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/ 25 February 2005

Bald eagles slaughtered for black market

Canadian wildlife officers are tracking smugglers in the macabre slaughter and mutilation of 40 bald eagles, which has shaken aboriginal people on Canada’s west coast. The first dead birds were discovered on February 2 by a woman walking her dog on the reserve of the Burrard Indian band, a forested area across an ocean inlet from Vancouver, in British Columbia.

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/ 25 February 2005

$50-billion plan to tame the Congo River

South Africa’s state-owned power company Eskom on Thursday unveiled plans to build the world’s biggest hydro-electricity plant on a stretch of the Congo River, harnessing enough power for the whole continent. The proposed plant at the Inga Rapids, near the river’s mouth in the western Democratic Republic of Congo, would cost -billion and could generate about 40 000MW.

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/ 24 February 2005

Double testimony of bio-warrior

Bio-warrior Wouter Basson’s tangled web of explanations about almost 100 front companies set up while he was head of Project Coast began to unravel in the Constitutional Court this week. For the first time, details of Basson’s testimony at an October 1997 bail hearing have entered the public domain. They contrast sharply with his evidence in a 30-month trial in the Pretoria High Court.

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/ 24 February 2005

Campaign finance a hot topic in Zimbabwe

The topic of campaign finance is rarely far from the minds of politicians or pundits in the run-up to elections — and Zimbabwe is no exception to this rule. With the country in the midst of a political and economic crisis, it may even be a hotter topic of discussion here than elsewhere. Parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in Zimbabwe in six weeks’ time.

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/ 24 February 2005

Behind the campus riots

A witches’ brew of grievances — including fees, transport costs, language demands and state plans to slash student numbers — underlines this week’s turmoil on newly merged campuses. Students and university managements clashed as police cracked down at the universities of Johannesburg, Pretoria and Tshwane.

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/ 24 February 2005

Graeme Smith to play against Zim

South African captain Graeme Smith will definitely play in the first Standard Bank limited-overs cricket match against Zimbabwe at the Wanderers on Friday. He said the coming series might be tougher than expected. ”You’re not sure about the bowler you’re going to be playing against … you don’t know what you’re going to face.”

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/ 24 February 2005

Basson: Apartheid crimes may feature

The right of the public to information on covert crimes in the apartheid years might justify a proper adjudication of quashed charges against Wouter Basson, a Constitutional Court judge said on Thursday. The South African and Namibian public, especially relatives of people who disappeared, have the right to obtain clarity, Judge Albie Sachs stated.

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/ 24 February 2005

Bush, Putin talk about nuclear weapons

United States President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin sought common ground on Thursday on keeping conventional and nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, a positive note in talks likely to raise sensitive questions about Russia’s support of Iran and democratic rollbacks.

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/ 24 February 2005

Zim soldiers fined, demoted after freak shooting

A military court on Thursday fined and demoted two Zimbabwean army officers after one of their subordinates accidentally shot 14 spectators during a mock battle at a fair last September. They breached the Defence Act by failing to carry out ”necessary safety precautions”, including ensuring that their troops would not use live ammunition during the show.