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/ 8 September 2004
South Africa’s state-owned arms manufacturing and marketing company, Denel, "is practically at the doorstep of bankruptcy", CEO Victor Moche told MPs on Wednesday. However, he said there is light at the end of the tunnel if the entity focuses on research and development and balancing its budget.
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/ 8 September 2004
Only one day into school and Armando Smiricic Runka is already the teacher’s pet. Little wonder, as he is the only pupil in his class on Premuda — a mid-Adriatic island of just 52 mostly ageing residents. But that has not deterred the government from ensuring that a teacher from the mainland arrives daily.
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/ 8 September 2004
Botswana’s diamond mining company and union leaders have failed to make any progress in wage talks as employers refuse to reinstate workers sacked during an illegal strike, officials said Wednesday. Debswana, a joint venture between the Botswana government and South Africa’s De Beers group, and the 6 000-strong Botswana Mining Workers Union were locked in talks the whole of Tuesday and decided to take a break until Friday.
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/ 8 September 2004
About 1 000 workers at Sasol’s Secunda plant were on strike for a second day on Wednesday over a pay increase, the trade union Solidarity said. Sasol has offered a 6,5% salary increase, and Solidarity’s members are demanding 10%. The union said on Tuesday that employees were tired of ”Sasol’s management style, which toys with the lives of workers”.
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/ 8 September 2004
The Department of Health hit out on Wednesday at pharmacies charging medical schemes an across-the-board administration fee rather than billing them for services actually rendered. Some pharmacies charge a fee of 10% upwards of the cost of medicines prescribed, departmental spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said.
Healthcare Funders settle dispute
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/ 8 September 2004
A second settlement has been reached for alleged irregular transactions in Cadbury Schweppes shares, the Financial Services Board’s insider trading directorate said on Wednesday. ”The directorate now reports that, as is provided for in the Insider Trading Act, a settlement has been reached with Mr Laurence Benjamin Gottlieb who has agreed to pay an amount of R619 170 to the directorate,” chairperson Rob Barrow said.
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/ 8 September 2004
Hurricane Ivan made a direct hit on Grenada with ”hellacious winds”, collapsing concrete homes into piles of rubble and hurling the island’s landmark red zinc roofs through the air. The most powerful storm to hit the Caribbean in 10 years also damaged homes in Barbados, St Lucia and St Vincent.
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/ 8 September 2004
Typhoon Songda became the worst typhoon to hit Japan in recent years, leaving at least 24 dead by Wednesday morning with the toll expected to rise, authorities and news reports said. The typhoon has injured more than 700 people since Tuesday, when it struck south-western Japan. Another 15 people were reported missing.
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/ 8 September 2004
Some Taiwanese towns are famous for their clay teapots, others for their ornate painted umbrellas. But this grimy industrial city wants to be remembered for something completely foreign. Barbie. When United States toy maker Mattel began outsourcing Barbie-making jobs to Asia, Taishan was among the first to get a factory, in 1967.