globalisation A view from the US on how the most important international economic institutions bleed the world’s poorest countries dry Mark Weisbrot On December 1 1999, as clouds of tear gas hovered over the streets of Seattle, President Bill Clinton said yes to 50E000 protesters when he wanted to say no. He agreed to make […]
Ivor Powell The SABC’s chief executive, the Reverend Hawu Mbatha, was axed this week as a major restructuring of the troubled corporation’s top management kicked into action. Senior sources in the public broadcaster said that a letter amounting to a dismissal was sent this week to Mbatha under the signature of SABC board chair Dr […]
Luvuyo Kakaza CD OFTHEWEEK Busi Mhlongo’s second album, Urban Zulu, released five years after her debut, Babemu, held the number-one hot spot for two hard-hitting months in the world charts, edging ahead of notable veteran Afro-beat stars such as Congolese virtuoso composer Ray Lema and Femi Kuti. Now with the release of Urban Zulu: The […]
Microsoft on Wednesday filed court papers offering to change its behaviour in a move that could delay the final ruling in the anti-monopoly case brought against it by the United States government. It will also argue that the break-up of the company, as proposed by the Department of Justice and 17 US states, goes far […]
Andrew Osborn in Brussels Hundreds of millions of pounds stolen by the late Nigerian dictator General Sani Abacha and his entourage is stashed in bank accounts in London and Jersey, lawyers working for the Nigerian government claimed this week. The money is allegedly in accounts belonging to some of Abacha’s close family and friends and […]
David Le Page You may just have recovered from your Lovebug woes. But if you’re a Hotmail user, don’t breathe easy just yet. A new security flaw in the Microsoft-owned free e-mail service has been uncovered, which potentially allows crackers (malevolent hackers) to access your Hotmail account, read and delete your mail, and send messages […]
Jubie Matlou Papi Nkosi (58) cuts a humble figure. He does not mind taking a seat on a concrete slab for a press interview, nor does he hesitate to draw water from a tap with the palm of his hand. Such character and personality contrast sharply with Nkosi’s recently found fortune: exporting 800 tonnes of […]
Barry Streek No one can be unfairly discriminated against in the workplace on the basis of HIV status, and an employee may not be dismissed simply because he or she is HIV-positive or has Aids, according to a draft code drawn up by the Department of Labour. The code also lays down that no employer […]
Chris McGreal in Freetown The young black man with a Sierra Leone accent insisted that he was indeed William Edward Floode. It said so on his Welsh birth certificate; born October 1975 in South Glamorgan. Floode pleaded that he has a brother in London and an aunt working for the United Kingdom probation service. There […]
The line between tax havens and offshore financial centres is fairly fuzzy, with most of the latter operating in the former Sarah Bullen A tax haven is one of those emotive phrases that conjur up images from a John Grisham novel: Lotharios in tailored suits popping over to an island for a day, azure seas, […]