In boxing its always good to beat the man who beat the man who beat … That way you keep moving forward and build on the reputations of those who have come before you.

This year US President George W Bush ”forgot” to produce an aid budget for Afghanistan, until he was forced to provide another -million by Congress. Generosity soon dries up when you are yesterday’s news.

Peace activist Terry Crawford-Browne’s long-running campaign against South Africa’s R54-billion arms deal (including the four maritime helicopters) has reached a critical point in the Cape High Court. His attorneys targeted Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s decision to enter into loan agreements to pay for the arms.

When the Cape Argus/Pick ‘n Pay Cycle Tour comes to town, Cape Town becomes a sea of rotating movement. Phil Liggett’s voice is so synonymous with rolling wheels and buzzing machinery that it’s quite odd to meet him on a still day, way above a calm city centre.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has announced on that it might participate in the Treatment Action Campaign’s planned civil disobedience protest. The turnaround is significant after resistance to the campaign from ”conservative elements” in the federation, said insiders.

Text of Saddam Hussein’s address to the nation, broadcast on Thursday on Iraqi television shortly after the first US strikes against Baghdad, translated from Arabic by AFP.

Britain and the United States today suffered their first casualties of the war in Iraq, with a US marine dying in combat and 12 other servicemen being killed in a helicopter crash.

The plaintive wail of the air raid siren sliced through the evening at around 9pm, announcing the moment Iraqis had awaited with dread: the definitive start of the war.