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/ 14 May 2008

Bone fragments may hold clues to Pebco Three

The blackened fragments spread out on the table look at first glance like no more than a scattering of charcoal, left over from a long-dead fire. But on closer examination one sees that the fragments are grouped, and that each group has its own printed label. In one corner, in a plastic lunchbox-type container, are the smallest fragments of all.

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/ 31 March 2008

Govt to probe extent of racism in education

The Department of Education is to investigate the extent of racism and other forms of discrimination in higher education, it said on Monday. A ministerial committee is expected to look into discrimination based on gender, ethnicity and disability, with a particular focus on university residences, said spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele in a statement.

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/ 28 March 2008

A life of justice and openness

The life of Ivan Toms, who died in Cape Town on March 25, was shaped by his commitment to justice and innate sense of humanity. One of his proudest moments was receiving the Order of the Baobab for ”his outstanding contribution to the struggle against apartheid and sexual discrimination”.

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/ 11 March 2008

Why can’t we share laagers? And lagers?

Attitudes and decisions based on the other’s race or ethnicity offend because they stereotype groups and individuals, shackling both without good cause. Debate about the Forum of Black Journalists has centred on its total exclusion of non-black journalists. Is this racism in reverse or an attempt at redress?

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/ 18 February 2008

Microbicide trial failure deals blow to Aids war

An anti-Aids gel that had reached the final phase of testing was unable to prevent the transmission of HIV, research NGO and non-profit organisation the Population Council said on Monday. It said the third phase of the clinical trials into the product found it ineffective in preventing male-to-female HIV transmission during vaginal intercourse.

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/ 7 February 2008

Mbeki to show he’s still in charge

President Thabo Mbeki will strive to show he is still in charge of the country on Friday when he makes his first State of the Nation address since being ousted as leader of the ruling party in December. Jacob Zuma, front-runner to succeed Mbeki as head of state, has already begun to eclipse his rival through control of the party.

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/ 24 January 2008

Top matrics get a presidential handshake

President Thabo Mbeki congratulated the country’s top matric students of 2007 — 18 pupils from the nine provinces — at the presidential guest house in Pretoria on Thursday. The pupils had received scholarships through the Thabo Mbeki Matric Merit Awards programme, which is administered by the Thabo Mbeki Education Trust.

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/ 22 January 2008

SA HIV vaccines on brink of human testing

Researchers from the University of Cape Town have developed two test HIV vaccines — the first wholly South African-developed products to enter the human clinical-trials phase, the Herald Online reported on Tuesday. The vaccines are just months away from being assessed in human clinical trials, the report said.

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/ 23 December 2007

Forced marriages: a pan-African reality

Thabile* was 15 when she was forced to marry a man in his thirties in the Mgudlulweni village near Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape. Her parents agreed to "give" their daughter to him. She did not know about the marriage or consent to it. On her way to school one day, four men abducted her. "I was walking to school and they grabbed me. They took me to a man I did not know to be my husband," Thabile says.

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/ 17 November 2007

UCT professor killed for his bag in Rondebosch

A University of Cape Town (UCT) commercial law professor was stabbed to death during a robbery in Rondebosch on Friday, Western Cape police said. Police spokesperson Captain Elliot Sinyangana said the professor was walking down Roslyn Road between 6pm and 6.30pm on Friday evening. He was then approached by two men who tried to grab his bag.

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/ 4 November 2007

Mbeki takes flak as ANC battle nears finale

After eight years at the helm of Africa’s economic powerhouse, Thabo Mbeki cuts an increasingly lonely figure as the battle for the reins of the African National Congress (ANC) approaches its finale. As well as taking fresh blows from his political foes, the president has also become the target of senior ANC party members.

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/ 2 November 2007

Deadly TB, HIV merge into co-epidemic

Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and HIV have merged into a double-barrelled pandemic that is sweeping across sub-Saharan Africa and threatening global efforts to eradicate both diseases, according to a report released on Friday. Overburdened health systems are unable to cope with the epidemic and risk collapse, says the report.

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/ 19 October 2007

Activists urge MPs to push through children’s Bill

Children’s rights activists on Friday urged MPs to push through a Bill that will ban corporal punishment of children, saying it was vital that children be protected from violence. The social development portfolio committee on Thursday postponed deliberations on the measure after members of the African National Congress’s parliamentary caucus reportedly objected.

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/ 15 October 2007

Ibsa meeting likely to bolster trade ties

The leaders of emerging powerhouses South Africa, India and Brazil will meet in Pretoria this week to bolster trade and energy ties as well as flex their collective muscle on world affairs. All three countries see their alliance, known as Ibsa (India-Brazil-South Africa), as an opportunity to push the concerns of developing countries in the southern hemisphere.

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/ 9 October 2007

Report of iceberg sighting off St Francis Bay

Ships have been put on alert after an iceberg was spotted floating off St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape, the Cape Argus reported on Tuesday. The large white mass, said to be about 35 nautical miles offshore, is estimated to be 25m long and 20m high. It was reported by a single vessel, the Ntini, which was sailing in the area on Monday night.

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/ 16 September 2007

Women, the state and Africa

As South Africa debates the political challenges associated with the ANC’s year-end conference at Polokwane, this is perhaps a good moment to think beyond immediate struggles and to consider what women have achieved beyond the borders of this country.