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/ 21 September 2004

The jive kept us alive

A small footnote to the increasingly incensed rantings of my old friend (since three weeks ago) Ronald Suresh Roberts. He wishes to share with the world the fact that I, like my forbears, am someone who simply likes to keep on dancing. (”Matshikiza”, by the way, means ”the dancer”. How could I be expected to avoid the ancestral trap? But he is not to know this — since he doesn’t bother to do his background research.)

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/ 21 September 2004

Wages: D-Day looms for govt and unions

Wednesday will be D-Day for public-sector unions and the government to come to an agreement on salary increases as the two parties participate in a formal meeting at the Public Services Coordinating Bargaining Council. Anton Louwrens of the Public Servants Association said unions are canvassing their members on the latest government offer.

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/ 21 September 2004

Denel awarded $2m tooling contracts

South Africa’s state-owned defence and aerospace group Denel has been awarded contracts amounting to $2-million (about R13-million) to supply aircraft tooling for the production of the Indian Air Force’s new BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet-trainer aircraft. The South African-manufactured tooling will be exported to India.

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/ 21 September 2004

Stats show a safer South Africa

Aggravated robbery was the only violent crime to show an increase over the past two financial years, national police commissioner Jackie Selebi announced on Monday. Murders dropped by 9,9%, attempted murder by 17,8%, serious assault by 4,3%, common assault by 2,6% and common robbery by 7,8%, he told reporters in
Pretoria.

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/ 21 September 2004

Ex-general wins Indonesia poll

Indonesians altered their country’s political landscape on Monday with early results showing a landslide victory for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired general, in the country’s first direct presidential election. With 15,5% of the returns declared Yudhoyono was leading the incumbent, Megawati Sukarnoputri, by 59% to 41%.

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/ 21 September 2004

Profits warning at New York Times

The United States east coast’s leading newspaper group, the New York Times, on Monday warned on profits after weaker than expected advertising sales so far this month. The news increased fears that the autumn is shaping up to be weaker than US publishers had hoped and sent shares in the company to their lowest level for two years.

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/ 21 September 2004

Poisonous detritus of the electronic revolution

Britain is throwing out more than one million tonnes of electronic ”e-waste” such as broken computer monitors and discarded cellphones every year, and new government figures show that more than ever is going abroad. Last year, 23 000 tonnes of IT and electronic equipment was shipped out illegally, mostly to China, west Africa, Pakistan and India.

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/ 21 September 2004

Fears for Briton as hostage is killed

Fears were growing on Monday night for the safety of Ken Bigley, the Briton taken hostage in Iraq, after an Islamist website posted a video showing the beheading of one of the two Americans being held with him. The British Foreign Office condemned the killing and said the ”appalling crime” would not weaken its resolve in Iraq.