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/ 16 November 2006
The European Union Parliament on Thursday urged EU governments to push for compliance with a treaty to prevent germ warfare, and joined the United Nations in calling for an immediate worldwide ban on cluster bombs. The EU assembly made the call as countries met in Geneva to review a treaty on inhumane weapons.
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/ 16 November 2006
Angola has rolled out a massive voter-registration drive ahead of its first elections since 1992, but questions remain over when the long-awaited polls will take place in the oil-rich nation recovering from civil war. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos was the first of Angola’s 13-million people to register on Wednesday for elections that could take place as early as next year.
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/ 16 November 2006
The sound of a door closing ended businessman Glenn Agliotti’s five-minute appearance in court on Thursday. Agliotti was arrested at his Johannesburg home for murder and conspiracy to murder in the high-profile case of mining magnate Brett Kebble. Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi has tried to downplay his friendship with Agliotti.
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/ 16 November 2006
Fraud convict Schabir Shaik’s move to Empangeni’s Qalakabusha prison was due to his chronic medical condition, the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons announced in Durban on Thursday. Judge Nathan Erasmus said he personally investigated the transfer following continued media speculation over ”preferential treatment”.
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/ 16 November 2006
Former South African Airways (SAA) CEO Andre Viljoen expressed ”amazement” on Thursday at a report that said he had benefited unfairly from the sale of company shares to its executive directors. ”I am amazed because the investigation must have been seriously flawed to come to such a conclusion.”
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/ 16 November 2006
Engen Petroleum on Thursday refuted the contents of an e-mail campaign that claims the oil company will no longer sell its dealerships to whites. "There is absolutely no truth to this malicious e-mail," Engen spokesperson Tania Landsberg said in a statement
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/ 16 November 2006
Unusually heavy seasonal rains are threatening Somalia with its worst floods in 50 years while the impoverished Horn of Africa country teeters on the brink of all-out war. As forces loyal to the government and the Islamist movement gird for full-scale conflict that many fear could engulf the wider region, about 50 000 Somalis have been displaced by devastating and deadly floods.
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/ 16 November 2006
CNBC plans to launch Africa’s first business TV channel next year as rising investment on the poorest continent buoys demand for news that goes beyond the media’s staple diet of war, famine and disease. CNBC Africa will launch in May 2007, employing 40 journalists in four countries to cover financial markets.
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/ 16 November 2006
Iran’s president said on Thursday his country was about to take the ”final step” in its nuclear programme, in a fresh statement defying United Nations calls to halt work the West believes is aimed at building atomic bombs. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not say what the final step was, but he repeated comments he made this week that Iran would celebrate its ”right to nuclear technology” by March.
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/ 16 November 2006
The Public Finance Management Act has proved toothless in holding the executive to account for government departments and entities who fail to submit annual reports on time, the Democratic Alliance said. The DA said on Thursday that while the legislation had made tremendous contributions in modernising the way government managed public finances, it was now due for an overhaul.