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/ 11 October 2007
Iraq’s humanitarian crisis is worsening and the plight of millions of displaced Iraqis is critical, says a grim United Nations report on human rights in the war-torn country that was released on Thursday. ”Daily life for the average Iraqi civilian remains extremely precarious,” said the human rights report of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq.
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/ 11 October 2007
French archaeologists say they have excavated an 11 000-year-old wall painting in red, black and white in northern Syria that they describe as the oldest in the world, although it resembles a modern work. The two-square-metre painting was found below ground at the Neolithic settlement of Djade al-Mughara on the Euphrates.
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/ 11 October 2007
The main party in southern Sudan has suspended its participation in the national government until its northern partners reignite a stalled peace process, the secretary general of the party said on Thursday. Pagan Amum of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said: ”The SPLM has recalled all ministers and presidential advisers.”
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/ 11 October 2007
Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar has been banned for 13 international matches and fined 000 by the disciplinary committee of the country’s cricket board for four breaches of the code of conduct. The committee also placed the fast bowler on a two-year probation period during which if he is found guilty of violating the code of conduct he could be banned for life.
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/ 11 October 2007
Gunfire rang out Thursday near Mushaki in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Nord-Kivu province, a day after a renegade former general appealed for a truce with the army, the United Nations said. ”Firing is going on this morning 2km or 3km from Mushaki,” Prem Tiwari, local military spokesperson for the UN’s peacekeeping mission in DRC, said.
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/ 11 October 2007
The South African government is speaking to the mining sector about setting up the industry safety audit called for by President Thabo Mbeki. ”The government calls on the industry to work with the Department of Minerals and Energy and other stakeholders to ensure that concrete steps are taken,” government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday.
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/ 11 October 2007
Togo holds parliamentary elections on Sunday that, if free and fair, could convince international donors that the small West African state has fully embraced democratic rule. The European Union, once Togo’s biggest donor, froze most aid to the former French colony in 1993.
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/ 11 October 2007
Two warring taxi organisations in the Empangeni area have been barred from operating following violent clashes over routes, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial minister of transport Bheki Cele announced on Thursday. ”As from midnight on Friday, not even a single taxi from the rival associations will operate, failing which they will face the full might of the law,” Cele said.
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/ 11 October 2007
The taxi industry will soon be part of the government’s public-transport subsidy system, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe said on Thursday. Radebe said more than 60% of South Africa’s people used taxis. ”We need to support our taxi industry,” he said in Thaba Nchu in the Free State.
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/ 11 October 2007
DVD OF THE WEEK: John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus is a provocative achievement, writes Shaun de Waal.