Australia’s Catholic church has taken a swipe at foul-mouthed British chef Gordon Ramsay and demanded his reality television shows be either taken off air or shown at a later time. One episode broadcast recently featured Ramsay using a four-letter expletive more than 80 times, while he also shouts at a chef saying: ”You French pig.”
As Zimbabwe’s opposition mulls its options over whether to contest a run-off election against President Robert Mugabe, refugees in South Africa continue to suffer at the hands of the South African police. On April 25, policemen raided a block of flats in Pageview, west of the city-centre, which is home to 15 Zimbabwean refugees.
Yahoo! faced growing pressure on Sunday to find an alternative strategy to Microsoft’s ,5-billion takeover offer after the software maker walked away over a disagreement on price. Yahoo! shares could fall by more than 30% on Monday over the breakdown of talks.
Bolivia’s richest region of Santa Cruz voted overwhelmingly for autonomy on Sunday in a referendum widely seen as a rejection of President Evo Morales’ leftist reforms, exit polls showed. The ballot was the first of four referendums on greater autonomy from central government being planned by eastern provinces.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party has said that a second round of presidential elections could be delayed by up to a year in a move that would extend Robert Mugabe’s rule even though he admits to having lost the first round of voting five weeks ago. The election commission is expected to meet soon to set a date for the run-off vote between Mugabe and the opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai.
China’s state press on Monday accused the Dalai Lama of ”monstrous crimes,” a day after Chinese officials reportedly agreed with envoys of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist to keep the door open on dialogue. The Chinese officials and the envoys met in southern China on Sunday for their first talks in over a year.
Burma’s military authorities a foreign aid workers struggled on Monday to assess the damage from a devastating cyclone that killed more than 350 people and left tens of thousands homeless. The death toll is likely to climb as the authorities slowly make contact with islands and villages in the delta, the rice bowl of Burma.
Former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Doctor Khumalo was admitted to hospital after he was involved in an accident on the N1 in Johannesburg on Sunday, Kaizer Chiefs confirmed. The accident, involving a black BMW — driven by Khumalo — and a minibus taxi, occurred on the N1 between Maraisburg and Soweto at about 5am,
South African Broadcasting Corporation CEO Dali Mpofu on Sunday rejected the ”insinuations” that there was a Cabinet plot against him. This followed newspaper reports that he accused Thabo Mbeki’s Cabinet of plotting to oust him. Mpofu told Parliament he had received information that someone ”from high up” had given instructions that he be fired.
A virus that has killed 25 children and infected thousands across China will not threaten Beijing’s Olympic Games in August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in comments published on Monday. Health authorities in China have been battling to contain outbreaks of EV71, a sometimes fatal intestinal virus.