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/ 8 December 2007
Karlheinz Stockhausen, a controversial giant of musical modernism whose works were seldom embraced by mainstream concert audiences, died on Wednesday at his home in Kuerten-Kettenberg, Germany, at the age of 79 , it was announced on Friday. Prolific, whether in fashion or out of it, he composed 362 works.
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/ 8 December 2007
Developing countries led by China squabbled with the West over mandatory emission cuts at the Bali climate-change conference, as activists accused Canada on Saturday of undermining the negotiations by insisting on targets for poor nations. Delegates from nearly 190 nations are attending the December 3 to 14 meeting.
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/ 8 December 2007
A series of six black-and-white prints on display in an unassuming corner of the New York Public Library have sparked controversy on the airwaves and blogosphere quite out of keeping with the dark, marble-lined corridor in which they are hung. The prints show the mugshots of main members of the Bush administration.
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/ 8 December 2007
There are few obvious parallels between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the religiously devout Iranian President, and Jim Morrison, the famously hedonistic lead singer of The Doors. But now the fact that the pair are to share a cinematic bond in the form of biopics directed by Oliver Stone is generating stern disapproval in Tehran.
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/ 8 December 2007
Senior Israeli officials warned on Friday that they were still considering a military strike against Iran, despite a fresh United States intelligence report that concluded Tehran was no longer developing nuclear weapons. Although Israel says it wants strong diplomatic pressure put on Iran, it is reluctant to rule out the threat of a unilateral attack.
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/ 8 December 2007
The intelligence came from an exotic variety of sources: there was the so-called Laptop of Death; there was the Iranian commander who mysteriously disappeared in Turkey. But pivotal to the United States investigation into Iran’s suspect nuclear-weapons programme was the work of a little-known intelligence specialist, Thomas Fingar.
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/ 8 December 2007
European and African leaders arriving for Saturday’s summit in Lisbon were accused by parliamentarians and human rights groups on both continents of trying to sweep human rights issues under the carpet. Much of the criticism was aimed at the absence of Darfur from the main agenda of the European Union-Africa meeting.
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/ 8 December 2007
The father of China’s latest bird-flu victim also has the disease, officials said on Friday, prompting World Health Organisation fears of possible human-to-human transmission. A Health Ministry statement said a 52-year-old man named Lu in the eastern city of Nanjing had the H5N1 strain, which killed his son on Sunday.
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/ 8 December 2007
Negotiations between striking Hollywood writers and studios have collapsed, crushing expectations for a settlement of the costly walkout in its fifth week. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced on Friday that the round of talks that started on Tuesday had broken down.
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/ 8 December 2007
South Korea’s largest oil spill reached part of the country’s scenic and environmentally sensitive western shore on Saturday as the coast guard struggled in high waves and strong winds to keep more oil from washing up on beaches. Hundreds of troops, police and residents used buckets to remove dense crude oil.