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/ 8 February 2008
Democratic Republic of Congo mining investors hoping for reassurance about the controversial review of mining contracts were sorely disappointed recently when the country’s deputy mining minister, Victor Kasongo, announced that an initial study showed that not a single mining contract would escape renegotiation.
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/ 7 February 2008
Former British special forces officer Simon Mann will go on trial in Equatorial Guinea, charged with plotting to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the government said on Thursday. ”He will receive a fair trial with all procedural and institutional guarantees,” a government statement said.
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/ 7 February 2008
The ”Jeppestown massacre” trial was on Thursday postponed at the Johannesburg High Court because some of the accused intended applying for the recusal of the judge. Eleven of the 13 accused indicated that they intended lodging a formal application for the recusal of Judge Ratha Motkgoatleng on the basis of reasonable apprehension of bias.
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/ 7 February 2008
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offered to help negotiate a ceasefire as Israel pounded Gaza on Thursday, killing seven people days after a suicide bombing claimed by Hamas rulers. Hamas promptly rejected the offer, with spokesperson Fawzi Barhum branding it a ”blackmail attempt against the Palestinian people”.
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/ 7 February 2008
Seventeen runaway fires were ravaging the Western Cape on Thursday afternoon, with the two most serious blazes at Simonstown, Cape Town chief fire officer Ian Schnetler said on Thursday. The two fires were reported at Redhill at 9am and at Naval Base at 11am and were burning strongly, he said.
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/ 7 February 2008
AfriForum and Aksie Potchefstroom would challenge the name change of Potchefstroom to Tlokwe in court, the civil movements said on Thursday. Spokesperson Theo Venter said AfriForum and Aksie Potchefstroom had opened a case against a member of the executive council, Howard Yawa, and the city council regarding the name change.
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/ 7 February 2008
The Competition Tribunal on Thursday set down dates for hearings regarding the milk price-fixing issue. The hearings stem from a complaint by a small milk producer alleging anti-competitive behaviour in the milk industry. In February 2005, the Competition Commission began investigating the milk industry.
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/ 7 February 2008
The Young Communist League (YCL) on Thursday blamed the media for ”wittingly or unwittingly” misleading the public on comments made by South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni. The league held a teleconference with Mboweni on Thursday during which his comments about certain African National Congress members and inflation-targeting were discussed.
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/ 7 February 2008
The director general in the Department of Education is in denial about a crisis in the school system, the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) said on Thursday. This comes after Duncan Hindle on Wednesday ”attacked” the SAIRR for its statements highlighting the fact that most South African children do not feel safe at school.
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/ 7 February 2008
According to a <i>Finweek</i> report last week, South African education is in crisis mode.