The United States and Europe were on Wednesday being drawn ever closer into a trade war after senior US congressman issued a blunt warning to the European Union over its plans to lift a 15-year-old arms embargo on China. Richard Lugar, the powerful Republican head of the Senate foreign relations committee, warned that the US would stop sales of military technology to Europe.
He won’t be called Sir Bill, he said, laughing but looking down at the table with a touch of embarrassed modesty. The richest man in the world hopes not to share the fate of Howard Stringer, chairperson and chief executive of the Sony corporation. ”He gets a hard time, it’s sir, sir, sir all the time,” said Bill Gates.
It might not have the majesty of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or the viciousness of his attacks on the American dream. But the last written word of Hunter S Thompson, who died last week, has left the literary world intrigued. The author’s body was found in a chair by his kitchen table, on which a typewriter had been placed and a page of writing paper had been lined up with the word ”counselor” (sic) typed at its centre.
Michael Jackson’s team was ”extremely agitated” after the broadcast of a British documentary highlighting his friendships with children, a former employee of his company said on Wednesday. The public relations executive Ann Gabriel told the court that the Martin Bashir documentary Living with Michael Jackson had become an ”absolute disaster” for the 46-year-old singer.
Gunmen have killed a judge and a lawyer working for the Iraqi tribunal which will try Saddam Hussein and his senior officials. Barawiz al-Merwani (59) and his lawyer son Aryan (26) were ambushed when they left their home in north Baghdad on Tuesday, two days after the tribunal ruled that a first group of defendants must be tried for crimes against humanity.
Triumph’s long-awaited all-new Sprint ST sports tourer has arrived, loaded with testosterone while retaining the user-friendliness that made its predecessor a hit. Gavin Foster rode it at the world launch in Cape Town.
With the impending arrival of a new range of Hilux bakkies in the second quarter of this year, we decided to arrange a sojourn with the KZ-TE, one of the Legend35 turbo diesels. Armed with luggage and golf clubs, our merry trio put it to the test.
Driving skills specialist Rob Handfield-Jones has come out firing against the Department of Transport for dismally failing in its duty to curtail South Africa’s astronomical road fatalities. Backed by the Automobile Association, Drive Alive and the Committee for Active Road Safety, he also accused the Arrive Alive campaign of implementing ineffective road safety initiatives.
Transnet subsidiary Petronet is to spend at least R3-billion on a new pipeline to move petrol, diesel and jet fuel from Durban to Gauteng, in a move that is expected to shake up a fuel market still shaped by apartheid-era logistical constraints. Gas and liquid fuels transport capacity is among the most contested issues in the local industry.
Officially, the United Nations conference is being called Beijing and Beyond. But a worldwide NGO review entitled <i>Beijing Betrayed</i> concludes that "governments have failed to turn the platform into action". The report says that despite well-meaning statements, "many women in all regions are actually worse off than they were 10 years ago".