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/ 29 November 2005

Japan to have a taste of sake from space

Whether a key ingredient for a special batch of sake that has been to outer space and back will change the taste of the rice wine will soon be found out as the brew is being prepared in western Japan. Sake brewers began preparing this year’s batch with yeast that completed a 10-day stay at the International Space Station.

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/ 29 November 2005

Monkeys have accents too

To the untrained ear, monkeys of a certain species may all sound the same, but Japanese researchers have found that, like human beings, they actually have an accent depending on where they live. The finding, the first of its kind, will appear in the December edition of a German scientific journal.

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/ 29 November 2005

DA: Govt must look to land market for reform

If the government bought up just more than half of the farms that came on the market each year, it would easily achieve its target of redistributing 30% of agricultural land to the previously disadvantaged by 2014, says the Democratic Alliance. ”Government must become a far more active participant in the land market,” the DA says.

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/ 29 November 2005

Tropical Storm Delta sweeps Canary Islands

A 63-year-old man died and more than 200 000 people were left without power in several cities as Tropical Storm Delta unleashed torrential rain and strong winds on the Canary Islands, authorities said on Tuesday. The rains and winds also affected hundreds of people who were left stranded at the islands’ main airports.

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/ 29 November 2005

Pandemic grows

The HIV/Aids pandemic is continuing its deadly spread across the globe, infecting five million people last year and bringing the total living with the virus to more than 40-million, the United Nations said recently. UNAids tried to lighten the gloom by pointing to Kenya, Zimbabwe and some of the Caribbean countries, where there is some limited evidence that infection rates may be dropping slightly.

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/ 29 November 2005

Trying to fill the information hole

South Africa has the biggest anti-retroviral treatment programme in the world, if both public and private sector patients are included. About 78 000 people are receiving anti-retrovirals through state health facilities and another 60 000 are receiving treatment through the private sector.

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/ 29 November 2005

Eritreans flee as war fears mount

Eritreans are fleeing their country in growing numbers amid fears of a new war with Ethiopia and economic hardships blamed on authoritarian government policies, according to diplomats and United Nations figures. Diplomats say the numbers are rising even as those who leave risk being shot if caught and their families face prosecution.

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/ 29 November 2005

Gold, platinum slip from record highs

The gold price broke through the key psychological ceiling of $500 an ounce on Tuesday to a fresh 18-year high, as platinum prices rose above $1 000 for the first time in more than a quarter of a century in a broad metals rally. Gold touched $505,40/oz in Asia — a level last seen in December 1987.

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/ 29 November 2005

Suicide bombers kill eight in Bangladesh

Eight people were killed and 23 badly hurt on Tuesday in two suicide bombings in Bangladesh that police blamed on Islamic extremists, the latest in a string of attacks in the Muslim-majority nation. Police accused the hard-line group Jamayetul Mujahideen of staging the attacks targeting the nation’s legal system.