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/ 9 November 2004

Enter the sea squirts

Researchers working off coastal Georgia have discovered what could be three new species of bottom-dwelling creatures known as sea squirts. The diminutive creatures — also known as tunicates — were recently found at Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, a reef 28km east of Georgia’s Sapelo Island.

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/ 9 November 2004

Oil price drop puts rate cut on table

New York Mercantile Exchange near-dated oil futures price has fallen below $50 per barrel and is currently trading at $49,13 per barrel, meaning that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) monetary policy committee meeting on December 8 and 9 could once again look at a further interest rate cut.

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/ 9 November 2004

Puritanism of the rich

If Bush wins," the United States writer Barbara Probst Solomon claimed just before the election, "fascism is possible in the United States." Blind faith in a leader, she said, a conservative working class and the use of fear as a political weapon provide the necessary preconditions. She’s wrong. So is Richard Sennett, who described Bush’s security state as "soft fascism" in <i>The Guardian</i> last month.

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/ 9 November 2004

Microsoft rethinks priorities

Microsoft said on Monday it has settled two major antitrust disputes, ending more than a decade of challenges and possibly undermining European and United States antitrust cases against the firm. Microsoft has agreed to pay -million to end the dispute over Netware with Novell, and has made peace with the hostile trade group, the Computer & Communications Industry Association.

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/ 9 November 2004

Amazon website suffers ‘a slowness’

Amazon.com said that its website experienced slowdowns for much of the day on Monday but was running normally by the evening. Spokesperson Patty Smith said the world’s largest internet retailer began experiencing ”a slowness” around 8.30am (4.30pm GMT), causing problems for some customers trying to access the website or buy items.

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/ 9 November 2004

Arafat in a deeper coma

The condition of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat deteriorated overnight and he is now in a deeper coma, the spokesperson for the French army medical service said on Tuesday. A delegation of four top Palestinians was set to visit Arafat in his Paris hospital on Tuesday, overriding objections from his wife, Suha.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=125192">Wife locks horns with leadership</a>

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/ 9 November 2004

Women’s revenge against rapists

Women from the slums in Nagpur in central India have attacked alleged rapists who they say are walking free from court, often with the connivance of the authorities. At the weekend a mob, dominated by 50 women and led by a rape victim, burnt down the houses of three alleged rapists who had reportedly attacked residents with impunity for months.