Former Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black has been forced to return 12 boxes of material to a court-appointed inspector after he was caught on video taking them from his Toronto offices. He is under investigation by criminal authorities in the United States and facing lawsuits in both the US and Canada.
Well-heeled consultants and companies in the West are the real beneficiaries of the global aid system, according to a report out on Friday. The report found that 61% of aid flows were ”phantom” rather than ”real” — rising to almost 90% in the case of France and the United States.
The whole point of a little black dress is supposed to be that you can wear it to any occasion and fit in. So, after a protracted wardrobe crisis, I have chosen, for a midweek footballers’ wives’ night out, a simple, beaded, knee-length black crêpe cocktail dress. My plan is that I will blend into the crowd, all the better to observe.
An African agenda for the July meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations is to be canvassed when President Thabo Mbeki meets United States President George Bush in Washington next week. Bush extended an invitation to Mbeki a few weeks ago for talks at the White House, partly to discuss the upcoming summit at Gleneagles in Scotland.
Once the trophy had been hidden away, Arsenal’s euphoria subsided. ”We were second in the league and didn’t win the Champions League, so to win the FA Cup makes it an okay season, but not more than that,” said Freddie Ljungberg. Thoughts were already drifting to the future and the improvement needed.
Gordon Strachan will manage Celtic next season in place of Martin O’Neill.
O’Neill is leaving to be with his wife Geraldine, who has cancer, and Celtic have reached a deal for Strachan to succeed him. The former Scotland international is returning to management 15 months after he quit Southampton to take a break.
The 4,2% move in the rand from a best level of 6,3650 per US dollar on May 20 to a worst level of 6,6350 on May 26 has spurred net foreign purchases of South African assets. In the past four trading days, foreigners bought a R1,897-billion worth of South African bonds and a net R355-million worth of South African equities.
Edgars Consolidated Stores, one of South Africa’s largest retailers, says it has no response to Thursday’s call by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) for investors to disinvest from Edcon shares. "We can’t comment on what drives fund managers’ investment decisions," said Edcon’s executive manager for investor relations Tessa Christelis on Friday.
A group of animal welfare organisations on Friday expressed concern about the Johannesburg Metro Council’s proposed by-laws on cats and dogs, saying this may cause suffering for animals. Vivienne Tothill, spokesperson for the group, said the proposed by-laws could result in pets being abandoned or unnecessarily killed.
The success of South Africa’s film industy will hinge on managing expectations, writes Matthew Krouse.