Pope John Paul is to remove one of the Orthodox church’s most revered icons from his private chapel and dispatch it to Moscow in an attempt to improve the Vatican’s tense relations with the Russian Orthodox hierarchy. The Madonna of Kazan has been a bone of contention between the two branches of Christianity.
President Hosni Mubarak has raised hopes that Egypt is embarking on reform at last with the appointment of a modernising technocrat as prime minister over the weekend following the mass resignation of the Cabinet. The shake-up comes ahead of speculation as to whether Mubarak, who is 76, will seek a fifth six-year term.
The United States government came under scathing attack from senior members of the medical establishment on Sunday for blocking scientists from attending an international Aids conference that opened in Bangkok. The biennial conference bears huge significance for those involved in the fight against HIV/Aids.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, said on Sunday that the World Court’s ruling against his country’s vast barrier through the West Bank encourages terrorists, shortly after a bomb at a Tel Aviv bus stop killed a young woman. Sharon said his government "totally rejects" Friday’s non-binding ruling by the International Court of Justice.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118506">Court declares Israel barrier illegal</a>
I’m not an expert on sport. But being locked up in a foreign hotel room often makes you feel like you are. Sport, sport, sport, you realise, is all you are about to be served — unless you feel like following another aimless coming-of-age film on the movie channel, or submitting your soul to the suicidal power of various gospel choirs dotted around the southern hemisphere.
"If you see a set of bright, shining lights at night, it’s not a vehicle but a giraffe that got stuck in a pothole in the middle of the road. So, watch out," Zambians used to joke about the state of their roads a few years ago. Zambia, however, is too poor to shoulder the burden of repairing their roads alone. For now then, the responsibility of doing repairs is falling on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad).
In November 2003 the Cabinet approved a national plan for HIV/ Aids prevention, care and treatment. The plan estimated that 53 000 people would be placed on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment by the end of March this year. Eight months on, fewer than 10 000 people with HIV/Aids are receiving anti-retrovirals through the public health system.
Trade union and management negotiators have deadlocked in two of South Africa’s critical industrial sectors as they grapple with the country’s shift into an era of single-digit inflation. "This is a huge paradigm change that South Africa has to move towards — an era of low inflation," said Michael Keenan, market analyst at Econometrix Treasury Management.
Paddlers taking part in the isuzu Berg River Canoe marathon face a potentially gruelling time as water levels are said to be ”bitterly low”. The usually reliable Cape weather has proved unkind for the second year running, failing to provide enough rainfall ahead of Wednesday morning’s scheduled start.
Sasol will become the new sponsor of Springbok rugby on completion of the Tri-Nations tournament. The sponsorship, which includes the Springbok Sevens, South African under-21 and South African ”A” teams, will kick in for the end-of-year tour to the United Kingdom, Ireland and Argentina.