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/ 18 December 2007
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
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
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
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
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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
<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.
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/ 18 December 2007
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
<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>Money, members, veterans and Jacob Zuma: at a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon at the African National Congress’s (ANC) national conference in Polokwane, secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe discussed his organisational report, delivered two days before, as well as several other issues concerning the ruling party.
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/ 18 December 2007
The two co-accused of former bouncer Gary Beuthin were denied bail in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. Magistrate Fatima Khan found they had not satisfied the court that there were exceptional circumstances for them to be granted bail.
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/ 18 December 2007
Charges of cruelty to animals and of being in possession of dagga were on Tuesday withdrawn in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court against a teenager who earlier this year cut off a dog’s head. The court heard that Jacques Wensel (18) of Pretoria West, had successfully completed a diversion programme.