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/ 8 December 2005
The former mayor of a Rwandan town pleaded guilty on Wednesday to aiding and abetting the country’s 1994 genocide as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors at a United Nations-backed tribunal, the court said. The 57-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of having ”aided and abetted in the commission of the crimes of murder and extermination” but not guilty to genocide.
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/ 8 December 2005
Substantial progress has been achieved in providing microcredit to the world’s poorest families, those earning less than a dollar a day, according to a report released on Wednesday. The Microcredit Summit Campaign said more than 92-million of these families received loans in 2004, nearly a seven-fold hike from the 13,5-million loan recipients in 1997.
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/ 8 December 2005
At least 25 000 people have fled fighting between the army and Mai Mai militiamen in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo region of Katanga since mid-November, humanitarian sources said late on Wednesday. Those displaced are fleeing an army offensive against loyalists to the Mai Mai militia chief ”Gedeon”, in order to re-establish order ahead of a planned constitutional referendum on December 18.
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/ 8 December 2005
South Africa’s November 2005 producer price index (PPI) is expected to ease to a 4,1% year-on-year (y/y) increase from 4,2% y/y in October and 4,6% y/y in September. According to an I-Net Bridge survey of economists, the range is from 3,7% y/y to 4,3% y/y. The expected easing is due to a reduction in the price of imported crude oil.
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/ 8 December 2005
Old Mutual will not raise its offer price for Swedish insurer Skandia, the company said on Thursday. Miranda Bellord, head of media relations at Old Mutual in London, was responding to earlier media reports that the company was considering lifting its R38-billion offer for Skandia in order to persuade some reluctant Skandia shareholders to accept its bid.
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/ 8 December 2005
The South African Cabinet this week considered a detailed presentation of the Gautrain Rapid Rail link project and gave a green light to it going ahead, government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe reported on Thursday. The project, which is expected to cost at least R20-billion rand, got the thumbs down recently from the National Assembly transport portfolio committee.
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/ 8 December 2005
There was something oddly Beckettian about Harold Pinter’s Nobel lecture which now is blazing its way across the world’s media. It was Beckettian in that Pinter sat in a wheelchair, with a rug over his knees and framed by an image of his younger self, delivering his sombre message: memories of Hamm in Beckett’s Endgame came to mind.
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/ 8 December 2005
South Africa’s director-general of Foreign Affairs has convened a meeting with Equatorial Guinea ambassador Juan Ncuchuma to try to secure the return of two nationals being held in that country. Aircraft crew members Sechan Pillay and Ruwayda Kalbine have been held in Equatorial Guinea for five weeks due to problems between two companies involved in a string of aviation sub-contracts.
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/ 8 December 2005
Santos registered their 12th draw of the season when they held SuperSport United to a 2-2 result after leading 1-0 at the interval in a Premier Soccer League match played at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night. In the 2nd minute Mngomezulu Sipho’s hard drive was brilliantly saved by Santos goalkeeper Brenden Wardle.
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/ 8 December 2005
Bush Bucks suffered yet another Premier Soccer League defeat when they lost 2-1 to a 10-man Thembisa Classic in a closely contested match at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday night. The home team came back strongly in the second stanza and went ahead in the 47th minute when Collen Zimba finished neatly for a deserved lead.