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/ 5 November 2007
This is a side of life the Burmese military junta might prefer you did not see: girls who appear to be 13 and 14 years old paraded in front of customers at a nightclub where a beauty contest thinly veils child prostitution. Tottering in stiletto heels and miniskirts, young teenage girls criss-crossed the dance-floor as part of a nightly "modelling" show at the Asia Entertainment City nightclub on a recent evening in Rangoon.
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/ 5 November 2007
Short-term insurers have a gleam in their eye. The department of transport’s proposed driver’s licence demerit points system could mean big gains for the industry, should it prove successful. Heavy hitters like Outsurance, Santam and Mutual & Federal would eagerly welcome a new system that would allow them to profile their customers’ portfolio and adjust individual insurance premiums according to the demerits a client racks up.
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/ 5 November 2007
If the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) save the mountain gorilla, might the gorilla return the favour? That is the hope of environmental activists, who realise that wildlife conservation and tourism could be the key to survival for people as well as animals in a part of Africa where conflict has been the norm.
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/ 5 November 2007
Public restrooms have become an unexpected source of controversy in the United States as experts argue over how the ever-essential destination can avoid discriminating by class or sex. ”In the US, but also in many other parts of the world — including India … issues having to do with human waste are taboo from public discussion. It is a last frontier,” said Harvey Molotch, a professor of cultural analysis at New York University.
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/ 5 November 2007
In the long shadows of early dusk, a large black Mercedes with blacked-out windows picked me up from my hotel and whisked me through Gaza City’s dusty, sullied streets. The roads, strewn with rubbish, were largely empty: Gaza was preparing for an Israeli incursion and the routine was familiar.
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/ 4 November 2007
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The characteristics and qualities needed for leadership in the ANC have been much discussed by many inside and outside the party, including in forums such as the Mail & Guardian. Never before has an organisation received such wide-ranging advice. So, in a biblical sense, Kugqityiwe (it is finished). Fortunately for us the best of these qualities are to be found among many ANC women and men.
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/ 4 November 2007
It is not the vast potholes outside the department of home affairs in Randburg that lie in wait for me, nor the ad hoc middle men and women in the selfsame cul de sac whom I initially shied from, having faith both in my ability to queue and the slow rumbling of home affairs machinery. Nor was it the years now of waiting for what is known in the business as a vault birth certificate: the only vault I know of is the one I feel fit for, writes Maggie Davey.
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/ 4 November 2007
David Nalbandian of Argentina handed out a tennis lesson to world number two Rafael Nadal to win his second straight Masters Series title in Paris on Sunday. The Argentinian won at a canter — 6-4, 6-0 — taking nine games in a row from 3-4 down in the first set against an increasingly disillusioned-looking Spaniard, who has been struggling with his fitness since the summer.
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/ 4 November 2007
French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew seven freed Europeans out of Chad on Sunday but 10 others remained in jail charged with child abduction and fraud. The three French journalists and four Spanish flight attendants were among 16 French and Spanish nationals arrested as they tried to fly 103 African children to Europe.
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/ 4 November 2007
The emerging Orlando Pirates lost 2-1 to Mamelodi Sundowns at a packed Loftus Stadium in an Absa Premier League game played on Sunday. Esrom Nyandoro scored first for the two-time league champs in the 37th minute and then Lucas Thwala netted the equaliser four minutes later.