THE ALL-TRUE TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF LIDIE NEWTON by Jane Smiley (Flamingo) Jane Smiley is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Thousand Acres, and in her new book she returns to rural life in the United States’s Midwest. This time, though, she goes back in time to the years leading up to the […]
Bram Posthumus takes a look at what lies at the heart of Angola’s misery A snapshot, taken in Kuito two months ago on Angola’s 23rd birthday. The crowd in front of the bullet-riddled government buildings at the Praa de Vergonha (Shame Square) listens impassively to the music and speeches and then walks away. There’s not […]
Donna Block Share World I have a New Year’s confession to make: my husband and I are personally responsible for keeping the world economy ticking over. This small feat has been accomplished by madcap, non- stop spending. You name it, we’re buying it with cash, cheques and credit cards. We are spending in shops, malls […]
THE Angolan army claimed on Thursday that it has recaptured central parts of the country including Katchiungu and Chinguar from Unita rebels. Government troops also captured an artillery battery which had enabled the rebels to bombard the town of Malanje, the army said. Huambo province governor Paulo Kassoma said that the government offensive has enabled […]
BUSINESS South Africa has been refused leave to appeal against dismissal of its earlier application to force the health minister to refer Medical Schemes Bill to the National Economic Development and Labour Council. The refusal of leave to appeal was made in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Thursday. The appeal related to […]
LIBYA warned Seoul on Thursday that South Korean companies operating in the North African country will be expelled if the government does not back off from supporting United States attacks on Iraq. Libya’s official news agency Jana reported that, “South Korea…must know that its companies operating in the Arab states would be expelled in case […]
ONE in three South African teenage girls are victims of sexual abuse, according to a study published on Thursday by the Community Information Empowerment and Transparency organisation. Of the victims, two out of three had never previously spoken of the abuse, the study of 1500 teenagers between 14 and 18 and from a cross-section of […]
POLICE have arrested a suspect in connection with Monday’s fatal attack on a police van transporting prisoners in Soweto. Spokesperson Captain Sipho Ngubane said on Wednesday a 30-year-old suspect was arrested on Tuesday morning in Emndeni, Soweto. A handgun and a BMW car, believed to have been used in the attack, were seized. The suspect […]
AN officer of the police VIP protection unit and bodyguard to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki appeared in the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday charged with murder. Sergeant Evans Modise (33) was released on R1000 bail and the case was postponed to January 21. Modise was arrested after Samuel Baloyi was beaten to death on New […]
THE Zambian state has closed its case in the trial of 77 soldiers charged with treason over a coup attempt against President Frederick Chiluba in October 1997, defence lawyers said on Wednesday. “The state closed its case on Tuesday, and we are now trying to have some of the detainees released because some of them […]