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.
Britain’s Prince Harry was a ”weak” student at school whose final work for an art examination was completed by a member of staff, a former teacher alleged on Monday. Sarah Forsyth told an employment tribunal that she wrote virtually all the accompanying text for an art project submitted to external examiners by the prince, now 20.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood opposition called on MPs on Sunday to reject a constitutional amendment that would allow for the first ever competitive presidential election. Egyptian lawmakers are due to discuss a draft amendment to article 76 of the Constitution relating to the election on Tuesday.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was on Monday beginning perhaps the most crucial week of his political life as he put the finishing touches to a third-term government amid talk of a possible challenge to his leadership. On Wednesday, Blair is scheduled to make a crucial speech before Labour Party members.
Hezekiel Sepeng, South Africa’s 1996 Olympic 800m silver medallist, is fighting to clear his name of doping after testing positive for nandrolone. Sepeng, who faces a two-year ban if the follow-up test confirms the first result, was tested out of season in his home town of Potchefstroom in February.
World oil prices rose on Monday as traders worried about possible supply shortages amid anticipated higher levels of demand for gasoline ahead of the peak driving season in the United States, dealers said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose to ,97 per barrel in electronic deals.
The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) will not appeal against the Cape High Court’s dismissal last month of Idasa’s application for political parties to disclose their funding sources. At a press conference on Monday, Idasa’s Richard Calland said his organisation will not be ”pursuing the legal route any further at this point”.
The world’s biggest fish market, Tsukiji in the heart of Tokyo, on Monday closed its famous tuna auction to tourists whose oos and aahs at the jumbo seafood has proven too much for merchants to handle. Fishmongers say the excited tourists are distracting them during tuna auctions and also touch the fish, which has raised sanitation concerns.