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/ 22 December 2004
The value of South Africa’s information communications and technology (ICT) sector is estimated to have grown by 9,7% to R45,6-billion in 2004. It is expected to rise by 8,8% in 2005. Microsoft South Africa notes that salaries in the industry are almost five times higher than South Africa’s average salaries.
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/ 22 December 2004
An ex-mistress of Ray Charles agreed on Tuesday to be grilled by lawyers over her sexual history in a bid to establish whether her 17-year-old son is really the late soul legend’s child. But unemployed Mary Anne den Bok told a court on Tuesday that she regretted asking for a twentyfold increase in child support payments from Charles’s estate to at least  000 a month.
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/ 22 December 2004
Another youth has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 70-year-old Heidelberg farmer, East Rand police said on Wednesday. Superintendent Andy Pieke said the 16-year-old boy was arrested on Tuesday in the Ramaphosa squatter camp near Boksburg. He allegedly was in possession of a stolen television set.
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/ 22 December 2004
Johannesburg residents were still waiting for their water to be restored late on Tuesday night after 10-hour-long repairs to a burst pipe on the corner of Central and Ninth avenues in Houghton Estate. Although the problem had been resolved by 9pm, there would be no water until pressure in the pipe was restored — which could take until midnight, said Joburg Water company spokesperson Jameel Chand.
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/ 22 December 2004
Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip have adopted Star of David badges similar to those which Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis in the 30s in protest at Israel’s plan to evacuate them from their homes. Many of the settlers equate the prime minister, Ariel Sharon’s plans to evacuate the settlements next year with the Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis.
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/ 22 December 2004
"’Tis the season to be sleazy — er, I mean "merry" — so this week I’m doing my best to counteract all the unattainable illusions that the mass media are trying to make the public hope for over this festive season … I thought it’d be far more pleasant, sane and fun just to pander cheerfully to the prurient interest." Ian Fraser trawls the web.
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/ 22 December 2004
Opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs and swing bowler Charl Langeveldt are included in the 14-man squad for the second and third Castle Lager/MTN Tests against England announced on Wednesday. All-rounder Zander de Bruyn is the only member of the team that lost to England in the first Test to be dropped.
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/ 22 December 2004
Fifa was accused on Wednesday of being far too lenient by letting Spain off with just a fine and a warning for racist abuse by its fans. Spanish fans made monkey noises and hurled racist taunts at England’s black players during Spain’s 1-0 victory in a friendly in Madrid last month, a day after similar incidents at an under-21 game.
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/ 22 December 2004
The charity Save the Children said on Tuesday that it was withdrawing from Sudan’s Darfur region, because the worsening security situation made work too dangerous for its 350 staff. Four Save the Children workers have been killed in Darfur recently, including two last week whose vehicle was fired on in an attack blamed on rebels.
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/ 22 December 2004
Australia’s cricketers have praised England’s eighth consecutive Test victory, but say talk of breaking the Aussies’ Ashes supremacy is premature. England mastered South Africa by seven wickets in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday to eclipse the previous record for English consecutive Test wins, which had stood for 75 years.