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/ 2 November 2007
Battles broke out again in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Friday killing at least one, wounding four and stoking the nation’s humanitarian crisis after nearly 90 000 people fled days of fighting earlier this week. Ethiopian forces supporting Somalia’s interim government are trying to crush Islamist-led rebels.
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/ 2 November 2007
The career of Martina Hingis ended in disgrace and tears on Thursday when she retired after testing positive for cocaine, an inglorious finale to a story that captivated world tennis for more than a decade. ”I have tested positive but I have never taken drugs and I feel 100% innocent,” the five-times Grand Slam champion told a news conference.
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/ 2 November 2007
The Department of Home Affairs has ditched the South African Post Office (Sapo) as the distributor of its documents because of inefficiency. Initially, the Sapo contract with the department to deliver documents went very well, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told a media briefing at Parliament on Friday.
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/ 2 November 2007
Rescuers worked on Friday on rescuing hundreds of thousands of people trapped by the worst floods ever recorded in Mexico’s southern state of Tabasco, with more than one million residents affected. The oil-rich state the size of Belgium is now 80% underwater, officials said, adding that they expect more rain in the next days.
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/ 2 November 2007
Former anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman has not been given the recognition she deserves in the new South Africa, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Friday. In a tribute to Suzman ahead of her 90th birthday next week, he said she had tirelessly used her position as MP during the Sixties and Seventies to break the apartheid mould.
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/ 2 November 2007
Tamil Tiger political wing leader SP Thamilselvan was killed in a Sri Lankan air force bombing raid early on Friday, the rebels said, in what analysts said was a body-blow to any hope of ending renewed civil war soon. Thamilselvan was the rebels’ main interlocutor at the last round of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government in October 2006.
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/ 2 November 2007
Broadcaster Alan Jones has applied for the job of Wallabies coach and said he wants to be an agent of change. Jones, who coached the Wallabies from 1984 to 1988, said he did not expect to take the team through to the next World Cup in 2011 but wanted to introduce a more attacking style of play.
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/ 2 November 2007
The JSE recouped some of its earlier losses, but remained lower at midday on Friday on hopes that United States jobs data due out later in the day would support a case for another rate cut in the US. The local bourse was down more than 340 points in early trade following similar drops overseas stemming from renewed US subprime housing-market concerns.
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/ 2 November 2007
Led Zeppelin’s one-off reunion concert, originally scheduled for the end of this month, has been postponed for two weeks after guitarist Jimmy Page broke a finger, the band said on Friday. The gig, at the O2 Arena on the south bank of the River Thames in London, was originally pencilled in for November 26 but will now be held on December 10, the legendary rockers said.
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/ 2 November 2007
South African vehicle sales fell by 5,9%, or 3 423 units, year-on-year in October to 54 387 units with the decline driven by the passenger-car market, new data showed on Friday. Sales data showed that aggregate sales for the first ten months of the year were 3,5% lower than the same time last year.