Peter Bradshaw pays tribute to the late Ingmar Bergman.
One of the most notoriously homophobic figures in reggae and dancehall music has agreed to stop singing violently anti-gay lyrics, writes Alexandra Topping.
South African central bank chief Tito Mboweni warned on Friday inflationary pressures were ”more worrying”, hinting interest rates may have to rise again in Africa’s biggest economy. The Reserve Bank governor told Parliament’s finance committee that rates were the only way to rein in inflation.
The once secret organisation that led South Africa’s white Afrikaner minority out of the political and economic doldrums into decades of oppressive rule is battling to find a niche for itself. Following its pursuit of exclusive white interests, the Afrikanerbond is finding it hard to justify its past or find a foothold in the present.
Veteran journalist Joe Thloloe has been appointed the new press ombudsman. The announcement was made in Johannesburg on Friday at the first meeting of the Press Council, set up to administer the office of the ombudsman and appeal panel. Thloloe is a former editor-in-chief of the South African Broadcasting Corporation television news.
Chinese police have arrested hundreds of people in western China after residents there called for the return of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, reports Friday. Soldiers and police were dispatched to Lithang after locals gathered on Wednesday to celebrate a traditional horse festival.
Russia symbolically staked its claim to billions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves in the Arctic Ocean on Thursday as two mini-submarines reached the sea bed more than four kilometres beneath the North Pole. The two craft planted a one metre-high titanium Russian flag on the underwater Lomonosov ridge.
Holden Roberto, one of the fathers of Angolan independence, has died of cardiac arrest at the age of 84, the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) announced on August 3. Roberto formed the FNLA in the 1960’s as one of several nationalist movements pressing for an end to Portuguese colonial rule.
Underlying inflation pressures in South Africa’s economy, even after stripping out higher food and fuel costs, are strongly on the upside, central bank Governor Tito Mboweni said on Thursday. He also warned that if proposals for a sharp increase in electricity tariffs are approved, inflation could be pushed even higher.
British businesses are losing more than £50-million a year because of employees leaving work early on Friday, according to a survey published on Friday. The top excuses for starting the weekend early are a long lunch, doctor’s appointment and an out-of-office meeting near to home.