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/ 4 December 2006

Governor Grinch’s Xmas gift?

Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni’s Christmas present to South Africans will be money that costs more. Mboweni and the bank’s monetary policy committee meet on December 6 and 7 to decide on interest rates. Analysts say an interest rate hike of at least 50 basis points is a done deal, but retailers are gearing up for a record-breaking festive season.

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/ 4 December 2006

Is the Holcim deal that wholesome?

Being called a "hard-nosed sceptic" is one of the greatest compliments you can receive as a journalist or economic commentator. To be described thus by the president of the country is a rare honour — and I am not engaging in the searing sarcasm the president has visited on those he deems out of line.

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/ 4 December 2006

Good men who turn bad

A friend of mine called me from a police precinct the other day. He said it was the last call he was making before being locked up for domestic violence. He is a reasonable guy at the best of times. Never in the many years that I have known and socialised with him has he been violent, not even against other men.

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/ 4 December 2006

Lies, damn lies

”In the endgame,” said one of the world’s best-ever chess players, Jose Raul Capablanca, ”don’t think in terms of moves but in terms of plans.” The situation in Iraq is now unravelling into the bloodiest endgame imaginable. Both popular and official support for the war in those countries that ordered the invasion is already at a low and will only get lower.

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/ 4 December 2006

Al-Bashir’s number blunders

You have to hand it to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir — unlike most strongmen in the world, he at least has a sense of occasion. This week, while holding a live press conference from Sudan — with reporters from Washington, London, Paris, Moscow, Cairo, Beirut and Pretoria, who joined in by video link — he found it necessary to accuse ”the media [of] spreading false information”.

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/ 4 December 2006

Peak hopping ‘rampant’

The deaths of four French climbers who tried to scale a 7 242m Himalayan summit after crossing illegally into Tibet has highlighted the high-risk culture of ”peak hopping” in the growing adventure sport. The group had bought a relatively inexpensive permit for the 5 928m Mount Paldor, about 80km north of Kathmandu, which is described as a ”straightforward climb”.

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/ 4 December 2006

Chávez storms to re-election victory

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stormed to a re-election victory in Sunday’s vote, handing him an ample mandate to broaden his promised socialist revolution and challenge Washington’s influence in Latin America. Chávez told cheering supporters at his presidential palace late Sunday his landslide was a blow to United States President George Bush’s administration.

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/ 4 December 2006

Nato in the new world

Peace can never be taken for granted, and the first responsibility of any government is security. That is why France wishes to contribute to a political structuring of the world that averts perils. It wishes to help in the exercise of shared responsibility within the framework of strong, legitimate and accepted international institutions, writes Jacques Chirac, the president of France.