Twelve people were killed and the bride at a wedding party was among the wounded when US warplanes bombed the rebel-held Iraqi city of Fallujah early on Friday, doctors said. The US military said it was a ”precision strike” targeting leaders of Iraq’s most wanted man, the Al-Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.
President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry meet on Friday in a debate rematch as a new poll shows a shift toward the Democratic challenger. This time, Bush will be on the defensive going in, after a widely panned performance in last week’s debate, falling poll numbers, bad news out of Iraq and Friday’s release of the September jobs report.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling said on Friday that one of her characters will not survive the next book in her series about the young wizard — but refused to say who would die. Asked on her official web site whether she planned to kill off any more characters, Rowling replied, ”Yes, sorry.”
The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa moved further into uncharted territory on Friday as money continued to follow into local equities. A turnaround in European markets added to the positivity. By 11.55am, the all share and all share industrial indices were up 0.74% and 0.86% respectively. Resources rose 1.05%, the platinum mining index jumped 1.83% and the gold mining index gained 0.48%.
The board of Absa has accepted UK group Barclays’ bid for a greater than 50% stake in the South African bank, according to South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni. He made the disclosure while addressing Parliament’s Finance Committee on Friday, where he also attempted to dampen press speculation that the possible purchase by Barclays would result in a substantial inflow of foreign currency-denominated investment into the country.
Remembered most, perhaps, for her stormy affair with the artist Modigliani, Beatrice Hastings is "A treasure house … researched with true scholarly passion." Shirley Kossick looks at an analysis of a distinctive literary talent.
The last of his books to be published in his lifetime, the late Edward Said’s last offering makes striking non-psychoanalytic use of psychoanalytic writing. Derek Hook gets some cerebral stimulation.
It’s not often that you are approached by your government and dispatched to a former colony to celebrate its 10th year of democracy. It sure beats the hell out of being sent to Iraq. Basement Jaxx will be in SA this month as part of the British Council’s D+10 celebrations, writes Andy Davis.
<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> The lastest comic-book adaption for the screen, Hellboy blows its contemporaries Spider-Man and Catwoman right out of the water. It’s a huge orangey-red amount of fun, with a great deal of energy, style, intelligence and wit, writes Shaun de Waal.
The British High Commissioner to South Africa, Ann Grant, will on Sunday take part in a symbolic ”releasing ceremony” of amaHlubi king Langalibalele who died in captivity in 1889. The king’s great-grandson Prince Bekithemba Langalibalele said the ceremony in Estcourt would be significant because the king died while under house arrest and was still regarded as a prisoner.