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/ 25 November 2004

Missionary murdered in Ngong

An Irish Catholic priest was found murdered on Thursday at his parish in Ngong, southwest of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, police and church sources said. ”Last night around midnight, a group of 10 to 20 gangsters armed with crude weapons invaded the residence of Father John Francis Hannon at Upper Matasia in Ngong and murdered him,” a police statement said.

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/ 25 November 2004

And now — the real da Vinci code?

A mysterious carved code at a British manor house, which has defied understanding for hundreds of years, is thought to be a cryptic message from an 18th century Christian sect, the Priory of Sion, experts said on Thursday. The marble tablet, commissioned in 1748, features a carved image with the letters ”DOUOSVAVVM” underneath.

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/ 25 November 2004

Run-up to Moz poll is ‘peaceful’

Fewer than 10 people have died and 50 injured in pre-election violence in Mozambique, according to an election official who said on Thursday that the toll showed a ”more peaceful” climate than in previous elections. Voters in Mozambique will go to the polls on December 1 and 2 to choose a successor to President Joaquim Chissano, who is stepping down after 18 years in power.

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/ 25 November 2004

Sixteen Days goes cyber

On Thursday the 16 Days of Action Against Violence campaign was launched — a. campaign aimed at raising awareness about violence against women and children. This year it is campaigning in cyberspace by holding daily online chat sessions that can joined nationwide.

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/ 25 November 2004

Ukraine splits, threatens civil war

Ukraine split into two geographic camps on Thursday as the nationalist west backed the pro-Western opposition leader as president, while the Russian-speaking east supported the disputed victory of the prime minister. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has warned that the sudden polarisation has put the country ”on the verge of civil conflict”.

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/ 25 November 2004

Cosatu plans another Zim mission

The Congress of SA Trade Unions plans to revisit Zimbabwe in January after last month’s ill-fated fact-finding mission, the federation said on Thursday. Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu’s general secretary, said Zimbabwe’s government had misunderstood the purpose of the mission, and exposed its paranoia and fear when it expelled Cosatu’s 13-member team from Harare on October 26.

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/ 25 November 2004

Manuel predicts strong rand against dollar

South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel told textile workers on Thursday that foreign-exchange matters were critical to understanding the future of the textile industry. He said one of the realities was that the fundamentals of the United States (US) economy were out of kilter. The US was "importing more than it’s exporting" and the inevitable consequence of this was the devaluation of the dollar.

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/ 25 November 2004

‘Sheroes’ of the good fight

One woman facing abuse and rape is one too many. Using this benchmark, the road ahead of us is long and it will take many years to eradicate the scourge. But as the 2004 Sixteen Days of Activism, devoted to ending gender violence, begins, we choose to highlight the ‘sheroes’ who have used the political space of the past 10 years to begin to make inroads into the crippling rates of rape and abuse that still bedevil South African men and women.