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/ 22 October 2004
Europe’s nuclear power industry on Thursday won an important boost when Electricité de France (EDF), the state-owned French electricity group, announced it would build a prototype â,¬3-billion next-generation plant on the Normandy coast. EDF says the new atomic reactor is safer, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than those in use.
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/ 22 October 2004
A United States soldier at the centre of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal was on Thursday sentenced to eight years for sexually and physically abusing detainees. Staff Sergeant Ivan ”Chip” Frederick (38) who admitted carrying out a mock electrocution of a detainee, was also given a reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay and a dishonourable discharge.
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/ 22 October 2004
A tale of prostitutes, old age, youthful beauty and the madness of love brought the Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez new critical acclaim on Thursday as his first novel for a decade reached book shops in the Spanish-speaking world. The book, described as a hymn to the renewing qualities of love and the rich possibilities of old age, has been lavished with praise by the critics.
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/ 22 October 2004
Staff members of the cash-squeezed daily newspaper <i>ThisDay</i> are scrabbling for jobs after media reports that closure is imminent. Journalists speaking to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> this week revealed a deep sense of commitment to the paper but anxiety for their future if a local partner is not found.
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/ 22 October 2004
Little more than a year into his presidency of the Pan Africanist Congress, Motsoko Pheko faces a coup at the party’s make-or-break conference to be held in Durban in December. Disgruntlement with his leadership is at fever pitch among regions and party chiefs. Pheko has absented himself from national executive committee (NEC) meetings since the April elections, where the PAC received only 0,73% of the votes.
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/ 22 October 2004
As the government’s plans to increase investment in electricity generation and transport infrastructure dramatically begin to take shape, a monumental capital-raising challenge is developing. And it is becoming clear that the fiscus will have to make a substantial contribution — something Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has so far only hinted at.
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/ 22 October 2004
President George W Bush’s special envoy, James Baker, who has been trying to persuade the world to forgive Iraq’s crushing debts, is simultaneously working for a commercial concern that is trying to recover money from Iraq, according to confidential documents. Baker’s Carlyle Group is in a consortium secretly proposing to try to collect $27-billion on behalf of Kuwait by using high-level political influence.
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/ 22 October 2004
Gold Fields executives are fighting for their jobs after Harmony launched a hostile R53-billion bid for the world’s fourth-largest gold producer this week. If shareholders accept Harmony’s takeover offer, Gold Fields’s head office will disappear, along with many of its senior executives. There are also job fears on the shop floor.
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/ 22 October 2004
The list of Great South Africans should have, and could have, shed some light on the most pertinent questions of our time. But such a ranking needs to include all of South Africa. To ensure the participation of the majority of South Africans, involve all forms of the media in the process. Highlight the connotations of greatness so that the electorate can make informed votes.
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/ 22 October 2004
Looking up the television rugby details the other day, I was reminded how effectively sponsorship has inveigled its way into our activities and enterprises. The electronic programme guide announced: Absa Currie Cup: Investec Western Province Stormers versus Mobil Blue Bulls at Securicor Loftus. 17:00 on DStv SuperSport 2. Six-in-one – not bad.