Mandela Mercedes: Nelson Mandela will be offered...

Mandela Mercedes: Nelson Mandela will be offered a new Mercedes-Benz, courtesy of South Africa’s National Union of Metalworkers. The union asked Mercedes-Benz of South Africa to build the car for the recently freed apartheid fighter, and a company spokeswoman said: “We recognize the high esteem in which the majority of our employees hold Mr. Mandela and in the spirit of this we have agreed to the request.” Workers have reportedly decided the car will be red. There was no word whether Mandela would accept the gift.

Powerful Light: Lori Hoffman, 22, a Los Angeles securities assistant, hit the jackpot Thursday when her Oct. 1 Visa card purchase of a $46 lamp turned into a million-dollar bonanza. Hoffman is the national grand prize winner in a Visa sweepstakes. The prize is in the form of a free credit card, good for $200,000 annually in cash and purchases for the next five years. Will Hoffman replace the lamp with a more expensive one? “Not a chance,” she said. “I’m keeping it forever.”

Now a Hotelier: Convicted Watergate conspirator H.R. Haldeman is part owner of a company that will build a 430-room hotel and business center in Moscow, the first hotel to go up in the Soviet Union with American participation. The Radisson Slavjanskya Hotel and Business Center will be a joint venture with Radisson Hotels International and the Soviet government. The only other Western hotel in Moscow is the Savoy, an 83-room hotel managed by Finnair, the Finnish airline.

Bridging the Ocean: CBS executive Laurence A. Tisch and publishing mogul Malcolm Forbes are part of a corporate bridge team taking on British parliamentarians. Sir Peter Emery of London and the Duke of Atholl will co-captain the British Parliament team in the Friday match in London, said Kathy Wei of the American Contract Bridge League in Houston. The U.S. team also includes Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Milton Petrie of Petrie Stores.