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/ 24 February 2005
Spying hasn’t worked, and neither has shooting. So the United States has turned to its great cultural weapon to flush out Osama bin Laden — television. After a fruitless three-year hunt, the US is funding advertisements on Pakistani television which it hopes will touch the hearts of those close to the elusive al-Qaeda leader.
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/ 24 February 2005
The fight against HIV/Aids is being hampered by a massive shortage of condoms — only about one-tenth of the 10,8-billion needed were available in developing countries in 2003 and there seems little chance of meeting a target of 18,6-billion by 2015.
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/ 24 February 2005
MPs from Kenya’s ruling party on Wednesday announced that they would push for a vote of no confidence in the president, a critical test of the government, which is under concerted pressure from western powers over its failure to fight corruption. Despite being elected on an anti-graft platform in 2003, the administration has been engulfed by allegations of sleaze.
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/ 24 February 2005
It is easy to be blasé about the Budget and label it ”boring” — but we shouldn’t. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has once again announced major increases in spending, symbolically important tax cuts and a reduced budget deficit — the headline measure of sound fiscal management.
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/ 24 February 2005
The United States President, George Bush, and Germany’s Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on Wednesday put an end to an era of bitterness over Iraq when they pledged to work together on a range of international issues including climate change and Iran.
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/ 24 February 2005
Watching and listening to Bush in Brussels this week it was impossible not to see that this is a very different politician from the one who was taped by Doug Wead as he weighed his first run for the White House in the late 1990s. ”It’s me versus the world,” the then Texas governor told Wead. ”The good news is, the world is on my side. Or more than half of it anyway.”
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/ 23 February 2005
Some investigative reports are excellent, and have made a major contribution to the cause of holding public officials accountable. Others range from the so-so to the completely dodgy. To help tell one from the other, here is a readers’ guide to the good, the bad and the ugly of investigative journalism.
Click on image for full-size view.
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/ 23 February 2005
The European Union threatened on Wednesday to slap unspecified ”measures” on the West African nation of Togo, where Faure Gnassingbe has been installed as President by the army. The EU said it fully supports efforts aimed at restoring ”constitutional order and the democratic process” to Togo.
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/ 23 February 2005
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The tobacco industry has reacted with mixed feelings to Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s announcement on Wednesday of an increase of 7,5% and 14,9% in tobacco tax, saying the increase will add to the attractiveness of South Africa as a target market for groups who deal in counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes.