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/ 29 October 2004
The public protector ruled on Friday against a complaint that the Cabinet acted improperly when it approved the Department of Health’s plan for the treatment of HIV/Aids. This followed a complaint by Johannesburg woman Anita Allen, who said the assumption that HIV causes Aids has not been proved.
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/ 29 October 2004
NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Did we even need a remake? The 1970s original is not as obsolete as this dire film implies. Peter Bradshaw is unimpressed with the new Stepford Wives that vandalises a gutsy satirical classic.
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/ 29 October 2004
A Brazilian legislator wants to make it illegal to give pets names that are common among people. Federal congressman Reinaldo Santos e Silva proposed the law after psychologists suggested that some children may get depressed when they learn they share their first name with someone’s pet.
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/ 29 October 2004
Mobs of angry youths brandishing machetes, sticks and Kalashnikov rifles rampaged through Liberia’s war-shattered capital on Friday in a rare outbreak of Muslim-Christian violence, prompting the country’s leader to order an immediate round-the-clock curfew. At least three churches and two mosques were set ablaze.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-Africa&ao=124621">Riots rock Monrovia</a>
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/ 29 October 2004
Chocolate makers from as far away as Japan and New York have converged on Paris, seeking to carve out a niche in the French market at a five-day industry binge that runs until Monday. Tokyo’s Madame Setsuko, Kyoto’s Ponto and the assorted ”chocolatiers New Yorkais” are rubbing shoulders with European industry giants.
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/ 29 October 2004
The profession has worked hard to change its image in recent years, and now geishas are concerned that Steven Spielberg’s new movie may exploit them, writes Justin McCurry.
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/ 29 October 2004
The lizard biriani served on a Jet Airways flight in India proved just too spicy for a startled passenger who is taking the private carrier to court. The airline admitted in a statement published on Friday that it has launched an inquiry into how the two-inch lizard came to be cooked and served up to businessman Ashok Sharma.
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/ 29 October 2004
”No cigarettes please,” comes the request, ”as the smoke can interfere with our spirit photography.” It is nearly midnight, a few days before Halloween, in the self-styled most haunted city in Britain, and the ghost hunters are getting to work. York claims more spooks per square mile than anywhere else in the country, perhaps even Europe.
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/ 29 October 2004
South Africa will give consideration to reviewing its policy on the ownership by foreign interests of South Africa’s banks, says Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel. In Parliament, he said the current policy "is informed by the view that four major banks is the minimum number necessary to ensure a certain level of competition in the market".
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/ 29 October 2004
A British former MP left bankrupt and publicly disgraced just three years ago has recouped much of his riches by exploiting his notoriety in the world of show business, a report said on Friday. Neil Hamilton, who was left with debts of £3-million in mid-2001, has now bought a million-pound manor house.