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/ 14 February 2005

Abu Sayyaf claims Valentine’s Day bombings

The Abu Sayyaf, the Muslim militant group that claimed responsibility for a series of Valentine’s Day bombings in the Philippines, has been blamed for the country’s worst terrorist attacks. The group was founded in the early 1990s with seed money from Saudi-born September 11 terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.

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/ 14 February 2005

Tumour drove shopkeeper to rob banks

An Italian shopkeeper with an incurable tumour confessed to committing 13 bank robberies in 18 months but said he did it to care for his family after his death, a police official said on Monday. The 53-year-old man raked in a haul of €115 000 before being spotted by chance by plainclothes police, police said.

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/ 14 February 2005

Safa wants 10 stadia for World Cup

The South African Football Association (Safa) is planning to use 10 stadia for the 2010 Soccer World Cup instead of 13, the association’s CEO, Danny Jordaan, said on Monday. ”In the bid book, we submitted 13 venues. We are now looking at 10 venues. Fifa wants eight,” Jordaan said.

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/ 14 February 2005

SA officer to help probe DRC abuse claims

A senior South African military law officer is to help the United Nations investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Commander Gordon Wardley has served for six months as legal adviser to the UN force commander in the DRC and for nine months as the UN force commander’s legal adviser in Liberia.

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/ 14 February 2005

Yengeni ‘had no option’ but to plead guilty

Politician and convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni has accused former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka of reneging on a deal guaranteeing him a maximum R5 000 fine in exchange for a guilty plea. Yengeni, who faces a four-year prison term, claims the agreement was struck at a meeting between himself, Ngcuka and then justice minister Penuell Maduna.

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/ 14 February 2005

Food aid to Africa plummets in wake of tsunami

Aid for Africa’s starving plummeted in the wake of the Asian tsunami which attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in relief, the World Food Programme said on Monday. ”Donations to WFP’s operations in Africa dropped by 21% in January 2005 to -million, compared to -million in the first month of 2004,” the United Nations agency said.