Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was "stupid" to allow communism to collapse, the Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, said in an interview. "What killed socialism in the former Soviet Union - and I lament it - was not the doctrine but many other factors including the fact that Gorbachev was a very foolish man," Mugabe told the editor of Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail.
"Stupid" Gorbachev voluntarily removed the very basis of the principles for which he stood, Mugabe was quoted as saying.
Mugabe, a former Marxist, said he had discussed Gorbachev with the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. In Castro's view Gorbachev was a revolutionary who made mistakes "but as far as I am concerned, the Cuban leader was just being generous," Mugabe said.
Actor Sean Connery had a lucky escape when a brick was dropped from a bridge through the windscreen of his car, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported. The former James Bond actor was driving back to London in his Range Rover from Shepperton film studios when the incident happened. The ex007 was shaken but not stirred.
Connery (66), is currently shooting a film inspired by the television series The Avengers.
Scottish comedian Billy Connolly shrugged off suggestions on Saturday that his new film Mrs Brown was certain to be in the running for Oscar nominations for the 1998 Hollywood awards ceremony.
"I don't win prizes," Connolly told a news conference before the British premiere of the film about Britain's Queen Victoria and her highland ghillie (personal servant) John Brown. Dame Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria.