Rio de Janeiro  – Defending champions Spain have slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Chile and crashed out of the World Cup on Wednesday after their second defeat in five days.

As it happened: Chile v Spain

Chile’s victory — through goals from Eduardo Vargas and Charles Arranguiz — made the South Americans and the Netherlands the first teams to go through to the second round.

After a golden era that saw them win the European Championships in 2008 and 2012 and the World Cup in 2010, Spain have suffered a dramatic fall from grace. They equalled Italy’s unwanted record in 1950 of being booted out of the World Cup after just two games.

It was Chile’s first win over the Spanish in 11 meetings.

Spain’s confidence seemed to have evaporated after their 5-1 defeat to the Netherlands in their first Group B game on Friday.

Coach Vicente del Bosque dropped established stars Gerard Pique and Xavi Hernandez but it had no impact in the charged atmosphere of Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium.

Chile pressed forward from the start. Vargas’ shot in the second minute was narrowly deflected wide of the goal by a defender.

Spain also pushed up, but errors soon proved costly.

Xabi Alonso gave the ball away in the 20th minute and the ball reached Arranguiz in the penalty area who slipped it inside to Vargas who smashed the ball past Spain’s captain Iker Casillas, making a Spanish record 17th appearance in a World Cup finals match.

Spain’s defence was in disarray.

The game carried on at a furious pace as the defending champions sought a way back into the game.

But in the 43rd minute, Casillas clumsily punched away a free kick by Barcelona star Alexis Sanchez. The ball went straight to Arranguiz who struck it into the net.

Casilllas seemed shell-shocked as he walked off at half-time. Defender Sergio Ramos and other Spanish players also shook their heads in disbelief.

Spain’s pitiful state seemed to be epitomized by misses in the second half. Diego Costa had a shot deflected wide and in the 53rd minute Sergio Busquets’s was clear in front of goal but a seemingly simple tap in went wide.

Chile’s goalkeeper Claudio Bravo pulled off a brilliant reflex save to stop an Andres Iniesta shot in the 84th minute.

The historic Maracana stadium erupted into a riot of red and blue as Chilean supporters started noisy celebrations. Thousands crossed the Andes in special convoys to watch Chile’s games.

Chile play Netherlands to decide top place in Group B on June 23. Spain play their final game against Australia on the same day.

– AFP

Johannesburg – Charges were dropped on Wednesday against a Daily Sun journalist who was accused of sending intimidating SMSes to himself, his lawyers said.

Ricky Dire was arrested in March and charged with intimidation and resisting arrest, said his lawyer Andrew Boerner, of Jurgens Bekker Attorneys.

The charges against him were withdrawn.

In January, Dire was arrested and assaulted in Tlhabane near Rustenburg after taking photos of police allegedly accepting bribes from shop owners.

The shop owners had called Dire complaining that police had been harassing them and asking for bribes.

After his arrest, Dire received SMSes threatening to kill his family unless he withdrew his disclosure to the Daily Sun and the police that he had been harassed, assaulted, and arrested.

Boerner said police investigated the matter and Dire was re-arrested and accused of sending the SMSes to himself and resisting arrest.

“It is clear that the police in this instance attempted to use any means necessary to intimidate him. They failed to observe and protect the freedom of the press.”

SAPA

Johannesburg – Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) needs access to key evidence in the Seriti Commission of Inquiry to help the commission, it said on Wednesday.

“It is important to note that these documents are vital in enabling us to prepare properly to give our evidence during phase II of the hearings, expected to begin in July,” LHR said in a statement.

“The commission should be leading the struggle for openness and transparency to ensure it fulfils its mandate and get to the bottom of the controversial arms deal, something it has so far failed to do, undermining the public’s right to know the truth.”

It said requests for documents from the commission had been ignored for the past 17 months. LHR said the commission should obtain, examine and make the documents available.

“It is not enough to rely exclusively on interested parties to produce the documents they wish the commission to consider,” it said.

“This leads to fundamental unfairness and may prevent the truth from emerging if these documents are not produced and made available to us ahead of our evidence and cross-examination.”

Outstanding documents include some held by the trade and industry department, minutes of meetings of committees, and reports by law enforcement agencies.

Commission spokesperson William Baloyi said commission chair, judge Willie Seriti, told LHR on 12 June to compile a list of outstanding documents.

“The commission received the list today. An internal team is going to go through that list and we will respond accordingly,” Baloyi said.

He said a list of witnesses for the second phase of the commission would be sent to the media before the weekend with the next start date.

LHR said it handed in the full list on Tuesday.

President Jacob Zuma appointed the commission in 2011 to investigate alleged corruption in the multi-billion rand deal.

Government acquired, among other hardware, 26 Gripen fighter aircraft and 24 Hawk lead-in fighter trainer aircraft for the air force, and frigates and submarines for the navy.

SAPA

Johannesburg – Authorities on Tuesday denied reports that two journalists were arrested at the scene of a military plane crash near Lydenburg, Mpumalanga.

SA National Defence Force (SANDF) spokesperson Xolani Mabanga said he was not in a position to comment because he was not aware of the arrests.

“I am not aware of any journalist trying to access the scene of the accident.”

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Selvy Mohlala said he did not know anything about the arrests.

“When were they arrested, by who? I don’t know anything about it,” he said.

SABC news reported on Tuesday that the SANDF had detained two journalists at the scene of the plane crash.

According to the report, the media was denied permission to film the wreckage.

Three people died and two were injured when a military plane crashed in Blystaanhoogte.

The aircraft, which took off from Waterkloof, Pretoria, had five people on board, including two pilots.

Both pilots and one of the passengers were killed.

The injured were airlifted to Nelspruit Medi-Clinic.

The SANDF said the aircraft was stationed at a training camp in the Lydenburg area.

SAPA

Fortaleza – Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa has sensationally kept Brazil at bay to earn Mexico a 0-0 in World Cup Group A in Fortaleza on Tuesday.

As it happened: Brazil v Mexico

Brazil and Barcelona star Neymar twice came closest to breaking the deadlock in each half but both times was thwarted by point blank saves by man-of-the-match Ochoa.

The result pushed both sides a point closer to the last 16 as they now have a four-point lead over fellow Group A rivals Cameroon and Croatia, who meet in Manuas on Wednesday.

Mexico largely matched Brazil throughout a pulsating match, although the hosts created the more clear-cut openings.

Neymar had the first clear sight of goal on 26 minutes with a header from Dani Alves’s pinpoint cross but Ochoa plunged to his right to save one-handed.

A minute from the break a clever chest control by centre-back Thiago Silva teed up Paulinho, but Ochoa rushed out to block his close range effort.

Ochoa was the hero again on 69 minutes after Neymar controlled a pass from Bernard on his chest and lashed in a near post shot that the goalkeeper scrambled behind.

Five minutes from the end, Ochoa showed stunning reflexes to parry Thiago Silva’s bullet header from just five yards out.

Jose Vazquez, Hector Herrera and Andres Guardado came close for Mexico with thunderous strikes that just missed the target.

But their closest effort came from Raul Jimenez in the last minute as Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar just pushed his goalbound shot to safety.

to a frustdðÐrating 0-0 draw with Mexico in their World Cup Group A match in Fortaleza.
– AFP

Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma deviated from his usual routine of walking down the red carpet to the entrance of the National Assembly, and was driven there instead, City Press reports.
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Cape Town – Power constraints call for a “radical transformation” of the country’s energy sector, President Jacob Zuma told South Africans on Tuesday.
“We need to respond decisively to the country’s energy constraints, in order to create a conducive environment for growth,” he said in his State of the Nation address.
“[The] situation calls for a radical transformation of the energy sector, to develop a sustainable energy mix that comprises coal, solar, wind, hydro, gas, and nuclear energy.”
This would require structural changes in the manner in which government departments and state-owned companies and the industry as a whole addressed the energy problems.
The government also needed to identify innovative approaches to fast-track procurement and delivery by government in the energy sector.
A Cabinet sub-committee would be established to co-ordinate activities of the energy sector.
“It will also ensure Eskom receives the support it requires to fulfill its mandate.”
Zuma signalled a firm commitment to further developing nuclear power and exploiting shale gas reserves.
“Work needs to be done at a technical level on all forms of energy, especially nuclear energy and shale gas, with regards to funding, safety, exploitation and local manufacture of components.
“Nuclear has the possibility of generating well over 9 000 MW, while shale gas is recognised as a game-changer for our economy.”
He said shale gas options would be pursued “within the framework of our good environmental laws”.
Among the urgent short-term steps that would be taken was speeding up work on the Medupi coal-fired power station.
“There are also some urgent activities we are engaging in the short-term. Progress at Medupi… will be accelerated. Plans for advancing the next large coal-fired power station… will be speeded up so the procurement process can commence,” he said.

SAPA

Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma was responding too late to some of the country’s problems, DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane said on Tuesday.
“I’m concerned that President Zuma is living in one space while South Africans are living in very, very difficult space,” Maimane said after Zuma’s State of the Nation address in Parliament.

“The president had the opportunity to bring strong ideas, some very bold steps, and I didn’t see that forthcoming.”

Maimane said Zuma mentioned some of the things the DA had called for years and his response was “a bit too late”.

He said Zuma quoted initiatives from the National Development Plan and said it would take courage to implement these goals.

Zuma should have acted earlier and allowed legislation to help with energy procurement, he said.

“There could have been a lot more that the president could have done decisively and boldly; and I felt like he did not do that.”

FF Plus leader Pieter Mulder said Zuma seemed “muted” in his address.

“I experienced the president as muted a bit… [It was like] gas out of the bottle,” Mulder said.

Some positives which came out of Zuma’s address were infrastructure and corruption, Mulder said.

“Government’s job is to create infrastructure… we need that for economic growth.”

Pan Africanist Congress Leader Alton Mpheti said: “What the president said is what he said in the last State of the Nation.”

He said Zuma had reduced the number of jobs promised and brought up the issue of land claims again, but with no real solution.

“He didn’t do half the claims [promised]. I don’t know where he is taking us.”

He said Zuma was not moving the country in a better direction.

SAPA