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/ 23 October 2003

Timbuktu: Sages, camel trains and sand dunes

The desert city of Timbuktu, where French President Jacques Chirac arrives on Friday during a visit to West Africa, has been a synonym for romance and exoticism for generations. The 17th-century chronicler and historian Abderahman Saadi called the oasis on the edge of the Sahara desert ”exquisite, pure, delicious, illustrious, a blessed city, fertile and lovely”.

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/ 23 October 2003

$246m claim over video game

A -million lawsuit has been filed against the designer, marketer and a retailer of the video game series Grand Theft Auto by the families of two people shot by teenagers allegedly inspired by the game. Aaron Hamel was killed and Kimberly Bede was seriously wounded when their cars were shot at in June as they passed through the Great Smoky Mountains.

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/ 23 October 2003

Gehry’s ‘jewel’ greeted with anger from the poor

It has been hailed as a cultural and architectural jewel, nicknamed the ”sparkling artichoke” but also portrayed as a symbol of the vast gap between the city’s rich and poor. On Thursday the -million Walt Disney Concert Hall will open to the sound of superlatives from architectural critics and carrying with it the hopes of a city that has often been accused of lacking a heart.

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/ 23 October 2003

Keeping an eye on the trainers

Sector education and training authorities (Setas) will now be required to enter into service level agreements with the Department of Labour to ensure that they perform optimally. This is one of the changes that will be brought about by the Skills Development Amendment Bill.

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/ 23 October 2003

Meeting the challenges of service excellence

The Services sector education and training authority (Seta) has disbursed more than R180-million in grants to its members, according to its CEO, Ivor Blumenthal.
The Services Seta comprises 29 industries with 65 000 member companies and about two million employees. Many of these are in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

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/ 23 October 2003

Calling chefs, managers

The unprecedented growth in the hospitality and tourism industries has created an urgent demand for skilled professionals. These industries are expected to be the single-largest employers in the 21st century, locally and internationally, says Dr Jane Spowart, head of Technikon Witwatersrand’s (TWR) school of tourism and hospitality.

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/ 23 October 2003

Cross over to medicine

Few matriculants leave school armed with the certainty that for the next six years they are ready to commit to studying medicine. Becoming a doctor is a life-changing decision and not all 17-year olds have the confidence to make this choice.