Leaders of the world’s eight richest and most powerful nations converge on a heavily-guarded luxury Scottish golf resort on Wednesday, facing the daunting twin challenges of pulling Africa out of dire poverty and slamming the brakes on global warming.
Two of the most famous props in United States film history — light sabres belonging to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader of Star Wars fame — will go under the hammer in an auction to be held in late July. The Jedi knight’s light sabre, owned by Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz, is estimated to sell for between 000 and 000.
An American woman has given birth to a third, healthy triplet 13 years after the first two were delivered. Debbie Beasley’s youngest daughter, Laina, was born five months ago after spending 13 years in a freezer chilled to -235C. Laina also survived her mother’s near-fatal reaction to the fertility drug Lupon and an eight-hour drive across the baking Californian desert while she was still a two-celled embryo.
The past few weeks brought a spate of complaints from the left. The Young Communist League, the Communications Workers’ Union and members of the Zimbabwe Solidarity and Consultation Forum were all unhappy with various reports. Piers Pigou, of the Zimbabwe Torture Victims Project, wrote to complain that a report, "Anti-Zim front fractures" (March 24), was "inaccurate and lazy journalism".
Thulane Gcabashe possesses the modesty to realise that being CEO of a company such as Eskom merely offers a chance to make a small contribution to a phenomenally huge project. He is about to lead Eskom into what he calls "a new era of growth" in the form of a R93-billion capital expansion phase, which, he readily admits, "will never be completed in my time".
You should understand that there’s a serious lack of genuine choice in the films we see in South Africa. This is something that’s hidden in plain sight. Almost all the films you see advertised reflect the product chosen by two distributors. Here are some sites where you can browse through vast numbers of current and past films that you’ve been deprived of without knowing.
A <i>Citizen</i> lead story entitled “Documentary claims Zuma was plot victim”, written by executive editor Martin Williams and published on July 4, has elicited a range of animated responses from the media industry. The piece, which refers to “an explosive TV documentary alleging former deputy president Jacob Zuma is the victim of a trial by media orchestrated by people within the ANC."
The Mikro Primary School case has generated astonishing levels of noise and mud-slinging, ostensibly over language rights, in schools. Last week the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the Cape High Court’s judgement in February that the Mikro school governing body had acted lawfully in arriving at its language policy — namely, instruction in Afrikaans.
For Grace Dinkwanyane, her community’s cows are miracles. They have become the gift of self-sustainability, she says, smiling at her own miracle, a Jersey cow named Beest. Dinkwanyane, a 45-year-old farmer from Groblersdal, says the cows owned by her and nine other women in her community have given them pride and confidence, as well as providing food for their families.
MTN has acquired a 51% stake in Loteny Telecom, trading as Telecel Côte d’Ivoire, in West Africa’s Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, the group announced on Tuesday. ”We confirm all outstanding conditions precedent for the acquisition have been met,” said Phuthuma Nhleko, CEO of MTN.