I’m not given to using exclamation marks much — I believe that even the most verbose person should use at most one a week, otherwise we devalue them. It is thus with interest that I direct my gaze at the file in front of me, marked "Test Car Notes and Specifications". At the bottom of the page for the Ford Fiesta ST, in my unmistakable scrawl, I see "lovely, lovely lovely!!!" and "9,5/10!!!"
News about the London bombings break at the same time J-Lo’s latest tantrum makes world headlines – welcome to the global village, courtesy of 24-hour media networks.
Childhood is a stage of human development full of promise and endless possibilities. The influences that shape the mind and body of the young person have lasting effects. These include the obvious such as factual knowledge and conceptual thinking as taught in schools, as well as the general development of value systems and a sense of morality as shaped by family and society. What, then, is the role of physical activity?
It may not be a sport that will make you a millionaire or take you to the Olympics, but youngsters still enjoy a good game of jukskei.
A pioneering language project that has been running for five years is facing closure because of the Gauteng department of education’s (GDE) reluctance to support it.
A mother who was slow to pay school fees ended up with a bill from lawyers that was more than her initial debt.
A leading African academic has warned that the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) is at risk of being overshadowed by the Commission for Africa, an initiative of the British government, and lead the continent into a new kind of colonialism. Professor Dani Nabudere, a prominent political analyst, claims: ”Nepad could become an appendage of the Blair commission.”
Walk around Rangoon and you’d never guess you were living in one of the world’s most brutal regimes. The military presence doesn’t feel overbearing. In plain clothes, though, lurk military intelligence agents. They are everywhere. And then there are the informers on street corners and at meeting places.
The South African, Mozambican and Zimbabwean ministers responsible for the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park held an encouraging meeting at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, on Friday, said Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Sunday.
Nelson Mandela and international music stars pressed the world’s richest nations to save lives with increased action against HIV/Aids and poverty at a benefit concert under the midnight sun in Norway’s Arctic. ”Let every child be a healthy child,” Mandela told the cheering crowd of almost 18 000. ”We know what to do and how much it will cost. We now need leadership, vision and political courage.”