Bolivia’s outgoing president, Carlos Mesa, who has offered to resign to help defuse three weeks of crippling protests, has warned that the country could slide into civil war unless early elections are held. ”The country cannot continue playing with the possibility of splitting into a thousand pieces,” he said.
Hillbrow’s once-dilapidated Smithshof building has undergone an extreme makeover by the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) — while tenants continued living in it. The renovation, which took place over six months, is seen as breaking new ground in the field of affordable inner-city housing.
Zimbabwe’s worst economic recession in years has given rise to a thriving black market in fuel, basic commodities and foreign currency. Basic foodstuffs are no longer available in shops. Shortages have pushed prices up by about 100% in the past six months.
To hear many South African Zionists, one would think there can be no good grounds, or unsullied motives, for impugning the state of Israel. All criticism apparently boils down to ignorance or worse, anti-Semitic prejudice. The Mail & Guardian, which makes no bones about its hearty dislike of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government, has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism in recent years.
Spraying walls or cloths with spores of a fungus that kills mosquitoes could greatly reduce malaria transmission, according to a report on the non-profit Science and Development Network website. Two studies were published on Friday on the issue in the reputable peer-reviewed journal Science.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw this week told Palestinian leaders in Ramallah that the creation of a Palestinian state was in their own hands, whatever the intentions of the Israeli government. Straw brushed aside a growing belief among Palestinian politicians that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has no desire to return to peace negotiations.
I am so disappointed with the Congress of South African Trade Unions this week. The federation, which projects itself as the nation’s moral torch-bearer since 1994, has fallen on its sword in its response to the political future of Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
In a rare move, the Nigerian President and head of the African Union, Olusegun Obasanjo, has publicly rebuked an AU Commission decision to appoint a special envoy to resolve an ongoing political standoff in Togo. Obasanjo told journalists in Lomé that he ”repudiated” a commission statement last week appointing former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda as special AU envoy to Togo.
The JSE Securities Exchange, currently trading at record levels of about 14 Â 000, ”has got the legs” to breach 15 Â 000 points, Mark Wurr, the head of trading at Global Trader 24/7, said recently. At 14 000 points, the JSE Securities Exchange is valued at a shade less than R2-trillion.
To be completed by all applicants for position as reporter/journalist in SABC news department. NB: The following questions are meant to test your general knowledge and your awareness of today’s South Africa. Answer the following questions as truthfully as you think necessary. Kirby puts SA’s media to the test.