In May 1942, one of the Nazi regime’s most notorious mass murderers, Deputy Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich, was assassinated by Czech partisans. The Nazi response was to demolish the nearby village of Lidice house by house and either shoot its inhabitants or send them to death camps. What, in principle, is the difference between the collective punishment visited on Lidice and the indiscriminate bombing of Lebanese roads, bridges and homes?
Two foreign TV journalists and their two Lebanese assistants were abducted by the Hezbollah militia in Beirut on Thursday on suspicion of spying, a Lebanese internal security forces officer said. "The crew was filming in the area of the Sanayeh gardens [a public park] when Hezbollah elements seized them on suspicion of being spies," the officer told the media.
A three-day strike by Solidarity members came to an end on Thursday after they settled with synthetic fuels group Sasol for a 6,5% wage increase. Solidarity had been demanding a 10% wage increase. The strike was called off following discussions between Sasol chief executive Pat Davies and Solidarity’s general secretary Flip Buys.
Nigerian rescuers battled with shovels and picks to save people trapped for a second day beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Lagos on Thursday as the Red Cross said the death toll stands at 24. Hopes were fading that anyone could survive another night trapped in the debris as rains fell on the area and shortages of equipment hampered diggers.
The United States is likely to send troops to Lebanon to protect American citizens who are being evacuated there, United States President George Bush said in a letter to Congress on Wednesday. While there are already a small number of US troops in the region to aid in evacuation efforts, the deployment of additional troops is anticipated, Bush wrote in the letter to lawmakers.
Somalia’s prime minister accused the lawless nation’s powerful Islamist movement on Wednesday of planning to attack the seat of the weak transitional government, raising already heightened tensions.
A new centre for children infected with HIV, which opened in Maputo this week, plans to use advanced technology to treat the disease.
Chief executives of South African companies are paid 35 to 53 times more than average workers, according to a report released by trade union Solidarity on Wednesday. The report, which has been six months in the making, showed trends in the remuneration of top management of companies listed on the JSE, the union added.
Africa’s appeal as an investment destination has been highlighted rather than dented by recent equity volatility and negative emerging-market sentiment. This positive assessment comes from the Botswana-registered Imara financial services group and the marketer and manager of the Imara African Opportunities Fund.
Hospital group Netcare has acquired a 75% stake in Biocells, a company involved in stem cell storage, through the Netcare Institute of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. The newly acquired company, which will trade as Netcell Therapeutics (Netcells), is closely affiliated to Smart Cells International and holds the licence to exclusively market and collect umbilical cord blood in Africa for processing and storage.
United States entertainment giant the Walt Disney announced on Tuesday it is cutting 650 jobs and will reduce the number of movies made each year as part of a major restructuring plan. Walt Disney Studios chairperson Dick Cook said in a statement that the studio will produce and distribute approximately 10 Disney live-action and animated films a year.
Jo’burg’s leading symphony orchestra the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra is to get a R500 000 shot in the arm from the corporate sector.
We asked some of South Africa’s hottest celebrities about their best and worst moments and their favourite acquisitions over the past year.
Bad sex, betrayal, over-spending and hate speech were some of the low-lights of the cultural year.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said on Tuesday that it will stage countrywide marches as well as a general strike in August to halt the removal of industrial tariffs. "Along with most vulnerable manufacturing industries, Numsa’s 220Â 000 members plan to lead work disruptions … in the second week of August," Numsa added.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s government will this week meet Russian energy officials in Harare to discuss investment in the power sector by the East European country, barely a month after concluding a $1,3-billion electricity-generation deal with China. Officials from Russia’s TurboEngineering firm were expected to arrive in Harare on Monday night.
Browse through our massive CD-review special to find the hottest sounds to acquire (or avoid) this festive season.
<intro blurb> Oscar winning movies Capote and Brokeback Mountain began as stories in <i>The New Yorker</i>. Local editors and brand managers would do well to look at what has made – and kept – this magazine an icon in publishing and an enduring international brand, writes Thomas Oosthuizen. <intro blurb ends>
There was a time, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern noted to his public servants last year, when those who had an interest in policymaking would be given the same warning as people who like sausages — "don’t look too closely at how they are made". Happily, today’s policymakers are increasingly realising the importance of examining various ingredients of policymaking.
Trade union Solidarity announced on Monday that it will commence strike action at petrochemicals group Sasol on Tuesday morning at 6am. "This follows after Solidarity held a mass meeting with members. During this meeting it transpired that the trade union’s members were unhappy with a number of issues, including the company’s attitude towards its workers," Solidarity said.
The British government moved on Monday to ban for the first time two Islamist militant groups based in Britain under new laws prohibiting the glorification of terrorism, officials said. Home Secretary John Reid named the outlawed groups as al-Ghurabaa and the Saved Sect, Home Office officials said.
Several dozen submissions on Johannesburg International airport’s name change to OR Tambo International airport have been received, the ministry of arts and culture said on Monday. A ministry spokesperson said the submissions have been a "mixed bag", with some for and some against the name change.
Southern Sudanese leader Salva Kiir expressed optimism on Monday that peace talks his government is mediating between Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels will succeed despite a rocky start. At the same time, he warned that failure will likely lead to fighting between the LRA and his forces in autonomous south Sudan.
A group of Indian villagers presided over the marriage of two donkeys at an ancient Hindu temple in southern India in a bid to promote world peace, a report said on Monday. The wedding took place on Sunday evening in the Sri Thirumoola Natha Swamy Temple in Tamil Nadu state, the United News of India news agency reported.
European stock markets fell on Monday as investors remained apprehensive in the wake of an escalation of the conflict in Lebanon which has led to new records for crude oil prices, dealers said. The price of London’s Brent North Sea crude oil hit a record high of $78,18 per barrel as violence continued to rage in the Middle East.
Trade union Solidarity will hold a mass meeting of its members employed at petrochemicals group Sasol on Monday to decide on Sasol’s latest wage offer. Solidarity’s members are currently voting on the offer, which was tabled by Sasol last Thursday.
The prime interest rate and the variable mortgage interest rate are expected to reach 12,5% by year-end which means that house prices are likely to increase by around 12% year-on-year in nominal terms this year, according to banking group Absa.
The Fourth of July was celebrated with all the usual pomp and swagger in the United States, but less attention across the news media was given to another Fourth of July celebration right here on the African continent. This has become a day of national commemoration of the arrival of liberation forces in the wake of the unspeakable genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi has denied links to alleged illegal activities including drug smuggling, according to the <i>Sunday Independent</i>. This comes after reports in the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> linking him to Glenn Agliotti, the subject of a drugs probe by the Scorpions as part of its investigation into mining magnate Brett Kebble.
Comedian Red Buttons, winner of a best-supporting-role Oscar for <i>Sayonara</i> (1958) with Marlon Brando, died in Los Angeles on Thursday at 87, his spokesperson said. Buttons, whose real name was Aaron Chwatt, died of circulation problems that he had suffered from for several years.
Mary Watson’s short story, <i>Jungfrau</i> (Young Woman) has won her the Caine Prize for African writing.
The remains of the celebrated 18th-century Italian castrato Farinelli have been exhumed to find more about his peculiar powers as a singer, a university professor said on Thursday. The remains were removed from a cemetery in the northern city of Bologna where the singer died in 1782.