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/ 15 September 2005
An Australian on Thursday admitted trying to hire a hitman to murder a teenage girl who had accused his son of rape. The plan to murder the girl came unstuck when Chouaki Bou-Antoun asked an undercover police officer to carry out the hit. Chouaki Bou-Antoun (50) pleaded guilty in the New South Wales District Court to soliciting the murder of the girl in December 2003.
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/ 15 September 2005
Hundreds of people continued to cross the border between Gaza and Egypt unhindered on Thursday despite efforts by police on both sides of the frontier to assert control. Around 30 Palestinian police and 20 Egyptian border guards took up positions at dawn on the main road straddling the border but just hours later they failed to stop a group of Palestinians.
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/ 15 September 2005
South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Tito Mboweni reiterated on Thursday that the SARB prefers to leave the determination of the exchange rate to market forces. On rare occasions, the bank might comment on evidence pointing to possible excesses in price formation in the foreign-exchange market.
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/ 15 September 2005
The JSE roared to another record high on Thursday morning, with higher commodity prices and a softer rand boosting resources stocks. Futures-related buying ahead of the afternoon’s close-out further helped the bourse. By 11.58am, the all-share index was up 0,88% at 16 125,06 after earlier reaching a record high of 16 141,87.
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/ 15 September 2005
United States President George Bush prepared to give a speech in Louisiana on Thursday outlining government plans to rebuild the region devastated by Hurricane Katrina, as the disaster death toll passed the 700 mark. Meanwhile, the south-eastern US coastline was hit by another hurricane, Ophelia.
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/ 15 September 2005
The South African Rugby Union (Saru) announced on Thursday that the disciplinary inquiry into alleged sexual harassment by managing director Johan Prinsloo has been postponed. Saru’s lawyers had advised the union to proceed with the disciplinary hearing, the Daily Dispatch reported on Thursday.
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/ 15 September 2005
Israel’s High Court ordered the government on Thursday to find a different route for the West Bank barrier in the region of the Alfe Menashe settlement in the northern West Bank. The unanimous ruling by the nine-judge panel effectively means the section of the fence already built in the area has to be rebuilt.
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/ 15 September 2005
Egyptian Culture Minister, Farouq Hosny, has presented his resignation in an indication of accepting responsibility over a fire in a local earlier this month, state-run newspapers said on Thursday. The front-page items said Hosny put his resignation at the disposal of President Hosni Mubarak.
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/ 15 September 2005
Tuition at 58 schools in Uitenhage, Rocklands and Despatch has come to a standstill because of a go-slow by teachers, The Herald Online reported on Thursday, and the action could spread to Port Elizabeth schools. The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union’s western region began the go-slow about a week ago.
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/ 15 September 2005
Robert Wise, director of top Hollywood musicals West Side Story and The Sound of Music, died overnight at his Los Angeles home, days after his 91st birthday, an official of the San Sebastian film festival said on Thursday. The death of Wise cast a pall over the festival, which was scheduled to pay a special homage to the director who also made Star Trek, the Motion Picture.