Julian Drew THE opening ceremonies of both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games used Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech to portray the lofty ideals to which they aspire. But it is the Paralympics and their constant struggle against the stereotyping of disabled people with which King would probably have identified most. […]

Nick Cave takes a break from the horror to duet with Kylie Minogue in London. SAM TAYLOR was there THE moment is so perfect, it might have been choreographed. Nick Cave, rock’s prince of darkness, ambles on stage at London’s Brixton Academy and is suddenly caught in the spotlight’s glare. His knees buckle, he covers […]

THESE are just some of the recent cases reported in the press of policemen who have fallen foul of the law. * Three members of the flying squad at Thabong near Welkom in the Free State goldfields have been arrested in connection with a robbery at a hostel in the township. They allegedly stole R450 […]

Robert Mugabe’s marriage to his former secretary has changed the face of Zimbabwe’s political hierarchy forever, reports Iden Wetherell WHEN President Robert Mugabe returned to Harare last weekend from his brief honeymoon in Cape Town and an even briefer South African Development Community summit stopover in Maseru, it was immediately clear that things would never […]

CRICKET: Mike Selvey IF ever there was an illustration of the vast chasm that English bowlers must cross before they can compete with the best in the world, it came late last Monday afternoon. Wasim Akram had taken 298 wickets in Tests and with two more English wickets there for the taking, was keen to […]

Special effects take the lead role in Independence Day, the fastest-earning movie of all time. JONATHAN FREEDLAND explains the monster hit DIALOGUE doesn’t get much of a look-in in Independence Day, the sci-fi blockbuster now blowing US box-office records out of the sky like so many enemy alien spaceships. What with the hi-tech crushing of […]

border Has the North American Free Trade Agreement merely ushered in looser restrictions for the drug trade? John Ward Anderson reports from San Ysidro United States customs inspector Robert Bickers — the “linebacker” who tackles drug dealers trying to run back to Mexico when their cars are nabbed in surprise inspections — pointed to a […]

Marion Edmunds The old and the crippled, the blind and the lame of Nyanga and beyond in the Western Cape are furious with Welfare Department officials, who they say make their already tough lives a nightmare. They want to tell the politicians they are not getting the grants they were promised which are all they […]

RUGBY: Robert Armstrong TWICKENHAM is putting the finishing touches to a new gilt-edged international fixture list for 1997 in response to England’s likely exclusion by the other home unions from the Five Nations Championship. Plans by Wales, Scotland and Ireland to set up an alternative championship along with France were discussed at a meeting in […]

Ian Katz in New York The American rock group REM, unremarkable looking thirty-somethings whose catchy tunes are hummed by teenagers, have become the highest paid group in the world after signing a record $80-million contract with Warner Brothers. The deal could trigger a rush of “me, too” demands from other established artists, just as a […]