Pakistani authorities have sentenced a doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden to 33 years in jail on charges of treason, officials said, a move almost certain to further strain ties between Washington and Islamabad. By Ibrahim Shinwari and Jibran Ahmad 

As anger and tension over a portrait of President Jacob Zuma grows, the gallery displaying the artwork says it will not be dictated to. Not even by the most powerful man in the land. With the court case over The Spear – and possible protests – due to start today, ALEX ELISEEV looks ahead.

Nudity in art has been around for a very, very long time. And it is not merely confined to Western art. We find it in traditional African and Indian art too. Yet one painted image has upset the ANC more than kilolitres of outraged editorial ink. Why? J BROOKS SPECTOR takes a look.

A “new” UNICEF document details the plight of children in South Africa’s unequal society. The statistics are a sobering reminder of the challenges ahead and the need to address them each and every day.

Contrary to many an opinion, the ANC's best friend these days is by now the infamous painting by Brett Murray. As things stand, they have reason to thank the artist for giving them a unique opportunity to further secure their core voting constituency from the further encroachment by the liberal infidels.

Take your pick. When Hollywood comes to town, who would you like to play the daring, ass-kicking Acting National Police Commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi? Denzel Washington? Will Smith? Ice T? Whoever it is, he’ll have to show that, like Mkhwanazi, he’s determined to stamp his authority, whether his political bosses like it or not. 

Post-NEC meeting briefings at Luthuli House are about two things: getting the ANC’s opinion on the affairs of the day, and party secretary-general Gwede Mantashe leading journalists on a merry dance as he avoids questions he doesn’t want to answer and delivers stern sermons on the topics that he feels happy to hold forth upon. You know, just another Monday morning in South Africa.

A round-up of today's sport news.

A round-up of today's news from South Africa.

The two singers, so different in so many ways, defined their music and their respective eras so precisely as to make it almost impossible for anyone else to fill their enormous shoes. Both died this past weekend – Summer on 17 May, age 63, and Fischer-Dieskau, age 86, the following day. J BROOKS SPECTOR pays his respects.

Steven Boykey Sidley has leapt into the literary limelight with a book called Entanglement. It’s a glorious mash-up of Phillip Roth, Saul Bellow, Ian McEwan and Elmore Leonard. Horny, heady and thrilling, Entanglement is a beach read for people who would rather be shot than go to the beach. 

Premiered in 2007 at the Public Theater in NYC, acclaimed by critics from the New York Times and Chicago Tribune, The Brothers Size is a hypnotic, timeless, poetic play about brotherhood, love and differences. Now on stage at the Baxter Theatre, it’s not to be missed. 

When South African photojournalist Anton Hammerl was killed in Libya last year, he left behind a wife and three small children. Some of the biggest names in photography came together last week to ensure his family would a future.

For a week, South Africans have been huffing and puffing about the president’s depiction in Brett Murray’s artwork, The Spear. Tomorrow, the matter comes before a judge and one of the houses – freedom of expression or the right to dignity – has to crumble. ALEX ELISEEV explores a case which has divided a nation.

It was bound to cause a storm. The image of President Jacob Zuma in a Soviet-style stance, his genitalia exposed. What it really showed was exactly how divided we still are, which means we still don’t have a clue who we are.

The 2012 Champions League treated those with the stamina to survive an 80-minute snooze fest to a delightfully tense climax. Match report by ANT SIMS.

South Africa is a tough place for people who are looking for angel or venture capital funding. The market is small and uncompetitive, but this needs to change if we want to grow the vibrant entrepreneurial sector that is so crucial to local economic growth. MANDY DE WAAL speaks to UK business angel and start-up mentor Permjot Valia about money, entrepreneurs and poverty.

Loan sharks and micro-finance offices have mushroomed in South Africa’s inner-city centres. The lure is attractive – borrow R10,000 and create your dream life by growing your business. But in a country where half the population lives in poverty and much more live in debt, a greater understanding of how they use money could lead to more appropriate financial services. By MANDY DE WAAL.

Another year. Another massive government contract stalled. Another anti-corruption agency investigation. More staff retrenchments. The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same for tech billionaire Robert Gumede’s Gijima. By MANDY DE WAAL.

Cutting through the fog of political posturing is tough, but it’s what we have to do to report fairly and accurately. I also do it because when I’m not reporting, I am an ordinary citizen trying his best to make informed decisions. In the youth wage subsidy dispute, I might have found a way to understand the DA better. By OSIAME MOLEFE.

In a new weekly feature, we take a look at who had it bad and who had it good in this week’s sports news. By ANT SIMS.

A round-up of today's sport news.

A round-up of today's news from South Africa.

An announcement from American demographers and statisticians working for the US Census Bureau – that white births are now outnumbered by all minority group births – may well come to have some profound consequences for the texture of American society in years to come. By J BROOKS SPECTOR.

The relationship between crime and entrepreneurship in South Africa is hardly what you’d call a match made in heaven. Rather, the gruesome twosome of crime and unemployment are hampering the growth of new businesses in the country. But does it mean entrepreneurship is doomed? Perhaps not – if we’re willing to think differently. MARELISE VAN DER MERWE investigates. 

Soweto’s first professional theatre staged its opening show on Wednesday night, providing a tribute to a local icon and a gateway to engaging narrative. The night got a standing ovation, perhaps the first of many. By GREG NICOLSON.

In the wake of Tuesday’s march to Cosatu House, the issue of violence against DA marchers seemed to overshadow any other concerns. But by Thursday it was back to business as normal for the DA as they announced their intention to push harder than ever for the youth wage subsidy. By REBECCA DAVIS.

A story published by the Sunday Times in October last year may have been planted by friends of beleaguered crime intelligence chief Richard Mdluli. The paper has denied that the journalists who wrote the story took money to write the story. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.

The Democratic Alliance’s march on Cosatu House has by many been seen as a turning point for SA politics. Supporters from both sides were injured and the DA has laid criminal charges. Why did it go through with the march despite the risks? It was a win-win, says GREG NICOLSON.

Richard Mdluli, the violent clashes between Cosatu and the Democratic Alliance, the proposed youth wage subsidy and a possible second term for Jacob Zuma all came up during a business breakfast meeting with the president in Bloemfontein. Pity, then, that these issues were not interrogated and most of South Africa missed it. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

After three weeks of absorbing body blows, the government has revealed it plans to appeal the landmark e-tolling court judgment. ALEX ELISEEV wonders who will end up holding their gloved fist raised.

What is the one thing you would do if you could go back in time? In Stephen King’s latest blockbuster, 11.22.63, his protagonist tries to prevent the assassination of John F Kennedy. The book flags a little – unlike the perpetual attraction of time travel. By REBECCA DAVIS.

In its spring edition, the Columbia Human Rights Law Review dedicates its 436 pages to one of the most thorough investigations of a criminal case in United States history. The issue at hand is the execution by lethal injection of an innocent man. The hope of the team is that its investigation will force the abolition of the death penalty. But can it be enough? By KEVIN BLOOM.

This Saturday, hearts will be aflutter as Orlando Pirates and Moroka Swallows battle for the Absa Premiership crown in KwaZulu-Natal. Pirates are playing away to Golden Arrows while Swallows fight it out against Maritzburg United. So far, it’s advantage, Pirates. But that means nothing when it comes to finals. KHADIJA PATEL and GREG NICHOLSON visited the Rosebank taxi rank to talk idiski.

As the rand heads south – again – CHRIS GIBBONS argues that any debate over strong vs weak should have been settled long ago.

True to its word, the Democratic Alliance has laid criminal charges against Cosatu leaders following the violence that marred Tuesday’s march. According to the DA, this is a fight over the rules of engagement. Cosatu says this is more nebulous politicking. The ANC says nothing. What’s going on? By SIPHO HLONGWANE.

A round-up of today's sport news.

A round-up of today's news in South Africa.

If you can avoid the rocks, marching is an essential pastime for all South Africans, writes musical comedian DEEP FRIED MAN, who is not averse to the occasional toyi-toyi himself.

Real cricket finally returns to our screens when England and West Indies lock horns in the first Test at Lord’s on Thursday. ANT SIMS looks ahead to what awaits the visitors and... there’s nothing but bad news.

A round-up of today's sport news.

A round-up of today's news in South Africa.

Scientists tell us that racism isn’t hardwired, giving South Africans hope for reforming prejudicial bigotry. Could the painful history of a small, almost all-white US city called Duluth, and the science of how our minds acquire and process prejudice, hold clues to help South Africa re-engineer racists? MANDY DE WAAL investigates.

Every two years, the World Wide Fund for Nature brings out a “state of the planet” review. This year, the news is bleaker than ever before. By REBECCA DAVIS.

A pro-democracy group will now ask a judge to strip the controversial policeman of his duties until all allegations around him are tested. ALEX ELISEEV sees “people power” at play, and how we landed up here.

A day of sticks, stones and broken bones as seen by our photo-reporters.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul announced on Monday that he has now ended active campaigning for the presidency against Mitt Romney,  the only other Republican Party candidate left in the campaign. But Paul vowed he would fight on with his so-called “delegate strategy”. J BROOKS SPECTOR looks deeper into the reasons why.

This week, leaders of the Persian Gulf gathered in Riyadh to discuss a Saudi-led initiative to create a union of gulf states, rumoured to be modelled on the European Union. Onlookers expected the announcement of an immediate union between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Instead, the meeting concluded with the Saudis conceding to the other members’ pleas for more time. By KHADIJA PATEL.

Unless the South African government gets its head out of the sand over the next chairperson of the AU, there’ll be another stalemate in Lilongwe – and our already battered reputation will take another hammering. By SIMON ALLISON.

Many people were surprised on Tuesday that the Democratic Alliance’s march to Cosatu House was dominated by black people rather than the party’s traditional constituency of liberal white people. It is a sign that race politics in South Africa is changing, a phenomenon which the ruling ANC appears not to be responsive to. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.