Nigeria will press for compensation from the South African government for its citizens who were victims of xenophobic attacks in the country, Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe said late on Tuesday in Abuja. The minister said that although no Nigerian has been killed in the wave of the attacks, many of them lost their properties while others had had their shops looted.
Two weeks ago the Congolese national assembly cautiously approved a $9-billion deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and China, but warned that it would be watching closely to see that the country’s best interests are protected. Parliament’s decision comes after a week of political wrangling, during which the opposition strongly opposed the deal.
I wanted to live in the city. Well, the edge of the city. I’m not crazy. So I settled on a spot close enough to smell the danger, but not close enough to taste it. I was going to live like Jerry Seinfeld and Carrie Bradshaw. And, for the most part, you might be surprised to learn it’s just like it is on TV. Compared with suburbanites, city dwellers dress better, are funnier, and have more sex.
Investors invest to make a profit. They want the best return for their buck in the shortest possible time span. Social responsibility does not usually come into play when people are deciding where to place their money. Of course, when they think aboutsocial responsibility they immediately equate it with having to sacrifice returns.
A month before a presidential election run-off, Zimbabwe’s opposition said on Tuesday conditions were not conducive for a free and fair poll, but still expressed confidence it would oust Robert Mugabe. "As of yesterday [Monday], at least 50 of our supporters had been killed in violent attacks." the Movement for Democratic Change said.
A Japanese brewery on Tuesday said it was planning the first "space beer", using offspring of barley once stored at the International Space Station. Researchers said the project was part of efforts to prepare for a future in which humans spend extended periods of time in space — and might like a cold beer after a space walk.
Foreign aid workers on Tuesday pressed into Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta, testing the junta’s pledge to open up areas where one million people have yet to receive aid three weeks after the cyclone. Six foreign staff based in Rangoon with the United Nations Children’s Fund were allowed to join teams of mainly Burma workers.
Empowerment works when it fosters new connections between established and emerging companies; develops skills at the lower and middle levels of the hierarchy; and creates space for new entrepreneurs to get a seat at the table. At its best, says a study by Matthew Andrews of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, BEE can yield spectacular dividends.
Black economic empowerment is supposed to ensure that the hoary cliché — "our greatest resource is our people" — comes to life. The intention is to open opportunities across the economy for black South Africans whose potential as economic actors has been constrained for years.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is to send a beefed-up observer mission for Zimbabwe’s run-off election next month to ensure "greater transparency", Angola’s Foreign Minister was quoted as saying on Monday. Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been lobbying the 14-nation SADC to send more observers.
A Japanese plumber was arrested for calling a toll-free number around 500 times so he could hear a taped female voice, police said on Monday. Hiroyuki Nomoto, a 38-year-old Tokyo resident, was arrested on suspicion of obstructing the business of the company, a food firm based in the city of Takasaki north of the capital.
As the attacks fanned across Gauteng, <i>Mail & Guardian</i> reporters and photographers followed the story. Here, in their own words, are some of the heartbreaking, and heartening, situations and people they encountered.
The African Union on Friday urged Sudan and former rebels in the south of the country to exercise restraint and seek a political settlement after clashes left at least 22 soldiers dead in a flashpoint region. "The Commission of the African Union is greatly concerned over the renewed hostilities between the parties," the AU said in a statement.
The machete generation The machine gun and machete generation has arrived. The age of terror and idiocy is upon us. These marauding gangs embrace and glorify violence as a solution to our social ills. They feed on propaganda and exploit people’s fears. I first saw them in Kenya’s Rift Valley. They come under different guises […]
<b>ON CIRCUIT:</b> <i>The Eye</i> and <i>Married Life</i>, in which Pierce Brosnan stars and narrates.
Anti-foreigner violence in South Africa has already hit the mining sector, a mainstay of the domestic economy, and threatens to undermine confidence among international investors, analysts say. Even before the unrest broke out, the outlook for the South African economy was clouded by uncertainty.
At about 4pm last Sunday, Orlando Pirates were 2-0 up against AmaZulu in their last game of the season, thanks to goals by Gilbert Mushangazhike and Rudzani Ramudzuli. The fans at home and at the Johannesburg Stadium were happy that their beloved team were finally finding the form that had eluded them at important times of the season.
Cape Town police and refugee organisations are on full alert after two Somalis were robbed and shot dead in Durbanville last weekend. As reports of these killings trickled in from across the Cape peninsula, the top three Western Cape policemen ordered every station commander in the city to an emergency meeting on Tuesday.
Let’s first clear our heads a little. The distinction drawn so often between xenophobic attacks and acts of criminality is spurious. Murder, assault and looting — indisputably criminal acts — historically have been intrinsic features of pogroms. Opportunism invariably thrives in these frenzies.
South Africa made the front page of world newspapers for all the wrong reasons this week as anti-foreigner violence spiralled out of control.
A Zimbabwean man has been jailed for two years after he sold urine to residents in a mining town, claiming it was cooking oil, a state daily reported on Thursday. The <i>Herald</i> newspaper said Piccard Mudzingwa (28) approached one of the victims at a bus terminus in the southern mining town of Zvishavane, selling bottles containing a liquid he said was cooking oil.
Economic growth in Africa has accelerated substantially over the past few years. But commentators point out it rarely translates to poverty alleviation and job creation. Although mechanisms exist to protect countries in crisis from severe economic fluctuations, this may not translate as direct benefits to the overall gross domestic product.
As we assess this most devastating week for the beloved country, it’s vital to first drop the language of "us" South Africans versus "them" foreigners. A history born of migration and raised on migrant labour, the struggle against apartheid and a commitment to pan-Africanism — all these demand a more inclusive definition of who is a South African, of who belongs and who doesn’t.
A stray parrot was reunited with its owner in Japan after repeating his name and address at the local veterinary clinic that took it in, police said on Wednesday. Police captured the red-tailed African Grey parrot earlier this month after a woman called to say it was sitting on a fence in her backyard outside Tokyo, a Chiba police official said.
In Swaziland the mystery of why people refuse to use condoms is slowly being unravelled.
A severe drought in Ethiopia threatens up to six million children, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) warned on Tuesday. "Up to six million children under five years of age are living in impoverished, drought-prone districts and require continuation of urgent preventative health and nutrition interventions," Unicef said in a statement.
Despite a number of ongoing risks and structural imbalances in South Africa, the rand has a very good chance of strengthening impressively for the rest of this year and into 2009, say market analysts ETM. They say, however, that levels approaching 6,50 to the dollar — should they be reached — would probably be difficult to sustain.
While valuable research is taking place at South Africa’s universities, the challenge is to ensure that it occurs within a culture of respect for human rights, while universities need to ensure that they monitor research practices in accordance with their ethics protocol.
Higher Learning speaks to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University human resources boss, Gary Paul, about addressing salary disparities after the merger of the University of Port Elizabeth, Vista University and PE Technikon.
As the global community marked World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, an eight-country African research network was launched with a mandate to investigate the relationship between copyright and education in African countries. The network, called the African Copyright and Access to Knowledge network is a multidisciplinary team of researchers from several African countries.
Insufficient food, climate change and pandemic flu are global crises that could unravel progress in public health, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) director general said on Monday. "These three critical events, these clear threats to international security, have the potential to undo much hard-won progress in public health," WHO director general Margaret Chan said.
Protesting pensioners brought traffic to a standstill in Australia’s second-largest city on Friday when some stripped to demand more money from the government. The scantily clad seniors braved the autumn weather in a 150-strong protest against this week’s federal budget, which offered them little despite a Aus$21,7-billion surplus.