In a first for Egypt, last week saw a number of women appointed judges by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the country’s highest legal authority. Although a number of prominent judicial figures have spoken out against the decision, rights activists and SJC officials praised the move.
Last year, the Human Sciences Research Council released a report stating that in three out of five child rapes, the mother is aware of the abuse. Every day an estimated 150 children are raped in South Africa — about 55 000 reported rapes a year. The Medical Research Council has found that this figure represents only one out of nine actual rapes.
Two and a half decades of research have produced increasing returns in combating the HIV/Aids epidemic, with dramatic improvements in treatment and greater awareness of potential ways to stop the spread of the virus. What has not kept pace is the ability to get these medical interventions to people in need. No matter how powerful a drug or a procedure is, it is useless to those who cannot access it.
The first round of the French presidential election entered its final phase, as attacks turned personal and record numbers of voters remained undecided. As official campaigning began, a poll showed 42% of voters could still change their mind before the election on April 22, which will select two candidates to go head to head in a final vote on May 6.
After four years as a member of St Petersburg’s legislative assembly, Sergei Gulyaev is packing up. Boxes, files and a 2007 calendar showing him in a moody leather jacket — all were being carted out of his office. Last month Gulyaev failed to win re-election to the city’s assembly. The vote, in 14 regions across Russia, was a rehearsal for December’s parliamentary elections.
In May last year the South African National Aids Council mandated the department of health to begin drafting a new five-year National Strategic Plan for HIV/Aids, following the end of the term of the previous five-year plan. What began as a fairly low-key process in the bureaucratic realm, however, was rapidly catapulted into the limelight, writes Helen Schneider.
Working with people dying of HIV/Aids is not a pleasant task, but every day thousands of carers around South Africa travel from home to home, offering help and compassion to people in their final hours. “Volunteers are the silent heroes in this fight,” says palliative paediatrician Michelle Meiring, who works at the new Soweto hospice.
Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo said on Monday ”the war is over” between his government and northern rebels, as the two sides moved to dismantle a military buffer zone and reunite the war-divided country. ”The country is being reunited; the war is over, dear friends and compatriots, the war is over,” Gbagbo said.
When you took out your life-insurance policy or signed up for disability or disease cover, did you opt for a premium that could change at any time, a premium that is guaranteed for a certain number of years or a premium that carries a compulsory increase? Gerhard Joubert, CEO of the Life Offices’ Association, has a warning to share.
Ajax Cape Town goalkeeper Hans Vonk, inspired perhaps by his Dutch ancestory and how another Hans had saved the town of Haarlem from the raging waters of the North Sea by sticking his finger into a leaking dike, re-enacted his own version of the legend at the mud-spattered Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on Sunday by thwarting wave upon wave of Bloemfontein Celtic attacks.