STARVING Angolans have been reduced to eating grass and worms in a desperate attempt to survive, according to a report compiled by the United Nations humanitarian office in Angola. The report, due for release in Luanda on Wednesday, describes Angola’s humanitarian situation as alarming, and in certain cases, on the brink of disaster. It is […]

PHILIP PANK & SUSAN NJANJI, Harare | Friday 4.00pm. ZIMBABWEAN war veterans’ leader Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi began a national tour on Friday, urging squatters on white-owned farms to renounce violence and wait peacefully for a share of the land. Hunzvi was accompanied by Commercial Farmers’ Union vice president Nick Swanepoel after talks in the capital […]

Mary Dover Taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Burj Al Arab or Arabian Tower – the world’s first seven star hotel – has opened in Dubai. The hotel is part of a three-part leisure paradise along the Jumeirah coastline, combining the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and the recently opened Wadi Wadi waterpark, which boasts […]

Cosmo Landesman BODY LANGUAGE It used to be that the modern male, with his passion for hair gels, facial scrubs and designer suits, was dismissed as something of a Narcissus. That was a decade ago. Now the big news from the United States is that the modern male has moved on from designer suits to […]

David Pallister Robert Mugabe may be losing friends around the world at an alarming rate but he still has one unusual and influential capitalist supporter in Uckfield, southern England. Nicholas Hoogstraten (54) a controversial property multi-millionaire who regards hikers as the scum of the earth, and his tenants and women with even more contempt, has […]

Riaan Wolmarans Hot on the heels of this weekend’s countrywide Global Underground parties with Dave Seaman comes an equally exciting event – the Gatecrasher Disco- Technology Tour, brought out by ICE Productions, Ericsson and 5fm. The Gatecrasher clubbing phenomenon started as a bank-holiday party in Birmingham in 1994, and from these humble beginnings it quickly […]

Neil Manthorp There are many compelling reasons to start the inquiry into Hansie Cronje’s confessions as soon as possible, but the most pertinent for the immediate health of the national team is the growing “rumour circus” that is threatening the sanity of the remainder of the cricket squad. So just how many games were affected? […]

Julia Eccleshare Outsiders were a recurrent theme in this year’s shortlist for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. That did not mean the books are gloomy, but they all reflected an understanding that conventional family relationships have been replaced in children’s lives by broader, more complex structures. Nowhere is this more sharply observed than in the […]

David Hopps There it was. After hours spent looking for a sense of direction in Dubai’s luxurious shopping malls, the perfect gift suddenly loomed into view. It is not often that I have ever felt in need of a corporate stress chair but in Dubai, playground of the moneyed classes, the thought of diving in […]

opposition’ Peter Dickson The Eastern Cape Legislature’s African National Congress-dominated rules committee has been sent back to the drawing board after a blazing row in the Bisho house over a controversial propo- sal to restrict press and public debate on government matters and information. The committee has proposed that “matters referred to, or information submitted […]