Staff Reporter
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/ 9 February 2008

Harsh winter kills more than 750 in Afghanistan

More than 750 people have perished as a result of severe cold and heavy snowfalls this winter across Afghanistan, a government official said on Saturday. The cold spell, the worst in decades in the impoverished and mountainous country, has also killed nearly 230 000 cattle, said Noor Padshah Kohistani of the National Disaster Management Commission.

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/ 9 February 2008

I thought I was out of a job, says Henry

All Blacks coach Graham Henry said he thought his international career was over after his team’s shock elimination from the Rugby World Cup last year, a newspaper reported on Saturday. In his first interview since being reappointed in December, Henry said he only stood for re-selection because of the public support he had received.

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/ 9 February 2008

Union warns of collapse of emergency services

Fire and emergency services countrywide will collapse due to massive staff shortages, the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union said on Friday. The breakdown in fire services came about because municipalities had failed to set aside sufficient funds to fill critical vacancies, said general secretary Johan Koen.

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/ 9 February 2008

Clinton team braced for Obama to take the lead

Hillary Clinton’s campaign team is bracing for Barack Obama to take the lead later this month for the first time in the battle for the all-important delegates who will decide the Democratic nomination. The race looks poised to swing his way after a series of votes, beginning on Saturday with caucuses in Washington state, Nebraska and the Virgin Islands.

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/ 9 February 2008

Actor Heath Ledger mourned at private funeral

Family and friends of actor Heath Ledger bade farewell at a private service in his Australian home town of Perth on Saturday, with the media kept away and Ledger’s father appealing for mourners to be allowed to grieve in peace. Ledger (28) died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in his New York apartment on January 22.

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/ 8 February 2008

African horse sickness reported in E Cape

Parts of the Eastern Cape are experiencing an outbreak of African horse sickness, which led to the death of 11 horses in the past six weeks, said the province’s department of agriculture on Friday. ”Fifteen cases have been reported to state veterinarians over the past six weeks alone, mainly in the Ndlambe (Port Alfred) and Makana (Grahamstown) areas.

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/ 8 February 2008

Bomb shock for Soshanguve police

Police at the Soshanguve police station, north-east of Pretoria, were unpleasantly surprised on Friday afternoon when a scrap-metal dealer brought a live mortar round into the station. ”He just walked in with the bomb, saying he was suspicious when he found it on a heap of scrap metal that he recently purchased,” said Captain Solly Marindi.

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/ 8 February 2008

Media24 sales figures adjusted downwards

The circulation figures of some magazines published by Media 24 were adjusted downwards, the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) said on Friday. This follows an audit the ABC did on all Media24 magazines after it was found that the circulation of some of the company’s women’s magazines were fraudulently inflated between April 2006 and June 2007.