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/ 3 February 2005
Pope John Paul’s condition was said on Wednesday night to have improved following a downturn in his health that left him gasping for breath and in need of urgent hospital attention. The Vatican’s chief spokesperson, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said the 84-year-old Pope had needed help with his breathing overnight and was running a slight fever.
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/ 3 February 2005
It has allegedly inspired artists and writers such as Pablo Picasso, Edgar Allen Poe and Ernest Hemingway. Vincent van Gogh is said to have cut off his ear after drinking it. But in Switzerland the liqueur that packs a special punch remained something of an embarrassment — until Wednesday.
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/ 3 February 2005
United States President George Bush on Wednesday night issued clear warnings to Syria and Iran that they were next in his sights in his declared mission to spread democracy around the world. The State of the Union address to Congress had been billed as reconciliatory, but there were some blunt words.
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/ 3 February 2005
The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, is braced on Thursday for the publication of an interim report on the alleged mismanagement of the -billion oil-for-food programme for Iraq. An inquiry headed by the former United States Federal Reserve chairperson Paul Volcker is investigating claims of fraud and corruption by UN officials.
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/ 3 February 2005
On September 4 1967 <i>The New York Times</i> published an upbeat story on presidential elections held by the South Vietnamese puppet regime at the height of the Vietnam war. The echoes of the propaganda about Iraq’s elections are so close as to be uncanny. No amount of spin can conceal Iraqis’ hostility to United States occupation.
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/ 3 February 2005
The Congress of South African Trade Unions’s eviction from Zimbabwe on Wednesday could be seen as a lighter moment in the dark drama that is the unravelling of democracy in our northern neighbour. The big manne of South Africa’s union movement are Harare-bound in the morning. By mid-afternoon, they’re back, unceremoniously dumped on the next flight to Jo’burg. In the boardrooms of high capital they are treated with far more respect.
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/ 3 February 2005
The theory that humans have evolved over millions of years independent of any "divine" influence is not widely accepted in many countries. That list now includes Brazil, according to the Science and Development Network. Meanwhile, evolutionary facts underpin many of the events coming up at Africa’s largest science festival, the ninth annual Sasol Science Festival in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape.
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/ 3 February 2005
For much of the past decade, it has been civil war that has compromised the safety of Burundians. Now, crime appears set to take over where the combatants are leaving off. Recent Statistics for a three-month period reveal the extent of this trend. Three hundred murders, 72 ambushes, 500 armed robberies, plus actions by the anti-government National Liberation Forces — and vehicle thefts — were reported.
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/ 3 February 2005
Having followed the sexploits of advocate Barbie with an interest bordering on inappropriateness, the manne were beside themselves with anticipation. ”Barbie will now be briefing herself”, read the Saturday Star headline, leaving the okes to jealous speculation. Who would be debriefing her? And would there be live streaming video of the event available on the internet?
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/ 3 February 2005
Germany’s higher education system was heading for its biggest shake up in decades late last month after the country’s high court overturned a ban on tuition fees.