Though the two haven’t exactly seen eye-to-eye, trade unions are likely to bristle anew at reports that finance minister Pravin Gordhan called for a change in labour policies. The unions have it plum with South Africa’s pro-worker labour laws and are likely to see Gordhan’s call as a threat to their members’ livelihoods. That said, is the debate on the trade-off between “decent” wages and unemployment a distraction from that which ails the economy most?  By OSIAME MOLEFE.

Just hours before he was due to fast to the death, police in India arrested the country’s most prominent anti-corruption campaigner on Tuesday. The arrest is proof that the Indian government, sporting all the confidence of a superpower, is battling to contain a "freedom" struggle against corruption in the country. By KHADIJA PATEL.

With a plethora of NGOs in South Africa, what would the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation have to offer? At the moment, a lot of noble intentions – we'll have to wait until October to find out more about specific projects. By THERESA MALLINSON.

Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng has been nominated by President Jacob Zuma to replace retired Judge Sandile Ngcobo as Chief Justice, an indication that institution building is now top of Zuma’s judicial agenda. CARIEN DU PLESSIS reports.

Michele Bachmann’s win in the Iowa straw poll and Rick Perry’s announcement that he’s in the race, after leading an unprecedented prayer meeting in Houston, is proof positive that a hardcore Christian fundamentalist can take the White House. But how hardcore is hardcore? KEVIN BLOOM ponders the history and nature of Dominionism.

Former murder-accused, Fred van der Vyver got the green light from the courts to bring a R46 million claim against the police for malicious prosecution, but he might just be wasting his time. With the police’s track record of damages payment, there’s every chance that he will never see the money. CARIEN DU PLESSIS reports.

Despite the recent focus on police killings, the numbers tell a different story: the scourge of officers being killed has decreased dramatically since 1994. So just why has this issue received so much attention lately? By THERESA MALLINSON and CARTE BLANCHE.

Finance ministers are usually the kids who were the cleverest in their class. Pravin Gordhan must have been the cleverest kid in his school district. We know this from the fact he can do two very different things at once - numbers and politics. Not many can, but he does (there is that chap called Trevor – Ed). And so his interventions in our public debate are often welcome. Well, to capitalists like us anyway. Even though he is, or used to be, officially a communist. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

South Sudan’s flag was raised at the African Union for the first time on Monday. But the new country’s reception at the continental institution raises questions about just how new states can be created in Africa. The answers aren’t comforting. By SIMON ALLISON

Libya’s rebels claim to have tightened the noose on Gaddafi’s regime by taking the strategically important city of Zawiyah, just 50km west of Tripoli. Whoever controls Zawiyah controls the vital highway to Tunisia, leaving Tripoli virtually under siege, and Gaddafi exhibiting a siege mentality. It looks only a matter of time now. By SIMON ALLISON.

Even as Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann won the Iowa Straw Poll on Saturday, driving Tim Pawlenty out of the race, Texas Governor Rick Perry announced he also wanted to challenge Barack Obama in 2012. With Perry’s announcement and Bachmann’s win, the race for the Republican nomination is now a three-person race, including ostensible front-runner Mitt Romney. By JR BROOKS EWING SPECTOR.

Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner coasted to a comfortable victory in Argentina’s first open and simultaneous presidential primary, suggesting she’s in a strong position for re-election. Fernández’s success so far has been because of her – and her husband’s – guidance in returning Argentina from its market pariah status to relative success so far. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.

There are very few places where embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi could seek refuge. As he finds himself cornered in Tripoli unable to quell the wave of loyalists turning against him, South Africa seems marked to be Gaddafi’s next home. By KHADIJA PATEL.

Thousands of Capetonians are expected to take to the streets of the CBD this Saturday to participate in the city’s ‘SlutWalk’, the first South African incarnation of a movement which has spread from Toronto to over 50 cities around the world. A SlutWalk is on its way to Johannesburg too, on 24th September. But the event is not without its critics – particularly those who say that the concept cannot translate meaningfully to a South African context. By REBECCA DAVIS.

The ANC is busy drawing up charges against Julius Malema and a few of his merry men, but ruling party leaders were coy to talk about the process following two meetings of the party’s top brass on Monday. CARIEN DU PLESSIS reports.

What every one of us considers our unalienable right, to update our own Facebook page, got a young Egyptian arrested. That would be the same Facebook that, with Twitter, was the main communication channel during Egypt's rise against President Mubarak. By KHADIJA PATEL.

The British tabloids love two things above all else: a cheesy pun and a Hitler story. And so today’s news amounted to something akin to the Holy Grail for the Daily Mail: “Her Hitler!” shouted their headline: “The bizarre plot by British spies to make the Führer a fraulein”. By REBECCA DAVIS.

Top UK historian David Starkey’s statements about the cultural source of the riots have caused outrage. But are they racist, as critics claim? By REBECCA DAVIS.

Jhala Nath Khanal is the third Nepali prime minister to step down in as many years. A mere five years after ending a decade-long civil war, the country seems to be no nearer to lasting peace. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.

Iconic jeans company Levi's couldn't have chosen a worse time to launch its latest advertising campaign in the UK than last Tuesday. By REBECCA DAVIS.

Australia’s parliament resumes this week for the make-or-break winter session, where Prime Minister Julia Gillard hopes to push through her controversial carbon tax. Gillard's Labour party hopes to introduce a carbon tax from July 2012, a precursor to an emissions trading scheme to be drafted in from 2015. By REBECCA DAVIS

It isn’t enough that Western Cape premier Helen Zille has asked for the auditor general to investigate the tender that saw the DA come under a cloud of controversy over the weekend, said Western Cape Cosatu secretary general Tony Ehrenreich. He is demanding an independent investigation, that of the Public Protector. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.

Former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo is looking forward to a bit of me-time, having said his farewells after a mere 18 months in the top judicial job. Amid the uncertainty over who will succeed him and when, CARIEN DU PLESSIS discovers that reports about calls for a female successor have been greatly exaggerated.

On 13 May, 17,000 Iowans descended on the small town of Ames for their quadrennial Republican Party straw poll. Since 1979, this giant summer fair has taken place prior to the presidential election. Just maybe, now it will be a three-way race between Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann and the newcomer to the battle, long-time Texas governor Rick Perry. By BROOKS SPECTOR.

BlackBerry smartphone maker, RIM, might be forced to open its records on the BBMing of London – now known as “the BlackBerry Riots” – after its direct messaging service was widely used to fuel riots and lootings in the UK. Could the smartphone replace the AK47 as the icon of modern revolution?  By REBECCA DAVIS.

South Africa’s diplomats didn’t get much of a weekend. After a rushed three day state visit to Burundi, where Jacob Zuma went on a lovely drive with their president and promised to donate some footballs, it was back to Pretoria on Saturday where international relations and co-operation minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane met her Tanzanian counterpart, Bernard Membe. No footballs for Tanzania, but we’re not reading too much into that. By SIMON ALLISON.

According to Samwu, if you see any rubbish scattered in the streets during the municipal workers’ strike starting on Monday, be assured it’s only the wind. CARIEN DU PLESSIS asked Samwu deputy general secretary Walter Theledi if we’ll have a repeat of last year’s trashing.

The next two weeks will tell if Julius Malema and his ANC Youth League will survive politically, as evidence mounts party elders are poised to strike while the iron is hot, and slap the young lions with charges that could hurt. CARIEN DU PLESSIS reports.