Tourists and young couples ambling through the historic centre of Krakow on a warm spring afternoon were stopped in their tracks by a sight reminiscent of the era of martial law. As drinks flowed in the open-air cafes of Poland’s ancient royal capital, a phalanx of armed police in full riot gear inched its way slowly through the medieval city.
”The Native Club contributions by Sandile Memela and Ebrahim Harvey were thought-provoking. I am not an intellectual; I am just an ordinary black citizen with questions to ask and a keen interest in the realm of ideas. I agree with Memela that we do not need intellectuals whose sole obsession is to criticise the government at every turn,” writes Gladwell Monageng.
World stock markets finally expunged the memories of one of the worst bear markets in history recently when they surpassed the levels reached ahead of the collapse of the dotcom bubble in 2000. The most widely used yardstick of equity performance around the globe, showed that a recovery in developed economies coupled with boom conditions in emerging markets has created a new record for shares.
It has soft lights, gleaming red and blue surfaces and a soothing video projection on the wall showing swirling underwater bubbles. Welcome not to an art hotel, but to Europe’s trendiest public toilet. The super-loo, which opened in Berlin on May 4, is the last word in chic public architecture.
Danny Halamish feels abandoned by Israel, with the government intending to dismantle his home in the wildcat Jewish outpost of Maale Rehavam in the heart of the occupied West Bank. ”Every day that passes makes my being Israeli less meaningful to me. I have to think twice before I say I’m Israeli,” says Halamish.
Since opening an embassy in Khartoum in January 2004, South Africa’s involvement in Sudan has grown more visible. President Thabo Mbeki has a key role in the African Union-led Sudan peace process and Pretoria currently chairs the AU’s post-conflict reconstruction committee on Southern Sudan.
The ”Chávez effect”, which started when Hugo Chávez was elected as Venezuelan president in 1998, has made waves across the continent, with the ”pink tide” now lapping as far as Mexico to the north and Brazil to the south. Chávez has been a key player in establishing a network of leftist politicians in the region who can give each other moral and economic support.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh wrested an agreement from Hamas and its rival Fatah on Wednesday to put an end to two days of factional fighting which left 14 Palestinians injured and three dead. The truce declaration came shortly after Western mediators slightly eased aid restrictions that have plunged the Palestinian Authority into a financial crisis.
The acquittal of Jacob Zuma rings a million bells for the future of the country, including as we deepen our campaign against women and child abuse, and as we confront an alarming rate of HIV infection, particularly among the youth. The various pointers that emerged from Zuma’s rape trial need not be avoided or swept under the carpet.
Months of scorching drought have left 40 000 children in the Horn of Africa at imminent risk of dying of hunger, the United Nations warned on Monday. Torrential rains last month only made the situation worse, killing many of the cattle that had survived the previous six months of drought and bringing malaria and other disease, the United Nations Children’s Fund said.