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/ 26 January 2007

Mbeki attends World Economic Forum

President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday to attend the annual World Economic Forum, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. Department spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said Mbeki and a delegation will participate in the forum ”within the context of South Africa’s priority to promote North-South cooperation in support of the African agenda.

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/ 26 January 2007

Parreira jets in to relaunch Bafana

South Africa’s new football coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, arrived in Johannesburg on Friday to launch what is hoped will be a successful bid to become world beaters when they host the Soccer World Cup in 2010. The Brazilian was welcomed by South African Football Association chief executive Raymond Hack when he touched down at OR Tambo International Airport.

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/ 26 January 2007

Give us some fragging credit

At the nadir of the war in Vietnam, junior American officers had to examine their priorities extremely carefully before sending their squad into a particularly dangerous situation. Stoned, terrified, 19-year-old draftees were not averse to shooting their officers in the middle of a firefight, or tossing a hand grenade in their general direction.

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/ 26 January 2007

Muffin tops beat affluenza in Australia

Australians love their muffin tops — but not the kind you buy from a bakery. The arbiter of Australian English, the Macquarie Dictionary, has declared ”muffin top” the word of the year for 2006 — even though it is two words — defeating ”affluenza”, a noun that describes dissatisfaction with consumerism.

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/ 26 January 2007

Microwave experiments cause sponge disasters

Reports about a study that found microwave ovens can be used to sterilise kitchen sponges sent people hurrying to test the idea this week — with sometimes disastrous results. A team at the University of Florida found that two minutes in the microwave at full power could kill a range of bacteria, viruses and parasites on kitchen sponges.