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/ 21 January 2004
With less than two weeks to go before the closing date for comments on the Convergence Bill, a hoo-ha has erupted. Signalled by, among others, The Citizen on its front page (January 17), the claim is that the current draft law, if promulgated, will ”require all website owners or publishers to have a content applications service licence to operate”. Well, it depends.
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/ 21 January 2004
The <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> was on Tuesday hit by a new e-mail worm that is quickly spreading around the world. The worm, called Bagle or Beagle, was sent via the <i>M&G Online</i>’s newsletter list. It spread rapidly over the weekend, with several security firms issuing bulletins on it on Monday.
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/ 21 January 2004
A court of appeal in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, has ordered the Nigeria Labour Congress to suspend a proposed strike that had been scheduled to start on Wednesday. It has also ordered authorities to reverse the one cent petrol tax that is at the heart of the labour dispute.
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/ 21 January 2004
The United States-led coalition in Iraq is on the verge of bowing to Shia Muslim pressure for direct elections before the handover of power on June 30. According to British officials, the Blair government has been swayed by Shia arguments and the US is also shifting ground.
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/ 21 January 2004
A resurgent John Kerry hit the hustings in New Hampshire on Tuesday, hoping to deploy his resounding victory in Iowa against a formidable opponent in the retired general Wesley Clark. Kerry took 38% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, staring down the threat of political oblivion to stage a dramatic last-minute comeback.
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/ 21 January 2004
The attempt to find survivors from the Norwegian bulk carrier which capsized in a freak accident in a fjord near Bergen was abandoned on Tuesday. Salvage experts said they had lost hope of pulling anyone else out of the vessel alive. Eighteen of the 30 crew of the MS Rocknes are presumed dead.
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/ 21 January 2004
The Haitian President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is under pressure to resign in the face of violent demonstrations by students and opposition supporters which killed one person and injured several others. His opponents refuse to take part in elections unless he resigns.
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/ 21 January 2004
The fourth World Social Forum in Mumbai, India, comes not a moment too soon. As 2004 begins, conflict and terrorism continue to grab the headlines, while issues of inequality and injustice are not given the urgency they require. This is true even though we know that poverty and social exclusion are at the root of so many of the problems that we have today.
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/ 21 January 2004
African countries are coming under increasing pressure from international seed companies to embrace genetically modified (GM) foods, says South Africa’s anti-GM lobby. The promise that biotechnology may be the panacea for famine has been a convincing selling point on the continent.