South Africa’s liquid fuels industry could face serious reform and possible windfall taxes, according to a discussion document released this week by a Treasury task team. The report, which suggests that Sasol generates "supernormal profits" at the consumer’s expense, will be followed by a public hearing before recommendations are forwarded to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
Government critics who expected the African peer review team to ride into town last week cracking the whip on the South African government, blaming it for the high crime levels and criticising the unacceptably high unemployment figures were probably disappointed.
Clutching an assault rifle, Ekai Lokipeng shows off six marks on his chest, the result of ritual scarification ceremonies to indicate the number of people he has killed. The scars symbolise the pride that Kenyan pastoralists along the country’s volatile border with Ethiopia take in protecting their herds from rustlers, and have made the 30-year-old Turkana tribe member a hero in his community.
Many times in the past the Israeli peace movement criticised Israeli military operations. Not this time. This time the battle is not over Israeli expansion and colonisation. There is no Lebanese territory occupied by Israel. There are no territorial claims from either side.
Polish farmworkers who travelled to southern Italy were kept in a ”concentration camp” where they were fed on little more than bread and water, expected to labour in the fields for up to 15 hours a day and beaten by guards who called themselves kapos, it was revealed recently.
Cowering from the bombs in the Tyre Rest House Resort, the coastal city’s smartest hotel, along with 450 others, the Ahmad family had long since run out of food. Even if they made it to Beirut, the family of nine had no idea how they would pay for their flights to Denmark, where they have family and citizenship.
Brian Whitaker wonders whether media stars such as David Frost and Rageh Omaar will give the world the truth it seeks.
Now a red-carpet TV host, former fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi is still breaking the rules, writes Emma Forrest.
Barbie and her waning group of followers are hoping to be entranced by the new rougher Ken. Robin Shulman reports
Bridget Baker’s quirky takes on life and art are refreshingly free of the PC and guilt-edged imagery produced by many of her peers, writes Hazel Friedman.