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/ 1 September 2006

Chávez woos ‘Mother Africa’ with oil ties

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has offered his country’s oil expertise to Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s number two crude producer, in a strategy to boost ties with what he calls "Mother Africa" and counter United States influence there. "It’s absolutely a lie that the destiny of the world has to be signed off by Washington," he said in a speech at the presidential palace in Luanda.

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/ 1 September 2006

Retail petrol price to fall 36c

The retail price of all grades of petrol will decline by 36 cents per litre from September 6, the Department of Minerals and Energy Affiars said on Friday. The wholesale price of diesel 0,05% sulphur and 0,005% sulphur will fall by 25c/l and 29c/l respectively on the same date.

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/ 1 September 2006

South Africans venture north in Africa travel boom

South African newlyweds Richard and Christine Wyngaard could have opted to honeymoon in the exotic Seychelles or romantic Italy. Instead, they chose Kenya — their first African trip north of their own border. Twelve years after the fall of apartheid ended international isolation, people like the Wyngaards are opting to explore their own continent.

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/ 1 September 2006

Riots force Zambia to close border with Tanzania

Zambia has temporarily closed its main border crossing with Tanzania following a night of riots that left several people injured and property damaged, an official said on Friday. The riots were sparked off late on Thursday after word went round that a Tanzanian national had died in police custody in Zambia, said Edwin Sinyinza, a district commissioner in northern Zambia.

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/ 1 September 2006

Lawyer: Everton manager to sue Rooney

Everton manager David Moyes is to sue his former protégé and England striker Wayne Rooney over comments made in the 20-year-old’s autobiography, his lawyer said on Friday. Rooney, who joined Manchester United in 2004 for a fee estimated at £25-million, made his first-team breakthrough under Moyes at Goodison Park as a teenager.

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/ 1 September 2006

UN votes for force in Darfur

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday voted to create a United Nations peacekeeping force in Sudan’s Darfur region to avert a new humanitarian disaster, but the Khartoum government rejected the resolution as ”illegal.” The vote to send the force to Darfur once Sudan has agreed to its deployment passed with 12 votes in favour.

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/ 1 September 2006

Football minnows are wasting everybody’s time

The advent of micro-countries introduced a new terror to international football. You could beat them and still be humiliated. Fifteen years ago Scotland won 2-0 in San Marino, but the goals took a while to come. The game is remembered for the drawl of the late Ian Archer in a radio broadcast: ”We’ve been playing for an hour and it has just occurred to me that we’re drawing 0-0 with a mountain top.”

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/ 1 September 2006

Andre Agassi: Departure of a legend

I first took notice of Andre Agassi during the 1988 French Open, a tournament I particularly remember as it coincided with my last meaningful attempt to get fit. I’d installed an exercise bicycle in front of the telly so I could watch tennis while I pedalled my way to nowhere.