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/ 14 February 2005

JSE’s Yield-X ready to roll

The JSE Securities Exchange’s (JSE) new interest-rate exchange, Yield-X, will start trading on February 28 this year, the JSE said on Monday. In October last year, the JSE announced that it would launch a new interest-rate platform to trade a broad spectrum of interest-rate products, with a focus on derivatives.

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/ 14 February 2005

Mbeki orders probe into the Scorpions

President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday that he would appoint a commissioner to investigate the possibility of incorporating the Scorpions into the South African Police Service. The commissioner will determine the structure and what should happen to the elite law enforcement arm of the National Prosecuting Authority.

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/ 14 February 2005

‘Goodbye, Unca Tony!’

My father, Todd Matshikiza, who was known at times to be a difficult and suspicious person, in true Xhosa spirit, nevertheless opened his heart without reserve to people he grew to trust. Anthony Sampson was one of those, and the friendship between them, starting with a collaboration in the early years of Drum magazine, was something that bordered on love.

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/ 14 February 2005

California’s ‘Sideways’ trail

Sideways is a fine movie about mid-life humiliation and vineyards. So much so that it’s been shortlisted for a best-picture Oscar. This is how my wife and I found ourselves driving up the 101 freeway from Los Angeles to the Santa Ynez valley, where most of the movie is set. But we were in search of something that fans of Sideways might overlook …

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/ 14 February 2005

SA victory ‘very sweet’

Although South Africa were disappointed to lose the Test series against England, a four-one victory in the one-day series was ”very sweet” said South African captain Graeme Smith after his team wrapped up the seventh Standard Bank match by three wickets on Sunday.

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/ 14 February 2005

Death toll mounts in Pakistan after second dam burst

Pakistani rescue teams battled against multiple disasters over the weekend as the death toll from a week of blizzards and torrential rainfall climbed to more than 360. A second dam ruptured in Baluchistan province on Sunday, killing seven people, after at least 135 died and up to 1 500 were still missing when the Shadikor dam burst over several coastal towns on Thursday.

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/ 14 February 2005

Iraq’s Shias in landmark poll victory

Iraq’s Shia Muslims sealed their historic political ascendancy on Sunday night when they won just under half of the votes in the country’s landmark multiparty elections, giving the long-oppressed majority its first taste of power in decades. Final results from the January 30 ballot released on Sunday showed the Shias won more than four million votes, or about 48% of those cast.

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/ 14 February 2005

Scientists urge calm over fears of new HIV strain

HIV and Aids scientists and advisers on both sides of the Atlantic urged caution on Sunday over suggestions that a new fast-acting strain of the HIV virus resistant to most anti-retroviral drugs had emerged in New York. Thomas Friedman, the city’s health commissioner, said on Friday the strain might be ”difficult or impossible to treat”.

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/ 14 February 2005

Iran row clouds defence summit

Tensions between the United States and Europe over the conduct of the ”war on terror” — in particular, how to stop Iran building nuclear weapons — spilled over on Sunday at a high-level security conference. Sharp differences were exposed and even the usefulness of Nato was questioned.