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/ 23 November 2007
A proposed new law to boost patriotism in Thailand would be ”chaotic” because it would require motorists to stop when the national anthem is played twice a day, lawmakers said on Friday. A vote on the Flag Bill proposed by a group of retired and active duty generals in the army-appointed Parliament was deferred on Thursday to allow a committee to study it.
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/ 23 November 2007
Tsitsikamma district residents in the Eastern Cape are being evacuated by Cacadu’s disaster management due to heavy rains, the South African Weather Service said on Friday. ”The R61 and R62 are still closed. One lane is open on the N2 between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town,” spokesperson Garth Sampson said.
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/ 23 November 2007
The South African Parliament officially closed for the year on Thursday with MPs voting for a 7,6% salary increase for President Thabo Mbeki, to R1,27-million a year, backdated to April 1. It was far short of the nearly 60% increase from R1,18-million to R1,89-million recommended by the independent Moseneke Commission in its review of salary packages for public office-bearers.
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/ 23 November 2007
While sporting attention is turned to the draw for the preliminary round of the 2010 Soccer World Cup this weekend, a different view of soccer in South Africa is being premiered in front of a celebrity audience on Friday. Director Junaid Ahmed’s film More Than Just a Game tells the story of how political prisoners on Robben Island used soccer as one of the means of survival.
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/ 23 November 2007
Swarms of locusts have infested parts of north-eastern Kenya’s district of Mandera, ravaging pasture and crops in the arid area frequently hit by drought, officials said. Mandera district commissioner Naftali Mung’athia said the pests had destroyed crops on smallholder farms along the River Dauwa.
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/ 23 November 2007
Impala Platinum (Implats), the world’s second-biggest producer of platinum, shut one of two shafts at its Marula mine after a worker was killed in an incident, an official at Implats said on Friday. Clapham is one of two shafts at Marula and produces half of the Marula mine’s total output of 6Â 000 ounces of platinum per month.
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/ 23 November 2007
The Commonwealth’s biennial summit opened on Friday in Uganda with leaders focusing on climate change, a day after Pakistan, which is still under emergency rule, was suspended from the organisation. The loose federation of mostly former British colonies includes some of the world’s major polluters.
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/ 23 November 2007
Harmony Gold said on Friday one worker was injured and another was missing after a rockfall at its Elandsrand mine, which re-opened on Monday after it was shut down in early October following an accident. An official at Harmony said the mine had not been shut again after Friday’s accident, which took place about 3km underground at about 10.30am.
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/ 23 November 2007
A record television audience is expected to watch the 2010 Soccer World Cup preliminary draw when it takes place in Durban on Sunday afternoon. World Soccer governing body Fifa spokesperson Nicolas Maingot said on Friday that while television viewer figures would be hard to estimate, there would be 34 television channels broadcasting the draw live.
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/ 23 November 2007
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned on Friday that the failure of new peace efforts would be ”deadly” as new polls showed Israelis and Palestinians equally pessimistic about its chances of success. Most Israelis and Palestinians do not think the meeting, opening on Tuesday in the United States, will succeed, according to separate opinion polls.