The Israeli military said on Friday that three Gaza children killed this week were playing next to a rocket launcher when the army mistook them for militants and opened fire. The three young cousins were killed on Wednesday when Israeli troops combating Palestinian rocket squads spotted figures moving near rocket launchers in northern Gaza.
Princess Diana’s family solemnly marked the 10th anniversary of her death on Friday, with her younger son eulogising her as ”the best mother in the world”. The bishop of London used his sermon to call for an end to the sniping between Diana’s fans and detractors, and a priest who has led an annual memorial said it may now be time to let go.
Piet Bothma, the suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court in connection with the Fidentia saga. It was Bothma’s second court appearance. He was recently arrested as a third suspect in the affair.
Hilly Kristal, the founder of New York punk rock club CBGB, which helped make the Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads stars, has died at age 75, his daughter said on Wednesday. Kristal died on Tuesday from complications of lung cancer, his daughter, Lisa Kristal Burgman, said.
South Africa has denied it blamed Britain for Zimbabwe’s isolation in a report prepared for a regional summit earlier this month. The office of President Thabo Mbeki denied that the government produced a report on Zimbabwe critical of Britain before Mbeki briefed leaders of the Southern African Development Community on his mediation efforts in mid-August.
Gwen Ansell reviews Meg Samuelson’s <i>Remembering the Nation, Dismembering Women? Stories of the South African Transition </i> and Siphiwo Mahala’s <i>When A Man Cries</i>.
Lauren Basson looks at two films with hip-hop as a theme to be screened in September at the Tri-Continental Film Festival.
South African feminist writer Stephanie Vermeulen argues that men too are the victims of cultural forces that distort their lives. Her book <i>Stitched-Up: Who Fashions Women’s Lives?</i> will be published in the US this year, making her one of the first South African non-fiction feminist authors to be published there, writes Andrea Vinassa.
Esther Addley asks whether Amy Winehouse’s overdose will make the talented singer alter her lifestyle.
Ben Okri has been described as a ‘literary visionary’ and ‘irritatingly pseudomystical’. His latest novel, <i>Starbook</i>, continues his quest to capture Africa, writes Maya Jaggi.