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/ 2 December 2005

‘Football saved me from a life of crime’

”You should have seen me at 16,” Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink sighs with amazement as he begins to describe the desperate and reckless life that almost ruined him. ”One of those bad boys, running with a gang, trying to look cool and act hard. I thought I was a tough guy, stealing or scaring people with my friends. Crazy, huh?”

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/ 2 December 2005

Hopkins vows to regain middleweight crown

Bernard Hopkins, still seething over the controversial decision that saw Jermain Taylor take away his undisputed world middleweight title, says he won’t leave it to the judges in Saturday’s rematch. ”December 3 is going to rectify the system’s problems,” vowed Hopkins, who at 40 knows he has little time left to cement his status in ring history.

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/ 2 December 2005

McEnroe plans doubles comeback

John McEnroe is set to play doubles once again on the main ATP tour next year despite being 46-years-old. McEnroe, currently competing in the Masters event at London’s Royal Albert Hall, is to partner Swedish doubles specialist Jonas Bjorkman in a tournament in San Jose starting on February 13.

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/ 2 December 2005

Activists arrested ahead of US’s 1 000th execution

Sixteen anti-death penalty activists were arrested late on Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina, outside a prison that is scheduled to carry out the 1 000th execution in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. The protesters were handcuffed by police and some were carried to an awaiting van and a bus as they were arrested.

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/ 2 December 2005

Era of citizen journalists dawns in Britain

An era of "citizen journalists" is dawning in Britain as media organisations turn increasingly to their viewers and readers to beef up news coverage, particularly with amateur photographs. The amateur photographer already has an agency — "Scoopt" — to disseminate reports or images, while the budding writer can replace professionals in <i>The Guardian</i> newspaper’s Saturday travel section.

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/ 2 December 2005

Pitso still hungry

Football connoisseurs may remember Good Friday of 1985 as the day one of South Africa’s best talents was unveiled. Pitso Mosimane, a youngster recently recruited from amateur team Rockville Hungry Lions, burst into the Vosloorus stadium wearing the colours of Jomo Cosmos to score a memorable hat-trick against Kaizer Chiefs.

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/ 2 December 2005

Fines are a rip-off

The problem is that the public in general don’t understand how things are supposed to work. Traffic authorities feed them half-truths, and the media unquestioningly run mindless stories about the "millions" owed to the authorities in "outstanding fines". What is happening now has nothing to do with road safety, and everything to do with raising revenue to fill municipal budgets’ shortfalls.

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/ 2 December 2005

Alarm over ‘schooling for the elite’

A school curriculum for the few, not the many — that’s one of the most serious concerns teacher unions and educationists are voicing about the new further education and training curriculum for grades 10, 11 and 12. The curriculum is due to be implemented in grade 10 next year, leading in 2008 to a new school-leaving exam called the National Senior Certificate, which will replace matric.