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/ 30 January 2004

Judge and journalist

Thirty-six hours can be a lifetime in politics. On Tuesday morning there were journalists all over London fine-tuning obituaries of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. By mid-afternoon on Wednesday the prime minister was being cheered so riotously that the Speaker had to threaten to suspend the British Parliament.

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/ 30 January 2004

Economic recovery a distant dream

A year after the fighting stopped in Côte d’Ivoire the West African country that was seen as a regional model appears to have descended into endemic violence and disorder. Kofi Annan has called for 6 000 peacekeepers to be sent there. However, the US, which pays more than 25% of the world organisation’s peacekeeping bill, looks unlikely to approve this.

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/ 30 January 2004

The magnate who never blinks first

John Magnier is County Tipperary’s horse-racing patriarch. He has earned the respect he commands. Sir Alex Ferguson is similarly esteemed for his success and ruthlessness in his field, disposing of such Manchester United icons as Paul McGrath and Paul Ince.

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/ 30 January 2004

The 63 Irish questions

Manchester United’s chief executive David Gill and finance director Nick Humby held a crisis meeting in London this week to draw up responses to the 63 questions submitted by John Magnier and JP McManus, the club’s largest shareholders — United’s latest attempt to end the feud between the Irish pair and Sir Alex Ferguson.

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/ 29 January 2004

MDC battles to hold policy meeting

Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was on Thursday frantically trying to get a court order to allow it to hold a meeting in the evening to launch a proposed rescue package for the beleaguered economy. The meeting, at which the MDC’s economic blueprint would be launched, has been denied police approval.