Staff Reporter
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/ 26 February 2007

Teachers’ union: Pay offer ‘an insult’

A proposed pay increase of 4% to 5,3% offered to public servants is an insult, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said on Monday. ”This is an insult to public-service workers,” Sadtu president Willie Madisha — who is also the president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions — told a press conference on Monday.

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/ 26 February 2007

Rattray killer back in court

One of the men jailed for the January murder of KwaZulu-Natal historian David Rattray was back in the Dundee Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of armed robbery. This time Sibusiso Fethe Nkwanyana (23) faces charges in connection with a robbery at the Rorke’s Drift Museum on December 3 2006.

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/ 26 February 2007

Google launches online business software

Internet titan Google has begun selling an online suite of business software in a new challenge to software powerhouse Microsoft. "Google Apps Premier Edition" packages communication and collaboration programs that are hosted on the internet giant’s computers. They are available to use by businesses for a $50 (about R350) yearly fee.

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/ 26 February 2007

Research: YouTube fans want home-made video

Despite much public ado about piracy at YouTube, research released on Friday shows that the Google-owned website is thriving and many visitors are looking for home-made works. "It turns out a lot of the content people are seeking is user generated," Hitwise general manager of global research Bill Tancer said.

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/ 26 February 2007

KZN pupils go on the rampage

A KwaZulu-Natal schoolteacher was injured on Monday when about 200 pupils went on the rampage in protest against a school outing being cancelled. Pandemonium broke out during assembly at Nqantayi Secondary School, near Richard’s Bay. Later, the children hurled stones and planks at police after barricading themselves on the school grounds.

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/ 26 February 2007

Ugandan troops expected in Somalia

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on Monday said a deployment of Ugandan troops to Somalia, the first members of an 8 000-strong African Union peacekeeping force, should begin this week. "The AU is coming, the Ugandans are coming. My estimation is that they should be in Somalia for the first week of next month [which begins Thursday]," he said.

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/ 26 February 2007

Heatwave affects SA maize crop

Isolated drought conditions and the heatwave of the last 10 days in many parts of South Africa have affected the maize crop severely, said the general manager of Grain SA, John Purchase, on Monday. ”[With] the heat at 35 to 36 degrees Celsius daily, [or] even higher, there was no chance that maize crops could pollinate and produce,” said Purchase.