Barbara Ludman THE GIRL IN THE PICTURE by Denise Chong (Simon &Schuster) There are arguably half a dozen iconic images from the Vietnam war an American soldier flicking a Zippo to set fire to the thatched roof of a Vietnamese peasant’s hut, a South Vietnamese general shooting a Viet Cong fighter in the middle of […]

Neal Collins Jamie Bloem, the 30-year-old who captained South Africa at last year’s Rugby League World Cup in England, faces allegations of racial abuse after an incident with a black player in a reserve match. The Halifax Blue Sox utililty player he is a capable kicker used in the back row and as an outside […]

China’s record on human rights is unlikely to affect its chances of getting the 2008 Summer Olympics John Gittings ‘Of course we want the Olympics bid to succeed,” exclaims a Beijing resident. “That way we will get a clean environment and a city worth living in.” The prospect of China hosting its first global sporting […]

Mail & Guardian Reporter Banks and other financial institutions have no excuse to refuse loans to people in the low-income category, if survey results released by the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) are anything to go by. The survey, conducted in five provinces, targeted people in the R1 000 to R6 000 monthly income group. […]

Nawaal Deane In a circus of events, Athletics South Africa (ASA) is embroiled in allegations of corruption, but documents handed to the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Ngconde Balfour, this week show only a paltry sum in comparison to original claims that R9-million is allegedly unaccounted for in the ASA account. The documents were handed […]

England vs Pakistan at Lord’s is the start of a 10-year world cricket championship Neal Collins The longest-lasting league championship in the history of the world started on Thursday with South Africa very firmly in the running for a brand new R350 000 trophy. When Pakistan turned out against England at Lord’s, the 10-year International […]

Marianne Merten TELEVISION It’s a slice of real prison life not the Hollywood glamour lock-down peppered with special effects, nor the gold-studded rap glorification of being a bad “muthafucka”. It’s about the reality of violence, rape, beatings and gory facial tattoos behind bars where the prison numbers gangs have dominated since the turn of the […]

Mboniso Sigonyela Turbulent stock markets and falling rand exchange rates ensured that the number of dollar millionaires in Africa remained flat. But the World Wealth Report 2001, compiled by Merrill Lynch and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, says South Africa has confirmed its position as the continent’s economic powerhouse. According to the report, South Africa […]

Robin Denselow CD OFTHEWEEK Now rightly established as a best-selling international star, Cesaria Evora has moved on from exploring the music of her home (the Cape Verde Islands, off the coast of West Africa), which fuses African and Portuguese styles, to explore that music’s links with other Afro-Latin styles across the Atlantic. On her new […]