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/ 8 December 2004
To the United States military he was a turncoat and a traitor, the soldier who defected to communist North Korea and lived as a fugitive during the height of the Cold War. On Tuesday, though, Charles Jenkins finally started his new life, having served a short court-martial sentence after deserting from the US army almost 40 years ago.
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/ 8 December 2004
Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai warned on Tuesday that any ”carelessness” by the government ahead of the March elections could lead to an ”inferno” in the southern African country. Tsvangirai, in a weekly newsletter, called for ”sensitive political management” especially in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in the politically divided and crisis-ridden nation.
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/ 8 December 2004
Have you ever wondered what it takes to start up a World War II museum-piece tank? Surprisingly little, in many instances. Curators at the SA National Museum of Military History regularly start up a selection of their restored fleet of armoured and other vehicles to keep them in running order. Recently, it was the turn of a Soviet T34/85 medium tank of World War II vintage.
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/ 8 December 2004
A South African editor tells this story: ”I asked my newsroom when a story should not identify a victim of abuse. One answer: ‘In cases of bestiality, the pet should not be named.”’ It’s a true tale and one that predates the rise, and rise, of tabloid journalism — which is the really appropriate context in which to discuss such species distinctions.
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/ 8 December 2004
The price of oil could hover around per barrel with a significant effect on the global economic outlook, the SA Reserve Bank said on Tuesday. Speaking at the annual dinner in honour of ambassadors and high commissioners to South Africa in Pretoria, Governor Tito Mboweni said: ”The behaviour of the oil prices has changed the global economic outlook in a real way.”
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/ 8 December 2004
The wine industry in the Western Cape has been stunned by the illegal-flavourant scandal at KWV, the province’s agriculture minister, Cobus Dowry, said on Tuesday. "A scandal such as this has the potential to fundamentally damage this industry and if not addressed properly, take years to mend."
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=176153">Silver lining to SA’s wine scandal
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<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=176088">KWV names, shames winemakers</a>
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/ 8 December 2004
The Bush administration’s robust assertions that the situation in Iraq would improve with next month’s elections were badly shaken on Tuesday with the leak of a gloomy end-of-tour cable from the departing CIA station chief in Baghdad. It arrived on a day when United States forces recorded the death of the 1 000th soldier to be killed in combat since the beginning of the war.
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/ 8 December 2004
Israel is increasingly wary that British Prime Minister Tony Blair will use his impending visit to force the pace of the peace process as he promotes his own Middle East conference following Yasser Arafat’s death. Concern is increasing in Jerusalem at Britain’s attempts to force a greater role for Europe in ending the conflict.
Sharon tries to muster support
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/ 8 December 2004
The United States Congress voted on Tuesday to adopt the September 11 commission’s recommendations for sweeping reform of America’s intelligence services, after the White House intervened to reach a compromise with Republican dissidents.
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/ 8 December 2004
The true scale of ignorance and lack of sympathy in the United Kingdom to people living with HIV and Aids has been revealed in a survey of British attitudes, released last Wednesday. It suggests the stigma endured by those with the disease in Britain is as serious an issue as it is at the heart of the pandemic in Africa or Asia.