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/ 15 January 2008
Madagascar’s only passenger railway is a lifeline for dozens of isolated mountain villages set back from the coast and more and more tourists are falling for its old-world charm. However, the ageing line is facing an uncertain future, at a time when Madagascar is struggling to turn around its dismal economy.
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/ 15 January 2008
The price of gold is hitting new record highs owing to the troubled United States economy and a cocktail of other supportive factors, leading some analysts to predict  000 per ounce could happen soon. In recent days the precious metal has blasted past in a record-breaking run. On the London Bullion Market on Monday, gold blazed a trail as high as ,30 dollars per ounce.
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/ 15 January 2008
Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt advanced to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday with an easy 6-0 6-3 6-0 victory over Belgium’s Steve Darcis. The former world number one barely needed to get out of first gear and said it was one of his best starts to a grand slam.
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/ 15 January 2008
Three-dimensional images, which helped to show that double amputee Oscar Pistorius receives advantages from carbon-fibre blade attachments, have become a significant tool in the drive to improve athletic performances. The science of biomechanics — the study of the mechanics of animate structures — is already being applied to tennis.
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/ 15 January 2008
The dispute over President Mwai Kibaki’s re-election in Kenya moved to Parliament on Tuesday as the government and opposition prepared to wrestle for control of the East African nation’s legislature. Roads were closed and riot police ringed the building in downtown Nairobi from early morning before the opening session of the new Parliament.
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/ 15 January 2008
Parents, teachers and pupils staged a protest on Tuesday against the admission policy of the Kismet Combined Secondary school in Colridge near Vryburg in the North West. South African Democratic Teachers’ Union secretary Joe Molipa said the school had increased its fees by 37% in order to deny poor pupils enrolment.
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/ 15 January 2008
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota has reportedly been arrested for speeding. The South African Broadcasting Corporation reported that Lekota was charged, at the Mondeor police station just before midnight on Sunday, with reckless and negligent driving.
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/ 15 January 2008
Hollywood star Wesley Snipes used a novel interpretation of United States tax laws to avoid paying anything on the -million he earned from blockbusters including Blade and Demolition Man. When investigators closed in on the actor he allegedly fled to South Africa on a false passport.
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/ 15 January 2008
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama come face to face on Tuesday night for the first time since their two camps embarked on the dangerous strategy of trying to extract political gain from the race issue. After Obama’s victory in Iowa and Clinton’s in New Hampshire, the two candidates are looking to break the tie in Nevada.
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/ 15 January 2008
Taliban militants stormed Kabul’s leading luxury hotel on Monday night, killing seven people in a significant escalation of insurgent tactics against foreign civilians in Afghanistan. The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, and other guests fled into the basement of the five-star Serena hotel.