The United States-led ”war on terror” has opened a Pandora’s box of unintended consequences and is veering dangerously close to Islamophobia, South Africa’s intelligence minister said on Thursday. Ronnie Kasrils said South Africa believed that the ”terrorist” label should not be indiscriminately or incorrectly applied.
Allan Donald, the South Africa pace bowling great, has been given a role with England’s coaching staff, it was announced on Friday. In a statement, the England and Wales Cricket Board said Donald would assist England’s fast bowlers on a short-term basis from the lead-in to the third Test at Old Trafford through to the end of the one-day series against the West Indies in July.
At the top of a winding staircase, a larger-than-life photograph of Jim Morrison, shirtless, seductive and forever young, looms as the song Back Door Man pulses through the room. Forty years after making their recording debut, The Doors are being honoured with a comprehensive exhibit at the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
Web surfers are flocking to an internet spoof website that claims to be the home page of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. The Bob.co.za site, with categories such as ”My Love”, ”My Leaders” and ”My Self”, has had more than 307 000 visitors since it was registered in South Africa in 2002.
Springbok captain John Smit said on Friday the fact that so little is known of the touring England team makes them dangerous. ”We do not know much about this team,” Smit said, adding that all the talk had been about the Springboks lately. ”When there is something you’re not sure about, an unknown quantity, you have to prepare twice as hard for anything.”
Israel carried out an air strike near the Gaza residence of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Friday, but insisted he was not the target. ”Haniyeh’s home definitely was not the target,” an Israeli army spokesperson said. Ahmed Youssef, Haniyeh’s political adviser, said the bombardment was meant to send ”a message of threats” to the prime minister.
Eskom is hoping no load-shedding will be needed over the weekend as power consumption decreases with factories off-line. Spokesperson Carin de Villiers said on Friday that power consumption had broken records twice in the past week. The latest record was Thursday’s peak of 34Â 361MW — 523MW higher than the previous record.
Nigerian oil unions pulled many staff from crude export terminals on the second day of a strike on Friday, but shipments from the world’s eighth largest exporter were uninterrupted, authorities said. The strike by union members in the national oil company and the Department of Petroleum Resources, the industry regulator, began on Thursday.
”Your point is well made and well taken, comrade, but this committee is not convinced that petitioning the World Wildlife Foundation to rename the sperm whale is an appropriate way to launch comrade Tokyo’s candidacy. We have to consider what the voters want, and the voters want balloons and ANC-themed T-shirts. Batho Pele, that sort of thing.”
Granting Telkom another four years to finalise the installation of the ADSL system was hampering telecommunications reform in the country, the Telecoms Action Group (Tag) said on Friday. This follows an announcement by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri that she was giving Telkom until November 2011 to unbundle the local loop.