Turkey’s tortuous European Union (EU) membership negotiations inched forward on Monday night after EU foreign ministers resolved a dispute with Cyprus over Ankara’s relations with the Greek half of the island. The Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, was due to fly into Luxembourg late on Monday night for a mini-summit.
Western diplomats and disarmament experts reacted with alarm on Monday to Afghan government plans to arm hundreds of southern villagers against resurgent Taliban fighters. ”There is considerable disquiet,” said Peter Babbington, director of a national disarmament programme.
George Hallett’s Portraits of African Writers begins with his tutorship under writer Richard Rive in the late Fifties and ends with studies of today’s exceptional talent.
Peter Magubane’s poignant exhibition of pictures, captured during the Soweto uprisings of 1976, transports one back to a period of suffering and pain, writes Reesha Chibba.
Last week 6 500 people descended on Sun City for the Posi+ive Aids benefit. Tumi Makgetla asks organiser Philip Georges what the event achieved.
A group of Swazi sculptors has introduced an element of play to the serious worlds of fine art and religion in their latest exhibition, Ezulwinini, writes Lisa Johnston.
Brenton Maart reports on an exhibition that incorporates images of children branded as practitioners of the occult.
The 27th Durban International Film Festival will engage cinephiles on a range of issues and stories, writes Niren Tolsi.
Security guards’ unions and their employers were still locked in talks over a new wage offer on Monday night. The employers had been offering 8,3%, but on Friday revised the offer to a three-year deal with a 9,25% pay hike in the first year, 7,25% in the second year and 7% in the third year.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused on Monday to endorse publicly the plan by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, for a partial withdrawal from the West Bank. In his first meeting with Blair since succeeding Ariel Sharon, Olmert outlined his proposal for the closure of some of the more remote Jewish settlements in the West Bank while annexing three major settlement blocs.