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/ 21 February 2006
For a few hours at least, all the news about Austria was good. Skier Benjamin Raich claimed his first Olympic gold medal and Michaela Dorfmeister won her second in a week to rescue the country’s image on Monday amid a doping scandal that keeps escalating around a banned former coach and his desperate bolt from the Winter Games.
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/ 21 February 2006
The threat of more rain-triggered landslides slowed the search on Tuesday for survivors in an Philippine elementary school buried by up to 35m of mud when a mountain collapsed on a village last week. Rescue teams used sensors in an effort to detect sounds and movements similar to those monitored on Monday.
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/ 21 February 2006
Acclaimed South African writer Antjie Krog was embroiled in a plagiarism row on Monday after a leading academic accused her of stealing concepts and translations from other authors. Krog, the author of Country of My Skull, said allegations that she lifted material from a range of writers are an attempt to destroy her.
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/ 21 February 2006
David Irving, the discredited historian and Nazi apologist, was on Monday night starting a three-year prison sentence in Vienna for denying the Holocaust and the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Irving, who appeared in court confidently on Monday morning, immediately vowed to appeal against the sentence.
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/ 21 February 2006
As gays and lesbians become more visible in South African townships, they are increasingly becoming targets of homophobia, according to rights activists. The organisations were reacting to reports at the weekend of the murder of a young lesbian in a township in Cape Town.
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/ 21 February 2006
Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela has sacked provincial youth commission chairperson Mlungisi Lumka and youth commissioner Nonkuselo Nkayitshana, her office said on Monday. The working relationship with the commissioners had ”irretrievably broken down” after the publication of articles and advertisements by the commission.
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/ 21 February 2006
Metrorail on Tuesday again appealed to train commuters in Gauteng to use alternative transport as the strike by Transnet employees entered its second day. Spokesperson Brenda Motau said a partial service would again be offered during the morning peak, supplemented by buses where possible.
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/ 21 February 2006
Shovel load by shovel load, rescuers were on Monday inching towards 65 miners trapped inside a coal mine in northern Mexico. As hope of finding their loved ones alive faded, relatives waiting for news outside were left praying for divine intervention. The men were trapped early on Sunday after an underground explosion.
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/ 21 February 2006
South African banking group Absa on Tuesday reported an 18,3% increase in diluted headline earnings per share from a pro forma 600,7 cents to 710,9 cents a share for the nine months ended December 2005. Basic headline earnings per share for the nine-month period were up 20% from a pro forma 617 cents to 740,4 cents.
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/ 21 February 2006
Liberty Life chairperson Derek Cooper announced on Tuesday that the group’s CEO, Myles Ruck, is to leave the company after his service-retention agreement expires on May 31 because of personal reasons. Ruck has been invited to remain on the board of the Standard Bank Group as a non-executive director.