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/ 5 July 2005

Africa’s private sector has ‘critical role’

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has recognised the critical role to be played by the private sector in combating poverty in Africa, while pledging to push for the "best possible package" for the continent during the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialised countries in Gleneagles, Scotland, set to begin on Wednesday.

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/ 5 July 2005

Aflease signs pre-merger agreement

Junior miner Aflease Gold and Uranium Resources (Aflease) and Southern Cross Resources on Tuesday announced that they have signed a definitive pre-merger agreement providing for the merger of the two companies. The combination is being done "at-market" based on the recent trading of both companies.

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/ 5 July 2005

Snow White and the seven kung fu monks

The Wicked Queen will not know what hit her. Snow White is about to be transformed into a martial arts epic with Shaolin monks replacing the seven dwarves of the original Grimm Brothers fairytale. Walt Disney is behind the kung fu retelling of its 1937 animated classic, which is part of an intensifying strategy to make inroads into the Chinese cinema market ahead of Hollywood rivals.

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/ 5 July 2005

Burst water pipe sends hundreds into the cold

A burst water pipe flooded 30 to 40 houses at Meredale, south of Johannesburg, early on Tuesday morning, according to Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley. ”Some houses are a metre deep in water,” he said. South African Broadcasting Corporation radio reports said that hundreds of people have been evacuated from the area.

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/ 5 July 2005

Homeless and hopeless in Zimbabwe

The giant prehistoric Balancing Rocks that stand 16km from the centre of Harare are one of the great symbols of Zimbabwe, etched on to banknotes and pictured in every tourist guide. Immediately across the road from the rocks is a new symbol of the nation, one that is unlikely to feature in any guidebook.

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/ 5 July 2005

Banishing the begging bowl

”There is a pain in the belly of Africa. It is gnawing at our development goals and undermining our economies; yet somehow it is getting forgotten. Hunger is the scourge of Africa and it is advancing, and consuming more lives today than ever before,” writes Nigerian President and chairperson of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Olusegan Obasanjo.

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/ 5 July 2005

MTN deal still on ice

Fourteen months after it was first announced, the sale of the government’s multibillion-rand stake in cellphone giant MTN to a black economic empowerment consortium has still not been sealed. The deal involving prominent businessman Sandile Zungu is still mired in controversy, including allegations of conflict of interest by a former leading executive.