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/ 17 December 2004

Primedia offers to buy Nail

Media group Primedia has made a firm offer to buy New Africa Investments Limited (Nail) for R45,1-million, or R0,356 a share. William Kirsh, CEO of Primedia, said: "The conclusion of the Nail deal is another milestone for Primedia and brings to conclusion Primedia’s successful bid for Nail’s key media assets."

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/ 17 December 2004

Mental health Act comes into effect

The Mental Health Care Act has been promulgated by President Thabo Mbeki and comes into effect immediately, the Department of Health said on Friday. The measure seeks to realign mental health-care service with the National Health Care Act by emphasising the protection of patients’ rights, equity, affordability and access to quality health care.

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/ 17 December 2004

Mandela wins court coin battle

Former president Nelson Mandela and the Nelson Mandela Foundation were granted an interdict in the Pretoria High Court on Friday to prohibit Investgold from importing and selling gold coins bearing his image and name. Investgold sought permission from the foundation in October to import 24-carat gold coins minted in the United Kingdom.

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/ 17 December 2004

Court orders halt to Yukos asset sale

Russia’s embattled Yukos oil giant was satisfied on Friday at a United States Bankruptcy Court ruling that slapped a 10-day halt to a planned sale of Yukos’s core asset, its main oil-pumping division Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos’s spokesperson said. But Russian federal property fund’s officials said the sale will go on as planned.

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/ 17 December 2004

Gollum was schizoid, say medical students

Tolkien’s Gollum from his Lord of the Rings trilogy suffered a personality disorder akin to schizophrenia, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal on Friday. The disturbed hobbit-like creature most probably suffered from schizoid personality disorder, medical students from London’s University College found.

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/ 17 December 2004

Living in the shadow of Ebola

Just a year ago, terrified inhabitants of African village of Mbomo desperately locked up their schools and churches and stayed inside their homes, not daring even to shake hands with each other for fear of contracting Ebola. Victims of this fever bleed to death after their internal organs liquefy.

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/ 17 December 2004

Rand could firm further in coming months

The South African rand could see more strength over the next few months on the back of a weak dollar, which has been the main driver of the rand since early 2002, Nedcor economist Dennis Dykes said in a commentary this week. According to Dykes, the rand’s fortunes look set to remain tied to the dollar’s in the short to medium term.

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/ 17 December 2004

Singapore gets its first snowman

Three students in sweltering Singapore realised their dream of seeing a snowman by scouring the internet for information and constructing the city-state’s first one, the trio said on Friday. Undeterred by the perpetual heat and humidity, they erected a 3m-tall snowman with a girth of 5,5m and weighing 2,5 tonnes.

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/ 17 December 2004

Reports of university entrance exams rejected

Vice-chancellors of South Africa’s universities have rejected reports that prospective students must write compulsory entrance exams in 2009. Several newspapers said the South African Universities Vice-Chancellors’ Association decided that students must write entrance exams because the proposed new grading system will be unreliable.