A small blackboard and a pointed archaeologist’s trowel lay on top of pauper’s grave number 5 910 in Mamelodi West cemetery where Looksmart Ngudle’s family hoped to find his remains. Chalked on the blackboard was ”Mam-07/001 (5910) 01-03-2007”, for the forensic anthropology team’s photographic record of the exhumation.
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe avoided contentious issues during his first public event as acting health minister on Friday. Opening the newly built Pretoria Academic Hospital, Radebe focused on programmes to improve hospital infrastructure around the country.
Thousands of Palestinians rallied in Gaza City in support of Islamic Jihad on Friday, setting fire to Israeli and United States flags as the radical Islamists vowed to make more attacks on the Jewish state. ”Talk about a ceasefire is premature because our priority must remain resistance,” Islamic Jihad leader Nafiz Azzam told the gathered masses.
The leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) in Khutsong denied claims on Friday by the Khutsong Anti-North West Forum that the party was divided about the incorporation of the town into the North West. ”As the ANC we are united in Merafong about the decision to support the government’s initiative,” said the party’s sub-regional secretary, Sanele Caiya.
South Africa, now in its first ”teenager” year, has to abide by the tried and tested values in the Constitution to weather the turbulent years ahead successfully, former president FW de Klerk said on Friday. Addressing a conference at Sun City, he said 2007 might well determine the future for the next 30 or 40 years.
A series of blasts hit the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Friday, witnesses said, a day after Ugandan peacekeepers started arriving in the country. Residents said they heard mortar bombs being fired in the direction of Mogadishu’s port.
At least 14 Iraqi police officers have gone missing and an al Qaeda-linked group on Friday showed pictures of 18 men it said had been kidnapped to avenge the alleged rape of a woman last month. The al Qaeda-linked group said in an internet statement it had kidnapped 18 men working for the Interior Ministry in Diyala province, north of Baghdad.
Playing against type is what keeps things interesting for Judi Dench — and her fans. Matt Wolf spoke to her.
We <b>review</b> some the latest DVDs on the shelves.
Two edited extracts from a catalogue for an upcoming retrospective look at the conflicted world of the late artist, writes Sherene Timol Seedat.