The impoverished African kingdom of Lesotho has declared an official food crisis after bad harvests left more than 400 000 people in need of food aid, a United Nations agency said. Close to 328 000 tonnes of cereals are now needed to feed hungry people in the country.
<i>Mail & Guardian</i> writers look at the best of the real-life dramas on show at this year’s Encounters South African Documentary Festival.
An Indian television channel is looking out for good singers in the one place that has escaped the prying eyes of reality TV — the bathroom. Bathroom Singer, a new singing contest on the Filmy entertainment channel, will zero in on an untrained performer who’s good at singing in the shower.
The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) on Thursday recommitted itself to working for democracy throughout Africa. On the anniversary of the Dakar conference, the organisation is celebrating 20 years of democracy-building by affirming its commitment to work not only in South Africa, but in other parts of Africa.
The JSE was slightly higher at noon on Thursday lifted by heavyweight miners with mergers and acquisitions news in focus after global resource giant Rio Tinto offered to buy Alcan. At 12.02pm, the all-share index was up 0,17%. Resources gained 0,41% and the gold-mining index gained by the same margin.
A powerful typhoon headed north towards Japan on Thursday, threatening to rake the southern islands of Okinawa and the country’s main islands with torrential rain and high winds. Typhoon Man-yi was 600km south of the Okinawan city of Naha at 1pm (4am GMT) and moving north north-west at 25km/h.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to authorise up to 26 000 troops and police for Darfur but implementation will take months providing the world body finds enough personnel and Sudan cooperates. On Wednesday, Britain, France and Ghana circulated a draft resolution for a joint African Union-UN force.
The Rugby World Cup’s dominance of the international calendar has turned Saturday’s Tri-Nations Test between New Zealand and South Africa in Christchurch into little more than a glorified warm-up match. South Africa have fielded a weakened team for the meeting between two of the sport’s fiercest rivals, while New Zealand made seven changes.
Democratic Alliance leader and Cape Town mayor Helen Zille was named Newsmaker of the Year for 2006 by the National Press Club in Pretoria on Wednesday. The runner-up was Kabelo Thibedi, who held hostage a Department of Home Affairs official in a desperate attempt to obtain his identity document.
The death of actor Bill Flynn on Wednesday will leave a huge hole in the drama world, his friend of 40 years and fellow actor Paul Slabolepszy said. ”As a creative artist, Bill was one of the best in the world,” said Slabolepszy, who had once been a student with Flynn at the University of Cape Town. ”This is such a shock.”