Werner Seifert, the Deutsche Börse chief executive, was ousted on Monday after relentless pressure from shareholders opposed to his long-held ambition to take over the London Stock Exchange. Seifert is leaving with immediate effect to be followed by Rolf Breuer — one of Germany’s best-known businessmen — at the end of the year.
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Nine Iraqis were killed and 17 wounded in attacks around the country on Monday, police and medics said, as insurgents continued to strike at Iraq’s fledgling security forces. Four people were killed and nine wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his car into two police vehicles at a roadside checkpoint in south-west Baghdad.
Lesotho’s ruling party has won local government elections in the small mountain kingdom, the first to be held since it gained independence from Britain in 1966, an election official said on Monday. The municipal elections were to choose representatives to 129 councils, with a third of the seats reserved for women.
More cellphones are ringing in Norway than there are people to answer them, as subscriptions soar, officials figures showed on Monday. And the Norwegians are not the only cellphone enthusiasts. On the same day, Lithuania also reported that the number of cellphone subscribers surpassed the population of the Baltic country.
Absa’s shareholders will vote for or against Barclays bid to buy 60% of Absa on June 13, Barclays chief executive for international retail and commercial banking, David Roberts, said on Monday. ”This is a compelling transaction. It’s good for Barclays, it’s good for Absa, it’s good for shareholders,” he said.
Although the military parade through Red Square commemorating the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany on Monday was awash in Soviet-era symbols — on banners, medals and posters — the city’s most powerful Soviet image was almost in hiding. The Lenin mausoleum was blocked by an elaborate platform.
Allowing a hostile takeover of mining company Gold Fields by rival Harmony is not in the public interest, the Competition Tribunal heard in Pretoria on Monday. A merger could be to the detriment of the industry, to empowerment and to at least 1Â 500 Gold Fields employees who stand to lose their jobs, lawyers for the company said.
An Angolan girl of eight was repeatedly tortured and almost killed after being accused by another child of being a witch, a British court was told on Monday, in a case prosecutors described as ”incredible”. The girl was put in a laundry bag and was about to be thrown into a river when one of her tormentors managed to stop the others.
Bumbanani Mlotshwa is a regular in the crowded township pubs of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city. Neither a boozer nor a hawker, he’s on an altogether different mission. Moving from table to table, Mlotshwa spreads the word to all who will listen: HIV/Aids is real, it’s transmitted through unprotected sex, and condoms can save lives.