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/ 12 September 2005

Clijsters can thank bad wrist for good form

Kim Clijsters can thank the bad wrist which kept her away from tennis for much of 2004 with helping turn her into a Grand Slam champion on her fifth attempt in a final. ”I think everything has definitely made me a physically stronger person,” said the 22-year-old who banked a record-setting ,2-million payday for winning the New York women’s title.

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/ 12 September 2005

Federer surges past Agassi

Andre Agassi has battled the champions of three eras — Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl — and now he puts Roger Federer above them all. ”He’s the best I’ve ever played against,” Agassi said after falling to Federer 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1 in the United States Open final on Sunday.

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/ 12 September 2005

North Korean nuclear talks resume

Last-minute preparations were under way on Monday ahead of the resumption of talks aimed at denuclearising the Korean peninsula, with the United States and North Korea showing few signs of relaxing their positions. Despite a flurry of diplomatic activity during five weeks of recess, no clear signals have emerged that the fourth round of talks restarting on Tuesday will be any different from the past ones, which all ended inconclusively.

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/ 12 September 2005

Why the Free State burns

High-ranking Free State African National Congress politicians, including Premier Beatrice Marshoff, recently told embattled officials of the Matjhabeng municipality in the northern Free State to ”pull up their socks”. The municipality, has been plagued by financial mismanagement and corruption since it was established three years ago.

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/ 12 September 2005

Iraqi and US forces capture insurgent stronghold

Iraqi and and United States troops seized control of an insurgent stronghold in northern Iraq on Sunday after militants fled leaving dozens dead and hundreds wounded. Infantry backed by aircraft and tanks encountered little resistance when they entered the city of Tal Afar after a two-day offensive, although troops found entire districts had been abandoned by the civilian population in advance.

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/ 12 September 2005

Rare appeal of the Subaru Legacy 2.0 GT

Subaru has a reputation for building quick cars that are fun to drive, while looking very ordinary. All of their offerings are fitted with horizontally opposed four or six-cylinder engines to provide a low centre of gravity, and all deliver power to all four wheels. Until a year or two back the cars were somewhat marred by relatively low luxury specifications.

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/ 12 September 2005

Mouse Zedong? Disney opens its gates in Hong Kong

The communist heirs of Mao Zedong and the capitalist successors of Walt Disney will share the stage in Hong Kong today with a near ,8-billion monument to globalisation: China’s first Disneyland. The meeting of the world’s biggest communist party and the planet’s best-known entertainment corporation would have been unthinkable to their founders.

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/ 12 September 2005

Market braces for drop in US crude stocks

Oil prices were steady in Asian trade on Monday as the market braced for an expected decline in United States petroleum stocks when the Department of Energy releases its weekly report this week, dealers said. "People are positioning ahead of the US [petroleum] report and they are expecting a big drop, I suspect," said commodities analyst Mark Pervan.