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Eviction: The Red Ants, the security company used to remove illegal squatters from properties, on Wednesday demolished informal settlements in Durban Deep near Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, and evicted people from the area. Police monitored residents who had earlier set fire to an abandoned building. (Werner Beukes, Sapa)
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Africa
Sierra Leone court delivers first war-crimes verdicts
Sierra Leone's special war-crimes court handed down its first verdicts on Wednesday, finding three leaders of a militia guilty of war crimes that include killing, raping and mutilating civilians. The verdicts stem from charges relating to Sierra Leone's civil war. |
National
Winter solstice looms, cold weather on the way
Thursday will be the shortest day of the year -- the winter solstice -- the South African Weather Service said. The solstice marks the astronomical beginning of the southern hemisphere's winter, said spokesperson Garth Sampson on Wednesday. At exactly 8.08pm on Thursday the sun would be at its furthest point from the equator. |
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No end yet to govt wage talks
The government and public unions met for all of 10 minutes on Wednesday night before deciding to postpone wage talks to Friday to give unions more time to canvass their members. A government-imposed deadline for unions to accept a wage settlement offer came and went at 6pm without the parties meeting.
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National
Rodrigues has shown no remorse, court told
The prosecution team in the Jordan-Leigh Norton murder case on Wednesday called for life sentences for mastermind Dina Rodrigues and three of her four co-accused. For co-accused Bonginkosi Sigenu, prosecutors Nicollette Bell and Maria Marshall called for a long-term jail sentence but not life imprisonment.
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International
Scenes of horror in Iraq orphanage
The images are shocking, even by Iraqi standards: two dozen skeletal children, some tied to beds, others writhing in their own waste and some appearing, at first glance, to be dead. Such was the nightmare that greeted United States and Iraqi forces last week when they stumbled upon the al-Hanan orphanage in Baghdad.
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National
Refugees in SA: 'The job is not finished'
In commemoration of World Refugee Day on Wednesday, the Johannesburg City Hall hosted numerous NGOs and civil society groups that came together to highlight the troubles faced by refugees, particularly children, living in South Africa. Some refugee children shared their stories with the crowd.
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National
Now Mother City's names are up for changing
Cape Town's renaming panel has recommended that slain musician Taliep Petersen be remembered in a street name, and that a clutch of apartheid-era prime ministers drop off the map. A total of 46 changes suggested by the panel of experts were released on Wednesday.
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Monitor
Making the foreskin history
UNAids is careful in its assessment: "Without question, we absolutely have to ensure that men and women are aware that male circumcision is not a 'magic bullet' -- it does not provide total protection and it does not mean people can stop taking the safe sex precautions they were already using." |
| | Business
An Esop's fable?
Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Unless it comes from the Greeks who have been besieging your citadel of Troy. As they say, Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes (Beware of Greeks bearing gifts). I mention this because, as a professional sceptic, I am duty-bound to look at the downside of even the worthiest corporate schemes, writes Reg Rumney. |
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| Monitor
Circumcision: a woman's view
Women's voices have largely gone unheard in the debate on male circumcision as an HIV-prevention method, but informal discussions with women reveal a range of concerns, preferences and views that researchers and governments would do well to consider before drawing up plans for rolling out a national circumcision programme. |
| | Africa
Battle continues for media independence in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean media practitioners have launched a self-regulatory media body for journalists despite government threats of unspecified action against them. The non-governmental Media Alliance of Zimbabwe launched the Media Council of Zimbabwe (MCZ) earlier this month. If MCZ members have their way, the ruling Zanu-PF will cease its stranglehold on the operations of the country's media |
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'Dubailand' aims to be Middle East Orlando
Widely touted as the Middle East's very own Orlando, "Dubailand", a cluster of mega-billion-dollar projects, is gradually emerging across the desert sands of the booming Gulf emirate. Faced with a dwindling wealth of oil, Dubai has taken on a new challenge of larger-than-life projects in line with its ambition to become the region's main business and leisure hub. |
| | On the electronic pioneer trail
Fresh from winning a South African Music Award for best alternative album, Cape Town's electronic pioneers Lark are touring the country in support of the reissue of their sold-out debut EP, Mouth of Me. What led to the decision to re-release the Mouth of Me EP? The group spoke to ZA@Play |
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