Robert Kirby : Loose Cannon I never thought the day would arrive when I would want to see some no-nonsense killer censorship deployed. But it did arrive, quite recently, with the exhibition in Grahamstown of what a lot of people believe is little more than child pornography going as art. Alas, the head of the […]

Tim Radford reports on a new probe of the red planet British scientists are hoping to land an instrument on Mars that will “sniff” the presence of extraterrestrial life. Beagle 2 – the name evokes Charles Darwin’s world- changing voyage aboard HMS Beagle in 1831 – could be launched aboard a European mission called Mars […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Friday 10.00PM. THE Zimbabwean government on Friday gazetted sweeping new regulations to control rallies and marches, intended to increase the state’s control over political expression. In future, organisers will have to seek police permission in writing a week prior to events, specifying their purpose, and the business and details of proposed […]

Jackie Bennion When Internet darling Yahoo! announced its second-quarter earnings earlier this month, it not only sent Wall Street into a frenzy; it also made the founders of the Web search site, Jerry Yang and David Filo, the latest additions to the Billionaire Boys Club. Two weeks ago, Broadcast.com went public with the biggest opening […]

Steve Gordon : A Second Look The Gift to the Nation concerts last weekend disappointed not so much in what they were, but in what they were not. Boasting South Africa’s biggest-ever artist billing, we squandered the opportunity to assert and affirm our nation, our voice, our identity. Mega-concerts are notoriously difficult to organise, and […]

Gill Moodie The battle for your brain has arrived in South Africa as an international campaign over health fears linked to cellphone use begins to target local consumers. Leading the way in convincing local users that cellphone calls may be frying your brain is Johannesburg-based Radiation Cellutions, the local importers of Microshield, a British product […]

Andrew Worsdale Two movies open this week that show and show-up middle-class values. They savage the bourgeoisie as comfortable claptrap who, ironically enough, will be the ones who go to the art movie houses (where both films are being released) to see themselves being represented and slagged off. The first is The Happy War, a […]

TRISH MURPHY, Johannesburg | Friday 4.30PM. THE Angolan government is preparing for a full-scale offensive against Unita rebels, sources in Luanda and elsewhere in Angola report. Although Luanda denies it is preparing for war, it is also reported to be recruiting, as is Unita. Angolan president Eduardo Dos Santos this week was in France, and […]

The new municipal structures Bill negates municipalities’ rights to govern themselves, writes John Sewell The South African Constitution contains many glowing phrases, and none is as powerful to local politicians as Section 151(3): “A municipality has the right to govern, on its own initiative, the local government affairs of its community.” That section has been […]

Douglas Rushkoff : online Gathered together beneath the chandeliers of the Beverly Hilton’s main ballroom earlier this year, Hollywood’s best and brightest (dressed, anyway) had paid about $1 500 each to rub elbows with the interactive media-makers who would soon, they feared, replace them. Meanwhile, a demonstration floor crowded with technology from Compaq and other […]