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/ 1 December 2004
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged Britain to increase pressure on the government of President Robert Mugabe to ensure fair elections in March. He also said the MDC will decide in two or three weeks whether it will participate in the elections. ”We have not yet finalised a decision. We will consider all options, including that of participation and non-participation.”
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/ 1 December 2004
The Constitutional Court reserved judgment on Wednesday on an attempt by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) to join an appeal bid by the State against the acquittal of apartheid-era chemical and biological warfare expert Dr Wouter Basson.
The institute seeks permission to join the proceedings as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) to allow it to present arguments on the legal implications arising from the failure to hold Basson accountable under international law.
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/ 1 December 2004
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As the world focused on the murderous advance of Aids on Wednesday with pledges, appeals, processions and concerts, the day was stamped by China’s warnings about its exposure to the epidemic. In a World Aids Day message to China’s 1,3 billion people, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called for ”still greater, substantial efforts” to stir public awareness about Aids.
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/ 1 December 2004
Ukraine’s Parliament voted to oust the country’s pro-Moscow government on Wednesday as European and Russian mediators took a second stab at trying to quell a political crisis. Parliament backed an opposition proposal to dismiss Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and replace his team with a ”people’s government,” while thousands of chanting and singing demonstrators built human chains around official buildings.
Ukraine opposition renews blockade
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/ 1 December 2004
Mimas, one of the 33 moons of Saturn, suspended against the blue-streaked backdrop of the giant planet’s northern hemisphere, is snapped by a departing spacecraft. Cassini-Huygens is a joint Nasa-European mission to explore Saturn, its rings and satellites, and it has just made a close approach to the planet before swinging away for another loop around Saturn’s mysterious moon Titan.
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/ 1 December 2004
French peacekeepers who shot and killed around 20 people during anti-French violence in Ivory Coast early last month were acting in self-defence, the Defence ministry in Paris said on Wednesday. The soldiers ”reacted within the rules, that is to say with warning shots, shots of dissuasion, and in any case they acted in totally legitimate defence”, Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told journalists.
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/ 1 December 2004
UN troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday spotted a group of 100 apparently Rwandan soldiers, raising fears that Rwanda was once again invading the vast neighbouring country. The report by the UN mission in DRC, Monuc, came a day after Rwandan President Paul Kagame announced his troops would target Rwandan Hutu extremists in eastern DRC because the UN had failed to disarm them.
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/ 1 December 2004
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The Durban High Court heard on Wednesday how money borrowed by Deputy President Jacob Zuma in his personal capacity was allegedly used to cover ANC expenses. The court also heard how, four years after loaning R100 000 to Zuma, Durban businessman Abdool Mangerah was still trying to recover his money.
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/ 1 December 2004
Johnnic Holdings is unbundling its entire 62,5% shareholding in its media and entertainment subsidiary, Johnnic Communications (Johncom). In terms of the proposal, Johnnic shareholders will acquire a ratio of 39,10 Johncom shares to every 100 Johnnic shares held.
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/ 1 December 2004
Rich foreigners can gain immediate permanent residency in Singapore if they park five million Singapore dollars (-million) in local financial institutions, under a new
scheme unveiled by the city-state’s central bank. A Monetary Authority of Singapore spokesperson said on Wednesday these foreigners must also have personal assets worth at least -million to qualify but they will still go through routine immigration checks.