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/ 14 September 2007

UK bank hit by credit problems

Shares in British bank Northern Rock plunged by a quarter on Friday as clients rushed to withdraw their savings following an emergency bail-out of the lender by the Bank of England. The central bank came to the rescue of Britain’s fifth-biggest home-loan provider, which is facing severe difficulties raising cash on money markets amid the ongoing global credit squeeze.

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/ 14 September 2007

Petra aims for 120 000-carat output at Kimberley

London-listed Petra Diamonds aims to reopen South Africa’s Kimberley underground mine in six to 12 months and restore output to 120 000-carats per year, the firm’s chief executive, Johan Dippenaar, said on Friday. The firm would invest about R100-million per year in Kimberley, which it agreed to buy for R78,5-million from De Beers.

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/ 14 September 2007

June 16 victim Poppy Buthelezi dies

Poppy Buthelezi, who was shot by police during the 1976 Soweto uprising died this week. She was ubuntu personified, a family friend said on Friday. Buthelezi (48), who had been confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life after she was shot in the back in the 1976 uprising, died on Thursday, said Cecil Moeng, Buthelezi’s spokesperson.

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/ 14 September 2007

UN: More than 50 people die trying to reach Yemen

At least fifty-six people have died while trying to make the perilous Gulf of Aden crossing from Somalia to Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday. A UN spokesperson told journalists that a dozen boats carrying 925 Somalis, Ethiopians and others fleeing growing violence and insecurity in the region had arrived in Yemen since September 3.

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/ 14 September 2007

Zille: Cops conducting a smear campaign

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader and Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has accused the police and Western Cape provincial minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane of trying to justify their actions by disseminating misinformation and conducting smear campaigns. ”Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” she said in her weekly online newsletter on Friday.

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/ 14 September 2007

Dravid to resign as India captain

India captain Rahul Dravid is resigning from the post to concentrate on his batting, cricket board president Sharad Pawar said on Friday. ”In the last few days he has told me that captaincy was affecting his game,” Pawar told reporters. ”He said he can’t handle both the responsibilities, which were leading to small deficiencies.

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/ 14 September 2007

A giant leap backwards for SA soccer

A lack of sponsorship and an insufficient number of clubs from coastal areas have set the football National First Division about four years back. Club officials this week reluctantly accepted a proposal by the Premier Soccer League to divide it into two different leagues, known as the Coastal and Inland Streams, thereby robbing it of its national identity.