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/ 11 November 2005
The African Union is determined to take the issue of Security Council reform down to the wire at this session of the United Nations General Assembly. Observers differ on whether this is stubborn or shrewd. About a month from now, Africa will know exactly what support it has for its aspiration to occupy two permanent seats, with veto rights, and five rotating seats on a reformed Security Council.
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/ 11 November 2005
The biological clock ticks for men as well as women, suggesting it is not just females who should be aware of the consequences of starting families later in life, according to research published recently. In the biggest study to date of the effects of paternal age on babies’ health, scientists found that older men have a greater chance of fathering children with a variety of limb defects.
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/ 11 November 2005
In the beginning there was … Madonna. Now you can also download Pope Benedict XVI into your iPod. The Holy See’s official broadcaster, Vatican Radio, is ”podcasting” audio content to any of the world’s one-billion-plus Catholics who own a portable MP3 player.
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/ 11 November 2005
Fears were growing this week that the crucial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong next month is heading for failure after Brazil and India warned that the gulf between negotiators was too big to bridge in the five weeks left for the talks. The leading developing countries said the mid-December deadline for an outline deal to liberalise trade was too soon and that there might have to be a delay or a scaling-back of ambition for the round launched four years ago.
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/ 11 November 2005
After nearly two months of defiance, disgraced former Swapo youth leader Paulus Kapia has finally relented and resigned his seat in Parliament. This after a last ditch attempt by his mentor, former president Sam Nujoma, to sway the party’s politburo to hold fire until a corruption court case currently under way in Namibia is concluded.
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/ 11 November 2005
Three weeks ago the Cape Town city council removed 30 families who had squatted on District Six land for several years. Their ID numbers have been forwarded to the provincial Land Claims Commission office to verify if any of them are claimants. If not, the council has promised, they will be ”accommodated in the housing programme that is being provided by the city”.
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/ 11 November 2005
Bon vivant and raconteur Robert Mugabe has dazzled his fans once again. The famous revolutionary and drama queen has always had a way with words, but it took something just a little bit special on Tuesday to rhyme ”Dell” (the surname of the American ambassador in Zimbabwe) with ”hell”. Of course, some of the lustre was dulled by Mugabe’s admission that he has the spelling ability of a seven-year-old.
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/ 11 November 2005
Is there growing scepticism in the world about the very possibility of contemporary South Africa — a unitary state composed of peoples who have nothing in common except that they live in the same territory? Is the cosmopolitan project in -crisis? This is how the burning Paris hinterland is interpreted — the consequence of trying to integrate diverse cultures and religions in a single polity.
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/ 11 November 2005
Alarm bells have been raised over the safety of hundreds of Zimbabwean workers, trade union leaders, students and civil society activists detained during a wave of protests in the country recently. Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions information officer Mlamuleli Sibanda said that at least four HIV-positive workers have been denied access to medication or medical assistance since their arrest.
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/ 11 November 2005
Palaeontologists excavating a dump outside Barcelona have found a skull dating back 14-million years that could belong to a common ancestor of apes and humans. The nearly intact skull, which has a flat face, jaw and teeth, may belong to a previously unknown species of great ape, said Salvador Moya, the chief palaeontologist on the dig.