Championship semifinal on Sunday, in the final at Wembley on May 17.
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave a gloomy report on Saturday on prospects for the world economy to a dozen leaders debating how to respond to global financial turmoil. Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a high-powered forum that most of the downside risks to the world economy feared six months ago had now become reality.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to meet South African President Thabo Mbeki later on Saturday for talks on the situation in Zimbabwe, Brown’s office said. Mbeki is in Britain to attend a conference of centre-left leaders in Watford near London. The two leaders were expected to meet in private on the sidelines of the conference.
Malawi is deepening trade and investment ties with China as part of a larger strategy to diversify its agriculture-dominated economy and increase its bargaining power in the international tobacco market, the country’s trade minister said late on Thursday.
Fifteen potential sites for new ”eco-towns” across England have been published in a drive to tackle a national housing shortage while minimising damage to the environment. Each site would provide between 5 000 and 15 000 low carbon emission homes in the first new towns since the 1960s.
Investment group LonZim plans to spend -million buying Zimbabwean assets this year as interest in the once-wealthy nation reawakens in the twilight of President Robert Mugabe’s rule. An end to Mugabe’s rule could make the once-wealthy nation appealing again, foreign investors say.
Opportunities to reach an FA Cup final do not come around often, especially for the likes of Portsmouth, West Bromwich Albion, Cardiff City and Barnsley, who will be battling out this weekend’s semifinals at Wembley. It is the first time since 1908 that only one team from the top flight have reached the semifinals.
Want to have a go at building you own eco-city of the future? London’s Science Museum is offering visitors the chance to do just that in a new exhibition. The Science of Survival show offers visitors a trip through the problems climate change poses and an array of options for rising to that challenge.
South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu on Wednesday proposed sending an international peacekeeping force to Zimbabwe in the wake of the unresolved presidential elections. Tutu told the BBC he favoured ”a mixed force of Africans and others” to protect human rights in the beleaguered African country.
Max Mosley, president of world motorsport’s governing body (FIA), claimed on Tuesday that he had been the victim of a covert surveillance operation orchestrated by unknown enemies of his so as to force him to resign his post. However, the 67-year-old son of pre-World War II British fascist leader Oswald Mosley insisted that he would not step down.
Pay-per-view funerals go live online in Britain on Tuesday, allowing mourners who cannot attend services in person to pay their last respects via the internet. Despite criticism of the scheme as macabre, the company who launched the service, Wesley Music, is planning to offer it to crematoria across the country.
Arsenal will be hoping the fear factor outweighs Liverpool’s vast European experience when the two sides cross swords in an all-English Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday. Rafael Benitez has guided his side to two out of the last three finals of Europe’s elite competition, but he will also be aware that, on the domestic front, Arsenal have had the edge.
The coroner hearing an inquest into the death of Britain’s Princess Diana in a car crash said on Monday there was no evidence that her former father-in-law, the Duke of Edinburgh, had ”ordered Diana’s execution”. Diana died in a crash in 1997 along with Dodi al-Fayed, whose father, Mohamed al-Fayed, has accused Queen Elizabeth’s husband of being behind her death.
The 29-year-old British sprinter, who served a two-year ban for doping, would hold a news conference on Monday, the club said on its website. ”Obviously we are well aware of Dwain’s background and we gave the whole situation a great deal of thought,” Castleford’s football manager, Michael Robinson, said.