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/ 5 September 2005
The Democratic Alliance has criticised as ”astronomical” and ”excessive” South Africa’s expenditure on transporting a singer and band to the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta in April. ”Miriam Makeba is a South African icon, but did we need to spend half-a-million rand to transport her and her supporting band for a few days to a political conference?” asked the party.
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/ 5 September 2005
At least five passengers survived the crash of the Mandala Airlines Boeing 737-200 in the Indonesian city of Medan on Monday, the search and rescue agency said. The plane crashed into a crowded neighbourhood just outside the airport’s perimeter shortly after take-off.
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/ 5 September 2005
About 75 Ethiopian and Somali boat refugees are feared to have drowned when smugglers taking them to Yemen forced them to jump into the sea, with scores more missing. Forty-five bodies have been recovered on the shores of Shabwa province, said an official with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
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/ 5 September 2005
Juan Pablo Montoya won the Italian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday and Renault’s Fernando Alonso finished second to maintain the inside track on the season championship. Alonso’s teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella, was third and McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth for the most impressive performance of the day.
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/ 5 September 2005
The Bafana Bafana contingent returned to Bremen on Sunday for what is being termed ”the battle of the losers” after the demoralising and devastating 3-1 World Cup qualifying defeat against Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou on Saturday. ”But we have a job to do,” said Bafana general manager Stanley Tshabalala, referring to the friendly international against Germany.
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/ 5 September 2005
Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest car maker, said on Monday that it planned to step up job-cutting measures, particularly at its main plant in Wolfsburg, north Germany. "Despite rising sales, the Volkswagen group still has considerable overcapacity and will therefore be intensifying its efforts to cut back manpower," the car maker said in a statement.
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/ 5 September 2005
Zimbabwe’s central bank head on Sunday obliquely pleaded against the country’s threatened expulsion from the International Monetary Fund and denied using undeclared foreign exchange to pay back part of the IMF debt. ”Our non-payment of our dues to the IMF remains a source of embarrassment to every self-respecting Zimbabwean whether in the country or the diaspora,” said Gideon Gono.
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/ 5 September 2005
The chief executive of SA Rugby, Johan Prinsloo, has again been accused of sexual harassment, but this time by a male worker. Prinsloo told the Afrikaans Rapport newspaper that he was not bothered and had nothing to hide as he was sure of his innocence.
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/ 5 September 2005
Italy’s health minister has condemned a decision by one of the country’s biggest hospitals to stop a gay man giving blood. A 39-year-old writer was turned away from the Policlinico hospital in Milan after telling staff he was gay. Paolo Pedote said he had been informed that it was ”internal policy” not to accept gay male donors.
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/ 5 September 2005
New Orleans was finally emptied of all but the most desperate remnants of its population on Sunday, leaving behind a ghost town under military occupation as troops fanned out through the city streets. In belated recognition of the depth of the crisis, Washington swallowed its pride and asked for blankets, food and water trucks from the EU and Nato.