They tussled with each other even to the end. Through the extraordinary unfolding hours of Wednesday’s handover, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown seemed to be locked in the final spasm of their 13-year duel, each jockeying with the other for prominence. How would this day be cast — as Blair’s last, or Brown’s first?
Tony Blair is to make his first working visit to Ramallah on the West Bank in July as a special envoy of the quartet of Middle East peacemakers to discuss Palestinian state-building, it emerged last week after he was confirmed in the high-risk job amid scepticism about his chances of success.
The thought of South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Blade Nzimande as minister of finance sends shivers down my spine. Not because I fear a Red Fiscus (provided it stays in the black). What concerns me is the cavalier absence of thought and analysis that characterises critiques of the ruling party by the central leaders of the SACP and trade union federation Cosatu.
British police arrested a fifth person on Sunday after a fuel-filled jeep was rammed into Scotland’s busiest airport in what police said was a terrorist attack linked to failed car bombings in London. Also on Sunday, police carried out a controlled detonation of a suspicious vehicle left in the car park of a hospital near Glasgow.
Kimi Raikkonen led Ferrari to a one-two finish and back into the battle for this year’s Formula One world championship on Sunday when he won the French Grand Prix in emphatic style. The Italian team delivered their first one-two of the season and the first in 14 races since last year’s German Grand Prix.
Party leader and head of state Thabo Mbeki narrowly won the first round in the battle for the future of the African National Congress (ANC), but faces a bruising fight ahead as the divided party prepares to select new leaders. The ANC’s key policy conference this week recommended no changes to the way the party elects its leadership.
Britain will not yield to acts of ”evil”, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday after three botched attacks in two days in London and Glasgow. On Sunday, police searched several homes near Glasgow International Airport in connection with the suspected terrorist attack on Saturday on its main terminal and Friday’s foiled car-bomb plot in London.
Veteran wing John Daniels scored the match-winning try as Boland shocked neighbours Western Province (WP) 15-10 in their Currie Cup match at the Boland Stadium on Saturday. It was a remarkable reversal of fortunes from the previous week when WP beat the Lions 18-13 and Boland were annihilated 91-3 by the Cheetahs.
Morocco, which has slashed cannabis cultivation by nearly half over the past four years, hopes to eradicate the main remaining area of cultivation in the northern Rif mountains by opening up the region and introducing substitute crops. The eradication programme encourages farmers to switch to other crops.
Leaders of the African Union begin a three-day summit in Accra, Ghana, on Sunday focused on plans to forge a confederation of states that can help the world’s poorest continent exercise greater clout on the world stage. Police and soldiers lined the streets as the heads of state began arriving on Saturday.