<b>ON CIRCUIT:</b> <i>Awake</i>, <i>Bricklane</i>, <i>The Forbidden Kingdom</i> and the new Cameron Diaz film, <i>What Happens in Vegas</i>
They are still in the Absa Premiership title race by the skin of their teeth, but the 1-1 draw with Santos in a dour, uncompromising Cape derby at Athlone Stadium on Thursday night was not the result Ajax Cape Town were seeking. Now three points behind log leaders SuperSport United going into the final round of fixtures on Sunday, Ajax’s hopes are hanging by a thread.
At the top of their game are Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Not so lucky are Derby County, Birmingham and Reading. We present the English Premiership report cards for the four that return to the Champions League … and the ones that got the chop.
A further -billion of debt relief for the world’s poorest countries is needed despite a decade of progress, the Jubilee Debt Campaign warns on Friday. The group’s latest report calls on the G8, World Bank and International Monetary Fund to cancel -billionn of debt, which it says is ”unpayable” and an obstacle to the battle against global poverty.
United States President George Bush used a visit to Israel on Thursday to denounce Democratic party offers to negotiate with America’s enemies in the Middle East as comparable to appeasement of Hitler. Although Bush did not name any Democratic politician, the party’s presidential contender Barack Obama has offered to open negotiations with the Iranian leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The volume of black economic empowerment (BEE) transactions completed in South Africa over the past decade is valued at R200-billion, ratings agency Moody’s said on Friday. Releasing a special corporate finance report, Moody’s said BEE continues to be a key driver of corporate activity in the country.
The masks kept the dust from the firefighters’ faces, but did nothing to conceal the reek of death. On a mound at the heart of the town’s middle school, they were frantically digging out bodies. Sometimes they scooped at the debris with bare hands; sometimes, they summoned a winch to lift out large chunks of masonry.
The United Nations’s Department of Social and Economic Affairs predicts that world economic growth will fall steeply to 1,8% this year and 2,1% next year, down from 3,8% in 2007, according to a report entitled <i>World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008</i>.
One of the major questions facing global investors is: What will happen in the US economy? According to Paul Hansen, group director for retail investing at Stanlib, the United States Federal Reserve Bank has taken aggressive corrective action that should stimulate the economy by the second half of 2008.
While the introduction of new satellite broadcasters into the South African market is floundering, e.tv is less than a month away from launching its 24-hour news channel on the DStv bouquet. The new studios and newsrooms were bristling with activity this week when editor-in-chief Debora Patta took the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> on a walk-through.