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/ 6 September 2007
Syria accused Israel on Thursday of bombing its territory and warned it could respond, but Israel Radio carried a denial there had been an air strike. The official Syrian news agency said there were no casualties or damage and that Syrian air defences fired on the incoming planes shortly after midnight.
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/ 6 September 2007
Something is stirring in the South African blogosphere, says electronic-media analyst Arthur Goldstuck. This year will probably be remembered as a time when blogs came of age, with more than 600 000 internet users visiting blogs by their fellow South Africans in just one month.
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/ 6 September 2007
The majority of the members of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) walked out of the National Assembly on Thursday after speaker Baleka Mbete officially suspended one of them for five days. Health spokesperson Mike Waters upset the speaker on Wednesday when he challenged her ruling that a question directed to Manto Tshabalala Msimang was out of order.
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/ 6 September 2007
United States combat helicopters and tanks bombarded a Baghdad neighbourhood in pre-dawn strikes on Thursday, killing 14 sleeping civilians and destroying houses, angry residents and Iraqi officials said. The US military said the operation was aimed at Shi’ite extremists and the houses destroyed were ”enemy strongholds”.
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/ 6 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s police formally accused the country’s main opposition leader on Thursday of ”disorderly conduct” in connection with his recent tour of stores hurt by the government’s controversial price freeze, his lawyer said. Morgan Tsvangirai was quizzed by police for nearly an hour in the capital and then released from custody, one day after being instructed to appear.
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/ 6 September 2007
The newly formed National People’s Party (NPP) on Thursday claimed that five former members of the Independent Democrats (ID) had crossed the floor, bringing their Cape Town metro seats with them. However, the ID said two of the five — Abdulla Omar and Aaron Kallie — were expelled from the party before the floor-crossing window opened.
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/ 6 September 2007
Efforts to rejuvenate the South African Army will see 3 000 new recruits being taken in next year, with the figure shooting up to 7 000 in 2009, it was announced on Thursday. ”We need a young and fit group of soldiers,” army chief General Solly Shoke told reporters in Pretoria.
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/ 6 September 2007
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Leading international news agencies on Thursday launched a boycott of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, plunging the event into controversy on the eve of its opening game. Agence France-Presse (AFP), Reuters, the Associated Press, Getty Pictures and the German agency, dpa, said no text, photo or video news on the World Cup would be sent for 24 hours.
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/ 6 September 2007
Zimbabwe’s failing economy and collapsing services have provided an environment ripe for graft, with the impoverished country’s woes facilitating an ever-worsening slide towards corruption. Despite setting up a local graft-busting body in 2004, Zimbabwe appears to be losing the battle against corruption, according to a leading watchdog.
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/ 6 September 2007
A Dutch park of natural sand dunes may introduce predators to control its overpopulation of deer, a local official said on Wednesday. The park’s management company, Waternet, "has made some study proposals. One of them is to introduce predators," said Marjolijn Goethem, a spokesperson for the local commune west of Amsterdam where the park is located.