Staff Reporter

Here are the answers to the 101 questions. 1 SABMiller. Laugh It Off’s “Black Labour, White Guilt” T-shirt 2 South African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) members, protesting against Cosatu’s distribution of 30 000 T-shirts imported from China 3 11 4 Patricia Arquette 5 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf 6 Valli Moosa 7 Pope Benedict XVI 8 Joseph […]

South Africans lost a deputy president in a year marked by political intrigue and scandal, but the post-apartheid nation also added a significant feather to its democratic cap. Jacob Zuma’s fall from grace began with allegations of bribery and corruption stemming from the conviction of his financial adviser and friend Schabir Shaik.

From Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born producer of the <i>Halloween</i> movies who was killed in a hotel bomb blast in Jordan, to Zhao Ziyang, the Chinese leader who attempted democratic reforms and was ousted during the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, we list the notable deaths of 2005.

"Journalists don’t often get the chance to set the agenda, to pursue a theme. The pressure of events and unplanned story opportunities plays havoc with attempts to follow a systematic track. However this year, my colleague Stefaans Brümmer and I were able to bring a long-term theme of investigation to fruition," writes the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s Sam Sole.

Who is bottom of the class? Who are the stars? Who went AWOL? From Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour to Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk — as well as a trio of opposition leaders — we bring you the full Cabinet report card. Beware of imitations!

The digital recording and playback of television programmes, along with all its accompanying features and extras, began in earnest in the United States about six years ago with the TiVo and ReplayTV systems, box-top units now estimated to be in more than 10-million American homes.

There are layers of secrets to South African history that no one seems to want to dig up any more. Take for instance, the hi-tech murder of the president of Mozambique, who died in a deliberately created plane crash. In case you think airplane crashes don’t mean much, look at what happened in Rwanda after one little plane mysteriously crashed.

The grave of Harry Potter, flying frozen chickens, invisibility charms and grunting tennis stars: alongside tragedies, wars and natural disasters, the year just ending brought its share of unusual, outrageous, tragi-comic and just downright silly news items. We present a selection of the stranger items.

Hundreds of young Israeli women hoping to find themselves a husband have been placing their underwear on the tomb of a venerated rabbi in the hopes that their marriage prayers will be answered. About 400 pairs of knickers and bras have been collected by the authorities charged with preserving the tomb.

There are supposed to be two sides to every story, but I suspect there may be more. No, I am not talking about the latest twist in the axed deputy president Jacob “JZ” Zuma saga, involving an alleged rape and goodness knows what else to come. I am talking about a bizarre medical breakthrough that has been engineered in a hospital in the French city of Lyons.

McDonald’s, the very symbol of globalisation, is used to having its windows broken during violent protests at World Trade Organisation (WTO) summits, but not in Hong Kong where one group met for breakfast on Thursday. Eight demonstrators feasted on Sausage McMuffins as they planned how to get across their anti-capitalist message.

Muziwendoda Sikhona Kunene’s rise to fame has been marked by controversy. Until December 1, when police arrested him in connection with the so-called "hoax e-mail" saga that has divided the African National Congress, little was known about the Durban based IT executive. Those who know Kunene describe him as a hard worker and a pleasant person to work with.

The guttering gaslight glinted yellow off the mess of teeth laid bare by the crone’s ruined grin. Slithering things plopped from the hem of her gown and limped away into the night, as she crooked a finger and gestured with a hiss to the figure that stood in the shadows behind her.

Many of those affected by the Zimbabwe government’s controversial Operation Murambatsvina clean-up campaign are still waiting for the new houses the state promised them. Among them is Munetsi Takadini , whose two-roomed shack in Bulawayo’s oldest suburb, Makokoba was demolished during the campaign.