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/ 3 December 2007
George Bush told the Annapolis summit this week that a battle was under way for the future of the Middle East as events on the ground underlined the huge task ahead as Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were relaunched after seven years. Iran, on cue, announced that it had developed a new long-range missile, while thousands of supporters of the Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, protested in Gaza.
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/ 3 December 2007
It is hard not to resort to clichés when writing about Mauritius: white, sandy beaches, sunny blue skies and swaying palm trees. This Indian Ocean island paradise is the stuff travel brochures are made of. Stepping off a plane filled with eager tourists and a group of honeymooners proudly flashing "just married" T-shirts, it is easy to see how tourism has become the main source of income.
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/ 3 December 2007
As tens of thousands more frightened and exhausted people fled the terrors of Mogadishu last week, a Somali community leader condemned the international community "for watching the cruelty in Somalia like a film and not bothering to help". He was mistaken. The international community has barely been watching the cruelty in Somalia at all.
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/ 3 December 2007
"I’m tired, tired of Farc, tired of the people, tired of communal life. Tired of never having anything for myself. It would be worth it if we knew why we were fighting. But the truth is I don’t believe in this any more." So wrote Tanja Nijmeijer, a 29-year-old, middle-class Dutch woman who is among a handful of Europeans who joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
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/ 3 December 2007
Eskom’s residential customers might soon be charged according to the time of day, if a new electricity tariff is implemented. The new tariff will make electricity more expensive from 7am to 10am and from 6pm to 8pm and cheaper outside these periods. Time-of-use tariffs encourage customers to switch consumption to off-peak periods and reduce demand at peak times, reducing the likelihood of a power outage.
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/ 3 December 2007
Passive investing allows investors a low-cost route to the equity market. Because the investment usually tracks an index, there are no active management fees. However, investors still need to be astute to ensure they do not pay through the nose. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are becoming increasingly popular, with nine ETFs listed on the JSE and two more coming on to the market next week.
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/ 3 December 2007
United States house prices have suffered their worst plunge for two decades as defaults on sub-prime mortgages have shattered homebuyers’ confidence and lenders have withdrawn cheap loan deals. According to the key Standard & Poor’s housing index, released on Tuesday, third-quarter US prices were down 4,5% on 2006.
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/ 3 December 2007
A significant amount of resources has been channelled into Africa since the Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2001. Between 2000 and 2005 an estimated $97-billion has reached the continent through official development assistance. African governments themselves have set aside various percentages of their budgets for expenditure in priority sectors to effect positive change in the lives of the poor.
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/ 3 December 2007
The head of the Competition Commission says he believes that anti-competitive practices are rife in South African business and need to be dealt with. The Competition Commission has hit the headlines in the past few weeks with its investigation into the fixing of bread prices. Commissioner Shan Ramburuth says for the first time there is a public perception that price fixing is not a victimless crime.
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/ 3 December 2007
Australians do not know whether they have just committed a very bold act or a very small one. By throwing out their conservative prime minister, John Howard, in Saturday’s election they may have dramatically tipped their nation away from the insularity, fear and materialism that he had encouraged.