Chevron paid Nigerian soldiers who guarded the company’s oil rigs after they allegedly attacked two villages in the African nation, according to company documents that have surfaced during a lawsuit against the energy firm. The invoice asks Chevron to pay 15Â 000 naira, about , to 23 soldiers who responded to ”attacks from Opia village against security agents”.
In the year that the Encounters documentary film festival coincides with Women’s Day, new works by top women filmmakers have been used to launch the event, writes Khubu Meth.
<b>CD OF THE WEEK:</b> News that Oasis were releasing a new album this year had to make one wonder whether it would just be a lukewarm attempt to recapture days of glory past, writes Riaan Wolmarans.
Set in the mountainous Eastern Cape, the <i>Mountain of Lost Dreams</i> is a genuine tribute to the author’s homeland, writes Kalpana Rangan.
Poor Ismail Ayob. Even if he wins, he loses — because his opponent is Nelson Mandela. And so Mandela’s court case against his former lawyer Ayob, who he accuses of abusing his name for commercial purposes, is as good as decided, at least, in the public mind. As an attorney, Ayob depends on his professional reputation to stay afloat.
He will have the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the brain of Stephen Hawking. Step forward the Pentagon’s perfect Hollywood hero, possibly coming soon to a screen near you. The United States military is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to send scientists on a screenwriting course, with the aim of producing movies and television shows that portray scientists in a flattering light.
Sudanese leaders on Thursday pleaded for the rioting in the capital and other cities to end as the death toll from this week’s unrest rose to 130. The trouble in Khartoum and other cities, sparked by the death of the vice-president, John Garang, exposed the racial and religious tensions that threaten to divide the country, which has just come out of a lengthy civil war.
They have never seen Juba. They hear him, but by then it’s too late: a shot rings out and another US soldier slumps dead or wounded. There is never a follow-up shot, never a chance for US forces to identify the origin, to make the hunter the hunted. He fires once and vanishes.
The sentencing this week of Donovan Moodley for the murder of Leigh Matthews has brought into the spotlight the efforts by the police to solve other highly publicised murders. On Thursday, Moodley was sentenced to life by the Johannesburg High Court.
Sarah Simatlane came to Johannesburg in 1978, from Kimberley, hoping for a better life. Instead, she was instantly arrested for violating the Group Areas Act and sent to the notorious Number Four prison in Braamfontein. Simatlane still shivers every time she steps into the jail, even though she thought she had laid her ghosts to rest.