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/ 1 September 2005
For once, there were no cars rigged with explosives, no men with assault rifles or bomb-filled vests — no proof of malice. The culprit was a combination of panic and the weight of Shia pilgrims crushing against each other.
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/ 1 September 2005
South African Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota has assured the United Nations Security Council that his country’s mediation in strife-torn Côte d’Ivoire will continue to push for free and fair elections on October 30 as scheduled — but the rebel New Forces said it refuses to accept any future South African mediation.
A new book on South African journalism launched by the Human Sciences Research Council, Changing the Fourth Estate: Essays on South African Journalism, covers both preservation and transformation in South Africa’s media — in a disturbing dichotomy. But an analysis of the contributors leads to a problematic situation.
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Army engineers trying to plug New Orleans’s breached levees struggled to move giant sandbags and concrete barriers into place, and the state governor said on Wednesday the situation is growing more desperate and there is no choice but to abandon the flooded city. The Pentagon has begun mounting one of the biggest search-and-rescue operations in United States history.
High-level expulsions rocked the United Democratic Movement on Wednesday, just hours before the doors were to open for South African politicians to switch parties. The floor-crossing window is open from September 1 to 15, and South African politicians spoke to the Mail & Guardian Online about its pros and cons.
The stampede tragedy in Baghdad on Wednesday that killed more than 800 Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims risks stoking ethnic conflict in a country dangerously rife with sectarian tension. The unprecedented numbers killed in Wednesday’s horrific tragedy has left some wondering if the event could tip communal frictions over the edge.
South Africa is not paralysed in its policy towards Zimbabwe and will continue its engagement to prevent a complete collapse, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Wednesday. ”If there is any country that we’ve been engaging with, and spent hours and days … it is Zimbabwe,” she said.
Patient fees at public hospital rates will decrease by up to 70% once a new fee structure has been approved by provincial hospitals, the Department of Health said on Wednesday. Departmental spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said the revised rates have been sent to all provincial health departments.
It is said to be the world’s largest tomato battle. Tens of thousands of people hurled truckloads of tomatoes at each other on Wednesday, sending knee-deep rivers of tomato sauce down the streets of the small Spanish town of Buñol during its annual food fight, the Tomatina.