One of the longest-standing puzzles of the universe could soon be solved, writes Marcus Chown In the 1960s, American spy satellites stumbled across something that no Pentagon strategist had ever predicted: a mysterious signal coming from the depths of space. The satellites, in orbit to catch the Russians if they violated the test-ban treaty by […]

FRIDAY, 12.00NOON: GAUTENG Lions and Gauteng Falcons meet in a Bankfin Currie Cup match at Ellis Park Stadium on Saturday. Many believe the match will be like a reunion of Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) as both teams have a number of RAU players in their team lists. There are 11 RAU players in the Lions’ […]

Ugandan moral watchdogs are outraged by local girlie magazines but the editors contend they put spice into life, writes Angella Johnson Ugandan publishers have discovered the maxim sex sells. I did it with an old man and liked it … No to condoms! Women want it live … Why virgins are a nightmare, are just […]

Swapna Prabhakaran meets Jean Franois Duroure, choreographer with a mission A Frenchman walks into a hostel in Jeppe, Johannesburg, and asks the Zulu workers there to show him how they dance. It sounds like the beginning of a Van der Merwe joke but Jean Franois Duroure, a dancer- choreographer with a mission, did this one […]

Holidays in hell: Profits count more than life and limb for some tour operators Ellen Bartlett World Leisure Holidays, the package tour division of Sun International, describes Les Comores as ?magical, mystical … the last of the unspoilt islands?. No doubt they are, or would be, were it not for the minor matter of simmering […]

Controversy surrounds the future of governing Johannesburg. Muff Andersson presents the options open to the city and its sub-structures This weekend there will be a private referendum in the white suburbs to determine whether residents of Johannesburg believe the city should remain governed by four separate sub-structures or be merged into one giant megacity. Regardless […]

Alex Haley may have fabricated much of Roots, writes Pascoe Sawyers, but the novel told a larger truth Like many first generation black Britons, I didnt even know I had African heritage until the mid-1970s. Before then, apart from the superficialities of skin colour and hair texture, it had never occurred to me that I […]

An international research group, including South African astronomer Dr John Menzies, has discovered what may be two Jupiter-like planets circling suns thousands of light years away. The Planet team, which involves observatories all over the world, measures the variations in brightness of selected stars near the centre of our galaxy. Certain kinds of variations, called […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Kaizer Chiefs and success were once synonymous. No South African season passed without the Amakhosi winning the national championship or at least one of the major knockout competitions. They were a great club, filling grounds throughout the country with a heady brew of attacking football. Ace Ntsoelengoe, Teenage Dladla, Fani Madida, Shane […]

Herbert W Vilakazi There is a most serious economic crisis facing this country, even though, like an earthquake or a tornado, it affects different communities differently, depending on how close they are to the epicentre of the destructive force. In recent years, our economy has barely been growing faster than the population; the level of […]