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/ 24 October 2007

500 000 forced to flee California wildfires

Fierce wildfires raged across Southern California on Tuesday, threatening more than 60 000 homes as night fell and forcing half a million people to flee in the state’s largest evacuation. California’s worst fires in four years tormented the San Diego area in the south and threatened mountain communities further north.

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/ 24 October 2007

DRC’s faded copper town perks up in mining rush

Amid rusted hulks of abandoned plants and huge mine craters, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s former top copper town Kolwezi is showing signs of a reawakening. The town in the south-eastern copperbelt went into virtual hibernation two decades ago after looting by former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko forced the closure of most of the region’s copper mines

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/ 24 October 2007

Court clerk held for 178 counts of fraud

A Pietermaritzburg court clerk was arrested after being linked to 178 counts of theft and fraud, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Wednesday. Spokesperson Inspector Joey Jeevan said a team arrested the 38-year-old woman at the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, after months of intensive investigations.

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/ 24 October 2007

Ancient Egyptian industry gets environmental makeover

Air pollution is so bad in Cairo that living in the sprawling city of 18-million residents is said to be akin to smoking 20 cigarettes a day. According to the World Health Organisation, the average Cairene ingests more than 20 times the acceptable level of air pollution a day. A 2002 World Bank report estimates that pollution causes $2,42-billion-worth of environmental damage each year, about 5% of Egypt’s annual gross domestic product.