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/ 15 December 2005

Feathers fly over poisoning pests

Most people are bound to have an opinion on plans to poison the pesky Indian mynah birds that have colonised South Africa’s suburbs. Jennifer Kemp, an office-bearer at environmental NGO Earthlife Africa, contacted the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> this week to express concern that poisoning mynahs, would lead to indigenous birds like starlings also being poisoned.

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/ 15 December 2005

SA marks 10 years since birth of TRC

South Africans will on Friday mark a decade since the birth of its historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which exposed the brutal excesses of apartheid and for the first time gave mainly black victims a voice. The commission heard the harrowing testimony of about 21 000 apartheid victims and perpetrators.

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/ 15 December 2005

Futures activity, world markets boost JSE

Buying related to the afternoon’s futures close-out and firmer world markets boosted the JSE on Thursday, with the all-share index touching a record high. Gold stocks, which were unable to continue to ignore the lower bullion price, were the only real weak spot. The futures close-out began at noon.

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/ 15 December 2005

Who will be queen of the Cape?

It’s a women’s race for the post of mayor in Cape Town — the only metropole where female public leadership goes beyond lip service to the ballot paper. The battle is on between incumbent African National Congress executive mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo and Democratic Alliance MP Helen Zille.

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/ 15 December 2005

Mugabe speaks — on CD and cassette

He may be revered by some and reviled by others, but Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s skills as an orator are rarely in doubt, prompting a local record company to put his speeches on tape for ”good home entertainment”, a newspaper reported on Thursday. The compilation is entitled Mugabe Speaks.

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/ 15 December 2005

Japan to collect first samples of Earth’s mantle

An ambitious Japanese-led project to dig deeper into the Earth’s surface than ever before will be a breakthrough in detecting earthquakes, including Tokyo’s dreaded ”Big One”, officials said on Thursday. The drilling vessel Chikyu is scheduled to collect the first samples of the Earth’s mantle in human history.

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/ 15 December 2005

A fitting farewell to Orlando Stadium

How appropriate. Moroka Swallows and Orlando Pirates will perform the last rites over one of the first temples of local football, Orlando Stadium, on Sunday. After this match, the stadium will be reduced to rubble in preparation for the building of a modern facility. Orlando Stadium is no ordinary ground, which is why the Swallows-Pirates match is the perfect choice, because this is no ordinary fixture.

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/ 15 December 2005

SA vs Australia: It’s now or never

”At the Waca, full-stops and capitals removed by decades of hard-bitten gladiatorial action, spinning is what helmets do on the pitch once they’ve been knocked off batsmen’s heads.” Tom Eaton looks ahead to South Africa’s three-Test series against Australia starting on Friday.