Andean glaciers are melting so fast that some are expected to disappear within 15-25 years, denying major cities water supplies and putting populations and food supplies at risk in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia. The Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia, the source of fresh water for the cities of La Paz and El Alto, is expected to completely melt within 15 years.
For more than 120 years Alexander Pushkin has seen off every threat. Joseph Stalin deported him (if only 100m), McDonald’s first outlet in Russia opened nearby and Chechen militants allegedly detonated a bomb not far from his left foot. All along, the statue of Russia’s most famous poet preserved a bubble of calm in the centre of Moscow. Now, finally, it seems the killer blow is at hand.
South Africa will not take up the role of mediator in the peace process between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. Pahad said South Africa received a letter from the LRA last week asking it to mediate the process.
Formula One chiefs have launched a probe into how breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat managed to officiate at the prize-giving ceremony for the Turkish Grand Prix. The race in Istanbul on Sunday, won by Brazilian Felipe Massa in a Ferrari, was watched by an estimated viewing audience of 2,5-billion worldwide.
One of South Africa’s colourful boxing sons, Dingaan Thobela, will attempt to defy Father Time when he makes a boxing come back on October 27. Thobela, also known as the Rose of Soweto, will be vying to relaunch his career at the expense of Soon Botes, whom he will challenge for the South African light-heavyweight crown in Johannesburg.
Ronaldo will reportedly stay with Real Madrid this season although the club aims to offload several of his teammates before the imminent transfer deadline. Ronaldo pledged his future to Madrid after talks with club president Ramon Calderon following Sunday’s 0-0 season-opening draw with Villarreal, sports daily Marca said on Tuesday.
If there is one place that symbolises the dysfunction of public health, it is the Eastern Cape. Already crippled by staff shortages, it continues to haemorrhage nurses and doctors, who are driven away by the working conditions. It is a cruel and seemingly unending conundrum. Add to this the Aids epidemic and the recipe is one for near total breakdown.
The JSE was a mixed bag just before noon on Tuesday after an unexciting morning’s trade. A slightly firmer rand put a bit of a dampener on the resources sector, but industrials and financials benefited from positive global markets. By 11.53am, the all-share index eased 0,07%.
South Africa’s skills challenges "manifest especially" in those areas of the economy that need technical and specialised skills, such as engineers in mining as well as in the chemical, electrical, mechanical and nuclear fields, while artisans, geologists and economists are also needed, Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica said on Tuesday.
A truce that could spell the end of one of Africa’s longest and most brutal wars came into effect on Tuesday, Uganda’s military said. Under the pact signed on Saturday at peace talks in southern Sudan, the fugitive rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have three weeks to assemble at two south Sudanese camps.