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/ 11 December 2006
Fiji’s balmy South Pacific vistas stand in sharp contrast to its occasionally nasty politics, so the coup in Suva is a familiar reversion to type. Like the three previous military takeovers since independence, this one — happily bloodless — is rooted in old tensions between the country’s majority Melanesian community and the economically dominant Indians who make up 44% of the island’s population.
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/ 11 December 2006
In a slick, glass television studio in an office block on the southern outskirts of Paris, a new front in the war on ”Anglo-Saxon” cultural imperialism opened up recently. President Jacques Chirac’s decade-old dream of a ”CNN Ã la Francaise” to rival BBC World and United States 24-hour news channels is finally to launch after years of wrangling and in-fighting, promising a revolution in world news.
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/ 11 December 2006
There are rumours that treasury boss Dr Herbert Murerwa and central bank chief Dr Gideon Gono are at one each other’s throats. They reportedly regularly have SMS wars, with a defiant Gono reminding his boss that they are ”working for the same government, and that he [Murerwa] should be patriotic and listen to him,” treasury insiders say.
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/ 11 December 2006
I have a good dose of melanin, making me one of the darker people prowling the streets of Johannesburg. I was born and brought up in Kenya. I carry a Kenyan passport and have official recognition as a Kenyan citizen. I can vote, run for political office and join the Kenyan army — if I want to. I love ugali, the Kenyan, harder version of pap.
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/ 11 December 2006
Widespread insecurity in eastern Chad is putting a severe strain on humanitarian operations, with rebel activity rendering large parts of the terrain impassable. Aid workers were already struggling to cope with 230 000 refugees as well as 90 000 internally displaced Chadians, when rebels stepped up their offensives in the area two weeks ago.
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/ 10 December 2006
Gunmen killed nine members of two Shi’ite families in a mostly Sunni neighbourhood of Baghdad on Sunday and police found the bodies of 60 more apparent victims of sectarian killings gripping the capital. A father and three sons from another family were also killed in the attack in Jihad district, officials and relatives said.
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/ 10 December 2006
Former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990 and spent his old age fighting human rights, fraud and corruption charges, died on Sunday. He was 91. Pinochet, who was diabetic and had been in frail health for years, suffered a heart attack last week and underwent an angioplasty. His son then said the surgery had brought him back from the brink of death.
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/ 10 December 2006
South Africa has failed to provide its children with a way out of poverty, damning them to a life of violence and deprivation, a new report cited by a Sunday newspaper said. The report by the African Union’s (AU) Peer Review panel found that children in the country were facing an uphill struggle as families and schools disintegrate, leaving them without social support structures.
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/ 10 December 2006
Going from bad to worse, a shambolic Mamelodi Sundowns conceded two goals in the final 10 minutes and crashed to their second defeat against Ajax Cape Town within the space of a week on Saturday night. Looking disjointed and dispirited throughout, the Brazilians gained a fortuitous lead in the 73rd minute through the enigmatic Lerato Chabangu.
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/ 10 December 2006
Alex Ferguson has saluted the spirit and determination of his Manchester United squad after watching them end a gruelling week with victory in the derby clash with Manchester City. Goals from Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo delivered a 3-1 win and increased the pressure on champions Chelsea, who were due to kick off against Arsenal on Sunday nine points behind the league leaders.