Staff Reporter
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/ 28 February 2006

Major BEE coal-mining company announced

African Rainbow Minerals and Xstrata announced on Tuesday that agreement has been reached to establish a major black-controlled coal-mining company in a black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction valued at R2,4-billion. The new company, ARM Coal, will have significant operating assets and growth projects in South Africa.

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/ 28 February 2006

FirstRand boosts earnings by 19%

Banking group FirstRand boosted diluted headline earnings per share by 19% from 62,9 cents to 74,8 cents for the six months ended December. The group declared a dividend of 32 cents per share, which was a 20% increase on the previous dividend. It said the strong results were achieved in a positive economic environment.

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/ 28 February 2006

The ‘challenges’ of Darfur

How serious is South Africa about halting massive, ethnically targeted human destruction in Darfur in western Sudan? Is President Thabo Mbeki prepared to support the robust, international force required to protect millions of vulnerable people and the increasingly tenuous humanitarian lifeline upon which they depend?

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/ 28 February 2006

Chipping away at our freedom

”It received just a few column centimetres in a couple of papers, but the story I read last week looks to me like a glimpse of the future. A company in Ohio called CityWatcher has implanted radio transmitters into the arms of two of its workers. The implants ensure that only they can enter the strongroom,” writes George Monbiot.

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/ 27 February 2006

Experts meet as bird flu continues to spread

International veterinary experts gathered in Paris on Monday to discuss the fight against bird flu as the lethal H5N1 strain made further advances in Africa and French authorities started a mass vaccination programme of ducks and geese. The potentially deadly virus made new strides in Africa, with reports of the first cases in Niger.

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/ 27 February 2006

Officials warn of Sudan cholera catastrophe

The death toll from a suspected cholera outbreak in southern Sudan has risen to 89 amid continued efforts to stem the epidemic, the World Health Organisation said in a statement on Monday. The United Nations health agency said 4 906 cases of acute watery diarrhoea were reported, 89 of them fatal, over the past month.