Stephen Gray MACBRIDE’S BRIGADE: IRISH COMMANDOS IN THE ANGLO-BOER WAR by Donal P McCracken (Four Courts Press, Dublin) Under the Brixton Sentech tower there is a curious monument in memory of those who lost their lives fighting for the Boer cause a century ago in the various Irish Transvaal Brigades. Opened by Betsie Verwoerd in […]
The Unemployment Insurance Bill imposes harsh penalties on defaulting employers Barry Streek The extensive revamping of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) will not only extend cover to domestic workers and seasonal workers, but is also aimed at putting the fund on a sounder financial basis and giving it a more representative board of control. The […]
David Beresford ANOTHER COUNTRY A British judge, Justice Martin Stephens, found himself in hot water last week during a case in the Old Bailey when he told the court that he had difficulty distinguishing one Ethiopian witness from another. The judge was trying to be helpful at the time, advising members of the jury as […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 5.10pm STRUGGLING state-owned diamond miner Alexkor forecast on Friday that it will halt its spiral of losses this year, helped by continuing initiatives to try to cut costs ahead of its possible privatisation. Alexkor CEO Larry Neuhoff said the mine, which has made losses since 1994, expects to show […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 7.00pm SHARES end lower for the third day in a row, with the all share index at a three-month low as futures players jostle for positions ahead of the the March contracts close-out next Thursday. The all share index ended 19 points or 0,25% at 7925, its lowest closing level […]
ZIMBABWE’S foreign exchange market remains critically short of hard cash on Thursday, with traders only looking to tobacco earnings from April to bring some relief. Traders quoted the Zimbabwe dollar unchanged at Z$37,9 to the US unit, its trading level since June under 15-month old partial controls by banking chiefs which averted a return to […]
Marianne Merten A top Cape gang leader and alleged child prostitution kingpin has been arrested on several charges of child prostitution, abduction, rape and assault. Amien Andrews, leader of the Hol Boys gang, will remain in jail until at least April, when he will bring a bail application before the Cape Town Regional Court. The […]
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‘To me the core of film-making is to stir the emotions of the audience,’ says Frank Darabont, director of tear-jerking prison movie The Green Mile. Stuart Jeffries tries not to laugh.
SEVENTEEN people have been killed by a viral Marburg-type haemorrhagic fever among 38 cases registered in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo. The outbreak occurred in the Durba region of Orientale province, according to state radio. A Marburg fever epidemic claimed 70 lives in the same region between January and May 1999. Marburg fever, […]