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/ 1 February 2008
The alleged British mastermind of a foiled coup in Equatorial Guinea has been deported from Zimbabwe to Malabo, even though he was still appealing against his extradition, his lawyer said on Friday. Jonathan Samkange said he had only learned that Simon Mann had already been flown out of Harare on Friday morning.
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/ 1 February 2008
Church leaders expressed shock and outrage on Friday at a police raid this week on the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg, during which hundreds of immigrants were arrested. Eddie Makue, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, said for many years the Church had welcomed those who had been displaced.
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/ 1 February 2008
A top al-Qaeda commander who led Osama bin Laden’s terror network in Afghanistan was believed to have been killed when a missile fired by a United States drone hit his Pakistani hideout, officials said on Friday. Abu Laith al-Libi is said to be one of bin Laden’s key lieutenants.
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/ 1 February 2008
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) left unchanged its oil-production ceiling on Friday, snubbing United States demands for an increase as the cartel focuses on supporting prices that have fallen 10% since the start of the year. Explaining its decision, Opec said that stockpiles of crude were likely to increase in the first half of 2008.
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/ 1 February 2008
South Africa batsman Boeta Dippenaar has announced his retirement from international cricket to pursue other interests. Dippenaar, who made his debut in 1999, played in 38 Tests and 107 one-day internationals and will continue playing for the Diamond Eagles and Leicestershire in England.
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/ 1 February 2008
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi was charged with three counts of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice in the Randburg Regional Court on Friday. He also faced an alternate charge of receiving an unauthorised gratification ”by a person who is party to an employment relation”. The case was postponed to June 26.
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/ 1 February 2008
A female suicide bomber killed 45 people when she blew herself up at a popular pet market in central Baghdad on Friday, police said, in the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in six months. Another 82 were wounded in the blast at the crowded Ghazil market, one of Baghdad’s most popular gathering places, which has been bombed at least three times in the past year.
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/ 1 February 2008
Chadian rebels said on Friday that their forces had taken up positions around the capital, Ndjamena, and they called on President Idriss Déby Itno to negotiate a power-sharing deal or face an offensive on the city. Residents in the dusty capital on the banks of the Chari River said the atmosphere was tense.
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/ 1 February 2008
The Department of Health has introduced a new anti-tetanus vaccine for children, it was announced on Friday. The department’s Fidel Hadebe said the vaccine was introduced to clinics and hospitals as of February 1. ”Diftavax Td is to be administered to children at the age of six and 12 years.”
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/ 1 February 2008
Mozambique’s poverty-alleviation programme this week received a boost following the approval of a further -million loan by the World Bank. ”The council of executive directors of the World Bank has approved a credit for the International Development Association to the value of -million,” the bank said in Maputo on Friday.