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/ 13 October 2005
About 220 Malians migrants marooned in Morocco after failing to reach Europe will be flown home on Thursday at their own request, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Thursday. The repatriation of the group of Malians, in and around the Moroccan city of Oujda, will be strictly voluntary, Jemini Pandya, a spokesperson for the Geneva-based IOM, said.
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/ 13 October 2005
October 13 is being declared Peel Day to celebrate the life and legacy of trail-blazing BBC disc jockey John Peel, who died suddenly last year at the age of 65, the public broadcaster announced. Gigs will take place across Britain in as many venues as possible, and organisers hope Peel Day will become an annual event.
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/ 13 October 2005
Leading British playwright Harold Pinter won the 2005 Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, the Swedish Academy announced. Pinter, ”who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed rooms”, is the foremost representative of drama in post-war Britain, the jury said.
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/ 13 October 2005
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club have formally abandoned their ban on women competing in the Open Championship. Their decision came on the day teenage sensation Michelle Wie made her professional debut. Next year’s entry form will no longer restrict the event to ”any male professional golfer” or ”male amateur golfer whose playing handicap does not exceed scratch”.
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/ 13 October 2005
More than 60 people were killed on Thursday in the southern Russian city of Nalchik in simultaneous attacks on government targets claimed by rebels from nearby breakaway Chechnya, officials said. President Vladimir Putin ordered the city sealed and issued shoot-to-kill orders for anyone using arms to resist police.
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/ 13 October 2005
The Central Bank of Botswana increased the bank rate 25 basis points to 14,50% on Thursday. This came as the Central Statistics Office announced an increase of 10% in year on year (y/y) inflation at the end of September — the highest rate since April 2003 (10,8%). The bank warned of further increases in inflation.
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/ 13 October 2005
The government was to make its first commercial farm expropriation for the purposes of restitution in Lichtenburg on Thursday. North West farmer Hannes Visser would be given 21 days to respond to the notice of expropriation to be served by the Commissioner for Restitution of Land Rights in Gauteng and North West, said spokesperson Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha.
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/ 13 October 2005
In prose and poetry, Myanmar’s ruling junta has launched scathing attacks on two distinguished human rights advocates, Czech ex-president Vaclav Havel and retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who both recently compiled a report critical of the military regime.
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/ 13 October 2005
Growth rates of between five and six percent were achievable for South Africa over the long term, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday. ”It is a bold and ambitious target but achievable,” IMF senior representative for SA and Lesotho, Vivek Arora, said at the release of surveys on its world and regional economic outlooks.
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/ 13 October 2005
In the heyday of radio, the wireless was the centre of people’s lives. The image of families gathered around their radio set is a familiar one — listening to a broadcast was a group activity. ”When they say The Radio, they don’t mean … a man in a studio,” wrote EB White, author of children’s classic Charlotte’s Web, in the 1940s. ”They refer to a pervading and somewhat godlike presence which has come into their lives and homes. It is a mighty attractive idol.”