motive Chris McGreal The long-suffering people of the Democratic Republic of Congo have little inclination to dwell on how the bombs that kill their families and destroy their homes are delivered. The hundreds who died last year in Makanza, Goma or Kisangani might have fallen victim to aircraft from an array of countries. After all, […]

Browsing THE ANATOMIST by Federico Andahazi (Anchor) History is the book world’s next big thing. An Argentinian psychotherapist journeys to woman’s nether regions to relate the discovery of the clitoris by a 16th-century Italian physician. Although it is historical bunkum, it is a jolly magical realist jape. The heresy that Mateo Colombo commits kindles the […]

INJURY has ruled Jonty Rhodes out of South Africa’s first match in the triangular one-day series on Friday. The hamstring problem which put Rhodes out of the fifth and final test against England at Centurion Park earlier this week will also keep the middle order batsman out of the game against Zimbabwe at the Wanderers […]

David Beresford Another Country Stephen Hawking discovered black holes while climbing from his wheelchair into bed which, as the great man pointed out in his much- celebrated book, A Brief History of Time, is a time-consuming process. His lead is obviously a worthy one to follow, disabled people often having much time on their hands […]

Doctors doing compulsory community service in rural hospitals are getting medical skills that would otherwise not have been possible, reports Khadija Magardie It’s nearly 7am on a rainy Monday at Tintswalo hospital in Acornhoek township, Mpumalanga, and despite the bad weather, the trickle of people queuing outside the doors to the outpatients unit is increasing […]

Annalee Newitz Body Language In a quiet San Francisco neighbourhood, surrounded by views of tree-covered hills, a quaint little B&B welcomes visitors from across the country. Guests can choose from four well-appointed rooms in this refurbished turn-of-the-century house, all personally decorated by Elizabeth, the proprietor. While they’re staying at Elizabeth’s B&B – called Differences – […]

STEVEN MANN, Cape Town | Friday 8.45am EXHAUSTED firefighters were breathing easier late on Thursday night, as the series of blazes which have devastated large areas of the city appeared to be under control. “It’s pretty quiet. Everybody is on standby,” said Ian Schnetler of the joint operations control centre. Fires were still burning at […]

As the Australian Open began in Melbourne this week, the home crowds expected 18- year-old Adelaide prodigy Lleyton Hewitt to be their next hero. Stephen Bierley reports Most European visitors arriving in Melbourne at this time of year do so in the pitch dark, jet-lagged and saddle sore, with winter still in their bones. They […]

Saturday: In the hot, dry and windy conditions various veld fires spring up in the greater Cape metropolitan area. Sunday: The fire starts in the mountain ranges around Hout Bay in the Silvermine area of the Cape Peninsula National Park. A historic house at East Fort above Chapman’s Peak Drive is destroyed. Staff from the […]

soil Richard Bowker If we are to have a history Then their consensus is It lives best in conversation, disagreement, And has its being in the history-makers Of the passing moment. – Cathal Lagan, Alcantara Memories, 1956, iii. Song for Miguel Lovedale Press has been around for so long it has almost sunk into the […]