Mike van Graan argues that Afrikaans is doing superbly because of a past that has economically empowered its primary users, for whom language and the arts are integral components of their identity.
The end of a four-match losing streak for the Sharks came not a moment too soon. In beating the Brumbies so emphatically in Durban the Sharks not only earned a shot at redemption, but also became the only local side to win in round five of the Super 12. In the greater scheme of things the five log points thus earned are irrelevant.
Undefeated centuries by opener Wavell Hinds and new captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul led the West Indies to 347 for three against South Africa in dominating the first day of the opening Test at Bourda on Thursday. Hinds blasted a career-best 188 and Chanderpaul was at 102 not out in a brilliant 241-run fourth-wicket stand.
Is it ungrateful to compare a cricket tour of the West Indies to a dilapidated funfair, to suggest that the cricket on display is the equivalent of empty shopping packets and old ticket stubs fluttering sadly on tangled barbed wire? Surely any Test series is an occasion, especially one spread across the tarnished jewels of the beautiful, poor West Indian islands?
Tax authorities in southern India have found a new way to handle tax evaders: sending teams of traditional drummers to pound away noisily outside their homes or shops until they pay up. Tax officials in Andhra Pradesh state’s Rajahmundry city said on Thursday they have recovered three-quarters of the money owed by people there
Chinese censors have banned Serve the People, named after Mao’s most famous slogan, saying ”This novella slanders Mao Zedong, the army, and is overflowing with sex.” Jonathan Watts reports from Beijing .
Most listeners would be reluctant to call the Real Estate Agents hip-hop, as their press release tries to sell them. Their sound is harder, more asynchronous, than the commercially sold sound. The Agents are turning the tables, writes Nadine Botha.
Sold for a song: The fast-food giant McDonald’s is reported to be launching a campaign that will offer financial incentives to rap artists who mention its Big Mac burger in their lyrics. Richard Jinman reports.
As Indonesians struggled to recover from the second deadly earthquake to strike them in three months, an Australian expert warned on Friday that the country faces the prospect of a ”super volcano” eruption that would dwarf all previous catastrophes. The world’s biggest super volcano is Lake Toba, on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra.
Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman whose condition sparked an epic legal, medical and political battle that has gripped the United States, died on Thursday, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed. Both US President George Bush and the Vatican expressed their concern at the circumstances of Schiavo’s death.