A dramatic attempt by Saudi commandos to free dozens of hostages held in a housing complex ended in disarray on Sunday night when all but one of the gunmen escaped using hostages as shields and several captives were found dead. The security forces claimed to have defused the hostage crisis in the dawn operation after a bloody rampage by four armed men in the oil city of Khobar.
Saudi horror sparks fears of oil crisis
The bleeping sound tells you you’re about to play a variation on one of the classics — Space Invaders. But when the graphics appear, it isn’t green aliens advancing at you, but white blocks with dollar signs on them. And you shoot at them with … well, the disembodied head of a smiling George W Bush. These days, videogames with a political message are being used to win hearts and minds.
"And just when you thought it would be a nice, fun column with nary a whisper of politics, let me pull the rug out from beneath you," says Ian Fraser. Read what the ‘rightful’ president of the US has to say, links between a former Iraqi opposition leader and the MI6, thwarted attempts to attack a US nuclear submarine base and more.
"To those ‘unaccomplished’ black filmmakers — those of you who, to Schattauer’s mind, haven’t ‘reaped in award after award at prestigious film festivals’ — or those who ‘either do not mind compromising or do indeed need training’ — beware! We will patronise you. You, says the adjunct professor, are merely meek black people ‘who do not mind compromising’". Head of programmes for SABC1 Siven Maslamoney exercises his right to reply.
Siven Maslamoney, head of programmes for SABC1 <i>Ya Mampela</i>, answers questions about television’s influence, what viewers really want, freeing up young filmmakers and then lets off steam about equating ‘accomplished’ with ‘award-winning’.
Genocide is an enormous word for a 12-year-old. Adam Erenga, one of more than a million new refugees in Sudan’s western Darfur regions, does not understand the term ethnic cleansing and knows nothing of the accusations of government-militia collusion. What he knows about is Arab "Janjaweed" men on horses, and his entire family shot dead in his burning house.
It’s a mystery to us why we have been Schattauer’d on. Florian Schattauer’s opinion piece ("Close encounters of an old kind") is disingenuous — of course he knows who runs <i>Encounters</i> and this sly knowledge makes him cocky.
Schattauer misses the point. He, a university lecturer in arts and culture management nogal, should know the benefit of checking his "facts", responds Encounters and SABC1
In a country where funds for social programmes are often lacking, volunteers find themselves being called on to fill the gap. Of late, however, the demands placed on these individuals have become increasingly burdensome. These concerns are echoed by the National Emergency Response Committee on HIV/Aids — a body set up by government to coordinate Swaziland’s response to the Aids pandemic.
Burundi’s President Domitien Ndayizeye and other key political players in the war-riven central African nation began talks on Saturday in Pretoria to discuss the holding of proposed elections later this year. South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the mediator in the peace process, is overseeing the parleys, which will also touch on continuing rebel attacks and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force.
Title favourite Guillermo Coria reached the quarterfinals of the French Open on Sunday without breaking a sweat while British comeback king Tim Henman had to battle down to the wire to make the last eight for the first time. In the women’s draw Serena and Venus Williams moved effortlessly closer to a possible semifinal showdown.