Hila Bouzaglou

Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride on Wednesday denied being drunk on the night he rolled his car in late December last year. McBride had left a metro year-end function after he played a game of football and was "not feeling well". But he said he has no "personal recollection" from the time he left the function.

The apparent "emergency" in Eden Park to which Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride was rushing before he rolled his car in December did not exist, according to media reports on Tuesday. Meanwhile, police have confirmed they will investigate whether McBride was drunk at the time of the accident.

An anti-De Beers website, <i>Boycottdebeers.com</i>, was launched on Tuesday, accusing the South African diamond company and the Botswana government of forcing the country’s Bushmen from their land. The launch of the website coincides with a court ruling on the matter, expected on Wednesday.

The Soweto Gospel Choir used to joke about one day winning a Grammy, says their executive producer, Beverly Bryer. But their joke may become a reality after their album <i>Blessed</i> was last week nominated for a 2007 Grammy. Traditional music group Ladysmith Black Mambazo were also nominated.

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/291293/aidsday06.gif" align=left>"Rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals" was the first article published on HIV/Aids, when no one even knew the virus yet. We take a look at 25 years in which the media — particularly South African media — have struggled with ethics, advocacy and fatigue when dealing with HIV/Aids.

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/291293/aidsday06.gif" align=left>Friday brings another World Aids Day, and while some aspects of the disease are relatively under control in South Africa, the epidemic has created ripple effects of complex issues that go unnoticed. One of these issues is the high rate of depression among HIV/Aids caregivers.

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/291293/aidsday06.gif" align=left>Traditional healers gathered this week under the scorching Limpopo sun in Polokwane on Monday to receive a "speaking book" that is meant to encourage them to combine traditional methods of healing with Western ways of dealing with depression and suicidal patients — especially those living with HIV/Aids.

When rings have been exchanged, tearful "I dos" have been uttered and empty champagne bottles are all that remain after a wedding reception, newlyweds embark on their honeymoon. And now, it seems, hotels and lodges around South Africa are opening their doors to newlyweds who are both in tuxedos or white dresses — gay honeymooners.

A group of thieves with an eye for fashion pillaged through a clothing warehouse in Bedfordview, Johannesburg, over the weekend, robbing Sneakers International of more than R1-million worth of clothing and shoes. The thieves disabled the alarm system on the roof and entered the warehouse on Saturday night at about 10.30pm.

Now you can make money while you look for a job. A new South African social-networking website, <i><a href="http://www.employmint.co.za/" target="_blank" class="standardtext">Employmint.co.za</a></i>, was launched this week and will be turning the recruitment business on its head.

Night of 1 000 Drawings, taking place in Johannesburg in November, is based on a concept first implemented in New York. It is a one-night-only exhibition for which anyone, famous or not so famous, can donate drawings. These will be sold to the public for R100 each, with proceeds going to an organisation taking care of the city’s homeless.

Lesinewu opens his mouth and bites into an invisible tower of bread he is pretending to hold in his hands. He is in grade six and an athlete for Riverlea Primary, a small school in the south-west of Johannesburg. He says he needs six sandwiches because he is always running. Almost a third of his school’s 890 pupils receive a daily government lunch.

In contrast to the United States government’s criminalisation of online gambling, the South African government is legalising the industry in an attempt to regulate and control it. Online gambling — said to be worth millions — is currently illegal in South Africa, but the Department of Trade and Industry has given a draft amendment Bill (which will allow for the licensing of online casinos in South Africa) to the Cabinet for approval.

A new keyboard has been developed that will allow typing in all 11 official languages in South Africa, said Dwayne Bailey this week, director of <i><a href="http://www.translate.org.za/" target="_blank" class="standardtext">translate.org.za</a></i>, a non-governmental organisation focused on the localisation of open-source software into all 11 official languages. The keyboard will allow a person to type all characters needed by the Venda, Northern Sotho, Tswana and Afrikaans languages.

There is hardly any light in the house at 11am. Pieces of cardboard patch broken windows, there are plates and cups piled high in the sink and a thick layer of dust covers the floral pattern of the main bedroom’s duvet. "We use [our parents’ bedroom] to keep stuff in … no one sleeps there anymore," says Thando*, twin sister of Thabo*, who at 14 is an orphan and the head of her household in the dusty township of Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg.

While the bitter taste of antiretrovirals may cause some young children to vomit, the lingering taste helps 11-year old Thumi* remember to take her medicine. Thumi will have to take four tablets, twice a day, for the rest of her life. "She was very sick. She had swollen glands, chronic diarrhoea and she was very thin … Now she’s like any child," says Thumi’s mother, Khetiwe Nkosi.

Without science and scientists, Africa is doomed to fail in the implementation of the eight Millennium Development Goals, Minister of Science and Technology Mosibudi Mangena said at a media briefing on Monday. He was discussing the role of science in helping South Africa deal with poverty, economic growth and sustainable development.

Just when you think every idea under the blogging sun has been thought of, someone comes along with a simple, yet genius, plan to get people creatively interacting. Renaud Dehareng (30), of Brussels, Belgium, works in municipal social assistance by day, but when he has free time he runs the strange, quirky blog called <i>Sho()tmyblog.blogspot.com</i>.