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/ 22 December 2005
Four youths killed when lightning struck an initiation school in the Mqanduli area of Transkei last week were buried on Thursday in an emotional ceremony attended by hundreds of people. Seven other would-be initiates were injured in the third fatal lighting strike at an initiation school in the region in three years.
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/ 22 December 2005
Water delivered to Zimbabwe’s capital contains high levels of bacteria, acid and sedimentary impurities, a state daily reported on Thursday, saying it falls short of local and world health standards. ”Toxin-producing blue-green algae are consistently present in the drinking water,” the Herald said.
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/ 22 December 2005
Toxic chemicals that contaminated a river after a blast at a factory in China last month flowed into the Russian city of Khabarovsk on Thursday, but officials said concentrations posed negligible danger for human health. Meanwhile, a second Chinese city has stopped drawing its drinking water from a southern river after a toxic spill.
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/ 22 December 2005
Four years after Ireland adopted the euro, up to 60 people a day are still turning up at the central bank in Dublin to offload their old punts — many with some peculiar explanations. ”There are still a lot of people finding hoards of old money, but the amounts are getting smaller,” a central bank spokesperson said on Thursday.
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/ 22 December 2005
At least eight people were reported on Thursday to have died in an explosion that set ablaze a pipeline in the oilfields of southern Nigeria, as the Shell oil company said it is unable to make deliveries to customers. The oil giant has declared a state of force majeure, a legal term allowing a party to a contract to breach its terms legally.
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/ 22 December 2005
Malawian veterinary experts on Thursday said a ”heavy downpour of rains” caused thousands of migratory birds to drop dead, then to be eaten by locals, ruling out fears that bird flu may have reached the country. Malawi has not reported any cases of avian influenza.
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/ 22 December 2005
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is likely to reduce its crude oil production after the high-demand northern-hemisphere winter, the group’s president said on Thursday. ”I expect Opec to decrease output for the second quarter,” Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said.
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/ 22 December 2005
The United Nations Security Council has prolonged a peacekeeping operation in Burundi for six months, but also plans to withdraw following a successful transition to peace and democracy. Onub commander Derrick Mgwebi announced last week that a contingent from Mozambique will be first to leave Burundi.
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/ 22 December 2005
Lawyers for David Letterman want a judge to quash a restraining order granted to a Santa Fe woman who contends the CBS late-night television host used code words to show he wanted to marry her and train her as his co-host. Lawyers for Letterman, in a motion filed on Tuesday, contend the order is without merit.
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/ 22 December 2005
Residents barricaded a street in Lethabong near Rustenburg on Wednesday to protest the condition of roads in the area, said police. They blocked part of Seripe Street near Noka ya Lerato Primary School with rocks and dug trenches across the road, said North West police spokesperson Captain Thabo Makhafola.