AFRICAN CORRELATION
By Claire Bisseker
The global financial crisis has accelerated China's emergence as a global economic superpower but its growth is increasingly correlated with Africa's, which it now relies on for 25% of its oil imports. At a time when the ec...

FIZZ BEYOND WAGES

How much longer can you maintain this strike? We can definitely hang in there for at least a few more weeks. Would most of your members still support this strike if they were reballoted? I have no doubt they wou...

BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS
By Claire Bisseker
What is the Bank for Inter-national Settlements (BIS)? It's a central bank for central banks, providing traditional banking services to its 57 member central banks only. As a lender of last resort, it provides central banks with a sho...

OFF PRISON GROUNDS
By Thebe Mabanga
The department of correctional services has finally suspended Thozama Mqobi-Balfour, regional services commissioner for Gauteng and wife of former correctional services minister Ngconde Balfour, over the irregular use of rented accomm...

UNKIND CUT
By Matebello Motloung
What was supposed to be a simple marketing exercise has resulted in The Citizen being hauled before the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for "misleading" consumers. The ASA recently ordered Caxton/CTP Publishers' only co...

INTO THE SAFA HOT SEAT
By Thebe Mabanga
Leslie Sedibe, the suave lawyer who has just taken over the reins as CEO of the SA Football Association (Safa), has managed to use his legal training to access some of the most interesting opportunities on offer. He has ove...

WINNERS & LOSERS

LOSER Haruka Nishimatsu Japan Airlines' CEO was expected to step down as investors rushed to sell their shares in the loss-making company on Tuesday ahead of a bankruptcy filing. WINNER Ian Rozier Canada-base...

CRUEL EXPECTATIONS
By Prakash Naidoo
As a US court ponders whether international corporations can be sued for facilitating or benefiting from apartheid, there is concern that even if the landmark case is allowed to continue, it will cruelly raise the expectations of thous...

COMINGS & GOINGS

Peter Robinson Northern Ireland's first minister has stepped down temporarily to care for his wife and clear his name amid claims over her finances. This could affect the ruling coalition. Arlene Foster is acting first minister. ...

MATRIC RESULTS IN NUMBERS
By Prakash Naidoo
580 577 sat for the national senior certificate examinations in 2009. 228 687 failed. 351 890 passed.

MAYORAL MOMENT
By Larry Claasen
It was an odd sight. An illegal anti-apartheid march of 20 000 led not only by archbishop Desmond Tutu, Frank Chikane and Allan Boesak but also by Cape Town's white-elected mayor, Gordon Oliver. Odd, because this was in September 19...

PIRATES SHMIRATES
By Ian Fife
A duplicate of SA's worry that rich foreigners are pushing property prices out of reach of local buyers is playing itself out in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. This time it's Somali pirates who are being blamed. Somali pirate - Drop in the oceanLike S...

NOSE FOR ART
By Sasha Planting
If South Africans are still in the dark (or in doubt) about the depth and breadth of talent among local contemporary artists then a visit to Cape Town's annual Art Salon will change that. The exhibition, curated by noted art dealer ...

BEATING THE RUSH
By Matebello Motloung
Need to have your car repaired and ready waiting for you at the airport when you return from a trip? You can, thanks to Ntuthuko Shezi, cofounder of Scratch, Africa's first airport-based panel beater, launched at OR Tambo International in ...

IN LIVING COLOUR
By Kate Thompson
There was a short time when photo printer and paper manufacturers worried that digital photography would kill off the personal printing market. When you wanted to share your images with someone you simply e-mailed them, or huddled arou...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

JACOB ZUMA President addressing a rally in Kimberley on the ANC's 98th anniversary ...