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/ 16 October 2007
South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni said on Tuesday that the bank expected inflation to peak in February 2008 and then gradually come back to the bank’s 3% to 6% target range. Mboweni said in a speech in Johannesburg that economic growth of above 4,5% was contributing to inflation.
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/ 16 October 2007
Barriers affecting trade between countries in the southern hemisphere were much greater than those in the northern hemisphere, Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa said in Johannesburg on Tuesday. In addition, reducing trade tariffs in countries where industrial development was still under way ran the risk of exacerbating unemployment, he said.
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/ 16 October 2007
The price of gold leapt on Tuesday to the highest level since the start of 1980, winning support from runaway crude oil prices, traders said. On the London Bullion Market, gold prices surged as high as $767,09 per ounce. Gold prices jumped higher "on a combination of a weaker dollar, geopolitical concerns, positive investor sentiment and record high oil prices", said analysts.
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/ 16 October 2007
Lawyers acting for Chris Hani’s killers said they would proceed with an application to the high court, asking it to compel President Thabo Mbeki to make a decision on their application for a presidential pardon. Janusz Walus and Clive Derby-Lewis unsuccessfully sought amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1999 for the 1993 assassination of Hani.
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/ 16 October 2007
Chad’s government on Tuesday slapped a state of emergency on three regions in the north and east of the Central African country after clashes between rival ethnic groups. The state of emergency was ordered for 12 days at a special Cabinet meeting, said a senior government official, who added that the aim was to allow the army to search and disarm insurgents.
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/ 16 October 2007
Sudan’s president met former southern rebels on Tuesday for the first time since they withdrew their ministers from the government, triggering the country’s worst political crisis since a 2005 peace deal. Last week members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement withdrew from a coalition government, saying they wanted progress on key elements of the 2005 agreement.
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/ 16 October 2007
Eritrea’s powerful head of internal security, Colonel Simon Ghebredengel, survived an assassination attempt last week in Asmara, a senior government official said on Tuesday. ”There was a failed assassination attempt on Saturday October 13 on the colonel,” Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said. ”He is in a very stable condition.”
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/ 16 October 2007
Leaders of South Africa, Brazil and India meet this week to bolster an alliance that is challenging the United States and Europe for access to resources in the developing world and influence on the global stage. The three leaders have joined forces to ease the reliance of Asia, Latin America and Africa on trade with northern-hemisphere economies.
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/ 16 October 2007
Landmark weekend parliamentary elections in Togo were ”free, fair and open”, observers from the Economic Community of West African States concluded in a report on Tuesday. ”In spite of a few shortfalls, the legislative elections on Sunday were free, fair and open,” stated the 15-nation group.
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/ 16 October 2007
South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock, his New Zealand counterpart Jacob Oram and Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar have signed up for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 series, organisers said on Tuesday. Their inclusion takes to 25 the number of foreign players who have committed to the lucrative league due to start next April.