Deon Potgieter boxing As the only boxing world champion in South Africa holding one of the “big three” sanctioning bodies’ world titles, Lehlohonolo “Hands of Stone” Ledwaba carries a lot of responsibility on his shoulders this weekend. He makes the sixth defence of his International Boxing Federation junior-featherweight title as the main supporting bout to […]
ANTONY BARNETT and STEFAANS BRMMER, Johannesburg | Friday FOR thousands of years, members of Southern Africa’s Kung tribe have eaten the Hoodia cactus to stave off hunger and thirst on long hunting trips. The Kung people – a subdivision of the San – used to cut off a stem of the cactus about the size […]
Tim Wood american notes AMail & Guardian letter-page critic believes that electricity deregulation caused California’s energy crisis and is an example of why it should be avoided when it comes to Eskom. It’s a poor deduction that relies on less than half the facts. California is in a mess because of the confluence of dozens […]
John Aizlewood CD OFTHEWEEK As Freaky Girl settles into its jogging groove, Orville “Shaggy” Burrell growls over The Kraft’s Stakhanovite vocal legwork and lets slip a chuckle. In an instant, its good-natured lasciviousness encapsulates the unlikely but undisputed king of reggae. Shaggy’s shtick on Hot Shot (MCA) is straightforward but appealing. His love songs girl […]
FORTY police and thirty demonstrators were slightly hurt on Wednesday night in clashes during a protest by young members of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority outside the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, police said. Coptic youth have been protesting since Sunday over the newspaper publication of a graphic story about a defrocked monk’s alleged sexual affairs in […]
Former South African president Nelson Mandela is to share a stage with Mick Jagger, U2 and a bevy of models in a charity concert in Barcelona.
whipping boy This year’s Durban July could be substantially affected by a high court ruling long before the gates swing open at Greyville on July 7. Top trainer Mike de Kock has threatened to seek relief from the court, contending that the David Ferraris-trained Celtic Grove has been set to carry too light a weight […]
He is at his lowest ebb for a decade and his French Open campaign was a disaster. Jim White talks to the once invincible American embarking on his last realistic attempt at a Wimbledon title Sitting up in the stands surrounding the main court at Queen’s Club in west London, Pete Sampras is watching a […]
LAWMAKERS on Wednesday voted to oust the speaker of the state parliament in Kano, Nigeria, for an alleged “dictatorial” manner, poor time-keeping, and lightening his skin. The Kano State house of assembly unanimously voted to impeach Ibrahim Abdullahi Gwarmai after weeks of complaints over his attitude and behaviour, said an aggrieved lawmaker, Hamisu Ibrahim. Gwarmai, […]
POLICE in northern Tanzania were holding 17 people on Wednesday and had seized nine tonnes of marijuana, state-owned radio Tanzania reported on Wednesday. Quoting regional police commander Paul Ntobi in Mara, the radio said that the suspects were arrested in four villages, following a swoop launched after a tip-off by local citizens. Ntobi said some […]
Cape Town | Thursday A RULING by the New York Supreme Court allowing South Africa to use the Internet domain name southafrica.com sets a precedent “for other countries who want their name back,” Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said on Wednesday. The court on Monday dismissed an application for an interdict from Seattle-based internet company Virtual […]
THE Malawi parliament has passed a controversial bill which strips lawmakers of their seats if they defect to other parties or declare themselves independent, a parliamentary representative said on Wednesday. Roderick Mlonya said the bill, passed on Tuesday, was met with strong protest from the opposition Alliance For Democracy (AFORD). The bill stipulates that when […]
THE Islamic Development Bank (IDB) announced Sunday a $7.3-million (8.5-million-euro) loan to Chad for educational projects. The loan will finance the construction and development of schools and a French-Arab bilingual training scheme for school teachers, the Jeddah-based bank said in a statement. The new loan raises to 69 million dollars the total funds granted by […]
AN Egyptian court sentenced four Egyptians to death on Tuesday for the gang rape of a woman who was five months pregnant. The armed assailants forced her husband to look on, a court official said. Barakat Hassan, 23, Hani Sabet, 22, Khaled Moslem, 22, and Harras Badie, 19, were sentenced in the southern Cairo suburb […]
EMSIE FERREIRA, Cape Town | Wednesday SOUTH Africa is revamping its immigration laws to make it easier for foreigners to work in the country, but employers will have to pay a special tax on their salaries in many cases. Elderly foreign nationals will also find it easier to retire in South Africa under the bill, […]
Pretoria | Wednesday SOUTH African Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin denied on Tuesday that the government deliberately misled the public about the cost of a multi-billion dollar strategic defence package. Speaking at a public hearing into alleged corruption into the $5.5-billion deal, Erwin defended an original cost estimation in 1998 that put the price […]
THE European Union has finally disbursed six million euros (seven million dollars) on Tuesday to finance part of Zambia’s upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections due late this year. The EU had initially withheld the money from the Zambian government on grounds that it was not happy with the government’s record. “Given the crucial importance of […]
THE South African military will try to recruit 10,000 youths a year on a voluntary basis, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told parliament on Tuesday after ruling out conscription. “Ensuring constant access to high quality personnel is a challenge for any defence force. Consequently we are recommending to the country the introduction of a service system,” […]
TWO youths were killed when fighting broke out after Islamic vigilantes sought to close a brothel operating in a town in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna State, radio reported. The emir of Birnin Gwari, Zubairu Jibril, told the privately-owned Rima Radio here that the vigilantes entered the brothel on Sunday to close it down. Shortly afterwards, a […]
LIBYA has withdrawn its troops from the Central African Republic (CAR) after helping to defeat a coup attempt there and to “restore legality,” the BBC monitoring service reported on Wednesday. Libya said it was leaving a “small group” of forces behind at the request of CAR President Felix Ange-Patasse, who had invited the troops in, […]
South Africa is to rename all schools named after apartheid figures, Education Minister Kader Asmal said on Monday. Asmal told journalists the names of schools honouring apartheid leaders like D.F. Malan and Hendrick Verwoerd, former prime ministers who are considered architects of the racist system, gave offence to the majority of South Africans. “A name […]
BETWEEN 13 and 27 government soldiers were killed in an ambush by a group of armed Islamic militants in the Chlef region, 200 kilometres west of the capital Algiers, Algerian newspapers reported on Tuesday. The papers blamed a faction of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) for the ambush, which took place on Sunday, of a […]
A South African court on Monday sentenced a former building society manager to 1,620 years in prison for fraud involving more than $40-million. The Johannesburg High Court sentenced Vito Assante, 50, a former branch manager of the Natal Building Society, to 15 years’ imprisonment on each of 108 charges of issuing investor certificates worth R350-million […]
EMSIE FERREIRA, Cape Town | Wednesday RESIDENTS of the remote South African fishing village of Cape Agulhas are calling on officials to solve an old geographical dispute — where do the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet? Cape Agulhas residents claim the oceans come together at their windswept bay, which is home to a few hundred […]
THE Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to exempt reporters and humanitarian workers in Somalia from a nine-year-old arms embargo, to enable them to wear flak jackets and helmets. It adopted a resolution stating that the embargo, imposed in January 1992, “shall not apply to protective clothing, including flak jackets and military helmets… for their […]
THE rand weakened on Monday in late morning trade as the euro surrendered earlier gains against the dollar, but the rand was seen getting some technical support soon. The rand was last traded at R8,04 to the dollar, two cents weaker compared to late Friday after it had firmed to around R8 to the dollar […]
THE Nigerian government announced on Tuesday it has agreed to allow a Swedish ship, stranded at sea with 186 Liberian passengers aboard, to dock. The boat, the Alnar Stockholm, carrying 186 Liberians, including 79 children, left Benin waters on Monday after awaiting permission for a week to dock in Cotonou. Following the Abuja government’s announcement, […]
MANUEL MUANZA, Luanda | Wednesday ANGOLAN President Jose Eduardo dos Santos renewed his calls on Tuesday for rebel chief Jonas Savimbi to end his nation’s civil war, as army forces toppled a 10-year-old rebel stronghold. Dos Santos, who spoke while on a two-day trip to Brussels, said Savimbi “has not yet said whether he really […]
A STUTTGART court jailed a German engineer on Tuesday for two and a half years for illegally assisting Libya in building a chemical weapons plant. The court found the 59-year-old engineer, Roland Franz Berger, guilty of violating international sanctions levelled at Libya by the United Nations as well as chapters of German foreign commerce law. […]
Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) slapped down popular leader Winnie Madikizela-Mandela for her conduct towards President Thabo Mbeki, in a statement issued on Wednesday. The censure comes amid a public uproar over the conduct of Mbeki, who is also ANC president, for pushing Madikizela-Mandela away when she tried to kiss […]
Emmanuel Goujon, Bouake | Tuesday A SPECIALLY developed hybrid rice for Africa, the result of 10 years of research and a fusion of a local and an Asian strain, has spawned hopes of improving the continent’s food security. Nerica, an acronym for New Rice for Africa, has been developed by the West Africa Rice Development […]
MALAWI will issue licenses to 20 hunters to kill 200 menacing but endangered Nile crocodiles in the southern African nation’s lakes and rivers, environmental authorities said on Monday. Each license will cost 1.50 US dollars, and will allow an individual hunter to kill 10 of the endangered reptiles in specially selected hunting grounds, said Roy […]