A former drummer for 1970s Swedish pop group ABBA, Ola Brunkert, has been found dead after an apparent accident in his house in Mallorca, Spanish police said on Monday. Brunkert bled to death from a throat wound which police suspect was caused after he accidentally smashed a pane of glass.
Gold added $24,95, or 2,49%, to trade at $1 025,05 by 1.30pm on Monday — this after rising more than 3% to a record $1 032,60 a troy ounce in overnight trade. Oil prices have also rallied in response to the dollar’s weakness overnight with Nymex crude setting a fresh all-time high of $111,80.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) submitted parliamentary questions to President Thabo Mbeki on Monday, asking him to clear the air on his alleged involvement in the arms deal. The <i>Sunday Times</i> reported that business magnate Tokyo Sexwale had made an "impassioned plea" for Mbeki "to take the ANC into his confidence".
Global stocks fell and the dollar tumbled on Monday as a fire sale of Bear Stearns and an emergency Federal Reserve cut of a key lending rate sparked fears that a worldwide credit crisis will claim more casualties. European shares sank more than 3%, following a sell-off in Asia where Japan’s leading indexes shed more than 3,5%.
Hundreds of Serbs in north Kosovo clashed with United Nations police and Nato peacekeepers on Monday in the worst violence since the Albanian majority declared independence last month. Riots erupted in the town of Mitrovica after several hundred UN special police backed by French Nato peacekeepers stormed a UN court in the town and arrested dozens of Serbs.
Media24, publisher of City Press, was on Monday ordered to pay prominent African National Congress politician and medical doctor Zweli Mkhize R150 000 in damages for a defaming him in a report in March 2007. Mkhize is chairperson of finance and economic development in the KwaZulu-Natal Cabinet.
South Africa’s large current-account deficit is a major chink in its armour given a low savings rate and current global financial market turmoil, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Monday. The country was dependent on foreign capital inflows to fund a rising deficit, he said.
A former finance minister challenging Robert Mugabe for the presidency denied on Sunday he was a Western puppet and said such accusations were to divert attention from Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown. Simba Makoni is running as an independent candidate after being expelled from the ruling Zanu-PF party.
Eskom will carry out countrywide rolling load-shedding on Monday because of a rise in demand due to cold weather and after four generators tripped. The power failures, the first since February 4, are likely to continue until Thursday, but would not affect large industrial customers, who are operating with about 90% of their normal power requirements.
The parents of murdered Stellenbosch student Inge Lotz are suing her ex-boyfriend Fred van der Vyver for R4-million each, said Dani Cohen, spokesperson for the Lotz family on Monday. Van der Vyver was acquitted of the murder of Lotz. Juanita and Jan Lotz called Inge ”their sunshine child and an angel. She was the apple of their eye” said Cohen.