A comparison of Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s nationalism to that of Nazism prompted outrage on Thursday, with one top minister calling the former leader who said it an ”unguided missile”. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating, who led the country from 1991 until defeated by Howard in 1996, used a speech on Wednesday to accuse Howard of being a Nazi-like nationalist.
Pakistanis buried bodies on Thursday from among more than 70 followers of a revolutionary cleric, a day after commandos killed the last few gunmen hiding in the ruins of the Red Mosque. Anger ran deep in tribal parts of north-west Pakistan, though sentiment in most of the country sided with President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to send in the army.
Rudy Giuliani’s most compelling credential for his run for the White House — his leadership during the September 11 terror attacks — was criticised on Wednesday by fire union leaders and relatives of firefighters killed at the World Trade Centre. His rivals, Republican campaign strategists and political commentators were divided on Wednesday over whether he is capable of a comeback.
The government withdrew the licences of all private slaughterhouses on Wednesday, accusing them of defying orders to reduce meat prices by 50% in the state’s attempts to rein in rampant inflation. Their closure was expected to worsen already severe meat shortages.
The death of actor Bill Flynn on Wednesday will leave a huge hole in the drama world, his friend of 40 years and fellow actor Paul Slabolepszy said. ”As a creative artist, Bill was one of the best in the world,” said Slabolepszy, who had once been a student with Flynn at the University of Cape Town. ”This is such a shock.”
Cape Judge President John Hlophe misled the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) and the public over money he took from an asset management firm, new evidence indicates. The Mail & Guardian has obtained discovery documents that the Oasis financial services group was required to file in its aborted defamation suit against Judge Siraj Desai.
In a first for Africa, the Cape Town metropolitan council is drawing up a policy to tackle the xenophobic upsurge that has seen dozens of Somali traders driven from the city’s townships. But critics complain about the slow pace of implementation and say it has been watered down.
In a damning 59-page catalogue of policy advice to the Zimbabwean government, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono spells out his repeated attempts to persuade the government to change course and save the country from imminent economic collapse and ruin. The Mail & Guardian is in possession of the document.
The acting fraternity was "utterly devastated" by the death of Bill Flynn on Wednesday, said producer Bobby Heaney. "Bill was the most loved actor in the whole country." Flynn’s highly successful career included leading roles in more than 140 stage plays, musicals, 42 films and dozens of television shows.
A former Scorpions advocate was bitten, assaulted, tied up with duct tape and two attempts were made to rape her, the Pretoria Regional Court heard on Wednesday. The grandson of an employee at the Namibian high commission is accused in the case.