Mayor still clinging on

The embattled mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, has admitted that he has bought illegal drugs in the past two years. The BBC reports that his televised admission came during a heated council meeting in Canada's largest city, at which he was asked to step aside. In recent weeks, Mr Ford has admitted to smoking crack cocaine while in office and to struggling with drink. In a vote of 41-2, the council in Canada's largest city requested he take leave. The request was symbolic, as the council has no authority to remove him. Mr Ford has vowed to stay and to run for re-election in October 2014. I wish him luck with that, because it is highly unlikely the public will want him back in. But enough about that because the All Whites have a near-impossible mountain to climb to qualify for a second straight football World Cup next year in Brazil, after losing 5-1 to Mexico in their qualifying playoff first leg. They must now score at least four goals in the return leg in Wellington and hope the Mexicans don't score if they're to have any chance of qualifying for the finals next year. As well as the scoreline, the New Zealanders will be without three players next week in Wellington after striker Chris Wood, the veteran Ivan Vicelich, and fellow defender Leo Bertos were all yellow carded. That means the trio will have to sit out next Wednesday's match at Westpac Stadium, as their second yellows in World Cup qualifying mean an automatic one-match suspension.