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/ 23 October 2005
A group of ultra-nationalist Israelis on Friday claimed to have prayed at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, despite the site being off-limits to Israeli Jews, the <i>Maariv</i> daily reported. Police have long upheld a complete ban on Jewish prayers at the disputed compound in order to avoid provoking Muslim sensitivities.
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/ 21 October 2005
World oil prices dropped on Friday, reaching three-month low points in New York on easing supply concerns, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, fell by 25 cents to $59,77 per barrel in electronic deals. It earlier reached $59,65, the lowest level since July 28.
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/ 21 October 2005
Don’t expect a helping hand in the central English city of Birmingham — residents there are the rudest people in Britain, a survey claimed on Friday. "Brummies", as they are locally known, are the least likely to pass a series of courtesy tests such as holding the door for someone behind them.
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/ 21 October 2005
The African National Congress ruling party has welcomed the resolution of a race row that erupted in the Cape High Court in the past two weeks. In a statement on Thursday, parliamentary caucus spokesperson Mpho Lekgoro said the caucus had confidence in the judiciary’s ability to deal with the matter competently.
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/ 21 October 2005
A man who died in his car at a busy Australian shopping centre sat there for a week and even collected a parking ticket on his windshield before anyone realised he had passed away, reports said on Friday. Sky News reported the 71-year-old motorist was issued with a parking ticket at the shopping centre in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs two days before his death was discovered.
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/ 21 October 2005
<i>Backstage</i>’s call for entertainers to have their two minutes of fame on the show is, in essence, a gross exploitation of artists, writes Mike van Graan.
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/ 21 October 2005
Johannesburg attorney Barry Aaron, it might be said, is the perfect gentleman. He doesn’t kill journalists. Reporters without Borders records that, worldwide, 51 journalists have been slain in the course of their duties this year. If another three are dead by December 31, it will be the bloodiest year in a decade.
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/ 21 October 2005
One of the most depressing events of the political week was the photograph of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez embracing Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe under the sneering headline "Brothers in arms". Chavez — a genuine anti-imperialist leader with a genuinely popular programme and genuine popular support — deserved the sideswipe.
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/ 21 October 2005
Those who watch <i>Top Billing</i> are not, as a rule, exposed to disturbing concepts like multi-lingualism. Indeed, generations of selective breeding and some ferociously opportunist and cheekily genocidal shenanigans by Great Granddaddy on the Reef in the 1880s have combined to form a protective cocoon around them, keeping at bay the horror of the middle-class world.
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/ 20 October 2005
South Africa’s online publishing industry grew 13,8% in local readership to 1,98-million users and 97,37-million page impressions in the third quarter of 2005 compared with the second quarter, the Online Publishers Association said on Thursday. The latest Nielsen/Netratings audited figures also indicate a large increase in international visitors to South African websites.
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/ 20 October 2005
Ethiopian children are being sold for as little as $1,20 (about R7,90) to work as domestic workers or prostitutes, the International Organisation for Migration said on Wednesday. Up to 20 000 children, some 10 years old, are sold each year by their parents and trafficked by unscrupulous brokers to work in cities across Ethiopia.
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/ 20 October 2005
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the founder of the Yukos oil giant and formerly Russia’s wealthiest man, has been sent to a prison colony in eastern Siberia to serve the rest of his eight-year sentence for financial crimes. Alexander Pleshkov, head of the punishment implementation department for Siberia, said the the tycoon had been sent to a colony in the Krasnokamensk district of Chita province
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/ 20 October 2005
Saddam Hussein’s Jordan-based legal team will meet his Iraqi lawyer soon to draw up a battle plan for his next court appearance, one of the lawyers said on Thursday. Issam Ghazzawi confirmed that the former dictator’s Iraqi courtroom lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi is expected in Amman in the next 24 hours to brief the team on the trial, which was adjourned until November 28.
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/ 20 October 2005
Pakistani authorities on Thursday confirmed about 48Â 000 people died in the October 8 earthquake and said there were discrepancies in a higher toll of about 79Â 000 given by provincial authorities on Wednesday. The United Nations said the aid shortfall makes the situation worse than after the Indian Ocean tsunami last year.
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/ 20 October 2005
South Africa’s biggest state-owned enterprise, Eskom, reported to Parliament on Wednesday that its group profit after tax has risen to almost R5,2-billion in the past financial year, the state news agency BuaNews reported. The electricity utility also exceeded its electrification target in the same period, the agency said.
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/ 20 October 2005
The Online Publishers Association (OPA), a grouping of 24 of South Africa’s most prominent online publishers, today revealed its readership figures for the third quarter of 2005. Indicating a 13,8 percent rise in local readership to 1,98-million readers.
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/ 19 October 2005
The Kebble family on Wednesday announced that the Brett Kebble Art Awards, which were planned for February next year, will not go ahead. "The late Brett Kebble created South Africa’s biggest, boldest and most inclusive art awards," said producer of the awards David Barritt.
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/ 19 October 2005
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is looking to raise tens of thousands of dollars for an Israeli technology college by offering himself as a lunch date for diners who are prepared to pick up the hefty bill. The Australian-born chairperson of News Corporation has posted an advert on the internet auction site eBay.
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/ 19 October 2005
She may not have a government to preside over yet, but incoming German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already been turned into a doll. Dressed in a version of the blue trouser suit and pink T-shirt she wore on the tense election night of September 18, the baby-faced miniature Merkel is on sale for €189 (R1 480).
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/ 19 October 2005
An idyllic wedding planned by two Brazilians on a Malaysian island ended in a violent brawl after a member of Malaysia’s royal family led a group of rowdy gate-crashers to the nuptials, police said on Tuesday. About 90 guests from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan and Singapore had gathered on Saturday for the wedding.
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/ 19 October 2005
Research commissioned by Visa and First National Bank (FNB) indicates that South Africans use a debit or credit card to make more than 50% of their payments — a number that Galia Durbach, CEO of FNB Core Banking Solutions, believes should increase. She says the popularity of card-based transactional products is increasing.
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/ 19 October 2005
Wail for the Mail The interdict granted to Imvume to restrain the Mail & Guardian from reporting on the “Oilgate” scandal is a severe setback for freedom of expression in general and press freedom in particular. The fact that press freedom can be abused does not justify prior restraints on it in a democratic and […]
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/ 19 October 2005
South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance says it will oppose arms-manufacturing parastatal Denel’s request for a R5-billion lifeline, should the matter come before Parliament. The parastatal may have lost as much as R1,6-billion during the financial year ending March 2005.
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/ 19 October 2005
Honda unveiled a new hydrogen-powered fuel-cell concept car on Wednesday which runs on a refueling unit that also supplies electricity and hot water for the home. The FCX concept uses the home energy station, which generates hydrogen from natural gas supplied to households, Honda said as it unveiled the vehicle at a press preview at the Tokyo Motor Show east of the capital.
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/ 19 October 2005
Researchers are exploring the implications of allowing HIV-positive patients to take a break from their medications every weekend.
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/ 19 October 2005
Alright, you zombies. Recall, from a few months back, the glorious event when crowds of zombie fans heeded the call to dress up as a corpse and go stumble around a public place. Come on, dammit, you want to tell me Jo’burg doesn’t have at least 100 zombie fans who’d be willing to meet at Sandton City or Rosebank Mall and stumble through it, causing fear and horror?
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/ 18 October 2005
The issue of whether either of the two most senior officials in the African National Congress should occupy equivalent or corresponding positions in the government was up for debate in the build-up to the 1997 Mafikeng conference. With regard to the deputy presidency, in 1994 the issue had not arisen.
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/ 18 October 2005
This year’s seasonal ozone hole over Antarctica was the third largest on record, but forecasters are uncertain how it will behave in the future, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Tuesday. The hole peaked last month at almost 27-million square kilometres, and then began shrinking as usual, the WMO said in a statement.
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/ 18 October 2005
The last Australian to fight in World War I has died at the age of 106, officials said on Tuesday. William Allan enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy as a 14-year-old and saw action in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during World War I before going on to serve in World War II.
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/ 18 October 2005
Garcon! Clicking one’s fingers to grab the waiter’s attention is by far the worst restaurant etiquette blunder, a British survey revealed on Monday. In a poll of 8Â 683 people for the British food magazine <i>Olive</i>, 38% thought snapping fingers at a waiter was the most embarrassing gaffe possible while dining out.
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/ 18 October 2005
The Zambian government on Tuesday reacted angrily after the French ambassador said oil company Total was being used as a scapegoat for fuel shortages hitting the Southern African country. French-owned Total holds a 50% stake in Zambia’s only oil refinery, Indeni, which was shut down for maintenance in early September and only resumed operations last week.
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/ 18 October 2005
The Department of Minerals and Energy has established an expert team to investigate the wider issues raised by a tremor that killed two miners and injured 20 others at DRDGold’s North West operations this year, it said on Tuesday. The panel will consider the risks to mine workers, mines and the public by seismicity in mining areas.