Canadian blind rocker Jeff Healey, who uniquely played his guitar flat on his lap, died of cancer on March 2 on the eve of his latest album release, his publicist said in a statement. Healey (41) died in a Toronto hospital of a rare cancer, <i>retinoblastoma</i>, that he had fought since birth and which claimed his eyesight at the age of one.
The West cast doubt on Russia’s presidential election on Monday after Dmitry Medvedev won a landslide victory and vowed to follow the course set by outgoing leader Vladimir Putin. Near complete results gave Medvedev 70,2% of Sunday’s vote, crushing his nearest rival, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, who won 17,8%.
Israeli troops pulled out of the Gaza Strip on Monday after a United States appeal to end days of fighting that killed more than 100 Palestinians, and rescue peace talks. The Hamas Islamists who control the coastal enclave declared ”victory” and vowed to continue firing rockets into Israel.
South Africa’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to a four-and-a-half year low of 46,4 in February, knocked by slowing demand and a crippling power shortage. The fall in the index, a measure of manufacturing activity, from 52,1 in January reflected lower new sales orders and marked the first decline below the 50 mark, which separates expansion from contraction, since 2003.
Standard Bank has received a R16-billion boost to its capital base after completion of a deal in which China’s biggest lender ICBC took a 20% stake, it said on Monday. International and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s biggest lender by assets, said in October last year it would pay ,5-billion for the stake in Standard Bank.
Sixty-one percent of all Gauteng policing precincts recorded a decrease in the total amount of violent crimes between July and December 2007, compared with the same period the previous year. Addressing the, Gauteng minister for community safety Firoz Cachalia said violent contact-crime categories decreased within the target range of between 7% and 10%.
An Iranian court has ordered a man to buy his wife 124 000 roses after she filed a complaint against her "stingy" husband to claim her dowry, a press report said on Monday. "After 10 years of marriage Hengameh had decided to claim her dowry of 124 000 red roses to punish her very stingy husband," the <i>Etemad</i> newspaper said.
Copper cable theft between April last year and the end of January has cost Telkom R863-million, the telecommunications provider said on Monday. In a statement, Telkom said the ”alarming surge” in copper cable theft was the biggest inhibitor in its capability to improve service levels.
India spinner Harbhajan Singh was cleared on Monday of making racist gestures and spitting at fans during his team’s one-day win over Australia on Sunday. Harbhajan was crucial in Sunday’s victory, which gave India a 1-0 lead in the tri-series finals, claiming the key wickets of Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden.
Nigerian opposition candidate Mohammadu Buhari has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an election tribunal ruling upholding the victory of President Umaru Yar’Adua in the April 2007 vote, his lawyer said on Monday. Mike Ahamba said he filed an appeal to the Supreme Court on Friday seeking a reversal of the ruling in favour of his client.