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/ 22 October 2003
First prize for South Africa in the Hefer commission enquiry is that our journalists be left alone to restore the damaged integrity of gathering and publishing information in the public interest.
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/ 22 October 2003
The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa was lingering in the red at midday on Wednesday, with resources and platinum counters the main culprits on the downside, although gains in gold stocks limited the overall losses. The slightly firmer rand was also weighing on many dual-listed shares.
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/ 22 October 2003
Judge Joos Hefer found on Wednesday that the Constitution did not grant immunity from testifying to every journalist in all circumstances. ”A journalist, like any other person, (is) obliged to testify but is entitled to refuse to answer any particular question against which there is a valid objection,” he said.
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/ 22 October 2003
A polio outbreak spreading from Nigeria to neighbouring countries is putting 15-million children at risk and undermining efforts to eradicate the disease worldwide, the United Nations health agency said on Wednesday.
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/ 22 October 2003
Delinquent passengers are running amok on the country’s trains, creating a headache for Metrorail who announced this week that it had spent R177-million this year on security alone. For next year it has budgeted R221-million for security expenses.
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/ 22 October 2003
Child rights groups are increasingly alarmed at attempts by Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya to fast-track the Children’s Bill ahead of next year’s election. The director of Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Carol Bower, said the minister seemed unaware that the Bill was nothing like the version prepared by the SA Law Reform Commission.
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/ 22 October 2003
Alleged Boeremag leader Adriaan van Wyk complained to the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday that he was being ”starved” in jail and denied the medication he needed. Van Wyk (38) launched a new bid for bail. Previous attempts have failed.
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/ 22 October 2003
Kim Yong seemed to have it all. He was a trusted lieutenant colonel in a North Korean police agency and worked for a company that exported fish to Japan. Then one day, North Korean authorities learned that Kim had been living for decades under an assumed name. Kim was immediately sent to a detention facility.
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/ 22 October 2003
Sony Corporation is studying ways to let consumers use their cellphones to buy groceries at convenience stores, pick up the tab for lunch and pay train fares. The electronics giant already has its own smart card payment service called Edy — an acronym for ”euro, dollar, yen” — which is accepted by about 2 700 stores in Japan.
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/ 22 October 2003
The job to be vacated at the end of the month by South African National Treasury director general Maria Ramos is being advertised with a package of R738 993 a year. The advertisements in national newspapers stated that one of the requirements for the job is a post-graduate degree (master’s) in economics, public finance and financial management.