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/ 13 January 2005
The Bank of England froze interest rates at 4,75% on Thursday for the fifth successive month following recent signs that the United Kingdom economy is losing momentum. The decision by the central bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee came as little surprise to markets.
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/ 13 January 2005
The Red Cross has appealed to the public for food and clothing donations for victims of the recent flooding in KwaZulu-Natal, where some people began receiving assistance on Thursday. "Some dramas, like the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal, are right on our doorstep," said provincial Red Cross manager Derick Naidoo.
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/ 13 January 2005
A Pretoria High Court judge on Thursday questioned why ”obviously intelligent” Boeremag trialists had never debated predictions by Boer prophet Siener van Rensburg that there would be a large-scale attack on whites by blacks. The judge remarked that historical events in South Africa did not point to the feared large-scale attack.
Boeremag trialists apply for bail
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/ 13 January 2005
Uncertainty surrounds exactly which medicine-pricing regulations are currently in force, with the Department of Health and pharmacists each insisting that a different law is in place. In December, the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered that the newly introduced medicine-pricing regulations be ”declared invalid and of no force and effect”.
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/ 13 January 2005
Dictators sometimes pride themselves on making the trains run on time, but Germany’s rail company on Wednesday partly attributed a sharp improvement in punctuality to perky hostesses in red caps who tell travellers to skip the fond goodbyes and get aboard.
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/ 13 January 2005
A study of the crater left by the meteorite which many believe caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 65-million years ago is being opposed by activists who fear it could prove fatal to marine life. The month-long study off the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico involves researchers from Cambridge University and Imperial College London, and United States and Mexican universities.
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/ 13 January 2005
Doctors have removed parasites weighing a total of 3kg from the stomach of a young woman in central Turkey in what they have described as a rare case in medicine, Anatolia news agency reported on Wednesday. Surgeon Kemal Arslan said the size of the parasites varied between 5cm and 20cm.
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/ 13 January 2005
An employee of British bookseller chain Waterstone’s has been fired for bringing the company into disrepute after he made entries on his weblog site identifying it in code as "Bastardstone’s" and accusing it of slavery. "I did not set out to attack the company in some systematic manner," Joe Gordon said.
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/ 13 January 2005
Hong Kong police are searching for a man who handed out HK$1 000 (R753) notes to passers-by on a busy street, a spokesperson said Thursday. The man, soberly dressed and in his forties, is known to have handed out at least HK$7 000 in the city’s crowded Mongkok district, but officers believe he gave over more.
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/ 13 January 2005
Despite the modest correction in the gold price, the first half of 2005 is expected to see renewed interest in the precious metal. Gold is forecast to average $447 a troy ounce in the six-month period, United Kingdom-based consultancy GFMS said in a report released on Thursday.