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/ 26 November 2004
Two more of America’s top spies were reported on Thursday to be leaving the CIA, as an attempt to fix the troubled agency appeared increasingly to be dividing its ranks and driving out its most experienced officials. The latest departures were undercover operatives, and so were not named in Thursday’s press reports, which described them as ”barons” in the top level of the CIA’s clandestine service.
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/ 26 November 2004
Hollywood continued its long tradition of serving up turkeys for the Thanksgiving holiday with the release on Thursday of Oliver Stone’s sword-and-sandal epic Alexander. The film was well and truly roasted by critics, who were clearly irritated at having to spend nearly three hours sitting through the -million epic.
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/ 26 November 2004
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Thursday accused the United States and the European Union of encouraging ”mayhem” on the streets of Ukraine, and warned them against interfering further in the current election crisis. Speaking after a failed EU-Russia summit in the Hague, he told the international community to let the Ukrainian issue be decided in the courts.
Ukraine splits, threatens civil war
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/ 26 November 2004
Mahmoud Abbas, who has emerged as the principal Palestinian leader following the death of Yasser Arafat, on Thursday said he intends to bring a complete and unconditional end to Palestinian violence. Abbas, the leader of the politically dominant Fatah movement in the occupied territories, declared the demise of the Palestinian uprising, the intifada.
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/ 26 November 2004
A man stabbed eight teenagers to death as they slept and injured four others after breaking into a school dormitory in central China on Friday morning, teachers and local authorities said. The murders, the latest in a spate of grizzly attacks on schoolchildren in China, took place at High School Number Two in Ruzhou city, Henan province.
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/ 26 November 2004
”President Mbeki explains to European leaders why Nepad is succeeding beyond all expectations.” ”The government reveals how the arms deal has brought billion of rands in foreign investment and created thousands of jobs.” Then comes the ”ag shame” touch, delivered with a helping of devastating SABC wordplay to get the nation hosing itself. Does that menu smell familiar? Of course it does.
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/ 26 November 2004
I drink Diet Coke. It makes me feel good. It helps me retain my boyish figure. It calms me down. It peps me up. It sings me to sleep at night. I love Diet Coke. I want Diet Coke. I need Diet Coke. Advertising people will say this is because of branding. Breweries, currently shacking up with fellow booze pimp Miller, seemed to have got branding down to a fine art. Until Justin Nurse and Laugh It Off.
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/ 26 November 2004
First it was vintage heavy metal T-shirts, then came leg warmers and Lycra. Now old cellphones have become the retro fashion accessory to be seen with. Twenty years after Britain’s first cellphone call was made technology has leapt forward, but hipsters and homebodies alike are rejecting flashy new models in favour of tried-and-trusted phone favourites.
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/ 26 November 2004
HIV/Aids is taking a bite out of profits throughout corporate South Africa, with the already embattled mining sector particularly hard hit. According to a report by the South African Business Coalition on HIV and Aids (Sabcoha) released this week, 62% of mines surveyed by the Bureau for Economic Research indicated that the epidemic is already hurting their bottom lines.
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/ 26 November 2004
Patrice Motsepe may not have been there to sign off on the decision, but Nafhold has finally agreed on a way to distribute its shares to members. Motsepe skipped the meeting that made the decision, in a move seen by some insiders as a sign he is still unhappy with the share allocation. The move nevertheless is seen as the beginning of the end of a long-standing dispute.