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/ 18 January 2007
The National Taxi Alliance (NTA) would take legal action to stop the recapitalisation programme, the organisation decided on Thursday. If this failed, the NTA’s members would go on strike, its president, Sicelo Mabaso, told a meeting of NTA affiliates in Johannesburg.
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/ 18 January 2007
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has said for the first time she is being racially abused in a British reality TV show, which has sparked protests in London and New Delhi and damaged Britain’s image of tolerance. Shetty and her fellow contestants on Celebrity Big Brother are oblivious to the international row that has erupted over her treatment.
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/ 18 January 2007
The Iraqi government on Thursday rejected as ”superficial” and ”unprofessional” a United Nations report this week that said 34 000 civilians were killed in Iraq last year, but it did not directly reject the figure itself. Spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh also criticised a UN call for protection for homosexuals, who say they are targeted by Islamic militants.
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/ 18 January 2007
Truckers and others working in the road-freight industry could go on strike soon, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) warned on Thursday. Satawu spokesperson Ronnie Mamba said negotiations with road-freight sector employers had collapsed.
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/ 18 January 2007
Michael Mbanjwa made history on Thursday in the first stage of this year’s edition of the Hansa Powerade Dusi canoe marathon when he placed first. This makes history as he is the first black paddler to ever win the first stage of the three-day event.
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/ 18 January 2007
The amount of nicotine that smokers typically inhale per cigarette rose by 11% from 1998 to 2005, perpetuating a ”tobacco pandemic” that makes it harder for smokers to quit, a Harvard study said on Thursday. To boost amounts of nicotine inhaled by smokers, cigarette makers intensified the concentration of nicotine in their tobacco and modified cigarette designs.
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/ 18 January 2007
Fancy a new quad bike, a laptop with printer, television, hi-fi, DVD player, camera, home theatre system, PlayStation, Xbox 360, skottel braai, pair of sunglasses or Game shopping vouchers? In the rush to capture new cellphone customers in the saturated South African market, operators and service providers are bundling expensive free gifts with contracts to entice new subscribers.
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/ 18 January 2007
The lights went out in several parts of South Africa on Thursday morning as Eskom carried out load-shedding as its capacity was stretched by a surprise surge in consumption. Power plants failed, including Koeberg nuclear power station’s unit one, when the turbine tripped at 2.18am. ”There is a national alert,” said Eskom spokesperson Tony Stott.
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/ 18 January 2007
Zimbabwe’s refusal to renew the passport of newspaper owner Trevor Ncube — publisher of the Standard and the Zimbabwe Independent in that country and the Mail & Guardian in South Africa — is an assault on his freedom of expression and movement, the Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum said on Thursday.
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/ 18 January 2007
A prisoner’s empty eye socket and dead birds filled with methamphetamine have been used in some of the more unusual attempts to smuggle drugs to prisoners in New Zealand, a report said on Wednesday. Previous attempts included throwing tennis balls or fruit containing drugs over prison walls.