Staff Reporter
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/ 14 March 2007

US general calls gays immoral

Gay rights groups on Tuesday criticised the head of the United States joint chiefs of staff, General Peter Pace, over an interview in which he described homosexuals as ”immoral”. Aides to Pace insisted he was not planning to apologise. But he later put out a statement that he described as a clarification.

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/ 14 March 2007

Poverty, low women’s status driving Aids

Underdevelopment, poverty and the low status of women remained the main ”drivers” of HIV/Aids in South Africa, the Health Department said on Wednesday. An estimated 55% of those living with HIV in South Africa were women, according to the draft National Strategic Plan on HIV/Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections.

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/ 14 March 2007

Starbucks to blend its own music

Just when you thought you had acquired the knack of asking for a grande skim white chocolate caffé mocha or a Venti peppermint soy extra-hot sugar-free cinnamon latte, Starbucks has to go and raise the stakes. The company that turned ordering a cup of coffee into an assault course of choice has announced it is extending its Seattle savvy into the music business.

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/ 14 March 2007

US, Britain decry crackdown in Zim

Britain called on Tuesday for a "very robust international response" against the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government for its brutal crackdown on the opposition. "The situation is appalling. I condemn last Sunday’s beatings and arrest of opposition leaders," junior Foreign Office Minister David Triesman.

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/ 14 March 2007

HIV/Aids barometer – March 2007

Tuberculosis cases are rising rapidly in the Mozambican coastal town of Beira, according to local doctors. The city of half a million, which is the capital of the country’s most HIV/Aids-affected province, logged 2 736 new TB cases last year, a 5% increase from 2005. ”.

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/ 13 March 2007

Cape Town stadium tender approved

A R2,1-billion contract for the construction of Cape Town’s 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium was on Tuesday awarded to a joint venture between Murray & Roberts and WBHO. The award, made by the city council’s bid adjudication committee, clears the way for the contractors to move on site.

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/ 13 March 2007

Confusion over ‘hostage’ drama

A misunderstanding led to media reports that five professors from the University of Pretoria were being held hostage at a bio-diesel plant in a village outside Mafikeng, police said on Tuesday. The professors had apparently gone to the plant in Tontonyane village to fetch trees for their research project when confusion ensued.