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/ 25 February 2008
Cuba’s national assembly named Raúl Castro as head of state on Sunday night, formally ending 49 years of Fidel Castro’s dominance. The 614-member body accepted the 76-year-old defence minister and constitutionally designated successor as the candidate to take over from his elder brother.
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/ 24 February 2008
I am a proponent of same-sex marriages and as a Christian minister of religion, I want to make it very clear that the Bible nowhere gives an indication that such marriages should be condemned. Most of the opposition to same-sex marriages could be ascribed to a lack of knowledge of what both marriage and homosexuality mean, writes André Müller.
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/ 24 February 2008
Jacques Kallis picked up a five-wicket haul to put South Africa on the brink of victory on the third day of the opening Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Sunday. He took all his wickets in a single spell of fascinating fast-bowling to help South Africa bowl out the hosts for 182 and restrict their second-innings lead to 204.
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/ 24 February 2008
Bloemfontein Celtic beat Amazulu 3-2 in a Premier Soccer League (PSL) match at a packed Seisa Ramabodu Stadium in Bloemfontein on Sunday. In other matches, Mamelodi Sundowns handed victory to Wits University, Orlando Pirates were beaten by Santos, and Ajax beat Cosmos.
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/ 24 February 2008
Guarded by motion-detector cameras, security fences and the odd polar bear, a huge cavern has been built in an island off northern Norway to help secure global crop diversity. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a veritable Fort Knox for seeds and aimed at safeguarding genetic heritage for future generations.
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/ 24 February 2008
The Ugandan government said it had signed a permanent ceasefire accord with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group on Saturday, a landmark step in efforts to end more than two decades of civil war. Government delegation spokesperson Captain Chris Magezi called the accord ”another major breakthrough”.
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/ 24 February 2008
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe celebrated his 84th birthday on Saturday at a rally aimed at boosting support before elections next month. A laughing Mugabe, wearing a garland of flowers and surrounded by supporters, hit out at the country’s ”enemies” who have criticised his presidency. Mugabe’s actual birthday was on Thursday.
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/ 24 February 2008
A car registration plate has sold for ,1-million in Hong Kong, making it the wealthy city’s most expensive vehicle number, a news report said on Sunday. The plate — bearing the number ”18” — was bought by an electronics businessman after 43 rounds of bidding at an auction of car numbers on Saturday.
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/ 24 February 2008
Even though Mike Huckabee is still battling for the Republican presidential nomination despite long odds, he said he won’t ”overstay his welcome”. Then he did precisely that on Saturday night, lingering on the set in a scripted gag on the comedy skit show Saturday Night Live despite repeated cues to leave the stage.
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/ 24 February 2008
Western oil giants are poised to enter southern Iraq to tap the country’s vast reserves, despite the ongoing threat of violence, according to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s business emissary to the country. Basra has been described as ”the lung” of Iraq by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.