Staff Reporter

REVIEW David Shapshak LG DVD 3251P The only problematic thing about owning an MP3s collection is that you can only play them on your computer. The highly popular music file format, which reduces an average song to a 10th its size, has taken the world by storm but playing them is very limited outside of […]

Where do we draw the line between opinion and racism when it comes to reporting? Peter Robinson Sooner or later, I suppose, it had to happen. Minister of Sport and Recreation Ngconde Balfour turned his mind away this week from trying to pick the South African cricket and rugby teams to denounce three South African […]

When given the opportunity children have a lot to say about how the government can improve their lives Nawaal Deane “People are HIV-positive you must help them, please,” says a seven-year-old girl who lives in the Free State. Another seven-year-old little girl from the Eastern Cape says: “Dear persons, Please give us medicine to make […]

Michael Hartnack in Harare President Robert Mugabe hopes this week to pull off his second great diplomatic coup of the 18-month Zimbabwean crisis: getting his neighbours to accept it stems from white ownership of prime farmland rather than from his own efforts to cling to power. President Thabo Mbeki will be among the presidents of […]

Barry Streek Former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje would face a 10-year jail sentence in terms of a sweeping new anti-corruption law drawn up by the government. The draft Prevention of Corruption Bill, which should be tabled in Parliament by year-end, defines 17 different types of corrupt practice, including corruption in sport and the […]

As a Zionist Israeli and South African-born physician who has done humanitarian work in KaNgwane and in Gaza and Ramalla, I protest against the comparison of Zionism to racism/apartheid. I bear witness that Palestinians, Israeli citizens or not, receive care side by side with Jews in the finest Israeli hospitals and are treated with respect […]

Q&A: rodriguez Alex Sudheim Rodriguez, the folk-rock singer who defied persistent rumours of his death by completing a highly successful tour of South Africa in 1998, is back in the country during September performing a string of dates with his new band, The Big Town Playboys. Probably most famous for his moody drug anthem Sugar […]

Thuli Nhlapo The families of two police officers who disappeared in 1985 believe the South African Police Service (SAPS) discriminates against black members of the force. Meshack Baloyi of Johannesburg and Nomsingiselo Maki of Stutterheim have abandoned an expensive, four-year battle for benefits from the SAPS. Freddy Baloyi and Nosisi Maki, who infiltrated the African […]

Less than a week after the show began about 100000 people had already registered on the website David Shapshak Big Brother may not dominate many South African’s lives but it has certainly taken over the country’s Internet. In an unprecedented move, M-Web the country’s largest Internet service provider (ISP) and sister company to M-Net, which […]

Almost R1-billion has become available for disbursement from next year Thabo Mohlala The R855-million generated from the proceeds of the demutualisation of insurance giants Old Mutual and Sanlam to fund youth development programmes will be disbursed from early next year. The Umsobomvu Youth Fund’s office opened its doors for business last week, following a lengthy […]

SOCCER James Richardson Last week a schoolboy from Naples got called up for Italy’s under-17 national side despite being just 14. Causing a stir was the lad’s name: Maradona. Yup, he’s the son of the world’s greatest player, and his mum has a court certificate to prove it. Diego Jnr’s story begins in September 1986. […]

It’s seldom that a maiden plate makes for one of the big attractions on the card, but the first race at Turffontein on Saturday could be an exception. While all seasoned racegoers have at one time or another been subjected to rumours of unbeatable first-timers, the pedigree of David Ferraris’s Martinelli should make even the […]

Players who write controversial columns should not be gagged Martin Gillingham Sportsmen and women should be banned from writing newspaper columns. The reason is simple: the bad ones are turgid and boring and the good ones should never have been written. Sadly, the works of the few sports star columnists in this country fall in […]

A bitter battle over words Efforts to broker a joint declaration were hardly congenial, say Mail &Guardian reporters. In private, the South African government must be bitterly disappointed with events in Durban this week. It had hoped that the Third World, and particularly Africa, would speak with one clear voice at the United Nations conference […]

John Naughton The greatest thinkers are always those who can learn from their mistakes. Take Fred Brooks, the engineer who led development of the operating system for the IBM 360 mainframes in the late Sixties. It was the largest software project undertaken up to that point and, like all such projects, it ran over time […]

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson is the latest celeb to get a “Brazilian most women wince at the idea BODY LANGUAGE Laura Barton Cross your legs, ladies, this may sting a little. On a scale of one to childbirth, waxing your nether regions is a minor blip. But the curious point is that more and more women are […]

Two thirtysomethings rolled back the years at Flushing Meadows Richard Jago Pete Sampras beat Andre Agassi in a tension-filled tie-break battle to advance to the semifinals of the United States Open on Wednesday. In one of the tightest matches imaginable, with sensationally high-quality tennis from two players with 20 grand slam titles between them, Sampras […]

Wits University has become the first South African tertiary education institution to have a golf driving range, writes Ntuthuko Maphumulo. Retief Goosen’s victory at the United States Open and the Tiger Woods phenomenon have brought golf to the attention of people who never before would have been interested in the sport. Wits has decided to […]

Ngwako Modjadji Richard Chauke wants to study information technology at university after completing matric this year. But it will be a mammoth task to realise his dream because his school has not yet received textbooks and other study materials. With just two months before the start of final exams, Masedi Secondary School in the Northern […]

GOLF Bill Elliot When Mark James took Bernhard Langer aside in Munich two years ago to tell him that, no matter what, he was not going to be a captain’s pick for the 1999 Ryder Cup team, the German took it in typically flamboyant style. “Really,” he said, those hard eyes of his narrowing as […]

theatre JOHANNESBURG Matthew Krouse Agfa Theatre on the Square, Sandton Square. Harry Sideropolous appears as himself in yet another return season of the one-man show No Sugar, Canderel Please! about the ins and outs of being a fatty. Directed by Lynne Maree. Until September 15. See Theatre Pick of the Week. Tickets at Computicket or […]

TEN people were wounded when gunmen in a vehicle fired on a cinema in the southern Somali town of Jowhar. Eight of those wounded during the attack late on Monday were moviegoers and two were assailants shot when cinema guards returned fire. The motive for the attack was said to be revenge as the gunmen […]

Johannesburg | Wednesday THE rand hit a record low value against the dollar early on Tuesday because of concern in South Africa about the political and economic situation in neighbouring Zimbabwe, dealers said. The rand fell to 8,48 to the dollar shortly after South African markets opened on Tuesday, but soon recovered to 8,46. The […]

Abuja | Thursday A COMMONWEALTH conference on the situation in Zimbabwe was due to get under way in Nigeria early on Thursday with arriving delegates expressing a cautious optimism after an offer from white farmers aimed at resolving the country’s land dispute. Ministers and officials from Australia, Britain, Canada, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and […]

SOUTH African financial services firm Old Mutual Plc have announced that Eric Anstee, Director and Chief Executive of Financial Services, had resigned from the board and the company. His responsibilities had been reassigned to Jim Sutcliff, present head of London-listed Old Mutual’s life businesses who will become CEO from November 1. Anstee joined Old Mutual […]

Skukuza | Wednesday A DEVASTATING bush fire whipped through South Africa’s Kruger National Park overnight, killing at least 19 people, among them three park rangers, an official said on Wednesday. Firefighters were still battling the blaze in the country’s premier game reserve Wednesday morning, but officials said it had been brought under control and the […]

RICHARD WADDINGTON, Durban | Tuesday HOSTS South Africa are seeking to compromise wording on the Middle East that could save a UN conference on racism from failure after the United States and Israel pulled out. Both countries withdrew late on Monday in protest at language in conference drafts that branded Israel as racist for its […]

A NORTHERN Province man’s passion for soccer killed him at the weekend when an argument about the contentious Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns BP Top Eight final erupted into violence. Shadrack Sekgobela watched the televised match with fellow farm workers during a party at Richmond Farm near Hoedspruit on Saturday. “Sekgobela appears to have got […]

THE hopes of a tiny Northern Province village died last week when the hamlet’s star student drowned while studying medicine in Cuba. Thabo Skhosana (20) was considered Glen Cowie village’s goodwill ambassador and was the first local resident to ever go abroad. Almost the entire village turned out for his emotional funeral and memorial service […]