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/ 21 January 2007

Shaik’s hospital bill climbs steeply

Experts predict that the cost of fraud convict Schabir Shaik’s hospital stay is nearing R500 000, the Saturday Star reported. According to doctors who spoke to the newspaper, each of Shaik’s medical conditions would only require a week-long stay in hospital and would not warrant 57 days.

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/ 21 January 2007

ANC gets to work on 2007 plan of action

The national executive committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) came together for the second day of its annual lekgotla (meeting) in Kempton Park on Saturday, the party said. All eyes will be on the ruling party in the year ahead as its new leadership will be elected at its 52nd national conference in December.

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/ 21 January 2007

Mauresmo stunned by Safarova

Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo suffered a stunning 6-4, 6-3 defeat by unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova in the Australian Open fourth round on Sunday. The French second seed imploded after taking a 4-1 first-set lead, losing seven straight games before the 19-year-old Safarova completed victory in 89 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

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/ 21 January 2007

Inzamam steals Ntini’s thunder

Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq hit 92 not out to dampen the celebrations of Makhaya Ntini, who took his 300th wicket for South Africa in the second Test on Saturday. South Africa were 115 for three in their second innings at the close of the second day, a deficit of 26 runs.

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/ 21 January 2007

Castro: His last battle

In 1997, two men sat down, with others, to dinner in Havana. One was John F Kennedy Jnr, eldest son of the assassinated United States President. The other was ”El Jefe Maximo” — the Maximum Chief — Fidel Castro. What a meeting: Castro and his guest’s father were the men who, in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, took the planet closer than ever before, or since, to blowing itself up.

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/ 21 January 2007

I’m in — and in to win, says Hillary

Hillary Clinton launched the first official steps towards her historic bid to become the United States’s first woman President on Saturday with the bold announcement: ”I’m in — and I’m in to win.” Clinton’s move to form a committee to raise money for a presidential bid finally put her into the race for the Democratic party’s 2008 nomination, pitting her against Barack Obama and a host of other candidates.

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/ 21 January 2007

Eskom confident of meeting demand

Eskom now has enough electricity to meet the full national demand, it said on Sunday after days of power shortages that saw rolling blackouts across the country. There has been no need for load-shedding — the deliberate cutting off of electricity when demand exceeds supply — since Thursday night, a spokesperson said.