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/ 7 December 2007
Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu urged European Union (EU) leaders on Friday to confront Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on his human rights record, saying
their silence would be interpreted as condoning violations. ”I am deeply saddened by what has happened,” said Tutu.
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/ 6 December 2007
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday defended inviting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to attend a European Union-Africa summit this weekend and vowed to make human rights the first point on the agenda. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is boycotting the Lisbon summit.
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/ 5 December 2007
Africa cannot stop the European Union (EU) if it wants to discuss the issue of Zimbabwe during the weekend’s European-African summit in Lisbon, Portugal, South African Foreign Affairs Deputy-Director General Gert Grobler said on Wednesday. He said that Zimbabwe was not part of the agreed agenda.
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/ 5 December 2007
Zimbabwe’s former colonial master lost the stand-off over whether he or the British prime minister would attend an upcoming European-African summit, Robert Mugabe declared on Tuesday. Mugabe also said his nation, suffering chronic shortages of basic goods and worsening power and water outages, continued to defy predictions of economic collapse and social upheaval.
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/ 4 December 2007
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to European Union and fellow African leaders for enabling him to see off a bid to have him excluded from an EU-Africa summit. ”The sinister campaign led by Britain to isolate us, including the recent attempts to bar us from attending the EU-Africa summit … continues to disintegrate,” Mugabe said in a State of the Nation address in Parliament.
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/ 4 December 2007
Spain backed Britain on Tuesday in calling for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to stay away from a European Union-Africa summit in Lisbon this week. "We would all prefer that he does not take part because he will not bring much and he would be a media distraction," Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told reporters.
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/ 4 December 2007
A British teacher jailed in Sudan for insulting Islam by naming a teddy bear Muhammad voiced relief at her release on Tuesday, as she arrived back home after a presidential pardon. ”I’m just an ordinary middle-aged primary school teacher. I went out there to have an adventure and got a lot more adventure than what I was looking for,” said Gillian Gibbons.
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/ 4 December 2007
The United States will slap travel and financial sanctions on about 40 more people with ties to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has cracked down hard on dissent, a senior US official said on Monday. ”Mugabe’s tyranny needs to end,” said US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer.
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/ 3 December 2007
A British woman jailed in Sudan for insulting religion by naming a teddy bear after the Prophet Muhammad was to be released on Monday after being granted a presidential pardon. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir signed the pardon after meeting two British Muslim peers who flew to Khartoum on a mercy mission.
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/ 2 December 2007
Zambia President Levy Mwanawasa has urged the British prime minister to continue speaking out against Zimbabwe until a solution is found to the country’s crises, media reported on Sunday. Mwanawasa welcomed the pressure Gordon Brown was putting on Harare but expressed disappointment at his boycott of next weekend’s European Union-Africa summit.
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/ 1 December 2007
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe launched a new attack on Britain on Friday after it failed to prevent him being invited to a European Union summit next month, telling London to stop interfering in its former colony. He also thanked fellow African heads of state for their diplomatic support in what he called an ”onslaught” by Britain and its allies.
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/ 29 November 2007
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, caught in a standoff with Britain which has cast a shadow over an European Union-Africa summit, said on Wednesday he had no objection to dialogue between the two countries. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he will boycott the December 8 to 9 Lisbon summit because Mugabe will attend.
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/ 28 November 2007
A British teacher detained in Sudan after her class called a teddy bear Muhammad was charged on Wednesday with insulting Islam in a move that sparked a diplomatic row. Gillian Gibbons (54) was also charged with inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs. If convicted, she could face 40 lashes, a fine or one year in jail.
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/ 28 November 2007
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said on Wednesday he would push to create a group of African leaders to resolve a stand-off between Zimbabwe and Britain, which has cast a shadow over a European Union-Africa summit. Wade arrived in Harare after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would boycott the planned December 8 to 9 Lisbon summit.
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/ 28 November 2007
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade will fly to Zimbabwe on Wednesday for talks with President Robert Mugabe in an attempt to resolve a row between Harare and London that threatens to derail a European Union-Africa summit next month. Wade will fly to Zimbabwe after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he would boycott the planned December 8 to 9 summit in Lisbon.
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/ 28 November 2007
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faces a grilling in Parliament on Wednesday over the funding row that has engulfed the Labour party. Despite pledging to return the donations, Brown will face calls to explain what he knew about the £600 000 that property developer David Abrahams donated through intermediaries.
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/ 28 November 2007
Zimbabwe’s government newspaper offered a chilly, racially tinged welcome on Tuesday to the new United States envoy. The Herald‘s political editor Caesar Zvayi said James McGee had criticised Zimbabwe’s human rights record in statements to the US Senate and, as an appointee of US President George Bush, was likely ”to turn out to be the house Negro”.
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/ 27 November 2007
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed on Tuesday that he will boycott a European Union-Africa summit to be held in Lisbon next month in protest at the participation of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. ”I will not be attending this summit,” Brown said at a press conference at Downing Street.
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/ 27 November 2007
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said he will attend a European Union-Africa summit in December in Lisbon, triggering a boycott of the meeting by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. ”Yes, I’m going,” Mugabe was quoted on Tuesday as telling Portugal’s Lusa news agency in Mozambique.
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/ 25 November 2007
Two weeks from hosting the second-ever summit between Europe and Africa, Portugal is scrambling to ensure that Zimbabwe’s contentious presence does not eclipse the chance for a true partnership between the European Union and the world’s poorest continent.
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/ 23 November 2007
The 53-nation Commonwealth suspended Pakistan’s membership on Thursday, after President Pervez Musharraf failed to meet a deadline to lift emergency rule and resign as army chief. The Commonwealth had given Musharraf until Thursday to lift the state of emergency he imposed on November 3.
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/ 22 November 2007
Senior officials knew about a decision to include financial details of millions of Britons on computer discs that then went missing in the mail, British opposition politicians said on Thursday. Citing an internal email, members of the Conservative Party said blame for the scandal went higher than just the junior civil servant so far blamed by the government.
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/ 22 November 2007
Commonwealth leaders are aiming to reach a decision by the end of the weekend on whether to make former Belgian colony Rwanda a new member, the head of the 53-nation grouping said on Thursday. Commonwealth heads of government are meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, from Friday.
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/ 22 November 2007
Pakistan on Thursday faced suspension from the Commonwealth for the second time in eight years after failing to meet a deadline for lifting emergency rule. In a conversation on Wednesday, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, made a final plea to President Pervez Musharraf to lift the state of emergency.
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/ 21 November 2007
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced angry questions from lawmakers on Wednesday after confidential records containing nearly half the population’s bank details went missing in the post. The disappearance of about 25-million people’s personal data vanished in the biggest-ever loss of personal information by any government.
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/ 19 November 2007
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on Monday with a moving thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey, the church where they married 60 years ago. The pomp and splendour of the traditional ceremony came a day before the anniversary itself.
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/ 18 November 2007
Robert Mugabe’s vice-president has endorsed the veteran Zimbabwean leader’s candidature for presidential elections next year and has suggested he should even rule until he dies, a report said on Sunday. Joseph Msika said no-one was so far challenging Mugabe’s bid to seek a sixth consecutive term and urged supporters to endorse him at a ruling party congress.
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/ 17 November 2007
Africa’s insistence that Robert Mugabe be invited to a summit in Europe is a matter of principle and not a sign of support for the Zimbabwean leader or his government, the chairperson of the African Union (AU) said on Friday. The prospect that Mugabe could attend a European Union-AU summit in Lisbon next month has threatened to derail the meeting.
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/ 10 November 2007
Britain’s main opposition leader, David Cameron, was initially delighted that supermodel Kate Moss asked for his phone number — until he realised she thought he could help her with her drains. The Conservative Party leader said in an interview to be broadcast on Saturday that he met Moss at a charity bash recently.
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/ 10 November 2007
The threat of serious flooding along England’s east coast receded on Friday after officials said the main tidal peak had passed, although storms were still causing problems elsewhere in Europe. High seas still threatened The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Norway and Sweden.
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/ 5 November 2007
Pakistani police used tear gas and batons to crush protests by lawyers against President Pervez Musharraf on Monday, despite world outrage at the imposition of a state of emergency. The White House said it was ”deeply disturbed” by the crisis, urging Musharraf, a key ally in the fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, to quit his military post.
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/ 5 November 2007
The United States and Britain are on Monday expected to demand that Pakistan’s President, Pervez Musharraf, honour pledges to hold elections in the next two months and step down as the army chief, or face a cut in Western support. The diplomatic showdown will come in the form of a meeting in Islamabad between the Pakistani leader and a group of ambassadors.