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/ 23 February 2006

Yabadabadoo: Cartoon theme parks planned for Delhi

A little more than a decade after satellite television first beamed cartoons into India’s living rooms, the country is to get its first American-style amusement parks based on cartoon characters. At a cost of 5,5-billion rupees (-million), the two parks in Delhi will be based around children’s channels Cartoon Network and Pogo, which are operated by Turner International.

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/ 23 February 2006

Shocking news for power users

If you want to start a rumour, how about that Google is going to build its own nuclear power station? The logic is easy. Larry Page, the company’s co-founder, reportedly sees ”running out of power” as the biggest potential threat to Google, and the electricity needed to run its ”server farms” — tens of thousands of power-hungry computers storing billions of internet pages — could soon cost more than the hardware.

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/ 23 February 2006

Ugandan poll: ‘So far, so good’

Ugandans flooded polling stations on Thursday to cast ballots in landmark elections dominated by a bitter battle between President Yoweri Museveni and opposition leader Kizza Besigye. Hundreds queued patiently, and not so patiently, in huge lines at many of the nearly 20 000 open-air voting centres organised for the nation’s first multi-party elections in 26 years.

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/ 23 February 2006

Paris gang leader confesses to murder

A Paris gang leader was arrested overnight in Abidjan and has confessed to the kidnap, torture and murder of a young French Jewish man, Ivorian investigators said on Thursday, in a case that has horrified France. Youssouf Fofana (25) who styled himself as the ”brain of the barbarians”, could be extradited back to France by the end of the day, according to French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.

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/ 23 February 2006

Ten years on, should Lara be entombed?

Lara Croft is hitting the comeback trail. With the April 7 release of Tomb Raider: Legend, the seventh iteration of the game that is her main star vehicle, one of the best-known icons of the videogame world is to make her first outing since 2003’s disastrous Angel of Darkness. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of her first appearance. But can she still cut it in the 21st century?

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/ 23 February 2006

China bans cartoons that blend animation with actors

China has announced a ban on cartoons that blend animated elements with live-action actors, a move aimed at nurturing local animators and apparently curbing the use of foreign cartoons. Popular children’s television shows featuring human hosts and animated elements such as Blue’s Clues from the United States and Britain’s Teletubbies could be included in the ban.

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/ 23 February 2006

Players want Van Rooyen out

If it were up to the players, incumbent South African Rugby Union president Brian van Rooyen would be ousted from his position in favour of Kwazulu Natal’s Oregan Hoskins at Friday’s presidential election in Cape Town. A poll requested by the South African Rugby Players Association had 67,1% of its members voting in favour of Hoskens.