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/ 30 November 2006
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has enrolled as a student of a university in the nation’s capital, Abuja, his office said on Thursday. The 69-year-old retired general, who will step down in May 2007 having served the limit of two four-year terms, matriculated as a distance-learning student of the National Open University of Nigeria on Wednesday.
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/ 30 November 2006
The tiny Southern African kingdom of Lesotho will hold elections on February 17 2007 following Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s decision to dissolve Parliament, state-run radio said on Thursday. The government also said the last day for registering voters would be December 8. Out of a population of roughly 1,8-million, about 900Â 000 voters have registered.
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/ 30 November 2006
South Africa has become the first country on the African continent to authorise marriage for gay and lesbian couples after the controversial Civil Union Bill received the final seal of approval. The legislation was signed on to the statute book by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in her capacity as acting head of state while Thabo Mbeki attends a conference in Nigeria.
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/ 30 November 2006
Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu said on Thursday he is ”honoured” that the United Nations have asked him to lead a fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, where 19 civilians were killed by an Israeli artillery barrage earlier this month. The mission is meant to address the needs of survivors and make recommendations.
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/ 30 November 2006
The extreme drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has been detected at 39 KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) hospitals, the Witness newspaper reported on Thursday. This emerged during a session of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature being held in Dududu on the province’s south coast.
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/ 30 November 2006
Zackie Achmat, chairperson of the TAC and South Africa’s most famous purveyor of the slogan ”HIV-positive”, has been an activist for 30 years.
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/ 30 November 2006
Samar, a mother of four who works as a maid cleaning apartments and houses for a daily rate, was planning to circumcise her five-year-old daughter, Shaimaa, when she turns eight or nine. But an international conference in Egypt on female circumcision last week brought tidings she didn’t expect.
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/ 30 November 2006
Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s number two oil producer, is trying to join the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) cartel, the government said on Thursday. ”The council of ministers has said it backs Angola joining Opec,” Finance Ministry spokesperson Bastos de Almeida told the media.
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/ 30 November 2006
Australian cricket authorities told England’s Barmy Army on Thursday that its trumpeter cannot perform during the second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval. Police hit a sour note with England fans when they ejected classically trained trumpeter Billy Cooper from the first Test at Brisbane’s Gabba last week.
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/ 30 November 2006
Indian selectors have recalled former captain Saurav Ganguly for next month’s three-Test series in South Africa. India’s poor batting form in one-day cricket and uncertainty over skipper Rahul Dravid’s availability for the opening Test in Johannesburg due to a finger injury prompted Ganguly’s recall on Thursday to bolster the brittle middle-order.