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/ 24 February 2005
It is easy to be blasé about the Budget and label it ”boring” — but we shouldn’t. Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has once again announced major increases in spending, symbolically important tax cuts and a reduced budget deficit — the headline measure of sound fiscal management.
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/ 23 February 2005
Some investigative reports are excellent, and have made a major contribution to the cause of holding public officials accountable. Others range from the so-so to the completely dodgy. To help tell one from the other, here is a readers’ guide to the good, the bad and the ugly of investigative journalism.
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/ 23 February 2005
The European Union threatened on Wednesday to slap unspecified ”measures” on the West African nation of Togo, where Faure Gnassingbe has been installed as President by the army. The EU said it fully supports efforts aimed at restoring ”constitutional order and the democratic process” to Togo.
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/ 23 February 2005
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The tobacco industry has reacted with mixed feelings to Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s announcement on Wednesday of an increase of 7,5% and 14,9% in tobacco tax, saying the increase will add to the attractiveness of South Africa as a target market for groups who deal in counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes.
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/ 23 February 2005
Freezing temperatures and heavy rain continued to hamper the efforts of rescue and relief workers on Wednesday in Iran’s quake-stricken Kerman province. The death toll has been raised to 450 but was expected to exceed 500 on Wednesday as rescue workers cleared debris and recovered more bodies.
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/ 23 February 2005
Demonstrators pulled a float portraying a prisoner being beaten at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison through the German city of Mainz on Wednesday, part of a protest by several thousand people against visiting United States President George Bush. Police said about 5 000 people turned out for the rally and parade.
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/ 23 February 2005
Beleaguered Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia’s future was on the line Wednesday as he shied away from a vote in Parliament on his prospective Cabinet, which has already begun to unravel. Barely an hour before MPs were to begin a session to vote on his ministerial team, a legislative council spokesperson announced that the meeting was off.
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/ 23 February 2005
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The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) says it is happy with the amount Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel set aside for HIV/Aids on Wednesday but worries about whether it will be spent properly. The total budget for fighting HIV/Aids will rise in the coming year to about R4,3-billion, a rise of about R1-billion over current spending.
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/ 23 February 2005
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There has been a 76% increase over the past three years in the number of people receiving disability and care dependency grants in the Eastern Cape, according to the Budget Review tabled by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel at Parliament on Wednesday.