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/ 30 December 2007
In the soft light before dawn hundreds of girls and women make their way down to the river. In giggling clusters they sing, ”Wezintombi hlolwane, ake niyeke ukupreventa [girls, get virginity tested and don’t use contraceptives].” They bathe in the cold water, which will wash away bad luck. As they splash, they exchange horror stories about the ritual to come, writes Nosimilo Ndlovu.
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/ 30 December 2007
Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki won a second five-year term on Sunday in a disputed election victory that triggered deadly riots by tens of thousands of opposition supporters. As smoke billowed from protests in Nairobi slums, Kibaki was sworn in on the lawn of State House just an hour after the result was announced.
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/ 30 December 2007
The son of slain Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was chosen on Sunday to take the mantle of her party and immediately vowed to keep up what he called her struggle for democracy. At an emotional news conference where his father was named co-chair of the Pakistan People’s Party, 19-year-old Bilawal Bhutto said he was ready to lead.
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/ 30 December 2007
When South Africa went into the first Test match against the West Indies at St George’s Park on Wednesday, they were ranked second in the world. ”We don’t take much notice of rankings, but we want to keep on winning Tests and challenge for the top spot when we tour Australia at the end of next year,” said Proteas captain Graeme Smith.
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/ 30 December 2007
An Eastern Cape woman who burnt her daughter with hot water after disappointing matric results has been arrested, Port Elizabeth police said on Sunday. Captain Verna Brink said the woman was in police custody and due to appear in the Gelvandale Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
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/ 30 December 2007
South African actor Antonio Summerton was killed in a motorcycle accident in Roodepoort on Saturday night, metro police said on Sunday. Chief Superintendent Wayne Minaar said Summerton, who played a role in popular Afrikaans soap opera 7de Laan, was killed in an accident in Constantia Road in Roodepoort.
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/ 30 December 2007
Zimbabwe’s state-employed junior doctors and nurses are on strike for higher pay, putting further strain on the country’s crumbling public healthcare facilities. Doctors and nurses have staged a series of strikes in recent years as their salaries have been steadily eroded by the world’s highest inflation rate.
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/ 30 December 2007
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South Africa’s prosecuting chief on Sunday denied claims that President Thabo Mbeki was behind the filing of a string of charges against Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress. Mokeketedi Mpshe, acting National Prosecuting Authority head, told a newspaper that the decision to formally charge Zuma was made independently.
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/ 30 December 2007
Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden warned Sunni Muslims in Iraq not to take up arms against the terror network and promised the "liberation of Palestine" in a new online message. In the 56-minute tape released late on Saturday, the Western world’s most wanted man also accused the United States of seeking to control the region through the Iraqi government.
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/ 30 December 2007
A legislator in Zimbabwe’s ruling party has fled to Britain, fearing arrest in a police probe of foreign-currency payments he made last month, official media reported on Sunday. The state-owned Sunday Mail quoted unnamed sources as saying police wanted to interview David Butau, the Zanu-PF MP for a northern constituency.