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/ 12 January 2005

More violent clashes between Zanu-PF factions

Zimbabwean police have reported yet another clash between rival groups within the country’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party (Zanu-PF). Police in the central district of Gokwe say two groups of angry supporters — each backing different contestants in primary elections — clashed at a small rural business centre ”damaging a lot of property”.

  • Mugabe’s party ‘will not impose candidates’
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    / 12 January 2005

    ‘Ramos should explain Spoornet situation’

    South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance has called for Transnet CEO Maria Ramos to break her silence surrounding the sudden resignation of Spoornet CEO Dolly Mokgatle. Railway group Spoornet is a subsidiary of government-owned transport group Transnet.
    <li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-Business&a=12&o=195046">Spoornet CEO quits</a>

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    / 12 January 2005

    Cape Town crooks seem spoilt for choice

    One of the reasons for an increase in the number of vehicles being hijacked in and around Cape Town is residents are buying more cars, and so the hijackers have more to choose from, according to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula. Hijackers from Gauteng had also moved their activities south, and Capetonians were unaware of the strategies they used ”and easily fall prey”.

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    / 12 January 2005

    Shopkeeper smashes thieves’ getaway car

    A pair of burglars learned that crime does not pay when Mohammed, a New Zealand shopkeeper, smashed up their car as they raided his mini-supermarket in the middle of the night, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. He saw the pair stealing cigarettes, sunglasses and telephone cards on a monitor in his West Auckland flat.

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    / 12 January 2005

    Aussie woman sets drunk-driving record

    An Australian woman with a blood alcohol level nearly nine times the legal limit when she crashed her car has set a national record for a female, a Melbourne court was told on Wednesday. Leanne Bartelson (44), beat the 0,05% limit with a blood alcohol concentration of 0,448% when she was tested on the morning of May 14 last year.

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    / 12 January 2005

    They didn’t see it coming

    Police in Istanbul have arrested a married couple after a sting operation in which officers posed as customers who wanted their horoscope read, Hurriyet newspaper reported on Wednesday. Undercover officers deposited 200 lira (about R870) into a bank account and used the receipt as proof of payment for a session with the mediums.

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    / 12 January 2005

    Nasa plans to crash into comet

    For the first time in history, Nasa is setting off on a collision course with a comet, in hopes of blasting a huge hole in the celestial snowball and gazing upon the original ingredients of the solar system preserved inside. It all begins with a planned Wednesday launch of Deep Impact, a copper-fortified, comet-busting spacecraft.

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    / 12 January 2005

    British minister wants more aid for Africa

    British Minister of Finance Gordon Brown opened a week-long tour of Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday with an appeal for the developed world to back a new plan to ease the continent’s chronic poverty. ”It is simply not acceptable in the modern age … to have hundreds of millions of children not getting the chance at education,” he said.

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    / 12 January 2005

    A cut-and-toasted solution

    For all those concerned about the texture of their toast, a Japanese manufacturer said on Wednesday it has created a ”super toaster” that heats the bread a split-second after slicing it. Billed as a first, the super toaster can hold two loaves of bread and slice them with internal blades before making them crispy with infrared light.