LONDON – World Cup supremo Danny Jordaan hit out at critics of South Africa’s preparations for this year’s finals as he promised the most financially successful tournament in the event’s history.
Reports in the South African press suggested a concerned FIFA, world football’s governing body, was sending in 40 advisors to help bolster Jordaan’s team in [...]

Allen Iverson’s wife filed for divorce this week, the same day Philadelphia announced the veteran guard would miss the remainder of the NBA season.
Tawanna Iverson said their eight-year marriage is “irretrievably broken”, in papers filed on Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court.
She is seeking full custody of the couple’s five children, child support and alimony. [...]

CANBERRA – Australia clinched a 3-0 victory over Chinese Taipei in Davis Cup on Saturday to book a playoff ticket in a bid to return to the World Group.
Australia took Saturday’s doubles win as Carsten Ball and Paul Hanley seize the best-of-five match tie at Melbourne Park with a straight sets win over Yang Tsung-hua [...]

BANGKOK – Thailand’s Supreme court Friday night handed down a verdict ruling that 1.4 billion U.S. dollars of all the 76-billion-baht (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) of Thai ex- premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s frozen assets will be confiscated.
The verdict said the 46.37 billion baht worth of assets (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) are confiscated because they were gained [...]

PARIS: A violent late winter storm with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds ripped across western Europe on Sunday, battering France and four other countries, leaving at least 51 people dead.
The storm, named Xynthia, was the worst in France since 1999 when 90 people died. Prime Minister Francois Fillon held an emergency cabinet meeting and afterward [...]

BAGHDAD: Iraq on Friday reinstated 20,000 former army officers dismissed after the US-led invasion, a landmark gesture at reconciliation ahead of the March 7 elections.
It’s a move designed to allay some of the bitterness that still rankles Iraq — years after the Bush administration first made the controversial decision to dismantle Saddam Hussein’s army.
The 20,000 [...]