Staff Reporter

An independent Taiwanese parliamentarian has displayed his political clout by hosting 20 000 people at a wedding banquet for his son. Well-wishers on Saturday jammed a stadium in the coastal town of Shalu that was turned into a makeshift restaurant by legislator Yen Ching-piao.

Earlier this month the Global Fund to Fight HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria withdrew its financial support of the loveLife campaign, saying the programme "was deemed not to have sufficiently addressed weaknesses in its implementation". The costly, youth-targeted prevention campaign has ignited controversy since its inception.

The worsening humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is making children more vulnerable to abuse, according to child rights NGOs. "For instance, because of the hike in schools fees many children are visiting schools — it makes them more vulnerable at the hands of teachers who exploit them," said Witness Chikoko.

Journalist Yazeed Kamaldien is aghast at his treatment at an Israeli border post but finds it is an everyday occurrence for Palestinians who try to make the crossing. "When I first arrived, I was hauled out of the queue by a short young female Israeli security official. She gunned questions at me: ‘Where are you from? Are you Muslim?’", writes Kamaldien.

Swaziland’s banned political opposition will urge its neighbours to apply pressure on King Mswati III to avoid an insurrection in the country. "South Africa and Mozambique have a duty to do this as partners in the Southern African Development Community," said Kislon Shongwe, spokesperson for the People’s Union for Democracy.

It’s not that blacks are inherently degenerate. It’s just that they’d be so much more worthwhile if they were white. Of course, in some ways they are. Thinking whites have always taken it as a given that inside every fallen, bestial, primordial Negro there is a disciplined and enlightened white man trying to get out.

East London’s main central-city hospital is facing serious management, health, financial and supply crises, all of which are receiving scant attention from provincial authorities, says the Democratic Alliance. DA health spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard said nurses at Frere hospital had contacted her in their search for help.

Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny called on Wednesday for their compatriots to end the street violence which has brought chaos to Abidjan and go back to work. Clashes between supporters of Gbagbo and United Nations peacekeepers saw a renewed bid to storm the UN base in Abidjan and the killing of four Côte d’Ivoire citizens in the west.

Although a growing number of media directors and marketers are developing a newfound respect for the reach, frequency and inventiveness of the outdoor medium, some key obstacles will need to be carefully negotiated if growth trends are to continue. Can the industry and municipal authorities sideline renegade operators and entrench credibility? Kim Novick reports.

In honour of Dr Albert Hoffman turning 100, I thought a nice trippy column would be my small way of saying, "Thanks, Doc, for all the kick-ass wall-bending times your discovery gave me, in my tweaker days." (And the one or two nightmarish trips, I have to admit. But mostly they really rocked.)

Two main political parties in Côte d’Ivoire rejected on Tuesday a plan to scrap Parliament in order to hasten a peace process, bringing renewed paralysis to Abidjan streets after a day of massive disruption. Both the Ivorian Popular Front and the once all-powerful Côte d’Ivoire Democratic Party said the proposal made to wind up the legislature was unacceptable.

First and foremost, always be honest with your insurer or broker if you do not know the answer to any question they ask, always check it out and get back to them with the correct answer. 1st For Women recommends keeping an insurance history record, to make sure you never forget important historical insurance details. […]