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/ 19 November 2004

Bad message for drug dealer

Text messaging may have some advantages, but a New Zealand drug dealer has found it can be very bad for business when you don’t know where the recipient is. When Anthony Crown sent an SMS with a methamphetamine offer, he didn’t know his client was sitting in a Wellington police station — having just been arrested for burglary.

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/ 19 November 2004

What killed Arafat?

A week after his death, speculation still swirls around what killed Yasser Arafat. Cirrhosis of the liver, Aids, a blood disorder and poisoning are frequently mentioned in unconfirmed reports — all consistent with the little that is publicly known about the medical condition that landed the Palestinian leader in a French hospital.

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/ 19 November 2004

Crows take the bait

Police said on Friday they recovered a wallet that disappeared at one of Japan’s most isolated points by luring the culprit with bait — literally. The suspects, it turned out, were the birds. Standing on a quiet, oceanside vista in Hateruma island of Okinawa, a 30-year-old Japanese visitor noticed her wallet had vanished from the basket of her rental bicycle when she looked away for only a few seconds.

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/ 19 November 2004

South Korean man tries a Big Mac on for size

A South Korean gorged for 24 days on fast food to warn his countrymen about its health consequences, mimicking the United States box office-hit documentary Super Size Me about the ill effects of a man’s month-long binge on McDonald’s fare. Yoon Kwang-yong is now in rehab therapy to lose weight and lower his liver fat.

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/ 19 November 2004

JSE flat in quiet noon trade

The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was flat and very much a mixed bag in noon trade on Friday, with little or anything to drive the market as players took a bit of a breather after the bourse’s recent record highs. At 12.10pm, the all-share index was flat (0,02%). Industrials were 0,24% stronger.

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/ 19 November 2004

‘Sharks aren’t out to get people’

In the past eight months a study has shown 10 000 movements by sharks in False Bay, the site of this week’s fatal shark attack. Marine biologists maintain sharks have always been around. But the increased number of people in the water because of a ready availability of wetsuits and the increased popularity of water sports has heightened the likelihood of attack.

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/ 19 November 2004

Not such a flawless gem

George W Bush’s second term as United States President is good news for Africa, says Tony Leon, Democratic Alliance leader. He bases this judgement on the views of a notorious diamond merchant allegedly linked to supporting undemocratic and corrupt regimes in Africa. However, Leon’s new friend, Maurice Tempelsman,
has a dodgy record when it comes to Africa.

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/ 19 November 2004

Arms deal offset programme is off target

Despite an upbeat report to Parliament by the Department of Trade and Industry, questions about the performance of the offset programmes agreed with foreign contractors in terms of the 1999 arms deal persist. Only limited information is available in the public domain, but it seems increasingly likely that at least one major contractor involved in the German submarine consortium will miss its extended deadline for investment.