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/ 31 October 2006

One car – three engines

Women in the motoring industry are looked upon as token appointments who couldn’t possibly have a passion for cars, who couldn’t possibly enjoy the thrill of pushing a car to the edge of its abilities. It all gets a bit tiresome sometimes and it is for this reason that I felt slightly better about life, the universe and everything else at a recent Subaru vehicle launch, writes Sukasha Singh.

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/ 31 October 2006

For a secular response to Aids

This is an exciting yet precarious time in South Africa’s management of its HIV/Aids epidemic. Exciting because there seems to be some movement away from the infighting between government and Aids organisations that has marked the past decade; precarious because we live in a society that is already fatigued by news about the epidemic.

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/ 31 October 2006

The lure of forbidden fruit

”I wish I had met you 10 years ago,” my lover cooed, after our love-making session, in that unmistakable coquettish tone that lets a guy know he ”done it right”. As she squeezed me tightly in her arms, I realised that a decade ago she would not have touched me with a bargepole. Alas, I was a lout who thought love was a humbug commercial spaceship and had qualms about going down on a woman.

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/ 31 October 2006

CIA tried to gag EU on rendition

The CIA tried to persuade Germany to silence EU protests about the human rights record of one of the United States’s key allies in its clandestine torture flights programme, The Guardian in London reported. According to a secret intelligence report, the CIA offered to let Germany have access to one of its citizens, an al-Qaeda suspect being held in a Moroccan cell.

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/ 31 October 2006

Should Africa consume more of its own cocoa?

It’s certainly a logical suggestion: in an effort to make cocoa-producing countries in Africa less dependent on consumers abroad, why not increase domestic consumption of cocoa products? While Africa produces more than 75% of the world’s cocoa, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the continent consumes only about 2% of this produce.

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/ 30 October 2006

Saru: No Bok strike on the cards

South African Rugby Union (Saru) acting managing director Basil Haddad has quashed speculation of a Springbok player strike a few days before the Boks jet off to Europe for their end-of-year tour. It had been reported on South African Broadcasting Corporation radio on Monday that the Springboks could go on strike over the appointment of the team manager.

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/ 30 October 2006

Schools may get subsidies to offset lack of fees

Well-off schools could soon get subsidies for enrolling pupils who can’t afford to pay fees, the Department of Education said on Monday. ”The minister of education recognises that the number of fee exemptions granted at certain schools is becoming a burden on their school finances,” said Naledi Pandor’s spokesperson, Lunga Ngqengelele, in a statement.

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/ 30 October 2006

SA, Lesotho join heads over labour issues

The governments of Lesotho and South Africa on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding on labour issues. South African Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana said: ”The purpose of my visit to Lesotho was to sign a memorandum of understanding after long and elaborate discussions with the Ministry of Labour and Employment of Lesotho.