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/ 22 November 2007
A New Zealand father has been convicted of assault for smacking his eight-year-old son on the bottom in what is believed to be the first case under a controversial new law. "One time, maybe you could have got away with this, but you can’t do that now," Judge Anthony Walsh told the 33-year-old man on Wednesday.
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/ 22 November 2007
One way of looking at the alarming chasm that has opened up between South Africa’s black and white advocates is that Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe is entirely to blame. If he had stepped down quietly over the payments he received from Oasis Asset Management, the argument goes, members of the Bar in Johannesburg and Cape Town would not be at one another’s throats.
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/ 21 November 2007
There’s good cause for why Rapport editor Tim du Plessis is getting flak for firing Deon Maas — a columnist whose call to tolerate satanism outraged some readers. The paper has about 300Â 000 buyers, but Du Plessis’s excessive reaction was in response to a number of boycott threats and, according to his paper, 450 duplicated letters of protest and 629 SMSs.
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/ 21 November 2007
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) will appear in the Constitutional Court on Thursday in the case of Independent Newspapers versus the minister of intelligence. The FXI said on Wednesday it would argue that Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils did not follow proper procedure when trying to withhold certain documents from the public.
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/ 21 November 2007
President Thabo Mbeki’s announcement on Wednesday of a ”window of opportunity” for people convicted of alleged political offences before June 16 1999 has been warmly welcomed by most political parties. Pan Africanist Congress leader Motsoko Pheko hailed Mbeki’s announcement as an act of courage against odds.
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/ 21 November 2007
A masterpiece by a Mexican artist that was found in the trash by a woman who knew little about modern art has been sold for more than -million. The painting Tres Personajes, by Rufino Tamayo, was discovered in 2003 by Elizabeth Gibson, who spotted it on her morning walk on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
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/ 21 November 2007
Members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), who downed tools at a 2010 World Cup soccer stadium in Mpumalanga, were back at work on Wednesday afternoon. This comes after construction workers at the Nelspruit 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium went on strike over wages and bonuses on Wednesday morning.
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/ 21 November 2007
A police officer was killed and eight others seriously injured in a South African Air Force helicopter crash in the Free State on Wednesday, the military said. Seven other people suffered minor injuries. The Oryx helicopter was carrying 19 people when it crashed at about 11.40am near the Lesotho border.
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/ 21 November 2007
Zimbabwe will soon issue new bank notes, for the second time in as many years, to try to control rampant inflation and curb black-market trade, central bank Governor Gideon Gono said on Wednesday. The Southern African country is in the grips of a severe economic crisis and battling the highest annual inflation rate in the world, at nearly 8 000%.
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/ 21 November 2007
The leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition said on Wednesday that talks with his government over electoral reform have made progress, but added that ensuring implementation will be crucial. He also said the Movement for Democratic Change might shun next year’s election unless it is sure President Robert Mugabe will not rig it.