No image available
/ 20 February 2005
A South African take on Bizet’s tragic opera Carmen set in a township captured the Golden Bear for best picture at the 55th Berlin film festival on Saturday, edging out a clutch of hard-hitting political dramas. It was only the second South African feature ever to compete for a Golden Bear at the Berlinale, which ranks along with Cannes and Venice among Europe’s top film festivals.
No image available
/ 20 February 2005
South Africa’s mortality rate has jumped by 59% in six years, fuelled by the HIV/Aids epidemic, according to new figures published this weekend by the country’s central statistical office. The report, which has been mired in political controversy even before its publication, says women have represented the biggest increase, while more adults of both sexes now are dying than in 1997.
No image available
/ 20 February 2005
It was 1.22am last Monday on the frozen Alaskan island of Kodiak when the missile flared upwards into the night sky. As the rocket’s flames disappeared into darkness, United States military chiefs waited with baited breath to see if their multibillion dollar ”Son of Star Wars” defence shield would work.
No image available
/ 20 February 2005
Prayers were just ending at the al-Baya’ mosque in west Baghdad on Friday when the two young men stepped from a minibus taxi and approached the entrance. They wore black, like the hundreds of worshippers gathered inside and outside, but something was wrong.
No image available
/ 20 February 2005
Marcello Burricks grew up fast in Cape Town’s tough Slangkop township. Stabbed in a fight at eight, by 14 he had a criminal record for assaulting a teacher. Golden Mgedeza came from an equally rough area, Johannesburg’s Kwathema township, where he dodged bullets from gangster gun battles at school.
No image available
/ 20 February 2005
So you missed the Prickly Pear Festival in the Western Cape last month but worry not, there’s a whole 10 months of local festivals and events to choose from. From the Philippolis Witblits Festival to the Calvinia Vleisfees, we’ve lined up some of your more interesting options.
No image available
/ 20 February 2005
With the exception of the men’s long race, South African athletes made a clean sweep at the ninth Cross Country Championships of Africa’s southern region at Candos Hill, Mauritius, on Saturday. The races, contested in heavy rain on a muddy course, posed a true obstacle test for the runners of seven countries.
No image available
/ 20 February 2005
Australia’s high-profile Test spinner Shane Warne said on Sunday he left the country to save his marriage after an affair with a local stripper. Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker told a television interviewer he was embarrassed by the affair in 2003 and fled to Spain with his wife to escape the media spotlight.
No image available
/ 20 February 2005
Sharks turn out to be quite shy than dolphins. The water was almost as clear as air, yet only the tips of the coral pinnacles emerged from the depths of a seemingly bottomless ocean. We grabbed our snorkelling gear, and the dolphins swirled around us for ages. Four of them were locked in a bizarre dance. Taking a closer look, it became graphically obvious they were mating, undisturbed by our presence.
No image available
/ 20 February 2005
If Australia’s cities had to line up for a beauty contest, Brisbane would walk it. Brisbane has basically everything you could ask of a city, without the crushing numbers. The river setting is gorgeous, the vegetation, all palms and frangipani. The food’s great, the people friendly and real estate prices are the best in a country where most properties are beyond the scope of the rand.