In a statement released on the second day of the United Nations Special Assembly on HIV/Aids in New York, the African Civil Society Coalition on Aids accused the negotiators of the three countries of a ”remarkable display of bad faith” in failing to support targets of universal access to treatment, care and support agreed on by the African Union heads of state last month.
A decade after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission started its work, many South African communities are still recovering from the brutal conflicts it tried to cauterise. Victim advocates insist real reconciliation will not happen while the practical concerns of survivors and perpetrators remain unaddressed.
Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile says he does not believe the South African Football Association (Safa) can produce a side ready to compete well in the 2010 World Cup. ”I am not convinced that Safa can deliver a squad for 2010,” he told the Mail & Guardian in an interview this week.
Glenn Agliotti, the man National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi says is his ”friend, finish and klaar” is larger than life, charismatic and caring. He is also a fraudster who keeps popping up in proximity to contraband. Last week, the Mail & Guardian highlighted his association with Selebi and Brett Kebble.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) reported that in less than 24 hours since the electronic filing facility for individuals went live on the internet, more than 1 500 taxpayers logged onto their website to register as users or to submit their income tax returns.
A victim of its own success with tourism, Bulgaria is struggling to contain excessive construction that is destroying its Black Sea coast and beginning to turn visitors away. Along the beaches north of Varna, the country’s main Black Sea resort, hotels are springing up like mushrooms, directly on the sand.
The Zimbabwe government on Thursday said it will evict about 4 000 black farmers who illegally occupied commercial farms and conservancies in the southern Masvingo province. The latest announcement represents a major policy U-turn by the Harare authorities.
Thousands of dollars have been bid on an Internet auction site for the handbag used by former All Black captain Tana Umaga to strike team mate Chris Masoe and reduce him to tears. Last weekend’s incident at a Christchurch bar after Masoe hit another patron has quickly become folklore and late on Friday morning the bidding had reached NZ$4 500 ($2 840).
Iran came under the strongest pressure in three years to renounce its nuclear programmes on Thursday night when the five permanent United Nations Security Council members and Germany agreed to reward Tehran if it accepted terms for negotiations, but to move towards isolating the country and international sanctions if it did not.
South Africans pay more for gas than consumers in most parts of the world, and Capetonians are essentially subsidising Eskom’s inability to supply electricity in the region. And while Eskom’s ”Turn on to Gas” campaign in the Western Cape might provide a short-term solution to the winter energy crunch, in the longer run, consumers will fork out more for energy.