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/ 29 December 2004
The first much-needed supplies — shelter, medicine, food and water — together with teams of relief workers began to reach the disaster region to offer help to the survivors. But aid experts warned that without efficient coordination — most importantly, a firm lead from the United Nations — many more lives are bound to be lost in the aftermath of the earthquake.
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/ 29 December 2004
The death toll in the Asian tsunami disaster topped 60 000 on Tuesday night, with world health chiefs warning that disease could kill as many people again if fresh water and medicine do not reach stricken areas soon. Across the Indian Ocean rim, stories of incredible devastation emerged as one of the largest and most complex relief efforts ever undertaken swung into action.
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/ 29 December 2004
The festive season is traditionally a time of giving in Zambia, where the streets of the capital, Lusaka, are awash with people caught up in the buying frenzy that characterises the end of the year. Accordingly, the city’s street children are tracking the mood of consumers as carefully as any economist.
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/ 29 December 2004
Three South Africans are still missing somewhere in Thailand with two more unaccounted for in India after Sunday’s devastating tsunami in the wake of a massive quake off the shores of Sumatra. The bodies of four South Africans known to have died were being ferried back to the country.
Tsunami disaster special report
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/ 29 December 2004
For the better part of this year, the peace accords that brought five years of civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to an end have been described as "fragile". As 2004 ends, however, the agreements seem close to breaking down completely. The past weeks have seen a surge in tensions between the DRC and neighbouring Rwanda.
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/ 29 December 2004
Once again, Africa has experienced a year with more conflicts resolved than wars started. Nevertheless the continent remains depressingly in the red on the agenda of international confidence. South Africa too has seen an increase in its mediation efforts, and South African forces remain on peacekeeping duty.
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/ 29 December 2004
Virgins? A fresh 72, or your wife with HHR (Heavenly Hymen Reconstruction)? If you look, it’s all on the menu, sir. Brocade couches? Seating this way, sir. Silver goblets; fruit? Follow me to the dining area, madam. This is Jannah, the paradise promised by the Qur’an to the Righteous. And frankly, one can’t understand all the fuss.
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/ 29 December 2004
Once again, mommy is to blame. Or sometimes your auntie. Or both. Collective multiple orgasms convulsed the media this year worldwide, including some in South Africa, when the results of yet another scientific study into ”the cause of homosexuality” were unveiled. Male homosexuality, that is, not lesbianism. The choice of focus is wearily familiar, and significant.
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/ 29 December 2004
If you lived in Dobsonville, the real Soweto could prove quite elusive, writes Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya. ”I had never heard anyone ask a taxi driver whether the cab was going to Soweto. And nobody I knew ever said they were going to visit their relatives in Soweto. It was always ko-Central, eS’godiphola or Mgababa. Never Soweto.”
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/ 29 December 2004
A great domestic rivalry moves on to the international stage this weekend when Ghanaian club giants Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko clash in the first leg of the African Confederation Cup final. It will be the first time teams from the same country feature in the climax of a Confederation of African Football competition.