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/ 3 October 2007

Serial-killer probe follows sugar-cane murders

South African police said on Wednesday they believed a serial killer was responsible for the deaths of eight women whose bodies were found dumped in sugar-cane fields on the KwaZulu-Natal. A police spokesperson for the Umzinto area said that while a forensics expert had not yet made his findings public, the most recent discovery of three bodies suggested a serial killer was at work.

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/ 3 October 2007

Scorpions under spotlight again

The Scorpions crime unit is in the political spotlight again amid reports it was preparing to arrest the nation’s police commissioner, the latest high-profile official targeted by the elite force. Unease over the unit has been building within the ruling African National Congress since President Thabo Mbeki announced the formation of the FBI-style crime unit in 1999.

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/ 3 October 2007

Hundreds of thousands flee Typhoon Lekima

China and Vietnam evacuated hundreds of thousands of people from low-lying coastal areas on Wednesday as Typhoon Lekima lashed the region with torrential rains and heavy winds. The storm passed over the central Vietnam province of Quang Binh on Wednesday night and blew westward toward Laos, officials said.

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/ 3 October 2007

Union calls for probe into rising food prices

The Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) has called on the government to probe the increasing prices of basic foodstuffs. ”We believe that the skyrocketing food prices are the result of anti-competitive conduct by the major role players in the food production and supply chain,” Fawu said in a statement on Wednesday.

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/ 3 October 2007

Mbeki was entitled to sack Masetlha

The Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that President Thabo Mbeki did have the power to sack former National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha. The president had the power to terminate his employment under section 209(2) of the Constitution, read with section 3 of the Intelligence Services Act.

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/ 3 October 2007

Boucher honoured to break Healy’s record

South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on Wednesday said he was honoured to break Ian Healy’s Test record for dismissals behind the stumps with 396 victims. The 30-year-old stumped Pakistani batsman Umar Gul for 12 on the third day of the first Test against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi to reach the milestone.