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/ 26 May 2006

Coup crackdown a show of force

The arrest last week of South African and other security operatives in Kinshasa has less to do with an attempted coup — as Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) officials allege — than the operatives’ remote link to veteran opposition figure Etienne Tshisekedi, say Western diplomats in the Congolese capital.

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/ 26 May 2006

Hollywood honcho

Breakfast with Amy Pascal is just how a meeting with a Hollywood studio boss should be. In just over an hour, the co-head of Sony Pictures Entertainment was hugged by a movie star (Paul Bettany), a bestselling author (Dan Brown) and a scion of the Kennedy clan (Bobby Shriver). And when she talks of ”Steven”, she is, of course, referring to Spielberg.

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/ 25 May 2006

Cosatu warns against Mbeki dictatorship

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has launched a stinging attack on President Thabo Mbeki that appears to reiterate what was contained in the hard-hitting South African Communist Party discussion document released last week. On Thursday Cosatu said it was primarily concerned that the ANC leadership was "drifting towards dictatorship".

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/ 25 May 2006

Police dismiss sabotage in Istanbul-airport fire

Turkish authorities were on Thursday investigating a large fire that destroyed the cargo terminal at the country’s biggest airport, responsibility for which was claimed by radical Kurdish militants. The police sealed off the badly damaged building at the Atatürk International airport and were examining tapes from security cameras, the Anatolia news agency reported.

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/ 25 May 2006

Sharon to move to rehab clinic next week

Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who has been comatose in a Jerusalem hospital since suffering a stroke in January, will be moved next week to a rehabilitation clinic, an official said. ”Sharon is going to move to the Sheba Medical Centre at the beginning of next week,” Yael Bosem Levy, a spokesperson for the Hadassah hospital said.