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/ 25 February 2008

Coen brothers win top Oscars

No Country For Old Men won the Oscar for best film and its makers, brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, were named best directors on Sunday, giving the bleak crime drama four of the world’s top movie awards. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honoured a wide range of movies, actors and actresses from several countries.

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/ 25 February 2008

‘What did Zuma say behind closed doors?’

The in-camera conference African National Congress president Jacob Zuma gave to the Forum of Black Journalists was similar to the off-the-record briefing given to black editors by Bulelani Ngcuka, the former national director of public prosecutions, which Zuma at that time protested as a ”character assassination exercise”, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.

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/ 25 February 2008

Yemen’s tourist sector hit by al-Qaeda attacks

Foreigners wander freely among the handsome stone and baked-brick houses of Sanaa’s Old City, but elsewhere in Yemen al-Qaeda attacks have damaged a fledgling tourism industry already hurt by tribal kidnappings. The government, which hopes tourism earnings can help offset flagging oil revenues, is struggling to shore up security by providing armed police escorts for travel to certain areas.

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/ 25 February 2008

Tourist guides tap rich vein in Gauteng

Tourist guides from across Gauteng gathered under a hot marquee for the International Tourist Guides’ Day at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg last week — and, for a change, were on the receiving end of an educational tour. "We are who we are through others," were the words of Lungi Morrison, of the Gauteng Tourism Authority.

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/ 25 February 2008

Exporting Chinese inflation

Fears that China might export inflation to the rest of the world were heightened this week when Beijing announced the sharpest rise in the cost of living in 11 years. With food prices rising rapidly following severe new year storms, the annual inflation rate in the fast-growing developing economy reached 7,1% last month.

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/ 25 February 2008

The new KGB: Keep Gathering Bucks

While "oligarchs" from the era of former president Boris Yeltsin were purged by the Kremlin, a new breed of super-rich tycoons has thrived under Vladimir Putin, bringing the number of dollar billionaires in the country to more than 100. Russia now has the most billionaires in the world after the United States, which has 415. Germany is third with 60.

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/ 25 February 2008

The big, big crush

About 20 000 stolen — but recovered — cars worth an estimated R2-billion are needlessly crushed in South Africa every year. Many are in poor condition, but some are top of their range and in excellent nick. The cars destroyed are those recovered by authorities, but not reclaimed by their owners, usually because they have been paid out the full insurance value.

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/ 25 February 2008

Powering traffic lights: where batteries may be a better solution

The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) is reviewing alternative energy sources to keep the city’s traffic lights operating and intersections flowing during blackouts. The use of solar-powered lights and lights running on ordinary UPS batteries are being considered. Johannesburg already has 15 intersections that use battery power on a pilot basis, while one site uses solar power.