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/ 12 November 2005

Saddam’s former deputy reported dead

Saddam Hussein’s former deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who helped orchestrate the Ba’athist coup in 1968 that brought him to power, died on Friday, according to Arab media reports. Meanwhile, it has emerged that some Sunni Arab parties have suspended their boycott of the political process.

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/ 12 November 2005

Schoolboy voted in as youngest US mayor

The new mayor of Hillsdale, Michigan, is a man of the people, ready to listen to their every concern, but only until 6pm. Then he has to do his homework. The local elections on Tuesday may have been dismal for President George Bush’s Republican party, but they were a triumph for the 18-year-old Michael Sessions.

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/ 12 November 2005

Merkel seals deal for grand German coalition

Germany moved into a new political era on Friday night as the country’s two biggest parties reached a deal to form a left-right ”grand coalition”. Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU and the social democrat SPD emerged from negotiations with a 130-page agreement that will form the basis of Germany’s bipartisan government.

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/ 12 November 2005

ANC pays tribute to ‘remarkable son’

The founder of the African National Congress’s Economic Research Unit, Selebano Zacharia Matlhape, was a lifelong fighter for democracy, the ANC said in paying him tribute on Friday following his death last week. ”South Africa bids a sad farewell to one its most remarkable sons,” said ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama.

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/ 12 November 2005

Lekota heart attack confirmed

Surgeon General Vijay Ramlakan confirmed on Friday that Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota had suffered a heart attack on Wednesday. ”He was alone in his official residence in Cape Town when the incident happened. Minister Lekota … was able to summon help from Staff Sergeant Andre Salamat,” he told reporters.

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/ 12 November 2005

Thousands wait for Zuma at court

A date for the corruption trial of dismissed deputy president Jacob Zuma will formally be set at his appearance in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Saturday. Police frisked supporters as they streamed to the court on Friday evening, and put the crowd inside their barriers at more than 2 000 by 11pm. More were gathered outside.