Staff Reporter
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/ 16 February 2007

Vodka-fuelled fisherman wrestles with shark

A fisherman fuelled by vodka caught a 1,3m shark and wrestled it onto a jetty on Australia’s south coast, suffering only small tear marks in his trousers, media reports said on Friday. Phillip Kerkhof (41) caught the bronze whaler shark by hand on Monday after he spotted it chasing squid lures near the jetty at the tiny seaside town of Louth Bay in the South Australia state.

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/ 16 February 2007

Third suspect arrested for Rattray murder

KwaZulu-Natal police have arrested a third person for the murder of historian David Rattray. The man was arrested on Thursday night, said Senior Superintendent Phindile Radebe. On February 5, Fethe Nkwanyana (23) was sentenced to 25 years in jail by Judge Jan Hugo in the Pietermaritzburg High Court after pleading guilty to the crime.

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/ 16 February 2007

Limpopo safest province, says premier

Limpopo has the lowest crime levels in the country, Premier Sello Moloto has told the opening of the provincial legislature. He said this was according to a South African Institute of Race Relations study, Beeld newspaper reported on Friday. Although Moloto praised the police for their crime-combating efforts, he said there is still a shortage of staff.

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/ 16 February 2007

N Korea on ‘war footing’ for US attacks

North Korea said on Friday it will maintain its war mobilisation posture against feared United States attacks, despite this week’s deal aimed at dismantling its nuclear-weapons programmes. A senior official also praised the country’s nuclear weapons, just days after the North agreed in principle to give them up.

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/ 16 February 2007

Japan joins US in WTO action against China

Japan said on Friday it will join in a United States complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over Beijing’s industrial subsidies. "We are planning to participate in the complaint as a third-party country," Trade Minister Akira Amari told reporters. He said Japan decided to join the complaint after a request from Washington.

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/ 16 February 2007

UK backs revolutionary aid experiment for Africa

The United Kingdom is backing an experiment to change the way aid is delivered in parts of Africa that highlights a growing divide over how Western nations spend hundreds of millions of dollars pledged to the continent. The Department for International Development is providing £750 000 to fund a scheme to provide cash payments instead of food.

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/ 16 February 2007

Guinea’s state of siege

General strikes against growing poverty in Guinea have triggered a series of events that may lead to the near collapse of the 27-year-old regime of President Lansana Conte. Close to 100 people have been killed in violent clashes between strikers and the police and recently Conte decreed martial law and a 20-hour curfew that has further antagonised the population.

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/ 16 February 2007

Stifling red tape to be slashed

Small business received a boost recently with the publication of the draft Companies Bill, intended to replace the three-decade-old Companies Act. The small business sector contributes about 41% to South Africa’s GDP and is most likely to create jobs. Because of this, legislation that helps the sector is also likely to boost economic growth.