With Alan Greenspan changing his views on inflation, a split in the Federal Reserve may be a possibility, reports Mark Tran in New York It is time to reassess Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan’s image as a party pooper. The usual view of Greenspan is that of an anti-inflation hawk, quick to tighten and slow […]

WARRING factions in the African National Congress Women’s League have been told to patch up their differences and come together to jointly plan a crucial and long-overdue national conference to take place before the end of December, when fresh leadership elections will take place. The move marks the start of what ANC leaders hope will […]

Sandton businesses and residents are boycotting rate hikes. But residents of Alexandra — a Sandton suburb where people are more used to boycotts — told the M&G they thought Sandton residents should pay up ` It is very infair for the government to increase rates by 300%. I think the residents of Sandton are right […]

Happy Tom Thousands of poor people in the Eastern Cape are benefiting from cattle and sheep rustling which is devastating commercial farmers in the region. “Thandi”, a 45-year-old woman who lives in the Joza township, Grahamstown, has three hungry children to feed. Tonight they will feast. Thandi has a whole sheep in her fridge. It […]

Make way, lads — the lasses want more of the game. Anne Coddington reports on the quiet revolution in the coverage of sport that’s raising the profile of women IT IS 4.46pm on Saturday and the first results come tripping out of the teleprinter. Des, Trev, Gary and Stubbsy are familiar faces as the post-match […]

Ian Traynor in Bonn The epidemic of tax evasion scandals plaguing Germany’s banks and industrialists spread this week to the upper reaches of Commerzbank, following the disclosure that its chairman and three other senior figures are being investigated for alleged financial misdemeanours. This follows on the heels of the biggest tax fraud inquiry so far, […]

Jacquie Golding-Duffy provides a first taste of Comtask’s findings on the South African Communications Services and the print industry Deputy president thabo Mbeki’s task group on government communications — Comtask — will recommend that the South African Communications Services (Sacs) be dissolved and replaced with a new and much leaner government structure. This will allow […]

The traditional lifestyle of a small fishing community in the Cape is being destroyed by developers, reports Rehana Rossouw FISHERFOLK living for generations on the beachfront in Paternoster are being forced out of their homes to make way for tourists and have now discovered they were probably robbed of their right to the riches of […]

Larry Elliott reports on the economic effect of shackling British trade unions THOSE of us who dislike Manchester United winning everything in football all the time should take some lessons from the way the British government has handled the unions these past 18 years. The first thing to do is insist that United are not […]

THE enduring memory I have from addressing a group of pro-government students at the University of Cape Town recently is the expression “you must not say …”. They objected to hearing opinions and points of view different from their own. These students had probably not interacted with a senior representative of the Azanian People’s Organisation […]