European governments — with the exception of Britain — reacted coolly on Thursday to the prospect of Paul Wolfowitz, the neoconservative advocate of war in Iraq, becoming president of the World Bank. But diplomats said it was unlikely that Europe, which holds about 30% of the seats on the bank’s board, would seek to strain transatlantic relations by blocking him.
No action has been taken against the former chairperson of the Ethekwini Metro council audit committee, Mdu Msomi, who was last year accused of attempting to cream R1-million off a legal settlement between the council and Rainbow Chickens.
Allegations came to light last year that Msomi indicated that the city was prepared to accept an offer of R6-million, provided R1-million of that was paid to the Singila Trust.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/199502/Zim_icon.GIF" align=left>The African National Congress is presenting a unified front on the March 31 elections in Zimbabwe, but behind the scenes there is increasing debate in the ruling party about how to deal with the political and economic crisis north of the Limpopo.
It is described as the last great American wilderness and has been the battle ground between the United State’s most powerful oil interests and environmentalists for more than two decades. But on Thursday the giants of the energy industry were celebrating a significant victory and looking forward to the chance to move into one of the most lucrative oil fields left in the US.
Australia’s first frog hospital will be forced to close unless a prince charming rides to the rescue with a bundle of cash, the curator of the Cairns, Queensland, clinic said on Friday. ”We’ve run out entirely,” Deborah Pergolotti told Australia’s AAP news agency. ”Everything costs money and most of the frogs we treat cost more than a hundred dollars each to be well enough for release.”
The Saudi Arabian security forces have arrested 110 men at a ”gay wedding” party in Jeddah, according to a Saudi online newspaper. Al-Wifaq, which has connections with the interior ministry, said the authorities had raided a wedding hall on Monday night after a tip-off and found the men — all Saudis — dancing and ”behaving like women”.
Rising sharply out of Colombia’s Caribbean shoreline, the 3 000m Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the highest coastal mountain formation in the world. Its exquisitely beautiful slopes, covered in dense cloud forest, are home to an ancient cosmology — as well as being a wellspring for the world’s most notorious narcotics trade. Adventurous tourists can explore both.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/199502/Zim_icon.GIF" align=left>In their latest efforts to win the March 31 parliamentary election in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front candidates have resorted to politicising the scarcely available grain in the country to starve suspected opposition supporters into submission.
Ninety percent blind in both eyes, Babe Simelane, who estimates he is 72-years old, could make out only the roughest outline of his son’s face when he died from an Aids-related illness last year, leaving two young sons. Without government assistance or a pension scheme to support him, Simelane relies on the kindness of neighbours. Although 69% of Swazis live on less than $1 a day, he envies those who can obtain even a fraction of that amount.
If you’ve cast a weary eye round Jo’burg on more than one Saturday afternoon, lamenting the lack of a different form of outdoors entertainment for your kids, you’ve probably glanced over the many old mine dumps that pimple the city’s horizon. But, in doing so, you’ve also overlooked one of Joburg’s best-kept secrets and most unusual playgrounds …