No image available
/ 23 October 2006
The biological father of 13-month-old ”Baby David” said on Sunday that he was misled into agreeing to give up his son to American pop diva Madonna, injecting new controversy and confusion into the adoption saga. Yohane Banda said that authorities had not made it clear to him that he was giving up his only son ”for good”.
No image available
/ 23 October 2006
Child-committed sexual offences processed by the state have nearly doubled in the past year, the Star reported on Monday. It said 82 children — some as young as six — are being charged in courts across the country every day for raping or indecently assaulting other children.
No image available
/ 23 October 2006
Fashion and decor shops trading in huge quantities of porcupine quills are contributing directly to the imminent extinction of the species, warns an independent report on the trade released this week. Despite the fact that porcupines are listed as a protected species, retail outlets are dealing in hundreds of thousands of quills.
No image available
/ 23 October 2006
According to a column by its ”public editor” (aka ombudsman, or official busybody), the New York Times has been asking itself whether it does enough to distinguish between fact and opinion in its pages. A ”newsroom committee on credibility” looked into the matter and decided that what was needed was a ”news/opinion divide committee”.
No image available
/ 23 October 2006
From someone recently elected president, I expected some airs. But Jimmy Manyi, the new Black Management Forum, president lacks them. I am taken aback that he, instead of a personal assistant, comes to the reception to welcome us and usher us to his office. He says something self-effacing. I say something else he finds funny. He bursts into a booming laughter.
No image available
/ 23 October 2006
"Africans have woken up to the reality that they can, and should, own their own stories and that there is nothing stopping them from doing that." Stephanie Wolters interviewed Uduak Amimo, the new senior editorial adviser to the BBC World Service, about the media on the continent today.
No image available
/ 23 October 2006
The International Monetary Fund has estimated that Africa needs to accelerate annual GDP growth to 7% to attain the goal of reducing by half the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day by 2015. Africa’s economy as a whole is growing at about 5,5% in 2006.
No image available
/ 23 October 2006
Pasilius Haingura, of the National Association of Namibian Teachers’ Unions, says that many of the country’s 20 000 teachers want to leave the profession. While noting that Namibian teachers are better off in terms of salaries than other public servants, he says the conditions under which teachers operate leave them with no other option but to seek other jobs.
No image available
/ 23 October 2006
Purists may frown, but chocolate foie gras and kiwi liquor are just two examples of how French farmers are evolving their offerings in order to lure new customers in a competitive food market. Six times a year, small farmers from across France meet in the Paris region to sell their wares directly to city customers.
No image available
/ 23 October 2006
Since Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez announced a land revolution, headlines have focused on expropriations and sporadic violence that reportedly has claimed dozens of lives. A question seldom asked is whether the reforms are widespread and working.