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/ 1 September 2005

The sporty new Opel Tigra

Opel’s Tigra Twin Top is the latest convertible to reach South African shores. Where soft-top cars never really took off in this country due to the security problems they posed and the schlep that was involved in what amounted to pitching camp in your transport, the current offerings do all the work at the push of a button, and because the roofs are solid, security isn’t compromised.

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/ 1 September 2005

RMB linked to SA loan package

Johannesburg-based Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has emerged as a key player in a potential South African loan to Zimbabwe. The bank was reluctant to provide details but its head of project finance, Peter Gent, told the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>: "Our involvement in such a transaction would be as a facilitator in what is essentially a government-to-government deal."

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/ 1 September 2005

A self-denying ordinance

There is a keen irony in President Thabo Mbeki’s proposal of an inquiry into claims that he is orchestrating a plot against former deputy president Jacob Zuma. Over the years, Mbeki has himself been a regular proponent of conspiracy theories — that the pharmaceutical industry trumped up the HIV/Aids epidemic, for example.

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/ 1 September 2005

Death on the Tigris

For once, there were no cars rigged with explosives, no men with assault rifles or bomb-filled vests — no proof of malice. The culprit was a combination of panic and the weight of Shia pilgrims crushing against each other.

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/ 31 August 2005

What has changed in SA journalism?

A new book on South African journalism launched by the Human Sciences Research Council, Changing the Fourth Estate: Essays on South African Journalism, covers both preservation and transformation in South Africa’s media — in a disturbing dichotomy. But an analysis of the contributors leads to a problematic situation.

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/ 31 August 2005

‘No choice but to abandon’ flooded New Orleans

Army engineers trying to plug New Orleans’s breached levees struggled to move giant sandbags and concrete barriers into place, and the state governor said on Wednesday the situation is growing more desperate and there is no choice but to abandon the flooded city. The Pentagon has begun mounting one of the biggest search-and-rescue operations in United States history.

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/ 31 August 2005

‘People gravitate to parties with power’

High-level expulsions rocked the United Democratic Movement on Wednesday, just hours before the doors were to open for South African politicians to switch parties. The floor-crossing window is open from September 1 to 15, and South African politicians spoke to the Mail & Guardian Online about its pros and cons.