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/ 13 February 2008
Verita Bouvaire Thompson, the reputed long-time mistress and confidante of Humphrey Bogart, has died. She was 89. In 1982, Thompson wrote a revelatory book called Bogie and Me: A Love Story in which she described a 14-year secret love affair with Bogart that overlapped his marriage to Lauren Bacall.
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/ 13 February 2008
Aviation pioneer Frank Piasecki, inventor of the tandem-rotor helicopter used in troop-transport missions and land and sea rescue flights, has died. He was 88. Igor Sikorsky became the first American to build and fly a helicopter, in 1941, and Piasecki became the second, in 1943.
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/ 13 February 2008
Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson will replace Paul Harris in the South African squad to tour Bangladesh, Cricket South Africa (CSA) said on Wednesday. A CSA statement said Harris would miss the tour because of an abscess that required surgery. ”Robbie has shown excellent form in the SuperSport Series,” selection chief Joubert Strydom said in the statement.
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/ 13 February 2008
The Department of Home Affairs expects to introduce the proposed new smart-card identity document (ID) to the general public within two years, it said on Wednesday. The card will replace the old ID, which is prone to fraud. The new ID will be much more difficult to forge.
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/ 13 February 2008
At least 284 schools in the greater Durban region owe the eThekwini Water Department over R5-million for unpaid water and electricity. eThekwini water and sanitation head, Neil Macleod, said none of the schools in question had their water or electricity supply disconnected because of the arrears.
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/ 13 February 2008
The Presidency said on Wednesday that it would have to consult President Thabo Mbeki before commenting on a report quoting former ambassador to France Barbara Masekela. In the report, Masekela is quoted as saying she had arranged a meeting between Mbeki and an arms company that is the co-accused in Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial.
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/ 13 February 2008
Negotiators have struck a deal to release two CBS News journalists missing, believed kidnapped, in Iraq and they could be free in hours, a leading Shi’ite militia group and the United States military said on Wednesday. Police in Basra said the men, a British journalist and an interpreter, were seized from a city centre hotel.
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/ 13 February 2008
A forensic expert told the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday that some of the accused in the Jeppestown massacre trial — who tested positive for gunshot primer residue — either discharged a firearm or were within two metres from where it had been discharged.
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/ 13 February 2008
Steve Goodwin, the man who has been described as the real founder of Fidentia, has been named repeatedly in a draft indictment against J Arthur Brown. The 38-page document was handed over by prosecutors this week when Brown and the suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority, Piet Bothma, appeared briefly in court.
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/ 13 February 2008
The MD of Standard and Poor’s (S&P) South Africa, Konrad Reuss, said on Wednesday that some of the recent pessimism in South Africa is completely overdone and that he does not feel the country is going to dip into a recession. South Africa currently has a "stable" foreign-currency rating by S&P.