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/ 21 November 2005
In a visit to Beijing that veered between the solemn and the slapstick, United States President George Bush worshipped at a state-run church in an appeal for China to grant greater religious freedom to its citizens. Reflecting the White House’s policy of cautious engagement, Bush’s lectures about human rights were mixed with entreaties to Chinese President Hu Jintao for greater economic cooperation.
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/ 21 November 2005
Ariel Sharon, Israel’s Prime Minister, has decided to leave the Likud party he founded and force new elections, it was reported in Israeli media on Sunday night. His decision which has been the subject of months of speculation will send a shockwave through Israeli politics and precipitate elections in March.
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/ 21 November 2005
Bigger even than Old Mutual, the government-controlled Public Investment Corporation now owns more than one in every 10 shares on the JSE. It has R460-billion in assets under management and is the country’s largest single investor. Yet its investment policies, largely in the "hot" areas of bonds and blue chip equities, appear conservative, to say the least.
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/ 21 November 2005
Inequality matters. It is often thought that only absolute poverty is important and that if all members of society have a minimum standard of living, the relative distribution of wealth is of no consequence. However, inequalities in income, wealth and opportunity have been found to lead to political instability.
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/ 21 November 2005
I was dropped at Paradiso, the last middle-class area before barrio La Vega, which spills into a ravine as if by the force of gravity. Storms were forecast, and people were anxious, remembering the mudslides that took 20Â 000 lives. "Why are you here?" asked the man sitting opposite me in the packed jeep-bus that chugged up the hill.
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/ 21 November 2005
Kenya’s 11,5-million registered voters go to the polls on Monday in the 42-year-old republic’s first referendum. But the economic hub of East Africa is tense ahead of the ballot on a controversial draft Constitution. Police have shot dead at least 10 people during violent protests against the document in the weeks leading up to the plebiscite.
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/ 21 November 2005
With just more than a week to the controversial Senate elections in Zimbabwe, there is little sign of campaigning or of the traditional acrimonious exchange that normally occurs between the ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
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/ 21 November 2005
He says a conservative strategy has driven the group’s success, but what does Kagiso Media’s CEO Roger Jardine think about the view that his radio stations enjoy an entrenched monopoly and world-beating margins? And will Kagiso be going after the new commercial licences?
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/ 21 November 2005
Burn the textbooks. Forget that fuddy-duddy stuff about demand and supply. Blow a raspberry at economic theory. That, apparently, is the message being sent out by the foreign exchange markets, where the dollar reached a two-year high against the euro and the yen recently.
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/ 21 November 2005
The Ekurhuleni Metro will become the sixth municipality to receive a credit rating, a tool that will assist it in raising additional finance, through loans or even muni-cipal bonds, under the Municipal Finance Management Act. In October, Cape Town was rated "positive" with A+ long-term and A1 short-term ratings by CA Ratings, risk analysts in the municipal area.