South Africa on Friday marked the 30th anniversary of the Soweto uprising, one of the bloodiest chapters of apartheid, amid renewed debate over whether whites should own up to the atrocities of the former regime. Hundreds of black youths died at the hands of police in Soweto during protests against the enforced use of Afrikaans in schools that began on June 16 1976.
Against a tide of criticism and a government application for his incarceration, the lawyer for deported Pakistani national Khalid Rashid is persisting in his bid to have Rashid’s disappearance declared a crime against humanity in South African and international courts.
Despite suffering a double blow to their midfield, South Africa are favourites to wrap up the two Test series against Scotland in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. The Springboks beat the visitors 36-16 in the first Test in Durban last weekend. Rib injuries to midfield partners Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie means the Boks go into the game with a new centre pairing.
When he was 11, Ben Bernanke, the spelling champ from South Carolina, was within a whisker of appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show. Back in 1965, this was a big deal; the Beatles had made their first barnstorming appearance in America on the show the previous year. But Bernanke couldn’t remember how many ”i”s there were in edelweiss and missed the televised national final by one mark.
For months, the rumour mill that churns on in the wake of the collapse of the Kebble empire has been spitting out two names: Charles Cornwall and Paul Main.
”Go to Plettenberg Bay and visit the polo estates,” said the tipsters, ”you’ll find answers there.” But until this week Cornwall and Main — members of Plett’s jet set and aficionados of the rich man’s sport — had managed to stay off the front pages.
Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, said on Thursday he would give up the daily running of Microsoft by July 2008 to concentrate on his foundation’s work tackling health and education problems. The Microsoft co-founder wanted a two-year transition "to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates’ daily responsibilities", Microsoft said in a statement.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to a selection of African countries next week highlights the growing importance of resource-rich Africa to the world’s most voracious consumer of any commodity that can fuel industrialisation. His June 17 to 24 visit will take in Egypt, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
The current world economic volatility should be no cause for concern for emerging markets investors. That is according to Rejane Woodroffe, an economist at Metropolitan Asset Managers. Woodroffe spoke to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> as markets endured their second rough week.
Want to save the planet? Wear your jeans two days a week, wash them every fifth day, and let them dry by themselves. Or better still, don’t wash them at all. And don’t even think of ironing them. This is the conclusion of a report commissioned by France’s environment agency on the ecological impact of a pair of denims.
In the vast indoor Olympic swimming pool in northern Baghdad, sectarian differences are submerged after a commute which is equally dangerous for all the swimmers. Here, amid the overwhelming smell of chlorine, Hamza Hamid and his disabled swimming team colleagues are preparing for an upcoming competition.