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/ 23 October 2006
Police and hundreds of protesters clashed on Monday in Budapest as Hungary commemorated the 50th anniversary of the country’s 1956 uprising against Soviet rule. A photographer said there had been arrests and state news agency MTI said some protesters had been beaten as police sought to move them further from Parliament.
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/ 23 October 2006
Somalia’s powerful Islamist movement called on Monday for the start of a threatened ”holy war” against Ethiopian troops allegedly on Somali territory, saying their graves would litter the country. In a speech on the eve of the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Islamists’ supreme leader urged all Somalis to immediately take up arms against invaders.
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/ 23 October 2006
Zambia is planning to invite foreign firms to conduct exploratory drills for oil and gas after the first-ever reserves were found near the border with Angola, the government said on Monday. Samples taken at a dozen sites in the north-western provinces of Zambezi and Chavuma over the weekend confirmed gas and oil residues in the impoverished Southern African country.
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/ 23 October 2006
Parents wanting to decorate their children’s rooms, toys or playground equipment in bright colours should make sure the paint they use is lead-free, the Medical Research Council (MRC) warned on Monday. MRC health and development research group acting director Angela Mathee told the media the occurrence of lead in pigmented enamel paint her team had sampled was ”well over 80%”.
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/ 23 October 2006
Initiation schools could avoid problems by avoiding commercialisation and keeping strict control, a public hearing on initiation schools heard on Monday. ”We don’t do it for gain. We do it for the pride that’s involved, the spirituality, the richness that’s involved,” said Titus Kgatoke, the secretary of an Ndebele initiation school based in Thembisa, north-east of Johannesburg.
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/ 23 October 2006
Zimbabwe’s central bank admitted on Monday it was losing the battle against spiralling inflation due to political and other factors outside its control. President Robert Mugabe’s government has branded inflation — which slowed to 1Â 023% in September but remains the world’s highest — its number one enemy.
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/ 23 October 2006
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih warned against defeatism and panic on Monday as his United States and British allies came under growing pressure to change their Iraq strategy in the face of relentless bloodshed. Salih made clear his anxiety about the change in tone in London and Washington, where senior figures are questioning the current strategy.
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/ 23 October 2006
South Africa captain Graeme Smith has asked his top-order batsmen to adapt quickly to spin-friendly conditions in Tuesday’s crucial Champions Trophy Group B match against Sri Lanka. South Africa, second in the ICC one-day rankings, lost to New Zealand in their opening match on a tricky Brabourne Stadium pitch in Mumbai.
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/ 23 October 2006
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday paid tribute to seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, saying he was one of the biggest German sports stars of all time and had ”brought a bit of genius” to racing. ”You are on the list of the great names of German sport …,” the chancellor told the retired racing ace in a letter published in Bild daily.
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/ 23 October 2006
Hardly a week goes by without much editorial comment on our preparations for the 2010 World Cup. Will our stadiums be ready? Will the new, well-remunerated coach be the answer to Bafana Bafana’s woes? On a slightly less exciting, but no less important, note, we try to predict what the South African unit-trust industry will look like by then.