A huge operation to tackle the world’s worst unfolding humanitarian crisis will swing into action today following a warning that up to 300 000 people in Sudan could die within months even if essential aid gets through. The United Nations will launch a 90-day emergency programme after securing promises of funds from the US and other countries at a conference in Geneva.
The Pope on Friday subjected George Bush to a very public, relentlessly critical assessment of the United States administration’s performance in Iraq, attacking ”deplorable” abuses of prisoners and calling for an international solution to the country’s crisis.
Bafana Bafana captain Mbulelo ”OJ” Mabizela was the toast of the Free State capital on Saturday when his brace earned his team a hard fought 2-1 win over a gallant Cape Verde in the opening 2006 World Cup Group 2 qualifier played at Vodacom Park. Bafana led 1-0 at half-time.
Paul Johannes Meyer, who allegedly murdered his ex-wife and two daughters, aged four and nine, at the Robertsham hotel south of Johannesburg on Thursday and also allegedly killed four people in Albertville on Wednesday, shot himself and died in Kroonstad, Free State police reported on Friday.
United Nations peacekeepers took control of the strategic Congolese city of Bukavu on Friday as renegade soldiers withdrew and President Joseph Kabila attempted to calm the nation after the largest and most violent protests since he took office. A UN commander in Bukavu confirmed the pullout had begun on Thursday night.
Dissident troops gather in DRC
Kinshasa paralysed by lack of transport
The success of the Democratic Alliance and its emergence as South Africa’s second-largest party is partly attributable to the fact that the New National Party, the architect party of apartheid, has embraced the liberation of all South Africans, said President Thabo Mbeki on Friday.
<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.
"As an individual he doesn’t see the relevance of it. He feels that to be a man you don’t have to cut your penis. You have to prove it in other ways. Your way of thinking. Your way of doing things." Andie Miller speaks to documentary-maker Sipho Singiswa about his delayed rite of passage into manhood.
Robert Mugabe’s cupboard is bursting with "been-there-done-that" T-shirts. He’s done pretty much everything by now. He’s done the courts. He’s done the media. He’s done sport. He’s even done Archbishop Desmond Tutu. So it was only a matter of time before the champion of "your-vote-is-my-vote" democracy realised that he didn’t have a "been there. Done [in] the arts!" T-shirt, writes Mike van Graan.
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.