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/ 2 December 2005

Four in court for robbing German tour operators

Four men appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court in Cape Town on Friday for allegedly robbing a trio of German tour operators. The men, aged between 17 and 20, were arrested on Thursday, a day after the robbery. Police spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said the case was postponed for a bail application, and the men would remain in custody.

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/ 2 December 2005

Council cracks down on crooked microlenders

The Micro Finance Regulatory Council (MFRC) says it is making progress in fighting crooked microlenders as borrowers become increasingly aware of their right. The MFRC’s head of legal services, Jan Augustyn, said raids on and formal investigations into suspect micro lending operations were yielding a better than expected payback.

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/ 2 December 2005

Young PAP ‘should receive special care’

The dues of African Union member states, notoriously in arrears, should be collected through a ”community levy”, the Pan African Parliament (PAP) proposed on Friday. The resolution is an attempt by the PAP to ”support the AU in the provision of necessary resources for the realisation of its dreams and vision”.

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/ 2 December 2005

Protests mark anniversary of Bhopal tragedy

Environmental activists were to kick off a series of protests and vigils in India on Friday to mark the 21st anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy, which claimed thousands of lives. In New Delhi, the global environmental group Greenpeace was to act out a recreation of the disaster which struck the central Indian town of Bhopal just before midnight on December 2, 1984.

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/ 2 December 2005

Africa ‘needs continental university’

The creation of a continental university as a centre of innovation and academic excellence was recommended by the Pan African Parliament on Friday, the final day of its fourth ordinary session in Midrand. ”We need to have Africans educated and trained in science and technology and information technology,” MP Miria Matembe said.

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/ 2 December 2005

Free our struggle soldiers, demands PAC

The Pan Africanist Congress on Friday presented documents to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development requesting the release of members of its former military wing, the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army. These are soldiers who were arrested for their role in the anti-apartheid struggle, the PAC said.

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/ 2 December 2005

The view for a privileged few

The San tribes called it Hoerikwaggo, the mountain of the sea, and as our boat chugged towards Cape Town’s Waterfront we could see why. Table Mountain’s massive cliff face appears to rise vertically from the sea, 3 000ft into blue skies. This is what it must have looked like when the 16th-century explorers sailed into the bay — sea and mountain blending into a huge blue-grey expanse.