South Africa’s Public-Sector Strike a Dilemma for Zuma

The use of rubber bullets by South African police against striking public-sector workers in Soweto — erstwhile cauldron of antiapartheid protest — carries a symbolic significance that will send shockwaves through the country. But it also marks a milestone in the slow transition by the ruling African National Congress from being a rebel movement that reflexively backed striking workers to being a government that can’t afford to heed their demands

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Abandon All Hope: The Russian Region That’s Been Left to Die

Having tucked into his first bottle of vodka earlier than usual, Anatoly Zhbanov goes on an afternoon stroll to buy another one along the dirt road through Lopotova, a dying village on Russia’s western edge, in the region of Pskov. It is mid-April, and clumps of snow are still melting at the roadside where Zhbanov, a local artist, stops to peer inside a lopsided cabin, the home of a local bootlegger.

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Unrest continues for third day in East Jerusalem

Israeli police on Tuesday arrested Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic movement in Israel, in the third consecutive day of unrest in East Jerusalem, police said. Salah, an Israeli-Arab and former mayor of the Haifa District city of Umm el-Fahm, was arrested in Wadi Joz in East Jerusalem and was being questioned by police for incitement, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmulik ben Rubi said.

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N. Ireland police investigate massive bomb

Police in Northern Ireland were investigating Wednesday after “reckless criminal terrorists” planted a 600-pound bomb along a country road. The mono set may be revelatory for some, but even the box of stereo albums — the best-known versions and the primary sales focus — is a step up from the 22-year-old original CD releases.

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