Yearly Archives: 2006

A Bangladeshi economist last week won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to lift millions out of poverty by lending tiny amounts of money directly to the neediest people on the planet. Muhammad Yunus and the bank he founded were presented with the award and the 10-million kronor cheque for his work in creating a nation of entrepreneurs.

Britain has joined the United States, China and Russia to block a proposed ban on cluster bombs in the wake of extensive use of the weapons during the war in Lebanon. A group of countries, led by Sweden, is urging a worldwide ban on cluster bombs at arms talks in Geneva.

The Baker report on an exit strategy from Iraq, leaked this week in the United States, is as sensible as it is sensational. It rejects ”staying the course” as no longer plausible and purports to seek alternatives to just ”cutting and running”. Stripped of political sweetening, it concludes that there is none.

Pearlie Joubert spoke to Patricia de Lille in a week that the Independent Democrats did a political about-turn, coming out in support of the Democratic Alliance’s Cape Town mayor and apologising for voting with the African National Congress in March this year.

Following on the assessment of six potential South African presidential candidates in August, the Mail & Guardian looks at two more candidates who are quietly entering the political arena from the periphery.