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/ 15 November 2006
A day after a mass kidnap from a Baghdad ministry raised fears Iraq’s sectarian militias are out of control, government leaders gave sharply differing accounts on Wednesday of whether dozens of hostages were still missing. The minister whose staff were targeted said up to 80 were still unaccounted for, possibly held by Shi’ite militia.
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/ 15 November 2006
United States President George Bush and Russia’s Vladimir Putin confirmed at an airport meeting on Wednesday they plan to sign a bilateral deal next week for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the presidents confirmed that they would sign a protocol paving the way for Russia to join the WTO. Bush and Putin also discussed Iran and its nuclear programme.
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/ 15 November 2006
Africans reacted with a mix of horror and delight at news South Africa had passed a Bill to legalise gay marriage, making it the first to do so on a continent where homosexuality is still largely taboo. Gay rights groups applauded the decision as a step forward for Africa. But some in deeply religious Africa lambasted the decision as ”un-African” and immoral.
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/ 15 November 2006
Tropical Storm Sergio became a hurricane off Mexico on Wednesday and was due to brush by Pacific coastal towns by the weekend, the United States National Hurricane Centre said. ”Additional intensification is likely during the next day or two,” the Miami-based centre said.
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/ 15 November 2006
South Africa coach Jake White made several changes to his side for Saturday’s opening Test against England, bringing in six players to his starting line-up from the team that ran out in last weekend’s tour-opening 32-15 defeat against Ireland.
Wite also made several positional switches for what will be the first of two back-to-back Tests against world champions England at Twickenham.
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/ 15 November 2006
Small tsunami waves hit Japan’s northern-most island late on Wednesday after a major quake in the north Pacific triggered a full-scale tsunami warning for areas of northern Japan and Russia’s sparsely populated Kurile islands. An initial tsunami of 40cm came ashore near Nemuro on the Pacific Coast of Hokkaido Island just before 10pm local time (1pm GMT).
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/ 15 November 2006
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) will lead a march to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) offices on Thursday to demand that the broadcaster be transparent and accountable, the FXI said. It said in a statement on Wednesday that the working-class and poor communities would hand over a memorandum of grievances.
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/ 15 November 2006
Floor-crossing is not only morally problematic, but is also ”dysfunctional” in a parliamentary system, a German political scientist told a conference in Cape Town on Wednesday. Dr Hans-Joachim Veen, honorary professor of comparative government at the University of Trier, said South Africa’s regular floor-crossings were a sign of a ”rudimentary party system”.
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/ 15 November 2006
The far right-wing Boerestaat Party of South Africa announced on Wednesday it intends registering as a political party on December 16. The group, which was formed in the mid-1980s, said it wanted to become a fully fledged political party because it was feeling marginalised as an extra-parliamentary group.
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/ 15 November 2006
Kenya on Wednesday appealed for aid to help hundreds of thousands of people hit by devastating and deadly floods across the country, triggered by unusually heavy seasonal rains. As rains continued to pound north and coastal Kenya, authorities made a national appeal for almost -million to help about 300Â 000 people who are affected by the floods, which have so far killed 23 people.