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/ 31 January 2008
South African police have raided a church that was a sanctuary for Zimbabwean refugees, arresting scores of suspected illegal immigrants, the South African Broadcasting Corporation said on Thursday. The raid occurred at about midnight on Wednesday at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, which has become a virtual refugee camp for those fleeing Zimbabwe.
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/ 31 January 2008
A consortium that includes ANC investment company Chancellor House has signed another mega contract with Eskom, almost doubling the ruling party’s stake in — and expected profit from — the parastatal’s drive to build new power stations. Eskom’s five-year capacity expansion programme, designed to catch up with rising electricity demand and prevent further blackouts, has been ramped up and will now top R300-billion.
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/ 29 January 2008
It is critical that South Africans respond to the energy-saving proposals made by the government for industrial, commercial and residential consumers, the African National Congress (ANC) said on Tuesday. ”The success of the programme taken by the government … depends on the contribution of all South Africans and sectors,” the ANC said.
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/ 29 January 2008
Smoking a joint is equivalent to 20 cigarettes in terms of lung-cancer risk, scientists in New Zealand have found, as they warned of an ”epidemic” of lung cancers linked to cannabis. Studies in the past have demonstrated that cannabis can cause cancer, but few have established a strong link between cannabis use and the actual incidence of lung cancer.
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/ 29 January 2008
George Bush used his final State of the Union address on Monday night to try to reassert his primacy in American political life and demonstrate his commitment to Republican principles. The night was one of the few remaining moments in the national spotlight for the man overshadowed by the race to choose his successor.
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/ 29 January 2008
Accused French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel walked free after judges placed him under formal investigation on Monday for his role in $7-billion of losses at Société Générale but stopped short of charging him with fraud. Shares in the French bank took a battering as allegations emerged that a board member was guilty of insider trading related to the scandal.
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/ 28 January 2008
Serious concerns were raised in Davos last week about the ability of the Chinese government to spy on the country’s 500-million cellphone users. China’s biggest cellphone company stunned delegates by revealing that the company had unlimited access to the personal data of its customers and handed it over to Chinese security officials when demanded.
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/ 28 January 2008
African National Congress (ANC) premiers and mayors who refuse to take instructions from the organisation will be removed from their position, ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa said on Sunday. Phosa said there was no ANC leader who was above the organisation.
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/ 28 January 2008
It has come down to Obama versus Clinton in the key southern state of South Carolina — but the Clinton that Barack Obama is up against is Bill, not Hillary. She flew out of the state late on Monday night, heading for Washington and then west to California and Arizona, leaving her husband behind to slug it out with Obama in the tough and rumbustious southern state that goes to the polls on Saturday.
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/ 28 January 2008
One of Botswana’s best-kept secrets is out: the Okavango’s “green season” in the rainy summer months is simply spectacular. As the delta’s floodplains and waterways fill up with fresh water and lush greenery, the area explodes with new life. Breeding herds of elephant with tiny calves, wobbly legged baby giraffe and boisterous zebra foals are enough to turn even the most cynical heart to mush.