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/ 16 February 2006
In Africa, everything is bigger. Since the second intifada began in 2000, approximately 4 480 Palestinians and Israelis have died — but that is equivalent to a long weekend in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where, the United Nations says, 1 200 people are dying every day from war-related causes.
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/ 16 February 2006
Rockers the Kaiser Chiefs — named after South Africa’s champion soccer side — had a riot at the annual Brit Awards on Wednesday night, picking up a hat-trick of prizes at the biggest and most prestigious night of the country’s music calendar. James Blunt beat off competition from Robbie Williams to bag best British male solo artist.
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/ 16 February 2006
Fresh from presenting his 10th Budget, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel on Thursday dismissed any suggestion that he is tired of his job. Replying to a question at a Cape Town post-Budget breakfast on whether he is considering retirement, he said he cannot ask for anything more challenging in his life.
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/ 16 February 2006
Microsoft opened a new front on Wednesday in its six-year war with the European Commission by insisting that it has fully complied with the 2004 anti-monopoly ruling imposed by Brussels and accusing it of ignoring evidence and denying due process. The defiant response brings closer the threat of daily fines of up to â,¬2-million.
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/ 16 February 2006
The French businessman flying in China wants his airplane seat mate to be a woman who will escort him during his ”lonely after-work evening”. An American woman wouldn’t mind meeting her ”soul mate” on her plane trip. Thanks to the internet, these travellers might get to choose their ideal travel partners in their next voyage.
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/ 16 February 2006
First it was Wyoming, with Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, and now gay cowboy fever has spread to Texas. ”There’s many a strange impulse out on the plains of west Texas,” sings country legend Willie Nelson in a song released on Valentine’s Day on the internet music store iTunes.
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/ 16 February 2006
The South African women’s hockey team booked their place in Saturday’s final of the four-nation Spar Cup after beating Scotland 2-1 in Durban on Wednesday night. The home side didn’t have an easy time of it, though, and had to come back from a 1-0 deficit.
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/ 16 February 2006
Passing the 50 mark in cricket is seen as a noteworthy landmark. Reaching the 50 mark in the Fifa world rankings for Bafana Bafana on Wednesday was nothing short of entering an abyss — with South Africa’s national soccer team plummeting to their lowest ranking in 11 years.
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/ 16 February 2006
Two of the three medallists from the Salt Lake City Games struggled on the opening day of the Olympic ice-hockey tournament, while Canada shrugged off the Wayne Gretzky storm to cruise past hosts Italy. Latvia drew with 2002 silver medallists United States 3-3, while Slovakia stunned 2002 bronze-medal winners Russia 5-3.
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/ 16 February 2006
The giants of the internet were hauled before the United States Congress on Wednesday, accused of colluding with China’s secret police and censors to wield a ”cyber sledgehammer of repression”. Yahoo!, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Google were repeatedly accused of collusion with an oppressive regime.