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/ 9 December 2003
Zimbabwe’s suspension and ensuing pull-out from the Commonwealth has split Africa, with some peers of embattled President Robert Mugabe accusing the ”white Commonwealth” of bullying and others backing the move. Mugabe severed ties with the club of mainly former British colonies on Sunday.
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/ 9 December 2003
A United States helicopter made an emergency landing on Tuesday near the town of Fallujah west of Baghdad, apparently after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. A reporter said two helicopters were flying in formation near the city, about 60km west of the capital, when one was struck by a grenade fired from the ground.
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/ 9 December 2003
Rock and television star Ozzy Osbourne is in intensive care after a quad bike accident at his English country home. The long-haired, 55-year-old heavy metal star will always be remembered for his on-stage exploits in Des Moines, Iowa, when in a wild moment he bit the head off a live bat thrown on stage by a fan.
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/ 9 December 2003
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) is to probe reports that thousands of retired local authority employees have had their pension pay-outs reduced by 12% per month, the union said on Tuesday. If true, this is just the latest in a series of worrying developments at the Joint Municipal Pension Fund.
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/ 9 December 2003
Nasa plans to dispatch a hulking nuclear-powered spacecraft to determine whether three of Jupiter’s icy, planet-sized moons have the potential to harbour life. The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, or Jimo, will circle three of the planet’s moons, which are believed to have vast oceans tucked beneath thick covers of ice.
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/ 9 December 2003
New Zealanders access the internet more than computer users in 31 other countries, including the United States and Australia, a new international survey shows. Seventy-five percent of the 1 000 New Zealanders surveyed in August had used the internet in the previous month.
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/ 9 December 2003
An amateur botanist has discovered a new flower, a member of the iris family, near Kleinmond on the southern Cape coast. The plant, a species of ixia, was found by Louis Mostert on an area of private land that had been cleared of alien vegetation for the first time in about 40 years.
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/ 9 December 2003
An experienced Home Affairs official knocked out the last pillars of Mo Shaik’s spy argument against chief prosecutor Bulelani Ngcuka, in his testimony to the Hefer Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday. Willem Vorster’s testimony drew regular laughter as he offered simple bureaucratic explanations for what Shaik had perceived as sinister circumstances.
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/ 9 December 2003
The trial of former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba, charged with stealing millions of dollars from state coffers, opened in Lusaka on Tuesday, but was adjourned until Wednesday. Chiluba and his six co-accused are faced with 169 charges of theft, corruption and abuse of power involving more than -million.
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/ 9 December 2003
A Kenyan man has been arrested after decapitating his infant nephew and eating parts of the severed head after a row with the boy’s mother, police said on Tuesday. The man’s motives were being investigated, said police, adding that he had no known history of cannibalism.