ABOUT 415 people killed in fighting last month between government forces and militiamen were buried in southern districts of Congo capital, Brazzaville, city hall said on Thursday. “The operation of collecting bodies is almost finished, although there are probably a few left inside homes,” city hall official Senga Petie said. Residents of the Bacongo and […]

A columnist in the American journal Business Week pointed out in the New Year that the single most important improvement in the quality of life of Americans during the past two decades has been the fall in crime. This, he said, had punctured the views – commonly trotted out in South Africa – that poverty […]

Julian Borger Basketball `Please say it ain’t so”, pleaded the headline in the Chicago Tribune. But the moment the city prayed would never come has arrived. This week Michael Jordan, arguably the best basketball player of all time, retired. The 1,95m gravity-defying Chicago Bulls phenomenon, who seemed to float high above opposing defences, his tongue […]

Friday night: Khalo Matabane `Where should we go?” This became the most popular Friday- night question of 1998. Every Friday we moved from sushi bars to kwaito bashes, lefty parties to restaurants and clubs. Driving back home, we complained about the lack of entertainment for young black professionals to such an extent that Tumi decided […]

Mungo Soggot A Soweto man has received South Africa’s largest personal injury award – R17- million – in compensation for the paralysis and dismemberment he sustained after being shot wrongfully by the police. The Johannesburg High Court granted the award with costs in December – more than 10 years after the man was shot. As […]

A STONE-age site about 10000 years old has been discovered in Midrand near the Jukskei Valley, the Midrand Metropolitan Local Council announced on Thursday. The discovery was made with the help of Professor Revil Mason, retired head of the archaeology research unit at the Witwatersrand University. “This is the first time ever that a constructed […]

On the second Saturday of each month, starting on February 13, Shirley Kossick -emeritus professor of English literature, Unisa, and Mail & Guardian book critic – will give a series of talks on fiction and biography at the Natal Labia Museum in Muizenberg, Cape Town. On February 13, the subject is Canadian fiction; on March […]

Matthew Krouse Down the tube Anyone with a television set, and an interest in the arts, knows that on Sunday night it’s time to commune with high culture. Looking back at the progression of arts programmes over the last decade, from Collage to Arts Unlimited, to Artworks, aRt and Flux, one recalls mostly long-winded, dour […]

Joan Smith:FIRST PERSON Bob Dole is too old to run for president in the year 2000, but his wife is not, Elizabeth Dole has stepped down as president of the American Red Cross, encouraging speculation that she intends to declare herself as a contender for the White House. Elizabeth Dole, who was transport secretary in […]

SOUTH African boxer Soon Botes is angry after being notified from Germany that WBU super middleweight champion Norbert Noriega has refused to meet him in a return bout. Botes lost a disputed decision against the German with the vacant WBU title at stake in Dortmund last year, and was assured by WBU president Jon Robinson […]