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/ 13 December 2005
Sanlam, one of South Africa’s largest life insurers, on Monday confirmed the cost to it of the announced joint settlement agreement between the life-insurance industry and National Treasury at R600-million (pre-tax). Sanlam CEO Johan van Zyl earlier on Monday said that the post-tax cost would be R500-million.
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/ 13 December 2005
The possibility of a new wave of massive mergers by cash-rich oil groups was signalled on Monday as ConocoPhillips held talks to buy Burlington Resources for -billion to create the largest gas producer in North America. The move came as the price of Brent crude rose — by a barrel to ,44 — over fears of supply disruption.
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/ 13 December 2005
Adding zinc to the diets of HIV-positive children helps protect them, researchers report.
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/ 13 December 2005
A riot flared in Liberia and the government warned of a coup plot on Monday after the defeated presidential candidate, George Weah, threatened to block his rival’s inauguration, claiming that last month’s election was rigged. The football star’s supporters clashed with police in the troubled West African state for a second successive day.
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/ 13 December 2005
Parliament will have an attentive audience on Wednesday when residents of Merafong municipality gather to hear the result of their demand to remain part of Gauteng province. On Monday, a protest march ended in the handing over of a memorandum calling for the proposal that Merafong be incorporated into North West to be withdrawn.
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/ 13 December 2005
The Democratic Republic of Congo should benefit from an unprecedented -billion in relief aid next year in an attempt to shore up the outcome of elections in the country, the United Nations’s top aid official said on Monday. ”We aren’t taking this quantum leap in any other country,” said UN aid chief Jan Egeland.
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/ 13 December 2005
United States President George Bush said on Monday that 30 000 Iraqis have died in the 1 000 days since the invasion, in his first public acknowledgement of the war’s total death toll. Nine Iraqis were killed by insurgent attacks on a day that special voting began ahead of Thursday’s election.
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/ 13 December 2005
Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s Governor, rejected an appeal for clemency from Stanley ”Tookie” Williams on Monday, clearing the way for the former gang leader and convicted murderer’s execution on Tuesday morning. Supporters of Williams, a founder of the Crips gang praised for his anti-gang work inside prison, condemned the decision.
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/ 13 December 2005
Australia was on Monday night in the grip of its worst race clashes since independence, with youths battering cars and shattering shop windows as violence spread through Sydney’s suburbs for a second day. The attacks came in retaliation for Sunday’s violence, in which 5 000 people rampaged across Cronulla beach.
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/ 13 December 2005
South African government officials at the highest level would not be drawn on Monday evening on reports that South African spy Aubrey Welken would be brought home from Zimbabwe on Tuesday. Welken was arrested by Zimbabwe Central Intelligence Organisation operatives at Victoria Falls on December 10 2004.