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/ 15 September 2004

Teen helps build the African information highway

Sivuziwe Mzamo is a grade 11 student at a former Model C school in Grahamstown, and the modest inventor of a bicycle-powered cellphone charger. This week he won the hearts of 20 journalists at the Highway Africa annual conference held at Rhodes University . Mzamo upturned his bike on a table, spun the wheels, and presto — his plugged-in Nokia was charging.

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/ 15 September 2004

Know your nuoc mam

Fermented fish sauce sloshed on everything from freshly grilled shrimp to french fries may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s all the rage on this island off southwestern Vietnam. Phu Quoc Island, about 45km off Vietnam’s coast in the Gulf of Thailand, is famed for making the best fish sauce — or nuoc mam as it known in Vietnamese — in the world, and its 80 000 inhabitants are justifiably proud of their reputation.

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/ 15 September 2004

Hidden Picasso goes on show

A ”secret” painting by the young Pablo Picasso was unveiled at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on Tuesday after experts found it hidden beneath layers of paint on another of his canvasses. The 104-year-old painting was on Tuesday hailed as Picasso’s first Paris picture, painted during a visit in 1900 when he was 19.

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/ 15 September 2004

Pan African Parliament settles in at Gallagher

Tucked away in an industrial area halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria, a sprawling modern conference centre named after an Australian-born baker is about to become home for the Pan African Parliament. Gallagher Estate is a complex of modern buildings with posh interiors of winged-back chairs, glass doors, Italian marble and rosewood wall panels displaying naturalist art.

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/ 15 September 2004

Venice plans to ban rush-hour serenaders

Venetians may no longer wake up to the dulcet tones of ”just one cornetto” as the mayor of Venice plans to ban serenaders on gondolas during the morning rush hour in an effort to stop collisions on increasingly congested waterways. A recent spate of serious boat crashes — one in which a baby almost drowned — has forced the issue of traffic control to the top of the Venice authorities’ agenda.

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/ 15 September 2004

9/11 widows join Kerry campaign

Prominent widows of the September 11 2001 terror attacks endorsed John Kerry’s run for the presidency on Tuesday, accusing President George Bush of betrayal and of leading the country into a state of permanent war. ”The truth is, after watching the Republican convention in New York, I am scared. I am scared of the mentality,” said Kirsten Breitweiser, the most celebrated of the self-styled Jersey Girls.

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/ 15 September 2004

Sharon hints that Arafat may be killed

Ariel Sharon has threatened that Yasser Arafat will meet the same fate as Hamas leaders who were assassinated earlier this year by the Israeli military. In ambiguous comments to Israeli newspapers to mark the Jewish new year, the prime minister said he intends to force the Palestinian leader into exile. But he also hinted that Arafat might be killed.