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/ 18 October 2005
Leading South African companies are world beaters in the profit stakes. The Cabinet was recently handed a document by the Department Trade and Industry, which calls for new interventions, including by the competition authorities, to lower prices charged by top corporations.
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/ 18 October 2005
Absa’s claim that it had no knowledge of irregular lending practices at its Zimbabwe associate, the Jewel Bank, is ”nonsense”, says a senior employee formerly stationed at the Harare bank. In August, reports revealed that the Jewel Bank, in which Absa has a 25% stake, had helped Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation acquire a stake in two privately owned newspapers.
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/ 18 October 2005
On paper, regional integration in Southern Africa has made advances — with countries being knit together by protocols and agreements of every stripe. It’s a pity there isn’t a similarly comprehensive network of roads and railways, say transport analysts — who point out that true regional integration will remain a pipe dream if goods cannot move efficiently between Southern African states.
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/ 18 October 2005
Only a handful of scientists have security clearance to access the laboratory at the United States government’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Before entering, they must pull on protective hoods, don breathing apparatus and pass through electronic fingerprint and retina scanners to prove their identity. Inside the lab lies a batch of a virus that more than justifies the extreme level of security.
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/ 18 October 2005
The Malawi Council of Churches has threatened to enter the country’s National Assembly draped in gowns to protest against opposition moves to impeach President Bingu wa Mutharika and to press politicians to focus on ”problems besetting the people”. It is estimated that up to 4,2-million Malawi citizens, of a population of 12-million, face serious food shortages.
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/ 17 October 2005
For the first time in history, the list used for naming tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean is running out of names. With the naming of Tropical Storm Wilma on Monday morning, the list of 21 names used this year has reached its end. Wilma is gathering strength and is expected to become a hurricane this week.
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/ 17 October 2005
One of 11 accused in a case possibly linked to the kidnapping of a young boy in Ennerdale, Johannesburg, was allegedly subjected to ”shock treatment” in prison near Cape Town at the weekend. Defence counsel Leigh Thompson, for accused Vernon Noel Victor, told the Cape High Court Victor needed urgent medical attention.
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/ 17 October 2005
There were conflicting reports of the success of a Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) call for a worker stayaway in Mpumalanga, the Free State and Northern Cape on Monday. Cosatu said the protest was a ”magnificent” success, while the South African Chamber of Business said its impact on businesses was hardly felt.
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/ 17 October 2005
Serbia’s royal family issued a statement in the style of a personal ad on Monday seeking local wives for its three unmarried princes. ”Princess wanted!” and ”How to become a princess in Serbia” read the headlines to the statement, in which Prince Peter (25) and his twin brothers Philip and Alexander (23) said they are ready to meet the loves of their lives.