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/ 3 November 2006

Is this the sea of change?

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) may suspend its call for Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to quit as health minister — if the government "shows the leadership on HIV/Aids we have been asking for over the past five years". TAC general secretary Sipho Mthathi made this declaration after a remarkable week in which Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge pledged to work with Aids organisations to fight HIV.

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/ 3 November 2006

Light aircraft crashes into home near Durban

The pilot of a light aircraft was killed when his plane crashed into a house north of Durban on Friday afternoon. Witnesses at Sgodiphola, 40km north of Tongaat on the R614 road to Greytown, said the plane was already in flames before it hit the house in foggy weather. It is believed that the aircraft took off from Virginia airport in Durban.

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/ 3 November 2006

‘Murders planned for Mugabe’s birthday’

A witness in the trial of a white Zimbabwean security expert, Michael Hitschmann, has claimed the man planned to kill four prominent businessmen as a bad-taste birthday present for President Robert Mugabe, it was reported on Friday. The four were ruling-party businessmen and officials based in the cities of Mutare and Bulawayo.

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/ 3 November 2006

One decade, R285bn in BEE deals

Black economic empowerment (BEE) business deals worth R285-billion have been concluded in South Africa in the past 10 years, the government said on Friday, but details on the beneficiaries were scant. Critics contend that these deals benefit a small black elite representing faceless beneficiary groups.

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/ 3 November 2006

The great Dutch horse rescue operation

Firefighters waded through knee-deep flood water on Friday, staking out a safe escape route for a herd of about 100 horses huddled together on a small knoll where they have been stranded for three days. The plight of the stranded horses has fascinated the country, which has followed the rescue attempts in the media.

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/ 3 November 2006

US warns of wave of militant attacks in Nigeria

Militants in Nigeria are planning a major new wave of attacks and kidnappings in the next few days that could include up to 20 simultaneous bombings across the country’s oil-rich delta region, United States diplomats warned on Friday. The warning came in an e-mailed statement sent from the US consulate in Nigeria’s main city, Lagos.