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/ 17 January 2007
A 46-year-old German motorist driving along a busy road suddenly veered to the left and ended up stuck on a railway track — because his satellite navigation system told him to, police said on Sunday. The motorist was heading into the north German city of Bremen ”when the friendly voice from his satnav told him to turn left,” a spokesperson said.
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/ 17 January 2007
A South Korean worker was shot and wounded in an armed robbery in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region, but the injury was not life-threatening, officials said on Wednesday. The worker from Hyundai Heavy Industries was shot in the thigh when 16 gunmen approached the vessel he was traveling on with nine others.
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/ 17 January 2007
The institution of marriage in the United States is in serious decline, and a slim majority of women now live without a spouse, new census data show. Some 51% of women above the age of 15 were living without a spouse in 2005, a sharp rise from the 35% who were on their own in 1950, the halcyon days of the American family, the census data says.
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/ 17 January 2007
Senator Barack Obama, the rising young star of the United States Democratic party, took his first step into the 2008 presidential contest on Tuesday, raising the temperature in an already heated race. Obama’s video address on his website was merely a dress rehearsal: the announcement of an exploratory committee to raise funds and build a campaign team.
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/ 17 January 2007
Police in northern Spain began questioning the entire population of a tiny mountain village on Tuesday after the mayor was shot dead in an ambush on a country road. All 37 inhabitants of Fago, in the Pyrenees near France, are suspects in a crime which police believe involved several of the many villagers who had argued with the mayor, Miguel Grima.
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/ 17 January 2007
A Nigerian newspaper publisher faces up to 15 years in prison after being charged on Tuesday with belonging to the virtually unheard of terrorist group known as the ”Nigerian Taliban”. Mohammed Damagun (50) a director of Media Trust Limited, pleaded not guilty to three charges of terrorism.
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/ 17 January 2007
Channel Life has acquired the entire share capital of South Africa’s oldest black life insurer, Safrican, the companies announced on Wednesday. ”Having Channel Life as a shareholder will allow us to fully realise our potential and expand the operation into areas that we previously didn’t have access to,” Safrican chief executive officer Nthabiseng Mmatli said in a statement.
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/ 17 January 2007
Africa’s first America’s Cup hopefuls Team Shosholoza started out with the aim of winning a race or two. Now, despite having the oldest boat in the challengers’ series, the South African team have raised their sights and are determined to make this year’s semifinals.
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/ 17 January 2007
China’s movie censor will not approve Golden Globe-honoured film The Departed for domestic cinematic release due to its mention of a Chinese plan to buy military equipment. Martin Scorsese was named best film director at the Golden Globes on Monday for the film, a crime thriller many think might earn him first Oscar either for best directing or for best film.
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/ 17 January 2007
The economic boom that has turned Ireland into the ”Celtic Tiger” is now threatening up to 150 species of animals and plants with extinction, a new government campaign warned recently. The Notice Nature campaign said species included the red squirrel, several types of bats, the otter, the barn owl, the corncrake, the nightjar and the salmon.