On the 7 th of July 2007 a series of concerts will take place - Live Earth - to bring worldwide awareness to climate change.

These worldwide concerts are to highlight the threat of global warming and climate change on our planet, a problem that has been brewing for a long time, but only now are people really beginning to sit up and take notice. One of the people who is generating this change in the mindset of the worlds people is ex US President Al Gore, whose global warming film “An Inconvenient Truth” won two Oscars at the February 25th Ceremony,Best documentary feature and Best original song for I Need to Wake Up - An Inconvenient Truth, which is performed by Melissa Etheridge. Mr Gore he has campaigned hard for many years to get the message out of the huge problems that the world will face in the coming decades due to the way we as humans treat the planet and the effects that our actions have changing the climate.

As well as Johannesburg, Climate in Crisis concerts will be held in Sydney, Australia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Shanghai, China; London, England; Tokyo, Japan; and a U.S. city that has yet to be decided. There will also be a concert in Antarctica, a place which has already been hugely affected by climate change.

Massive names in music such as Bon Jovi, Kelly Clarkson, Sheryl Crow, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Black Eyed Peas have already confirmed their support for the fight against climate change and will perform on the 7 th of July along with many other musical greats , although who will appear in South Africa has not yet been decided.

Mr Gore made the announcement at a press conference in Los Angeles on Thursday 15 th February 2007; he was supported at the conference by Cameron Diaz and Pharrell Williams, who support his “Save Our Selves” campaign and stance against global warming.

“We have to get the message of urgency and hope out,” Mr. Gore said.

“The climate crisis will only be stopped by an unprecedented and sustained global movement.”

All the proceeds from the “Save Our Selves” gigs will help fund the creation of a foundation to combat climate change led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, which is chaired by Mr. Gore.

Mr Wall said each concert would last for between four to eight hours. As well as the big names, line-ups will include local acts.

Spanning the globe, there will be more than 1 million audience members at the Live Earth concerts, and more than 2 billion viewers worldwide. With the current range of performers, the Live Earth concerts are sure to reach massive audiences and bring huge awareness to our planets climate and what we can do to help slow down climate change.

It doesn’t what age you are, this is something you have to experience! Parents, take your kids for an unforgettable experience – one you will enjoy with them. And you don’t need to have kids as an excuse to visit the centre. Spend a day with a friend and learn things that will inspire you! Everyone will be enthralled for hours, with the ‘hands-on’ displays at the most fascinating place in Africa - the MTN ScienCentre. Africa’s first world-class science centre is situated at Shop 407 at Canal Walk Shopping Centre in Cape Town.

You can experience a real moon walk by bouncing around with no gravity, or you can play a harp with no strings – only lasers. You can land a satellite in a space simulator, or listen and learn about things such as why wheels don’t have to be round.

Did you know that NASA invented a special pen so astronauts could write upside-down in zero-gravity? The Russians just used pencils!

There are more than 280 exhibits that will keep you engrossed for hours. There is a camera – the Canon Camera Obscura – which is a room sized pinhole camera which provides spectacular 360 degree views of Table Mountain, Robben Island and more.

This truly is a place where you can have fun, while learning about scientific discoveries and technological innovations. It is not just a playground, but a playground of learning!

Find the centre at 407 Canal Walk, Century City, Cape Town, where your easiest access is upper level entrance 5.

Ticket prices:
Adults R20
Youth (3-18) R25
Family Package R78

Enquire about group rates also and don’t miss the explosive Science Shows every Saturday at 13:00 and during school holidays. This should definitely be a priority on your to-do list!

This is not a race open to the general public. Which is probably a good thing, because anyone who is not fit enough to take on this monster of an event, may regret it dearly later on. Part of the race is on privately owned land, which is opened up once a year for the race, in support of the race by the landowners. However, trespassers will not be let off easily. If caught, expect a lifetime ban!

The ABSA Cape Epic starts at the Knysna Waterfront every year, and finished as Lourensford Wine Estate. But the route differs every single year. The stage towns are always different, and the general route is revealed only 6 months prior to the race, on the official website of the race. The finer details however, are not revealed until the start of the actual race.

With a combination of single track, rugged jeep tracks and fast flowing gravel roads with as little tar as possible, the daily stages are usually between 80 and 140km.

The 2007 race saw the following results:
Overall Results
Men’s Classification Overall Leaders
Karl Platt (Germany) and Stefan Sahm (Germany) of Team Bulls - 33:08.00,7

Masters Classification Overall Leaders
Andrew Mclean (RSA) and Damian Booth (RSA) of Team Cycle Lab - 37:48.34,0

Mixed Classification Overall Leaders
Yolande Speedy (RSA) and Paul Cordes (RSA) of Team IMC/Mongoose - 39:06.06,1

Ladies Classification Overall Leaders
Anke Erlank (RSA) and Yolande de Villiers (RSA) of Team Duravit - 39:55.53,3

Best African Team Overall Leaders
Kevin Evans (RSA) and Brandon Stewart (RSA) of Team Raleigh MTN Energade 1 - 35:03.38,8.

It was said that this year’s race was the toughest and most competitive yet. It was a gripping finish that ended seven gruelling stages. The seventh stage was the favourite. But the exhausted German team had won the hearts of all spectators and it was overwhelming when they finally crossed the finish line!

An unforgettable evening of side splitting comedy. That is what you can expect from this evening, with MC Colin Moss. A professional MC and gentleman’s comedian, the crowd will adore him!

This festival will take place March 30, 31 and April 2-5. Old Mutual presents a music series, a comedy show and the famous world renowned Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon.

The concert and family picnic will take place at Spier Estate in Stellenbosch on the 8th of April. Artists that will be performing including Hothouse Flowers, Arno Carstens, Jimmy Dludlu, Karen Zoid and Neo Muyanga. Tickets will cost R150 per adults and R50 for the first child, while the rest under 12 will enter for free. The concert will start at noon and carry on until around 6pm.

The Encounters Comedy Festival will take place 30-31 March and 2-5 April. This is a celebration of South African stand-up talent with a top line-up, which includes Martin Evans, Mark Lottering, Martin Davis, Wayvinne Dawson, Martin Jonas and Chris Forest. These guys will have you in tears! The festival starts at 8pm at the Baxter Theatre and tickets cost R75.

Each comedian has his own uniqueness. Marc Lottering is truly the face of Cape Town and hilariously funny. Colin Moss returns to his roots here as he started out with comedy, before moving on to other ventures. He is still funny though!

Martin Evans recently returned to South Africa after 10 years in the UK. Martin Davis is also a comedian from London. Although Jonas has not been in the country for 10 years, this ducktail from Potchefstroom created his act on the old South Africa. He was discovered in Johannesburg and become a fresh face of the future of South African comedy. Twenty-two-year-old Dawson has been labelled as a ‘new breed’ of comedian and rather draws his inspirations from South Africa in its more contemporary context. He is honing his skills as MC. He received a standing ovation at the inaugural Smirnoff Mule Comedy Festival at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town in 1997.

Chris Forest is the face of the Sasol Athens 2004 Olympic adverts. He is a favourite with the audience and everyone loves his deadpan routine and one-liners.

Davis is known for being quick on his feet and for his “marmoset antics” which always tend to prove interesting.

Put all these guys together and you are guaranteed to have an evening that will leave you in hysterics!

KZN experienced extreme damage recently due to waves taking over! The surf really battered the coastline and caused havoc. The beaches were closed for a number of days. Although no figures have been published, the damage has been costly. “A high figure” is all that was offered. The beach needs rehabilitation, roads need to be examined and so do electrical cables and water pipes. Debris had to be cleared from the beach and the parking lot. The damage was estimated at around half a billion rand.

The swells which caused all the havoc recorded at between 6m and 8m. These massive waves then pounded down on the beach in the morning, but by evening had dissipated as the gale-force winds dropped. The following day the swell had dropped to between 2m and 3m.

One life had been claimed the first day of this anarchy, at Shelley Beach on the KZN South Coast. This man, age 30, was one of the helpers who actually helped launch the ski-boats at the Shelley Beach Ski-Boat Club. He is believed to have been a homeless man who lived in the bushes along the coast and so was caught by the unusually high tide. He has believed to have drowned, and his body then found by a woman taking a walk along the beach.

The harbour has remained open to small vessels but closed to larger incoming traffic. Although numerous small vessels were seen leaving the port in calm, sunny weather, there were 31 vessels waiting to come into port.

Rescue workers, emergency personnel, SAPS, local people of KZN were all thanked for their assistance. Because of the team-effort the loss of life was minimised.

Insurance claims have been extreme. Insurance companies are saying they have received over R2, 5 billion in claims thus far. Not only homes along the coast were affected, but also buildings inland were damaged by the heavy storm weather.

Thousands of people flocked to the beaches to see the phenomenon of the huge swells, but many areas were cordoned off by authorities to avoid tragedy.

Everything is being done to restore the beaches and any damage caused as quickly as possible.

Bob Woolmer, coach of the Pakistan cricket team, was killed. Found in his hotel room, his post-mortem showed that he had been strangled to death. This happened just after the team’s World Cup shock defeat to Ireland.

The 58 year old man was killed in his hotel room in Kingston town. The death of former England batsman and South African coach was a shock to many.

It is thought that Mr Woolmer new the killers and many speculations have been tossed around. There was no sign of forced entry into his hotel room and none of his possessions had been taken, ruling out a robbery. Because Mr Woolmer was a rather large man, it is said that there must have been more than one perpetrator as it would have taken significant force to subdue him. It appears very much that Mr Woolmer let this person or persons into his room and therefore must be linked to him in some way.

Not only did the death of Bob Woolmer such so many, it was a huge disruption for the world cup. There is so much confusion around this death, some even speculated that is may have been connected to gambling cartels.

The Pakistani team were questioned about the death. Just after being interviews they were fingerprinted and then left for the resort of Montego Bay. Their spokesperson said that the players were in a state of shock at the death of their coach.

As much disruption as this may have caused the world cup, it will not put a stop to play. The ICC said that the competition would continue as planned. He said this was to “demonstrate that cricket cannot be put off by a cowardly criminal act.” Of course the entire cricket community was shocked at the death of the coach.

Cape Town PRIDE is a volunteer-run, non-profit Section 21 (a) Company that organises the 11-day annual Cape Town Pride Festival. Capitalising on the PRIDE brand already known world-wide, the Cape Town PRIDE Festival was launch in 2001. The festival was recognised in February 2004 as part of the implementation of long term strategy. This was in an effort to attract the local LGBTI community as well as tourists to the festival and the mother city, known as the gay capital. Traditionally February and March is the period during which Cape Town sees the greatest income from tourism. This was proved successful with particularly well-supported Festivals and Parades in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

The 2007 event got off to an awesome start with the theme ‘Carnival of Love’. 250 energized and exhilarating revellers packed the elegantly decorated pink Woodstock Town Hall to watch 4 male and 10 drag contestants compete for the crown of King and Queen. All contestants appeared in Swimwear and Evening Wear. The finalists for the Miss Cape Town Pride also appeared in a Fantasy Outfit division that had the crowd gasping in awe. Entertainment was provided by the fantastic, larger than life Victoria Caballair, who joined forces with Russell Chowles to host the evening. The entire lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gendered and intersexed (LGBTI) community descended upon the city for 11 days of entertainment, education and enjoyment.

The Pride Pageant is the ultimate flamboyant event on the Festival calendar as the contestants get the chance to wear one of 3 exquisitely designed crowns for winning either Miss Cape Town Pride (gay men), Mr Cape Town Pride (gay men) and new to be crowned this year, Miss Butch/Miss Femme Cape Town Pride (lesbians). Once crowned the 3 ‘pink royalties’ will be highlights at the rest of the events throughout the 11 Day Festival and get to reign throughout the rest of the year.

This is an event for all drag artists and ‘Queens’ to show what they can do and how they can transform themselves to personify their opposite sex. The event in its 4th year attracts a large section of the gay community from all sectors and most definitely across the racial and cultural divide.

Yvonne van Diamond was crowned Mrs Cape Town Pride at the Cape Town Pride Pageant held in the Woodstock Civic Hall on Saturday 10th February 2007.

Karel Petzer was crowned Mr Cape Town Pride.

Black and white bling was the theme for the 2007 J&B Met. The weird and wonderful people who make up the beautiful Cape Town were all there, strutting their stuff while maybe daring to place a bet. 5FM and Flat Stanley kept all entertained for the day.

This is a R2-million, Grade 1 horse race over 2000m that is the highlight of the annual summer fun and fashion festival that draws racing enthusiasts from all parts of Southern Africa and from overseas. Here, at the Kenilworth Race Course, they will experience the thrilling atmosphere of thundering hooves and head-turning outfits of the beautiful people who bask in the splendid sunshine under the grandiose Table Mountain.

Surely the biggest racing and fashion “parade” in the Western Cape, this programme of superior thoroughbred racing filled with glitz and glamour caters for around 50 000 people.

The J&B Met finds its roots in the later 1700’s, when Lord Charles Somerset governed the Cape and those in his battalion raced each other as a popular pastime in the area now known as Green Point common. A more suitable venue was designed to stage these races in the late 1800’s. 1883 marked the first official horse racing event at Kenilworth and the forerunner to the J&B Met. The star social attraction of the years to come arose: the Metropolitan Handicap. In 1978 J&B’s sponsorship commenced. The race-winner’s prize of R40 000 was a record for horse racing at the time. Enter onto the race scene a four-year-old colt, Politician. With Bertie Hayden in the saddle, Politician went on to become the only two-time winner of the event – winning by over three lengths in his first victory repeating the feat a year later in a spectacular comeback from behind. For 25 years since, horses and jockeys, trainers, haute couture and of course the race-attending public have contributed to the enjoyment of the J&B Met – enriching its history with every event.

For the Western Cape it is the social occasion of the year and, as the thoroughbreds battle it out on the turf, the thousands will line the track and scream their fancies home, then celebrate their success or failure in great party style right through into the night.

The favourite for 2007 was PocketPower, and after other delays and a rather serious injury, PocketPower did steal the day! The 2007 J&B Met was another huge success!

South Africa may restart culling elephants, setting the scene for an international battle over the future of the animals. Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the minister of environmental affairs in South Africa, suggested that the 11-year suspension on culling could come to an end. He said: “We have about 20,000 elephants in South Africa, more or less 14,000 in the Kruger National Park. In 1995, when we stopped culling, we had about 8,000 elephants.”
“South Africa is faced with a particular challenge as most of our protected areas are fenced and surrounded by land that has been transformed, to a greater or lesser extent, by human development,” Mr van Schalkwyk went on to say.

The government was considering several management strategies in addition to culling, including contraception and the transfer of elephants to other areas.

“South Africa is faced with a particular challenge as most of our protected areas are fenced and surrounded by land that has been transformed, to a greater or lesser extent, by human development,” he said.

The South Africa government has opened a public discussion on proposals to resume an elephant cull; opponents refer to the “murder” of elephants, while supporters warn of a “holocaust” among other species if elephants go unrestrained.

However the real troubles could come when TV channels broadcast rangers in helicopters herding elephants into groups, tranquilizing them and then killing them off with a shot to the head.
The reason for the increase of African elephants in South Africa is because of conservation projects, anti poaching campaigns and stricter measures on ivory-smuggling.

The number of elephants in the Kruger National Park is nearly double the 7,000 that was considered the best number during the apartheid years, when regular culls of the species took place.

Culling of elephants stopped in 1994 but numbers have since sky rocketed and the elephants are starting to threaten the survival of other animals, plant species – due to their huge appetites as well as the well being of the species itself.

Elephants are capable of flattening areas of woodland into grassland in an amazingly short time, amongst these trees are baobab’s which may have survived for thousands of years, destroying nesting areas of rare birds such as the ground hornbill.

South Africa National Parks, who run most of the large parks in South Africa, has recommended a return to culling to save the country’s flora and fauna before it is too late. The government insists it has not yet made its mind up, and is considering all options.

Many other debates are going on, to put across the points of contraception and transportation of elephants to different areas, rather than culling. However the contraception theory would not show an immediate effect as elephants can live for over 40 years.

This problem is not solely in South Africa; Botswana and Zimbabwe are also having to consider the cull of their elephants.

South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki promised to increase the size of the police force to tackle the country’s high crime rate in todays State of the Nation Speech in Cape Town.
He told parliament there would be 180,000 police officers within three years, a rise of 28,000 from the current level.

He said that South Africans “…cannot claim the happiness that comes with freedom if communities live in fear, closeted behind walls and barbed wire”.

Mr Mbeki has been accused of not doing enough to cut crime.

“We must continue and further intensify the struggle against crime,” Mr Mbeki said in his state of the nation to parliament..

His other pledges included in the speech were more anti-Aids programs, more work to tackle poverty, to bring fresh drinking water to all communities and to speed up land reform.

The murder rate, according to official figures, in South Africa is falling, but with more than 18,000 murders each year the country has on one of the highest rates in the world, only beaten by Iraq and Columbia.

Last month’s murder of historian David Rattray drew international attention to South Africa’s crime problem.

Some members of the South Africa’s business community have become increasingly anxious regarding the effects of business coming into SA, saying that investors are increasingly concerned with the situation in the country.

Opposition parties accuse president Mbeki of being in denial about the problem as he recently stated that he did not think crime was out of control.

Officials from Mr Mbeki’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) feel that the white community is more worried about crime, while poverty is the main concern for the black majority.

South Africa is enjoying record rates of economic growth but many ordinary South Africans say they are yet to feel the benefits.

Political forecaster, Moeletsi Mbeki, who is also President Mbekis brother says the issues of poverty and crime are connected stating “The level of crime is totally unacceptable.” “Unemployment has risen over the past 15 - 20 years, so South Africans are getting poorer and the other reason is we’re getting more inequality in South Africa.”