Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne was taken to hospital after an incident at a west London hotel, police sources said on Monday. Ambulance crews and police were called to the Knightsbridge hotel on Sunday afternoon, from where Gascoigne voluntarily went to hospital where he was being assessed.
Gold Fields’ South Deep mine remained closed on Monday ahead of a meeting between the company and the Gauteng mines safety inspector to determine whether conditions were safe enough for operations to continue. Nine people died at the company’s South Deep mine last Thursday.
South African stocks were sharply higher at noon on Monday, led by miners on stronger metal prices, while easing United States economic concerns added to the upbeat mood. Local cellphone firm MTN Group was in focus again on ongoing speculation that an Indian firm might launch a takeover bid for the company, traders said.
The Standard Bank median house price fell to R530 000 in April from R550 000 in March, representing a decline of 8,6% year-on-year and 3,6% month-on-month. The five month moving average growth rate declined to 2,8% y/y in April.
An expanded United States conference-style Super rugby series is being touted by the New Zealand Rugby Union as a way of reviving the flagging Super 14 rugby tournament for the 2010 season. NZRU officials have begun a nationwide tour of all the franchises and provinces to divulge their concepts, which then need to be accepted by Sanzar partners.
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.
The head of Germany’s Social Democrats, who has ambitions to be his country’s next leader, is thinking about donating his beard to charity, but is not quite sure. Kurt Beck, who has a strong claim to lead the SPD into next year’s national election, said he might shave off his beard to raise €1-million for charity.
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.
A shipment of weapons from China destined for Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is an obvious cause for the West to denounce Beijing’s involvement in Africa. But Western business and political leaders have already been watching China’s re-engagement with the continent with trepidation.
Two people have died after a church group spent a night in freeezing weather at the top of the Mount-Aux-Sources peak in the Drakensberg near Witsieshoed in Qwaqwa, Free State police said on Saturday. Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said the group left for Mount-Aux-Sources on May 1 for a prayer session on the mountain.