Revenge has been declared against a writer who dares to express an opinion on the overwhelming ”snow-whiteness” of a festival. Quite bizarre, reckons Mike van Graan. Hopefully, this issue will not dwarf others of concern.
A fire that may have been caused by a short circuit igniting a thatched roof killed at least 70 children and injured more than 100 others in a southern Indian school on Friday. An earlier report quoted a senior police official as saying 77 bodies had been recovered. Most of those killed and injured were four to 10 years old.
The president of the transitional government in Burundi, Domitien Ndayizeye, and representatives of three of the country’s main political parties will be in South Africa this weekend to discuss power-sharing arrangements. In a parallel event, women of South Africa will be holding talks with Burundi women.
Levi Strauss & Co is planning to continue its expansion in South Africa, the group revealed on Friday, despite already being able to claim a 27% share of the local denim market. Levi’s South Africa manufactures its clothing locally and also exports garments to the United States.
A brave new collection of short stories squares up to the challenges of Africa’s current political climate, particularly Zimbabwe’s repressive curtailing of the freedom of speech. Sarah Kiguwa dips into <i>Writing Still: New Stories from Zimbabwe</i>.
In her debut novel, Barbara Adair imaginatively recreates a compelling portrayal of the lives of literary figures Paul and Jane Bowles. Shirley Kossick reviews "this fine book with the powerful story to tell".
"When viewing the photographs of Jo Ractliffe one realises that it is not only what the photographer captures within the lens that is of significance, but also that which lies at the edges or just beyond the image which is worthy of contemplation." Curator Warren Siebrits talks to photographer Jo Ractliffe about dogs, donkeys and the CCB.
For a British Foreign Office mandarin, it was unusually colourful language. Edward Clay, the British High Commissioner in Kenya, told his audience that ministers ”could hardly expect us not to care when their gluttony causes them to vomit all over our shoes”. The remarks have sparked a diplomatic tiff.
China is offering to pay couples a premium for producing baby girls to counter an alarming gender imbalance created by the country’s one-child population control policy. Last year, 117 boys were born for every 100 girls in China, meaning the country faces a socially destabilising shortage of more than 30-million women by 2020.
The United Kingdom on Thursday signalled a major rift with the United States over its Aids policies, publicly rejecting the Bush doctrine that sexual abstinence is the best way to stop the spread of the pandemic. The UK does not support the US over its reluctance to endorse the use of cheaper, generic drugs to fight the disease.