Bloomsbury assured the market last week that the magic has not deserted it in the post-Harry Potter era and it is banking on a strong line-up of books in the year ahead. Reporting 2007 results, the publisher said it not only benefited from big sales for the final boy-wizard instalment, but also from the success of Khaled Hosseini’s <i>The Kite Runner</i> and <i>A Thousand Splendid Suns</i> and other books.
Warren Foster looks at music videos that objectify women and asks what the point of it all is, since it is not only reserved to male artists’ videos only anymore.
Britain is seeking to change the rules of European renewable energy targets to make it easier for the United Kingdom to fulfil its commitments. Only 3% of the UK’s power comes from renewable energy, but ministers have agreed to make this 15% within 12 years. To help reach this goal, the government has started lobbying the European Union over the way the target is calculated.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai met South African ruling party leader Jacob Zuma on Monday after appealing for help from outside powers to end the 28-year rule of President Robert Mugabe. A spokesperson for the African National Congress said Tsvangirai had met Zuma in Johannesburg but gave no details.
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White-owned farms are again under siege in Zimbabwe, but while critics deride Robert Mugabe’s land-reform programme as shambolic and economically fatal, it could yet help him cling to power. President Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF is playing on the emotive issues of land and race to try to discredit rival Morgan Tsvangirai ahead of a possible run-off.
A man has been arrested for allegedly trying to set fire to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) building in Auckland Park on Monday, the public broadcaster said. It is alleged that the suspect poured petrol around the entrance of the building and tried to set it alight. He was immediately arrested, the report said.
Princess Diana and her lover, Dodi al-Fayed, were unlawfully killed by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur Henri Paul and paparazzi photographers pursuing their limousine into a Paris road tunnel in 1997. The jury, which had spent almost six months listening to more than 250 witnesses from around the world, reached their majority decision on Monday.
South Africa paceman Dale Steyn has risen to joint number one in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for Test bowlers, alongside Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Steyn (24) joined Muralitharan after claiming eight to bowl the tourists to an innings victory in the second Test against India on Saturday for a 1-0 series lead, the ICC said on Monday.
Eskom has been given permission to have ”commercially sensitive” information on its proposed 53% tariff increase withheld from publication, the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) said on Monday. ”It is information that Eskom feels is commercially sensitive — just a paragraph here and there,” said Nersa spokesperson Charles Hlebela.