<b>NOT QUITE THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> ‘I’m sure she’s an air sign," said my astrological friend, looking at a picture of Australian director Jean Campion. Such judgements are beyond my expertise, but the link of Campion with air made me think that her new film, <i>In the Cut</i>, does have something airy about it, writes Shaun de Waal.
In his latest blunt assessment of United States society, Pope John Paul II on Friday denounced the acceptance of abortion and of same-sex unions as ”self-centred demands” erroneously depicted as human rights. The Catholic church forbids abortion and considers homosexual activity a sin.
Dissident troops who this week overran the east Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Bukavu were gathering in and around the town Friday, a day after their leader promised to pull them out entirely. The soldiers were assembling at strategic points to defend the town they captured on Wednesday, their commander said.
Kinshasa paralysed by lack of transport
UN troops kill two in DRC riots
Korgo, a new virus that can infect Windows 2000 and XP systems simply by connecting them to the internet, continued to spread worldwide on Friday, installing a tiny spy that can record what keys were pressed at secret moments such as typing passwords.
Amid rising global security concerns, Southern Africa’s profile is growing as a safe destination for tourists, investors, global events and skilled immigrants, Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota said on Friday. It is not by accident that more high-profile international events and investments are coming to this part of the world, Lekota said.
Four United States soldiers were killed and five wounded on Friday when a blast struck their convoy on the edge of the Shi’ite militia stronghold of Sadr City, the US military said. Witnesses said the convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade before a roadside bomb was detonated.
Both the ruling African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance have named their members who will serve on an ad hoc committee to consider the public protector’s probe into a complaint against the national director of public prosecutions.
Lionel Abrahams, who died this week aged 76, was one of South Africa’s most influential and beloved literary figures. He was responsible for getting key 1970s poets such as Oswald Mtshali and Mongane Serote into print for the first time, but also took a huge amount of flak in the 1980s and 1990s for his views on the inadequacy of political rhetoric as a poetic programme. Shaun de Waal reflects.
United States employers added almost a quarter of a million jobs in May, extending a nine-month hiring spree and accommodating enough job seekers to hold the unemployment rate steady at 5,6% of the labour force. Payrolls swelled by almost one million in the past three months alone, the US Department of Labour said on Friday.
When you hear the word rap, what springs to mind? Brash young men dripping with jewellery, surrounded by hot-panted hos? Mouths shouting brand names and hymns to greed? It’s time you met MC Solaar. The espresso-drinking rapper talks to Phil Daoust.