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/ 20 April 2006

Mystery blasts kill six in Ethiopia

At least six people were killed and dozens wounded when grenades exploded in towns in eastern and western Ethiopia, the latest in a string of mystery blasts in the country, police said on Thursday. Grenades were detonated at two bars and a church in the remote eastern town of Jijiga on Saturday evening.

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/ 20 April 2006

Death toll in Ghana boat disaster lower than feared

The death toll from a boat accident in Ghana earlier this month was considerably lower than initial estimates suggested, officials said on Thursday as they launched an investigation into the accident. Initial reports said about 120 of the 150 people believed to have been on the boat had drowned, but on Thursday police downgraded the numbers to no more than 30.

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/ 20 April 2006

Algerian president in France for medical check-up

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was in Paris for a medical examination on Thursday, five months after undergoing stomach surgery in the French capital, French and Algerian officials said. Algerian officials said 69-year-old Bouteflika, who was operated on for a bleeding stomach ulcer at a Paris military hospital last November, was in the country for a routine consultation.

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/ 20 April 2006

Apartheid: ‘Time to face the music’

It is time for politicians and security-force officers to face the music for their role in apartheid-era human rights violations, a Cape Town conference heard on Thursday. Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission member Yasmin Sooka said she would like to see ”those who created this milieu” brought to book.

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/ 20 April 2006

Oxfam seeks $35m in aid for East Africa

British charity Oxfam International on Thursday launched its biggest food-crisis aid appeal to date, asking for more than -million to save millions in drought-hit East Africa. The appeal for the funds, the organisation’s largest single call for donations to avert a food crisis in its 60-year history, came as the United Nations warned that recent rains across the region were not enough to alleviate suffering.

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/ 20 April 2006

Competition Commission looks at bank charges

The Competition Commission will hold a public inquiry into bank charges and access to the payment system, it said on Thursday. It was releasing a research report into the national payment system (NPS) and competition in the banking sector. The NPS is the accounting and transaction system between banks and other financial institutions.

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/ 20 April 2006

New vaginal gel ‘can kill HIV cells’

A major breakthrough in the fight against the HIV/Aids epidemic may be likely as research into a revolutionary new type of technology, known as microbicides, gains momentum. Professor Helen Rees of the Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand said in a statement to the media that microbicides are crucial in reducing the spread of HIV/Aids.