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/ 24 December 2005
The Cape Cobras slithered to an all-time low as they suffered a humiliating 39-run defeat in their Standard Bank Cup match against the Lions at Newlands on Friday. On a pitch where bowlers were always in command, the home team could not even salvage the bonus point in chasing a low target.
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/ 24 December 2005
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) disclosed on Friday it is extending 100% relief on all outstanding debt owed it by Ethiopia prior to January 1 2005, a write-off amounting to about -million. The write-off includes assistance the IMF extended to the country under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative.
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/ 24 December 2005
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed on Friday to offer Iraq -million to help its post-war economic recovery, the first loan of its kind for the conflict-torn country. The loan is designed to support the Iraqi government’s economic programme over the next 15 months.
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/ 24 December 2005
The new year has been postponed — but not for long. A leap second will be inserted in the world’s clocks just before midnight — Greenwich mean time — on New Year’s Eve, the United States Naval Observatory reported on Friday. That means midnight GMT will occur one second later than it would have otherwise.
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/ 24 December 2005
Norman Vaughan, who as a young man explored Antarctica and spent much of his life seeking adventure, died on Friday just a few days after turning 100 years old. Vaughan died at about 10.30am local time at Providence Alaska medical centre surrounded by family and friends, said nursing supervisor Martha George.
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/ 24 December 2005
Some will light candles after travelling long distances to where loved ones were snatched; others might offer simple prayers. But across nations ravaged by the tsunami, all will remember. Memorials will on Monday mark the one-year anniversary of the day the ocean rose and smashed into Indian Ocean coastlines.
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/ 24 December 2005
The United States Congress had reservations about granting President George Bush expanded wartime powers after the September 11 attacks and never discussed the use of wire taps without warrants on US citizens, a former Senate majority leader said on Friday.
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/ 24 December 2005
Either somebody didn’t like Santa’s singing, or they’re just a plain old Scrooge. A 1,5m-tall statue of a singing and dancing Santa Claus was found hanging upside-down from an electricity pole in a Melbourne suburb. Concerned residents cut the statue down and turned it in to a local police station.
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/ 24 December 2005
It was too terrible a word to utter; so, as the sickness spread, the township took refuge in euphemisms. Skinny, coughing residents of sprawling Khayelitsha were said to have won the lottery, or opened a bank account, or acquired a four-by-four vehicle; darkly ironic ways of stating what they really had — Aids.
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/ 24 December 2005
During World War II, American troops away from home for Christmas were entertained by Marlene Dietrich, Bing Crosby and the Marx Brothers. But soldiers in Iraq are more likely to get a show from a Christian hip-hop group, a country singer you have probably never heard of and two cheerleaders for the Dallas Cowboys.