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/ 11 January 2008

Japan resumes Afghan war role

Japan is to resume its role in the war in Afghanistan after its government on Friday forced through a Bill extending a controversial refuelling mission. The move brought to an end months of political deadlock, and relieved friction with Washington over its commitment to the so-called war on terror.

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/ 11 January 2008

Doubts grow over Iranian boat threats

Doubts intensified on Thursday night over the nature of an alleged aggressive confrontation by Iranian patrol boats and American warships in the Persian Gulf on Sunday, after Pentagon officials admitted that they could not confirm that a threat to blow up the US ships had been made directly by the Iranian crews involved in the incident.

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/ 11 January 2008

The tears over coffee that turned round poll

It was the defining moment of the New Hampshire race: Hillary Clinton, the icy control queen of the Democratic party welling up with emotion — and it may have won her an improbable victory over Barack Obama. The emotional moment in a café on the eve of Tuesday’s poll was widely credited on Thursday for bringing female voters back to the Clinton fold.

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/ 11 January 2008

Transkei infrastructure close to collapse

The infrastructure of the Transkei is collapsing, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa has told President Thabo Mbeki in an open letter. ”When Transkeians supported change … they had a legitimate expectation that misery will, for the first time, be a thing of the past,” he said in the letter.

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/ 11 January 2008

Series starts hotting up

”Chanderpaul!” Makhaya Ntini’s urgent screech cut through the banal burble of Cape Town’s shambolic excuse for an airport like a new razor blade meeting a virgin cheek on a Highveld winter’s morning. Ntini was the first of South Africa’s players to pass through the security check, despite having to go through that tedious process with a wife, a lively young son and a gurgling baby.