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/ 3 February 2006
Land reform and land restitution are critical to the transformation of South African society and accordingly, the state will play a more central role in the land reform programme ensuring that the restitution programme is accelerated, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.
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/ 3 February 2006
New Zealand vintage car enthusiasts have hired 40 karate experts to keep parrots away from their valuable cars during an upcoming rally. New Zealand’s native kea mountain parrots have a reputation for ripping out rubber and just about anything else that isn’t welded on to cars with their strong beaks.
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/ 3 February 2006
The current Kenyan government was elected in response to election promises that it would put a stop to the runaway corruption, shameless nepotism and dire lack of efficiency of the Arap Moi administration. Documents released last week gave credence to the rumours that the new Kenyan government’s cupboard is even dingier than its predecessor’s.
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/ 3 February 2006
The Presidency is finely balanced between strength and weakness as the State of the Nation address is delivered.
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/ 3 February 2006
President Thabo Mbeki presents an extraordinary State of the Nation address this year: he is politically weaker than he has ever been, and paradoxically, because of the economy, stronger too. In this context, he should ditch the usual format of his address, lose the PowerPoint presentation of numbers of homes electrified, jobs created and promises kept to focus on the genuine state of the nation.
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/ 3 February 2006
The manne would like to congratulate African National Congress Youth League President Fikile Beebopaloola on his unanimous re-election as President of the International Union of Socialist Youth at its congress in Denmark a fortnight ago. They would also like to ask him if this august appointment is what’s persuaded him to start using the royal plural in his online briefies.
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/ 2 February 2006
"Nothing, my life is not about could haves and would haves, it’s about learning from the past and making the best of whatever situation I am in." Gidon Novick, who founded no-frills airline kulula at the age of 32, believes in the power of compounding and giving to charities.
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/ 2 February 2006
The basic reason for investing is to get a decent return — to make your money work for you. It is the only way to increase your wealth, especially if you are on a fixed salary. You want to be rewarded for not spending the money today and putting it away for the future. Sometimes taking no risk can be the biggest risk of all.
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/ 2 February 2006
We trust that you will enjoy our new section, M&G Money. It is an easy-to-read personal finance section, written for you, not for fund managers or for CEOs.
It is your section and in time we hope to grow the Money forum so that it is a section that is closely edited with your problems and success stories forming its core.
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/ 2 February 2006
New vehicle sales by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) members increased by 20,3% year-on-year (y/y) in January to 48Â 855 units. A further 4Â 950 units were sold by a non-Naamsa members for an overall increase of 22,7% y/y.
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/ 2 February 2006
"I will be retrenched in the next few months. My company will pay me a package of three months’ salary and my pension fund. How should I invest this and is there any tax relief for people who have been retrenched?" Jenny Gordon, senior legal adviser at Old Mutual Personal Finance Marketing, tackles this topic.
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/ 1 February 2006
Google said on Tuesday that fourth-quarter profits surged 82%, but its shares took a battering in after-hours trading because the figure was below Wall Street expectations. Google’s earnings were hurt by a higher-than-expected tax rate, sending its shares plunging as much as 19% in after-hours trading.
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/ 1 February 2006
Campaigns to fight HIV/Aids often focus on the "ABC" strategy — or Abstinence, Be faithful and use Condoms. However, on the ultra-conservative, predominantly Muslim island of Zanzibar, condoms remains taboo and is rarely incorporated into public awareness messages.
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/ 1 February 2006
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has resumed production of 120 000 barrels per day of crude at an offshore oilfield that was shut three weeks ago because of hostage-taking, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. "Production has restarted at the EA field. We resumed at the weekend," the spokesman said.
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/ 1 February 2006
South African President Thabo Mbeki will focus on setting the course for a 6% growth rate in his State of the Nation address at the opening of Parliament on Friday, says the trade union movement Solidarity. It says this "would give a useful indication of proposed policy directions".
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/ 1 February 2006
A Japanese has been arrested for allegedly ordering the murder of his wheelchair-bound father by hiring an amateur hitman on an internet bulletin board, police said on Wednesday. Tomitaka Nomoto (49) and unemployed, had a history of beating his 76-year-old father Tsutomu, who nagged him to get a job.
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/ 1 February 2006
The harmony between people and their surroundings advocated by judo masters is also a guiding principle for Russian politics, President Vladimir Putin — a keen adept of the ancient martial art — said on Tuesday. "The slogan of judo is … ‘Harmony with the surrounding world and with yourself’," Putin said at a news conference in Moscow.
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/ 1 February 2006
European Union regulators are still waiting for details from Microsoft on an offer to reveal secret computer code to meet an EU anti-trust ruling, competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said on Tuesday. "We have not yet received full details from Microsoft. When we do, we will review the information carefully," she told the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee.
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/ 1 February 2006
The JSE burst through the eagerly anticipated 20 000 level for the first time ever on Wednesday afternoon, led by rampant resources stocks. At 3.12pm, the all-share index was up 1,51% at 20 043,4, having touched a record high of 20 046,699 a few minutes earlier.
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/ 31 January 2006
World airlines are set to make losses of $4-billion or more over the coming year, despite continuing growth in air travel, the top industry association said on Tuesday. Air passenger traffic grew by 7,6% in 2005, driven largely by the Middle East and in Latin America, the International Air Transport Association said.
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/ 31 January 2006
Robots were once an emblem of Sony’s technological prowess. But now the electronics giant is putting its robodog to sleep and firing its "ambassador" humanoid in a bid to return to financial health. Sony announced it would stop making entertainment robots just as it reported record profit for the December quarter in a sign of a possible turnaround.
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/ 31 January 2006
Operations at the majority of state-held Transnet divisions were proceeding normally, company spokesperson John Dludlu said in a statement as the strike in KwaZulu-Natal entered its second day on Tuesday. Barring the Durban Container Terminal, Richards Bay port and Metrorail in "a few areas", operations were running at 100%, he said.
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/ 31 January 2006
Listed financial-services group Sanlam on Tuesday announced the introduction of a 25% black economic empowerment (BEE) shareholder, Vukile BEEShareCo, into Vukile Property Fund. The R439-million investment by BEEShareCo is an industry first for a property fund of this size.
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/ 31 January 2006
More than a decade after the advent of democracy, South Africa has still one of the most unequal societies in the world, but a recent study reveals that public support for pro-poor policies is highly conditional. The study says people believe society is unequal, and there is "strong support for government action to reduce inequalities".
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/ 31 January 2006
Members of Liberia’s outgoing transitional government have vacated offices to make way for elected successors, taking their computers, desks, chairs and even carpets with them, civil servants said on Monday. Ministers, their staff and parliamentarians as well have made off with a whole gamut of government property.
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/ 31 January 2006
All right. "Comedy". Yup, that’s the concept we’re rolling with. I thought I’d introduce you to some of my gods — who, unlike yours, actually existed. (How do I know? Well, there’s actual audio, video and pictures. Now show me <i>your</i> proof 🙂 See? Nothing. I rest my case.
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/ 30 January 2006
Critics tore into a British police force that erected placards in "trendy" SMS-style patois in what was slammed as a "bizarre" attempt to get hip with the kids, a newspaper reported on Saturday. Avon and Somerset Police plastered baffling messages across rough estates in Bristol, south-west England.
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/ 30 January 2006
Pampered zoo animals in the Swiss city of Zurich gobbled up 500 tonnes of fresh food prepared by a dedicated gourmet chef last year, including 21 tonnes of meat, 714 garlic bulbs and 11 135 kiwi fruit. More traditional dishes were also on offer for the 4 000 animals.
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/ 30 January 2006
The <a target="_blank" class=’standardtext’ href="http://www.go-opensource.com/">Go Open Source</a> campaign on Monday announced a R3-million investment into skills aimed at creating a formal channel for Linux and open-source software in South Africa.
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/ 30 January 2006
Canon said on Monday it marked record high profit and sales for the year to December thanks to robust sales of digital cameras and colour printers, projecting a better performance this year. The company said its group net profit for the year to December gained 11,9% from a year earlier to an all-time high of ¥384,1-billion ($3,3-billion).
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/ 30 January 2006
A South African struggle hero, Murphy "Patel" Morobe, defends a deputy-presidential shopping junket to the so-called United Arab Emirates; dead struggle heroes Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba supposedly to be illegally exhumed and reburied in the Voortrekker Monument; and more. There must be some connection between these events that have heralded in the first month of 2006.
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/ 27 January 2006
P4 will be replacing much of its jazz playlist with ‘contemporary, soft R&B’ tunes, writes Hazel Friedman.