South Africans took to the streets in Johannesburg this morning to protest against poor housing conditions.

Apple has reinvented the wheel with the iPad, arguably a middle of the road hybrid of the iPhone and Macbook. The iPad is neither a notebook nor a smartphone, but a sort of mule that combines the functionality of the two, and does more. Aesthetically, it takes advantage of the Kindle market, which has softened users to devices larger than smartphones but still smaller than netbooks, and it remains to be see what exactly the iPad will carve out as its niche.

Zimbabwe is not known for spending its meagre resources in the right places, at least not until the formation of the unity government. The military is replete with hardware and supplies, while other sectors of government go by on a pittance. The health sector is heavily underfunded, and civil servants poorly paid, while warehouses suffocate with teargas and polished military hardware. IA

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai lays a wreath on the grave of Sunny Takawira, a fighter for Zimbabwe’s independence and widow of the late veteran nationalist Leopold Takawira.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, (ZIMRA) is understood to be generating at least US$350,000 in revenue from toll gates each month. However, roads in Zimbabwe are still in a deplorable state. IA PHOTO

AN angry Italian man, the dramatic equivalent of the Bush Shoe Thrower from Al Baghdadiya TV, broke Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s nose at a political rally in Italy Sunday. Italian newspapers say the man is being detained by police. His reason for attacking Berlusconi, “I hate him.”

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev inspects the Guard of Honour at the State House in Windhoek, Namibia. Pic Tawanda Kanhema

How diplomatic is it to sleep in parliament? Diplomats and politicians attending the State of the Nation Address in Windhoek last week had their eyes closed for the better part of President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s speech, raising questions over whether it is politically correct or diplomatic to sleep in parliament.

The fence at Maitengwe is barely high enough to keep foraging livestock from crossing to either side of the border in the dry region, and villagers leisurely leap over the rusty fence to buy basics, mourn their relatives, marry and make merry just as the Tswana did before Zimbabwe’s independence in the 1980. The area has well pronounced footpaths that lead to numerous crossing points, and animals grazing in the area have trampled on the fence in search of water upstream in the heavily siltated Maitengwe river, which meanders across the border.