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/ 8 September 2004
Hollywood stunt pilots hired by Nasa to catch a capsule carrying samples of the sun were gearing up for a blockbuster ending to their mission on Wednesday over Utah in the western United States. When the Genesis spacecraft re-enters Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday, the helicopter pilots are to intercept a capsule from the vessel in midair.
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/ 8 September 2004
A planned sale by British Airways of its stake in Australia’s Qantas has reignited talk of further consolidation in the European airline industry, but analysts played down prospects of an imminent deal. The British carrier said on Wednesday it expects to net about £425-million from a sale of the 18,25% stake in Qantas.
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/ 8 September 2004
France circulated a resolution on Tuesday calling for the emergency deployment of about 1 700 troops to reinforce the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). France’s UN ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said the resolution is in response to a letter from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
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/ 8 September 2004
The readers of glossy society magazine Vanity Fair are likely to raise an eyebrow or two this month after the magazine put the boss of Wal-Mart at the top of its annual New Establishment power list. Lee Scott, who has helped build Wal-Mart into the world’s biggest retailer with a pile-it-high and sell-it-cheap philosophy, is a surprise entry.
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/ 8 September 2004
Sudan’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that fewer than 5 000 people have died in the country’s war-torn Darfur region, far short of a United Nations estimate of 30Â 000 to 50Â 000 dead. ”Those who are saying 30Â 000 or 50Â 000, we are telling them, ‘Tell us the names’,” Mustafa Osman Ismail told a press conference.
Sudan arrests opposition militants
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/ 8 September 2004
Zimbabwe police arrested a prominent civil-rights leader on Wednesday for taking part in a protest against a new law clamping down on rights groups, a police spokesperson said. Lovemore Madhuku, the head of the National Constitutional Assembly, was picked up ”for the illegal demonstration held last week”, said a police spokesperson.
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/ 8 September 2004
Sudan has arrested scores of Islamist militants from the party of detained opposition leader Hassan Turabi, accusing them of subversion and arms trafficking involving an unnamed neighbouring country. Security forces nabbed Popular Congress party officials in the latest crackdown by the government against its rivals.
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/ 8 September 2004
Heads of state from 17 African countries on Wednesday attended the opening of an African Union summit in Burkina Faso to craft a jobs creation plan to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty. The summit was addressed by Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore, who welcomed his fellow leaders to the two-day meeting.
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/ 8 September 2004
Charges were withdrawn on Wednesday against Johan Meyer, arrested in Vanderbijlpark under laws governing weapons of mass destruction, said a court official. Meyer was arrested last week, and 11 shipping containers containing the components of a gas centrifuge and related documentation were seized from his factory premises.
Accused withdraws bail application
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/ 8 September 2004
South Africans appear to be a nation of givers — in an average month, a massive 93% of people part with time, money or goods to assist a cause or an individual. According to a national survey almost R930-million was mobilised during October and November 2003 for development and anti-poverty work.