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/ 16 January 2008

Pikoli lashes out at ‘govt’s delinquency’

Suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli has objected to government’s request for an extension to file its submissions to the Ginwala Commission of Inquiry. A copy of a letter, sent by Pikoli’s law firm Denys Reitz to inquiry head Frene Ginwala, was released to the media late on Tuesday. Earlier on Tuesday, Ginwala herself criticised government for its ”slow response” and failure to deliver its submission on time.

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/ 16 January 2008

China’s booming budget hotels profit from no frills

German engineer Michael Bosch is not fazed by the lack of a gym and other creature comforts at his budget hotel in a converted Shanghai office building. He’s stayed at such hotels on nearly a dozen trips to Chinese cities. ”All I need is a clean, warm place to sleep. I don’t care so much about service,” the 32-year-old said as he waited for 10 minutes for a distracted receptionist to attend to him at a Motel168 on the edge of Shanghai’s financial district.

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/ 16 January 2008

Germany’s hotels bar neo-Nazis

Late last year a hotel in Dresden sent an unambiguous message to two prospective neo-Nazi guests — please do not come. "Since I would not know how to encourage my staff to greet you or serve you, I beg you to cancel your stay," Johannes Lohmeyer, manager of a Holiday Inn in the picturesque east German city, wrote to the two men.

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/ 16 January 2008

Bizos and Chaskalson cannot claim to be neutral

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has the greatest respect for former Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson and Mr George Bizos. The two played a valuable role in the struggle for freedom. They made an important contribution to the drafting of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and we fully agree with them that the separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive is an essential cornerstone of our democracy.

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/ 16 January 2008

Eskom’s place in the sun

An Eskom subsidy for solar-powered water heaters is finally ready and is expected to launch in the next week or two. But the solar power industry itself remains unsure of key details. The subsidy was expected to come into play last year, following a Central Energy Fund pilot project, but was delayed. Suppliers complain of a lack of communication and uncertainty over key details, including launch dates.

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/ 16 January 2008

English-learning frenzy as China prepares for Olympics

When Zhi Lijiang first signed up to be an Olympic volunteer for the 2008 Beijing Games, she could hardly have imagined she would be playing the role of a Canadian tourist in English and etiquette classes. The classes are all part of Beijing’s effort to get its population to speak English to welcome the millions of foreigners expected to flood to the city in this Olympic year.

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/ 16 January 2008

Choice or force?

This might sound like a plot line from a Bollywood blockbuster, but it’s for real. Gouri Roy, the eldest of eight sisters in India’s West Bengal, was married off when she was 11. Her husband did no work. After a decade of working as a domestic in other village homes, bearing two daughters and a son, and recurring bouts of battering, she started looking for work away from home.