The Sunday Independent (South Africa) back issues from January 2009:
Love and lust in Barcelona; Woody Allen's latest setting is the backdrop for a movie that offers a few illuminating moments.(Life)
Jan 04, 2009 ... For his past four movies, Woody Allen has been working in Europe - three in London and a new one, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, in Barcelona. It was initially neat to think of the film-maker on vacation away from Manhattan (or, given his preference for casting Scarlett Johansson, on his ...
Beckett has fun rattling us.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Race tends to dominate much of the South African psyche and Magenta is a weird Aesop's Fable-type tale that looks for alternative ways of being. Denis Beckett is an odd duck and it certainly comes out in his writing. He also has a wide definition of South Africans that doesn't ...
Going with the flow; The tap is wide open for the South African band many bill as 'the next Juluka'. Melissa Siebert catches up with current members of Hot Water.(Life)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Their time is coming. If not now, soon. Hot Water, some say, is the next big South African band, about to take the country - perhaps even the world - by storm. "They're the next Johnny Clegg," effuses Patti Hanley, the owner of Funxion Junxion, a Jo'burg-based events management ...
Great gals do great jazz.(Life)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Putumayo cleverly strikes again with the album Women of Jazz. The album has 10 tracks from accomplished women jazz artists; some you will know but others may be a first-time experience. Here are the tracks and the artists: Melody Gardot is a young lass from New Jersey who spent ...
Looking for delightful transport - consider taking the train.(Life)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Airports are one thing, train stations quite another. Airports tend to be amorphous, look-alike, impersonal mega aircraft hangars full of dispirited people looking tired, grumpy and harassed. There are a few decent airports - Changi in Singapore, the small ski-village feel of ...
Desperately seeking relief from animated eye candy with bloated narrative.(Life)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Considering that The Tale of Despereaux opens with a lovable stowaway rat named Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman) frigating his way to the not-so-enchanted Land of Dor, allow us to compare subplots to submarines. You might not notice that there are many around, until your bilge is full ...
Stars spell out a bright future.(Life)
Jan 04, 2009 ... This past year, you've so often felt lost at sea. Thankfully, the cosmos retakes the helm and navigates you to safety. Your focus now falls on friendships, travel and career. January suggests that you still have more unfinished business to complete. You might also have to keep an eye on ...
Which RSS reader is right for you? Click and choose your favourite.(Life)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Becky Krystal It's fun to play the field online. Get your mind out of the gutter. We're talking about the wide world of really simple syndication, more pithily known as RSS. With the technology, web surfers can subscribe to their favourite sites to keep up ...
US does a U-turn on policy in Afghanistan.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: David Wood In a sandy clearing in the pine woods, special forces soldiers and civilians are struggling with the riddle of Afghanistan: why is the United States still falling short in the war, seven years after it invaded and threw out the Taliban? From their ...
Puzzling case of the US kidnap negotiator who has been abducted.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... They ordered the goat. That's what the kitchen is famous for at the smart La Principal restaurant in Saltillo, a prosperous manufacturing city in the high desert of northern Mexico. And so it was only natural that Felix Batista, an American expert in corporate security, and his new friends ...
Showdown in the Rockies; A titanic battle between two traditional power brokers - big oil and big water - has begun, writes Julie Cart.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... At stake is one of the largest oil reserves in the world, a vast cache trapped beneath the Rocky Mountains containing an estimated 800 billion barrels - about three times the reserves of Saudi Arabia. Extracting oil from rocky seams of underground shale is not only expensive but ...
Rights of juvenile detainees flouted in Gitmo case.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Carol Williams Two days after he was pulled unconscious from the rubble of a bombed al-Qaida compound in southern Afghanistan, 15-year-old Omar Khadr lay strapped to a gurney, his left eye blinded by shrapnel, gunshot wounds to his back still raw. United ...
Honeybees get hooked on coke.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Thomas H Maugh Cocaine repels many insects - which is why the coca plant makes the chemical in the first place. But in a surprising new finding, United States and Australian researchers have reported that honeybees are susceptible to the drug's insidious ...
Gaza attack is simply obscene; Latest show of force by Israel will bring anything but peace to the Middle East.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... We've got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don't care any more - providing we don't offend the Israelis. It's not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of British ...
Obama will/need skillof a juggler; The new president of the US faces a year/of huge challenges at home and abroad.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Rupert Cornwell On January 20, Barack Obama will become president of the United States. His preparation has been faultless. Soon we will learn whether the optimism is justified. Obama had it right. Postpone the first candidates' debate, John McCain was urging ...
State of the nations bodes ill for 2009; The global economic meltdown is likely to worsen already tricky internal and external relations around the world.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Raymond Whitaker Economic meltdown is certain to provoke more strife around the world - and the slump will hit peacekeeping missions hard. The international landscape looks radically different at the beginning of 2009 from a year earlier, and not just because ...
1000000000 people; That is how many will go hungry in 2009 - a staggering, all-time high, Geoffrey Lean writes.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... One billion people will go hungry around the world next year for the first time in human history as the international financial crisis deepens, the United Nations has said. This is despite a second record worldwide harvest in as many years - because people are becoming too ...
Perhaps only the truth will oust Mugabe.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Raymond Whitaker As Robert Mugabe recruits thugs with the promise of a square meal, spreading the truth is the watching world's most powerful weapon. After a year of unparalleled misery, Zimbabwe can only expect worse in 2009. In 2008, President Robert Mugabe ...
Albinos come out of the shadows in Tanzania.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Al-Shymaa Kway-Geer got her job as a Tanzanian MP because of the way she looks. She is white, freckled with sun damage and has pale, almost colourless eyes. Kway-Geer, 48, was given a parliamentary seat in April by President Jakaya Kikwete because he needed to make a public ...
We Cubans are proud of our country.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Ibete Fernandez As on every Sunday, on December 21, I went through the pages of The Sunday Independent when I was confronted by an article on Cuba ("Curb your enthusiasm - 'change' in Cuba is still the whim of despots"). As a Cuban I was eager to know the ...
Something fishy this way comes.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... I found the article "70 years of 'Old Fourlegs'" (December 28) both intriguing and contradictory. It reports that the coelacanth's fossil record "stretches back 380 million years" and "it was assumed that the fish had been extinct for 65 million years". Who has determined that ...
Digital interactive advertising has cornered consumers under its thumb.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Charlene smith It seems that 2009 will be the year of the thumb. Our lives will be dominated by the little computers one in three Africans have in their hands, pockets or handbags - cellphones. Political organisations will send their message and collect funds ...
Don't overlook Israel's vulnerability.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... It is a paradox that Israel has gained the reputation of an aggressor and bully. Before you rush to judgment on the iniquity of Israel's lethal air strikes on the Gaza Strip - your own judgement, not a judgement borrowed from flailing politicians or vocal lobbyists for either side - could ...
Facing anotheryear of hunger,even starvation; More than 5 million Zimbabweans needfood aid as their once rich fields lie fallow.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Daniel Howden The land is fertile, the rain is falling, but the agricultural system has been destroyed by Robert Mugabe. The road west from Harare leads through some of the most fertile land in Southern Africa. The summer rains are watering the plains and ...
Prickly playwright stood on principle.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Maureen Isaacson Harold Pinter, the dramatist, poet and political activist, who died on Christmas Day, has left as his legacy the resounding evidence that there is no profit in towing the line. At 75, Pinter won the Nobel prize for literature in 2005. Railing ...
SA double standards need explanation.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... It has never been clear whether we have an active minister of foreign affairs in South Africa. Until his recent demise from the political scene, Thabo Mbeki used to be the only visible spokesperson for this country. South Africa seems to be in a political vacuum as regards ...
Censorship still a burning issue in the 2000s.(Dispatches)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Boyd Tonkin George Bernard Shaw once wrote that assassination is the ultimate form of censorship. That hardly counted as a joke 100 years ago. Now, it sounds like no more than a footnote to today's headlines. In January 2007, Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian ...
Gaza attacks a boon for Hamas.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... In its efforts to stop amateur rockets from nagging the residents of some of its southern cities, Israel appears to have given new life to the fledging Islamic movement in Palestine. For two years, the Islamic Resistance Movement (known as Hamas) has been losing support. This ...
Dialogue? Great! Your place or mine?(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Aayesha Soni and Saber Ahmed Jazbhay's letters of December 28 ("Terrorism is not particular to Muslims"; "How about some dialogue Mr Krausz?") refer. Wonderful! Achieving a better understanding of the problems in the Middle East will not be attained by correspondence only and ...
Why allow Nazi history to be repeated?(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Rockets - more like fireworks - fired from Gaza into Palestinian lands stolen by Israel from the locals have, over a period of six years, resulted in the deaths of 13 Jews with every rocket fired returned by Israeli air strikes, missile and tank attacks and murderous genocidal economic, ...
Respect and justice is lost on Zionist Israel.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... The massacre of hundreds of Palestinians by Zionist Israel in Gaza is Israel's New Year gift to the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims who celebrate the new Islamic Hijri year. Zionist Israel in desperation has resorted to a final mi0litary solution to the Gaza issue. Zionist ...
Tragedy, and the world looks away.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Harold Pinter, the late Nobel laureate, once asked: "How many people do you have to kill before you qualify as a mass murderer or war criminal?" I believe that more than 400 is the current count, so the Israeli bludgeoning of Gaza qualifies [Israeli prime minister] Ehud Olmert and his ...
Couple face hard labour for criticising government in The Gambia.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Jonathan Brown A judge in The Gambia has made an example of two British missionaries charged with criticising the Muslim state. The missionaries, David and Fiona Fulton, broke down and wept as they were sentenced to a year's hard labour in jail after pleading ...
'We will cease fire when they do'.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Dov Segev-Steinberg, the Israeli ambassador to South Africa, said that the intensive aerial assault on Gaza, which began last Saturday, was the only recourse Israel had after enduring more than a week of rocket attacks by Hamas from Gaza. Segev-Steinberg, who came to South ...
'No justification for this attack'.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Ali Halimeh, the Palestinian ambassador who heads the Palestinian mission in South Africa, described Israel's "war against Hamas" as "an aggression against the Palestinian people and against the Gaza Strip". Halimeh says he is speaking on behalf of the Palestinian Authority ...
Dreams of peace in Zimbabwe must be realised this year.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Elinor Sisulu Alarming political developments in the ruling party and an explosion of xenophobic violence in South Africa, the catastrophic meltdown in Zimbabwe, recurring conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis and the ...
A formidable MP and a ceaseless source of intelligent comment and wit.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Benjamin Pogrund Helen Suzman was renowned for her lone fight against apartheid in South Africa's Parliament. A member of Parliament for nearly 40 years, she waged her battle alone for 13 years, as the sole representative of the Progressive Party from 1961 to ...
Eskom considers alternatives; South Africa's power grid could be boosted and its carbon footprint reduced with renewable energy.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Edwin Naidu Ahead of what could be a triple whammy for consumers - another price hike, penalties for not saving power and more power cuts - Eskom, the national electricity provider, has confirmed that renewable energy will form part of its future energy mix. ...
Missiles danced in the new year.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... I don't know how I fell asleep, after a tense and trying end to the final hours of 2008. After all, Wednesday was the fifth day of Israel's bombing onslaught and a false alarm had sent us scurrying into the basement of our apartment building in panic. But, in any ...
From shell shockto bomb shelters; As Israel and Hamas exchange bombs and rockets, both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli border are seized with fear and pain.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Sudarsan Raghavan|and Reyham Abdel Kareem It was 10am on Thursday at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and Jabber Howez feared telling the truth. Since Saturday, he had lied to his 23-year-old sister, Mirvat. Their father, brother and sister had not survived an ...
Take a leaf out of Suzman's book.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... There is a common thread that runs through the tributes paid to Helen Suzman, who sadly passed away earlier this week: the world was a better place for having hosted this liberal icon, the likes of whom are few and far between and only step into our midst once in a lifetime. She ...
Suzman's political and moral courage lauded.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Helen Suzman was born on a portentous date - the day of the Russian Revolution on November 7 1917 - and died on January 1 2009. She was a remarkable person with inordinate political and moral courage. She was a liberal democrat with an acute sense of social justice and a ...
Cuba marks 50 revolutionary years.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: William Booth President Raul Castro and the Cuban government have celebrated the 50th anniversary of their revolution in a nostalgic but low-key event that was far removed from the triumphant displays and mass rallies of their socialist glory days. Ordinary ...
How Mickey's boys became wizards in Oz; It took some three years of meticulous planning to whip Aussies.(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Stuart Hess The beating of Australia in Australia did not come down to a solitary piece of planning, or a single incident. The beating of Australia in Australia was the culmination of two, even three years of work, sacrifice, argument, agreement and support. ...
Thirsty New Year for some in Gauteng.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Edwin Naidu Despite the rain, thousands of residents in Naturena, home of Kaizer Chiefs, the country's best supported soccer team, in the south of Johannesburg, have had an awfully dry start to the New Year. Whereas most in the city welcomed the damp New Year, ...
Champion of the poorest; Courageous, witty, forthright and dogged, Helen Suzman dedicated her life to fighting injustice in any form.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: John Carlin When I first met Helen Suzman in 1989, her home was not so much a house as a mansion; her garden was not so much a garden as a park. She was living the white South African dream. All the more reason, then, for applauding her life's great moral ...
Gaza cry for help; Worldwide protests as authorities call on EU to help stave off a humanitarian disaster.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Foreign Service and Sapa-AFP After being subjected to more than 700 air strikes in the past week, which have left at least 446 people dead and 2 050 injured, the 1,5 million Palestinians living in Gaza now face a new challenge - a health crisis of staggering proportions ....
Treatment/of Muslims/sparks row; US airline faces discrimination complaints/after travellers were removed from plane.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Amy Gardner and Spencer Hsu Washington - A United States airline has apologised to nine American Muslim passengers from the Washington area who were removed from a flight out of Reagan National Airport, but a Muslim civil rights group said it intends to press a ...
Chinese police detain parents protesting over tainted milk.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Barbara Demick Beijing - Chinese police detained at least five parents for 24 hours to block a news conference at which they planned to publicise the plight of their children, who are suffering from kidney stones as a result of drinking tainted baby formula. ...
Frozen embryos mean end of traumatic drug therapy for many women.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... A British clinic has dramatically improved the success rate of fertility treatment using frozen embryos, promising improved pregnancy rates and offering hope to thousands of women who would otherwise face years of traumatic hormone therapy. Freezing embryos has often been seen ...
Speaking out all the way to the land's highest court.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Maureen Isaacson Judge Edwin Cameron's appointment to the Constitutional Court this week by President Kgalema Motlanthe is the realisation of a long-held aspiration, he told The Sunday Independent. "I am overjoyed to be given the opportunity." Asked whether ...
Coma sets early pace.(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Santa Rosa, Argentina - Spain's Marc Coma of KTM won the opening motorcycle stage of the Dakar Rally yesterday following a 371km special stage from Buenos Aires to Santa Rosa. Fellow KTM rider Cyril Despres, who won the event in 2005 and 2007, failed to find his form and lost 41min 18sec ...
Toddler, 2, beaten in prison; Activists and court papers claim torture and brutality suffered by Zimbabwe detainees.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Maureen Isaacson Horror stories are emerging from the Chikurubi Maximum Security prison in Zimbabwe where at least 16 human rights activists are being held in solitary confinement. In a shocking revelation, activists report that the youngest prisoner in jail ...
Clarke survives sore members to see out the day.(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... 1.30am: Ricky Ponting's double-sided coin works again as he wins the third toss in a row and opts to bat first. That Punter's some tosser. The pitch is hard with no grass and the outfield has been cropped short - a batting paradise, mate. The game started three minutes late. ...
Mickey pays ups.(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Mickey Arthur is a man of his word, as his players found out on New Year's Eve. He'd made a bet with the them that if they were 2-0 up in the series going into Sydney, he'd dive into the Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve during their traditional boat trip to catch the fireworks. So, at 8pm, ...
Roger and Rafa resume fierce rivalry; Federer and Nadal both play season opener in Qatar, and Andy Murray is also one to watch.(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Sapa-AFP Roger Federer will begin his bid to regain the world |number one position from Rafael Nadal when the 2009 men's tennis circuit restarts this week at the Qatar Open. The opening week of the ATP World Tour could see the two great rivals meet for the ...
Struggle hero praised.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Cleopas Madoda Nsibande, the unassuming ANC struggle hero, who died on Reconciliation Day, was given a glowing send-off yesterday by President Kgalema Motlanthe, and ANC dignitaries at a funeral service in Benoni on the East Rand. "Three days into the beginning of the year 2009 ...
If the bad days were good, Div, why reject a reporter?(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Peter Bills It's that time of the year - a moment to look forward as well as back. So before 2009 is completely in our faces, let's reflect on some of the great and the good, the dire and |disastrous rugby times of the old year in both South Africa and around the world. ...
Gloating in the corner.(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Sunday December 28, 2008 If South Africa can get to within a 100 runs of Australia, that will be a job very well done. Oh, they got 65 runs ahead. What? The whole game changes, there's a real buzz among the players and the media after what JP Duminy and Dale Steyn ...
United urged to put on their shooting boots.(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Southampton, England - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has challenged his misfiring players to use today's FA Cup third round trip to Southampton as an opportunity to rediscover their scoring touch. United have not scored more than one goal in a Premier League game ...
Under-fire Scolari says no to new signings.(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Gordon Tynan Luiz Felipe Scolari has claimed he does not expect to make any January signings for Chelsea, despite |sanctioning the [pounds sterling]12-m move of Wayne Bridge to Manchester City. The left-back was at Chelsea's Cobham training base yesterday ...
SA dad in contact with kidnapped wife and children in Yemen.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... BYLINE: Myrtle Ryan, Juggie Naran|and Sapa-AFP South African Pierre Smith, whose wife and two sons - aged 3 and 6 - were kidnapped in Yemen on Friday, has spoken twice to his wife and been assured that they are safe and have not been harmed. Smith, who works in Sanaa, ...
Cope meetings disrupted; Police reinforcements called in to control 'unruly' and 'drunk' ANC supporters.(News)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Police in Mpumalanga had to be called in to restore order at a Congress of the People (Cope) meeting in Mbuzini after ANC members stormed the venue yesterday, the police said. Superintendent Abie Khoabane said about 50 ANC members went to the Samora Machel Hall where Cope was ...
Celtic miss big chance.(Sports)
Jan 04, 2009 ... Glasgow - Celtic missed the chance to go 10 points clear of arch-rival Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League when they drew 2-2 with Dundee United yesterday. Greece striker Georgios Samaras had scored twice to put the defending champions 2-0 ahead, but Paul Dixon and Warren ...
After denial, herd now sees no end to recession.(Business Report Weekend)
Jan 11, 2009 ... BYLINE: BLOOMBERG The financial system is broken. Banks aren't lending and housing supply exceeds housing demand. The Federal Reserve has no tools left. Consumers are tapped out and the unemployment rate is soaring. All of these arguments are true to some ...