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/ 15 October 2003
At least 350 traditional circumcisers in northern Ethiopia’s Gonder region have agreed to abandon the harmful practice as well as other forms of genital mutilation. Preparations are being made to provide loans to those who abandon the trade to help them make a living in a different way.
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/ 15 October 2003
A strong earthquake measuring 5,0 on the Richter scale struck Tokyo and other eastern Japanese areas on Wednesday, leaving at least five people injured. The tremors were powerful enough to make tall buildings in central Tokyo shake noticeably for several seconds.
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/ 15 October 2003
The many creditors of novelist DBC Pierre have been given a crumb of comfort after the self-confessed serial "cheating bastard" won literature’s most famous prize, the Man Booker. Pierre, the nom de plume of the reformed Mexican-Australian wildman Peter Finlay, is the oddest and most controversial character to have won the award.
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/ 15 October 2003
If Zimbabwe wants to end its exclusion from the Commonwealth nations’ decision-making councils, it must start by engaging in dialogue with political opponents, the group’s secretary-general said on Wednesday. Zimbabwe was suspended from the councils after President Robert Mugabe’s government was accused of intimidation and vote rigging in the March 2002 presidential elections.
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/ 15 October 2003
Despite objections, the opening submissions of Mac Maharaj and Mo Shaik before the Hefer Commission of Inquiry were postponed on Wednesday to November 17. The two men’s advocate, Stephen Joseph SC, asked Judge Joos Hefer for the postponement, saying it was needed to obtain apartheid-era documents to support their testimony.
Delays, delays
Hefer commission postponed
Arms deal focus
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/ 15 October 2003
A day after being sworn in as Liberia’s interim leader, Gyude Bryant embarked on the uphill task of rebuilding a country battered by more than a decade of war. His first job is to disarm former fighters in the two wars the country has suffered since 1989, leaving it with a generation of youths whose dominant culture is that of the gun.
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/ 15 October 2003
Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana has come under fire for targeting small businesses under the Employment Equity Act. Democratic Alliance MP Charles Redcliffe on Wednesday said most companies affected by the Act could not afford the R500 000 fine for non-compliance.
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/ 15 October 2003
The amiable, soft-spoken, self-deprecatingly jocular giant with no hair and a plastic cooking spatula in one hand — could he be the meanest, baddest, most silently menacing world heavyweight champion who ever threw leather? Former king of the boxing ring George Foreman now boasts the title ‘King of the Grill’.
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/ 15 October 2003
The South African Online Publishers Association (OPA) has announced the selection of RedSheriff for the supply of a state-of-the-art web analysis and metrics infrastructure to its members. This should enable it to get a completely accurate picture of website readership in South Africa.
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/ 15 October 2003
The Hefer commission adjourned on Wednesday in Bloemfontein within the first 15 minutes of its first public hearing at the Supreme Court of Appeal. Judge Joos Hefer postponed proceedings until Thursday morning after lawyer for main accusers Mac Maharaj and Mo Shaik had indicated they were not ready to proceed. Both men were present at the hearing.