AN outbreak of Lassa fever in eastern Sierra Leone has killed at least 80 people, while about 100 more are in an extremely serious condition in Segbwema Town, a doctor said. Dr Ibrahim Turay said: “The outbreak has been prevalent for some 10 months now since we took over Segbwema,” 255km east of Freetown. He […]

Channel vision Now that the recent surfeit of rugby is behind us, perhaps it is time to reflect on the surfeit of television advertising that accompanied it. And surfeit, overabundance, glut it most certainly was. If nothing else the coverage of the Rugby World Cup once again emphasised the urgent necessity for a strict rewriting […]

Will a virtual currency, transferred over the Internet, make hard cash redundant? Charlotte Denny investigates He is the darling of Wall Street, credited with engineering America’s longest post-war economic expansion. But the man who holds the future of the world economy in his hands, Alan Greenspan, the head of the United States Federal Reserve, is […]

South African second-hand traders are cleaning up their act, writes Rowan Callahan There are many similarities between the current second-hand goods market and the used-car market of old. A few years ago there were thousands of small used-car dealers all over the place offering “low mileage, one-owner bargains” out of dingy premises. What people got […]

Ivor Powell and Howard Barrell New light could be thrown on the assassination of Zambian opposition politician Major Wezi Kaunda if foreign diplomats accede to the dramatic courtroom request of one of two men arrested in connection with the murder. On Wednesday the suspects, speaking from the dock in preliminary hearings, called on embassy officials […]

White South African music is burgeoning, with more releases than ever before. Our critics listen to a host of recent CDs The Buckfever Underground: Jou Medemens Is Dood (Janus) A really clever concept which unfortunately comes off sounding pretentious as hell. Basically what you get here are six sparsely arranged acoustic guitar pieces with some […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Friday 12.45pm THE Department of Finance said on Friday that inland revenue and customs and excise receipts of R17,51-billion were collected in October, which was 1,2% less than the same month last year. The ministry said in its monthly report on the progress of the budget that total revenue in the […]

aspirations Dr Eddy Maloka CROSSFIRE South Africa’s geopolitical position within the region and xenophobia were raised sharply in articles that have appeared in the Mail & Guardian recently. These critical issues are raised against the background of our country’s call for the “African renaissance” which has failed to bring on board the old debate about […]

Untiring, unrepentant and unscathed, ‘Teflon Don’ is boxing on, writes Donald McRae ‘See you in Paris, baby,” Don King had promised as the diamond-studded crucifix swung gently from his massive neck. And so, big Don being a man of his word, it came to pass. A day later we walked through Paris together. His cross […]

Mail & Guardian reporters The three SABC executives named in a report alleging commissioning irregularities are: the SABC’s head of television, Molefe Mokgatle; the head of corporate communications, Thaninga Shope; and the control account finance manager, Prince Phaweni. The report, compiled by the auditing company KPMG, has recommended that the three executives be suspended pending […]