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/ 22 February 2007
The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) will present evidence next week of alleged war crimes committed in the Darfur region of Sudan, the court announced on Thursday. After evidence is presented, judges will decide whether to open an inquiry against the suspects with the aim of eventually issuing international arrest warrants.
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/ 22 February 2007
The Cape High Court declined on Thursday to subpoena the editor of the Daily Voice newspaper, Karl Brophy, and the publication’s attorney, Jacques Louw, to testify at the Baby Jordan murder trial. Judge Basheer Wagley chose not to follow the suggestion by senior counsel Jan Heunis, on behalf of accused Dina Rodrigues.
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/ 22 February 2007
Jailing the man who shot famous historian David Rattray for an effective 25 years on Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Vuka Tshabalala said such a crime would have resulted in the death penalty not many years ago. The judge, however, found substantial and compelling circumstances that allowed him to deviate from the prescribed sentence of life.
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/ 22 February 2007
The head of the Catholic Church in Germany called on his compatriots on Thursday to give up their beloved cars for Lent to make a personal contribution to preventing climate change. Cardinal Karl Lehmann said on Thursday that the period of 40 days before Easter in the Christian calendar ”requires us to rethink our lifestyle”.
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/ 22 February 2007
Taxi operators in Rustenburg have called for the immediate resignation of the director of public safety in the Rustenburg local municipality. The operators called for Popo Kotsedi’s resignation during a protest march against rival taxis, which they say are run illegally in the town.
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/ 22 February 2007
A new, paid-for, pan-African satellite television channel called GTV will begin operating at mid-year, its owners said on Thursday. It will target customers who have previously been unable to afford subscription services and who have been limited to national, free-to-air television stations.
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/ 22 February 2007
A disaster-management team was on full alert in eastern Mpumalanga as Cyclone Favio hit Mozambique on Thursday. The South African Weather Service said there was no immediate threat from Favio, which made landfall at about noon. ”There is no immediate threat in South Africa,” a forecaster said.
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/ 22 February 2007
Employed South Africans will pay a percentage of their monthly earnings into a new mandatory social security scheme. It is proposed that total payments will be capped at R750 a month, with lower-income workers paying between 13% and 18% of their monthly earnings into this fund.
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/ 22 February 2007
The word "green" appears nowhere in the written copy of the budget, but it was uttered once, when Trevor Manuel ad-libbed: "This budget isn’t very green, but that will come next year." It is significant that Manuel has put environmental affairs on his agenda. But indications are that the treasury wants the environmental affairs department to take the initiative.
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/ 22 February 2007
This year could be the most difficult for farmers in all of South Africa’s history, a grim AgriSA president, Lourie Bosman, said this week. The burden was getting too heavy for many farmers and they "want out", he said. Bosman’s comments come in the context of a strained relationship between white farmers and the minister of agriculture.