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/ 2 December 2007

Somalia prime minister wants dialogue

Somalia’s new prime minister called on Sunday for dialogue with Islamist-led opponents to end an insurgency that a rights group says has killed nearly 6 000 civilians so far this year. In some of his first public comments on the conflict, Somalia’s new prime minister, Nur Hassan Hussein, said he was open to talks.

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/ 2 December 2007

England stumble as Murali equals Warne’s record

Muttiah Muralitharan equalled Shane Warne’s world-record tally of 708 wickets as Sri Lanka sent England crashing in the first cricket Test on Sunday. The off-spinner grabbed 4-30 in 23 overs as England, replying to Sri Lanka’s modest 188, slumped to 186-6 by tea before heavy rain washed out the rest of the day’s play.

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/ 2 December 2007

Misbah, Akmal lead Pakistan fightback

Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal scored battling hundreds to steer Pakistan to 358-6 against India on the third day of the second Test on Sunday. In-form Misbah, who struck 108 not out, and keeper-batsman Akmal, with 119, shared in a 207-run sixth-wicket stand after the visitors had lost four wickets in the morning session at Eden Gardens.

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/ 2 December 2007

Kaka wins Ballon d’Or award

AC Milan’s Brazilian midfielder Kaka was named on Sunday as France Football‘s Player of the Year, winning the prestigious Ballon d’Or award. He succeeds Italy’s World Cup-winning captain and defender Fabio Cannavaro and comes two years after the last Brazilian winner of the trophy, Barcelona’s Ronaldinho.

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/ 2 December 2007

Nationwide leases plane for London flight

Grounded carrier Nationwide has leased an aircraft from Dutch airline KLM to fly passengers to London on Sunday night, said the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). However, Nationwide would have to prove that this aircraft complied with civil aviation safety requirements before it would be allowed to fly, said a CAA spokesperson.

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/ 2 December 2007

Chávez for life? Venezuelans to vote on re-election

Venezuelans vote in a tightly contested referendum on Sunday on whether to allow left-wing President Hugo Chávez to stay in power for as long as he keeps winning elections or hand him his first defeat at the polls. The anti-American firebrand, who has easily won one election after another against a fragmented opposition, is in the hardest campaign of his life.

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/ 2 December 2007

Medics flee western Uganda as Ebola spreads

Several dozen medics and support staff have fled western Uganda after their co-workers became infected with the Ebola virus in an outbreak that has already killed 18 people, officials said on Saturday. Ugandan officials appealed for help in dealing with the outbreak of Ebola, a contagious disease that kills up to 90% of those infected.

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/ 2 December 2007

Sri Lanka says 52 killed in weekend clashes

At least 52 combatants were killed and 25 wounded in fresh fighting between security forces and Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka’s embattled north during the weekend, the Defence Ministry said Sunday. With the upsurge in clashes along the de facto frontlines separating the mini-state held by the guerrillas, the military stepped up the already tight security.

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/ 2 December 2007

Early poll a possibility, says Mbeki

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday that he would not rule out calling early general elections if he failed to win the leadership of the governing African National Congress (ANC) party. "I have not thought about that one [early poll]. We haven’t got there yet. I don’t know. It’s possible, it’s possible, yes indeed," he said in an interview.