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/ 8 February 2006
With vibrant economies and more than a billion people each, China and India might seem obvious candidates for the Group of Eight (G8), but analysts say the road to membership will be long. Russia is now heading the G8 for the first time, inevitably triggering questions about why the two Asian giants have not joined long ago.
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/ 8 February 2006
The Danish cartoon drama has resulted in a forced discourse of fanatic Muslims versus fanatics of absolute freedom. "There is a fixation on the rights and wrongs of ways to defend the honour of the prophet Muhammad and on the rights and wrongs of exercising freedom of expression," writes Mahmood Sanglay.
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/ 8 February 2006
While Naspers executives have been at the ramparts fending off a hostile bid, chief executive Koos Bekker has struck a deal with Sanlam, making him a controlling force in the R40-billion giant for an investment of just R67,5-million. Bekker recently sold R75-million of Naspers shares to pay Sanlam for a 25% stake in Wheatfields, a new entity that owns high-voting Naspers A shares.
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/ 8 February 2006
To real enthusiasts — they call themselves transhumanists — humanity is on the point of being liberated from its biology. They believe that humans are on the brink of a huge leap in development, leaving behind the sick, weak, fallible creatures we have been up to now. We will be, as their slogan goes, ”better than well”’.
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/ 8 February 2006
ExxonMobil recently set a new record for corporate profits, announcing annual figures of ,13-billion, up 42% on the previous year despite spending -billion in share buybacks. The announcement brought immediate condemnation from green groups, which accused it of prospering from a ”carbon economy” that would bring the world close to extinction with global warming.
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/ 8 February 2006
It will probably surprise many people — some of them agreeably — to know that it is not illegal in Germany to eat a corpse, providing you can find one of course. Last year, Armin Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter after he cut off the penis of a man called Bernd Brandes, the willing partner to an unusual banquet.
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/ 8 February 2006
Four months ago it was the tardy disarmament process that delayed elections in Côte d’Ivoire. Installed as Prime Minister in December, Charles Konan Banny was expected to prioritise this. But new and highly divisive political wrangles have put the brakes on his quest.
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/ 7 February 2006
Opposition political parties have questioned President Thabo Mbeki’s fleeting reference to HIV/Aids in his State of the Nation address on Friday. In mentioning HIV and Aids only once, the president had failed to deal with the pandemic as a national priority, said African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe.
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/ 7 February 2006
The furious international row over the publication of cartoons satirising the prophet Muhammad intensified on Tuesday when Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claimed it was an Israeli conspiracy motivated by anger over Hamas’ win in the Palestinian elections.