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/ 27 February 2005
Togo’s new leader, Abass Bonfoh, made interim head of state during the night by Parliament, on Saturday promised ”free and open elections” within 60 days, to end a political crisis that has seen the country isolated internationally. He was speaking the day after army-installed ruler Faure Gnassingbe stood down, pledging an election.
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/ 27 February 2005
The tiny Pacific island nation of Tokelau called for food and medical supplies on Saturday after suffering heavy damage from tropical Cyclone Percy. As the powerful storm headed towards American Samoa’s Swains Island, residents on the New Zealand-administered Tokelau islands began counting the cost of the battering from gale-force winds and high seas.
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/ 27 February 2005
A fire that engulfed the upper floors of a high-rise building in central Taiwan, killing four people, could have been started by welding equipment being used in a new restaurant, firefighters said on Sunday. The fire on the 22-floor Golden Plaza Tower building in Taichung city blazed for about 80 minutes on Saturday before it was put out.
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/ 27 February 2005
An recently established independent paper in Zimbabwe, the Weekly Times, has been shut down for allegedly violating the country’s tough media laws, its owner, Godfrey Ncube, said on Saturday. The paper is the fourth to be closed in the Southern African country since the enactment of the media laws in 2002.
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/ 27 February 2005
A former councillor has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a baby at Mpumalanga’s Ermelo hospital exactly 10 days after she was born, the province’s police said on Saturday. The baby was found at Boschfontein near Komatipoort on South Africa’s border with Mozambique, Captain Abie Khoabane said.
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/ 27 February 2005
A dozen HIV-positive women donned flowing evening gowns and glittering jewellery in Gaborone, Botswana, on Saturday to compete in a beauty pageant aimed at fighting the stigma that still surrounds the deadly virus in this Aids-ravaged Southern African country. Botswana has one of the world’s highest rates of HIV infection.
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/ 27 February 2005
Five men drowned and two were washed out to sea during a baptism on Durban’s Suncoast beach in the early hours of Sunday, police said. Captain Gugu Sabela said the men from a congregation in Inanda were taking part in a baptism ceremony just after midnight when the tragedy happened.
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/ 27 February 2005
The Blue Bulls delivered a neat performance to beat the Lions 28-12 in a friendly warm-up match played as a curtain-raiser to the Cats and Bulls Vodacom Super 12 match at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon. Tries by Scott Mathie and Derick Kuun and a conversion and penalty from Morne Steyn gave the visitors a deserved lead at the halfway mark.
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/ 27 February 2005
South Africa’s premier bowlers, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini, are to be rested for the last two matches in the three-match Standard Bank limited-overs series against Zimbabwe, South Africa’s cricket authorities said. South Africa easily beat Zimbabwe in the first match on Friday, and are expected to do the same in the second match on Sunday.
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/ 27 February 2005
Bushbucks booked a place in the last 16 of the Absa Cup after beating Bloemfontein Centic six-five on penalties in a closely contested match in East London on Saturday. Manning Rangers beat Pietersburg Pillars 4-3, Lamontville Golden Arrows were beaten 1-0 by Jomo Cosmos and Kaiser Chiefs easily advanced to the last 16.