A powerful earthquake and tsunami struck the tiny Solomon Islands on Monday, swallowing entire villages and killing at least 12 people with many more missing. The shallow quake, with a magnitude of at least 8, levelled buildings and damaged a hospital on Gizo island north-west of the Solomons capital, Honiara.
A Boksburg hotel was evacuated after chemical smoke filled the hotel’s washing area, paramedics said on Monday. ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak said paramedics received a distress call from the Birchwood Hotel in Northrand road in Boksburg at about 10am.
The fraud trial of former national cricketer Garth le Roux resumed in the Wynberg Regional Court on Monday, with testimony from an auditor commissioned by the state to examine Le Roux’s books. Le Roux and his accountant, Deon van Heerden, have pleaded not guilty to 48 charges of fraud, and Le Roux to an additional charge of contravening exchange-control regulations.
France’s high-speed TGV train will try to smash its own world record and reach speeds of up to 580km/h on Tuesday in a move that manufacturer Alstom hopes will help it trounce its Japanese and German rivals in a rapidly expanding market. Weather conditions permitting, a black V150 train will rocket along a stretch of the new high-speed line between Paris and Strasbourg.
Experts marking World Health Day in Singapore on Monday called for greater cooperation and worldwide collaboration in the face of international threats to health security. ”All nations are at risk,” said Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), during a panel debate.
Phew. They used to sing: "Soon one morning, death comes a-creeping in the room." Lindelani Buthelezi’s sudden death from a combined stroke and heart attack (one doesn’t know which preceded which) has taken the wind out of the sails of the rest of the week for me and for many of us.
Unidentified gunmen killed five African Union peacekeepers in the Darfur region of western Sudan, the deadliest single attack against the force in one day since late 2004, an AU spokesperson said on Monday. The five were guarding a water point near the Sudanese border with Chad when they came under fire on Sunday, Noureddine Mezni said.
South African manufacturing expansion increased in March as sales orders remained high but optimism was waning, pointing to a possible slowdown ahead, the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) showed on Monday. The PMI index rose to 60,5 on a seasonally adjusted basis after increasing to 60,3 in February, Investec, which sponsors the index, said in a statement.
The JSE gained momentum at midday on Monday led by paper maker Sappi and pockets of buying in heavyweight gold stocks. At 12pm, the all-share index was up 0,45%. Resources gained 0,10%, the gold- and platinum-mining indices firmed 1,13% and 0,89% respectively. Industrials gained 0,56% and banks and financials were up 1,23% and 0,95% respectively.
Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called on Monday on South African President Thabo Mbeki to move rapidly to defuse the escalating political crisis across his northern border. "It is critical that President Mbeki act quickly and decisively to halt the suffering of millions of Zimbabweans," Tsvangirai told journalists.