An Italian baby with a life-threatening muscle disease has undergone a medical first — a successful eight-organ transplant, her surgeon said on Friday. Alessia Di Matteo, aged eight months and from Genoa, received the liver, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, pancreas, spleen and two kidneys from a single donor, who was also an infant.
The Taliban on Friday threatened to launch reprisals against United States and Pakistani forces if they did not call off their pursuit of the Afghan militant movement and its al-Qaeda allies in the mountains of Pakistan’s South Waziristan region.
Chris Cairns drove New Zealand past a number of batting milestones on Saturday as it reached 584-8 and built a 288-run first-innings lead on the third day of the second cricket Test against South Africa.
The Otago Highlanders took a bonus point from their first home win of the season on Saturday, beating South Africa’s Cats 29-17 in a Super 12 rugby match at Carisbrook. The Highlanders scored four tries in a deeply flawed performance, speeding to an early 15-0 lead, then trailing 17-15 before sealing the match with 12 late points.
The remarkable love story of Bennie Hermer and Olda Mehr begins ordinarily enough — a young medical student meets a beautiful music student at a New Year’s Eve party — they are attracted, they date… But it is 1938 and across the seas, where Mehr is headed to take up a scholarship at London’s Royal Academy of Music, the guns of war are being primed. This will be no conventional affair, reviews Pat Schwartz.
”It was at the height of the total onslaught. The communists were around the corner in Mozambique, Angola and Zimbabwe. They were even among us, stirring up the natives who otherwise would have been happy that they were better off than the rest of Africa.” Mike van Graan reflects.
There is not much traditional African art currently on display in central Cape Town, but the Gold of Africa Museum has provided Cape Town with a centrally located display of African art and crafts, writes Clive Rubin.
A bold, new cultural intervention aims to shed light on the positive role fathers play in their children’s lives — using the work of the country’s finest photographers. On the eve of Human Rights Day, a new exhibition celebrates the joys of fatherhood, writes Mmanaledi Mataboge.
<em>Ink@boilingpoint</em> from Weave is an anthology of short stories, poems, diary entries and sections from plays and screenplays. It celebrates a generation of women who have dedicated themselves to the struggle for liberation from apartheid and to challenging patriarchy in their communities. Jyoti Mistry reports.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: I walked out of Tim Burton’s new movie, <i>Big Fish</i>, feeling a little lighter. This is a boon not to be gainsaid in these days of <i>Monster</i>, the remake of <i>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i> and, God help us, <i>The Passion of the Christ</i>, writes Shaun de Waal.