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/ 17 November 2006

Underachievers in for a hiding — again

As a fortnight of limited-overs spectacle dawns this weekend, one can’t help watching the newly arrived Indians with the grim, respectful pity usually displayed by onlookers in that part of the film where the dapper young engineer has drawn the short straw and must now leave his fiancée to fly into space where a comet and nuclear bomb have his name on them.

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/ 17 November 2006

A pack of Grecian statues

Jake White should have savoured the past six days. When he looks back on his career as Springbok coach it may turn out to have been the only time when the opposition coach was under more pressure than he. It is a nice irony, too, that White has spent the last week in the Georgian City of Bath, where England coach Andy Robinson once played his rugby.

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/ 17 November 2006

Kebble arrest: What now for Selebi?

The arrest of Glenn Agliotti on suspicion of murdering mining magnate Brett Kebble has opened perhaps the biggest can of worms in South Africa’s criminal history. The arrest could have grave implications for police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, who famously called Agliotti "my friend, finish and <i>klaar</i>".

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/ 17 November 2006

Cooldrinks lose their fizz

While the world worries about an oversupply of carbon dioxide, caused by increasing emissions, in South Africa we’ve almost run out of carbon dioxide (CO2) to put into soft drinks. The national CO2 shortage has in the past four weeks affected normal production of Coca-Cola brands, and it is likely to persist right into the new year.

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/ 17 November 2006

Ugandan peace talks limp along

Emerging from the bush wearing a bright yellow blouse and with a hoe in her hand, Bisatina Ayet explained that she grows food during the day in a garden near her current home, a camp for internally displaced persons in northern Uganda. At night, Ayet returns to sleep at the camp for fear of her safety. Countless communities in the north remain in a state of limbo as the peace negotiations between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan government continue.