MONDAY, 4.00PM MILITIA loyal to former Congolese dictator Denis Sassou Nguesso fired heavy weapons at the parliament in Brazzaville on Monday, after sporadic fighting resumed in the Congo capital on Sunday. Violating a ceasefire, the rebels are firing to prevent the swearing-in of the constitutional council, which is to decide whether elections scheduled for July […]

MONDAY, 12.00 NOON: ANDREW MATABOLA made another successful defence of his South African featherweight title, after a fifth-round technical knockout win over challenger Terrence Nkosi, to win the Old Buck championship belt at Nasrec outside Johannesburg on Sunday. Nkosi didn’t put up much of a fight – he was knocked down twice in the fourth […]

A newspaper report that tied a top band to an audience uprising got it hopelessly wrong, reports MARIA McCLOY WHILE one edition of the Sunday Times (the one aimed at the paler natives) last weekend led with a story and picture detailing the recovery of the South African Everest expedition photographer Bruce Herrod’s camera and […]

FRIDAY, 11.00AM The free-spending Independent Broadcasting Authority has a R3,8-million deficit on last year’s budget and is set to spend R9-million in excess of this year’s budget, according to a report by auditors Deloitte & Touche. Earlier this year, IBA CEO Harris Gxaweni was suspended for failing to institute financial controls, and five of the […]

Tom Hibbert on Abel Ferrara IT was four years ago that I first set out to interview Abel Ferrara, the “maverick” film director whose talent to shock seems unparalleled. His Bad Lieutenant – in which Harvey Keitel plays a corrupt copper who is coked to the gills, given to masturbating in public and having writhing […]

DJ Shado Twala in the 15-minute interview. By CHARL BLIGNAUT Charl Blignaut: Hey, what on earth are you doing in Cape Town? Shado Twala: I’m trying to fix a plug. I’ll probably electrocute myself halfway through this phone call. CB: There goes your future in radio. ST: And my baby’s, most likely. CB: How old’s […]

FRIDAY, 3.00PM ANGOLA’S Unita rebel movement, apparently preparing to return to war with the Angolan government in the north of the country, is receiving war matriel from South Africa, according to reports by the Institute for Security Studies. Institute senior researcher Jakkie Potgieter said that during filed trips last November and in March, he saw […]

FRIDAY, 10.30AM The all gold index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange was hammered down to a four-year low on Thursday as the gold price tumbled in New York on Wednesday to below the key $240/oz level, and closed in London at $339,75. On Thursday it recovered slightly in New York to close at $340,65. The […]

THE full-page advertisements inserted in South African newspapers (including the Mail & Guardian) by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association over the last week should be recognised for what they are: a crude attempt to protect vested interests of an industry, the commitment of which to the public welfare is questionable to say the least. Headlined “Health […]