African song and dance welcomed delegates on Monday to the 60th World Newspaper Congress and 14th World Editors Forum in Cape Town – the first time the events have graced Africa, as keynote speaker President Thabo Mbeki pointed out to journalists, editors and media practitioners gathered from 109 countries.
Double defending champion Rafael Nadal crushed the spirited resistance of Lleyton Hewitt on Monday to move into the French Open quarterfinals and a clash with close friend and 1998 champion Carlos Moya. Nadal, bidding to emulate Bjorn Borg by winning three Roland Garros titles in a row, defeated Australian Hewitt 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) in a fourth-round tie.
Public-service unions rejected a revised offer of a 6,5% pay rise by the government on Monday, saying it was nothing new. Union leaders said at the end of pay talks in Centurion on Monday night they would come up with a counter proposal. It was not immediately clear when negotiations would resume.
South African President Thabo on Monday noted a worrying trend of jailing journalists in Africa as leaders try to balance sometimes competing interests of press and governments, especially in young democracies. While acknowledging difficulties journalists working in Africa face, Mbeki also urged them to report accurately on the region.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe risks the same fate as former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is on trial for crimes against humanity, a British Foreign Office minister said on Monday. Taylor is the first ousted African president to stand trial at a United Nations-backed court for war crimes.
Newspapers around the world saw a 2,3% rise in circulation in 2006 and a growth in advertising revenue despite the rise of digital media, a report by a global industry body said Monday. Sales have increased 9,5% in the last five years, the World Association of Newspapers (Wan) said in a report, while advertising revenues in paid dailies rose 3,8% last year and 15,8% since 2002.
About 180 000 people have been evacuated from their homes in China’s south-west following a powerful earthquake that killed at least three and injured 313, the official Xinhua agency said on Monday. The tremor shook the tea-producing city of Pu’er early on Sunday morning, bringing down over 90 000 rooms and crushing a four-year-old boy.
South African Airways (SAA) is to undergo comprehensive restructuring aimed at a R2,7-billion improvement in profitability within 12 to 18 months. ”That [R2,7-billion] is the improvement we need to put this airline into a profitable situation,” CEO Khaya Ngqula told reporters in Johannesburg.
The use of a teenager in the murder of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton was ”exploitation, and the worst form of child labour”, it was contended in papers before the Cape High Court on Monday. The papers were filed by Susannah Cowen, on behalf of the Community Law Centre of the University of Cape Town, which took up the plight of Bonginkosi Sigenu.
They may be united in their demand for better pay, but when it comes to the national anthem, public-service unions are not necessarily all singing from the same song sheet. This emerged on Monday at a mass report-back meeting in Cape Town called by unions participating in the public-sector strike.