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/ 9 November 2005

‘We hate France and France hates us’

They are gathered, as every night, on the edge of the car park at the foot of the block. Far enough into the shadows not to be easily seen; close enough to the stairwell to leg it inside if the police come near. Sylla, Sossa, Karim, Rachid, Mounir and Samir are the names they give. The oldest is 21, the youngest 15.

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/ 9 November 2005

Critics, rivals battle Google on digital library

Google’s plans for a virtual library of millions of digital books has sparked competing efforts by Microsoft, Yahoo! and Amazon, whose less ambitious plans could avoid infuriating copyright holders who have attacked Google. <i>Google Print</i>, which scans books and makes their texts available online for keyword searches, was launched this month with what the California company called only "a small fraction" of the 15-million titles it eventually hopes to digitally copy.

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/ 9 November 2005

Naked ambition

Ask a woman if she is ambitious and you either get a short, horrified ”no”, or a long speech in which the word is defined, redefined, qualified and explained. After a generation of women working outside the home, they are still squirming with embarrassment around an old problem — ambition.

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/ 9 November 2005

An uncomfortable ally

Governments across the Muslim world are irritated by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s forthright criticism of their lack of democracy and free speech, yet he is consulted by leaders such as President Bashar Assad of Syria and Moammar Gadaffi of Libya. His outspoken support for the Palestinians and defence of suicide bombing have led to a ban from the United States and could see him excluded from Britain under new anti-terror laws.

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/ 8 November 2005

DA says govt can’t enforce transformation in sport

The government’s proposed Sport Transformation Act was a political move that would do little for developing sport, the opposition Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. ”This proposed Act is purely a political move and will not help people on the ground. Government needs to take sport to the people instead of worrying about who plays for the Springboks,” said DA spokesperson Donald Lee.

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/ 8 November 2005

Commuters torch train in Vereeniging

Angered at the absence of trains in Vereeniging on Tuesday, commuters torched four carriages at the Residentia railway station, police said. No-one was injured in the attack, said Superintendent Maria Mazibuko.”The situation has been brought under control. Police are at the other stations to ensure that commuters are calm,” she said.