Alex Dodd A wave of dissent has been rising this week in response to implications that Tim Modise’s appointment as SAfm’s prime time morning talk show host has been tokenistic. The news that Modise would be taking over from Will Bernard, host of Talk at Will, broke last week. At the time, even Bernard took […]
THE former Rwandan army major freed by a United Nations court on charges of murdering 10 Belgian peacekeepers during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide remained in custody on Friday as Belgium and Rwanda sought his re-arrest. The UN tribunal freed Bernard Ntuyahaga on Thursday when the prosecution dropped charges against him but Belgium wants him for trial […]
Gary Younge : BODY LANGUAGE Not for the first time the spirit of the United States Declaration of Independence and the rule of the American Constitution are at loggerheads. The founding fathers said everyone had the right to the “pursuit of happiness”. Now the state of Alabama has told women they have no “fundamental, constitutional […]
Ian Clayton South Africa’s poorest provinces have the most civil servants, it was revealed in Parliament this week. There are more civil servants in the Northern Province – 119 465 – than there are in Gauteng – 112 851 – although Gauteng has 2,4-million more residents. The Northern Province has 25 civil servants for every […]
A FOUR-DAY Durban conference on Malaria, which ended on Thursday, has concluded that the best technology for dealing with the disease is an insecticide soaked mosquito net. The malaria parasite has developed strains resistant to established drugs like Chloroquine and a vaccine may be decades away. In Tanzania, where 42-million nets have been distributed, there […]
SEVENTY people drowned this week after their boat sank in a raging storm off the southern coast of Sierra Leone, a national boating association said on Friday. Two men and one woman survived the ordeal, an association official said. The passengers were mainly traders transporting essential commodities to Bo and Kenema, two towns in war-torn […]
Andrew Worsdale picks his Oscar winners – and those the academy is likely to choose The race for the golden statuette is very interesting this year: more independently financed films than ever before and a foreign film nominated both as best picture and best foreign film – one of only three times. Roberto Benigni’s Life […]
Ferial Haffajee : TAKING STOCK >From the Top of Africa we look down on one of the continent’s largest cities. Johannesburg. At the top of the Carlton Centre (now called the Top of Africa), the city looks like a mini-land. Cars rush about on highways that criss-cross the city linking Sandton in the north with […]
AT least 40 people were killed and 70 were wounded in a battle early on Friday in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, between militiamen of warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow and gunmen loyal to Mogadishu Governor Hussein Ali Ahmed. The fighting has been between Yalahow’s Da’ud militiamen, supporting the governor — all belonging to the larger Abgal […]
Mail & Guardian reporter The future of the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) occult-related crime unit hangs in the balance. Its supporters say senior police officers at national headquarters are blocking attempts by the unit to investigate satanic-related crimes and want to disband it. This is despite mounting concerns that there will be an increase […]