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/ 4 November 2004

Dalai Lama: ‘I’m not seeking independence’

Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, told a news conference in Johannesburg on Thursday he is eager to go to China — where he last visited 50 years ago — and stressed that Beijing has failed to understand that he has dropped demands for independence. The leader sidestepped questions on the United States elections.

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/ 4 November 2004

Arafat in intensive care

Yasser Arafat’s condition has suddenly worsened and he is in intensive care undergoing a new round of tests, Palestinian officials in France said on Thursday. Israeli media, citing Israeli intelligence officials, said the Palestinian leader had suffered organ failure and was going in and out of consciousness as his condition seriously deteriorated.

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/ 4 November 2004

FirstRand BEE transaction at advanced stage

South African banking group FirstRand announced on Thursday that black economic empowerment (BEE) groupings will acquire 10% of the group. A binding memorandum of understanding has been entered into with BEE partners and discussions with a number of third-party funders are at an advanced stage, it said.

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/ 4 November 2004

SA maths test scores ‘near worst in world’

Matric results in mathematics, so poor they are a ”crisis of performance”, remain as a legacy of apartheid, a forthcoming publication has found. Focusing on maths, because of the range of career choices it provides, Professor Servaas van der Berg looked at an education system that by world and African standards is a poor performer.

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/ 4 November 2004

Harmony plans cost-cutting at Gold Fields

World number-six gold miner Harmony on Thursday announced details of its proposed cost-saving measures, which it said will deliver at least R1-billion a year in improved pre-tax operating profit at Gold Fields’ South African operations. Harmony will do this through applying the "Harmony way".

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/ 4 November 2004

Warplanes bomb large Côte d’Ivoire city

Government warplanes bombed the largest city in Côte d’Ivoire’s rebel-held north on Thursday in what a government military commander said was the launch of a new offensive to reunite the war-divided nation. The raid threatened to restart Côte d’Ivoire’s civil war, ended by a 2003 peace deal after nine months of fighting.