Burma’s military junta believes at least 10 000 people died in a cyclone that ripped through the Irrawaddy Delta, triggering a massive international aid response for the pariah nation. ”The basic message was that they believe the provisional death toll was about 10 000, with 3 000 missing,” a Rangoon-based diplomat said in Bangkok.
Gold Fields’s South Deep Mine was given permission to resume mining after a meeting with the Department of Minerals and Energy on Monday. ”The section 54 ruling [which suspends mining] has been lifted,” said spokesperson Sputnik Rantau. ”The mine has been allowed to go back into operation.”
The Cape High Court on Monday heard a graphic account of how Najwa Petersen stabbed her husband, Taliep, in the neck one night, eight months before he was murdered. It also heard that the theatre personality’s life was insured for R5,3-million, and that Najwa tried after his death to have the money paid into a Namibian bank account.
”Borneo has done two amazing things for me: it has overcome my trepidation about scuba-diving and emboldened me to willingly swim in shark-infested waters. Being claustrophobic, as well as having had a bad experience the last time I tried to learn scuba, I’ve been quite happy to putter along on the surface admiring the pretty fish below” writes Nicole Johnston
South African telecoms operator MTN Group said on Monday that it was in share price-sensitive talks with India’s Bharti Airtel. The group did not give much away amid speculation that Bharti Airtel, India’s biggest phone company, might launch a takeover offer for the local firm.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) will look at ways to protect Test cricket in the wake of Twenty20’s growing impact at a two-day board meeting starting in Dubai on Monday. The India Premier League was launched last month involving several high-profile players and has taken the cricket world by storm, with the England board also planning their own league.
Zimbabwe’s opposition on Monday mulled whether to contest a presidential election run-off after winning the first round as President Robert Mugabe’s camp began gearing up for the ballot. "We are still putting things together and when we are ready, we will get the press informed," George Sibotshiwe, a spokesperson for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said.
In the latest case of apparent infanticide to shock Germany, police said on Monday that they found three dead babies in a freezer and arrested a woman believed to be the children’s mother. Police said the woman’s grown-up son and daughter discovered the tiny corpses on Saturday evening when they were looking for something to eat when their parents were out.
Sudanese government bombs have hit a primary school and a busy market place in Darfur, killing at least 13 people, including seven children, two aid organisations said on Monday. The Sudanese army has repeatedly denied bombing in the area, which would be a violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution banning all offensive flying.
Thousands of Kenyans returned home on Monday under a government programme to resettle families displaced by the violence that followed elections at the end of last year. An initial batch of several hundred left camps in several Rift Valley towns back to the countryside under police and army escort.