The intensive care unit at Durban’s King Edward VIII Hospital, South Africa’s second largest, was shut down on Saturday. This was after striking workers reportedly threatened nurses at the unit with knobkerries and whips. Doctors were awaiting ambulances to transfer critically ill patients to other hospitals.
Amelie Mauresmo’s fragile hopes of winning her home grand slam tournament ended once more in heartache on Saturday when her French Open dreams were shredded by a familiar Czech foe. ”It was very close and it could have gone either way,” said the Wimbledon champion.
Protesters threw stones and bottles and attacked police officers with sticks in the German port of Rostock on Saturday after a largely peaceful demonstration against next week’s Group of Eight (G8) summit. A group of around 500 demonstrators set upon police near the harbour after a series of marches through the city in which police said 25 000 people took part.
South Africa produced a commanding second-half performance to hammer England 55-22 in the second Test in Pretoria on Saturday. Northern Bulls heroes Bryan Habana and Pierre Spies both scored two tries on their home ground, while Percy Montgomery finished with 18 points to his name.
A murderer jailed for life managed to get a challenge to parole conditions to the Constitutional Court without the help of a lawyer and without two ministers bothering to oppose it. On Friday the Concourt threw out the case, refusing prisoner Paul van Vuren direct access to court without a lawyer.
Zimbabwe’s government has promised to reduce monthly inflation to below 25% from the current 100% by year-end after signing a price and wage protocol with business and labour to halt a deep recession. The country is battling its worst economic crisis that has pushed inflation to over 3 700%.
World Cup favourite New Zealand confronted its worst-case scenario when it lost flyhalf Daniel Carter to an injury while beating France 42-11 in a rugby union international on Saturday. Carter, principal cog in the All Blacks’ Cup machine, did not return to the field for the second half at Eden Park.
Gunmen disguised as riot police have abducted four foreign workers from the residential compound of oil-services giant Schlumberger in Nigeria’s oil city Port Harcourt, authorities said on Saturday. Kidnapping has become an almost daily occurrence in the anarchic Niger Delta, home to Africa’s largest oil industry, and about 30 foreigners are now being held.
The next African National Congress (ANC) president should be biased towards the working class, gender sensitive and a unifier, said the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Friday. The NUM said the government should own the mines to create employment and generate revenue towards education.
Venus Williams stood still, straight-faced and serious, during a TV interview right before she played in the French Open’s third round. Her opponent, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, giggled while delivering her sound bite. She then kept right on smiling — when she stepped on court, when she hit spectacular shots, and, widest of all, when she won.