against Aids David Gough in Dar es Salaam Mashaka is the best-known truck driver in Tanzania, and his exploits are famous. He spends most of his time on the roads of East Africa, rarely sees his wife and has a girlfriend in every town. Mashaka became ill a few weeks ago and Tanzanians are holding […]
Adam Mars-Jones HEAVY WATER AND OTHER STORIES by Martin Amis (Jonathan Cape) Without the story State of England, this would be a dismaying volume to come from the champion British fiction writer of his generation. Unlike his tightly themed previous collection, Einstein’s Monsters, this one brings together early work (two stories from the Seventies, one […]
THE Angolan army claimed on Thursday that it has recaptured central parts of the country including Katchiungu and Chinguar from Unita rebels. Government troops also captured an artillery battery which had enabled the rebels to bombard the town of Malanje, the army said. Huambo province governor Paulo Kassoma said that the government offensive has enabled […]
THE United Nations Population Fund announced the appointment of Nigerian literary legend Chinua Achebe as its goodwill ambassador on Thursday. The appointment will see Achebe, currently professor of literature at New York’s Bard college, acting as a voice for the population fund on such issues as family planning, gender equity and reproductive health. Achebe, author […]
THE Zambian state has closed its case in the trial of 77 soldiers charged with treason over a coup attempt against President Frederick Chiluba in October 1997, defence lawyers said on Wednesday. “The state closed its case on Tuesday, and we are now trying to have some of the detainees released because some of them […]
SIERRA Leonean Finance Minister James Jonah said on Thursday said that Nigerian-led Ecomog troops are in control of all strategic points in the capital, Freetown, a day after rebels stormed the city. “All the major strategic points are fully under Ecomog control, including the Wilberforce barracks [Ecomog HQ],” Jonah said. “The rebels never made a […]
BUSINESS South Africa has been refused leave to appeal against dismissal of its earlier application to force the health minister to refer Medical Schemes Bill to the National Economic Development and Labour Council. The refusal of leave to appeal was made in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Thursday. The appeal related to […]
KAIZER Chiefs’ Franco-Yugoslav coach Paul Dolezar was held by police at Johannesburg international airport for an hour this week because of a visa bungle. Dolezar was released only after he had been identified by an official and paid a fine for not having a re-entry visa in his French passport. The coach slammed an official […]
ONE in three South African teenage girls are victims of sexual abuse, according to a study published on Thursday by the Community Information Empowerment and Transparency organisation. Of the victims, two out of three had never previously spoken of the abuse, the study of 1500 teenagers between 14 and 18 and from a cross-section of […]
THE Bank of England cut its base lending rate by 0,25 percentage points to 6,0% on Thursday, surprising most analysts who had expected rates to be hold steady. The cut was the fourth in as many months. The British rate stands at exactly twice the euro-zone 3% rate. The unexpected move boosted share prices on […]