No image available
/ 4 September 2006
Classrooms with teachers, clinics with nurses, running taps and working toilets — these basic public services are key to ending global poverty, according to a report by Oxfam and WaterAid. And they say only governments are in a position to deliver on the scale needed to transform the lives of millions living in poverty.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
The banks are entering a new price war, one that is very good news for savers and people who rely on interest to meet their monthly bills. As banks come under pressure to find new sources of cash to fund their lending, so they are increasing their deposit interest rates to attract new clients and grow market share.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer has five times as many South African patients using its anti-retroviral (ARV) products as it had just more than a year ago. Sixteen months ago Aspen Pharmacare won a 58% stake of the government’s ARV tender, worth R1,2-billion in turnover to Aspen over three years.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
Philosophers, scientists and other intellectuals close to Pope Benedict will gather outside Rome this month for intensive discussions that could herald a fundamental shift in the Vatican’s view of evolution. There have been signs that the pope is considering aligning his church more closely with the theory of ”intelligent design”.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
So, Professor, spill the beans — was Brad Pitt suspicious when you flew off for a week with Angelina Jolie? How often does Madonna call you? And is it true that you did psychotropic drugs with Bono? These and other tempting questions run through my mind as I wait for Professor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, to fill his bowl of muesli at a Beijing hotel buffet, writes Jonathan Watts.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
‘It should be a law! All Muslim girls should have their vaginas inspected at school when they turn seven! That way, we will know, we can find out if the circumcision has taken place and we can go after their parents.” The Dutch woman gestured wildly, punctuating every sentence with a glare at the audience and a hand slamming on the desk in front of her.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
The last time the Zambian government built a secondary school was in 1979. So the community of Kachembe took charge. The women fetched sand from the river 2km away and carried it, bucket by bucket, on their heads to the site they had chosen for their school. The men dug the foundations and made the bricks. When it was done, the small room became the place where their children study.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
It takes a special sense of irony to appreciate the Hobson Hall Women’s Day challenge. This annual celebration brings the houses in our university hall together in friendly competition over all things sporty. The rifle challenge is my particular favourite. In this event a row of inflated condoms is strung in a line, where they blow picturesquely in the breeze.
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
The child’s skin is taut against her minute frame, unable to hold the weight of her own head
No image available
/ 4 September 2006
Early last month, thousands of demonstrators attended a rally in Berlin to show support for Israel. Germany’s Jewish community was there, of course. There were also members of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat party. But as well as politicians in suits, another group had turned up to express their enthusiasm for Israel’s attack on Lebanon — the Anti-Germans.