Bosnia’s international governor, Paddy Ashdown, on Thursday launched a crackdown on corrupt officials whom he has accused of deliberately failing to capture Europe’s most-wanted war criminals. Lord Ashdown said Bosnian Serb ”obstructionists” are willingly sheltering those wanted by the Hague tribunal.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is on course to take charge of historic negotiations designed to pave the way for Turkish membership of the European Union after European leaders on Thursday gave the green light to accession talks. In one of the most significant moments in EU history, Turkey was invited to start talks on October 3 next year.

Revel Fox died after a short illness on December 13. Fox was an innovator, an architect and town planner, an urban activist and a man who was, all his life, committed to pushing the professional boundaries in a difficult and often antagonistic political and social terrain. As an architect and planner, he has left an indelible mark.

With only one veteran premier, Gauteng’s Mbhazima Shilowa, left in office after the April elections, the African National Congress has battled inexperience and careerism for most of 2004. And the ruling party is also suffering from the ”dented ego” syndrome, where leaders who had expected high national or provincial office and did not get appointed, now snipe at incumbents.

One of the many tragic aspects of Phaswane Mpe’s sudden death last Sunday was that he had just embarked on a dramatic new path that he was convinced would bring him fulfilment. Only weeks ago, Mpe gave up a sought-after doctoral fellowship at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (Wiser) to devote himself to an apprenticeship as a healer.