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/ 16 January 2008

Durban mother gunned down for R70

A 12-year-old Durban boy who was getting ready to for his first day back at school watched helplessly on Wednesday morning as his mother was shot five times by a robber. The boy, his seven-year-old sibling, his grandmother and a domestic worker were inside their Pinetown home at the time of the shooting.

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/ 16 January 2008

Spider-Man loses a wife and upsets comic fans

Spider-Man fans are outraged that Marvel Comics has turned back the clock and dissolved the marriage of its wall-clinging superhero. While followers of the movie version know the character is single with a sweetheart, as far as comic-book fans are concerned Spider-Man has been married to Mary Jane Watson for the past 21 years.

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/ 16 January 2008

Sri Lanka bus blast kills 24 as truce scrapped

A roadside bomb tore through a Sri Lankan bus killing 24 people and wounding dozens on Wednesday, officials said, as a six-year ceasefire formally expires between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. The Ministry of Defence said a large number of schoolchildren were on the bus at the time of the blast in the central district of Moneragala.

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/ 16 January 2008

Pikoli lashes out at ‘govt’s delinquency’

Suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli has objected to government’s request for an extension to file its submissions to the Ginwala Commission of Inquiry. A copy of a letter, sent by Pikoli’s law firm Denys Reitz to inquiry head Frene Ginwala, was released to the media late on Tuesday. Earlier on Tuesday, Ginwala herself criticised government for its ”slow response” and failure to deliver its submission on time.

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/ 16 January 2008

China’s booming budget hotels profit from no frills

German engineer Michael Bosch is not fazed by the lack of a gym and other creature comforts at his budget hotel in a converted Shanghai office building. He’s stayed at such hotels on nearly a dozen trips to Chinese cities. ”All I need is a clean, warm place to sleep. I don’t care so much about service,” the 32-year-old said as he waited for 10 minutes for a distracted receptionist to attend to him at a Motel168 on the edge of Shanghai’s financial district.

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/ 16 January 2008

Germany’s hotels bar neo-Nazis

Late last year a hotel in Dresden sent an unambiguous message to two prospective neo-Nazi guests — please do not come. "Since I would not know how to encourage my staff to greet you or serve you, I beg you to cancel your stay," Johannes Lohmeyer, manager of a Holiday Inn in the picturesque east German city, wrote to the two men.

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/ 16 January 2008

Eskom’s place in the sun

An Eskom subsidy for solar-powered water heaters is finally ready and is expected to launch in the next week or two. But the solar power industry itself remains unsure of key details. The subsidy was expected to come into play last year, following a Central Energy Fund pilot project, but was delayed. Suppliers complain of a lack of communication and uncertainty over key details, including launch dates.