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/ 19 February 2007
Growing demand for clean fuels distilled from plants will likely revolutionise agriculture in both rich and poor countries, a United States agriculture official said on Monday. Michael Yost said African and US farmers both stood to profit from the growing demand for grains that can be converted to ethanol or biodiesel.
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/ 19 February 2007
French authorities issued an alert on Monday at the Canadian embassy in Paris when a staff member suffered from a nosebleed after receiving a suspicious envelope, firefighters said. But tests showed there was no danger and employees were allowed to return to their desks less than two hours later, said Florent Hivert, spokesperson for the Paris firefighters.
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/ 19 February 2007
The City of Cape Town needs to spend about R1-billion on treatment plants over the next five years to avoid a sewage crisis, mayoral committee member for trading services Lionel Roelf said on Monday. Most of the city’s waste-water treatment plants are already operating near or beyond capacity, with ageing, ineffective infrastructure, he said in a statement.
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/ 19 February 2007
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel should provide a social democratic budget on Wednesday aimed at the comprehensive upliftment of the poor, says Independent Democrats finance spokesperson Avril Harding. Harding said on Monday that a key element should be the reducing of the state pension age to 60 for both men and women.
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/ 19 February 2007
Israeli-Palestinian talks hosted by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended on Monday with a vague promise to meet again and little sign of progress on reviving long-stalled peace moves. The talks, attended by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, were overshadowed by a Palestinian unity deal that calmed factional fighting.
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/ 19 February 2007
Somalia’s government has formed an anti-terror unit to quell growing unrest in the capital, Mogadishu, a defence official said on Monday. The paramilitary force was trained by Ethiopian troops who helped the interim government rout an Islamic group that held the capital and most of southern Somalia until late last year.
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/ 19 February 2007
Hunger and desperation are driving pupils to suicide at a school near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, the media reported on Monday. Upper Corana High School principal Suthukazi Lujabe said that most pupils walk long distances on empty stomachs to get to school. She said one or two pupils had killed themselves because of hunger every year from 2001 to 2006.
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/ 19 February 2007
Indian police were on Monday investigating a hospital’s involvement in illegal female foeticide after 437 baby bones were dug up close by the complex, a state government said on Monday. Police began unearthing the bones on Saturday from Christian Medical Hospital, in central Madhya Pradesh state, after a tip-off that medical staff were carrying out illegal abortions.
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/ 19 February 2007
The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy was building up a commanding lead over its rivals as counting continued on Monday after weekend parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s party had won 26 seats while Tom Thabane’s All Basotho Convention was trailing in second place with 12 seats.
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/ 19 February 2007
A British woman working for Global Witness is being held by Angolan police in the province of Cabinda after being arrested at the weekend for spying, her lawyer said on Monday. Sarah Wykes was detained on Saturday in the oil-rich northern province while she was meeting members of civil society organisations.