Staff Reporter
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/ 22 October 2007

Africa: The next big thing

Booming stock markets, bustling city centres, huge reserves of natural resources and soaring economic growth. Welcome to the new Africa. Last week one of Britain’s leading asset managers, New Star, became the first to launch a fund that will invest solely in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa.

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/ 22 October 2007

Hormone-free contraceptive on the horizon

A "genetic contraceptive" that could interfere with the make-up of women’s eggs during ovulation and which is designed to have none of the side-effects of traditional hormone-based pills is being developed by scientists. The new approach, the researchers say, should make it impossible for sperm to fertilise women’s eggs.

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/ 22 October 2007

Seeking closer ties

The new geography of trade is the basis for the cooperation between India, Brazil and South Africa, says the Brazilian ambassador, Lucio Pires de Amorim. ”The similarities between the three countries make it mutually beneficial for them to work with one another on key areas that include trade and development. They are three countries with large populations.”

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/ 21 October 2007

At Wits, nostalgia and amnesia

Indeed, ”varsities are not islands of privilege” as Wits University vice-chancellor Loyiso Nongxa tells us (October 12). However, the ”success stories” of both Wits and the professor himself have prominently proved the contrary. This does not cease to amuse those who have been closely observing the university’s desperate search for vindication where there is none to be found, writes Motsoakgomo Nkoli.

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/ 21 October 2007

… and another one for nose studs

Several weeks ago the Constitutional Court ruled in a landmark case on religious and cultural expression in public schools. In 2004, Sunali Pillay, then a learner at Durban Girls’ High School, pierced her nose and inserted a small gold stud. The school objected to the stud on the basis that it contravened the school’s code of conduct.

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/ 21 October 2007

Manto, Mondli and succession madness

There’s a kind of madness abroad in the country when a newspaper editor faces arrest for the possession of documents. The police have now denied they intend to arrest anybody from the Sunday Times, but it is clear they are tackling the disappearance of the medical files of the health minister with a seriousness that is out of all proportion to the crime.

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/ 21 October 2007

Five arrested for Lucky Dube’s murder

Five men were arrested on Sunday in connection with the murder of reggae star Lucky Dube, East Rand police said. Police arrested the five, aged between 31 and 35, in Spruitview on the East Rand on Sunday morning. Police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said police seized two stolen handguns and a VW Polo.