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/ 10 February 2006
The South African government is faced with such an embarrassment of riches in 2006/07 that Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel will be able to cut personal income tax by 1% across the board, reduce corporate income tax by 2%, and possibly halve the rate of retirement tax to 9%, according to Investec Asset Management.
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/ 10 February 2006
After being pushed up hard towards the close on Thursday, the JSE started Friday in negative territory and remained lower at midday. Both a stronger rand and weaker world markets were weighing on the local bourse. By noon, the all-share index had shed 0,66%, led lower by a 1,39% decline in resources and a 1,44% fall in the gold-mining index.
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/ 10 February 2006
Anglo-South African insurer Old Mutual said on Friday that investors owning more than 88% of shares in Swedish rival Skandia have accepted its hostile takeover bid. The group also said that the deadline for its â,¬4,8-billion (about R35-billion) offer has been extended to March 14.
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/ 10 February 2006
The row over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons holds a lesson for ”callous” political parties in the Western Cape, provincial Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Friday. ”Just like we must calm the flames of the cartoon anger, we must desist from fanning the flames of local identity issues,” he said at the opening of the provincial legislature.
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/ 10 February 2006
The Broadway and Hollywood classic The King and I is to be turned into a big-budget Chinese-language stage musical, a Hong Kong production company said on Friday. Music Nation said it would take its adaptation of the famed 1956 musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II on tour around China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
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/ 10 February 2006
Indicted former top White House aide Lewis ”Scooter” Libby will argue that Vice-President Dick Cheney authorised him to leak classified information in 2003 to bolster the case for the United States-led war against Iraq, US news media reported late on Thursday.
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/ 10 February 2006
Bottled water consumption, which has more than doubled globally in the last six years, is a natural resource that is heavily taxing the world’s ecosystem, according to a new United States study. The study says that although bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can end up costing 10 000 times more.
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/ 10 February 2006
National Hockey League icon and Canadian Olympic hockey executive director Wayne Gretzky was caught by wiretaps discussing an illegal gambling ring, the Newark Star-Ledger reported on Thursday. Law enforcement sources said the Hall of Famer spoke about the ring that his Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet allegedly helped run, and investigators are looking into whether he placed any wagers through his wife, Janet Jones.
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/ 10 February 2006
What is it about the Newcastle United manager’s job, filled until relatively recently by Willie McFaul, Jim Smith and other domestic gaffers, which has become so overblown that the club’s chairman, Freddy Shepherd, can describe the St James’ Park vacancy as ”one of the biggest in world football”?
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/ 10 February 2006
Spring is nearly sprung. Europe is beginning to blossom. Blimey, even the flimsy Swiss pansy known as the Uefa Cup looks attractive after a long, dark winter of England’s Chelsea flower show. Yup, the last 32 will fight it out for Europe’s not-quite-good-enough cup next week, with Bolton and Middlesbrough to the fore for England.