Archive for the ‘National’ Category
Austrians could be forgiven for bristling at Bruno, yet many seem to rather be embracing their inner flamboyantly gay fashionista…
ATMs across the country could be fitted with pepper spray to stop criminals from tampering with the machines, says Absa, who is piloting the project.
Low-cal diet slows monkey aging
A 20-year study of monkeys shows that a reduced-calorie diet pays off in less disease and longer life, say US researchers, a finding that could apply to humans.
'Summit of the Poor' to match G8
More than 1 000 from Africa and elsewhere have gathered in northern Mali for the annual "Summit of the Poor," to match this year's G8 meeting in Italy.
The ANC has won six of nine municipal by-elections, while the Democratic Alliance has won the remaining three, the Independent Electoral Commission says.
Archive for the ‘World’ Category
London Journal: Briefly Ascending to the Spotlight, Britons Take Their Place Among Giants
“One & Other” is a grand art project that places 2,400 people on Trafalgar Square’s usually vacant fourth plinth, for an hour apiece, from now through Oct. 6.
In Russia, Obama’s Star Power Does Not Translate
Unlike other capitals, Moscow has greeted President Obama as just another dignitary passing through.
Tribunal Says Bosnian Serb’s Trial Must Proceed
The decision is expected to clear the way for the trial of Radovan Karadzic, who faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Murdoch Papers Said to Pay to Settle Hacking Cases
Targets of cellphone message hacking by reporters were said to include public figures, including cabinet members.
In Europe, a Regulator Penalizes Two Utilities
Europe’s antitrust commission accused E.On and GDF Suez of anticompetitive practices that were costing consumers more.
Archive for the ‘National’ Category
The SABC board on Friday suspended group executive for commercial enterprises, Gab Mampone.
The board stated it reached its decision to suspend Mampone on the basis of information in its possession which appeared to point to possible acts of serious misconduct.
This related to both his current position and during his period as acting group CEO (May 2008 to December 2009), the broadcaster said in a statement.
“The board believes that Mr Mampone’s continued presence at the SABC may jeopardise investigations into the allegations of possible misconduct by him.
“On Wednesday, Mr Mampone was invited to make representations on why he should not be suspended.
“Earlier today [Friday], the board received and considered Mr Mampone’s representations and issued notice of his suspension,” it said.
Sapa
26 February 2010
Prosecutor stole dockets - but won't go to jail
A former Pietermaritzburg prosecutor who accepted bribes to steal court dockets to fund his drinking received a six year suspended sentence in the city’s regional court on Friday.
Amos Ngcobo, 40, admitted stealing or hiding more than 40 court dockets.
In addition to the sentence, he was also fined R20,000 to be paid to the South African National Council for Alcoholism, and to undergo three years of correctional supervision. Regional magistrate Paul Abelman said he had defeated the ends of justice by stealing or hiding the dockets for bribes. He also broke into offices of his colleagues and removed dockets to destroy or hide them. Ngcobo pleaded that he had a drinking problem which made him short of money. At times he prosecuted in the “drunken driving” court where, due to the enormous volume of cases it was easy to manipulate the system by stealing or hiding dockets. This would delay some cases so much that they were ultimately withdrawn. Abelman found that these acts amounted to corruption and/or defeating the ends of justice and/or unlawfully receiving benefits. He lost his government job. Sapa
26 February 2010
The price of all grades of petrol will rise by six cents a litre next week.
A litre of petrol 95 ULP will now cost R8.10 a litre in Gauteng.
The wholesale price of diesel with a 0.05% sulphur content will increase by four cents a litre. Diesel with a 0.005% sulphur content will also increase in price by four cents a litre. However, both the wholesale price of illuminating paraffin and the single maximum national retail price for illuminating paraffin will decrease by two cents a litre. Sapa
26 February 2010
Beaches in Miami to be set on fire SOME of South Africa’s leading house DJs will set beaches in Miami, US, ablaze with their music sounds next month.
DJs Fresh, Euphonik, Milkshake, Fistaz, Mahoota, Pepsi, Black Coffee and Culoe de Song will hook up with their international counterparts such as Master Key, Nick Holder and Keith Thompson to wow music fans at the Miami Showcase on March 26. This is an exclusively South African music showcase, the first initiative by local DJs to ever take place in the US. This is essentially a gig hosted by SA DJs, with the rest of the international DJs restricted to the status of guest DJs. South Africans in Miami, who want to connect with their country’s contemporary music sounds, should head for the South Seas Hotel and Pilika. The gig is part of the festivities at the US Winter Music Conference taking place at about the same time.
These DJs have certainly paid their dues on the local music scene. Their impressive résumés speak for themselves in terms of their status on the local music scene. Some of them have already made their names on the international music scene and this gig confirms that they are up there with the best.
Edward Tsumele
Soweto choir group rocks with R Kelly
Song to be out before World Cup SOWETO Spiritual Singers is collaborating with US R&B superstar Robert Kelly on a song that is set to rock the 2010 World Cup.
Sources close to the group confirmed the collaboration and the song will be a celebration of South Africa’s hosting the biggest soccer tournament . The sources also confirmed that a studio in Benoni, Ekurhuleni, was booked for five hours last night and the song would be released both locally and internationally ahead of the June 11 kickoff. R Kelly, who composed the song, has already recorded his part. Soweto Spiritual Singers’ contribution will be sent to the US for the final mixing. The recording company handling the project could not be reached for comment last night. The 27 member vocal ensemble beat the best local groups. “Several groups were asked to submit CDs because R Kelly was looking for a South African choir to work with. They are very excited and they did not care that they were given such a short period in which to do this,” the source said. One of the co-founders of the group, Vicky Vilakazi, neither confirmed nor denied that they had been selected to work with R Kelly. Formed in 2007, the group is the brainchild of Vilakazi, Gift Vilakazi-Ledimo, Nkululeko Vilakazi and Thabo Ledimo.
The ensemble has toured Europe extensively. They are scheduled to perform in Slovakia in May and will be heading for Japam im July. The group will wrap up 2010 in style with a three-month tour of the Netherlands.
Patience Bambalele
Archive for the ‘World’ Category
A triumphant Viktor Yanukovich is inaugurated in Ukraine, but his problems have only just begun
EVEN in Ukraine, elections can end. After two rounds of voting and weeks of legal rumbles, Viktor Yanukovich was inaugurated on Thursday February 25th as Ukraine’s fourth democratically elected president. In November 2004 he tried and failed to steal the crown. Now he has played (mostly) by the rules—and won. Although Yulia Tymoshenko, his charismatic rival (and Ukraine’s prime minister), refuses to recognise Mr Yanukovich’s victory, she withdrew her legal appeals this week. Ukraine’s highest office has thus moved from an incumbent to an opposition leader: a rare achievement in an ex-Soviet republic.
Mr Yanukovich’s legitimacy is now accepted by the world’s leaders, and not just by Russia’s prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who rashly congratulated him on his rigged victory in 2004. This time Moscow made no such crude statements. Instead, it asserted its feelings of fraternity towards Kiev by dispatching Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, to bless Mr Yanukovich before his inauguration. This says as much about Mr Yanukovich’s piety as about Moscow’s tactic of using the church to extend its influence. Rarely have the Russians used soft power so well. Yet Mr Yanukovich, conscious of his pro-Russian image, tried to downplay the patriarch’s visit, and is planning his first foreign visit to Brussels, not Moscow. ...
The ex-communist states of eastern Europe are leaving their pasts behind
WHERE would they be without their past, the ex-captive nations? (Or "ex-communist countries", "former Soviet satellite states", "the old Eastern block": so much history even in the category). The region between the Baltic and the Black Sea is so shaped by history that at first sight the question seems absurd. Trianon, Yalta, Molotov-Ribbentrop, Munich—the gloomy echoes of past betrayals and atrocities are inescapable.
...
A history of America in cigar consumption
THE smoking of a fat cigar is a sign that things are going well for Americans and shifts in cigar consumption are an accurate barometer of the national mood. Puffing on a stogie went into sharp decline after the Wall Street crash. President Kennedy signed the Cuban trade embargo in 1962 but not before sending a lackey to purchase 1,200 fine Cuban cigars on his behalf. At the time, American males smoked around 150 large cigars every year, three times more than at present. But smoking went into decline after the first surgeon-general's report on the dangers of tobacco in 1964. With the onset of the credit crunch cigar smoking took another dive. But with talk of Barack Obama lifting the world’s longest-standing trade embargo, imports of fine Cuban smokes might give cigars another boost.
...
Italy's statute of limitations saves Silvio Berlusconi's former lawyer from going to prison
ITALIAN courts may be slow. But no one could claim that they were arbitrary. Defendants get the right to a trial (sometimes after a pre-trial), and then up to two appeals: one on the merits of the case, and another on points of law. Often, the result is that a case will be timed out by a statute of limitations before it can run that long course.
On Thursday February 25th, Italy’s highest appeal court decided that that is what had happened in the politically explosive trial of David Mills, a British lawyer who once advised Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, on offshore finance. Mr Mills had been convicted by a lower court of having taken a $600,000 bribe, allegedly supplied by Mr Berlusconi, for holding back evidence at two trials involving the prime minister in the 1990s. ...
Barack Obama’s bipartisan summit on health policy accomplishes more than meets the eye
IT IS tempting to dismiss the bipartisan health-reform summit convened by Barack Obama on Thursday February 25th as a colossal waste of time. After all, the gabfest involving senior Congressional leaders from both parties lasted well over six hours, with no tangible results. Neither side moved one jot on any issue of substance and not one vote is likely to have changed on either side as a result of the summit.
And yet, the televised gathering was not pointless. For one thing, the sight of America’s leading politicians sitting together amiably for an entire day to discuss a matter as inflammatory as health reform (think “death panels”) was itself heartening. Surprisingly, given the bitter partisan wrangling of late, they did so in a manner that was mostly civil and substantive. Towards the end of the long day, Joe Barton, a House Republican from Texas, even declared that he had never seen “so many members of the House and Senate behave so well for so long before so many television cameras.” ...
Archive for the ‘News Headlines’ Category
Austrians could be forgiven for bristling at Bruno, yet many seem to rather be embracing their inner flamboyantly gay fashionista…
ATMs across the country could be fitted with pepper spray to stop criminals from tampering with the machines, says Absa, who is piloting the project.
Low-cal diet slows monkey aging
A 20-year study of monkeys shows that a reduced-calorie diet pays off in less disease and longer life, say US researchers, a finding that could apply to humans.
'Summit of the Poor' to match G8
More than 1 000 from Africa and elsewhere have gathered in northern Mali for the annual "Summit of the Poor," to match this year's G8 meeting in Italy.
Archive for the ‘News Headlines’ Category
A triumphant Viktor Yanukovich is inaugurated in Ukraine, but his problems have only just begun
EVEN in Ukraine, elections can end. After two rounds of voting and weeks of legal rumbles, Viktor Yanukovich was inaugurated on Thursday February 25th as Ukraine’s fourth democratically elected president. In November 2004 he tried and failed to steal the crown. Now he has played (mostly) by the rules—and won. Although Yulia Tymoshenko, his charismatic rival (and Ukraine’s prime minister), refuses to recognise Mr Yanukovich’s victory, she withdrew her legal appeals this week. Ukraine’s highest office has thus moved from an incumbent to an opposition leader: a rare achievement in an ex-Soviet republic.
Mr Yanukovich’s legitimacy is now accepted by the world’s leaders, and not just by Russia’s prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who rashly congratulated him on his rigged victory in 2004. This time Moscow made no such crude statements. Instead, it asserted its feelings of fraternity towards Kiev by dispatching Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, to bless Mr Yanukovich before his inauguration. This says as much about Mr Yanukovich’s piety as about Moscow’s tactic of using the church to extend its influence. Rarely have the Russians used soft power so well. Yet Mr Yanukovich, conscious of his pro-Russian image, tried to downplay the patriarch’s visit, and is planning his first foreign visit to Brussels, not Moscow. ...
The ex-communist states of eastern Europe are leaving their pasts behind
WHERE would they be without their past, the ex-captive nations? (Or "ex-communist countries", "former Soviet satellite states", "the old Eastern block": so much history even in the category). The region between the Baltic and the Black Sea is so shaped by history that at first sight the question seems absurd. Trianon, Yalta, Molotov-Ribbentrop, Munich—the gloomy echoes of past betrayals and atrocities are inescapable.
...
A history of America in cigar consumption
THE smoking of a fat cigar is a sign that things are going well for Americans and shifts in cigar consumption are an accurate barometer of the national mood. Puffing on a stogie went into sharp decline after the Wall Street crash. President Kennedy signed the Cuban trade embargo in 1962 but not before sending a lackey to purchase 1,200 fine Cuban cigars on his behalf. At the time, American males smoked around 150 large cigars every year, three times more than at present. But smoking went into decline after the first surgeon-general's report on the dangers of tobacco in 1964. With the onset of the credit crunch cigar smoking took another dive. But with talk of Barack Obama lifting the world’s longest-standing trade embargo, imports of fine Cuban smokes might give cigars another boost.
...
Italy's statute of limitations saves Silvio Berlusconi's former lawyer from going to prison
ITALIAN courts may be slow. But no one could claim that they were arbitrary. Defendants get the right to a trial (sometimes after a pre-trial), and then up to two appeals: one on the merits of the case, and another on points of law. Often, the result is that a case will be timed out by a statute of limitations before it can run that long course.
On Thursday February 25th, Italy’s highest appeal court decided that that is what had happened in the politically explosive trial of David Mills, a British lawyer who once advised Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, on offshore finance. Mr Mills had been convicted by a lower court of having taken a $600,000 bribe, allegedly supplied by Mr Berlusconi, for holding back evidence at two trials involving the prime minister in the 1990s. ...
Barack Obama’s bipartisan summit on health policy accomplishes more than meets the eye
IT IS tempting to dismiss the bipartisan health-reform summit convened by Barack Obama on Thursday February 25th as a colossal waste of time. After all, the gabfest involving senior Congressional leaders from both parties lasted well over six hours, with no tangible results. Neither side moved one jot on any issue of substance and not one vote is likely to have changed on either side as a result of the summit.
And yet, the televised gathering was not pointless. For one thing, the sight of America’s leading politicians sitting together amiably for an entire day to discuss a matter as inflammatory as health reform (think “death panels”) was itself heartening. Surprisingly, given the bitter partisan wrangling of late, they did so in a manner that was mostly civil and substantive. Towards the end of the long day, Joe Barton, a House Republican from Texas, even declared that he had never seen “so many members of the House and Senate behave so well for so long before so many television cameras.” ...
Popular Pictures
