In the wake of the Constitutional Court judgement on the legitimacy of pricing controls in the pharmaceutical industry, the Mail &Guradian spoke to pharmacists in the greater Johannesburg area to get their responses to the the decision and what it means for them.
The Timbuktu manuscripts, which went on show in Johannesburg this week, would be the last place you’d expect to find humour, pathos and sweeping tales of forbidden love. Academics and historians have expressed joy that the rare collection of 25 000 books, dating back as early as the 13th century ”reflects how we deal with existential issues of the human condition”.
On July 22 this year a young Brazilian, Jean Charles de Menezes, was killed by police guarding the Stockwell underground station in London. At first the killing was justified by the police who said De Menezes had been wearing a bulky anorak, had refused to stop when challenged for questioning, had leapt over a barrier and run down into the underground station.
Two organisations came out against a merger of the Scorpions and the police in oral submissions at the Khampepe commission in Pretoria on Friday. The Foundation for Human Rights held that incorporating the Scorpions into the police service would be detrimental to South Africa’s ability to combat crime.
Adam Gilchrist plundered the fastest limited-overs international 100 by an Australian to steer the world champions to a series-clinching 55-run win on Friday over the World XI. Gilchrist reached 100 off 73 balls, five balls fewer than the record he already owned. Australia have answered their critics, Australia captain Ricky Ponting said.
The recent burning of train coaches by angry commuters might not be the last, the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) said on Friday. At about 8pm on Thursday, angry commuters burnt eight coaches at Germiston station and set two offices alight, causing damage to the coaches estimated at R60-million.
Evidence is being prepared by William Nkuna’s defence in his trial for the murder of missing police constable Frances Rasuge, after an application for his acquittal was refused on Friday. Judge Ronnie Hendricks ruled against the defence’s application to acquit Nkuna on the grounds that the state had no prima facie evidence linking him to Rasuge’s murder.
Developers announced plans on Friday to open a multimillion-pound sexual ”theme park” near London’s Piccadilly Circus, home to the much-photographed statue of the Greek god of love. Backers say the London Academy of Sex and Relationships, due to open next spring, will not be a sleazy sex museum.
Indonesian police came close on Friday to arresting one of Asia’s most-wanted terror suspects, a police source said, as the hunt for the Bali bombing masterminds intensified. The suicide bombers could prove hard to trace, police said, because they come from a new generation of attackers.
Hundreds of thousands of people lured back to southern Sudan have high hopes of peace after a 21-year civil war, but there are warnings of chronic food shortage, poor infrastructure and desolate homelands peppered with landmines. To date, at least 200 000 people have returned to south Sudan in the wake of a peace accord.