The Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this week managed to get to Bam, three days after the earthquake that may have killed 30 000 of his fellow Iranians. President Mohammad Khatami followed soon afterwards.
Education took a back seat in this week’s gala performance of that annual farce, the matric results (aka The Matrix Reloaded). However, given the continued failure of the country’s secondary education system to produce a generation of students that can meet the needs of the country’s economic and social development programmes, the farce is in fact more a tragedy.
Shopping is the new religion and supermarkets look like churches. Perhaps not.
The assumption is that God and economic growth don’t mix, and never have done, for didn’t the Bible make it clear that we should render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but render unto God that which is God’s? But not everybody sees it like that.
West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara made a rallying cry to his teammates on Thursday to put an unhappy year behind them and level the series against South Africa. The Windies lost the last test by an innings and 65 runs to go 2-0 down in the four match series and raise fears that they would be whitewashed once again.
He is one of the world’s most successful musicians, introduced Guy Ritchie to Madonna and has been honoured by the queen. He has written his memoirs — and doing it plunged him into deep depression. Emma Brockes meets the ‘ordinary’ superstar.
The South African rescue team, which arrived in quake-stricken Iran on Sunday, is expected to be back in South Africa on Saturday. A team spokesperson said the team had recovered some bodies, but no survivors. Fewer bodies were being found in the rubble and the bulldozers were gradually being brought in.
Italian police arrested seven more suspects in the snowballing Parmalat fraud scandal as reports suggested the bankrupt food giant may soon turn to the banks for a multi-million pound rescue package to stay in business. The arrested are suspected of criminal association leading to fraudulent bankruptcy and false accounting.
Michael Jackson was allegedly paid an extra -million for a planned television appearance to secure an exclusive interview broadcast last Sunday in which he accused police of manhandling him. Jackson, is due to appear in court on child molestation charges.
Families divided between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir for more than half a century were offered the chance yesterday of being able to travel across the de facto border which splits the Himalayan territory. India has also offered to open another bus route through Kashmir and lift travel restrictions on Pakistani diplomats.
The Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing say they have unearthed the partial skull and jaws of the most primitive specimen yet of the mammalian line which gave rise to modern primates — a group which includes lemurs, loris, monkeys, apes and archbishops