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/ 10 February 2006

Business as usual for the Super 14

The Super 14 begins this weekend with a little more of a whimper than a bang and none of the South African franchises has yet signed the participation agreement for the competition. Crisis? What crisis? This is merely business as usual for the game of rugby union in this country.

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/ 10 February 2006

Six birdies wing Choi into lead

Korean KJ Choi set the pace early on the second day of the ,1-million Johnnie Walker Classic on Friday, racing to a four-shot lead after the morning rounds. The former powerlifter shot four birdies on the back nine and two on the front to come in at six-under par 66, making him 13-under after two rounds at The Vines Resort and Country Club.

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/ 10 February 2006

Two SA men nabbed for heroin smuggling in Kabul

Police arrested two South African nationals trying to leave Afghanistan’s main airport with two kilograms of heroin hidden in a photo album, an official said on Friday. The men, carrying doctored South African passports, were trying to fly to China on Thursday, airport police chief Aminaullah Khan told Agence France-Presse.

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/ 10 February 2006

Zuma’s praise singer silenced

Complaints by Ukhozi FM listeners had led to the withdrawal from its playlist of a song expressing support for former deputy president Jacob Zuma, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) said on Thursday. ”Zuma is facing serious charges of corruption and rape. Nobody is entitled to state an unqualified fact that he is guilty or innocent,” said SABC chief executive Dali Mpofu.

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/ 10 February 2006

Zim minister says white farmers are ‘unrepentant’

The Zimbabwe government has rejected a call by the country’s mainly white farming union for an end to land invasions, describing a statement by the Commercial Farmers’ Union as ”hogwash”, the state-controlled Herald reported on Friday. Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said white farmers were ”dreaming” and ”unrepentant”, the paper said.

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/ 10 February 2006

The 007 test

My friend’s son is currently rooting round the base of the great ruck of human knowledge as questing, purposeful and generally terrier-like as Matt Dawson. No sooner has one question been recycled than in he goes again, burrowing for second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-phase explanation. On Sunday we all went for a walk. ”Are you looking forward to the Winter Olympics?” my friend’s son asked me.

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/ 10 February 2006

Can free speech coexist with courtesy?

In this country, Section 16(2) of the Constitution curtails the constitutionally entrenched right to free speech in the case of advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion and that constitutes incitement to cause harm. The ”and” in the clause means a cartoon that satirises a religious figure does not fall outside the scope of constitutional protection.

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/ 10 February 2006

Moderate Islam has lost its voice

”When I first saw them, I was struck by their crudeness. Surely Jyllands-Posten could have hired better artists. Surely cartoonists and editors know the difference between Indian and Arab turbans. That was the problem to start with — a patronising tendency, stronger in Denmark than in countries such as Britain or Canada,” writes Tabish Khair.

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/ 10 February 2006

‘Brockovich’ sways Sasol

Boksburg’s ”Erin Brockovich” has effectively stopped the building of an allegedly illegal petrol station in a listed wetland after Sasol, the main investor in the development, pulled out of the project. But Nicole Barlow, a medical representative from the East Rand town, is still being hauled before the high court by the developers for ”harassment”.