A SOUTH African court has withdrawn charges against seven vagrants accused of raping and robbing a Brazilian journalist because she failed to appear at the hearing. The reporter had been in South Africa for barely a day, in July 1999, when she was allegedly attacked on her way to her Johannesburg hotel. She left South Africa a few hours after the attack. A few days later, three adults and four minors were arrested for rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances. – AFP