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/ 28 June 2006

Acapulco’s drugs war

From a distance the object bobbing in the bay looked like a coconut or a buoy, but when it was washed up on the beach it proved to be a human head. ”It wasn’t pretty,” said Jose Vargas, who joined the crowd that had gathered. He was shocked but not surprised by the sight. ”This kind of thing happens in Acapulco these days.”

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/ 28 June 2006

Inside stories

”By doing art and writing, you can look at situations in a more objective way.” Phil Forder, writer-in-residence at Her Majesty’s Prison Parc, a privately run Category B prison in south Wales that holds nearly 1 000 adult prisoners and young offenders, is explaining the benefits he believes his work is bringing to the prison’s residents.

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/ 27 June 2006

SA transport sector in a bad way

South Africa’s transport sector is in crisis, African National Congress MP and chairperson of Parliament’s transport portfolio committee Jeremy Cronin said on Tuesday. ”We’ve got a very, very substantial crisis around transport mobility and accessibility,” he told journalists at a Cape Town Press Club meeting.

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/ 27 June 2006

Brazil end Ghana’s dream run

Brazil striker Ronaldo became the all-time World Cup scoring leader with 15 career goals, helping the defending champions defeat Ghana 3-0 on Tuesday to capture a berth in the World Cup quarterfinals. Ronaldo scored the historic goal with a spectacular solo effort in the fifth minute.

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/ 27 June 2006

Media commentators take issue with SABC

More than 30 media commentators on Tuesday handed a petition to the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) protesting their alleged ”blacklisting” at the public broadcaster, the South African Litigation Centre said. The petition called for a ”clear refutation of any erosion of free speech at the public broadcaster”.

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/ 27 June 2006

Jeppe-siege accused make court appearance

Eleven of 16 people arrested for Sunday’s Jeppestown siege were remanded until July 27 by the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. Sunday’s shootout in Johannesburg left 12 people dead, four of them police officers. On Tuesday at least 10 police officers with rifles and handguns blocked the doors to the court as the first nine men laboured up the steps from the holding cells.

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/ 27 June 2006

Cronin: Alliance split will damage SA

A split in the alliance between the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions will ”seriously” damage South Africa at this point, the SACP’s deputy general secretary warned on Tuesday. ”I think fragmentation of the alliance … wouldn’t be good for South Africa,” Jeremy Cronin said.

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/ 27 June 2006

UN warns Africa to harness natural resources

The United Nations Environmental Programme warned on Tuesday that Africa will slip further into poverty if its governments fail to adopt eco-friendly policies to sustain and exploit its natural wealth. It said the continent’s fast-degrading environment faces fresh strains from genetically modified organisms, invasive species and a switch in chemical manufacturing.