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/ 14 October 2004

Strike threatens Nigeria’s oil production

Trade unions in Nigeria on Wednesday threatened to extend a three-day general strike which has shut down much of the country and driven world oil prices to a record high. The stoppage was due to end on Thursday but labour leaders said it would continue if the government used heavy-handed tactics against strikers.

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/ 14 October 2004

Iraq’s killing fields

United States investigators preparing war crimes trials against Saddam Hussein and his deputies have uncovered the bodies of hundreds of Kurdish men, women and children in the first forensic exhumation of a mass grave in Iraq. The grave site, in Hatra, near the ancient city of Nineveh, is thought to hold the bodies of several thousand Kurds in nine separate trenches.

  • More South Africans to die in Iraq
  • Dozens queue to hand over weapons
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    / 14 October 2004

    The President’s bulge

    Do you know that some products you are buying are fitting with miniature transmitters? From that "VIP membership" card for a clothing store in your wallet or purse, to razor blades and shirts — you are being spied on. And there is a slow but increasingly vocal movement growing to force companies to ‘fess up to using them to track consumers.

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    / 14 October 2004

    The ways we must leave behind

    The trial of Schabir Shaik underscores the fact that we are still a nation in transition between yesterday and tomorrow. Rich traditions from the liberation struggle will always form part of the South African body politic. But it is now time to leave many ways of the past behind. What Shaik’s early testimony reveals is a view that old bonds of struggle loyalty and networks of power cannot be questioned in the new order.

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    / 14 October 2004

    End of the road for Arafat?

    His glory days are behind him. At 75, he is frail, his hands shaky, his lapels covered with a score of badges from organisations as diverse as Peace Now and the Samaritans. Imprisoned in his compound, facing assassination and internationally isolated, the Palestinian leader says he has been in worse trouble.

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    / 14 October 2004

    Night of redemption for World Cup hit men

    Deadly hit men Michael Owen and Thierry Henry stunningly shot down rumours of their international demise on Wednesday as both men found the target to keep their countries on the road to the 2006 World Cup finals. Owen scored the only goal of the game as England beat Azerbaijan 1-0 in windswept Baku while Henry added France’s second goal in a 2-0 win against Cyprus.

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    / 14 October 2004

    Ajax win in excellent game

    The local derby between Ajax Cape Town and Santos on Wednesday dished up excellent soccer in front of one of the biggests crowds seen at a derby in Cape Town. Ajax — playing on their home field, Newlands — ran out the winners by the only goal, scored in the 29th minute by Nhlanhla Tshabalala.

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    / 14 October 2004

    Owen gets the job done for England

    Stand-in skipper Michael Owen’s 28th goal for England was enough to secure a 1-0 win over Azerbaijan in difficult conditions in Baku on Wednesday. The Real Madrid striker rose to joint eighth in his country’s all-time scoring charts by heading home Ashley Cole’s cross midway through the first half.