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/ 22 October 2002

Damned if they do, or if they don’t

It was hard to tell whether he was kicking him in the shin, or leaning over to pinch his thigh, but whichever it was, Marthinus van Schalkwyk was desperately trying to get Peter Marais to stop talking. It is not an easy thing to achieve at the best of times; and now it is virtually impossible.

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/ 22 October 2002

A one-eyed approach to justice

The slogan of the University of Louisville is "Dare to be great". Perhaps that is why United States Secretary of State Colin Powell chose it as the venue two weeks ago for what was trailed as the most important statement of American foreign policy for years, perhaps decades.

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/ 22 October 2002

The state of the leader

What can we expect from President Thabo Mbeki next Friday? Wandering down Government Avenue two years ago I bumped into a man who works for the president. It was early morning, the day of the opening of Parliament. Could I get a sneak preview of the state of the nation speech, I inquired?

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/ 22 October 2002

Global Fund running out of cash

The Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria will not have enough money to cover proposals for next year if pledges made by countries are not paid. The board announced that it needs about $8-billion over the next two years to keep up with the demand from poor countries.

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/ 22 October 2002

Battle of the Black Panthers

David Hilliard’s career as an enemy of the state is only a memory now. The former chief of staff of the Black Panthers, the United States’s first armed black revolutionary group, does not disown the violence of the days when the FBI labelled him a threat to national security.

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/ 22 October 2002

The trouble with twins

When considering romantic relationships, most of us think in terms of pairs: the couple first and foremost, with other relationships on the outside. But for twins — linked by a closeness that extends as far as sharing the same DNA — it can be more complicated than that.