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/ 6 September 2005
As someone who has spent the best part of 20 years covering global trade talks, I know from bitter experience that it takes a lot to elevate tariffs, quotas and subsidies on to the front page. Recently, however, reports that there are shiploads of ladies’ underwear lurking on the borders of the EU, due to a decision to limit imports from China, have elevated trade to the lead item on the BBC news.
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/ 6 September 2005
All is not lost in America. When George W Bush came out a couple of weeks ago in favour of teaching ”intelligent design” — the new manifestation of creationism — the press gave him a tremendous kicking. The Christian Taliban have not yet won. But, they are gaining on us. So far there have been legislative attempts in 13 states to have intelligent design added to the school curriculum.
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/ 5 September 2005
The party that overthrew a horrific junta in Ethiopia retained power through the ballot, but only after months of violence and allegations of vote-rigging that raised concerns about the future of democracy in the country. The Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front was on Monday declared the official winner of May 15 elections.
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/ 5 September 2005
The National Electricity Regulator (NER) has dismissed claims that it published an inaccurate report saying Johannesburg’s City Power was in a serious state of disrepair. City Power deputy president Silus Zimu said the NER report, released last week, contained inaccurate information.
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/ 5 September 2005
Once-bustling New Orleans was reduced on Monday to a few thousand people as rescuers went house to house searching for survivors of Hurricane Katrina and mobile morgues stood by to collect the dead. President George Bush made his second tour of the devastation in three days.
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/ 5 September 2005
Eleven people were killed on Monday when an Antonov-26 freight aircraft struck a tree near Isiro airport in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), aviation officials said. The death toll was higher than a provisional figure of seven given by local officials and the United Nations-funded Okapi radio.
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/ 5 September 2005
At least 57 people drowned and dozens more are feared dead after the crew of a boat making an illegal crossing from Somalia to Yemen forced them from the boat at gunpoint several kilometres from shore. The 18 smugglers appeared to be trying to avoid detection when they forced passengers into the Red Sea.
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/ 5 September 2005
The City of Johannesburg and its electricity utility, City Power, are set to forward a formal complaint to the National Electricity Regulator (NER) over a damning report, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Monday. The NER found City Power’s supply infrastructure to be in a serious state of disrepair.
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/ 5 September 2005
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has been effectively cleared by two commissioners of bias and wrongdoing over the Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka ”booing” incident — because it did not get the footage from the freelance cameraman. The commissioners acknowledged: ”This issue may require further probing.”
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/ 5 September 2005
The high-profile trial of Zimbabwe’s former finance minister Chris Kuruneri for allegedly smuggling money abroad resumed on Monday with his lawyers asking for the judge to be changed. ”The view of the public is that there has been bias in this trial and the court cannot ignore this,” Kuruneri’s lawyer said.