Every time a crime-trends statistics report is released, there follows a round of indignant finger-pointing.
The last hour of captivity for Alan Johnston was perhaps the worst. His guard burst into his room in the early hours of Wednesday morning and told him to get dressed. His regular captor, "an extraordinarily moody man with dark rages", had been joined by some new gunmen who looked "totally wired".
Lesotho has an estimated HIV/Aids prevalence of 30%, the third highest in the world, as well as alarming rates of tuberculosis. Without fully fledged and all-encompassing aid, the entire Basotho nation is set to be extinct within 30 years. Thijs van der Post travels to Lesotho’s mountains to meet those who are trying to make a difference.
Australia’s iconic Victoria Bitter beer is about to become less boozy after Foster’s brewery announced it will cut the drink’s alcohol content to lower its tax bill. Foster’s said while the alcohol content was on the hop — to be cut from 4,9% to 4,8% — the taste would remain the same.
A new pizza restaurant in western Canada that delivers pornography with every pie has once again proven the adage: sex sells. Porno Pizza in Winnipeg has been doing brisk business since opening last week, titillating the hungry with racy pictures at the bottom of every pizza box.
In this week’s <i>Mail & Guardian</i> debate about Ronald Suresh Roberts’s much-discussed book on President Thabo Mbeki, <i>Fit to Govern</i>, we publish an edited extract from the book arguing that the president has protected democracy by opposing military models of change.
Motorists in Sweden are accustomed to seeing elks along the roadside, but the discovery of a dead camel on the shoulder of the E22 autoroute left more than a few eyebrows raised, media reported on Monday. "But as the police patrol arrived at the scene it turned out to be completely true," police officer Lars Lindwall told Swedish news agency TT.
A Frenchman who died in late 2004 was finally found in his apartment on the outskirts of the Danish town of Odense, the Danish television channel DRI reported on Monday. Danish police confirmed that the caretaker of the building had discovered the body of the 54-year-old man, but would not provide further details.
"We want to shed the light on the mystery of this thing called governance. What is governance? What is it about?" Mo Ibrahim, the chairperson of Celtel International and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which supports good governance in Africa, speaks to Stephanie Wolters.
Two days before Canadians celebrated their nation, a survey published last Friday found that more than half of them would not be granted citizenship on the basis of their knowledge of their own country. According to the Ipsos Reid poll, 60% of Canadians would fail the citizenship exam, a necessary step for immigrants to be granted citizenship.
The President of China, Hu Jintao, said political reform in Hong Kong must progress in a "gradual and orderly" way as thousands of people took to the streets to demand more democratic accountability. During ceremonies to mark the 10th anniversary of the handover of the former British colony to China, Hu emphasised the need for more patriotism and loyalty to the mainland.
Construction company Group Five has won a R1,8-billion contract from Transnet to widen Durban’s harbour by 100m and to increase the depth by six metres. Working with Belgian company, Dredging International, Group Five Civil Engineering is responsible for the civil portion of the contract, valued at R1,1-billion.
With biofuels being blamed for rising food prices and offering limited environmental benefits, diverse luminaries such as former United States vice-president Al Gore and Microsoft’s Bill Gates are throwing their considerable support behind cellulosic ethanol, a second-generation biofuel.
Soccer fans might be feeling a little bewildered after the misinformation that characterised the fallout over the recently announced billion-rand Premier Soccer League (PSL) broadcasting-rights deal. But local soccer has never been healthier financially and, if anything, there will be more live soccer on free-to-air television than ever before.
Protectionism is making a comeback. At least, that is the fear of many influential figures — from senior officials at finance ministries to politicians and independent economists. These experts are, generally speaking, pointing their fingers from West to East, from the United States and Europe to China, Russia and the Persian Gulf.
Polish gay rights groups claim thousands of homosexuals have fled the country to escape increasing persecution. Robert Biedron (27), the head of the Polish Foundation against Homophobia, said "huge numbers" of Polish gay people have left the country following the rise to power of the right-wing government.
Nowhere, perhaps, will be more important than Shanghai. One of eight cities hosting Live Earth concerts for Al Gore’s crusade against climate change on Saturday, it will help deliver a vast audience across China. And with the world’s most populous country on board, organisers believe they can reach two billion people.
Air strikes in the British-controlled Helmand province of Afghanistan may have killed civilians, coalition troops said on Saturday as local people claimed that between 50 and 80 people, many of them women and children, had died.
Media group Primedia’s national anti-crime campaign has led to 33 arrests since its launch three weeks ago, Primedia spokesperson Yusuf Abramjee said on Saturday. Successes include recovering four stolen vehicles at a complex in Winchester Hills, south of Johannesburg, and arresting two people.
Brent Meersman reports on the panel discussion, Is Poetry The New Black? which took place at this year’s Cape Town Book Fair
The chief suspect in an Israeli murder case skipped house arrest and escaped a scheduled court appearance by transferring his electronic tag to his dog, police said on Thursday. It was only when police turned up on his doorstep on Thursday to inquire why he had failed to attend a court appearance that officers realised he had vanished without trace.
The future of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was thrown into confusion on Thursday after the shock resignation of its MD, Rodrigo de Rato, which could lead to a shake-up of the selection process for his successor. De Rato’s decision reawakens the controversy over how the heads of the IMF and World Bank are appointed.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi is an impatient man, with the attention span of a four-year-old. No wonder he was sidelined by the Arabs and became an overnight Pan-African in 2002. Gadaffi now wants to be king of a United States of Africa and is doling out fistfuls of oil-dollars to persuade the continent’s leaders that his big-bang approach is the way to go.
Grahamstown’s arts festival is the most varied in the country, but still lacks diversity, writes Brent Meersman.
Japan’s hot-dog eating champion headed on Thursday to New York to defend his world-famous United States title despite suffering a serious jaw injury. Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi is suffering from jaw arthritis and cannot open his mouth wide enough to even fit in two fingers.
A strike in the industrial chemicals and petroleum sector seems unavoidable after dispute negotiations came to naught this week, according to the trade union Solidarity. This could halt the production of petrol, gas and paraffin in the near future, it cautioned on Thursday.
Alt-X listed DataPro Group has obtained shareholder approval to change its name to Vox Telecom, the company said on Thursday. The change is consistent with the company’s strategy of positioning itself as an alternative telecom operator offering a broad portfolio of voice and data services, it said.
Beijing’s long-suffering taxi-drivers are in the cross-hairs once again — with shaved heads to be banned from the driving seat ahead of next year’s Beijing Olympics, a report said on Thursday. Just two months after women taxi drivers were banned from wearing "too-fancy" hairstyles, new rules will outlaw beards and shaved heads for the men.
Zimbabwe ordered a blanket freeze on Thursday on the prices of all goods and services, urging members of the public to blow the whistle on retailers who ignore the latest edict. Industry Minister Obert Mpofu was quoted by state media as saying that price controls — previously limited to essential goods — would be extended across the board.
South Africa’s producer price index (PPI) rose by 11,3% year-on-year in May from an 11,1% increase in April, Statistics South Africa data on Thursday showed. Commented Jean Mercier, Citigroup’s chief economist: "It’s a little bit worse than expected. The imports were a little stronger than expected."
A United States court on Monday ruled against a man seeking $54-million from the Korean immigrant owners of a dry cleaners who, he said, lost his pants despite a promise of "satisfaction guaranteed". Roy Pearson alleged that Custom Cleaners lost his trousers and misled him with a sign promising satisfaction.
Healthcare officials in Calgary have unveiled a new ambulance designed for treating and transporting obese patients in an emergency, believed to be the first of its kind in this country. The ambulance is equipped with a wide stretcher and a mechanical lift that gently raises patients weighing up to 450kg into the carriage.