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/ 21 November 2005

Gold Fields to acquire Bolivar Gold for R2,2bn

South Africa’s second-largest gold-mining group, Gold Fields, on Monday announced that it will acquire Canadian-listed Bolivar Gold for $330-million (R2,2-billion) and merge the company with its international assets in Ghana and Australia. The board of directors of each company has resolved to approve the transaction.

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/ 21 November 2005

Bioterrorism ‘a clear and present danger’

The threat of an al-Qaeda bioterrorism attack was a ”clear and present danger of the highest order”, secretary general of international policing organisation Interpol Ronald Noble said on Monday. He was speaking in Cape Town at the opening of an Interpol-organised workshop for African police departments on bioterrorism — an attack using biological weapons such as anthrax, smallpox or plague.

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/ 21 November 2005

Tropical Storm Gamma continues to weaken

Tropical Storm Gamma weakened into a tropical depression and was losing more strength as it drifted off the coast of Honduras on Sunday night after killing 11 people in Honduras and three in nearby Belize. Gamma, the 24th named storm of an already record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, was expected to bring rain to northern Honduras and central Cuba as it becomes less organised and dissipates.

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/ 21 November 2005

Alleged abuse of Chinese gymnasts a ‘delicate issue’

The head of the International Gymnastics Federation said on Monday the alleged abuse of young Chinese gymnasts preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics was a ”very delicate issue”. In a report for BBC Radio aired last week, British Olympic rowing great Matthew Pinsent described children in a Beijing gymnasium being pushed through the pain barrier and said one young boy had clearly been beaten by his coach.

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/ 21 November 2005

Post watchdog says Woodward committed ‘sin’

The Washington Post‘s editorial watchdog slammed legendary reporter Bob Woodward on Sunday for committing a journalistic ”sin” by keeping from his paper what he knew in a CIA leak case that has rocked the White House. The newspaper’s ombudsman, Deborah Howell, said Woodward should follow the same rules as other Post journalists despite the fame he has garnered since his prize-winning work in the Watergate scandal.

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/ 21 November 2005

HIV cases pass 40-million mark

Progress has been made in tackling HIV infection in key African countries, but five million people were infected across the world in 2005 taking the total beyond a record 40-million, a United Nations report said on Monday. The grim HIV/Aids epidemic claimed about 3,1-million lives during the year, more than half a million of them children, the report said.

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/ 21 November 2005

Between a rock and a hard place

The stone, mud and thatch huts of Letseng-La-Terae, atop Lesotho’s Maluti mountains, seem a glaring anachronism beside the high-tech Letseng Diamond Mine across the road. Locals show a deep distrust for outsiders, and at an altitude of 3 200m, the mine may be the world’s most rarified diamond operation.

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/ 21 November 2005

JSE down a tad, but golds pare losses

The JSE was a mixed bag just before midday on Monday, with the overall index just slightly lower due to profit-taking and a stronger rand. Good demand for gold and telecoms stocks ensured that the JSE’s losses were limited, however. By 11.56am, the all-share index was down a marginal 0,07%.