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/ 4 February 2008
The Department of Home Affairs wasted more than R56-million in detaining illegal immigrants who did not exist, according to its 2007 annual report. The department had to pay a contractor for a fixed number of immigrants, regardless of the actual number detained, wrote the Auditor General in the report.
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/ 4 February 2008
Iran on Monday fired a rocket into space to mark the opening of its first space centre, triggering swift condemnation from the United States amid continued tensions over the Iranian nuclear drive. The space centre, located in the remote desert of western Iran, will be used to launch Iran’s first home-produced satellite in May or June this year, officials said.
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/ 4 February 2008
Gargantuan animal effigies and honed dancers wearing nothing but a bit of glitter between their legs turned Rio into a fantasy land overnight as the city’s world-famous carnival parades got under way. The processions are the high point of Brazil’s five-day pre-Lent celebrations.
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/ 4 February 2008
Exhausted White House hopefuls launched one last frenzied day of campaigning before the 24-state Super Tuesday — the biggest one-day White House nominating contest in history. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are fighting neck-and-neck in the Democratic showdown, while John McCain looked set to take a firm grip on the Republican contest.
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/ 4 February 2008
Gauteng municipalities are switching off their lights to help prevent load-shedding. All 14 municipalities in the province on Monday committed themselves to a 10% reduction in electricity use, and to improve communication with residents and businesses on when and how long they will be affected by load-shedding.
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/ 4 February 2008
The Zimbabwe opposition’s failure to bury its differences means President Robert Mugabe is a virtual shoo-in for a sixth term of office, analysts said on Monday. Sunday’s announcement that the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would field separate candidates against Mugabe has led commentators to close the book on the contest.
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/ 4 February 2008
From the Indonesian city where Barack Obama spent part of his childhood to Hong Kong’s bars and a Dublin pub, United States Democrats abroad grabbed their first chance to vote in Super Tuesday primaries. The venues are about as far removed from formal political institutions as possible, from pubs and cafés to bookshops.
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/ 4 February 2008
Nine people, including five children, were killed in a fire in an apartment building in the western German city of Ludwigshafen, police said on Monday. Adults and children jumped out of windows to escape the flames, officials said. Twenty people were being treated in hospital with injuries.
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/ 4 February 2008
At least one person has been killed in a suicide bomb attack in southern Israel on Monday — the first inside the country for a year. Firefighters told radio stations that at least one person had died in the blast, which happened in the commercial district of the southern town of Dimona.
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/ 4 February 2008
Egyptian security forces closed the border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday nearly two weeks after the wall was first breached. Gunmen from the Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, appeared to be cooperating with the Egyptians, turning back crowds of Palestinians as barbed wire and metal barricades were installed.