Jackal The world’s most wanted man goes on trial next week after a career in terrorism lasting two decades. But, as Alex Duval Smith reports from Paris, what he might say in court has governments quaking The shot which for more than 20 years established him as the world’s most wanted man was fired in […]

The Mail & Guardian thanks all its (growing) band of readers for their patience during the present transformation that the newspaper is undergoing, and would like to announce some major new additions in the coming weeks. At the end of November we will be launching Frontiers, a new weekly science, technology and computer section that […]

Malian photographer Seydou Keta, now in his 70s and showing his work at the Johannesburg Biennale, tells his own story aI was born around 1921 in Bamako. I’m the oldest in a family of five children. When I was seven or eight, my father, Ba Tikoro, and my uncle Timoko began teaching me how to […]

Gwen Ansell : In your ear There’s probably now more jazz available on Gauteng radio than ever before. The community radio stations (Alex FM, Voice of Soweto) used to provide generous helpings – particularly of African jazz – until their managements went into advertiser-directed playlist mode and imported pop started squeezing it out. Some survive; […]

Opposition parties are preparing to use the death penalty to whip the ANC. Will the ANC be able to withstand the pressure, asks Marion Edmunds A political fight over the death penalty is brewing between the African National Congress and opposition parties – one in which ANC leadership finds itself at odds with majority opinion. […]

As international wines become collector’s items never to be drunk, Melvyn Minnaar wonders what’s happening in the local industry They’re tasted well enough, most likely from little tulip-shaped tasting glasses. But then they’re deftly ejected from the taster’s mouth into what has been known as a spittoon since Queen Victoria. The examiner moves on to […]

From Collins Dictionaries: 1896 Radioactivity 1897 Aspirin 1898 Krypton 1899 gamine 1900 Labour Party 1901 Fingerprint 1902 Teddy bear 1903 Tarmac 1904 Fifa 1905 Sinn Fein 1906 Suffragette 1907 Allergy 1908 Borstal 1909 Jazz 1910 Girl Guide 1911 Air raid 1912 Schizophrenia 1913 Isotope 1914 Vorticism 1915 tank 1916 Dada 1917 Cheka 1918 Bolshie/Bolshy 1919 […]

The inventor who gave the world the pollution sniffer and the microwave oven has also made a brilliant contribution to the world of ideas – the Gaia theory. Fred Pearce reports James Lovelock, independent British inventor and Gaia guru, added to his trophy cabinet this month when he went to Japan to claim the Blue […]

Madeleine Roux The oasis that is the Andries Stockenstrm guest house comes as more than a surprise. The gigantic house with its wide, yellowwood plank floors gives on to a spacious stoep and a garden crammed with fruit trees. A delicious smell of rich wine sauces, herbs and fruity pud wafts through the house. Beatrice […]

The recent rape of a matriculant by four fellow scholars has highlighted that not even schools are safe any longer. Andy Duffy reports The 17-year-old Mitchells Plain schoolgirl should have been writing matric these past couple of weeks. Instead, she sits alone at home, victim of a gang rape. For legal reasons, the girl cannot […]