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/ 5 September 2005

Schröder falters in TV clash with rival

Germany’s conservative challenger Angela Merkel on Sunday night scored a decisive victory over chancellor Gerhard Schröder in the only live debate of the German election campaign. In a gripping 90-minute TV duel, Merkel repeatedly got the better of a stumbling Schröder — telling Germans that the only way to get the country out of its present mess was to vote for her Christian Democrat party.

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/ 5 September 2005

Home language is key to success

It may sound melodramatic, but a moment’s thought will convince you that the following statement is true: one of the fundamental reasons for the economic failure of post-colonial Africa south of the Arabic zone is the fact that, with a few important exceptions, mother- tongue (home language) education is not practised in any of the independent African states.

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/ 5 September 2005

How Zimbabwe is a window to Mbeki’s mind

The riddle over South Africa’s proposed loan to bail Zimbabwe out of trouble with the International Monetary Fund has become a mirror of the personality of President Thabo Mbeki. The outward image is not what is going on within, or behind the scenes. There is little doubt Mbeki — now six years into his 10-year presidency — wants Africa to succeed.

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/ 5 September 2005

Scandal claims Namibian MP

Namibia’s latest financial investment scandal has claimed a Cabinet scalp. Paulus Kapia, the Deputy Minister of Works, Transport and Communication, who only a few months ago was the most favoured foot soldier of former state President Sam Nujoma, has resigned over his role in an asset management company linked to the embezzlement of a R30-million investment of the Social Security Commission.

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/ 4 September 2005

Insurgents target Iraqi security forces

Insurgents killed 19 Iraqi security forces on Saturday in clashes around Baqouba, while United States and Iraqi forces intensified an offensive in a rebel-infested city that the Americans subdued last year — only to have the Iraqis lose control. Eight police officers died in a pair of shootouts in Baqouba, 55km north-east of Baghdad.

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/ 4 September 2005

Egypt bombers were Bedouin Islamists

The three suicide bombers who carried out the deadly July attacks at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh were Bedouin members of an Islamist cell whose chief has been arrested, security sources said on Saturday. The three were identified through DNA tests and the confessions of 29 suspects.

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/ 4 September 2005

African gourmets threaten great apes

Take one soup cube, pepper, salt and onions, not forgetting chunks of monkey, head included. Cook in a casserole and serve. At the restaurant Maman Marie Gibier in Libreville, the dish will set appreciative diners back 1 500 francs CFA (R17,40). ”I have been eating monkey since I was little,” said one diner.

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/ 4 September 2005

Four arrested after another Paris fire

Paris police arrested four suspects after the latest fire in an apartment building in a Paris suburb left 12 people dead, local authorities said on Sunday. Mayor Patrick Seve of L’Hay-les-Roses in the Department Val-de-Marnes said witnesses had seen four young people setting fire to the 18-storey apartment block.