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/ 22 February 2006
A signalling failure caused the accident between the Blue Train and the Trans Karoo near Beaufort West in October last year, according to a report released on Wednesday. The failure ”was as a result of a short circuit caused by a solder splatter in the relay unit”, said the chief executive of the Railway Safety Regulator.
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/ 22 February 2006
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The African Christian Democratic Party is confident of winning its Constitutional Court challenge against being barred from contesting the Cape Town municipal poll. ”We believe we have a strong case,” ACDP legal adviser Vincent Bergh said after hearing the party has been granted leave to appeal against an Electoral Court ruling.
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/ 22 February 2006
Britons spend more than £1,5-billion a year on cut flowers, and Kenya has nearly a quarter of the market, which peaks around February 14 as millions of Britons give flowers to loved ones on Valentine’s Day. As many as 50 000 people now work in Kenya’s flower industry, and for the past few weeks they have been working flat out to meet orders.
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/ 22 February 2006
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The violent protests in Khutsong prior to the municipal elections on March 1 are an exception and not the rule, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairperson Brigalia Bam said on Wednesday at the opening of the IEC’s 12Â 000-square-metre national operations centre in Pretoria.
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/ 22 February 2006
Africa’s democratic leaders are upbeat about the progress and prospects of the continent. This emerged from the African Leaders’ State of Africa Report 2005, released by former United States ambassador to Tanzania Charles Stith at the University of the Witwatersrand on Wednesday.
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/ 22 February 2006
A total of 1,8-million, or 39%, of workers in South Africa’s six biggest cities travel to work in a motor car, according to Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe. He has warned that a system of reducing single-occupant car use is on the cards and said a travel-demand management strategy is "still being developed".
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/ 22 February 2006
A seven-year-old girl wed a stray dog as part of a ritual to ward off the ”evil eye” on her and her family in eastern India, a news agency reported on Wednesday. Shivam Munda’s upper teeth appeared before her lower teeth — considered a bad omen by members of the Santhal ethnic group to which she belongs.
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/ 22 February 2006
Prison authorities in California were on Tuesday forced to reschedule the execution of convicted murderer Michael Morales after it was delayed by a disagreement with medical personnel. The execution was called off at 2am on Tuesday, two hours after it was due to begin at San Quentin prison near San Francisco.
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/ 22 February 2006
A cholera outbreak has killed at least 45 people and infected about 1 860 others in the past two weeks in the southern Sudan capital, an international medical charity said on Wednesday. Médecins sans Frontières said ”a large outbreak can be expected” in Juba, a town with more than 250 000 people.
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/ 22 February 2006
Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard University, stepped down from his post at America’s top educational institution on Tuesday after a five-year reign punctuated by battles with a rebellious academic staff and public relations gaffes. His resignation is effective on July 1.