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/ 3 August 2004

Gaza explosion kills three

An explosion on Tuesday in a Gaza Strip area where the Israeli army is operating killed at least three people and wounded 10 others, Palestinian witnesses said. They said the explosion went off as Palestinian residents gathered to inspect the damage caused overnight by the army. One person was decapitated by the blast.

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/ 3 August 2004

Vehicle sales head for 20-year high

New-vehicle sales were up in July and expected to improve to a level last seen in 1983, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) said on Tuesday. ”Current indications are that the new-vehicle market for the full year 2004 could exceed 410 000,” Naamsa said in a statement.

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/ 3 August 2004

Kenyan media slam hostage blunder

Kenya’s press on Tuesday angrily demanded the sacking of the country’s foreign affairs minister over his weekend announcement that seven hostages held in Iraq had been released, which it said turned out to be a ”cruel hoax”. Chirau Ali claimed the hostages had been released and were safe in the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad.

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/ 3 August 2004

Shift in focus could aggravate Eritrean situation

About 1,9-million Eritreans currently in need of food aid could suffer even more because the world has shifted its focus to other crises such as Darfur in western Sudan, the United Nations has warned. Eritrea grew only 20% of the food it needed last year and has asked the international community for $120-million to offset the shortfall.

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/ 3 August 2004

Softer rand fuels JSE’s rally

The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was roaring ahead in noon trade on Tuesday, with a softer rand sparking demand for heavyweight resources stocks. Positive sentiment spilled to the rest of the market and advancers outnumbered decliners on the all-share index by about three to two and on the Top 40 index by about three to one.

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/ 3 August 2004

Pay-to-shop: New York’s newest fashion

In New York everything has a price tag, so it seems, and now you can even pay to shop, on a tour of the city’s most coveted shop windows. For , a good guide can leave a shopper breathless. ”Hurry up … we won’t have any time left to go to Soho,” Rebecca Merritt, a guide for Shop Gotham told her group: a dozen teachers from Missouri, whose state motto is ”show me”.

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/ 3 August 2004

Domestic economic picture looking bright

While real gross domestic expenditure is expected to grow by 4,5% this year, South Africa’s overall economy might fail to grow to grow faster than 2,7% this year due to a negative contribution from net exports, the Bureau for Economic Research said on Tuesday. South Africa also runs the risk of balance of payments problems.

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/ 3 August 2004

It’s give and take, Botswana govt tells Debswana

Debswana will continue operations at Jwaneng diamond mine — the world’s richest — although it had not concluded negotiations with the Botswana government on the renewal of its mining licence. ”We have extended the current licence to the end of the year,” permanent secretary in the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Affairs, Akolang Tombale, said on Monday.