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/ 10 September 2005

Florida keeps eye on Hurricane Ophelia

Ophelia regained hurricane strength on a course expected to swing toward the Atlantic Coast, and forecasters urged residents from northern Florida to the Carolinas to keep close watch on its path over the next few days. The category-one storm had sustained winds of 121kph on Friday night.

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/ 10 September 2005

Beijing gets its bang back

Next year, residents of Beijing will be able to again enjoy their centuries-old custom of setting off fireworks during the Chinese Lunar New Year, a news report said. Beijing’s municipal legislature on Friday lifted a 12-year ban on fireworks during the Chinese Lunar New Year, also called the Spring Festival, in the Chinese capital.

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/ 10 September 2005

Zimbabwe lobbies against IMF expulsion

Zimbabwe’s central bank chief on Friday held eleventh-hour meetings with International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials to lobby support against Harare’s possible expulsion for debt arrears, state radio said. Gono was to meet the full IMF board of directors on Friday evening, the radio report said.

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/ 10 September 2005

Great apes: Law needs to be put into practice

Traded illegally, offered as exotic gifts to rich sheikhs or exploited to lure tourists: great apes are badly exposed by a legal system designed to protect them but too often blatantly ignored, according to experts attending an international conference in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on saving primates from extinction.

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/ 10 September 2005

Low turnout mars Mubarak election victory

Incumbent Hosni Mubarak has swept to victory in Egypt’s first contested presidential poll, with almost 90% of the vote, but with less than one-quarter of voters turning out and opponents charging the results were rigged. Official results gave the 77-year-old leader a whopping 88,5% of the vote in Wednesday’s election.

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/ 10 September 2005

Gauteng may appoint immigrant cops

Gauteng authorities are considering recruiting immigrants into the police to improve policing in migrant communities, provincial security minister Firoz Cachalia said on Friday. A group of Gauteng police officers was recently shown allegedly taking bribes from illegal immigrants on a television programme.

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/ 10 September 2005

Heed the UN’s millennium goals, says Mbeki

Hurricane Katrina is a reminder that all humanity needs to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, President Thabo Mbeki wrote in his weekly newsletter on Friday. He quoted reports saying poorer citizens of New Orleans were more vulnerable to the effects of Katrina than their wealthier compatriots.