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/ 27 December 2006
Right-wing extremists who have nursed their grievances on the sidelines since the end of the apartheid era are poised to throw themselves into the mix of South Africa’s multi-racial democracy. Long convinced that Aids and abortion are all part of a plot against the white community, followers of the Boerestaat party are hoping the electorate will start listening to their siren calls.
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/ 27 December 2006
Indonesian troops and rescue workers were on Wednesday struggling to deliver food supplies to thousands of people stranded for at least five days by floods that have claimed 115 lives. Torrential rains last week triggered flash floods and landslides that have forced more than 400 000 people to flee their homes.
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/ 27 December 2006
Telecommunications around Asia were severely disrupted on Wednesday after earthquakes off Taiwan damaged undersea cables, slowing internet services and hindering financial transactions, particularly in the currency market. Banks and businesses across the region reported problems with communications, with some telephone lines cut and internet access slowing to a crawl.
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/ 27 December 2006
Manchester United extended their lead at the top of the English Premiership to four points on Boxing Day as champions Chelsea, their nearest challengers, suffered a rare slip up at home. United cruised to a 3-1 victory over Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford while Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw by Reading at Stamford Bridge.
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/ 27 December 2006
Former United States president Gerald Ford, who was swept into office after the Watergate scandal, died at age 93, according to a statement from his widow on Tuesday. ”My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, has passed away at 93 years of age,” Betty Ford said in a statement.
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/ 27 December 2006
South Africa were in some trouble on 257-8 when bad light stopped play early on the first day of the second Castle Lager Test against India at Kingsmead on Tuesday. The Proteas had been looking fairly good until a dramatic collapse saw them go from 256-5 to 257-8.
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/ 27 December 2006
Hundreds of people were burned alive on Tuesday when fuel spilling from a vandalised pipeline exploded in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, emergency workers said. Crowds of local residents went to scoop up the petrol in plastic containers after an armed gang punctured the underground pipeline overnight to siphon fuel into road tankers.
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/ 27 December 2006
Ethiopia said on Tuesday it was halfway to crushing Somali Islamists as its forces advanced on the religious movement’s Mogadishu stronghold after a week of war in the Horn of Africa. Somalia’s envoy to Addis Ababa said Ethiopian troops were within 70km of the capital and could capture it in 24 to 48 hours.
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/ 27 December 2006
Saddam Hussein could be hanged within days after the rejection of his appeal by Iraq’s highest court on Tuesday. The former Iraqi dictator was sentenced to death in November over the killing of 148 Shi’ite Muslims from the town of Dujail in 1982. He is facing another trial, accused of genocide against the Kurds — but that may now never be completed.
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/ 27 December 2006
At a crossroads in the Avenue of the Republic in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, a group of traffic police lounge by their motorbikes while one of them waves down a rusting taxi and plucks a few crumpled, dirty notes from the hand of its driver. And so it continues all day, with no concern for passers-by on the pot-holed pavements cluttered with hawkers.