Staff Reporter
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/ 12 October 2006

SA to chair Nuclear Suppliers Group

South Africa was on Thursday unanimously confirmed as the next chair of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, for the period 2007 to 2008, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued from Vienna. The decision was taken at a consultative meeting of the group held in Vienna. South Africa was represented at the meeting by ambassador Abdul Minty.

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/ 12 October 2006

Plan in place to tackle Gauteng traffic jams

The high-occupancy vehicle lane pilot project in October to reduce massive daily traffic congestion between Pretoria and Johannesburg would be conducted ”cautiously and progressively”, the Gauteng department of transport said on Thursday. Provincial minister Ignatius Jacobs was briefing the media on a planned dedicated lane for vehicles travelling with three or more people.

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/ 12 October 2006

Reserve Bank raises repo rate, warns about inflation

The South African Reserve Bank raised its key repo rate by half a percentage point to 8,5% on Thursday, and warned inflation pressures were building in Africa’s biggest economy. ”The monetary policy committee remains concerned about the outlook for inflation going forward and is of the view that the risks to the inflation outlook are still on the upside,” Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni said.

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/ 12 October 2006

Gibbs fingers three ex-Proteas

South African Herschelle Gibbs revealed on Thursday the names of three former Proteas cricketers involved in a match-fixing scam, said Indian police who now want to question the trio. One of the three was Derek Crookes, who toured India with the South African squad in 2000 and played 32 one-day matches making 1 001 runs. Police declined to identify the other two.

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/ 12 October 2006

E Guinea: Too soon to free South Africans

Equatorial Guinea’s president says it is too soon to pardon foreign mercenaries jailed for trying to overthrow him, and he believes their South African leader Nick du Toit should stay inside for at least 20 years. In an interview with Jeune Afrique magazine, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo said it was too early to talk of a blanket pardon for the remaining prisoners.

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/ 12 October 2006

Accommodation for 2010 gets R170m cash injection

Small, medium and micro enterprises in South Africa’s accommodation sector will receive a R170-million cash injection to prepare for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk told a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday: ”For the first time ever non-hotel accommodation … will also be contracted.

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/ 12 October 2006

Stabbing leads to heightened court security

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has strengthened security measures after a police inspector was stabbed to death while escorting a prisoner to a courtroom earlier this week. Department spokesperson Lazarus Mothupi said on Thursday that four additional guards had been deployed to the Odi Magistrate’s Court in Ga-Rankuwa, Pretoria.