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/ 1 March 2007

Publishers let readers browse books online

In a belated response to the success of online booksellers in enticing customers to websites such as Amazon, two publishers have launched features that allow customers to browse through books online. The facility "is today’s equivalent of picking up a book off a friend’s coffee table and glancing through it", said Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author of <i>I Am Not Myself These Days</i>.

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/ 1 March 2007

FNB’s eBucks members set for windfall

First National Bank (FNB) has scrapped its annual credit-card eBucks linkage fee and has simplified the way in which customers earn eBucks. eBucks retains its key benefits enabling a member to spend well-earned eBucks at a wide range of partners, whether it is a flight anywhere in South Africa or shopping at retail partners

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/ 1 March 2007

Purse-string wars

ANC treasurer general Mendi Msimang and the trustees of the ANC-linked Batho Batho Trust are at logger­heads over who decides how trust money should be spent. The origin of the disagreement is Msimang’s belief that the proceeds from a lucrative sale of trust shares last year should be used to pay off the ANC’s massive debts.

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/ 1 March 2007

Where once were elephants

Leaving the Chadian capital, Ndjamena, isn’t what it used to be. ”Thirty years ago, you’d still often come across herds of elephant crossing the highway at the southern exit of Ndjamena,” recalls Hassan Nago, a retired Agriculture Ministry official who lives in the village of Malo-Gaga, about 14km south-west of the capital.

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/ 1 March 2007

Building by building, step by step

Unlike many city managers, Lael Bethlehem takes the mandate of ”groundwork” literally. When the Mail & Guardian Online proposed a tour through Johannesburg’s inner city, it was Bethlehem who opted to ditch the car for a walk-through. Petite and unassuming, she packs a powerful punch, especially where it concerns reviving the inner city.