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/ 24 November 2004

October CPIX up 4,7%

South Africa’s CPIX inflation (headline inflation excluding mortgage costs) was up 4,2% year-on-year (y/y) for metro and other areas in October compared with 3,7% y/y in September and August, 4,2% y/y in July, 5,0% y/y in June and 4,4% y/y in May, April and March, 4,8% y/y in February, and 4,2% y/y in January, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Wednesday.

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/ 24 November 2004

Moosa elected head of conservation network

Former anti-apartheid activist Valli Moosa of South Africa was elected the new president of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) on Wednesday. IUCN is deemed the world’s largest conservation network. Moosa, (47) born in Johannesburg, has served on the United Nations Environment Programme governing council, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, and the South African Business Trust.

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/ 24 November 2004

French go to court over invasion of English

French employees of a General Electric branch that makes medical equipment, tired of struggling with company e-mails, manuals and meetings in English, took their fight to court on Tuesday — the latest flare-up in the French language’s struggle to maintain linguistic pre-eminence, at least at home. The employees have invoked the 1994 Toubon Law. that secifies French be used in business and on the airwaves.

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/ 24 November 2004

Empowerment group buys stake in Afgri

South African agricultural group Afgri announced on Wednesday that the Agri Sizwe empowerment trust had acquired 26.77% of Afgri Operations for R502-million. Afgri shareholders will benefit by way of a R368-million special distribution of the proceeds in the form of 110.5 cents per share dividend.

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/ 24 November 2004

Iran joins outcry against ‘excessive force’ in Iraq

The Iranian, Egyptian and Syrian governments accused the Unied States on Tuesday of using excessive force to quell rebels in Iraq. The Syrian foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, said at an international conference in Sharm el-Sheikh that although condemning terrorism, ”we cannot over-emphasise the need to refrain from shelling civilians, destroying cities and killing innocent people”.

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/ 24 November 2004

One month window to destroy new locusts

Countries in northwest Africa are hoping cooler winter weather will give them the time they need to wipe out swarms of young locusts while they are still too immature to breed, delegates at a Rome conference said. The locusts are the offspring of the wave that devastated African crops and grazing land this summer.

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/ 24 November 2004

Don’t read this — it’s a story about Aids

Ok, if you ignored that injunction and are still reading, you’re clearly a contrarian character. You’ve decided to pay no heed to the mental health warning on this column. That may make you an exception among most readers. The reason is because the ”don’t read” message is redundant for the majority of your peers. The mere sight of the word Aids in a headline is sufficient turn-off. Even the political controversies, driving most Aids coverage, have become passé.

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/ 24 November 2004

Zimbabwe bans seven papers from cricket tour

England’s ill-starred cricket tour of Zimbabwe was mired in fresh controversy on Tuesday night after Robert Mugabe’s government banned nine media organisations including the BBC from covering the five scheduled matches, due to begin on Friday. Michael Vaughan, the England captain, condemned the decision. ”I think it is totally wrong and I am flabbergasted by the decision.”