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/ 28 December 2007
Pakistan pointed a finger on Friday at al-Qaeda for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, as her body was taken to her ancestral home for burial and anger at her death erupted into deadly unrest. The scale of the violence left the nuclear-armed Muslim nation shell-shocked, triggering alarm around the world.
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/ 28 December 2007
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki trailed his main rival on Friday in the race to lead East Africa’s biggest economy for the next five years, according to early tallies by local media. Partial results from three main television stations all gave opposition challenger Raila Odinga a strong lead over his former ally.
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/ 28 December 2007
Two sons of a former ruling party MP have been arrested on charges of siphoning about -million out of Zimbabwe as police in the country start targeting people linked to President Robert Mugabe’s powerful Zanu-PF, reports said on Friday. Police have also placed the head of the parliamentary finance committee on their wanted list.
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/ 28 December 2007
The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Friday it would seek to drain a further €150-billion from Eurozone money markets through a new offer aimed at absorbing excess liquidity. The offer had a fixed rate of 4%, the same level as the ECB’s benchmark lending rate, and would come to maturity on December 31.
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/ 28 December 2007
The disappointing South African matric pass rate came as no surprise, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday. MP George Boinamo said it was, however, disappointing that the pass rate had deteriorated. ”During the past year our country’s education system, and more importantly, its learners, faced many challenges.”
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/ 28 December 2007
Rescue services are still searching for the Cessna 210 light aircraft that went missing on Wednesday, said South African Search and Rescue Organisation head Charles Norval on Friday. ”We haven’t had success, but are still searching. The rescue team is following all the leads,” Norval said.
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/ 28 December 2007
Six French aid workers sentenced to hard labour in Chad for trying to kidnap 103 children will be returned to France on Friday under an accord between the two states, a Chad Justice Ministry official said. France had asked Chad to send home the four men and two women from French humanitarian group Zoe’s Ark.
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/ 28 December 2007
The JSE had recovered some of its earlier losses by midday on Friday, but was still over half a percent in the red. It had been down as much as 0,93% for the day. By noon on the JSE, the all-share index was 0,55% lower. The gold- and platinum-mining indices pulled back 2,42% and 1,17% respectively, while resources lost 0,46%.
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/ 28 December 2007
Flexible concrete that becomes stronger after it cracks is being used in Japanese buildings to protect against earthquakes. Developed by construction firm Kajima Corporation, it contains polymer fibres the thickness of a human hair, commonly used in tyres, which hold it together and prevent cracks from spreading.
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/ 28 December 2007
Louis Saha expects Manchester United’s superior squad to give the champions a decisive edge as the Premier League title fight hots up. Sir Alex Ferguson rested Carlos Tevez, Ryan Giggs, Anderson and Patrice Evra against Sunderland on Wednesday but United still coasted to an emphatic 4-0 victory that took them back to the top of the table.