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/ 4 November 2004
South African banking group FirstRand announced on Thursday that black economic empowerment (BEE) groupings will acquire 10% of the group. A binding memorandum of understanding has been entered into with BEE partners and discussions with a number of third-party funders are at an advanced stage, it said.
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/ 4 November 2004
Matric results in mathematics, so poor they are a ”crisis of performance”, remain as a legacy of apartheid, a forthcoming publication has found. Focusing on maths, because of the range of career choices it provides, Professor Servaas van der Berg looked at an education system that by world and African standards is a poor performer.
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/ 4 November 2004
Top Japanese automaker Toyota Motor said on Thursday it will recall 651 366 vehicles, mostly in overseas markets, to replace defective tail-lamp covers whose red colour might fade in direct sun. The recall covers 10 models manufactured between November 1989 and April 2000, the company said.
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/ 4 November 2004
A speeding truck plunged into a river when its lights failed suddenly at night, killing 26 people and wounding 37 others in western Tanzania, an official said on Thursday. The truck was carrying at least 70 people, mainly dealers of second-hand clothing.
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/ 4 November 2004
The SA Chamber of Business’s Business Confidence Index for October dropped from September’s high of 130,9 to 126,5, Sacob said on Thursday. ”The October level of 126,5 is still at an exceptionally high level and not less than 10 points above the 116,5 of October 2003,” Sacob said in a statement.
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/ 4 November 2004
World number-six gold miner Harmony on Thursday announced details of its proposed cost-saving measures, which it said will deliver at least R1-billion a year in improved pre-tax operating profit at Gold Fields’ South African operations. Harmony will do this through applying the "Harmony way".
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/ 4 November 2004
Government warplanes bombed the largest city in Côte d’Ivoire’s rebel-held north on Thursday in what a government military commander said was the launch of a new offensive to reunite the war-divided nation. The raid threatened to restart Côte d’Ivoire’s civil war, ended by a 2003 peace deal after nine months of fighting.
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/ 4 November 2004
The South African government’s refusal to disclose the number of children receiving anti-retroviral drugs in KwaZulu-Natal has raised fears among Aids activists that children’s rights to health care and life are being violated. A survey at 13 of KwaZulu-Natal’s public hospitals found only 39 children were receiving anti-Aids medication.
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/ 4 November 2004
A Swedish hunter saved the life of his dog by killing a golden eagle that attacked it in Lapland, northern Sweden, reports said on Thursday. Stefan Stalnacke was out hunting for capercaillies (a large, turkey-like grouse) in the forests near his home in Vittangi, 150km above the Arctic Circle, when the eagle suddenly swooped down on to his dog.
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/ 4 November 2004
Zimbabwe police re-arrested Zanu-PF businessman James Makamba along with two senior executives from his cellular network company, Telecel. The company’s managing director Anthony Carter and company secretary Edward Mutsvairo are currently in custody with Makamba, with all three being accused of ”externalising foreign currency”.