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/ 8 February 2008

Do away with the violence, Kenya told

An East African peacemaking body on Friday called for an end to Kenya’s post-election violence and expressed support for mediation talks led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan. ”We urge all Kenyans to support the line of peace and dialogue and reconciliation and do away with the violence,” Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said.

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/ 8 February 2008

Aids affecting growth in Mozambique

The rapid spread of HIV/Aids is posing a huge threat to Mozambique’s future growth and the sustainability of its poverty-reduction programmes, according to a World Bank report. The report, published in January, noted that the high costs of procuring medicines and caring for those with the disease was plunging most families further into poverty.

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/ 8 February 2008

Nigeria adopts new gas policy to favour domestic users

Energy-rich Nigeria has approved a new policy requiring gas producers to direct a part of their output to the domestic market, rather than exporting it, a presidential statement said on Friday. Under the new policy regime, "all oil and gas developers in the country are to allocate a specified amount of gas from their reserves and annual production to the domestic market", it said.

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/ 8 February 2008

Cape fires brought under control

Some of the 17 fires that were raging through the Western Cape on Thursday were under control in the evening, said Cape Town chief fire officer Ian Schnetler. ”Firefighters are still battling the blaze at Naval Base as the winds are making the situation worse,” he said.

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/ 8 February 2008

Mutual & Federal headline EPS dips

Mutual & Federal’s full-year headline earnings per share (EPS) fell 15,5% after underwriting earnings at the South African insurer declined, the group said on Friday. Mutual & Federal, majority-owned by insurer Old Mutual, said headline EPS fell to 305 cents in the year to end December from 361 cents.

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/ 8 February 2008

Scores arrested in transatlantic mafia crackdown

More than 80 alleged mobsters were on Thursday night in jail or on the run in New York and Sicily after what was hailed as the biggest transatlantic strike against Cosa Nostra in almost 25 years. United States law enforcement officials arrested 54 suspects, including three said to be important members of New York’s Gambino crime family.