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/ 31 January 2006
To describe Niko Shefer as a shady businessperson is arguably an insult to trees everywhere, but the convicted fraudster has always had a reputation for chutzpah.
This, after all, was the man who reportedly boasted, in a 1999 interview about his innovative methods when conducting business in Africa: ”I move with cash. I can buy the president a Mercedes 600.”
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/ 31 January 2006
As platinum quickly becomes the world’s leading commodity, the Bakwena ba Magopa royal family in the North West is being rocked by a protracted succession dispute that has turned violent. The royal homestead has been torched and the new regent, Motlalepule Mathibedi, has flown their Bethanie headquarters as different factions fight for control.
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/ 31 January 2006
A South African mission appointed by President Thabo Mbeki arrived on Tuesday in Abidjan for consultative talks with President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, officials said. The South-African delegation, led by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Aziz Pahad, were to enter into talks with Gbagbo first before meeting Banny.
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/ 31 January 2006
Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik’s legal team will appeal a Durban High Court ruling on Tuesday that he must pay back R34-million to the state, said to be proceeds of crime, media reports said. The state believes the money was involved in Shaik’s ”generally corrupt relationship” with former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
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/ 31 January 2006
Villagers attacked Taliban rebels who had blockaded a road and were confiscating music cassettes from passing cars in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Tuesday. Two militants and a villager were killed. After seizing and breaking the cassettes, the insurgents informed travellers that music is forbidden by Islam.
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/ 31 January 2006
Ethiopian authorities on Tuesday announced a ban on exports of four types of grain in an effort to stabilise the local grain market. The ban, taking immediate effect, includes the indigenous fine grain teff from which the country’s staple flat bread injera is baked.
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/ 31 January 2006
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced on Tuesday plans to sell seven European hotels, continuing its policy of asset disposal to concentrate on management and franchising. The group said it also intended to sell some mid-range European hotels which it expected to remain under the IHG brand.
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/ 31 January 2006
World airlines are set to make losses of $4-billion or more over the coming year, despite continuing growth in air travel, the top industry association said on Tuesday. Air passenger traffic grew by 7,6% in 2005, driven largely by the Middle East and in Latin America, the International Air Transport Association said.
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/ 31 January 2006
Officials in drought-stricken Kenya reacted with outrage on Tuesday to a plan by a New Zealand woman to send dog food to feed starving children threatened by famine in the East African nation. Kenyan officials vehemently rejected the donation and said they would put measures in place to prevent any similar assistance.
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/ 31 January 2006
Hundreds of workers at a leading Kenyan flower farm rioted after being sacked en masse for striking in a dispute over wages and working conditions. Police fired tear gas and fought running battles on Monday with the workers, who were among more than 1 000 employees at the Oserian farm in Kenya’s central Rift Valley fired for participating in the strike.