Staff Reporter
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/ 23 October 2007

Bhutto accuses government of cover-up in bombing

Benazir Bhutto on Monday accused the Pakistani government of staging a cover-up after it refused her request for British and American experts to join the inquiry into last Thursday’s suicide bombing. ”If people have nothing to hide then they should be open to investigators from all over the world,” the former prime minister told a press conference.

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/ 23 October 2007

TV show host boots out 9/11 conspiracy theorists

It’s the conundrum that faces all television personalities broadcasting live: how to deal with hecklers trying to disrupt the show. Do you try to reason with them? Or do you do what the American talk show host Bill Maher did — jump into the audience, threaten the hecklers with an ”ass kicking” and scream ”Get the fuck out of my building!”

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/ 23 October 2007

Randgold: Development key to success in Africa

Responsible mining is capable of creating general economic welfare for its host communities in Africa which could long survive the mines themselves, Randgold Resources chief executive Mark Bristow said on Monday. Bristow said the utilisation of natural resources was often the best and sometimes the only way of alleviating the pressing problem of poverty.

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/ 22 October 2007

Stock theft in SA amounts to nearly R330m

Stock theft in South Africa has amounted to R327 676 500 in the past year, the National Stock Theft Forum said on Monday. ”At the moment, stock theft is hampering the profitability of the stock farmers and it is also interfering with the government’s land-reform process, as well as the empowering of the emerging farmers,” the forum said in a statement.

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/ 22 October 2007

Lucky Dube funeral to be kept private

The funeral of slain reggae singer Lucky Dube will be a private affair, family spokesperson Arnold Mabunda said on Monday. ”The family requested that the funeral be a private matter due to Lucky’s beliefs and the church’s request. ”They have requested that it not be turned into a circus, so media will not be allowed,” he said.

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/ 22 October 2007

Health Dept recalls more condoms

The Department of Health is recalling a second consignment of defective condoms, this time from Kohrs Medical, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in Pretoria on Monday. ”At least five batches belonging to Kohrs Medical were sampled and failed an air-burst test,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.

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/ 22 October 2007

Lotz murder accused: We were in love

Murder accused Fred van der Vyver and his girlfriend, Inge Lotz, were deeply in love at the time she died, the young man told the Cape High Court on Monday. On the morning of her death on March 16 2005, they parted with hugs and kisses as he left to attend a class at the University of Stellenbosch, he said. ”I was very much in love with her,” he said.