Obama inches ahead

US President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney remain just about tied in the race for the White House with razor-thin margins in four key swing states, according to a Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll. Ferrell pulls out all the stops to get voters behind Obama Ferrell pulls out all the stops to get voters

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Zille on anti-nationalist crusade againts Nkandla

South African police prevented the country’s anti-nationalist opposition leader from using a public road leading to President Jacob Zuma’s house in his home village on Sunday, citing valid safety concerns. DA invasion bore a strong resemblance to its youth subsidy march to Cosatu House in Johannesburg earlier this year. Their campaign, in May, resulted in

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Obama puts security in Africa first

Four years ago Africa greeted Barack Obama’s election with rapture, predicting America’s first black president would smother the continent with attention. But instead of warm hand-holding, Africa got hard-headed, security-first policies. Africa’s response to Obama’s election in November 2008 was nothing short of ecstatic. A Nigerian foreign minister wept, Nelson Mandela hailed it as proof that

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Megaupload founder unveils file-sharing sequel

Like a good Hollywood sequel, Megaupload is back. Kim Dotcom, the founder of the shuttered file-sharing site that housed everything from family photos to blockbuster films, on Thursday announced a new online storage service called Mega that will give users direct control – and responsibility – over their files. Mega will launch in January 2013,

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A racist application form

CAPE BAR COUNCIL  NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS AND APPLICANTS FOR PUPILLAGE IN 2013 TRANSFORMATION BURSARIES SCHOLARSHIPS FOR AFRICAN WOMEN 2013 Applications are hereby invited for the Cape Bar’s transformation bursaries and scholarships for African women for 2013. Transformation bursaries The persons who are eligible for the transformation bursaries are financially needy black or female persons

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The other side of Sandy

Haiti was hit hardest Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas took direct hits as Sandy approached them as a Category 1 and 2 storm. Hurricane Sandy’s toll in the Caribbean amounts to at least 69 dead, thousands homeless and few funds available to rebuild. Yet, the Caribbean carnage remains largely behind the scenes as media spotlight

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Looters love Sandy

Water that had risen six feet high hadn’t completely drained away from the streets of Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y., yet looters had already rifled through the remains of vulnerable shops on Mermaid Avenue. At about 8 a.m. on Tuesday, workers arrived at Mega Aid Pharmacy to find that not only had Hurricane Sandy obliterated

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Profiling racial profiling

At Toronto police headquarters, the response to evidence of racial profiling has changed dramatically. The angry denials of eight years ago have evolved into a clear recognition of the problem and a firm determination to fix it. Unfortunately, that attitude hasn’t always percolated down to the street level, where visible minorities – especially blacks –

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Exporting unemployment

Under a scheme organised by the local authorities in the town of Soderhamn and by Sweden’s national employment office, anyone aged between 18 and 28 can volunteer to take a “Job Journey” to Oslo and attempt track down gainful employment. Those who sign up get a ticket to the Norwegian capital and are put up

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Freedom for Swaziland!

The ANC has called for Swaziland to be “liberated” as part of the outcomes of an International Solidarity Conference the party hosted last week. “Everyone must have freedom in their lifetime,” ANC chairperson Baleka Mbete told reporters in Johannesburg. The conference was held under a banner of “strengthening the international solidarity movement” and was attended

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Whites have better education, better pay

People living in the Western Cape are better off than those in most other provinces. Most live in brick houses, have access to running water, flushing toilets and a better education than the average citizen, according to census figures released on Tuesday. It’s also the province with the least Africans. There are 5.8 million people

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Indigenous languages under threat

With the 2011 census showing a decline in six of the 11 official languages, linguists are warning that failure to teach in home languages will lead to continued failures at schools and universities. With a decline in the use of Zulu, Sepedi, Sotho, Tswana and Swati, the head of the Wits University language school, Nhlanhla

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SAA’s turn-around strategy?

Why is SAA always running at such a huge loss and forever requesting ‘bail outs’ from the government? The reason appears to be quite simple – they have too many people working for them and the business simply cannot afford it! Many of these SAA employees fall into the ‘protected employees’ category, (those that simply

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Farm workers exploited in Britain

There are strict rules in Britain covering the conditions for chickens and eggs marketed in the happy hen category by high street names – a Freedom Food chicken must be grabbed by both legs rather than just one when being caught, for example. But the conditions of the humans sent to catch them has had

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