During World War II, the future South African prime minister John Vorster was interned as a Nazi sympathiser. Three decades later, he was being feted in Jerusalem. In the second part of a remarkable special report, Chris McGreal investigates the clandestine alliance between Israel and the apartheid regime, cemented with the ultimate gift of friendship — A-bomb technology.
Israelis have always been horrified at the idea of parallels between their country, a democracy risen from the ashes of genocide, and the racist system that ruled the old South Africa. Yet even within Israel itself, accusations persist that the web of controls affecting every aspect of Palestinian life bears a disturbing resemblance to apartheid. The Guardian Middle East correspondent Chris McGreal reports.
Click on image for full-size view.
Click on image for full-size view.
![]()
Talks on coalition-forming have started even before the announcement of the final vote count in the Cape Town Metro Council. Democratic Alliance (DA) mayoral candidate Helen Zille said her party had approached the Independent Democrats (ID) and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) ”to say let’s talk, we’re available”.
Quinton Fortune has defied predictions that his career could be over by recovering sufficient fitness to return to action for Manchester United, the club confirmed on Thursday. The South African midfielder, who has not played this season because of a knee injury, was named in the United reserve line-up that was due to take on Wolves on Thursday evening.
Dozens of armed men raided a leading Kenyan media house on Thursday morning and shut down its operations, three days after police arrested several reporters from the same organisation. The raid targeted The Standard newspaper’s editorial offices, printing plant and the transmission centre of its affiliate company, the Kenya Television Network.
![]()
The Democratic Alliance stands ready to co-operate with other parties on a case-by-case basis in the interest of good government, DA leader Tony Leon said on Thursday. ”Although final election results are still awaited, it is clear that in a number of towns and cities around South Africa, no party has a clear majority,” he said in a statement.
A Hamas spokesperson said on Thursday that the militant group, which is to take over the Palestinian government this month, has been invited to South Africa for talks with officials. No timetable has been set for the visit, spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Like oil, radio spectrum is one of the world’s dwindling resources. Why else would five cellphone operators have paid that infamous £22,5-billion for 3G licences in the UK in 2000, if they didn’t think it was a rarity? Spectrum is required by radio and television broadcasts and cellphone networks, microwave ovens, home wireless networks, satellites, cordless phones, Bluetooth computer keyboards and garage door-openers.