Homer described how to make feta in the Odyssey. Aristotle delighted in its briny, crumbly texture. For Greeks, the biggest cheese-eaters in Europe, feta is the heart and soul of Hellenic cuisine, and on Tuesday the European Union’s highest court took a decisive step to ensure it stays that way.
The French national assembly launched a campaign on Tuesday to raise pay for women, who despite laws dating back to the early 1970s still earn on average 25% less than their male counterparts. ”This gulf is unacceptable morally and it is unacceptable economically,” the state secretary for equality, Nicole Ameline, told Parliament.
After years of controversy and delay, Germany opened its Holocaust memorial on Tuesday — a vast field of concrete slabs in the historic heart of Berlin only a few hundred metres from the site of Hitler’s bunker. The opening is a landmark step in Germany’s postwar evolution, and in the slow and often painful process of coming to terms with its Nazi past.
A court battle with Latin-American rhythms opened in London on Tuesday with two publishing companies clashing over the ownership of the copyright to music played by the Cuban band Buena Vista Social Club. The argument centres on whether the composers were properly rewarded or, instead, received ”at most a few pesos and maybe a drink of rum”.
The Iranian government threatened to provoke a full-blown international crisis on Tuesday by confirming that it is to resume its suspended nuclear programme. The United States, in a view shared by Europe and Israel, suspects Iran is covertly trying to secure a nuclear weapon. Iran claims it only wants nuclear power for civil purposes.
Dumisani Ndlovu wakes at 4am to start his 15-hour day, seven days a week. Each morning the 45-year-old taxi driver, a father of four, climbs into his minibus with one mission in mind — to reach his target. If he doesn’t complete enough trips and earn enough money for the taxi owner, his wages are docked.
On July 1 the country’s 185 000 mini-bus taxi drivers will join the ranks of the formally employed, enjoying the benefits of a minimum wage, unemployment insurance and paid leave for the first time in the industry’s history. The sectoral determination on the taxi industry announced by the Department of Labour recently, aims to formalise the sector from the bottom up.
A number of refugees who fled Togo because of violence sparked by the country’s April 24 presidential election have reportedly started going home. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was quoted as saying that several hundred people have returned to the Togolese capital, Lomé, over recent days.
I was listening to Radio Sweden the other day. Don’t laugh. You have no idea how difficult it is to continue writing a column after that opening, but I’ve always wanted to try. It’s like accepting a challenge from your mates to weave the words platypus or absquatulate into a column ("semiaquatic egg-laying mammal" and "to depart in a hurry", respectively).
South Africa are looking to close out their best-of-five one-day international series against West Indies with a victory in the third match on Wednesday. The South Africans lead the best-of-five series 2-0, after winning the first two matches at Kingston by the identical margin of eight wickets on Saturday and Sunday.