Although she is only 29 years old, the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has won wide acclaim. Her first novel Purple Hibiscus was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the Booker.
The German authorities mounted the biggest security operation since the Second World War for the G8 at Heilingandamm near the north German town of Rostock.
There are growing fears that the Lebanese army’s assault on the refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared near the northern city of Tripoli will become part of a general offensive against Palestinian refugees across Lebanon.
The revelation that the health service is predicted to underspend its budget by up to £500 million will come as shock to the thousands of NHS staff who, should they manage to keep their jobs, face a below inflation pay rise.
The biggest strike wave since the end of apartheid is causing a crisis in South African politics – and shaking a government that refuses to increase pay for millions of public sector workers.
This is not only the biggest strike since the end of apartheid, it is also the first time that masses of workers and their leaders have openly and clearly taken on the African National Congress (ANC) government.
The CWU postal and telecom workers’ union conference this week saw delegates pass a motion that sets a deadline to ballot on continued funding for Labour.
The central issue which has made people vote for strikes is the pay cut. We’ve been offered 2.5 percent at a time when inflation is nearly twice that. The basic pay for a postal worker is £323 a week – for a hard job.
