Staff Reporter
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/ 3 June 2008

China urged to free Tiananmen-era prisoners

A New York-based human rights watchdog urged China on Tuesday to honour its commitment to improve its rights record before the Beijing Olympics by freeing some 130 Tiananmen-era prisoners. Human Rights Watch made the call on the eve of the 19th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army’s crushing of student-led demonstrations.

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/ 3 June 2008

Els to focus on mental game

Ernie Els says he needs to work on his mental game ahead of the United States Open which tees off on June 12 at Torrey Pines in California. After missing consecutive cuts in his last two outings, Els has opted not to play in this week’s Stanford St Jude Championship in Memphis to concentrate on his preparation.

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/ 3 June 2008

Couple ‘divorced without knowledge’

A happily married couple in northern India got the shock of their lives when they learnt they had divorced 10 years ago, the Times of India reported on Tuesday. Meena Verma, a mother of two children, tried to file a case against her in-laws for violence, only to be told by a court in Haryana state that she had been divorced for a decade.

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/ 3 June 2008

Refugee case back in court on Friday

Lawyers for Human Rights, the organisation opposing the relocation of foreigners displaced by Xenophobic violence to City Deep in Johannesburg, will return to court on Friday. The Johannesburg High Court granted an urgent interdict on Monday preventing the relocation of the foreigners to City Deep for security reasons.

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/ 3 June 2008

Call for Hlophe to step down

Cape Judge President John Hlophe should step down from his post until the latest complaint against him has been resolved, according to the Cape Bar Council. ”It would be untenable for Judge Hlophe to continue in office pending the determination of the complaint by the Judicial Services Commission,” the council said on Tuesday.

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/ 3 June 2008

Indian man orders father murdered to get his job

An Indian man, frustrated at failing to find employment, ordered the murder of his father to get his government job, a day before the victim was to retire, police said on Tuesday. The man, arrested from a village in the impoverished eastern Bihar state, had planned to claim his father’s job on the grounds that he died while still at work, police officer Naresh Singh said.

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/ 3 June 2008

Jordan: A world in one

In recent years, Jordan has started to develop its own shores to attract visitors. Pithy taglines like "turn sand into gold" sum up the determination the Jordanians have to make their country a top destination — and not just for Petra, the ancient city in the south of the country that has been voted a new wonder of the world.