Doctors in Los Angeles are prepared for a marathon surgery to separate 10-month-old twin girls joined from the chest to the pelvis. The operation, scheduled to begin early on Wednesday, was expected to last 24 hours. It was considered more complex than other separation surgeries involving conjoined twins because so many organ systems were involved.
Pressure is piling on Zimbabwe’s central bank to depreciate the official exchange rate amid analyst projections that rising inflation could drag the price of the local dollar on the unofficial parallel market in coming weeks to more than 420 000 against the American dollar.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has labelled as ”erroneous” reports that Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad suggested the government had been embarrassed internationally over the deportation of Khalid Mahmood Rashid to Pakistan. His remarks were taken out of context, claimed Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
The world’s biggest radio company is planning to launch the world’s smallest advertisements — one-second spots that will be over by the time you realise they have begun. Clear Channel, which owns 1 200 American radio stations, has created several demo versions of the ads, called ”blinks”.
An Israeli military investigation has blamed the killing of seven members of a Palestinian family including five children on a Gaza beach, on a landmine planted by Hamas or other buried explosive, not shelling by the army. The Palestinians accused the army of rushing to clear itself to save Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, embarrassment as he tours Britain.
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At a rickety roadside café on the outskirts of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian football fans crowd a small TV screen watching the United States lose to the Czech Republic. When the screen goes fuzzy, the half dozen onlookers — stricken with World Cup fever — shout in protest.
With warm tropical waters, white beaches, bright shirts, snorkelling, cocktails and surfing, Hawaii seems to be the perfect escape from one of the hottest seats in South African business. It’s no wonder that Telkom CEO Papi Molotsane raves about the place. "It is relaxing and serene and the people are fantastic," says Molotsane.
"Yes, I get the ARVs, but I cannot afford to put a simple meal on the table," says Wa Kimani. "This is why I had to register at two treatment sites, so that I could get ARVs [anti-retroviral drugs] twice: utilise one set from one site, then sell the other batch from the second site, so that I can get something small to put in my stomach."
On May 15 this year, the United States announced its long-anticipated decision to restore full diplomatic relations with Libya. This decision will pave the way for Libya’s removal from the US list of states sponsoring terrorism and harbouring terrorists — and benefit US foreign policy in the Middle East in the short to medium term.
That they have not seen his film is no impediment. That it has won the Palme d’Or at Cannes only quickens their desire for reprisals. Ken Loach has been placed in preventive detention and is having his fingernails pulled out. In the London Times, critic Tim Luckhurst compares him — unfavourably — to Leni Riefenstahl.