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/ 31 December 2006

Mbeki: Let’s make 2007 a better year for all

South Africans must use the resources and experience accumulated in 2006 to ensure a better life for every South African in 2007, President Thabo Mbeki said in his new year message on Sunday. ”We must be able to show practically that we have succeeded to realise the hopes of even more of our citizens than we have in 2006.”

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/ 31 December 2006

Bombs hit Bangkok, 2 dead, 20 wounded

At least six small bombs exploded in Bangkok on Sunday, killing two people, wounding more than 20 and shocking the Thai capital into cancelling New Year countdown celebrations. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombs, which went off within about an hour and included one put under a seat at a bus stop outside a shopping mall which killed one person and wounded 16.

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/ 31 December 2006

Hangmen taunted Saddam with Shi’ite cleric’s name

Saddam Hussein’s executioners exchanged taunts with the former president as they prepared to hang him, invoking the name of a radical anti-United States Shi’ite cleric whose father was killed by Saddam’s agents. Grainy footage of the execution, apparently shot on a cellphone or other low-quality camera by a witness who was standing below looking up at the gallows, was circulating on the internet on Sunday.

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/ 31 December 2006

Woods poised for another stellar year

Amid all the changes in store for the US PGA Tour in 2007, expect one thing to stay the same: Tiger Woods will again reign supreme. The season starting with the Mercedes-Benz Championships at Kapalua, Hawaii, on Thursday is being touted by US tour officials as a ”new era” in golf.

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/ 31 December 2006

Somali forces march on Islamist stronghold

Somali government forces marched on the last stronghold of the country’s powerful Islamist movement on Saturday, even as Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi called for dialogue with Islamist leaders. Residents said fighter jets, believed to be Ethiopian, were flying over Kismayo, about 500km south of the capital, prompting fears of attacks on the city.

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/ 31 December 2006

Relatives arrested over editor’s son’s murder

Two relatives are among the six suspects arrested in connection with the murder of Avhatakali Netshisaulu, son of City Press editor Mathatha Tsedu, reported the newspaper at the weekend. City Press said a suspect arrested on Friday was a relative and was allegedly the ”mastermind, financier and recruiter of Netshisaulu’s killers”.