South Africa’s gold producers are pooh- poohing the effects of the IMF’s proposed gold sale, but such a sale would set a dangerous precedent. Donna Block reports The proposed sale of 10% of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF)gold reserves to fund debt relief for poor developing countries is by no means a foregone conclusion. In […]
human life It all started in the mid-1980s when an excited gleam appeared in the eyes of a number of molecular biologists and biochemists. This was the outward sign of a dream that one day the entire human genome (the 70 to 100 000 genes that add up to a blueprint for a complete human) […]
The David Gleason Column The recent furore over the attempt by four New Africa Investments Limited executive directors to enrich themselves to the tune of R136-million is simply the last in what’s become a long line of bad news. So what’s really happening in the unofficial black economic empowerment programme and why does so much […]
THURSDAY, 11.30AM: BAFANA Bafana will play fellow World Cup qualifiers Romania in Bucharest in their final warm-up game in preparation for their opening World Cup match against France on June 12. The South Africans were scheduled to play Slovakia in their final warm-up, but South African Football Association CEO Danny Jordaan said the change was […]
Women make up two-fifths of the Internet audience. Yet very few Web businesses target them. It’s a lost opportunity, argues Azeem Azhar Why don’t women like the Web? Nearly four million of Britain’s 10-million Web users are women, and they are joining at a faster rate than men: four years ago women represented only 30% […]
Name: Kary Mullis Institution: Independent Field: Invented polymerase chain reaction Only rarely can you say of a scientist that, without him or her, the world would be a different place. But it is true of Kary Mullis, who is an integral part of the history of the genetic revolution. Mullis is an unlikely member of […]
Pakistan have the talent to win the World Cup, but first they have to stop the infighting. Kevin Mitchell reports There are few corners of Pakistani life untouched by cricket. When Benazir Bhutto was a love-struck student at Oxford, it is said she was snubbed by the game’s most eligible all-rounder, Imran Khan. In one […]
CD of the week Caroline Sullivan Until Catatonia came along – or until their breakthrough second album, International Velvet, did – few realised British rock had a niche shaped just like them. Now that they’ve filled it, the question seems obvious: how did pop get by without a Cerys Matthews? Catatonia’s singer and co-lyricist is […]
Loose cannon Robert Kirby In his triumphant world television publicity scoop last week the Reverend Jesse Jackson caused some serious ancillary damage. One would like to think that Jackson’s spectacular intercession in the Balkans tragedy was merely because he could simply no longer contain his Samaritan instincts. But it rather tempts logic not to consider […]
Mungo Soggot and Evidence wa ka Ngobeni Mbhazima Shilowa, the cigar-puffing trade union supremo in line to steer Gauteng into the 21st century, has clocked up a string of debt judgments while sustaining a luxurious lifestyle. Local credit agencies list four judgments in favour of banks against Shilowa for amounts ranging between R18 000 and […]
As a venue, the expansive informality of the restaurant atmosphere within On Broadway provides a perfect platform for the staging of British playwright John Godber’s outrageous comedy, Bouncers. There’s something appealing about watching a play that explores the dynamics of nightclub culture in a performance space smack in the midst of Cape Town clubland. Thematically, […]
Maggie Davey The artist formerly known as Sinead O’Connor has made a startling metamorphosis. Not content with having acted the role of the Virgin Mary in The Butcher Boy, a recent film by Neil Jordan, O’Connor has now been ordained (twice) in the Tridentine Catholic faith. In addition to paying 150 000 to finance an […]
Howard Barrell Six million potential voters – one in four – are excluded from voting on June 2. This leaves the way open for the African National Congress to win a two-thirds majority in Parliament with the support of just more than one-third of potential voters. These stark figures emerge from a study by the […]
plastic surgeon The November 20 to 26 edition of the Mail & Guardian carried a column by Angella Johnson headlined “An about-face on plastic surgery”. Plastic surgeon Dr Siegmund Johannes, who was featured in the article, laid a complaint with the Press Ombudsman, Ed Linington. This is his judgment. Angella Johnson, who writes a column […]
ESKOM and the operators of Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam are seeking international arbitration over a tariff dispute, a spokesman for the operating company said Tuesday. Portugal’s Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), wants to increase a 1988 tariff of two US cents per watt, but Eskom does not agree. HCB insists that the tariff is […]
The Ministry of Health says it needs proof of the effectiveness of AZT before it can accept discount offers for the drug. Aaron Nicodemus reports The Ministry of Health has so far refused to accept Glaxo Wellcome’s offer of a reduced price for anti-retroviral drugs, and maintains that there is not enough proof that anti-retroviral […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Thursday 9.20pm A RISING standoff between residents of the Dukuduku forest in northern KwaZulu-Natal and the provincial nature conservation service exploded on Thursday afternoon when police exchanged gunfire with residents. SABC1 news said eyewitnesses said the forest residents fired at the police, who retaliated. Three residents were arrested and the others […]
Internet Duncan Campbell European Commission documents obtained this week reveal plans to require manufacturers and operators to build “interception interfaces” into the Internet and digital communications systems. The plans, drafted by a United States-led international security organisation, will be proposed to European Union justice and home affairs ministers at the end of May. They appear […]
Neil Manthorp Cricket As far as rankings tell us anything, South African cricket lovers will find it very hard to keep a self- satisfied grin off their faces when they see the latest list of the world’s top 10 all-rounders in one-day cricket. Four of the top six are South African, including Hansie Cronje who […]
Friday night Matthew van der Want `I have numerous talents, but bringing back life to the dead is not one of them”. That’s what Professor Sherman no doubt still says to his Wits English students and it’s what I’m left thinking about the audience we play to in the middle of Friday afternoon on a […]
Alex Sudheim Though it only turned 10 this year, Splashy Fen is in the advanced stages of a mid-life crisis. As a person approaching their twilight years often chooses between growing old gracefully or disgracefully, so must one of South Africa’s largest music festivals decide whether to embrace the recklessness of youth or the quiet […]
Cameron Duodu:LETTER FROM THE NORTH The Kosovo crisis continues to cause great human suffering. But apart from the human casualties caused by Nato’s saturation bombing of Yugoslavia, there is another seriously injured party. Its name is the United Nations. The countries which are bombing Yugoslavia were almost all involved in drawing up the UN Charter […]
Gabriel Garca Mrquez on the crusading Colombian who could be the new Pope Cardinal Daro Castrilln Hoyos sleeps in the bed that Pope Pius XII died in. The painting of the Immaculate Conception hanging above the bronze bedhead once belonged to Leo XIII. His apartment, lying 30m from the border between Italy and the Holy […]
British investment strategists have predicted a turnaround in South Africa’s economic fortunes, writes Shaun Harris Don’t break out the champagne, sorry, sparkling wine, yet, but a reversal in the economic fortunes of the current world powerhouse and a fallen Eastern giant could bring vast benefits to South Africa. Optimism about the global economy in general […]
THE International Monetary Fund and Ghana on Monday signed a $209-million dollar-year loan program, with a first tranche of $30-million available immediately, the Fund said. The 1999-2001 program aims to reach economic growth of 6% from 5,6% in 1998, and to beat down inflation to 5% by 2001 from 19,3% last year, the Fund said […]
Stewart Dalby SpendingIt Buying antique furniture is a good investment, according to figures in British Antique Furniture: Price Guide and Reasons For Value, an annual report published by the Antique Collectors Club (ACC). This claims that antique furniture prices rose by 5% in 1998, out-performing a FTSE index of 500 shares and house prices in […]
Joan Smith:BODY LANGUAGE Spinster, old maid, maiden aunt: the single woman has never had a good press. Whether she is perceived to be in search of a man, or too late to find one, the single woman’s state has long been regarded as a misfortune or a threat. Yet any woman who has been single […]
Samu Zulu Zimbabwean women have no rights in their country and should be considered virtual sex slaves. That is the effect of two recent court rulings. Last month the Zimbabwe Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “the nature of African society” dictated that women are not equal to men. According to cultural norms, the court said, […]
Something very odd is happening on Wall Street. As the Dow Jones powered towards the 11 000 landmark this week, applauded enthusiastically at the closing bell, Nasdaq, home of the glamorous technology and Internet stocks, has been moving in the opposite direction. The two markets are increasingly being decoupled. On some 40% of trading days […]
Alex Brummer in Omaha, Nebraska A record 15 000 shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway – the world’s most eclectic investment group – gathered in Omaha, United States, recently in the hope of catching the sage words of their chair and CEO Warren Buffett at the group’s annual meeting. The crowds attending the meeting at the Ak- […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 6.00pm UNITED States pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb on Thursday announced it is launching a $100-million programme to address the growing HIV/Aids crisis in southern Africa. Partners in the initiative are South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland the United Nations. SABC1 news reports, however, that the firm intends testing on […]
Charlene Smith talks to a teen rape victim who is battling to rebuild her life Alexandra smiles and clasps her fine-boned hands tightly. “This week is a very bad one, things are building up, I argued with my principal, I feel as though I’m not matching up, my hockey is not my best, I’m getting […]