Ann Eveleth and Khareen Pech South African troops could soon enter the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a 30 000-strong international peacekeeping force tasked to end the month-old conflict. The planned emergency force – mooted during a series of crisis talks in Durban this week – would draw together a combined total […]

Michael Finch Commonwealth Games Dope tests on lawn bowlers? Believe it. That’s how serious the South African team is taking its participation in the Commonwealth Games starting in Kuala Lumpur next week. Despite 13 medal-melting withdrawals, including athletics gold medal certainty Llewellyn Herbert, the team will travel to their second Commonwealth Games almost sure to […]

Mail & Guardian reporter Employees who are fed up with the nonsensical vocabulary and endless meetings of the modern workplace have found a way to undermine both with a new pastime: Buzzword Bingo. Instead of numbers, bingo cards are filled with the platitudes of business speak – terms such as “add value”, “going forward”, “synergy”, […]

David Sharrock in Zahara de los Atunes, Spain The rich, beautiful and powerful of Spanish society have chosen this wild corner of the Costa de la Luz, on the Atlantic side of the Rock of Gibraltar, as this summer’s place to see and be seen. But by night the beaches play host to a desperate […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Friday 8.30PM. THE rebel leader who instigated Sierra Leone’s civil war in 1991 has been charged with treason in Freetown. Foday Sankoh, head of the Revolutionary United Front, was led into a Freetown courtroom under heavy guard on Friday. He made no plea, and his case has been adjourned to September […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Friday 5.30PM. THREE promissory notes worth US$50-million which were issued by Mpumalanga’s Parks Board are legally binding and could potentially be used to take ownership of the province’s core game parks, Judge Willem Heath said on Friday. The notes, which are still in America but will be returned to South Africa […]

Melvyn Minnaar Wine Versace probably would have liked this. While certainly not flamboyantly haute couture, Versus would have appealed to him and Donnatella, who would not have turned down a glass or two of this prt- a-porter wine. And not only because it too goes under the same name as their garments and potions for […]

Since the JSE crash, South Africa’s biggest companies are dangerously undervalued, writes Donna Block While the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is going down in flames, its biggest and brightest companies are selling at fire-sale prices, attracting the attention of merchant bankers, multinational companies and international corporate pirates. With the collapse of the world’s financial markets, […]

There’s much more to Swaziland than jackpots and birdies, as Alex Sudheim found at the Siyavuka festival last weekend It really was high time that Swaziland celebrated itself with a national arts festival. The country turns 30 this weekend, and over three centuries as a distinct and separate people preceded their formal recognition as an […]