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/ 14 February 2008
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is facing the most serious challenge to his 28-year rule as candidates, including his own former finance minister, register on Friday for a March 29 general election. Detractors accuse Mugabe of destroying the economy of this once-prosperous country and rigging the last three major elections.
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/ 14 February 2008
”A disgrace”, ”Answers needed” and ”Crushing more than the Scorpions” was how some newspaper editorials reacted on Thursday to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula’s announcement in Parliament that the Scorpions would be dissolved.
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/ 14 February 2008
A second big earthquake in less than two weeks brought down houses and left at least 60 people injured in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda on Thursday, officials said. The quake measured 5,5 on the Richter scale, according to monitors, and caused panicked residents to rush from their homes.
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/ 14 February 2008
An earthquake shook southern Greece just after noon (10am GMT) on Thursday and was felt as far away as the Egyptian capital, Cairo. The Athens Geodynamic Institute said it was off the southern tip of the Peloponnese and measured 6,5 on the Richter scale.
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/ 14 February 2008
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Thursday dismissed claims that her department was reluctant to implement dual therapy for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. ”I was the first person to express concern about mono therapy … but we had to make sure that we had enough time to examine the implications of dual therapy,” she said.
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/ 14 February 2008
The case against a journalist who was arrested by Durban’s metro police was thrown out by the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday after the control prosecutor declined to prosecute the case. Mhlaba Memela of the Sowetan newspaper was arrested on Wednesday evening by an eThekwini metro police officer.
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/ 14 February 2008
Japanese police on Thursday heaped praise on a Labrador Retriever who found an elderly man who fallen over in freezing conditions at night, the second time the dog was credited with saving a life. The three-year-old black Lab, named ‘Dor, suddenly started barking when she was taking a walk with her owner in the western city of Iwade one evening last month.
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/ 14 February 2008
Lindiwe Hendricks, the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, on Thursday denied that South Africa is facing a water crisis. "I can categorically say that we are not facing a water crisis, or a water-contamination crisis," she told a media briefing in Parliament. "The water that comes out of our taps is among the best in the world."
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/ 14 February 2008
The Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions) did not act improperly as suggested by the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana said on Thursday. The ANCYL lodged a complaint with his office stating that the Scorpions held an ”inappropriate” meeting.
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/ 14 February 2008
Four men accused of killing 12-year-old Emily Williams were held at a high-risk detention facility in Johannesburg overnight and preparations were being made on Thursday to take them to court. Williams died when she was hit by a stray bullet in a stand-off between robbers and security guards on Tuesday morning.