"Challenging Zimpapers was no picnic. We told a story that the <i>Herald</i> would not tell — the story of how 20 years of independence had not yielded the milk and honey for which nearly 30 000 people died." A free and courageous press has helped Zimbabwe, but hopes for a watershed election in 2008 may be disappointed, argues Bill Saidi.
"Free and fair elections are the foundation of democratic governance, as they enable the people to exercise their sovereign right to constitute a government of their choice." Huge changes are needed if the next polls are to reflect the true will of Zimbabwe’s people, writes Welshman Ncube.
The battle for Dutch bank ABN Amro is to move to an Amsterdam court on Thursday where a group of shareholders are hoping to strike a blow against management plans for a merger with Barclays. ABN Amro is a takeover target for British bank Barclays, which has offered â,¬67-billion, and a consortium of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued its first arrest warrants over the Darfur conflict for a Sudanese minister and a Janjaweed militia leader accused of murder, torture and rape. However, Khartoum was quick to reject the warrants, saying the court had no jurisdiction in the matter.
One of South Africa’s largest short-term insurers has advised homeowners to check the quality and installation of their security gates, as those sold in stores may not provide the impenetrable protection consumers are seeking. Often the steel used in the manufacture of an off-the-shelf security gate is not of the correct quality or weight.
Libyan Judge Salem Hamrouni last Sunday postponed a hearing in the slander trial brought against six medical workers sentenced to death for allegedly intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.
Lonesome George, conservation icon of the Galapagos islands, celibate pensioner and officially the rarest living creature on Earth, may soon have a playmate, raising hopes he may father young and so save his species from imminent extinction. The 80-year-old giant tortoise was discovered in 1972 among the foliage of Pinta island.
Looking for a cunning business venture after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Frank Neumann had the foresight to go into fencing. Now, 18 years on, Neumann is putting the finishing touches to their biggest commission yet — a 12km-long, 2,5m-high steel fence topped with barbed wire, video monitors and sensors to detect movement.
An organisation representing African working women on Monday denounced a decision to overturn a law that would have guaranteed a minimum number of female deputies in Parliament. Rafet, the African Network of Working Women, said Friday’s decision by the constitutional council to overturn the law was disappointing.
All conditions precedent for the R25-billion buyout of fashion retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) by United States-based private equity group Bain Capital have been fulfilled, the group announced on Monday. Edcon’s listing on the JSE will be terminated on Friday May 25.
Syria has built a fortified complex buried deep underground and cloaked in secrecy to manufacture and store ballistic missiles capable of striking Israel, an Israeli newspaper said on Monday. The complex includes 30 reinforced concrete bunkers, the mass-selling <i>Yediot Aharonot</i> quoted "foreign experts" as saying.
"Slow motion" marathon runner Greg Billingham finished the London Marathon on Sunday — one week after the event itself started. Billingham (39) decided to "run" the event at an ultra-slow pace of 4,8km every ten hours, to raise money for the charity, Children with Leukaemia, because people who become ill often find their lives slow down.
A grand coalition of anti-government forces is planning a second Iranian revolution via the ballot box to deny President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad another term in office and break the grip of what they call the "militia state" on public life and personal freedom.
Absa’s big brother Barclays announced on Monday that it had agreed to merge with The Netherlands-based ABN Amro to form the world’s fifth-largest bank. The deal will enhance Absa’s competitiveness. But on Wednesday, its rival Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) launched its own takeover bid.
The three syllables that make up the name "Allan Gray" have become so synonymous with investment that it’s easy to forget they represent more than just a brand name. Because Allan Gray, the firm, takes its name from Allan WB Gray, its media-shy South African founder.
Heidi Holland’s <i>The Colour of Murder</i> could well make the shortlist for the Alan Paton literary award next week. In my opinion, it could actually win this year. The book tells the extraordinary story of a man who became one of South Africa’s most sensational mass murderers, and his daughter who commissioned one of the country’s most sensational single murders in her own right.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) intends to grasp the opportunity that the ANC’s policy and national conferences provide to campaign for a programme that will advance the cause of the workers and the poor. We will judge the ANC’s 13 draft policy documents by the degree to which they promise real improvements in the lives of the majority, writes Zwelinzima Vavi.
Estonia was on Saturday in the grip of its worst crisis since it won independence from the Soviet Union, after a second night of bloody ethnic rioting shook the capital. President Vladimir Putin expressed "most serious concern" about the violence in Tallinn after the Estonian government’s decision to remove a Soviet war memorial, the Kremlin said.
The trouble with celebrations of historical anniversaries is that other, less noble, dates are implied. Indeed, to insist that a particular day is a day of honour and remembrance is to suggest that the days on either side of it are monuments only to banality and lint.
Prince Harry will be a prime kidnap target for insurgents in Iraq, a commander in the Mehdi Army, the Shi’ite militia loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, has told the <i>Guardian</i>. "One of our aims is to capture Harry," claimed Abu Mujtaba, who commands a unit of about 50 men active in the Mehdi Army in Basra.
Libyan Judge Salem Hamrouni last Sunday postponed a hearing in the slander trial brought against six medical workers.
Legendary Russian cellist and emblem of resistance to the Soviet system Mstislav Rostropovich died on April 27, his spokesperson said. He was 80. "He died in hospital today," Natalya Dolezhal said. Rostropovich had been ill for some time and had been receiving treatment at a Moscow cancer clinic.
A new <i>Spider-Man</i> film swings into cinemas soon, but an Italian researcher said on Thursday he was working on a project that could lead to real-life versions of the comic book character. Nicola Pugno, a 35-year-old researcher at the Polytechnic University of Turin, said he has worked on a form of adhesion for about 10 years.
Russia on Thursday stepped up its row with the United States over American plans to build a missile defence shield in Europe by announcing that it was considering withdrawing from a Soviet-era weapons treaty. President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was considering a moratorium on the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty.
The top United States commander in Iraq admitted on Thursday that the conflict would "get harder before it gets easier", providing further ammunition for Democrats determined to face down George Bush in their constitutional clash over the Iraq war. General Petraeus warned of the enormous commitment and sacrifice facing the US in Iraq.
Harsh emotion, raw trauma and intense politics erupted in the wake of the Media Monitoring Project’s (MMP) study of racism in the media in 1999. Last week, a <a class="standardtext" href="http://www.mediamonitoring.co.za" target="_blank">new report</a> by the MMP in association with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) barely made the news. The lack of attention is partly a sign that we have transcended the original problems.
The retail price of all grades of petrol will rise by 34 cents per litre (c/l) from May 2, the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Wednesday. The latest changes bring the retail price of a litre of 95 octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng to 701c/l and to 677c/l at the coast. During the period under review, the average international product price of petrol increased.
South African transport utility Transnet on Wednesday launched the sale process for the Blue Train — the group’s hotel-on-wheels train. The disposal is part of Transnet’s transformation into a focused freight transport and logistics company. In terms of the competitive public-bidding process, launched on Wednesday, investors are being invited to express their interest.
The South African financial system, based on an analysis of various indicators, was assessed as sound during the six months to December and overall confidence in the financial-services sector remains high, the South African Reserve Bank said on Wednesday. In emerging-market economies, financial markets continued their strong performance in 2007.
Ethiopia on Wednesday accused arch-foe Eritrea of supporting the rebels behind an attack on a remote Chinese-run oil field that killed 74 people, including nine Chinese workers. Eritrea immediately denied the claim — the latest in a string of accusations and counter-accusations between the rival neighbours.
Widespread economic growth and increased productivity in Africa have been insufficient to reduce the growing numbers of unemployed and working poor, according to new analyses prepared by the International Labour Office (ILO). New projections say Africa’s economies will have to create 11-million new jobs per year to reduce unemployment to the global average.
China may overtake the United States as the world’s biggest source of greenhouse gases within months, one of the world’s leading energy analysts predicted on Tuesday. China has signed up to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, but, as a developing country, it does not have a cap on its emissions.