The government’s war against excessive pricing moved into the area of telephone call charges recently, with regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) putting the spotlight on how so-called interconnect fees raise both landline and mobile costs. Mobile call costs could be slashed by 30% if Icasa wins its battle with landline and mobile operators, according to an independent expert.
The Côte d’Ivoire electoral process is falling into place. The Independent Electoral Commission is in place and functioning. Antonio Moneteiro, the United Nations high representative for elections, left the country this week, his job done. The presidential candidates are starting to make themselves heard.
Mining magnate Mzi Khumalo has lost what is reportedly the largest damages claim in Zimbabwe’s history. This is after his company, Pemberton International Investments, the investment vehicle of Metallon Gold Corporation, was ordered to pay Zimbabwe’s Stanmarker US$7,4-million in damages for a breach of contract.
Humans have provoked the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65-million years ago, according to a United Nations report that calls for unprecedented worldwide efforts to address the slide. The report paints a grim picture of life on Earth, with declining numbers of plants, animals, insects and birds across the globe.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has stepped into the controversy between religious fundamentalists and scientists by saying that he does not believe that creationism — the Bible-based account of the origins of the world — should be taught in schools.
A stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower on the banks of the Seine, the final touches are being put to Europe’s newest museum, a huge project celebrating and bringing to life non-Western art and heritage. Named the Musee du Quai Branly after its location, the museum will house about 300Â 000 works of tribal art.
With its surging economy and a new middle class of about 300-million, the preference gap between air and train travel is matched by a growing divide between urban and rural people. India is still a predominantly agricultural country and a decade of growth has left half a billion people behind.
In a dilapidated maternity and paediatric hospital in Diwaniyah, 160km south of Baghdad, Zahara and Abbas, premature twins just two days old, lie desperately ill. The hospital has neither the equipment nor the drugs that could save their lives. On the other side of the world, in a federal courthouse in Virginia, United States, two men are found guilty of fraudulently obtaining -million intended for the reconstruction of Iraq.
”The value of legal protection for whistle-blowers was highlighted recently when Kenyan MP and anti-corruption campaigner John Githongo fled to Britain in fear of his life after going public with allegations that Kenyan ministers colluded in a -million corruption scam,” writes Teboho Makhalemele.
”Environmentalists — including South African National Parks (SANParks) who, as Fiona Macleod reported (‘Damned from the start’, February 3), is opposing the construction of a dam on the Steelpoort river near Jane Furse in Limpopo — are increasingly out of touch with reality,” writes Mike Muller.