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/ 14 October 2006
Irish rock star Bono went on a shopping spree and appeared on the influential Oprah Winfrey TV chat show on Friday to launch his latest campaign to fight HIV/Aids in Africa. Saying he was convinced that ”this generation can be the generation that says ‘no’ to extreme poverty” in Africa, the U2 singer and activist urged Americans to buy ”Red”-branded clothes, cell phones, shoes and iPods.
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/ 14 October 2006
Angry they have been charged with a rape they say they did not commit, three members of Duke University’s lacrosse team say in an upcoming television interview that the accusations have hurt their lives and those of their families for good — even if they end up being cleared.
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/ 14 October 2006
The next secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, pledged on Friday to be a decisive leader and cautioned those who call him low-key not to mistake him for a pushover. ”I may look low-key or [be] soft-spoken but that does not mean that I lack leadership or commitment,” Ban told Reuters.
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/ 13 October 2006
Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana insisted on Friday that he would not apologise for errors in a ”name-and-shame” campaign. Speaking at the Black Managers’ Forum conference in Durban, Mdladlana said: ”I am not going to apologise to anyone.” Mdladlana said that those companies that submitted equity reports under different names were at fault.
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/ 13 October 2006
Initial tests of air samples taken by United States planes near North Korea found no evidence of radiation, but the US is not ready to declare that Pyongyang did not detonate a nuclear device, a US government intelligence official said on Friday. Monday’s announcement by North Korea that it had tested a nuclear bomb sharply escalated world concerns.
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/ 13 October 2006
Liberia’s defence minister said on Friday an exiled confidant of former president and warlord Charles Taylor was plotting to assassinate top government officials and called for international help tracking him down. Benjamin Yeaten, Taylor’s former chief of staff and one of his most feared fighters, is believed to be armed, somewhere in West Africa, Defence Minister Brownie Samukai said.
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/ 13 October 2006
The Gauteng Aids Conference concluded on Friday in Boksburg on the East Rand with delegates affirming the need to stop talking and take action. ”I have come to this conference for the last four years and heard the same thing; it’s time to take some action,” declared one delegate. The three-day conference was aimed at further developing a multi-sectoral response to HIV/Aids in the province.
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/ 13 October 2006
More South Africans than ever before have electricity, water and sanitation — but local government is failing to run these services properly, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) said on Friday. ”Local government has proved to be a most unreliable custodian of existing infrastructure,” said the IJR’s 2006 transformation audit, Money and Morality, released in Johannesburg.
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/ 13 October 2006
A strike by cash-in-transit security guards has been put on hold for now, as unions await assurances from government that their demands will be met, a union representative said on Friday. Senior members of the Motor Transport Workers’ Union and the major cash-in-transit companies had a ”productive” meeting on Friday afternoon.
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/ 13 October 2006
Nearly 80% of South African high schools are failing their children, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) said on Friday. ”The bad news in South Africa is that nearly 80% of schools provide education of such poor quality that they constitute a very significant obstacle to social and economic development,” wrote Nick Taylor in the IJR’s 2006 transformation audit, titled Money and Morality.