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/ 3 September 2007
Some of the South Korean Christian aid workers held hostage by Afghanistan’s Taliban said they were beaten for refusing to convert to Islam and protecting female captives, a hospital chief said on Monday. ”We found through medical checks that some male hostages were beaten,” Cha Seung-Gyun told reporters.
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/ 3 September 2007
Rebels in Ethiopia’s volatile east declared a unilateral ceasefire so the United Nations can investigate their claims of human rights abuses in the region. The Ogaden National Liberation Front rebels, ethnic Somalis who have been fighting the government for more than a decade, said they will only defend themselves if attacked.
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/ 3 September 2007
There has been a ”marked reduction” in human rights violations, road ambushes and illegal firearms in Uganda’s north-east over the past six months, the United Nations said on Monday. In a report, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the Ugandan national army had made important advances between April and August.
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/ 3 September 2007
Police in Soweto were firing water and rubber bullets into a crowd of more than 500 angry protesters in Protea South on Monday. Protesters had begun barricading the main road at about 6am on Monday over poor service delivery. They were also vandalising lamp posts and throwing stones.
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/ 3 September 2007
It is, quite simply, Russia’s most breathtakingly beautiful city. However, St Petersburg, Russia’s second city and former imperial capital, is in danger of being chucked off Unesco’s list of world heritage sites because of plans to build a 300m high skyscraper in its historic centre.
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/ 3 September 2007
Bulgaria donated ,6-million in Soviet-era debt owned by Libya as its contribution to a deal that led to the release of six medics convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV. The European Union newcomer signed on Monday an agreement to donate the debt, accumulated for arms and technical deliveries, to an international fund.
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/ 3 September 2007
The schooling of about 15Â 000 children in the Northern Cape is to be disrupted, South African Broadcasting Corporation news has reported. This follows a decision by the provincial department of education to merge several schools in the Frances Baard municipal district.
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/ 3 September 2007
Officials of South Africa’s Parliament boasted on Monday that for the first time since 2003/04 the institution had received a clean bill of financial health from the Auditor General. There is, according to the secretary of Parliament, Zingile Dingani, no qualification and no matter of emphasis in the report.
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/ 3 September 2007
More than 200 people were arrested in Johannesburg over the weekend for crimes including rape and robbery, police said on Monday. Captain Bhekizizwe Mavundla said Hillbrow police arrested 203 people between Friday and Monday morning. Other crimes included pointing of a firearm and being in possession of dagga.
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/ 3 September 2007
Captain Ricky Ponting was absent from the Australia squad that headed to South Africa for the Twenty20 World Cup on Monday, with Cricket Australia (CA) citing ”family reasons” for his absence. CA chief executive James Sutherland said ”a private family issue” had arisen at the weekend for the 32-year-old skipper.