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/ 11 November 2004

Bush names new attorney general

United States President George Bush named Alberto Gonzales, the White House lawyer who advised him he could disregard the ”obsolete” Geneva conventions, as the US’s new attorney general on Wednesday. Unveiling the first new Cabinet appointment since his re-election last week, Bush said the 49-year-old had already been instrumental in the war on terror.

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/ 11 November 2004

Yasser Arafat: 1929-2004

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan early on Thursday was ”deeply moved” by the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who ”symbolised … the national aspirations of the Palestinian people”, Annan’s spokesperson said in a statement. The passing away of Arafat, Annan said, must intensify the search for peace in the Middle East. Palestinians reacted with tears and tributes to news of Arafat’s death.

  • Arafat ‘in the hands of God’
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    / 11 November 2004

    Don’t do it

    The Klipdrift consumption in the Dorsbult has reached crisis proportions since Tuesday last week. But a message from Michael Moore — yes, he of <i>Fahrenheit 9/11</i> fame/notoriety (and, in the Dorsbult, hero worship; well, ok, among some of us) — has done his bit to cheer us up. He offers "17 reasons not to slit your wrists", a few of which follow …

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    / 11 November 2004

    A gaping void

    ‘My hand," Yasser Arafat once said, "is the only hand that can sign a peace agreement with Israel." The assertion may sound vainglorious, but it was undoubtedly true. Israelis may yet come to rue the death of the 75-year-old Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader they refused to deal with for so long, and spent so much time demonising.

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    / 11 November 2004

    SA ‘A’ team overpower Buenos Aires

    The South African ”A” team in Argentina overcame strong resistance from Buenos Aires Province on Wednesday night to emerge 47-28 victors in a tightly contested match that kept supporters on their feet for the better part of the game. It all came down to the tactical superiority of the visitors.

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    / 11 November 2004

    Arafat, father of his nation

    In the days when Britain was being forced to give up one colony after another, the phrase ”father of the nation” was much in vogue. Julius Nyerere in Tanzania, Archbishop Makarios in Cyprus and Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia were among the many who won this informal title. Forty years on from the age of decolonisation, Yasser Arafat is the last man who can claim that status.

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    / 11 November 2004

    Prince of peace

    President Thabo Mbeki has his work cut out as mediator in Côte d’Ivoire. Mbeki was dragooned into this job by the African Union after the West African regional mechanism failed to bring about peace in the country. Relations between France and Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo have spiralled into the violence that now necessitates the evacuation of France’s 14 000 nationals.