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/ 18 December 2007

ANC policy won’t change, says Kgalema

ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe has reiterated that policy would not change under a Zuma-led presidency and fears that the left tripartite alliance partners would force change were unfounded. Motlanthe said spontaneous policy change was not possible given the specific processes the ANC follow in formulating and adopting its policies.

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/ 18 December 2007

Microcredit helps half a billion, problems remain

Microcredit, tiny loans to the world’s poorest, is booming and now benefits more than half a billion people but Africa and Latin America lag behind Asia and unscrupulous lenders are cashing in. The Microcredit Summit Campaign surveyed more than 3 000 microcredit bodies around the world and found they reported reaching 133-million people by the end of 2006.

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/ 18 December 2007

Oh, my aching feet of clay …

Sanele ”Shanee” Moroka was a girl trapped in a boy’s body with feet trapped in too tight pumps in the voting queue in Polokwane. She doesn’t believe the ANC should remain a multi-class organisation and is wondering what will happen to her poor calloused palms after having tugged the comrades ”forward towards enlightenment”.

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/ 18 December 2007

Peter Jackson agrees to produce Hobbit films

The Tolkien community was in hysterics on Tuesday. At least that was the verdict on one of the leading Hobbit websites following the announcement in Los Angeles that Peter Jackson, director of the -billion-plus trilogy The Lord of the Rings, had signed up to produce two films based on The Hobbit, expected to go into production in 2009.

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/ 18 December 2007

ANC apologises for media-bashing

The ANC has apologised for the ”unfortunate” way in which members of the media have been treated at its national conference in Polokwane. The apology followed three days of stand-offs between journalists and security marshals — and a Cabinet minister swiping at a reporter with his umbrella on Tuesday.

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/ 18 December 2007

Rice pushes ‘roadmap’ as Turkish troops enter Iraq

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a visit overshadowed by a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, called on Iraqi leaders on Tuesday to urgently implement a national reconciliation roadmap. Turkish troops crossed overnight into the Iraqi Kurdish province of Dahuk, about 200km from the city of Kirkuk, where Rice’s plane first touched down.

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/ 18 December 2007

Santa’s big surprise

Santa Claus says that a woman who sat on his lap was naughty, not nice. According to Santa at the Danbury Fair mall in the Connecticut, he was groped. Sandrama Lamy (33) was charged with sexual assault and breach of the peace after allegedly taking liberties with Santa over the weekend.

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/ 18 December 2007

Suicide bomber kills 14 in Iraqi village

A suicide bomber killed 14 people when he detonated a vest rigged with explosives in a Shi’ite Muslim village north of Baghdad on Tuesday. Suicide bombers, gunmen and car bombs also killed 14 other people across the country. The violence coincided with a visit by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

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/ 18 December 2007

Social networking frenzy points to web’s future

Social networking websites saw their ranks swell and values soar this year as everyone from moody teenagers and mellow music lovers to mate-seeking seniors joined online communities. Google’s freshly released <i>Zeitgeist 2007</i> reveals that seven out of the 10 hottest topics which triggered internet queries during the year involved social networking.

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/ 18 December 2007

ANC plans to expand national executive committee

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>The ANC has resolved to increase its national executive committee from 60 to 86 members to ensure greater representation of the party’s motive forces. The decision came amid concern from some members of the ANC and its alliance partners that the executive no longer represents the party’s core constituency.