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/ 4 December 2007
Spain backed Britain on Tuesday in calling for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to stay away from a European Union-Africa summit in Lisbon this week. "We would all prefer that he does not take part because he will not bring much and he would be a media distraction," Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told reporters.
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/ 3 December 2007
Ali al-Nuaimi, the Oil Minister of Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) kingpin Saudi Arabia, said on Monday that it was premature to talk about a possible increase in crude production by the cartel. "Right now it will be very premature to tell you what the assessment is" of oil data, he said.
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/ 3 December 2007
Christmas is hectic for all but particularly for Santa, who must live in Kyrgyzstan and make his rounds at lightning speed if he is to deliver gifts to all the world’s children on time, a Swedish consultancy has concluded. Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Santa Claus’s route around the planet includes stops at 2,5-billion homes.
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/ 3 December 2007
Eskom’s residential customers might soon be charged according to the time of day, if a new electricity tariff is implemented. The new tariff will make electricity more expensive from 7am to 10am and from 6pm to 8pm and cheaper outside these periods. Time-of-use tariffs encourage customers to switch consumption to off-peak periods and reduce demand at peak times, reducing the likelihood of a power outage.
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/ 3 December 2007
A significant amount of resources has been channelled into Africa since the Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2001. Between 2000 and 2005 an estimated $97-billion has reached the continent through official development assistance. African governments themselves have set aside various percentages of their budgets for expenditure in priority sectors to effect positive change in the lives of the poor.
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/ 2 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>To say that the ANC Women’s League’s choice of presidential candidate leaves much to be desired would be a significant understatement. When the country’s most powerful women’s collective decides to back a man who has expressed some of the most irresponsible and retrograde views on women and sexuality, the rest of South Africa needs to ask some Âdifficult questions, writes Pumla Dineo Gqola.
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/ 2 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday that he would not rule out calling early general elections if he failed to win the leadership of the governing African National Congress (ANC) party. "I have not thought about that one [early poll]. We haven’t got there yet. I don’t know. It’s possible, it’s possible, yes indeed," he said in an interview.
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/ 2 December 2007
A court in southern Norway on Friday dismissed assault claims filed by an 82-year-old woman against a young man, finding instead that she had attacked him first, media reported. The woman had accused a 29-year-old man of causing her a painful injury when he violently twisted her arm during a parking dispute, the daily <i>Toensberg Blad</i> reported.
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/ 30 November 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>Nominations conferences in all provinces have reduced the contest for the African National Congress (ANC) leadership to a two-horse race. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> asked five senior ANC "elders" to comment on the provincial results, the party’s hardening divisions, and the potential fallout beyond Polokwane. Read Derek Hanekom’s contribution here.
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/ 30 November 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>Nominations conferences in all provinces have reduced the contest for the African National Congress (ANC) leadership to a two-horse race. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> asked five senior ANC "elders" to comment on the provincial results, the party’s hardening divisions, and the potential fallout beyond Polokwane. Read Kader Asmal’s contribution here.
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/ 30 November 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has asked for more worker leaders to be included in the Jacob Zuma lobby’s list of candidates for the African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee (NEC) because it believes Zuma alone will not change ANC policies in favour of the working class. Cosatu has made radical proposals to several ANC branches.
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/ 30 November 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>Nominations conferences in all provinces have reduced the contest for the African National Congress (ANC) leadership to a two-horse race. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> asked five senior ANC "elders" to comment on the provincial results, the party’s hardening divisions, and the potential fallout beyond Polokwane. Read Zola Skweyiya’s contribution here.
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/ 30 November 2007
The retail price of all grades of petrol will increase by 43 cents a litre on Wednesday December 5, the Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Friday. The latest changes bring the retail price of a litre of 95-octane unleaded petrol in Gauteng to R7,47 and to R7,23 at the coast — new highs.
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/ 30 November 2007
Dennis Davis reviews <i>Poverty and Fundamental Rights: The Justification and Enforcement of Socio-Economic Rights </i> by David Bilchitz.
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/ 30 November 2007
The Kremlin is planning to rig the results of Russia’s parliamentary elections on Sunday by forcing millions of public sector workers across the country to vote, the <i>Guardian</i> has reported. Local administration officials have called in thousands of staff on their day off in an attempt to engineer a massive and inflated victory for President Vladimir Putin.
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/ 30 November 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>With only two weeks left before the start of the ANC’s national conference, it is still unclear whether Jacob Zuma will contest the position of party president as a corruption accused or not. The NPA’s Zuma investigations team on Thursday presented a "final briefing" to acting NPA head Mokotedi Mpshe, who must now decide if he has enough evidence to recharge Zuma.
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/ 30 November 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>Nominations conferences in all provinces have reduced the contest for the African National Congress (ANC) leadership to a two-horse race. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> asked five senior ANC "elders" to comment on the provincial results, the party’s hardening divisions, and the potential fallout beyond Polokwane. Read Jeremy Cronin’s contribution here.
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/ 30 November 2007
Both Tito watchers and Ben watchers are expecting a change in interest rates. But while South African consumers are expecting another hike, United States consumers are expecting another cut. As a result, South Africa could attract interest from speculators wanting to take advantage of our higher rates, and could help to strengthen the rand.
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/ 29 November 2007
It’s a done deal. All the signs are there that Jacob Zuma will lead the African National Congress.
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/ 29 November 2007
The handover of a controversial report drawn up by an African Union watchdog into standards of governance in South Africa was postponed indefinitely on Thursday, officials said. President Thabo Mbeki was expected to have received the African Peer Review Mechanism report at a ceremony in Pretoria to which journalists had been invited.
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/ 29 November 2007
Standard Bank’s position as one of the world’s leading emerging markets banks was endorsed on Wednesday night with the company winning eight awards, including the prestigious Emerging Markets Bank of the Year, at <i>The Banker</i> awards of 2007.
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/ 29 November 2007
Whale curry made its debut as a takeaway business lunch in Tokyo on Thursday, attracting curious customers who seldom eat the meat amid an international row over hunting the giant mammals. Asian Lunch offered South Asian-style keema curry with ground whale in a first trial for the meat.
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/ 29 November 2007
Even if Thabo Mbeki wins the African National Congress (ANC) leadership at Polokwane — and this looks increasingly unlikely given the outcome of the provincial general councils last weekend — he will face a totally new power configuration after December 21.
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/ 28 November 2007
More than one billion trees have been planted around the world in 2007, with Ethiopia and Mexico leading in the drive to combat climate change, a United Nations report said Wednesday. The Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme said the mass tree planting will help mitigate effects of pollution and environmental deterioration.
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/ 28 November 2007
Japan’s future dentists may soon be able to better appreciate patients’ pain by training on a humanoid robot that can mumble "ouch" when the drill hits a nerve. The robot, resembling an attractive young woman with long black hair and a pink sweater, can also listen to instructions and react to pain by moving her eyes or hands.
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/ 28 November 2007
When patients hear they have Aids, their first reaction often is to think they have been given the death sentence. But, between the disease and dying lies a grey area, and that’s when palliative caregivers are most needed by patients. Palliative care aims to relieve the suffering and improve the quality of life of patients with life-threatening illnesses.
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/ 28 November 2007
Pay-TV newcomer Telkom Media has purchased a 49 percent shareholding in a Namibian free-to-air channel called One Africa Television. “Linking up with other free-to-air operators in Africa has benefits for advertisers as we are expanding the potential advertising customer base,” said Telkom Media CEO Mandla Ngcobo.<
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/ 28 November 2007
<i>The Media</i> magazine launches a brand-new website in January which is set to become the leading source of media news, debate and opinion. “TheMediaOnline will become the number one hub of information for our dynamic and fast-growing industry,” says Sandra Gordon, owner of Wag the Dog which publishes the monthly business-to-business magazine <i>The Media</i>.
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/ 28 November 2007
The Limpopo-based Capricorn FM went on air this week, one of three new radio stations that received their broadcasting licences earlier this year. “We’ve been doing test runs since last week and we officially launched at 6am on Monday morning,” said Capricorn FM marketing manager Jerry Ramodike.
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/ 27 November 2007
Three would-be immigrants from Morocco tried to row across the Strait of Gibraltar on a surfboard in rough seas before they were picked up by a passing ferry, a Spanish newspaper said on Tuesday. The ferry was 20 minutes out of the Moroccan port of Tangiers on November 20, according to a passenger, Miguel Marin, quoted by <i>El Mundo</i> newspaper.
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/ 27 November 2007
South African third-quarter growth rose to an annualised 4,7%, beating forecasts and backing the case for another interest-rate hike. Statistics South Africa on Tuesday said the annualised quarter-on-quarter growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) has increased to 4,7%, compared with a downwardly revised 4,4% in the second quarter of 2007.
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/ 27 November 2007
Equity markets in the emerging world have weathered the subprime credit crunch in developed markets more easily than any previous market turmoil, and are expected to remain a sought-after investment destination — if not a safe haven — for many years to come, according to the head of equity research at Old Mutual Investment Group South Africa.