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/ 26 January 2007

Nerve-shredding creep of the fateful finger

Rudi Koertzen can’t talk right now. The golf course, he confesses, by way of explanation. A later time is quickly arranged, and he returns to his round. It was a brief first contact, but a telling one. The man widely credited as the best umpire in world cricket had left his cellphone on, presumably as a courtesy to all those who wanted to reach him.

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/ 26 January 2007

Gibbs: ‘I am not racist’

Embattled South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs voiced disappointment on Thursday at missing the next Test with Pakistan and the first two one-day-internationals because of an International Cricket Council (ICC) ban. ICC appeals commissioner Richie Benaud imposed the ban in upholding a finding that Gibbs used abusive language in the Test match between South Africa and Pakistan.

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/ 26 January 2007

Thousands on strike at ‘racist’ mine

More than 2 000 members of the National Union of Mineworkers at the Modikwa Platinum mine in Limpopo started striking at 6am on Friday to demand an end to racism at the mine. ”Working conditions for whites here are made to be much better than their black counterparts,” said spokesperson Onis Serothwane.

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/ 26 January 2007

SA pair to join 325 000 on US ‘terror list’

The United States is expected to place two South Africans on its list of terrorism suspects on Friday — a massive list of 325 000 names which has been criticised by rights groups as possibly including innocents. Diplomatic sources said that Junaid Ismail Dockrat and his cousin Farhad Ahmed Dockrat, have been named as terror suspects to al-Qaeda.

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/ 26 January 2007

Four dead in Beirut cast shadow over aid pledges

Four people were shot dead in clashes between pro- and anti-government activists in Lebanon on Thursday, overshadowing a ,6-billion aid deal by international donors to shore up the United States-backed government. The Lebanese army clamped a night curfew on Beirut, seeking to quell Sunni-Shi’ite tensions in a country still recovering from a 1975/1990 civil war.

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/ 26 January 2007

Born-again sustainability

I am not a practising Christian or a right-winger. But I’m not an ostrich either, and that is the subject of this column. As the hordes of the World Social Forum gathered in Nairobi to "end poverty" and build "another world", two well-known televangelists announced their plans to run for president, prompting much screaming in the local media, writes Binyavanga Wainaina.

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/ 26 January 2007

Zimbabwe throws SA cement a lifeline

The construction boom in South Africa is to receive a prop from an unlikely quarter: Zimbabwe. The demand for cement continues to outstrip supply in South Africa because of private developers and public works programmes — including construction of new stadiums for the 2010 World Cup.