MUSLIM rebels freed an ailing German housewife from 12 weeks in captivity in southern Philippine jungle where the gunmen still hold several mostly foreign hostages. Renate Wallert, boarded a helicopter in the town of Jolo shortly after she was handed over by the Abu Sayyaf rebels to chief hostage negotiator Robert Aventajado at their jungle […]

FIVE armed men attacked a Catholic mission in Northern Province early on Sunday morning, shooting a church member and holding up a priest and his wife. The men broke through a security fence and gate at Makapanspoort Lutheran Catholic Mission near Potgietersrus at 3am. Bushveld police spokesman Captain Blackie Swart said the attackers smashed a […]

A MAN has apparently frozen to death in the cold snap that gripped South Africa over the weekend and forced hundreds of homeless to soup kitchens and churches for shelter, a report said on Monday. The unidentified man was discovered dead on Sunday in an alley in a Johannesburg suburb, and ambulance staff said they […]

A new Magaliesberg conservation project is being threatened by arsonists Nechama Brodie What should have been a week of celebration for Magaliesberg-based nature conservancy Jackal’s Kloof was marred by a deliberately set fire on its mountain top last week. The fire, which started late on Tuesday afternoon, took several hours to get under control – […]

partners Jaspreet Kindra The African National Congress this week hatched an action plan to mend troubled relations with its alliance partners and to bolster links between the party inside and outside of the government. At the ANC’s national general council in Port Elizabeth this week, the ruling party announced plans to increase the capacity of […]

Andy Capostagno rugby It is likely to be a quiet evening in Couran Cove on Saturday. At their retreat on Queensland’s Gold Coast, the Springboks will be digesting the opening Tri-Nations Test between Australia and New Zealand. And maybe as they tuck themselves up in bed for the night, they will ponder the fact that […]

Matthew Krouse ‘Will those who want to see the Nguni spirit possession please proceed to level two …” the instruction rang out above the din of revellers who had come to launch the Urban Futures conference exhibitions programme. The halls of Newtown’s MuseuMAfrika, on July 10, had not seen anything quite like it before. Dried […]

Paul Kirk KwaZulu-Natal has been hit by a wave of farm invasions in which thousands of squatters have stormed farms, stripping millions from the value of the province’s agricultural output. The invasions have destroyed at least 4E000 agricultural jobs in the Mangete area near Stanger on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, where most of the 63 […]

Caroline Sullivan CD OFTHEWEEK ‘Strong, independent, pagan woman” – that is how Sin,ad O’Connor describes herself on Daddy, I’m Fine, one of the most inspirational lyrics she has written for her first album in six years, Faith and Courage (Atlantic). And we can rightfully celebrate the return of the independent, exasperating, unique Ms O’Connor. Faith […]