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/ 9 November 2007

Mauritanian govt says food riots engineered

The government in Mauritania on Friday defended its handling of food riots this week, claiming that violent protests in opposition strongholds that left one dead were deliberately orchestrated. In the north-west African nation’s coastal capital, Nouakchott, several dozen youths on Friday hurled rocks at buildings.

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/ 9 November 2007

Landlord sentenced to house arrest

A home owner who disposed of household goods worth R99 000 belonging to his former tenant, without the tenant’s permission, was on Friday sentenced to two years’ house arrest. Vaughan Fred Alberts (45), was also fined R1 800 or four months’ jail on a charge of malicious damage.

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/ 9 November 2007

US trade embargo hampers SA-Cuba business

A United States trade embargo against Cuba is discouraging South African companies from doing business in that country, delegates attending the South Africa-Cuba joint bilateral commission heard on Friday. Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said trade between the two countries is almost non-existent.

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/ 9 November 2007

1 400 volunteers, 200 homes a week

Mona Miller’s life will change this weekend. For the first time, she will have a real roof, solid walls and glass windows. Lights will come on at the flick of a switch, water will flow from the tap and she will enjoy the dignity of a toilet. Miller will move into her first proper home thanks to a building blitz by nearly 1 400 Irish volunteers.

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/ 9 November 2007

Cape writer freed on threat charge

A botched charge sheet on Friday led to the acquittal of a journalist who in May allegedly threatened to blow up the Cape Town premises of Radio Heart if his grievances were not aired. David Robert Lewis (39) appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court before magistrate Phindi Norman.

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/ 9 November 2007

Global tobacco burden ‘to get much worse’

The global burden of tobacco is going to get much worse before it gets better, an expert from the World Lung Foundation said in Cape Town on Friday. Developing countries will bear the brunt of this burden and its ”huge” economic implications, said Dr Judith Mackay, coordinator of tobacco control at the foundation.

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/ 9 November 2007

Advocate named to head Cape Town spy probe

Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has named a replacement advocate to conduct an official probe into the city’s spy affair. The first person she chose for the job, advocate Geoff Budlender, withdrew over a possible conflict of interest. Zille has now asked advocate Josie Jordaan of the Cape Bar to lead the inquiry.