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/ 22 December 2004
The Department of Health has filed notice with the Constitutional Court to appeal against a judgement by the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal annulling the government’s new medicine-pricing regulations. The appeal effectively suspends the Supreme Court of Appeal judgement passed on Tuesday.
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/ 22 December 2004
After three weeks of musing, the Department of Home Affairs has decided to approach the Constitutional Court about legalising gay marriages. ”We are filing our appeal today [Wednesday]. We are a very principled department and believe we cannot pre-empt the process,” said departmental spokesperson Nkosana Sibuyi.
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/ 22 December 2004
The latest instalment in the Harry Potter series won’t hit stores for more than six months but it has already topped at least one bookseller’s most wanted list and is racking up thousands of advance orders, retailers said on Wednesday. It shot to number one on online bookseller Amazon.co.uk‘s Hot 100 book list.
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/ 22 December 2004
Niger police acknowledged on Wednesday that officers had toured the capital, Niamey, this week to remove all copies of the independent weekly Testimony (Le Temoin) ahead of the inauguration of re-elected President Mamadou Tandja. Tandja was inaugurated on Tuesday after his second-round victory on December 4.
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/ 22 December 2004
British Prime Minister Tony Blair pursued his quest to bring peace to the Middle East on Wednesday, unveiling plans for a conference to help prepare the Palestinians for statehood after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. Meanwhile, opposition to the Gaza pull-out is gathering steam among the settlers.
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/ 22 December 2004
South African banking group Nedcor on Wednesday announced the sale of the corporate law advisory and consultancy business of Edward Nathan & Friedland (ENF), acquired by the group in October 1999. ENF has been sold, with effect from October 31 2004, for a cash consideration of R50-million to Edward Nathan.
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/ 22 December 2004
The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday threatened to take measures against Sudan, blaming it for the ”serious degradation of the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur and repeated violations of the ceasefire”. The council condemned ceasefire violations and the shooting at an African Union helicopter.
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/ 22 December 2004
A United States man who served nearly 17 years for rape was freed from prison after DNA tests determined he was not responsible for the crime. He said he feels ”numb”. ”Have you ever had novocaine? It’s a lot like that, just from head to toe,” he said. He had been serving a 75-year sentence after his 1988 conviction for sexual assault.
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/ 22 December 2004
Former sociology lecturer James Christie, twisting the words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, once quipped that humans are born free, but are everywhere in chain stores. He might have added that some humans feel like resorting to chain saws — in order to carve a path through the crowds clogging the craw of December shopping malls.
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/ 22 December 2004
A Japanese man kept his 21-year-old girlfriend confined in handcuffs for 11 days in his apartment because he worried she may date other men, police said on Wednesday. Police said he told investigators: ”I was afraid that she may date other men if I left her by herself.”