Last week I received the following e-mail. It appeared to have emanated originally from some dusty fissure in the “humanities” division at the University of Cape Town. I use the word “division” advisedly. Our universities are gradually becoming wholly commercial in intent, their function to hand out degrees to recipients eager to get qualifications for jobs.
The battle for South Deep, billed as the last piece of gold real estate on God’s green earth, could get a lot more interesting should AngloGold enter the fray alongside Harmony and Gold Fields. All three mining houses already own pieces of the gold mine through Western Areas, which has a 50% share of the mine.
In February, the Bush administration introduced tax incentives encouraging Americans to replace their house windows with ones that comply with conductance and solar heat gain standards. United States local authorities that are plagued by power shortages have gone further, legislating energy-efficient building regulations.
Appearing before Parliament last month, Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi suggested that the time had come to close down the Independent Complaints Directorate, a watchdog agency set up in the first blush of democracy, when notions like civilian oversight of the police were in fashion.
The notorious ”death buses” taking Peruvians and tourists up the Andean nation’s snaky mountain roads have killed 68 people in road accidents so far this year. Travelling in Peru, whose Inca ruins attract tourists from around the world, has become the road version of Russian roulette as many buses are built out of old truck chassis.
Mittal Steel this week played down suggestions that it could keep a minority stake in bid target Arcelor if its hostile â,¬24-billion takeover bid fails, claiming it was confident its offer would win shareholder backing and see off Arcelor’s plans to merge with Russia’s Severstal.
Seven years ago Australian Prime Minister John Howard was fêted for the way in which his government helped the people of East Timor — located only 700km from Australia’s north-west coast –gain their independence from Indonesia, which had occupied the island since 1975.
The Mozambican public prosecutor’s office has reportedly charged businessman Nyimpine Chissano, oldest son of former president Joaquim Chissano, with the murder in November 2000 of the country’s top investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso.
Waking in a cold sweat. Could this be a measure of the impact of the Apartheid Grand Corruption Report released this week? At the very least the majority of South Africans would wish sleepless nights for corrupt politicians and business people who live off the spoils of ill-gotten gains.
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