The Saudis presented President George Bush with a million-dollar oil painting. From the Italians he got an exquisite alabaster sculpture depicting the Allegory of the Triumph. Tony Blair gave him a toilet bag. For someone who has spent most of his presidency being reviled or ridiculed around the world, Bush certainly gets a lot of presents from foreigners.
The troubled New York Times named its new editor yesterday as it was forced to publish yet another lengthy correction in an attempt to settle nerves and restore confidence at one of the nation’s most respected newspapers. Bill Keller, a columnist and magazine writer, will succeed Howell Raines.
The world’s best-loved statesman, Nelson Mandela, turns 85 on Friday and well-wishers can now send their personal congratulations to him on the internet.
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South Africa’s living legend Nelson Mandela turns 85 on Friday and organisers are planning to give the elderly statesman a three-day birthday bash.
Someone at Google has a profound sense of humour. If you’ve got the time, and are used to the standard error messages that display when sites can’t be found – then there’s a very subtle page that can be displayed, dealing with the much mentioned ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that the US made up as a reason for grabbing oil.
You’d think that for an old hack and soapbox queen, freedom of information would be sacrosanct. But the Act takes things too far even for this former militant.
The model followed by Bidvest, South Africa’s largest diversified industrial group, in selling a 15% stake valued at more than R2,1-billion to black investors has set a precedent that could lead to more meaningful black economic empowerment (BEE) in South Africa, analysts believe.
It may take some time — perhaps even the entire six months of Italy’s European Union presidency — to get over Silvio Berlusconi’s jaw-dropping performance in the European Parliament in Strasbourg last week. But the institution seems destined to quickly return to its normal sleepy ways.
Four Kosovan Albanian children who survived a Serbian massacre and were given the right to live in the northern city of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, went to court in Belgrade this week to tell their story to a war crimes trial .
Uganda’s parliamentary defence committee last week proposed hiring South African mercenaries to ”eliminate” rebels who are destabilising parts of the country.