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/ 12 January 2006
The JSE was slightly firmer in noon trade on Thursday as it managed to post gains despite a rampant rand. Stronger United States and Asian markets and South Africa’s favourable interest rate outlook had a positive influence on the local bourse.
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/ 12 January 2006
Four Shell foreign oil workers have been abducted from an offshore oilfield in southern Nigeria, a company spokesperson said on Thursday. The Nigerian press said two of the Shell employees were Britons and the two other Hondurians, who were aboard a tanker, the <i>Sea Eagle</i>, loading crude oil in an offshore extraction zone.
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/ 12 January 2006
A rule obliging British parents to undertake the near-impossible task of making their babies adopt a "neutral" expression on passport photographs has been dropped after thousands of pictures were rejected. In less than three months last year, more than 15 000 applications for children’s passports were turned down because the applicants’ expressions were deemed irregular,
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/ 12 January 2006
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko demanded on Thursday that Parliament rescind its vote taken earlier in the week to sack his pro-Western government. The president said that lawmakers who supported a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov’s government on Tuesday did so "in order to form an unstable situation in Ukraine".
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/ 12 January 2006
The location of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il remained a mystery on Friday amid a series of rumours that he was in Beijing, possibly for nuclear talks. Other rumours, quickly picked up by global media outlets, had him in southern China near the border with Hong Kong staying at a luxury hotel while more speculation placed him in Russia.
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/ 12 January 2006
Unrest broke out on the streets of Ulan Bator on Thursday as Mongolia’s democratic government edged closer to collapse following allegations of political corruption and economic mismanagement. More than 500 protesters converged on the central square and stormed the office of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party to protest over its withdrawal from the ruling coalition.
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/ 12 January 2006
Three men were arrested in the early hours of Thursday in connection with a violent protest over service delivery in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, police said. ”We arrested three men shortly after midnight this morning on charges of public violence and malicious damage to property,” said Inspector Lucas Sithole.
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/ 12 January 2006
South African cricket coach Mickey Arthur believes out-of-form captain Graeme Smith is ready to show his true form in the upcoming limited-overs series with Australia and Sri Lanka. Smith failed to deliver during South Africa’s three-Test series loss to Australia, scoring just 155 at an average of 25,83 as his team went down 2-0.
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/ 12 January 2006
Norway is to build a ”doomsday vault” in a mountain close to the North Pole that will house a vast seed bank to ensure food supplies in the event of catastrophic climate change, nuclear war or rising sea levels. Built with Fort Knox-type security, the -million vault will be designed to hold around two-million seeds representing all known varieties of the world’s crops.
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/ 12 January 2006
Johannesburg’s emergency services urged caution near bridges and rivers on Thursday as another night of heavy rains raised flood fears. A tow-truck driver rescued a woman who was swept away in her car while crossing a bridge on Witkoppen Road in Sunninghill and two taxis were involved in a head-on collision on the Golden Highway.