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/ 1 February 2008
As long as the government’s priority remains affirmative action instead of quality education, delivery problems such as the current electricity crisis will be unavoidable, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday. Zille said the many delivery challenges faced by South Africa could only be resolved if the country’s education system improved.
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/ 1 February 2008
The aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Friday it was pulling all its international staff out of Somalia after three of its staff were killed by a roadside bomb. For the time being ”MSF has suspended all international staff presence”, the medical humanitarian organisation said in a statement released in Nairobi.
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/ 1 February 2008
Church leaders expressed shock and outrage on Friday at a police raid this week on the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg, during which hundreds of immigrants were arrested. Eddie Makue, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, said for many years the Church had welcomed those who had been displaced.
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/ 1 February 2008
South Africa batsman Boeta Dippenaar has announced his retirement from international cricket to pursue other interests. Dippenaar, who made his debut in 1999, played in 38 Tests and 107 one-day internationals and will continue playing for the Diamond Eagles and Leicestershire in England.
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/ 1 February 2008
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi was charged with three counts of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice in the Randburg Regional Court on Friday. He also faced an alternate charge of receiving an unauthorised gratification ”by a person who is party to an employment relation”. The case was postponed to June 26.
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/ 1 February 2008
The Department of Health has introduced a new anti-tetanus vaccine for children, it was announced on Friday. The department’s Fidel Hadebe said the vaccine was introduced to clinics and hospitals as of February 1. ”Diftavax Td is to be administered to children at the age of six and 12 years.”
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/ 1 February 2008
Mozambique’s poverty-alleviation programme this week received a boost following the approval of a further -million loan by the World Bank. ”The council of executive directors of the World Bank has approved a credit for the International Development Association to the value of -million,” the bank said in Maputo on Friday.
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/ 1 February 2008
Mines had their power levels increased from 80% to 90% on Friday but they still needed a guarantee of a reliable power supply, the Gold Fields mining company said on Friday. On Thursday, Eskom backtracked on an undertaking when it promised to provide 90% of its normal power supplies to mining companies.
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/ 1 February 2008
Technology giant Microsoft said on Friday that it had offered to acquire internet media company Yahoo! for ,6-billion in cash and stock. Microsoft said it had offered to buy Yahoo! for per share, which it said represented a 62% premium above the company’s closing stock price on Nasdaq on Thursday.
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/ 1 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s inflation hit a record 26 470,8% in November 2007, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono said in a monetary policy statement on Thursday. The figure rose from 7 982,1% in September. Zimbabwe’s Central Bank produced no inflation data for October.