Russian space scientists announced on Thursday a new breakthrough in a long pedigree of firsts: the birth of 30 grandchildren of a "space cockroach" who spent 12 days in orbit. Interfax news agency reported the birth of 30 healthy descendants of the pioneering cockroach Nadezhda (Hope).
The price of oil rocketed to a record high point of $127,43 per barrel on Friday, as United States President George Bush prepared to urge Saudi Arabia to pump more crude. New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, beat the previous all-time peak of $126,98 set on Tuesday owing to worries about tight supplies.
Medical charity Médecins sans Frontières on Friday accused Kenyan police of forcing families displaced in post-election violence to return home. The group said its workers in western Kenya’s Endebess camp on Wednesday saw police move from tent to tent, threatening displaced families to make them leave.
Kira Cochrane defends <i>New York Times</i> literary critic Michiko Kakutani, who has been described as “the stupidest person in New York City".
Seven manuscripts have been longlisted for the 2007/08 European Union Literary Award.
<b>ON CIRCUIT:</b> <i>Awake</i>, <i>Bricklane</i>, <i>The Forbidden Kingdom</i> and the new Cameron Diaz film, <i>What Happens in Vegas</i>
The volume of black economic empowerment (BEE) transactions completed in South Africa over the past decade is valued at R200-billion, ratings agency Moody’s said on Friday. Releasing a special corporate finance report, Moody’s said BEE continues to be a key driver of corporate activity in the country.
The United Nations’s Department of Social and Economic Affairs predicts that world economic growth will fall steeply to 1,8% this year and 2,1% next year, down from 3,8% in 2007, according to a report entitled <i>World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008</i>.
The horror facing Movement for Democratic Change members in Zimbabwe became apparent this week.
The worst of the financial-sector crisis is over, although the impact on the broader economy will likely drag on in coming months, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Thursday. "There are good reasons to believe that the largest part of disclosure in financial institutions has been done," he said.
A Sydney suburb has been dubbed "cannabisville" after police found four apparently normal family homes were actually marijuana hothouses containing vast quantities of the illegal drug. Police have seized 1 000 plants worth $7,5-million from four houses in Blair Athol.
The wave of xenophobia sweeping the country is as embarrassing as it is mindboggling. All our leaders in government and the opposition are united in their condemnation. However, we all seem to be caught by surprise and are unable to explain a phenomenon that is sure to blot any image that President Thabo Mbeki has worked hard to build of South Africa being the leader of the cause of African renaissance on the continent.
Four hundred and fifty pupils, aged between six and 12, were there when the quake hit. A fortunate few were pulled out within hours by anxious parents scrabbling at the wreckage with bare hands. A handful more were saved overnight, after troops arrived to take over the rescue effort.
Muslim leaders in Kenya’s North-Eastern Province have resolved to campaign against the promotion of condoms as a means of preventing HIV.
Armed police tried to prevent the United States ambassador to Zimbabwe and several other diplomats from leaving a hospital where victims of post-election violence were being treated Tuesday, an Agence France-Presse correspondent with the convoy said.
Record oil prices and a slowdown in advanced economies are set to curb global oil demand despite growth in China and the Middle East, the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast on Tuesday, saying stockpiling was a key factor. Demand from emerging economies might be set back if and when governments decide that fuel subsidies are unsustainable, the IEA said.
Love, death and money are some of the reasons first-year students across the globe drop out — not to mention the academic hardships they often encounter.
The intricacies of coping at varsity — the first-year experience — are the focus of international study by the higher education sector.
The University of Johannesburg plans to build a teaching and training hotel on its Auckland Park Bunting road campus to tackle the growing need for tourism and hospitality managers. The project will be an extension of its school of tourism and hospitality, which opened a few years ago thanks to a massive capital injection by business tycoon Sol Kerzner.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has launched a portal on higher education institutions across the globe to support students who need reliable and fresh information about studying abroad. This portal offers online information about institutions sanctioned by competent authorities in participating countries.
Land reform needs to make its beneficiaries and the country better off. Little is gained in the long run if justice turns out to be purely symbolic, leaves people poorer or even aggravates grievances. So it’s worrying that, as the director general of land affairs is reported to have said, at least 50% of government land-reform projects have failed to make their beneficiaries permanently better off.
Soweto-born contemporary art specialist Melissa Mboweni has been named the curator of the fourth MTN New Contemporaries Award. A former curator of the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg, Mboweni brings to the role a wealth of experience necessary for selecting the country’s top emerging young artists later this year.
Nigerian investigative reporter Azubuike Ishiekwene’s book <i>The Trial of Nuhu Ribadu</i> chronicles the rise and fall of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who as chairperson of the economic and financial crimes commission led the battle against corruption in Nigeria. He was accused of doing then-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s dirty work in knocking out opponents and after Obasanjo left office was suddenly redeployed and his work downgraded.
The movement of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday it had struck a deal with the Iraqi government to end fighting in its Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City. Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, the spokesperson for the cleric’s office in the central shrine city of Najaf, said the deal will be effective from Sunday.
Meteorologists may not always feel appreciated, but at the Beijing Olympics at least they will have their own contest. Weather agencies from eight countries or territories plan to hold their own competition during the Games in August, squaring off on which one can most accurately predict conditions in Beijing, the Japanese side said on Friday.
Microsoft on Friday lodged an appeal at a European court against the record €899-million fine imposed on it by the EU Commission for defying a landmark anti-trust ruling. "Microsoft today filed with the Court of First Instance an application to annul the Commission decision of February 27," a spokesperson for the US software giant said in Brussels.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke on Friday with African leaders and former United Nations chief Kofi Annan for their insight into how to end Zimbabwe’s election crisis, her spokesperson said. Rice spoke to Botswana President Ian Khama, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
The price of New York crude oil surged past $125 per barrel on Friday, lifted by speculative demand amid concerns about tight global energy supplies, analysts said. New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, spiked as high as $125,98 in early afternoon London trading.
Adcock Ingram Critical Care, a healthcare unit of JSE-listed Tiger Brands, has been fined R53,5-million, or 8% of its annual turnover, for admitting its role in fixing the prices of medicines supplied to hospitals, the local anti-trust authorities said on Friday. The matter was referred to the Competition Tribunal on February 11 2008.
Jo-Anne Richards, has just released her fourth novel, <i>My Brother’s Book</i> (Picador Africa). This is an extract.
<i>Dreamland</i> opened the Harare arts festival last week.
<b>ON CIRCUIT:</b> <i>Closing the Ring</i>, <i>Drillbit Taylor</i>, <i>88 Minutes, a thriller starring Al Pacino</i>, and Kevin Spacey’s <i>21</i>.
World oil prices hit a fresh record high point close to $125 per barrel on Friday, extending this week’s record run after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries insisted the market was well-supplied and driven by speculators. New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, spiked to an historic $124,73 per barrel.