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/ 3 February 2008
Woolworths stores in Britain have halted the sale of ”Lolita” beds designed for children, after a parents’ organisation complained the name is synonymous with sexually active preteens. Woolworths said staff members had been unaware of the name’s connection with Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel Lolita.
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/ 21 November 2007
This was a bug that you’d have to look up to and definitely couldn’t step on. British scientists have stumbled across a fossilised claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever. How big? Bigger than you, about 2,5m long.
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/ 14 November 2007
An internet-based collective of soccer fans from more than 70 countries agreed in principle on Tuesday to buy a controlling interest in an English soccer club. The deal will give them a vote on everything from team line-up selections to which players should be transferred.
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/ 18 October 2007
An American scientist who won the Nobel Prize for co-discovering the molecular structure of DNA has caused an uproar in Britain by reportedly saying tests have indicated that Africans are not as intelligent as whites. A government minister, scientists and a human rights activist condemned James Watson’s comments as racist.
United States-led forces conducting a crackdown on al-Qaeda killed a senior member of the insurgent group who was responsible for the high-profile kidnappings of several Westerners, a military spokesperson said on Thursday. Meanwhile, a rocket attack on Iraq’s Green Zone on Wednesday killed four foreign contractors.
United States forces fired an artillery barrage in southern Baghdad on Sunday morning, rocking the capital with loud explosions. Meanwhile, the death toll from a suicide car bomb attack in the Shi’ite holy city of Karbala rose to 68 as residents dug through the debris of heavily damaged shops.
A London hospital that holds the copyright to Peter Pan has questioned the appropriateness of a series of books that portrays the character Wendy exploring her sexuality. The works, Lost Girls, by graphic novellist Alan Moore, are about three world-famous girl characters.
A suicide bomber attacked a crowd of people waiting outside a heavily guarded court building in Baghdad on Thursday, killing 10 Iraqis and wounding 52, police said. Two United States soldiers also died in a roadside bomb attack. On Wednesday, the corpses of 43 Iraqis were found in the streets of Baghdad and other cities.
A suicide bomber attacked a police recruiting station on Wednesday in Fallujah, killing five people in an attack apparently aimed at discouraging Sunni Arabs from joining the force, police said. Police also found the bodies of 14 Iraqi men in Baghdad who apparently were the latest victims of a wave of sectarian violence involving death squads.
A sister of Iraq’s new Sunni Arab vice-president was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad on Thursday, police said. She died one day after her brother called for the Sunni-dominated insurgency to be crushed by force. In southern Iraq, a bomb hit an Italian military convoy on Thursday morning, killing four soldiers.