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/ 19 September 2006

Suburban bliss

Pinelands, a Cape Town suburb built in the 1920s to emulate a British rural idyll, has become the city’s most racially mixed neighbourhood. If you’re really lucky you might glimpse Pinelands residents Patricia de Lille (Independent Democrats leader) and Pregs Govender (activist and former MP) having their hair done at the same salon.

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/ 19 September 2006

Govt plan for Cape Town a blatant abuse, says Zille

Western Cape provincial minister of local government Richard Dyantyi’s move to change Cape Town’s system of government is a blatant abuse of power with serious implications for South Africa, city mayor Helen Zille said on Tuesday. She was reacting to a letter Dyantyi sent her earlier in the day, announcing that he was considering scrapping the current mayoral committee system.

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/ 19 September 2006

Focus on Aids at Cosatu conference

The halls of Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Johannesburg, were on Tuesday packed with delegates from different workers’ unions, thrashing out issues on HIV/Aids and unemployment. Delegates at the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) national congress discussed among themselves the HIV/Aids issue that was encouraged by the speech of president of Cosatu, Willie Madisha.

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/ 19 September 2006

Thai armed forces seize Bangkok in apparent coup

The Thai army took control of Bangkok on Tuesday and announced it would set up a commission to reform the Constitution despite Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declaring a state of emergency from New York. After tanks surrounded Government House, all television channels relayed a written statement saying the armed forces and police were in control of Bangkok.

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/ 19 September 2006

Cosatu: No leadership opposition identified

By the end of the second day of the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) congress in Midrand, there was still no clarity on whether there was any official opposition to the present leadership. The nominations for new national office bearers for Cosatu closed on Tuesday but no details on any possible new candidates were being released.

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/ 19 September 2006

Moves afoot to strip Zille of power

Western Cape provincial minister of local government Richard Dyantyi has taken the first step in his bid to strip Cape Town mayor Helen Zille of her executive powers. He sent a letter to Zille on Tuesday giving her notice of a ”proposed amendment” to the form of government the city has.

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/ 19 September 2006

Witness shows attack scars in Saddam trial

A former Kurdish guerrilla fighter removed his shirt in a marbled Baghdad courtroom on Tuesday to show what he said were scars caused by a chemical attack ordered by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. Iskandar Mahmoud Abdul-Rahman told how he and other comrades from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan were gassed after fleeing to a village in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region.

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/ 19 September 2006

Israel set to complete Lebanon withdrawal

The Israeli army said on Tuesday it could complete a pull-out from southern Lebanon within a few days as the United Nations said the number of peacekeepers in the devastated country had reached 5 000. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said such a level of peacekeepers on the ground in southern Lebanon should enable Israel to finish its withdrawal.