Ibrahim Ferrer, who achieved fame late in life as the singer of the Buena Vista Social Club, died on Saturday in Havana at the age of 78. Ferrer, known for his trademark cap and greying moustache, was a devotee of traditional styles of Cuban music such as son and bolero.
The public protector’s report on Oilgate is a dismal, depressing, disingenuous display of intellectual dishonesty. First and foremost, the public protector has taken an absurdly literal and narrow view of the distinction between public and private. As the report is at pains to point out, the public protector’s statutory duty is to investigate maladministration in public office.
HCI, the JSE Securities Exchange-listed group, headed by former trade unionists Marcel Golding and John Copelyn, may be remembered as South Africa’s first black economic empowerment predator. It recently bid for control of Johnnic, its chief rival for control of Tsogo Investment Holdings, which in turn controls the casino and hotel assets of Tsogo Sun. HCI stands accused of sharp practice as it wages its casino war.
Hassan Feiraz, a 16-year-old boy, has started a desperate new life since being forced into the sex trade in Baghdad, joining a growing number of adolescents soliciting in Iraq under the threat of street gangs or the force of poverty. ”My life is a disaster today. I could be killed by my family to restore their honour,” he says.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala relishes a good fight. Which is just as well. Since Nigeria’s president persuaded her to sort out the country’s infamously chaotic finances and rein in its notorious corruption, she’s been hailed by world leaders and reviled by her fellow countrymen.”When I became finance minister they called me Okonjo-Wahala — or Trouble Woman,” chuckles the 51-year-old.
When, in 1981, Margaret Thatcher met Fahd bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud for the first time, she came away distinctly unimpressed. ”You say this man runs the country,” she sniffed, ”he didn’t have a word to say for himself.” She was wrong. Fahd, who has died aged 84, was only crown prince of Saudi Arabia at the time, and what the British prime minister did not realise was how punctilious the house of Saud was in its notions of hierarchy.
The recent bomb blasts in the popular tourist city of London has forced countries around the world to examine their own ability to prevent similar attacks. Institute for Security Studies analyst Anneli Botha says a distinction has to be made between domestic and international terrorism.
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Ethiopian teen Tirunesh Dibaba is confident of sewing up a historic double after running a breathtaking final lap to win the women’s 10Â 000m world title here at the World Athletics Championships. The 19-year-old, who was the youngest ever world champion over the 5 000m in Paris 2003, will attempt to become the first woman to win the two races when she competes in the 5km event later this week.
Pressure is building on Wallaby coach Eddie Jones leading into one of the most important weeks on the Australian rugby calendar with the traditional Bledisloe Cup Test against rivals New Zealand. It all went sour for Jones on a disastrous two-Test tour to South Africa last month, highlighted by the sending home of reserve scrum-half Matt Henjak for disciplinary reasons.