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/ 31 August 2007

Sunday Times editor hails court ruling

Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya hailed the Johannesburg High Court ruling in the newspaper’s case against Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang as ”an important victory for press freedom”. He said the newspaper had already voluntarily handed over a copy of Tshabalala-Msimang’s medical files pertaining to her 2005 stay in Cape Town Medi-Clinic to the hospital.

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/ 31 August 2007

Return of rival ups stakes in Pakistan’s power struggle

Exiled opposition leader Nawaz Sharif upped the stakes in Pakistan’s turbulent power struggle on Thursday by vowing to return home in two weeks to challenge the President, Pervez Musharraf, despite threats of arrest. ”This man Musharraf is on his way out … We will be launching a movement against Mr Musharraf and his government,” Sharif told reporters in London.

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/ 31 August 2007

Zuma: A charge before December?

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>The state has decided to reinstate criminal charges against African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma who will likely be back in the dock before the end of 2007, events in Bloemfontein this week suggest.

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/ 31 August 2007

Business grabs loom in Zim

They have fought over Zimbabwe’s best farms, and now senior figures in Zanu-PF are limbering up for a new battle — this time over an array of foreign assets that will be put up for sale with the enactment of a controversial new empowerment law. Zimbabwe’s Empowerment Minister, Paul Mangwana, has tabled the proposed legislation before Parliament and expects to push it through within the next two weeks.

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/ 31 August 2007

Africa welcomes US gay-bashers

Bernard Nzimbi, head of the Anglican Church in Kenya, entrenched his anti-gay position by consecrating Anglican clerics Bill Atwood and Bill Murdoch as bishops last Thursday in Kenya. Atwood and Murdoch, from the United States, oppose gay unions, which have been authorised by certain Anglican dioceses in North America.

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/ 31 August 2007

At cross purposes

The stage is set for South Africa’s biggest demonstration of political thuggery and the voters are hamstrung, watching from the sidelines as public representatives denigrate their wishes made through the ballot. For the next 15 days, bent politicians will be prostituting themselves to the highest bidder and there is nothing the disapproving voter can do.

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/ 31 August 2007

In the wake of floods

Massive flooding in south-eastern Sudan could lead to the outbreak of water-borne diseases such as cholera, health authorities are warning. Sudan has been experiencing some of the worst floods in its history, with 3,5-million people affected and at risk of disease, the UN says. In Saraf Saeed three of the village’s five natural wells have been contaminated by flood waters in recent weeks.

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/ 31 August 2007

Getting a nose in front

As any veteran of African National Congress conferences will tell you: delegates tend to back the leading horse. So, perceptions of which candidate has a nose in front when December comes are going to be crucial to the outcome of the leadership race.