World Book Day on April 23 saw entries open for the 14th short story competition run by Anglo Platinum and Beulah Thumbadoo & Associates.
Germany’s Finance Minister, Peer Steinbrück, blamed the Bank of England on Friday for the collapse of Northern Rock and the loss of 2 000 jobs, savaging the central bank for not pumping enough liquidity into money markets last year. Unlike the central banks of the United States and European Union, the Bank of England failed to support the banking sector with vital loans, Steinbrück said.
California suffered its first deadly attack by a great white shark in almost 50 years yesterday when a swimmer was killed 50m from a popular beach near San Diego as he took part in a triathlon training session. David Martin, a 66-year-old retired veterinarian, was swimming with a group around 22km north of San Diego early on Friday when the shark attacked.
Rising food prices have developed into a global crisis, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday. Concerns about food security mounted this week as rice prices hit records in Asia, and the United States warned that staples for the world’s hungry were getting much more expensive.
An estimated 8 000 people have fled Mogadishu since last weekend’s clashes, the heaviest this year in the Somali capital, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday. About 700 000 people have already fled the coastal capital over the past year, sparking one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Measures to stem the looming food price crisis in South Africa will be put before the Cabinet next week, the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) said on Friday. A short-term solution is likely to involve more funds for the government’s social programmes to protect the poorest of the poor from the price hikes, NAMC chief executive Ronald Ramabulana said.
Angry protesters caused damage of R5-million to Daveyton Station on the East Rand on Friday morning, Metrorail said. ”Commuters torched ticket offices when a train failed between Northmead and Avenue, blocking other Johannesburg-bound trains from Daveyton,” spokesperson Sibusiso Ngomane said.
Shaun de Waal reviews three new books on local cinema.
A new Dylan biopic continues the cliché of the artist as Great Man, no matter what the reality, writes Bidisha.
In Turkmenistan getting the date right was a tricky business. Instead of April there was Gurbansoltan — the name given to the month by the country’s late dictator, who renamed it after his mother. But on Thursday the Central Asian nation took another step towards ending its isolation, when its new president suggested dumping the names invented by his predecessor,