The Beijing Olympics are a huge occasion for China. Ever since the opium wars, the country has experienced what it describes as a "century of humiliation". Extraordinarily, the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 was its first major foreign policy success since the early 19th century. The unrest in Tibet, then, is hardly unexpected.
Neither man has secured his party’s nomination, but Barack Obama and John McCain have begun to lay down the battle lines for a possible confrontation in November’s presidential election. McCain, all but certain to lead the Republican ticket, is starting to plot election strategy, aides say.
Violent protests in Tibet have emphasised the growing divide within the exiled community over how to win the propaganda war with China. The spiritual leader of the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama, abjures all violence and considers even hunger strikes and economic sanctions as illegitimate means of political protest.
South Africa’s financial services industry might be relatively unscathed by turmoil, but the flight of investors could bring a balance-of-payments crunch, writes Maya Fisher-French. This liquidity crisis has come at a critical time for the country, which is facing its own set of economic woes.
Marriage is an odd mixture of personal commitment and public show; of property rights and romance; of civic obligation and religious avowal. Despite religious homophobia, gay and lesbian people in South Africa have fought for their right to be married in the sight of God, writes Shaun de Waal.
On a drab Braamfontein street corner is a small store called Grayscale, specialising in graffiti paraphernalia and alternative streetwear. Gini Grindith, as he is known in the hip-hop community, mans the counter. A graffiti writer who has not led a religious life before, he has decided to become a Muslim.
”My old man is a soldier of Zion. On Sundays, when he is not out trying to eke out a living, he is immersed in the Zion Christian Church (ZCC); you can spot him in the streets of Orlando East kitted to the nines in his warrior outfit.” Sello S Alcock looks at the history and dress code of the ZCC.
A group of leading Southern Baptists has denounced the denomination’s stance on global warming as ”too timid”. Its cautious response to the environment is seen around the world as ”uncaring, reckless and ill-informed”, they say. Their statement has widened divisions about climate change within the American evangelical movement.
The Christian Motorcycle Association (CMA) is an organisation dedicated to spreading the word of Christ through motorcycling. ”We go where no one else goes,” says Stan Wilson, president for the Pietermaritzburg CMA branch. The CMA is not a club, but a ministry.
Do religion and sport mix? Some sports people evidently think so. Players who believe in God often show it openly — some saying a prayer on the field after scoring or missing a goal, others showing off T-shirts underneath their kit bearing religious messages.