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/ 14 January 2005
The Reserve Bank is likely to shut the door on foreign ownership after two of the Big Four retail banks acquire a foreign partner, an analyst suggested this week.
"The question is, when does the Reserve Bank close the door on foreign ownership of local banks? Maybe after two of the Big Four are in foreign hands, maybe three? In the end it may be more of a political decision than a commercial one".
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/ 14 January 2005
The influential chairperson of Nigeria’s ruling party — the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) — has submitted his resignation under pressure from President Olusegun Obasanjo after warning the head of state that his government was becoming unpopular and might be toppled in a coup. Audu Ogbeh said he would quit on February 28.
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/ 14 January 2005
Activists from the United States are heading to Brazil for the upcoming World Social Forum, determined to refute the widespread belief that their country has "gone Republican". They’re also in search of fresh inspiration for the fight against the exploitation of people, and natural resources. "With the re-election of Bush, a lot of people around the world washed their hands of the United States," said a member of Global Trade Watch.
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/ 14 January 2005
Diamond miner De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) could cut 1Â 400 jobs in its South African operations, the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> has learnt from senior industry sources. Sources have also indicated a strong possibility of closure of some of De Beers’s unprofitable mines as the company faces difficulty brought about by the strong rand.
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/ 14 January 2005
Tiny tools can help address big problems — in this case, understanding malaria — according to a report on the Science and Development Network. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States has led a study using ”optical tweezers” to show how the elasticity of red blood cells changes when they are infected with the malaria parasite.
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/ 14 January 2005
The new president has little room to manouevre — and expectations are running high. Like any politician, Abbas made numerous election promises. They included the return of millions of refugees and of territory lost in 1967, and a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem. Ordinary voters who put their faith in the democratic process will hold Abbas to these pledges.
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/ 14 January 2005
Until the tsunami smashed into it, Andalus Cement was the largest firm in Banda Aceh, employing more than 600 people. It exported cement dug out from the neighbouring mountain across Indonesia, churning out a million tonnes a year. This week, however, it was not producing anything.
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/ 13 January 2005
One more South African has been confirmed dead after the December 26 tsunami in Thailand, bring the total of dead South Africans to 11, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in Pretoria on Thursday. The number of people missing, feared dead, dropped to four as a result, a spokesperson at the department’s operations centre said.
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/ 13 January 2005
The president of world soccer governing body Fifa, Sepp Blatter, on Thursday accepted on behalf of the body one of South Africa’s highest awards. Blatter, in the country to meet members of the 2010 World Cup organising committee, met President Thabo Mbeki before accepting the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo.
Jordaan ‘perfect’ for 2010