A post template

No image available
/ 8 April 2004

Spain takes no chances

Armed police began patrolling Madrid’s underground rail and bus networks last week as the hunt continued for six members of the radical Islamist group behind the previous Saturday’s joint suicide bombing and the train bombings that killed 190 people last month. Police were on high alert as Islamists threatened an ”inferno” and ”rivers of blood”.

No image available
/ 8 April 2004

Flawed — but a step forward

The finalisation of three black economic empowerment (BEE) charters since 2000 has brought a new era for empowerment. Through their involvement in designing the charters, all stakeholders in the mining, liquid fuels and financial sectors are duty-bound to implement the BEE framework, which each charter outlines.

No image available
/ 8 April 2004

UN seeks additional funds for Zimbabwe

In an effort to cope with worsening humanitarian conditions in Zimbabwe, the United Nations is seeking additional funds to support relief efforts through to the end of the year. The request, a revision of the Consolidated Appeal launched in July, focuses on strengthening social service delivery, supporting the country’s recovery and tackling HIV/Aids.

No image available
/ 8 April 2004

Calculator time in the Super 12

Past the halfway mark in the series and Springbok coach Jake White will be hoping fervently that the old saw about cream rising to the top holds true in the Super 12. If so it means that the three South African sides occupying positions three to five on the log are the real deal and not some kind of optical illusion.

No image available
/ 8 April 2004

Son of Hidden Imam rises

Under the lazy afternoon sun, a dozen men stood guard this week inside the coiled barbed-wire fence that surrounds the police station in Kufa, near the holy city of Najaf. They were well-armed, most carrying Kalashnikovs, one a sniper’s rifle with another two hand grenades tucked into his vest, but not one was a policeman.

No image available
/ 8 April 2004

Aids: Black women in US at higher risk

African-American women are 23 times as likely to be infected with the Aids virus as white women and account for 71,8% of new HIV cases among women in 29 American states, research shows. A non-profit health organisation has found that in 2001 about 67% of black women with Aids had contracted the virus through heterosexual sex — up from 58% four years earlier.

No image available
/ 8 April 2004

School’s out for education system

Education for all was the policy Zimbabwean authorities pursued diligently for much of the first decade after independence. The goal was to extend education to the previously disadvantaged black majority. Scores of schools were built and the training of thousands of teachers speeded up. It did not take long to bear fruit. Sadly, those classroom gains are now in jeopardy.

No image available
/ 8 April 2004

From treble to double to single

Ten minutes after the final whistle, with Chelsea’s fans chirruping “Champions League, you’re having a laugh” to a near-empty stadium, the cheery fellow who mans the Highbury Tannoy announced that “the games still come thick and fast”. Tannoy man was referring to the fact that Arsenal host Liverpool in the Premiership on Friday.

No image available
/ 8 April 2004

Horse-racing legend dies in London

Robert Sangster, Europe’s most successful racehorse owner of the past 30 years, died at his home on Wednesday after a long fight against pancreatic cancer. He was 67. Sangster’s horses won 27 European Classics. He also owned the 1984 Breeders Cup Mile winner, Royal Heroine, and 1980 Melbourne Cup winner Beldale Ball.