Two British Muslim leaders on Sunday began in earnest their attempt to secure the freedom of the hostage Ken Bigley by meeting senior Iraqi political leaders in Baghdad. Afterward, Daud Abdullah, the assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council, said Bigley’s captors would be forgiven for all their ”wrong-doing” if they released him.

Hamas on Sunday promised vengeance against Israel for its assassination of one of the Palestinian group’s members in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Izz el-Deen al-Sheik Khalil was killed when his car exploded as he turned the ignition on Sunday morning. Israeli government sources told the Associated Press that it was responsible, although the government made no official comment.

For months they were confined in anonymous boardrooms, breathing the recycled air of stalemate as a red wedge of social forces gathered itself outside for an assault on the simpler, better blue of the financial sector charter. And then, all of a spring afternoon, a thousand flowers bloomed: Blade Nzimande didn’t have to break down the door to the charter council, because Finance Minister Trevor Manuel had opened it for him.

The SABC has more managers and supervisors than staff, which may partly explain why it produced a meagre profit of R3,4-million from turnover of R2,7-billion for the year to end-March. The SABC’s return on total assets for the period was a measly 0,2%. Privatisation of the SABC’s commercial arm would reduce absurdly inflated staff costs and bring other efficiencies, reckons Reg Rumney.