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/ 29 January 2008

Call for end to press-freedom abuses in Somalia

An international rights group on Monday urged Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who is struggling to gain control over his nation, to ensure reporters rights are protected in the increasingly volatile Horn of Africa state. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists urged the premier to ”end the ongoing pattern of countrywide arbitrary arrests”.

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/ 29 January 2008

Hospital serves up mouse head on plate

A hospital patient in Finland found a mouse head among the steamed vegetables on his plate. ”Understandably, he lost his appetite,” said Sakari Kela, chief administrator at the Northern Karelia Central Hospital. The health of the patient in Joensuu, eastern Finland, had not been compromised by the dead rodent, Kela said on Saturday.

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/ 29 January 2008

Pakistan missile strike kills 12 in new violence

Twelve suspected militants were killed by a missile strike in Pakistan’s troubled tribal belt, hours after gunmen held 300 children hostage at a nearby school, officials said on Tuesday. Separately, a Pakistani soldier was killed and five others injured in the latest clashes between security forces and Islamist insurgents in the lawless borderlands with Afghanistan.

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/ 29 January 2008

India renew pull-out threat over racism row

India will abandon the tour of Australia if spinner Harbhajan Singh is not cleared of racial abuse charges, a top Indian official said on Tuesday. Harbhajan was handed a three-Test ban by match referee Mike Procter after being found guilty of racially abusing Australia’s Andrew Symonds during the acrimonious Sydney Test earlier this month.

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/ 29 January 2008

Ghana, Guinea through to last eight

Hosts Ghana beat Morocco 2-0 to reach the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals on Monday as the tournament claimed its first coaching victim with Henryk Kasperczak quitting Senegal. Guinea also went into the last eight, following Ghana through from Group A despite managing only a 1-1 draw against rank outsiders Namibia.

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/ 29 January 2008

ID plans vote of no confidence in Mbeki

The Independent Democrats (ID) said on Monday it would bring a motion of no confidence against President Thabo Mbeki and his Cabinet for failing to avert power cuts that have forced some industries to shut down. ID leader Patricia de Lille accused Mbeki of having ignored warnings about the crunch in electricity supplies.