Rising world oil prices have given fresh impetus to an as yet fruitless 40-year search for the black gold on and near the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, officials there said on Monday. ”Since the rise in the price per barrel, several foreign oil companies have signed exploration licences in Madagascar,” said Ignace Randrianasolo, head of fossil fuels at the Office of Mines and Strategic Industries.
Janet Leigh, who has died aged 77, appeared in about four dozen films in a Hollywood career that began in 1947. But the single role that ensured her a continuing place in movie history was that of Marion Crane, who meets her fate in the gleaming white of a motel bathroom in the extraordinary shower murder sequence of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
Two United States researchers on Monday shared the 357 839 Nobel prize for physiology or medicine for their discovery of the molecular machinery behind the scent of lilac in the spring, the bouquet of a vintage burgundy or the smell of napalm in the morning.
Israeli forces have demolished the homes of hundreds of Palestinians, bulldozed swaths of agricultural land and destroyed infrastructure in their bloodiest assault on the Gaza Strip in years. More than 70 people have died in Operation Days of Penitence, launched in northern Gaza six days ago after a Hamas rocket attack killed two Israeli children.
President Thabo Mbeki has made a withering attack on commentators who argue that violent crime is out of control in South Africa, calling them white racists who want the country to fail. He said crime was falling but some journalists distorted reality by depicting black people as ”barbaric savages” who liked to rape and kill.
There’s modest growth in the broadsheets, but the really big circulation gains in local weekly newspapers are coming from the tabloids. Andy Davis unravels a segment that mirrors the international trends.
Throughout the developing world appropriate microfinance has helped address the poverty and vulnerability of millions of poor households in the informal sector. The United Nations has declared 2005 the Year of Microcredit. With a few exceptions, however, South Africa lacks the sort of poverty-oriented microfinance institutions common in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Why is this?
The week before last, Dr Anban Pillay made certain statements about pharmacists and pricing regulations ("Pills without frills"). The Department of Health is now in the unenviable position of having to deal with the aftermath of introducing a fee that, in the words of Judge Jeanette Traverso, appears to be a "thumbsuck". Lorraine Osman exercises her right to reply.
Smarting after the setbacks in New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England, the senior cricketers of South Africa’s national side are getting ready for the November visit to India and will be warming up in the opening round of the new Supersport Series matches this week. The pick of the crop is set for the Sahara Stadium (Kingsmead) in Durban from Thursday to Sunday as the relatively inexperienced KZN Dolphins line up against the might of Western Province-Boland.
If American businessman Malcolm Glazer wants to buy Manchester United, he’ll have to overcome fierce opposition from fans of the famous English soccer club.
Worried about higher ticket prices and loss of the club’s British heritage, fans’ groups mobilised on Monday to block any takeover by the multimillionaire Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner.