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/ 8 September 2004
The United States army is preparing to abandon a contract with Halliburton, the company formerly run by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, which has been investigated for allegedly overcharging it. The contract to provide housing, food and other services to US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, potentially worth -billion, is expected to be broken into smaller parts and opened to competitive bids in the next few months.
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/ 8 September 2004
Dramatic images of life inside the gym during the hostage-taking at middle school one in Beslan were shown on Tuesday night by the Russian television station NTV for the first time. The images show a room packed with about 1 000 hostages, including men, women and children. Barely a square metre of the gym appears to be empty and the hostages are seen fanning themselves in the heat.
Thousands protest outside Kremlin
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/ 8 September 2004
The advertising and propaganda exercise known as "the Olympics" has come and gone, and reinforced the totally artificial and nonexistent illusion called "patriotism" yet again. So what could be more fun than looking at a collection of evil pictures that tend to show the Olympic athletes looking like retards? I’m there …
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/ 8 September 2004
Countdown 2015: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All — a conference that wrapped up in London last week — was awash with enlightening and frightening statistics. One statistic had particular resonance, however –namely that men in sub-Saharan Africa only have access to an average of three condoms a year. This is despite the fact that condoms cost, on average, about three cents a unit.
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/ 8 September 2004
Lesbianism in South Africa is a bit like a crazy and eccentric old auntie we tolerate because of the equality clause, and whom we keep at a safe distance, in case people think queerness runs in the family. The broader political issues about what it means to be a woman who loves women — in theory and in sexual practice — never seem to get a look in because of the feverish curiosity around what lesbians do in bed.
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/ 8 September 2004
Poor rural migrants have become like characters in the folk-tales they no longer tell their children: fleeing the countryside to escape the evil spirits of want and poverty, they find the old enemies lying in wait for them in the urban slums that are their destination. Global poverty is in flight from rural areas and rushing headlong to the cities.
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/ 8 September 2004
Medical aid schemes have reached a settlement with the Competition Commission over price fixing, under which they will pay a R500 000 ”administrative penalty”. The Board of Healthcare Funders — an association of medical aid schemes — said on Wednesday it would cease publishing a recommended scale of benefits or other forms of pricing guideline.
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/ 8 September 2004
The United States presidential campaign points to the severe democratic deficit in the world’s most powerful state. Americans can choose between major-party candidates who were born to wealth and political power, attended the same elite university, joined the same secret society that instructs members in the style and manners of the rulers, and can run because they are funded by the same corporate powers, writes Noam Chomsky.
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/ 8 September 2004
A Vanderbijlpark man arrested under laws governing weapons of mass destruction unexpectedly withdrew his application for bail in the Vanderbijlpark Regional Court on Wednesday. Johan Meyer was arrested last week under the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and the Nuclear Energy Act.
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/ 8 September 2004
Andy Robinson made his pitch to become England’s next full-time head coach by insisting the champions could do what no side has done before and successfully defend the World Cup in France in 2007. Robinson is currently acting England head coach following the resignation of Clive Woodward last week.