<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> Of all the many movies this film critic sees in a year, there are usually only two or three he has any desire to see again. This year, so far, only two: <i>Far from Heaven</i> and, now, <i>Identity</i>, writes Shaun de Waal.
The maintenance, restoration and construction of prestigious accommodation for top South African politicians and key officials will take nearly R90-million out of the Department of Public Works’s building kitty during the current financial year.
The department has a budget of R1,9-billion for all public buildings in nine of the provinces.
The United Nations broke its own anti-torture convention by allowing a Zimbabwean police officer accused of torture to leave its peace force in Kosovo and return to Zimbabwe where he will probably not face investigation.
Yes, there are power struggles. Yes, there is corruption. And some councillors do not always understand their role as public representatives. But the majority of Gauteng local councils are sustainable — and residents are happy with service delivery. So says minister for Gauteng development planning and local government Trevor Fowler
The Greyhound bus carrying immigrant workers on their Freedom Ride nudges its way down Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts like the Tower of Babel on wheels. Two West Africans are teaching each other ballads in French, a Guatemalan and Mexican argue in Spanish, while a Bangladeshi and an Angolan discuss globalisation in English.
Quentin Tarantino describes his much-anticipated new film, Kill Bill, as a ”duck press of all the grindhouse cinema” he has seen in his life. A duck press, for non-culinary readers, is a kitchen device used for extracting the juice of a duck or chicken.
When retired English professor Wayne Booth first met JM Coetzee at a Chicago dinner party in the late 1990s, he ran across the room, and dropped to his knees in homage to his literary idol. "He was very surprise and embarrassed," said Booth, describing how the notoriously reclusive writer physically recoiled from him.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=21428">Mandela congratulates JM Coetzee</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=21376">ANC, DA praise Coetzee </a>
The man in charge of a -million hunt for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction last night admitted that no weapon stocks had been found, and that all a three-month search had uncovered was a single vial containing a possible strain of biological agent.
Why is the ANC Youth League calling for Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka to clear Zuma when he has already said that he is not going to prosecute him? Rapule Tabane speaks to ANC Youth League president Malusi Gigaba about the organisation’s campaign to clear Deputy President Jacob Zuma’s name
"I haven’t eaten for two days," said 24-year-old Phillip Chikumbo, his dark eyes bloodshot with fatigue. There was no hint of outrage or bitterness in his comment; he was simply hungry. "They do not have food for us here because we are unexpected visitors." Chikumbo is one of about 20 young men — all Zimbabwean — patiently awaiting deportation to a place he no longer wants to call home.