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/ 19 October 2006

No kid gloves for housing fraud suspects

Blanket amnesty will not be granted for all involved in fraud in the Department of Housing, and each case will be dealt with on merit, Director General of Housing Itumeleng Kotsoane said on Thursday. ”We do not want to send the wrong message that corruption pays,” he told a media briefing at Parliament.

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/ 19 October 2006

Diplomats meet in Kenya to push Somali peace talks

Western and African diplomats met in Kenya on Thursday in a push to ensure peace talks between Somalia’s interim government and rival Islamists go ahead despite rising tensions in the Horn of Africa nation. The Arab League is mediating talks in the Sudanese capital Khartoum between the Islamists and the Western-backed but virtually powerless government.

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/ 19 October 2006

Banned ‘World Cup air’ vendor blows off steam

A Chinese entrepreneur is suing a Beijing trade bureau for denying him a permit to sell bags of ”World Cup air” and for scotching his plans to bottle and sell ”2008 Olympic air”, a newspaper said on Thursday. Li Jie, who describes himself as chief executive of the Lunar Embassy to China and once tried to sell land on the moon, sought a permit to sell ”World Cup air” for 50 yuan (,30).

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/ 19 October 2006

Meles urges Eritrea, rebels to choose dialogue

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Thursday urged Eritrea and rebel groups he said it supports to talk peace and stop trying to destabilise his Horn of Africa country. The United Nations said Eritrea’s decision to move troops and tanks into a United Nations buffer zone between the two countries was a ”major breach” of a 2000 peace agreement.

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/ 19 October 2006

Complete Darwin works put online

The complete evolutionary works of Charles Darwin have gone online, including the stolen notebook he carried in his pocket around the Galapagos Islands. Tens of thousands of pages of text and pictures and audio files have been made available, including some previously unpublished manuscripts and diaries of the great British scientist.

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/ 19 October 2006

Life goes on for Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane said he was coping well with life outside soccer and had no immediate plans to embark on a coaching career. The former France and Real Madrid playmaker, who retired after his country’s defeat by Italy in the World Cup final in July, said he did not miss competitive football.