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/ 13 October 2004

What Andrew Gilligan regrets

South African journalists may have forgotten the name of Andrew Gilligan, but he’s alive and well, visiting the country this week as a guest of the Rhodes journalism school. He’s the former BBC journalist who reported last year that the British government, led by Alistair Campbell — spokesperson for Prime Minister Tony Blair — had ”sexed up” its Iraq intelligence dossier to bend public opinion to attacking Baghdad.

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/ 13 October 2004

MPs need OK for Shaik trial

National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has warned two MPs they will need Parliament’s permission to give evidence in the Schabir Shaik trial, currently under way in Durban. Former public accounts committee chairperson Gavin Woods of the Inkatha Freedom Party and Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille might be called as state witnesses in Shaik’s trial.

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/ 13 October 2004

Sitting pretty

If ever you want to makes lots of new friends, just drive around in a Mercedes-Benz SLK 200 K. There are faster sports cars around, but there aren’t many prettier. Gavin Foster lets his hair down in a ride that’s SLKy smooth.

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/ 13 October 2004

This one’s a goer!

The new Mercedes-Benz C55 AMG is quite simply the most uncompromising sports saloon available. From the outside it advertises its attitude with the longer nose of the CLK55, 18” AMG alloy rims, a snazzy exhaust that ends up in aggressive twin tail pipes. It’s loaded to the gunwales with trickery in the suspension and brake department too, in case you think the styling is just fancy-dress.

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/ 13 October 2004

JSE drifts weaker on firmer rand

The JSE Securities Exchange drifted weaker at the opening on Wednesday on the back of a slight recovery in the rand. At 9.17am, the all share index was down 0,17%. Resources retreated 0,53% and the gold mining index surrendered 0,49%. The all share industrial (-0,02%) and platinum mining indices were flat. Financials firmed 0,2% and the banks index inched up 0,08%.

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/ 13 October 2004

Is it the end of the road for Arafat?

His glory days are behind him. At 75, he is frail, his hands shaky, his lapels covered with a score of badges from organisations as diverse as Peace Now and the Samaritans. Yasser Arafat was once a regular visitor at the White House: the Palestinians say he saw Bill Clinton when he was president 28 times.

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/ 13 October 2004

New Archer link to coup plot alleged

New evidence has emerged linking Jeffrey Archer to the alleged conspirators behind the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea. A lawyer for the Equatorial Guinea government said in London on Monday that telephone records showed four calls between the homes of one of the alleged financiers behind the plot and Archer in the run-up to the coup attempt in March.

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/ 13 October 2004

State that knows shape of things to come

Between Oil City, Pennsylvania and Canton, Ohio, a hilly, leafy terrain gives way to a landscape as flat and appealing as warm Pepsi. Arriving in Canton on Interstate 77 you pass a Hoover plant, which has laid off more than 800 workers in the past seven months, and then a huge religious billboard asking: "Saved?" and offering a number to call.