A spike in violent crime and the renewed international focus on crime in South Africa ahead of the 2010 Football World Cup has sparked a flurry of activity by the country’s law and order authorities. Insurance experts believe an additional possible factor in the crime rise was the 11-week strike by security guards.

A great deal of concern and angst has arisen following a decision, made after a year of intensive brow-knitting by the Commission for Gender Equality. This august body has decided that male homosexual-only guesthouses are not only quite okay, but Constitution-friendly as well.

Arab foreign ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the latest deadly escalation between Israel and Lebanon and the Palestinians. The meeting "will examine the serious situation in Lebanon and in Palestine, as well as the aggressions and threats made by Israel against them," the pan-Arab body said in a statement.

Africa. South Africa. Nigeria. Darfur. Swaziland. Côte d’Ivoire. These are not places we can leave behind. We live there. Bono’s great, but he is your wake-up call, not ours. Africa is too big for soundbites and too complex for generalisations. Imagine that Europe should be thus covered: "The Hopeless Continent. Its economic heart [Germany] is broken; the mafia is threatening a fragile new government [Italy]".

With two weeks to go before their first democratic elections in more than four decades, it would be abnormal for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo not to be very, very nervous. Indeed, the many supporters of the African giant — both on the continent and beyond — are probably nervous enough for the 60-million Congolese.

Deadlines for signing peace agreements have come and gone, in Burundi and Darfur — two of Africa’s most vexed trouble spots — illustrating that pressure tactics are not always the answer. Arm-twisting might force warring parties to the negotiating table — and even get them to sign agreements.