Although now is not the right time to meddle with the inflation-targeting framework, an assessment will be appropriate once the dust has settled, said an economist on Wednesday.
Nearly three-million people in the developing world are now on drugs to prevent their HIV infection becoming Aids.
Doctors who carried out surgery on a Japanese man to remove a "tumour" had good news and bad news for him. He did not have cancer — but the "growth" that had been causing him pain was in fact a 25-year-old surgical towel.
World leaders gathered in Rome on Tuesday for a United Nations summit on food security as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged "hard decisions" and heavy investment in agriculture. "For years, falling food prices and rising production lulled the world into complacency," Ban said, adding: "Governments put off hard decisions."
Guitarist and songwriter Bo Diddley, who died of heart failure on June 2 at age 79, was an innovative R&B pioneer who forged rock’n’roll’s signature beat but rarely got the credit — or the riches — heaped on his fellow musical icons. He died at his home in Archer, Florida, where he had been convalescing since last year after suffering a stroke and later a heart attack.
When John Armstrong asks if it is better for an educator to live in London and be regarded as a small fish in a large academic pond or to become a larger fish in a smaller Australian pond, he makes the question sound both practical and a theme worthy of philosophical investigation.
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned on Monday a suicide bombing against the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, saying it flouted Islamic tenets. OIC secretary general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu was "deeply upset by this violent and extremist act", the 57-nation bloc said in a statement.
India’s truck and car maker Tata Motors announced on Monday it had completed its acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from ailing United States car maker Ford for $2,3-billion. The company said the deal includes the "ownership of Jaguar and Land Rover, all necessary intellectual property rights, manufacturing plants and two Britain-based advanced designing centres".
Multinational media company Naspers announced on Monday that, following approaches for the sale of its internet service provider business MWeb, it is initiating an auction process. MWeb is one of the largest residential internet service providers in South Africa and also owns the largest VSAT corporate internet base in sub-Saharan Africa.
Bronwyn Law-Viljoen speaks to William Kentridge about <i>The Magic Flute</i>, opera and politics.
Brent Meersman catches up with director Brett Bailey at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
We speak to Marica Margoliush, author of the annual<i> South African Décor & Design</i>.
Are advertisers resorting to sexist measures to sell deodorant to the country’s macho men? Our writers debate.
Negotiations sponsored by the United Nations and aimed at bringing the Somali government and its main political foes into direct dialogue were due to resume on Saturday in Djibouti. The first round of discussions ended on May 16 and although the rivals did not engage in direct talks, the move was seen as a breakthrough in efforts to end conflict.
A British holidaymaker was awarded compensation by a court because there were too many German tourists at the hotel he booked into in Greece, newspapers reported on Saturday. David Barnish (47) took his family to a resort in Kos, but the family were unable to take part in entertainment activities because they were only organised in German.
A senior Zimbabwean army official has publicly urged soldiers to vote for President Robert Mugabe in next month’s presidential election run-off, a state daily reported on Saturday. "We have signed and agreed to fight and protect the ruling party’s principles of defending the revolution," Major General Martin Chedondo was quoted as saying.
"I don’t have a big problem with kwerekweres. I broke [into] their homes and stole their stuff because they have so much more than me. But they’re okay, some of them are friendly. They can come back — we wouldn’t do it again and the police took back the fridge and TV I took".
Dramatic images of an isolated Brazilian tribe believed never to have had contact with the outside world were published by officials on Friday to draw attention to threats posed to their way of life. The pictures showed alarmed Amazon Indians pointing bows and arrows at the aircraft carrying photographers.
Urging decisive action against Sudanese war-crimes suspects, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor said on Friday he would announce details of a new case next week against senior players in the Darfur conflict. "I will inform the … [United Nations] Security Council on June 5 when I will present my second case," prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said.
Gwen Ansell reviews <i>Bleeding Kansas</i> by Sara Paretsky; Jane Rosenthal reviews <i>Kathie</i> and <i> Don’t Tread on My Dreams</i> by Dora Taylor.
<b>ON CIRCUIT:</b> <i>El Cantante</i>, starring Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony and <i>Paris, Je t’Aime</i>.
Phillippa Yaa de Villiers discusses her play <i>Original Skin</i>.
South African cellular giant MTN could pick up to a 74% stake in India’s Reliance Communications in a share-swap deal being discussed between the companies, an official said on Friday. "The stock swap is an option being considered at the moment," a Reliance official said on condition of anonymity.
A New Zealand man has been convicted for assaulting a teenager with a hedgehog after asking him if he wanted to "wear a hedgehog helmet". William Singalargh (27) was fined for assault and offensive behaviour by a court in the east coast North Island city of Whakatane after a more serious charge of assault with a weapon — the hedgehog — was dropped.
A Japanese man puzzled by food mysteriously disappearing from his refrigerator got a shock when he found out a woman had been living in his home for months without permission, police said on Friday. The 57-year-old man living alone — or so he thought — installed a security camera and called the police when he saw images of someone walking around his home while he was out.
The government has now back-pedalled on its initial claim that a "third force" was behind the recent wave of attacks on foreigners.
Zambia has introduced new legislation banning smoking in public places which could see offenders face up to two years in jail. Local Government Minister Sylvia Masebo said the new statutory instrument, which has been gazetted, bans smoking in public places with immediate effect.
The flag of Nepal’s 240-year-old Shah dynasty was taken down from the main palace in Kathmandu on Thursday after legislators abolished the world’s last Hindu monarchy, officials said. "The royal flag was replaced by Nepal’s national flag inside the palace on Thursday morning," a palace official said on condition of anonymity.
With food price hikes affecting all consumers and particularly the poor, it is crucial to understand the pricing when working out what measures can be taken — and where the Competition Commission fits in. High food prices must be seen in the context of the liberalisation of agricultural markets in the mid-1990s and the expectation that with competition there would be greater efficiency and, ultimately, lower prices for consumers.
Sadly, it now looks obvious why everyone is calling for President Thabo Mbeki to step down. No one has presented a more compelling argument for the case than the man himself, limping from blunder to blunder somewhere off in the wings of our national life.
Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer said his company was still holding talks with Yahoo!, although no longer about efforts to take over the internet giant. Ballmer, speaking during a conference hosted by the <i>Wall Street Journal</i> on Tuesday, recalled that Microsoft had dropped its bid to buy Yahoo! after Yahoo! rejected its takeover offer.
Organisations are working to ensure that Burma cyclone survivors living with HIV are included in relief efforts.