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/ 30 September 2004
The Gaza Strip was bracing itself for an Israeli military assault on Wednesday night after a Hamas rocket attack on an Israeli town killed two children, one an infant. Ariel Sharon vowed to respond ”with severity” to the attack on the town of Sderot, which wounded another 20 people, some of them children. Late on Wednesday night, missiles ploughed into the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing two Palestinians, one a policeman.
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/ 30 September 2004
Most of the historic Wanderers cricket clubhouse in Johannesburg was destroyed by fire on Wednesday night. By 9.30pm flames were still raging in one corner of the building — three hours after the fire first began. Emergency services said the situation was under control, although less than a third of the building was still intact.
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/ 30 September 2004
Ken Bigley, the British engineer who has been held hostage in Iraq for two weeks, appeared in chains on a video on Wednesday night begging for his life but saying for the first time that his kidnappers did not want to kill him. Bigley (62) appeared haggard but unhurt. He frequently broke down and sobbed as he spoke, at times grasping his head in his hand.
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/ 30 September 2004
Last week users of the Wikipedia.org published its one-millionth article, making it the world’s largest and fastest growing encyclopedia according to the Wikimedia Foundation. A "wiki" is a website that allows users to edit and contribute to its contents with no limitations. This means, practically speaking, that any person can go onto a wiki and change the pages and save them with little or no technical knowledge at all.
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/ 30 September 2004
If there is one lesson to be drawn from events over the past month in the Free State, Gauteng and Eastern Cape, it is the central importance of mature political leadership. Confronted by the <i>M&G</i> with serious allegations against provincial minister Angie Motshekga, Gauteng has acted quickly, ordering a set of investigations into reports that she unfairly privileged an empowerment trust.
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/ 30 September 2004
The world seems to be swiftly and quietly stepping into the Twilight Zone, on a number of different fronts. This is the week that an extinction-level asteroid is flying past us — with almost no mention of it in the mass media, US warships are off the coast of North Korea, there appears to be something happening with the position of the Moon, and most frightening to me — I can’t find the organic shampoo I like.
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/ 30 September 2004
What is most likely to swing the US election one way or the other? Bush and Kerry reckon it’s sex appeal. With six weeks to go before the presidential election, one of the best ways to find out how a woman is likely to vote is to check her ring finger. Gary Younge comments on two misguided campaigns to woo the single American woman.
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/ 30 September 2004
The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein dismissed an urgent bail application by alleged Boeremag member Adriaan van Wyk on Wednesday. Van Wyk is one of the 22 accused in the Boeremag trial in the Pretoria High Court. They are charged with treason, murder and attempted murder. Van Wyk was earlier denied bail in the Pretoria High Court, which found he could prove no unusual circumstances requiring his release on bail.
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/ 30 September 2004
Since the front section of this paper seems to be getting all the good stories, Oom Krisjan is happy to be the first to bring details of Travelgate II. On a recent whip-around of city press clubs to tell the public why they are not a bunch of high-flying gadabouts, the speakers of the National Assembly and the National Council of Whatever all arrived in the Big Smoke on the same plane. Definitely a step in the right direction, you’d say.
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/ 30 September 2004
Former world number one Kim Clijsters made a winning return to the WTA victory against Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic in the second round of the 000-tournament in Hasselt, Belgium. The second seeded Clijsters will now face either countrywoman Els Callens or Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria in the quarterfinals.