Staff Reporter
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/ 28 February 2007

Obese British child can stay with family

An eight-year-old British boy who weighs 90kg will be allowed to stay with his mother after social workers decided against taking him into care on Tuesday. Connor McCreaddie, whose diet is largely made up of junk food such as chips and curry, faced being looked after by North Tyneside Council in north-east England.

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/ 27 February 2007

Uncovering the coverage of crime

Have the media been riding a crime wave, or have they been creating it? And what part should the press play? In the government’s view, crime coverage is either misplaced or making mischief (akin to First National Bank). Officials believe the press is playing up perceptions that the state is unwilling or unable to stop the scourge.

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/ 27 February 2007

Car bomb kills children in west Iraq

A car bomb exploded next to a football pitch in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Tuesday, killing 18 children aged between 10 and 15, an Iraqi defence official told the media. The car was parked near the pitch and detonated as the youngsters played nearby, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity a day after a suicide car-bomb attack blamed on al-Qaeda killed 15 people in the same city.

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/ 27 February 2007

Concern over violation of Manto’s rights

The disregard for Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s right to privacy is cause for deep concern, the Registrar of the Health Professions Council of South Africa said on Tuesday. Registrar Boyce Mkhize voiced his concern about the ”indiscriminate insensitivity and wanton disregard” of the minister’s rights.

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/ 27 February 2007

Competition sees low-cost air travel take off

Business in low-cost air travel appears to have boomed in the months since the airlines concerned embarked on a no-holds-barred tariff war. On Tuesday kulula.com announced that it would be replacing its entire fleet of aircraft by the end of the year with new Boeing 737-400 aircraft, adding 160 000 additional seats to the market a year.

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/ 27 February 2007

AA predicts increase in petrol price

Motorists should expect toll fees and the petrol price to increase in March, said the Automobile Association (AA) on Tuesday. Toll-road fees would increase by 5% to 6% while the petrol price was expected to go up by 20c to 25c per litre, said AA spokesperson Petro Kruger. Diesel would probably increase by 10c to 15c per litre.