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/ 7 September 2004
The operating profit of petrochemical giant Sasol fell by 22% owing to the strength of the rand, the company said at its annual results presentation on Tuesday. The negative effect of the rand was cushioned by the beneficial high oil prices and management initiatives to streamline the business, Sasol chief executive Pieter Cox said.
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/ 7 September 2004
With a couple of days left before South African matriculants start their final examinations, a strike by public servants planned for September 16 could deal a heavy blow to examination preparations. Close to 400 000 public servants will embark on a one-day strike on September 16.
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/ 7 September 2004
Notwithstanding a 4% decline in group revenue, electronics group Grintek increased attributable earnings by 286% from R12,3-million to R47,5-million for the year to the end of June. Headline earnings for the 12 months rose by 131% from R22,9-million to R52,9-million.
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/ 7 September 2004
South Africa’s largest mobile telecommunications group, Vodacom, on Tuesday unveiled the country’s first initiative to make cellular communications accessible to all South Africans, especially people with disabilities. The phone enables blind people to access voice and text services via text-to-speech technology.
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/ 7 September 2004
Paris police have discovered an underground cinema — complete with projector, screen, seating and bar — which was set up in a disused quarry beneath the Trocadero in the capital’s plush 16th arrondissement, officials said on Tuesday. The chamber, situated about 20m below ground level, was fed by electricity stolen from power lines.
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/ 7 September 2004
He’s turned professional and achieved rock-star status among legions of fellow skateboarders. But even Rob Dyrdek sometimes has trouble finding legal places to do what he refers to as his ”job.” ”I get paid a ridiculous amount of money to do what I do, and I still have to run from cops and jump fences,” says Dyrdek, an Ohio native who now lives in San Diego, California.
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/ 7 September 2004
Floods unleashed by torrential rains have killed at least 114 people and left dozens more missing in southwestern China, prompting authorities to put the massive Three Gorges hydroelectric project on alert, officials reported on Tuesday. Authorities called in thousands of army and navy personnel to help after five days of continual downpours in Sichuan province.
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/ 7 September 2004
A con man who plastered tomato sauce to a bandage to fake a back injury and receive alms in Nairobi’s streets has been arrested, a Kenyan newspaper said on Tuesday. Gibson Ngige was arrested on Sunday and frogmarched to Nairobi’s railway police station along with two accomplices, who have been collecting about 1 500 shillings begging for money to pay for medical treatment.
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/ 7 September 2004
A chronic fuel shortage that has crippled Zimbabwe for the last three days will end ”within 48 hours,” the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said on Tuesday. The bank’s governor, Gideon Gono, said -million had been released to pay for desperately needed fuel already in Zimbabwe, but held in bond by oil companies.
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/ 7 September 2004
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday dismissed platinum producer Lonmin’s recent black economic empowerment deal as "fake". "This is a fake empowerment because the so-called stake is a debt that will be only liquidated in seven years. Our members are expected to work now and liquidate the debt for the benefit of future generations," said NUM Secretary General Gwede Mantashe.