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/ 14 September 2007
Japan’s political crisis deepened when the Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, was admitted to hospital suffering from exhaustion less than 24 hours after suddenly announcing his resignation. Abe (52) was seen by a doctor on Thursday morning after feeling unwell and was admitted to Keio hospital in Tokyo later in the day.
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/ 14 September 2007
South African inflation is expected to return to its target range in the second half of 2008, the country’s central bank said on Friday. The South African Reserve Bank’s forecast was more hawkish than previous predictions. After its August monetary policy meeting, it expected inflation to come back to the target band in the second quarter of 2008.
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/ 14 September 2007
Cosatu’s push to break President Thabo Mbeki’s hold over the African National Congress (ANC) is set to move up several gears next week, as it lists its preferred candidates for the ANC leadership and firms up a radical election pact with the ruling party.
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/ 14 September 2007
Last week, as the United States commemorated the 2 600 people who died in New York on September 11 2001, CNN surveyed US public attitudes to President George Bush’s "war on terror". It found that two-thirds of Americans believe the US is not winning, and more than half believe terrorists will find a way to attack no matter what the US government does.
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/ 14 September 2007
Government has gone into the carbon trading business. The state-owned Central Energy Fund has set up its own carbon trading operation. Headquartered in London, the operation is intended to ensure that South Africa maximises the benefits for the country from the rapidly growing trade in carbon credits. Carbon credit projects already in the pipeline stand to earn the country about R900-million.
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/ 14 September 2007
Eskom’s attempts to get co- generation agreements off the ground might be hampered by low electricity prices. Co-generation is the term for electricity that is produced as a co-product of an industrial process. And, even if new capacity is added to the grid, it will be comparatively small. The prospect of the world’s cheapest electricity is dangled before investors, even as the same low prices deter those who would potentially invest in new generating capacity.
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/ 14 September 2007
Political interests and specialist lobby groups appear once again to have stalled plans to dam the Cunene River where it forms the border between Angola and Namibia. After years of negotiations, expensive feasibility studies and considerable political rhetoric, the proposed Epupa Dam is no closer to being constructed.
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/ 14 September 2007
Eradicating massive backlogs in school infrastructure will cost about R40-billion. This represents nearly 40% of the current year’s education budget. The infrastructural challenges facing thousands of schools emerge from the most comprehensive audit ever done on the physical state of the country’s 25 000 public schools.
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/ 14 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party has called a surprise special congress for December, setting the stage for a showdown between President Robert Mugabe and rivals within his party, who are plotting to oust him. A conference had been scheduled, but a meeting of Mugabe’s politburo last week decided that an extraordinary congress should be called instead.
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/ 14 September 2007
On Monday morning, hundreds of homeless people from the Joe Slovo squatter camp in Cape Town blockaded the N2 highway during peak-hour traffic, venting their anger and frustration with government for not providing houses. In response, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said: ”Residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement must decide whether they wish to cooperate with government.”