The United States Justice Department has launched a corruption probe into Britain’s BAE Systems, a potential headache for Gordon Brown just hours before he succeeds Tony Blair as British prime minister. BAE, Europe’s biggest military contractor, said on Tuesday the probe will include its dealings with Saudi Arabia.
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/ 27 February 2007
South Africa’s ailing Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been temporarily replaced by the transport minister while she receives treatment for a lung condition, an official statement said. Tshabalala-Msimang, often criticised by Aids activists, entered hospital last week with anaemia and fluid collecting near the lung.
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/ 20 February 2007
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe turns 83 on Wednesday, fit for his age and combative in the face of a crumbling economy, social unrest and a looming battle over who will succeed him. Mugabe will celebrate his birthday with a huge party on Saturday. But gathering clouds risk overshadowing the festivities.
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/ 6 February 2007
Zimbabwe’s Media and Information Commission this week issued publishing licences for the Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard, published by Mail & Guardian chief executive Trevor Ncube, despite recent fears that a much-criticised crackdown on media freedom would also affect these newspapers.
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/ 5 February 2007
Shipped halfway across the world to Asia as a seafood delicacy, abalone has become a prized commodity for South African entrepreneurs as well as criminals who have poached the mollusc almost to extinction. Known colloquially in South Africa as ”perlemoen”, abalone is so endangered the government has drastically reduced the total allowable catch.
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/ 24 January 2007
Zimbabwe’s High Court in Harare has postponed hearing Mail & Guardian chief executive Trevor Ncube’s case against the withdrawal of his Zimbabwean citizenship. The Zimbabwean government claims Ncube — who publishes the Standard and the Zimbabwe Independent in that country — is not a Zimbabwean citizen.
Zimbabwe’s government-appointed Media and Information Commission will not close down two popular private newspapers even if owner Trevor Ncube — also the publisher of the Mail & Guardian in South Africa — loses his Zimbabwean citizenship, state television reported late on Wednesday.
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/ 25 December 2006
James Brown, the legendary singer known as the ”Godfather of Soul”, has died in Atlanta, his agent said early on Monday. He was 73. Brown was seen as a crucial figure in the evolution of gospel and R&B into soul and funk. His music also spanned genres such as rock, jazz, reggae and hip-hop.
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/ 27 November 2006
With humanitarian groups sounding the alarm about the violence in eastern Chad near Sudan, the Chadian government has sent troops south to neighbouring Central African Republic to battle rebels there who, it said, are being backed by Sudan. Chad is already contributing troops to a regional peacekeeping force in CAR but the prime minister said last week that he wants to send more.
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/ 1 November 2006
South African politicians paid tribute on Wednesday to former president PW Botha, who died on Tuesday night at his home in the Western Cape. Messages were received from President Thabo Mbeki, former presidents FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, former parliamentarian Helen Suzman and many others.