Stefaans Brmmer Rafic Hariri, the controversial Middle East billionaire behind the equally controversial bid by Cell C for South Africa’s third cellphone network licence, is set to re-ascend the prime ministerial throne in his native Lebanon. Hariri and candidates of his Dignity bloc made a clean sweep of seats in the capital, Beirut, in parliamentary […]

Steven Friedman worm’s eye view Last week was a good one for those of us who insist that reality in this society is more complicated than the doom-sayers suggest. For those who insist we are on an inevitable path to authoritarianism, the national conference on racism allowed government politicians to polarise us further by demonising […]

Rupert Neethling In cyberspace privacy equals security. If websites publicly refrain from peeking secretly into their visitors’ computers – or playing hard and fast with their visitors’ personal data – then surfers are more likely to be reassured and thus more willing to supply their data (including their credit-card details) without feeling that they are […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday SAPPI, the pulp and paper giant denied rumours that that it might be the target of a takeover by Finland’s UPM Kymmene. Robert Hope, Sappi’s strategic development director told a local newspaper that he was irritated by the takeover rumours, but did not comment further. However the rumours have had […]

David Barnes soccer His name is Massimo Lombardo, he is the son of an Italian lorry driver and he could become as famous as Jean-Marc Bosman. Lombardo, a 27-year-old midfielder, played in the relative obscurity of the Swiss league at the weekend for Lausanne against Sion. He is proud of his 12 Swiss caps and […]

Rose Deon Potgieter boxing Dingaan “The Rose of Soweto” Thobela, wrote his name in the annals of international boxing history when he stopped Briton Glen Catley for the World Boxing Council (WBC) super-middlweight world title on Friday night at Carnival City. Just three fighters before him have managed to win credible world titles in weight […]

Ivor Powell In a bid to end ongoing divisions in the Mpumalanga provincial government, President Thabo Mbeki is expected to axe the province’s controversial Premier, Ndaweni Mahlangu, next week – and replace him with Deputy Minister of Edu- cation Smangaliso Mkhatshwa. Mkhatshwa was originally tipped for the premiership, when Mbeki unexpectedly announced the appointment of […]

Peter Dickson >From the foothills of the Drakensberg in the north to Pondoland in the east and the planned new port of Ngqurha in the south, the Eastern Cape was alive with ghosts this week. First, exasperated teachers being redeployed across the region notched up hundreds of kilometres in the north-eastern Cape trying to find […]

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 […]