praag.co.uk

Crime and its reality in Africa

South Africa is the most interesting country in the world to live in. For almost eight years I lived in Paris and I could stroll to the Louvre, the Picasso Museum, buy cheap tickets at the Bastille Opera for what was then about R50, browse dozens of interesting little bookshops with names like "Letter tree", "Foam of the pages", "Doodles", and so on. Unlike Anglo-American bookshops that contain mostly a mixture of bestselling trash and classics, the French love their quirky essays and novels by eccentric authors teeming with wayward knowledge and ideas.

I also attended lectures or ran in...

Dutch teen sailor completes solo world tour

Dutch teen Laura Dekker on Saturday became the youngest sailor to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world, a year after going to court for the right to make the attempt.

The 16-year-old completed her solo round-the-world journey when she sailed into harbour on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT).

Dekker, who left the island nearly a year ago to the day -- January 20, 2011 -- beat the previous record by some eight months.

As she turns 17 on September 20, she had to complete her journey before September 16 to beat the record for the youngest sailor to make an unas...

Bahrain spirals into violence

Bahrain has spiraled into escalating violence on the streets in recent days, several weeks after an independent commission report into last year's violence was released in November.

On Saturday police and pro-government supporters clashed with hundreds of mourners in Muharraq, north of the Bahraini capital Manama, as they marched in the funeral of 24-year-old Yousif Muwali, who died in controversial circumstances on January 13th.

Muwali had gone missing on January 11th before his body was found on the sea-shore. Authorities say he died after drowning at sea, while relatives claim that he ...

UJ stampede victim's sons urged to study hard

South African Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande urged the son of the woman who died in a stampede at the University of Johannesburg to study hard in honour of his mother, the SABC reported.

Nzimande was speaking at the funeral of Gloria Sekwena, 47, in Kagiso in the west of Johannesburg on Saturday.

The broadcaster said Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane pledged support to the family, providing transport for mourners and counselling services.

Sekwena's coffin was placed in the middle of the mourners inside the Lady of Peace Church surrounded by flowers, while her framed picture was pl...

The Cuban occupation of South Africa

The announcement last week that Cuban military personnel would be sent to South Africa to train the ANC's army has caused grave concern among the Afrikaner minority in South Africa. Not only have Afrikaners been placed in category six by the international Genocide Watch group, but many of them previously fought against Cuban military adventurism in Africa, killing and wounding a substantial number of Cubans. They are at risk of Cuban revenge and victimisation.

Amid increasing ethnic tension within South Africa, exemplified by suspended ANC Youth leader Julius Malema's incitement to genocide aga...

Mbeki on Twitter and Gaddafi

Former president Thabo Mbeki said on Monday he was sceptical about Twitter being a great conveyor of reliable knowledge.

Mbeki said in response to a qu...

New CEO at the SABC

Lulama Mokhobo has been appointed the SABC's new group CEO, the communications ministry said on Monday.

"After a recommendation by the South African B...

China's internet users rise to 513 million

An industry group says China's number of Internet users has surged past 500 million and is still growing strongly.

The China Internet Network Informati...