The new CD by Wyclef Jean, the dreadlocked powerhouse behind The Fugees, features ska, 41 gunshots, Pink Floyd and a rapping Kenny Rogers Dom Phillips Hip-hop makes sense in New York: the town that created it is still enslaved by it. On a muggy afternoon, the street vendors on Broadway blast out rap, selling mix […]

REUTERS, Washington | Friday THE International Monetary Fund approved a $11.6m payment to Uganda after completing a review of the African nation’s poverty reduction strategy and other economic reform plans. After a meeting of its executive board, the IMF welcomed Uganda’s efforts to stem a decline in trade and deal with costs arising from bank […]

Hazel Friedman Love is on the air and hearts are aflame as Eugene (pronounced Oogeen) clutches a cheap engagement ring and kneels before the object of his obvious adoration. “Marry me, Pumpkin,” he pleads. The giggling, haute-coiffured, coutured, Pumpkin (her real name) seems equally smitten. “Sure Eugene, honey [giggle], but first I have something to […]

air A United States company is spewing a cocktail of lethal chemicals into the Cape air Paul Kirk The government has threatened to shut down the Caltex refinery in Cape Town after air sampling revealed the air in the city’s Table View area is among the most heavily polluted in the world. Among the lethal […]

Howard Barrell President Thabo Mbeki is driving a R6- million project to record the history of the struggle against apartheid over the 30 years leading up to South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994. His officials in the Office of the Presidency have talked cellphone operator MTN and Nedcor, the banking group, into jointly providing […]

Andrew Muchineripi soccer For many inhabitants of our beautiful land, the Olympic Games have tended to be a peripheral sporting occasion. Events would be watched in various sporting codes without a real feeling of belonging. Not any more. The Amaglug-glug are the most loved of our national football teams and although their group matches in […]

South Africa has a few realistic Olympic medal hopes – but there could be some surprises Grant Shimmin Angelo Taylor, a 21-year-old who hails from the previous Olympic host city, Atlanta, and is the fastest man in the world in the 400m hurdles this year, has a diary on the website shared by CNN and […]

Andy Capostagno rugby The international season is over until November. We are now in the middle of mud- slinging season and it is scarcely surprising that the Currie Cup has lost its lustre. For who can concentrate on the game when the real heavyweights are spending every waking moment consulting with their lawyers? Five years […]

Patrick Craven crossfire Thami Mazwai proudly proclaims that he and his staff “are gleefully contravening the [Basic Conditions of Employment] Act” by not paying premiums for Sunday working (“Cosatu acts irresponsibly in criticising the government”, September 1 to 7). In other words he is breaking the law. Yet he accuses Congress of South African Trade […]

Rupert Neethling ‘This is what the Internet should be all about,” declared a friend back in 1997 on discovering instant messaging (IM). He was already a cyber veteran, but IM finally allowed him to converse with online friends in real time. IM software allows you to see when a friend goes online, following which you […]