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/ 17 November 2004
Ancient Greeks knew it as a cure for bellyaches. Roman emperors used to spice their wine with it. And Turkish Sultans’ harem ladies chewed it for fresh breath and fighting boredom. Mastic, the aromatic resin produced by a small, eponymous evergreen tree that grows around the Mediterranean sea, has been a big hit for more than 2 000 years.
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/ 17 November 2004
South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday he hopes to wrap up by the end of the week the first round of peace talks with government, opposition and rebel leaders in Côte d’Ivoire, aiming to pinpoint obstacles to implementing a peace plan. Mbeki visited the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday.
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/ 17 November 2004
The United States’s well-funded green lobby mounted an unprecedented effort to oust US president George W Bush, denouncing his environmental record as the worst in US history. Now they are reduced to hoping, against the odds, that the former oil executive will address climate change, energy security and biodiversity in his search for a lasting legacy.
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/ 17 November 2004
These are dark days in the United States, the darkest in recent memory for women’s reproductive rights. Women across the country are shuddering in their bathrobes to hear George W Bush use the word ”mandate” to describe his recent election victory. Just look at what he did when he so clearly didn’t have a mandate, back in 2000. For the first time in recent history, Roe v Wade is seriously imperilled.
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/ 17 November 2004
Dingaan ”Rose of Soweto” Thobela is not done yet. The 38-year-old fighter will fight Lucian Bute over eight rounds in the light heavyweight division in Canada on December 3. Bute (26), a novice with only eight knockout wins in as many fights, will take on the 38-year-old veteran of 54 fights.
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/ 17 November 2004
The general feeling among South Africans is that Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has his hands tied behind his back. They are referring to the withdrawal of star midfielder Steven Pienaar and defender Mbulelo Mabizela prior to the ”clash of the icons” against Nigeria for the Mandela Challenge Cup at Ellis Park Stadium on Wednesday night.
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/ 17 November 2004
ARVs needed: A lack of antiretroviral drugs is the biggest problem facing HIV/Aids programmes in Africa, says Robert Colebunders, a Belgian researcher at Uganda’s Mulago hospital. The United Nations says there are about 28-million HIV-positive people in Africa, but only 4% of those who need antiretrovirals receive them.
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/ 17 November 2004
The British government is to end its two-year suspension of deportations of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe because the concession has been abused, the Immigration Minister, Des Browne, announced on Tuesday. Browne insisted there had been no change in the government’s opposition to human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
Zuma: SA does not take sides in Zim
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/ 17 November 2004
Black Springbok Breyton Paulse was reinstated in the national rugby team to play England on Saturday only after the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) protested, the league said on Wednesday. ”I phoned … and complained about this lily-white squad,” said ANCYL spokesperson Zizi Kodwa.
One change to Bok team
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/ 17 November 2004
Jean de Villiers is the only change to the South Africa side announced on Wednesday for the Twickenham Test against world champions England in London on Saturday. De Villiers comes in at left wing in the place of Ashwin Willemse, who has returned home with a broken toe.