Indian Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav is beaming after a doll in his likeness has been snapped up from toy stores in the state of Bihar where he will soon contest elections. The plump doll, called Lalooji, sports a mop of white hair and is clothed in the politician’s trademark white kurta pajamyas.
Lifestyle diseases are placing an increasing burden on the health system, Gauteng health minister Gwen Ramokgopa said on Monday. She was to tell the provincial legislature later on Monday that people needing treatment for strokes, diabetes and hypertension made more than a million hospital and clinic visits in the past financial year.
About 1 300 members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) again downed tools at Samancor Chrome’s Mpumalanga and North West mines after negotiations deadlocked, a spokesperson said on Monday. NUM deputy secretary Archie Palane said workers are protesting the company’s refusal to upgrade certain positions.
Shares in telecommunications group Telkom rose to a lifetime high of R119 per share on Monday after the firm announced its financial results for the year ended March 2005. Telkom reported a 53% rise in basic earnings per share to 1241,8 cents, from last year’s 812 cents.
Traffic was disrupted between Nelspruit and Riverside in Mpumalanga on Monday when thousands of taxi operators marched to the premier’s office to hand over a memorandum outlining grievances, news reports said on Monday. The operators want the government to abandon its planned taxi-recapitalisation programme.
Shouts of ”Viva” and ”Amandla” and the sound of whistles and vuvuzelas echoed through Johannesburg’s Park station on Monday as about 100 Metrorail workers protested against the company’s 4,5% wage offer. There were severe disruptions on Monday in the Western Cape, with only 2% of trains operational.
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe is prosecuting about 50 hotels and tourist resorts for allegedly failing to remit foreign currency earnings to the central bank, a newspaper reported on Monday.
German football bosses go into the final year of preparations for the 2006 World Cup knowing only the final polish needs to be added to the 12 hosting stadiums. ”We now have the best infrastructure for football in the world,” said Wolfgang Niersbach, vice-president of the 2006 World Cup Organising Committee.
Justine Henin-Hardenne beat a visibly nervous Mary Pierce 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday to win the French Open, capping a remarkable comeback from a blood virus with her fourth grand-slam title and her second at Roland Garros. It was the most lopsided major final since Steffi Graf beat Natasha Zvereva 6-0, 6-0 to win the French Open in 1988.
The car keys of the Durbanville scuba diver feared to have been taken by a shark in False Bay on Saturday were found on a beach at Fish Hoek on Sunday, the National Sea Rescue Institute said. The diver was apparently attacked by the shark about 200m to 300m off Millers’ Point, near Simon’s Town.