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/ 18 February 2005

IOC visits London to evaluate Olympic bid

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) got an overhead view of the planned central area for the 2012 Olympics on Thursday. From a specially constructed viewing platform on the 22nd floor of a retirement home, the IOC’s evaluation commission viewed the 200ha proposed Olympic Park in Stratford, a largely run-down area of East London.

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/ 18 February 2005

Afghanistan’s children freeze to death

Aid workers in Afghanistan said on Friday they feared up to 1 000 children may have died from cold and malnutrition during severe winter weather affecting the west of the war-shattered country. Western Ghor province has been hit hard by snowstorms in Afghanistan’s worst winter for more than a decade and most of the province remains out of reach of humanitarian aid.

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/ 18 February 2005

Man United will win the double … right?

Look, just for the sake of an argument, Manchester United are going to win the double. No, they aren’t. Yes, they are. I’ve told you once, no, you haven’t. Strange-condition schizophrenia, but football is rife with it. We all know Chelsea are an uncatchable nine points clear of Alex Ferguson’s revived United and two points further ahead of Arsenal.

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/ 18 February 2005

Super 12: Is SA too well prepared?

By the time the Super 12 starts in earnest next week, there is a distinct possibility that some South African franchises may already be battling fatigue. The Stormers, for instance, have been playing warm-up games for three weeks in places as far apart as the Boland, Dubai and England.

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/ 18 February 2005

Get ready for the Champions League

Champions League action starts next week and the draw for the last 16 has thrown up some mouth-watering encounters. For the first time in a long time, it is English clubs that are the best represented, with Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all qualifying for this, the first knock-out round.

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/ 18 February 2005

How Sasol firm sold WMD chemicals to Iran

A Sasol group company, African Amines, has illegally exported chemicals to Iran that could be used in the manufacture of chemical weapons. This emerges from a plea bargain agreement in the Durban Regional Court, struck last November, which appears to have saved the multibillion-rand petrochemical company from international embarrassment.

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/ 18 February 2005

Government plans new clamps on judges

The government is planning a radical overhaul of the governance and administration of the courts, on the grounds that existing oversight mechanisms have failed to achieve thorough transformation. Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla announced this week that a ”concept paper” on the transformation of the judicial system will be tabled before Cabinet.

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/ 18 February 2005

Land claims ‘could kill Kruger’

African communities dispossessed under apartheid have claimed at least a quarter of the land in the Kruger National Park, including its headquarters at Skukuza. If all the claims were validated under the Restitution Act, they "would probably cost the park its survival as a national park and an international icon", said South African National Parks communications head Wanda Mkutshulwa.

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/ 18 February 2005

‘This is no Democratic Alliance plot’

Circles of black ash and wire that once were tyres, and rocks placed across the street to stop traffic from entering or leaving the township, speak of an explosion waiting to happen. At a meeting at Phomolong’s local library, the message is clear: the African National Congress is wrong, or is refusing to face facts, by demeaning the violence that rocked this part of the Free State as the work of seditious troublemakers.