United States Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged on Friday that pre-war information he gave the United Nations on Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons laboratories to justify the US-led war on Iraq was not ”solid”. The administration of US President George Bush has also been accused of blocking the commission of enquiry into the September 11 attacks.
Mail & Guardian Online readers who believe that entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth will soon be travelling to Mars on a Nasa space mission have a long wait ahead of them. The M&G Online received several e-mails about this April Fool’s Day joke on Thursday. Most other publications also made use of the opportunity to fool their readers.
Read our April Fool’s Day story
Condolences on the death of Transport Minister Dullah Omar — who died in a Cape Town hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning — poured in from well wishers. Omar will be given an official funeral with ”all the honours due to a serving member of cabinet” government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said.
Omar: A biography
Omar wanted ‘simple burial’
Transport Minister Dullah Omar passed away in the Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic on Saturday morning, a family spokesperson said. Omar will be given an official funeral with ”all the honours due to a serving member of cabinet” government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said.
Omar: A biography
Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa has promised to speed up the issuing of valid taxi permits after facing a crowd of protesting taxi drivers in Johannesburg on Monday. In the meantime, those with temporary permits would not have their vehicles impounded except when they are found to be unroadworthy.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=32340">Call for official’s sacking</a>
John Gonzalez, the founder of ManNotIncluded.com — a United Kingdom-based website that links sperm donors with potential parents — has launched a new venture involving human eggs. Gonzalez (41) set up the sperm donor site in June 2002 — and it has so far resulted in six births.
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/ 6 February 2004
President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation address to Parliament on Friday said that his government does not foresee making any policy changes. Mbeki highlighted some of the achievements of the past 10 years, but also noted the ”blemishes” of the past, giving a fleeting reference to the HIV/Aids pandemic sweeping the country.
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/ 28 January 2004
A South African has reportedly been killed in a suicide car bombing at a Baghdad hotel in Iraq early on Wednesday. At least three other people also died in the blast. The bomb exploded in front of the Shaheen hotel, which is frequented by Westerners, and destroyed the front of the hotel building.
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/ 21 January 2004
The <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> was on Tuesday hit by a new e-mail worm that is quickly spreading around the world. The worm, called Bagle or Beagle, was sent via the <i>M&G Online</i>’s newsletter list. It spread rapidly over the weekend, with several security firms issuing bulletins on it on Monday.
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/ 20 January 2004
National prosecutions head Bulelani Ngcuka ”probably never” acted as an agent for the apartheid government, the Hefer Commission of Inquiry has found. ”I have come to the conclusion that he probably never at any time before 1994 acted as an agent for a state security agency,” retired judge Joos Hefer said in his final report, made public on Tuesday.
Hefer report critical of Zuma response