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/ 20 December 2006
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said on Wednesday it would be "difficult" to go ahead next year with plans to hold the country’s first general election since the end of its long-running civil war. Dos Santos told a meeting of politicians and civil-society members that he expected the electoral registration process to be completed by June next year.
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/ 20 December 2006
Prosecutors at Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial on Wednesday produced government memos that they said link the ousted dictator personally to lethal gas attacks on Kurds. Chief prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon submitted a series of official documents, which he said showed Saddam and his six co-defendants involved in planning chemical attacks.
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/ 20 December 2006
The JSE roared to another record high on Wednesday morning, encouraged by stronger world markets and a higher gold price. The release of benign inflation data, which was seen as tempering the interest-rate outlook, gave retailers and banks a further boost.
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/ 20 December 2006
The police have not identified any suspect in their search for the killers of Cape theatre personality Taliep Petersen, spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said on Wednesday. He was commenting after a media report that investigators on Tuesday questioned Petersen’s wife Najwa and stepson Achmat Gameldien for a second day in succession.
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/ 20 December 2006
Attacks on Darfur aid workers’ compounds in the town of Gereida have forced the evacuation of 71 staff and severely restricted humanitarian aid reaching the region’s largest population of war victims, officials said on Wednesday. About 20 armed men launched a coordinated attack in the south Darfur town on Monday night.
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/ 20 December 2006
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) workers suspended their strike over bonuses pending an arbitrator’s ruling on the matter, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) said on Wednesday. In a meeting on Monday, Satawu and the CAA had agreed to accept the ruling of a private arbitrator, said Satawu spokesperson Ronnie Mamba.
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/ 20 December 2006
European Union envoy met with senior leaders in Somalia on Wednesday to promote peace talks after weeks of sabre rattling and recent clashes between the besieged government and an advancing Islamic movement, which killed 10 people. Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and aid, will try to get both sides to stop fighting.
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/ 20 December 2006
Poor pay is a key factor in the decision of many South African teachers to seek work in the United Kingdom, according to a new study. The as-yet-unpublished study, by researchers under the leadership of Oxford research fellow Dr Kimberly Ochs, surveyed 192 teachers recruited from other Commonwealth countries to jobs in the UK.
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/ 20 December 2006
The Nigerian army has enlisted 500 recruits from the volatile oil-rich Niger Delta as part of measures to douse restiveness in the region, state-run media said on Wednesday. The News Agency of Nigeria quoted Minister of State for Defence Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi as saying that the recruitment was a response to growing unemployment in the region.
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/ 20 December 2006
Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne and fast bowler Glenn McGrath are planning to retire from international cricket after next month’s fifth Ashes Test against England, Australian television reported on Wednesday. The Nine Network said Warne would announce his pending retirement at a news conference in Melbourne on Thursday.