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/ 24 November 2006

Going by the books

It’s difficult to get a direct answer from the new Auditor General, Terence Nombembe, even to a question as personal and direct as: ”Do you think you should be paid more?” He has a way of responding without really answering the question. To this he would only answer: ”I think I should be paid a package that is commensurate with the job that I do.”

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/ 24 November 2006

Poisoned ex-spy warns Putin from beyond grave

Ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of his murder from beyond the grave on Friday, in a statement read out the morning after he died of an unknown poison in a London hospital. ”You may succeed in silencing one man. But a howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.”

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/ 24 November 2006

Northern Ireland’s Stormont evacuated

Northern Ireland’s Stormont Parliament buildings were evacuated on Friday after a man threw a package at security staff at the entrance to the building where politicians were meeting to discuss self-rule. The man, identified in media reports as notorious former Loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone, was wrestled to the ground by security staff and the building evacuated.

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/ 24 November 2006

Siemens manager paid bribes to Sani Abacha

A former manager from German engineering and electronics giant Siemens who was arrested this month has admitted paying massive bribes to the regime of late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. The manager is among six current and former Siemens employees detained in a huge embezzlement probe into one of Germany’s leading companies.

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/ 24 November 2006

Hoax e-mail trial postponed

The trial of the two men implicated in the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) hoax e-mail saga was postponed in the Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on Friday so a third accused could be added. Software salesperson Muziwendoda Kunene and NIA manager for electronic surveillance Funokwakhe Madladla are accused of fraud relating to hoax e-mails.

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/ 24 November 2006

Mass graves found in DRC

The rotting corpses of about 30 men, women and children have been found in mass graves in the strife-torn north-eastern Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a military prosecutor said on Friday. The remains were found on Wednesday in three graves at Bavi, a town about 40km south of the regional capital Bunia.