A latex puppet of Prince Charles’s bride-to-be Camilla Parker Bowles, seen on the cult British television satire <i>Spitting Image</i>, failed on Monday to find a buyer in an eBay online auction. The 71cm-tall effigy of Charles’s long-time lover, seen on the programme in 1996 shortly before it went off the air, attracted 49 bids.
Australian Super 12 players are concerned about excessive drinking and gambling among their peers, according to a survey released on Tuesday. The Australian Rugby Union Players’ Association survey of 84 professional players, including 27 Wallabies, found that 51,1% believed one to 10 members of their state squad had a serious drinking problem.
Two children died on Monday from injuries sustained in a stampede at an overcrowded soccer stadium. Another 45 people were injured in the stampede at a match between South Africa’s Kaizer Chiefs and Madagascar’s USJF Ravinala on Sunday.
A photograph of a Pretoria advocate couple in the nude is to be the topic of an application against a tabloid newspaper in the city’s high court on Tuesday. Lawyers for the pair, who stand accused of an array of sexual crimes against women and girls, have asked Judge Essop Patel to force the newspaper to reveal the source of the photograph.
South African gold-mining group Harmony has been granted a licence to develop a mine at Papua New Guinea’s Hidden Valley project. The licence was granted after a comprehensive licensing process, including intensive reviews of all of Harmony’s environmental plans under Papua New Guinea’s newly enacted, strict environmental legislation.
There was chaos at Port Elizabeth’s Livingstone Hospital on Monday as would-be research volunteers flocked to give blood and hair samples, a provincial official said. Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said a pharmaceutical research company had announced it would pay R300 for each sample.
Niche banking group Investec will open an office in Knysna this week, to provide specialised services in the Garden Route area, announced Andy Vogel, Investec regional manager for the Eastern Cape. The specialist investment banking group will offer a number of services from its private client division.
Global resources group BHP Billiton on Tuesday announced that it has made a $7,3-billion counter-bid for Australian mining group WMC Resources. On November 22 last year, mining group Xstrata announced that it would bid to take over WMC Resources, offering WMC Resources’ shareholders Aus$7 cash per share. BHP Billiton is offering $7,85 per share.
Leisure group Sun International on Tuesday reported a sharp increase in headline earnings per share to 252 cents for the half-year ending December 2004, from 153 cents in the previous comparative half-year. The group attributed the improvement to strong growth in casino revenues, improved operating margins and lower borrowing costs.
Truck drivers and their employers have ”in principle” reached an agreement about wages, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) said on Tuesday. Negotiators from the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union and the Road Freight Employers’ Association are expected to sign the deal at noon on Tuesday, said CCMA director Edwin Molahlehi.