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/ 15 August 2006

Breast implants save woman after Hezbollah attack

One Israeli woman has received an unexpected boost from her breast implants during the Lebanon war — the silicone embeds saved her life during a Hezbollah rocket attack, a doctor said on Tuesday. "It’s a fact that the silicone implants prevented her from a more serious and deeper wound," Jacky Govrin, of the hospital in Nahariya that treated the woman, told army radio.

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/ 15 August 2006

Windfall tax would ‘hamstring’ Sasol

South African petrochemicals group Sasol on Tuesday argued that a windfall tax on the company would not achieve sustainably lower fuel prices but would "hamstring a South African company against its multinational competitors". The group was presenting oral evidence to a special task team appointed by the National Treasury.

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/ 15 August 2006

SA, Zim and Mozambique open new border post

The presidents of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique will on Wednesday open a new border crossing to link a giant transnational game park. South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki will join Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe and Mozambican President Armando Guebuza to "officially open the Giriyondo border post in Limpopo", the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

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/ 15 August 2006

SA petrol price: Good news in store?

The Department of Minerals and Energy could implement a retail petrol-price cut of 32c per litre (c/l) on September 6 2006, provided the daily over-recovery remains at or above the August 14 level. South Africa’s daily unleaded petrol-price over-recovery soared to 51,158 c/l on August 14 from only 21,136 c/l on August 9.

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/ 15 August 2006

Happy 10th birthday!

Congratulations to the Teacher on walking for 10 years now — this is a baby that grew up fast! We need papers like yours if education is to play the central role that it should in South Africa’s growth and development. You not only cast a critical eye on the shortcomings and problems in our schools and other institutions, but you stimulate a debate about what should be done.

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/ 15 August 2006

Credit cop to the rescue

Government didn’t need to look very far to appoint a new chief executive for the National Credit Regulator (NCR). As head of the former Microfinance Regulatory Council, now the NCR, Gabriel Davel has been regulating credit providers since 2000, and is a chartered accountant who chose to specialise in financial regulation and development finance.

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/ 14 August 2006

DA calls on Erwin to apologise over Koeberg

Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin "must apologise publicly" for misleading the South African public about sabotage at Koeberg power station, says the official opposition Democratic Alliance. Minerals and energy spokesperson Hendrik Schmidt said in a statement on Monday that this week he would introduce a motion in Parliament to censure Erwin "for this gross lack of discretion".

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/ 14 August 2006

Olympics to set off boom in Chinese flat-screen sales

The Beijing Olympics will lead to a boom in sales of flat-screen televisions in China, with one in four televisions sold in 2008 either a liquid-crystal display (LCD) or plasma, a Japanese study said on Monday. Only 10% of the 42-million colour televisions sold in China last year was an LCD or plasma, said a study by the economic research firm Fuji Keizai.

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/ 14 August 2006

SABMiller completes McKenzie River transaction

SABMiller on Monday announced the completion of the acquisition of the Sparks and Steel Reserve brands from United States contract brewing partner McKenzie River Corporation. Following approval from US antitrust authorities, SABMiller assumes ownership of the brands and related trademarks for the caffeinated malt beverage franchise Sparks and leading high-gravity lager Steel Reserve.

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/ 14 August 2006

We all come from the same root

For a monk the late Father Trevor Huddleston certainly seems to have sown a lot of wild oats in his early days. He might not have left his physical resemblance lying around the African continent, like many missionary forbears, but he sure left a lot of mothers certain that they did not want their first-born sons named after anyone but him. That, and the good works he left behind, are part of his huge legacy.

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/ 14 August 2006

Congo hopefuls consider coalitions

As officials sweat over auditing the results of the presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the politicians stay on familiar, albeit treacherous ground. They share the curious quality of public representatives who, until July 30, had never faced an electorate. But this does not make them any less adroit than more conventional politicians at the bluff and double bluff of building coalitions.

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/ 11 August 2006

Beijing shoots down plan to send ashes into space

The Beijing city government has turned down an undertaker’s application to send human ashes into space, state media said Friday. A funeral home’s proposal to charge 100 000 yuan ($12 500) each for sending two clients’ ashes into space was turned down on the grounds that there was no law regulating space burials, Xinhua news agency reported.

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/ 11 August 2006

Can he be Cosatu’s king?

Silumko Nondwangu, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, has emerged as a strong candidate to challenge the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, at the federation’s conference next month. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> understands some union leaders are pushing for Nondwangu to stand against Vavi.

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/ 11 August 2006

Paedophile priests’ victims slam Napier

The president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference, Cardinal Wilfred Napier, offered to pay for psychological therapy for a woman allegedly raped by a Catholic priest when she was a child. There was a sting in the tail, however. If she accepted, she would forfeit her right to make any future claims against the church.

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/ 11 August 2006

October’s forthcoming attractions

<b>MOVIE MONTHLY:</b> Along with summer, things are hotting up at the cinema this month: Matt Damon’s back in the sequel to the <i>Bourne Identity</i> — another thriller that’s bound to keep you on the edge of your seat. Tom Cruise indulges in some risky business as a hit man in <i>Collateral</i>, and Julie-Anne Moore delivers a memorable performance in <i>The Forgotten</i>.

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/ 11 August 2006

Enough to make a dog laugh

There are those who refer to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, as the United States President, George Bush’s poodle. When you reflect on how faithfully Blair obeys the regular choke-chain training he’s received from the White House, it’s not hard to understand why he’s seen as a submissive dog. But why drag in the fine poodle breed?

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/ 11 August 2006

Happy birthday, dear PC

"IBM Corporation today announced its smallest, lowest-priced computer system — the IBM Personal Computer," ran the press release 25 years ago. "Designed for business, school and home, the easy-to-use system sells for as little as $1 565. It offers many advanced features and, with optional software, may use hundreds of popular application programs."

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/ 11 August 2006

More than just a jol

Any excuse for a jol and a South African will be there. Women’s Day is following suit. There were fashion shows, concerts, club nights with female DJs, you name it. Soon we will have kitsch cards, balloons and discounts for restaurant chains. That’s fine — it means the day is being institutionalised. But what we should not forget is that the day is one on which to mark progress on the woman’s road to equality and freedom.

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/ 11 August 2006

From ‘swart gevaar’ to ‘vrou gevaar’

Over the past 12 years we have, as a nation, made quantitative and qualitative advances towards a truly democratic and non-patriarchal society. South African women constitute 41% of the Cabinet, 50% of the Presidency, 33% of the National Assembly (women also serve as the speaker and deputy speaker of that body) and 44% of premiers.

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/ 10 August 2006

UK bomb plot had ‘global dimensions’

United Kingdom police on Thursday foiled a plot to blow up aircraft in mid-flight between Britain and the United States, and were holding 21 people after overnight raids, senior officers said. Unconfirmed media reports said anywhere from six to 10 US commercial airliners had been targeted in the plot, which police said had "global dimensions".

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/ 10 August 2006

Liberty reports 34% leap in earnings

Life assurance and financial services group Liberty on Thursday reported a 34% leap in headline earnings per share from 303,4 cents to 407,2 cents for the six months to the end of June. The group declared an interim dividend per share of 140 cents compared with 126 cents for the previous comparative period.