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/ 20 September 2006
The diamond industry has begun a campaign to safeguard its lucrative Christmas trade from what it fears will be a blitz of negative publicity resulting from a forthcoming film about the trade in African ”conflict diamonds”. De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond company, plans to spend -million on publicity this autumn, in advance of the release in December of Blood Diamond.
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/ 20 September 2006
Shinzo Abe, a conservative advocate of a more muscular Japanese foreign policy, was overwhelmingly elected as ruling party leader on Wednesday, setting the stage for his election as prime minister next week. Abe, set to become Japan’s first prime minister born after World War II, has pledged to rewrite Japan’s pacifist Constitution.
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/ 20 September 2006
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Jacob Zuma’s supporters will be hoping that the corruption trial against the former deputy president is thrown out of court when Judge Herbert Msimang hands down his decision on Wednesday on whether to grant the state’s application for a postponement.
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/ 20 September 2006
Fifty years after Charlton Heston as Moses descended the mountain in Cecil B DeMille’s Ten Commandments, Hollywood made its most direct appeal to Christian audiences on Tuesday with the launch of a new brand dedicated to producing films on religious themes. FoxFaith, part of the home entertainment division of Rupert Murdoch’s movie studio, plans to produce as many as a dozen new films a year.
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/ 20 September 2006
United States President George Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed over Iran’s nuclear ambitions in addresses to the United Nations on Tuesday, but Washington agreed to allow more time for talks with Tehran. Bush accused Iran’s rulers of squandering their nation’s wealth to fund terrorists and nuclear arms research.
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/ 20 September 2006
An increasingly acrimonious stand-off between government and business seems likely after Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana’s ”name and shame” blunder this week. At least 10 JSE-listed companies, criticised by the minister for failing to adhere to employment equity legislation, have lodged sharp denials.
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/ 20 September 2006
Tim Hibbard wants you to see where he is. On his website, Hibbard uses GPS technology to plot his location on a map of Lawrence, Kansas, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A GPS phone in his car feeds information into a Google map, and a small icon represents Tim Hibbard, website architect and self-confessed geek.
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/ 20 September 2006
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called United States President George Bush ”the devil himself” and told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that the UN had become worthless. ”The devil himself is right in the house. And the devil came here yesterday [Tuesday]. Right here,” said Chavez, a leftist ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro who also called Bush a ”world dictator”.
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/ 19 September 2006
The Thai army seized power on Tuesday without firing a shot, dismissed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s government, revoked the Constitution and promised a swift return to democracy after political reforms. Armoured vehicles and soldiers took up position on many street corners, but life in most of Bangkok continued much as usual.
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/ 19 September 2006
Callous wealthy nations are indifferent to the plight of the poor as they pursue selfish policies that enrich the few at the expense of the many, South African President Thabo Mbeki told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. ”These billions of poor people are increasingly becoming impatient,” he said.