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/ 29 February 2008

Miners keep JSE afloat

Gold-mining stocks and other commodity counters helped keep the JSE’s head above the water by midday on Friday, as metal prices kept driving higher on the back of a weaker United States dollar. By 12.01pm, the JSE’s broader all-share index was up 0,24%, led by a 1,85% climb in the gold-mining index.

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/ 29 February 2008

How young is too young?

Thirteen-year-old British diver Tom Daley is set to compete at the Olympic Games in Beijing later this year. His age has raised the question of whether there should be should be an age limit for competing at the Games? Two prominent sports people offer their opinions.

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/ 29 February 2008

Thumbs-down to new rugby rules

Football gets by on 11 rules: a simple game for simple folk. Rugby has 22 laws, each one of which has myriad sub-clauses. On top of that there are the variations, laws adapted for under 19-rugby and different ones for seven-a-side. Now the big boys have their own discrepancies.

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/ 29 February 2008

Petrol price to rocket by 61c a litre

The retail price of all grades of petrol will increase by 61 cents per litre on Wednesday March 5 after increasing by 17 cents a litre last month, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. The retail price of a litre of 95 octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng increases to R8,25, and to R8,01 at the coast — new highs.

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/ 29 February 2008

Upside-down football, mate

Wednesday afternoon and the sun beats down on a tattered strip of grass surrounded by embattled homes in the centre of KwaMashu township, north of Durban. Boy-men in excruciatingly tight shorts and sleeveless tops do violent pirouettes in the air — usually because someone else is clobbering them.

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/ 29 February 2008

Minister: Job cuts at mines unavoidable

South African Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica has confirmed that job losses at mines are unavoidable, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday. Sonjica said this became apparent at Thursday’s meeting with labour unions and the Chamber of Mines, but she would not disclose the number of job losses that will take place.

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/ 29 February 2008

France to review Africa defence pacts

France will renegotiate all its defence accords with African countries, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday in a move that could scale back France’s military support for some of its closest allies. France has defence cooperation agreements with several former colonies under which its forces provide varying degrees of military assistance.