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/ 12 November 2007
"Life is leaking out of Madagascar. The gross deforestation of the island has left brown rivers of sand flowing towards the sea, and it has been devastated by gem mining and a high rate of malaria infections and deaths." Zahira Kharsany visited Madagascar during its recent Mother and Child Health Week.
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/ 12 November 2007
They dug up yet another mass grave in Spain recently, this time near the village of Arandiga, 45 miles from Zaragoza. The bones of eight men, all trade unionists, lay where they had been hurriedly buried more than 70 years ago in the early days of the civil war. They had been shot at the same spot by supporters of General Francisco Franco.
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/ 12 November 2007
The Bush administration took a hard line last week on United States diplomats resisting postings to Iraq, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the US ambassador in Baghdad issued blunt reminders of their duty to serve anywhere in the world.
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/ 12 November 2007
Pervez Musharraf’s second coup, or "emergency plus" as it is being referred to in the Pakistani media, was widely expected by the time it was finally announced on the afternoon of November 3. It is being seen here as the last roll of the dice by a desperate gambler.
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/ 12 November 2007
Margaret Legum, who died unexpectedly in Cape Town last week as a result of complications following an operation, was a woman of many accomplishments. She was best known in South Africa for her columns on economics. Born Margaret Roberts in Pretoria 74 years ago to a well-to-do family, she first came to prominence as a student at Rhodes University in the 1950s.
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/ 12 November 2007
When Hugo Chávez is in full flow, politicians and diplomats know better than to try and cut him dead. But not kings. As the Venezuelan president was in mid-harangue, excoriating his ”fascist” foes at a summit of leaders from the Latin world, Juan Carlos, the Spanish monarch, could take no more.
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/ 12 November 2007
Viva amaBokoboko. Fantastic! That image of the Springboks carrying our president shoulder high; wasn’t that just something? What makes it even more powerful is that it was spontaneous and unrehearsed. That spoke volumes about our beautiful land, our rainbow nation and its potential, writes Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
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/ 12 November 2007
The European and American tradition of the political novel is deeply entrenched. From Emile Zola to Gore Vidal, the perceptions and attitudes of citizens in these smug old democracies have long been shaped. South Africa too has a rich history of political fiction, from Alan Paton to Nadine Gordimer, André Brink, Njabulo Ndebele and Lewis Nkosi. But there is, of course, a vast difference between the literary political novel and the ”novel of politics”, writes Marianne Thamm.
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/ 12 November 2007
Erecting 200 houses in a week might sound improbable. Erecting 200 houses, a community centre and creating a communal garden in just seven days sounds downright impossible. But 1 380 international volunteers from the Niall Mellon Township Trust aim to do just that. The ”building blitz”, taking place in Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape this week, follows three similar campaigns the charity has undertaken.
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/ 12 November 2007
A few weeks ago, the woman who had falsely accused my father, Mavuso Msimang, of sexually harassing her almost two years ago withdrew her case against him. It was a hollow victory. The withdrawal per se was an anticlimax. As a family, we were hoping the case would go to court, so that we could get justice, in addition to peace.