Staff Reporter
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/ 17 March 2005

Waratahs lock stands down after racist comment

Wallaby lock Justin Harrison said on Thursday he will stand down from the New South Wales Waratahs team until a disciplinary hearing investigates a racial comment he admitted making to a South African player in a Super 12 rugby last weekend. ”I’m still coming to terms with the ramifications of what I said,” Harrison said.

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/ 17 March 2005

Chiefs pressure Pirates

League champions Kaiser Chiefs kept the pressure on log leaders Orlando Pirates when they were fortunate to beat Santos 1-0 in a Castle Premier League match played at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday. The goal came in the 68th minute when Santos goalkeeper Brenden Wardle spilt a shot from John Moshoeu and Collins Mbesuma was on hand to tap the ball in.

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/ 17 March 2005

Fair poll in Zimbabwe ‘impossible’

State torture and violence in Zimbabwe makes it impossible to have free and fair elections on March 31, says a report released on Thursday. The report by the anti-torture group Redress criticises President Robert Mugabe’s government for failing to arrest and try several police and army officers suspected of torture.

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/ 17 March 2005

GM fears junk rating after alert on profits

General Motors on Wednesday stunned United States equity and bond markets with a profits warning which triggered fears that the world’s biggest carmaker could see its debt rating cut to ”junk”. The Detroit-based group now expects to make a first-quarter loss after earlier predicting it would break even or make a profit, sending its shares and bonds into a spin.

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/ 17 March 2005

Bush nominates Wolfowitz for World Bank

United States President George Bush on Wednesday chose one of the most controversial figures in his administration, the Pentagon’s chief ideological proponent of the Iraq war Paul Wolfowitz, to head the World Bank. Bush tried to beat back some of the criticism on Wednesday, telephoning world leaders to lobby for his choice.

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/ 17 March 2005

Less than diplomatic driving

Nearly 7 000 drivers, mainly foreign diplomats and French officials including top civil servants and senior policemen, escaped fines after being caught by France’s new automatic speed traps last year. The satirical weekly Le Canard Enchainé, citing a leaked interior ministry document, said the diplomatic corps was clocked over the speed limit 2 590 times.