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/ 9 November 2005

Mystery South African to boost World Cup bid

A high-profile South African will be in Dublin next week to boost South Africa’s bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup, bid chief executive Francois Pienaar revealed on Wednesday — with eight days to go before the winner is announced. However, he refused to disclose the identity of the mystery South African lobbyist.

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/ 9 November 2005

Blair battles to win anti-terror vote

Making a last-ditch bid to win a parliamentary vote on holding terror suspects for up to three months without charge, British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday said two terrorist plots had been foiled since July’s attacks in London. A rejection of the plan would be Blair’s first legislative defeat since he came to power in 1997.

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/ 9 November 2005

Twenty-three hours on a jet plane

A Boeing 777 Worldliner took off from Hong Kong on Wednesday in a bid to set the record for the longest flight by a commercial jet, 23 hours to London flying east over North America, a company staffer said. The record bid comes with the company battling with European rival Airbus for control of the long-range aeroplane market.

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/ 9 November 2005

Thousands call on Azerbaijan govt to resign

A crowd of at least 15 000 Azerbaijanis rallying on Baku’s Victory Square on Wednesday under a forest of orange flags called on the government to resign after reported vote fraud in weekend elections. Azadliq, the country’s largest opposition force, has demanded authorities order a re-vote or face regime change.

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/ 9 November 2005

SAA strikes new deals with staff

An agreement to improve working conditions of South African Airways (SAA) pilots, cabin crew and ground staff was announced in Johannesburg on Wednesday. ”This reinforces the confidence we have in the ability of our people,” SAA chief executive Khaya Ngqula told reporters.

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/ 9 November 2005

R527 to see Robbie Williams up close

Details of pop megastar Robbie Williams’s tour to South Africa were announced on Wednesday. His tour kicks off in Durban at the Absa Stadium on April 10. He will be at Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium on April 13, and the last concert will be at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld on April 17.

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/ 9 November 2005

Egyptians start parliamentary voting

Egyptians started voting on Wednesday in parliamentary polls expected to see President Hosni Mubarak’s ruling party retain its grip on power, amid accusations of mass fraud from the opposition Muslim Brotherhood. Thousands of polling stations opened for the first round of the initial phase in legislative elections that will last a month.

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/ 9 November 2005

Fighting bird flu to cost up to $1bn

Fighting bird flu in poultry across the world and preparing for a human influenza pandemic will cost up to -billion over the next three years, the World Bank said on Wednesday. That cost does not include the stockpiling of antiviral drugs and human flu vaccines, Fadia Saadah, of the World Bank, told a global meeting on how to contain the disease.