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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.
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/ 31 January 2006
Iran warned on Tuesday that the referral of a dispute over its nuclear programme to the United Nations Security Council will bring ”an end to diplomacy”, saying the move had no legal justification. Foreign ministers of the five permanent UN Security Council members agreed in London on Monday to bring Iran before the council over its nuclear programme.
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/ 31 January 2006
Opener Sanath Jayasuriya set the table for a feast, but a stunning middle-order collapse saw Sri Lanka starved of runs as they stumbled to 222 in their triangular series limited-overs match against South Africa on Tuesday. South African skipper Graeme Smith claimed his best-ever one-day figures of 3-30 off 10 overs.
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/ 31 January 2006
In her heyday she was the most glamorous ship on the seas, plying the transatlantic route and celebrated as the pride of France. But the SS Norway — launched in 1960 as the SS France — now cuts a forlorn figure as she sits off Malaysia’s coast with her name crudely painted over, quietly rusting and likely headed for the scrapyard.
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/ 31 January 2006
Forget jaded celebrities slumming it on the dance floor and illicit housemate sex: Indonesians are glued to reality TV programmes featuring the country’s most down-at-heel. <i>Surprise Cash</i> and <i>House Makeover</i>, aired weekly, were rated number two and three out of scores of reality TV programmes shown in December.
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/ 31 January 2006
Commodity stocks continued to be in vogue on Tuesday, pulling the JSE higher during the morning session. Gold and platinum stocks continued to find favour amid rampant precious metals prices, traders said. By 12.07pm, the all-share index was up 1,13%.