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/ 14 December 2005
A former British military intelligence officer and an expert in psychological warfare has emerged as a crucial strategist in the Pentagon’s covert operation to pay Iraqi newspapers and journalists for publishing ”good news” stories about the coalition’s reconstruction efforts.
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/ 14 December 2005
The Paez Indians in south-western Colombia will launch Coca Sek this week, a fizzy drink based on coca leaves consumed for centuries by native Colombian peoples. The Paez, who live in the Calderas reserve, began their efforts to sanitise the use of the coca leaf, the main ingredient in cocaine, by selling crushed dried coca leaves for use as tea.
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/ 14 December 2005
CIA prisoners in Europe were apparently abducted and moved between countries illegally, possibly with the aid of national secret services who did not tell their governments, according to the first report by Dick Marty — a Swiss Senator investigating the allegations — on the so-called ”renditions” scandal.
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/ 14 December 2005
Aubrey Welken, a South African Secret Service agent imprisoned for a year in Zimbabwe, arrived at Johannesburg International airport on Tuesday. Speaking to the media, the middle-aged Welken, with shoulder-length grey hair, said: ”It was a tough time, but I am okay.”
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/ 14 December 2005
Minister of Minerals and Energy Lindiwe Hendricks is due to make an announcement on Wednesday following a meeting with the petroleum industry over fuel shortages. Addressing the National Assembly earlier on Tuesday, Hendricks said: ”Everybody knows the industry is to blame in this case.”
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/ 14 December 2005
Authorities in Equatorial Guinea plucked two South African air-crew members stranded in that country from the plane that was to return them to Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon, their employer said. The two have been detained in the West African country’s capital, Malabo, since November 10 as pawns in a business dispute.
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/ 14 December 2005
Malawi police on Tuesday fired on a mob outside the home of a Chinese businessman rumoured to have abducted and eaten a number of boys in the southern tea-growing town of Bvumbwe. Two people were rushed to a hospital after they were shot in the melee, said police spokesperson Willy Mwaluka.
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/ 14 December 2005
A night vigil led by the South African Communist Party in Khutsong, outside Carletonville, went ahead on Tuesday night, despite police declaring it illegal. The government decides on Wednesday whether the municipality, currently in Gauteng, will be incorporated into North West province.
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/ 14 December 2005
Trevor Ncube, owner and publisher of the Mail & Guardian, is effectively under country arrest in Zimbabwe after his passport was confiscated upon his arrival in Bulawayo last week, said the board of M&G Media, which publishes the M&G, on Tuesday. It is a ”sad day for Africa”, said chairperson of the board Professor William Makgoba.
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/ 14 December 2005
Trade ministers from around the world opened a fresh quest for consensus on Wednesday on a new pact to boost global commerce, with a possible showdown on cotton trade looming at the end of the day. Ministers from 149 countries are meeting in Hong Kong under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).