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/ 8 February 2005

Zimbabwe: A dubious report card for grade zero

Hats a size too large for most of the small heads, formal school uniforms equally incongruous, they march on regardless — the vanguard in an effort to bring pre-schoolers into Zimbabwe’s education system. Beginning this year, primary schools in this Southern African country are required to have at least one class that caters for four- and five-year-olds, to help these children prepare for first grade.

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/ 8 February 2005

Climate change: Is it just hot air?

Here is the truth about global warming: it is an anti-capitalist agenda, a Machiavellian political plot and a convenient rumour started by bungling Japanese pineapple farmers. It is a front for paranoia about immigration, an incitement to civil war, and the reason that the world’s attention was distracted from the risk of a tsunami. Welcome to Britain’s first meeting of climate-change sceptics.

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/ 7 February 2005

US Budget: Defence spending up almost 5%

A ,5-trillion 2006 Budget plan proposed on Monday by United States President George Bush will cut many domestic programmes while boosting defence, with a projected deficit of -billion. The proposal, certain to ignite a battle from opposition Democrats, will raise military expenditures by 4,8% to ,3-billion.

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/ 7 February 2005

Judge hits out at ‘discriminatory’ child rape law

A Pretoria High Court judge has slated legislation that ”discriminates” between male and female child rape victims, with the rapists of boys facing far less severe sentences than those who raped girls. Jordaan described the discrimination as ”ridiculous” and said it cannot be countenanced in a constitutional dispensation such as South Africa’s.

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/ 7 February 2005

Togo controversially swears in president

Togo’s Constitutional Court swore in 39-year-old Faure Gnassingbe as this tiny West African nation’s new president on Monday, despite volleys of international condemnation after the military installed him as his late father’s successor. The six-member court conducted the ceremony at the presidential palace.