Sheila Drummond didn’t need to see her hole-in-one. She heard it. Drummond, blinded by diabetes 26 years ago, experienced the highlight of her golfing career on Sunday, recording an ace on the 144-yard, par-three fourth hole at Mahoning Valley Country Club in Pennsylvania, United States.
In a little more than two weeks’ time, the Springboks will set out to win back the World Cup they won in 1995. It was a wonderful day for the new South African rainbow nation, just a year after the country’s first democratic elections and just three years after the mighty Springbok rugby team was allowed back into international sport.
The JSE was mixed at midday on Tuesday as world markets started to pull back off their highs after United States futures indicated a weaker opening on Wall Street. At midday on the JSE, the all-share index was 0,52% lower. Resources shed 0,69%, and the gold- and platinum-mining indices retreated 2,22% and 0,38% respectively.
Stanlib, the country’s largest unit-trust company and an early proponent of listed property investment, has shed light on the category’s success. Listed property funds retain their place as investment industry favourites because they "hug" their investors rather than the sector index, it says.
Investors around the world, including South Africa, have noted with concern that many of their equity investments are now worth several percentages less, largely because United States homeowners with subprime mortgage loans have started defaulting on their loan repayments.
Despite central bank interventions to stem the liquidity crunch arising from the United States subprime lending crisis, this is not likely to be the end of the volatility, according to Old Mutual Investment Group South Africa chief economist Rian le Roux.
The death toll from serious flooding in Sudan has risen to 87 people, government officials said on Monday, as the European Commission announced it had distributed €2-million to those affected by the disaster. News of rising casualties came as heavy rains continued to fall on the capital, Khartoum.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) director general Rodrigo Rato on Monday expressed the organisation’s commitment to triple the voting rights of African nations in the organisation. ”We are conscious of the fact that current voting rights of African countries are insufficient and not representative enough,” Rato said.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi’s son Saif al-Islam Gadaffi late on Monday outlined a planned new constitution for Libya, while stressing his father was among the ”red lines” that could not be changed. ”The important thing is to have a contract that will organise the lives of Libyans,” Gadaffi said in a speech in Benghazi, 1 000km east of Tripoli.
Grenade attacks on the homes of five prominent Burundian opposition politicians wounded two bystanders but did not injure their intended target, a police official said. A police spokesperson said attackers dressed in civilian clothes carried out a ”meticulously prepared” attack on Monday.