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/ 20 February 2006

Wendell Sailor fined after a ‘few too many drinks’

Wallaby winger Wendell Sailor will return home from the NSW Waratahs’ rugby tour of South Africa on Tuesday after incurring a one-match ban and a fine following an incident at a Cape Town nightclub, the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) said on Monday. The NSWRU said in a statement that Sailor was suspended for one match and fined an undisclosed amount for inappropriate behaviour while intoxicated.

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/ 20 February 2006

Between carte blanche and insensitivity

When such deeply valued universal rights such as free speech are abused in the name of advancing some morally dubious argument such as religious figures being fair game for irreverent pursuits, one has to pause and ask exactly what is going on. Is Western-style democracy on trial here or is it the case that Muslims are just stuck in a medieval mindset?

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/ 20 February 2006

Tito tackles the banks

The banks have come out swinging over comments by Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni that they are making "prosperous" margins. Mboweni told the Financial Mail he saw no justification for the 3,5% margin between the Reserve Bank’s 7% repo rate and the 10,5% prime rate charged by the banks.

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/ 20 February 2006

Sources, agendas and truth

The story has presented journalists with many ethical pitfalls, and the media have come in for a good deal of criticism. Most recently, Zuma hit at the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> for its report (December 2) that he told senior alliance leaders he had had consensual sex with the woman who has accused him, but denied raping her.

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/ 20 February 2006

Mauritius looks west

Mauritius may be one of the world’s most glamorous destinations, but agriculturally speaking, there’s not that much of it to go around. As a result, the island’s government and farmers have begun looking west — to the far larger, neighbouring island of Madagascar. For the Malagasy administration, this holds out the promise of increased investment.

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/ 20 February 2006

Children of the night

Mary has spent the day gathering sheaves of grass to feed the cattle, weeding the vegetable patch and helping her mother cook dinner over a charcoal fire: the life of any African girl in any African village. But as daylight begins to fade, Mary slips away from the family’s mud hut and strides down a sandy track into the nearest town.

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/ 20 February 2006

Arnie’s green friend

BP has polished its green credentials — and pleased Arnold Schwarzenegger — by announcing plans for a revolutionary hydrogen-fuelled power plant in California costing -billion. The facility will be able to generate electricity with almost no carbon emissions by converting the waste product of oil refineries into hydrogen and separating off carbon dioxide for capture and storage.