Telling your 71-year-old grandmother you plan to construct a gigantic replica of a uterus on her doorstep must be one of the least pleasant tasks for any grandson. That, however, is the bind of Igor de Vetyemy, a young Brazilian architect behind a controversial project to build a museum inspired entirely by sex on one of the world’s most famous beaches.
A form of primordial slime could hold the answer to preserving the fertility of women who have cancer — and even help preserve critically endangered mammals such as the Siberian tiger and Mexican wolf. The ”slime”, called alginate, is extracted from algae, and is being used by a team of fertility scientists from Northwestern University in Illinois in the United States.
It is not that Terezinha da Silva does not like what she is doing. She would just prefer that it be given another name. ”I don’t like the phrase ‘fighting poverty’ or ‘alleviating’ it. I prefer ‘programme for development’, like they call it in countries like Botswana. Poverty is too wide a topic and it can mean different things to different people.”
The split within the international community over the Lebanon war was clearly exposed recently when the United States and Britain combined at a Rome summit to block a move by European and Arab countries to demand an immediate ceasefire.
For a country with an unelected hereditary leader, there is a blunt irony in calling itself the Democratic Republic of Congo. This vast swath of Central Africa is many things — a failed state, a humanitarian crisis, a natural resource bounty — but a representative democracy it is not. That may be about to change with Sunday’s vote — the first multi-party elections in 40 years.
It is a sin to cause misery to others, you would agree, yes? And yet I bet that at this very moment you are sitting in an office where people can clearly see your — jeez, I dread to think — snub nose? Crow’s-feet? Spludged thighs? Small tits? I’m sorry, I can’t go on, I’m feeling quite sick.
India’s choice of renowned thinker and writer Shashi Tharoor as its candidate for the post of United Nations secretary general, passing over many of its senior politicians, is testimony to its traditional approach to the organisation. India has neither sought to use the UN as an instrument of its policy, nor sought sinecures in it for its politicians.
While the average working South African donates a generous 2,2% of his or her salary to worthy causes — amounting to about R1-billion a month — huge amounts of food are still wasted every day. It is almost impossible to determine how much surplus food is thrown away in South Africa because organisations that redistribute food work largely in isolation.
The Israeli government is facing a barrage of criticism over its handling of the war in Lebanon, with questions about the decision to attack Hizbullah, mounting military losses, strategy and tactics, continuing missile strikes and disquiet about Lebanese civilian casualties.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s 60-million people are unlikely to wake up on Monday to a dramatically changed country after Sunday’s first democratic elections in the Central African giant. They will, in all probability, still be voting in what has become Africa’s most expensive and complex election.