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/ 7 September 2006

China shuts down outspoken website

China has shut down a Chinese magazine’s outspoken website, apparently because of the reported killing of a villager trying to stop demolition of his home, the editor said on Thursday. The online edition of the Baixing [People] Magazine, based in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, was closed on Wednesday, editor Huang Liantian told Reuters.

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/ 7 September 2006

When water bubbles signal a volcanic big bang

Scientists have found a possible early warning system which could help them to predict major volcanic eruptions, based on the amount of water in magma, the molten rock thrown out during minor activity. Researchers have found that the more water there is in the magma, the more likely the volcano is to erupt violently.

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/ 7 September 2006

Homicides slow in SA since 1990s

The number of homicides in South Africa has declined since the late 1990s, a study by Statistics South Africa shows. However, it says homicide rates remain very high, especially for males in the 35-39 year age group. Homicide comprises the majority of unnatural deaths for males in this age group and male homicide rates are about six times higher than female homicide rates, the study found.

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/ 7 September 2006

Mboweni: Economy unbalanced due to demand

South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Tito Mboweni said on Thursday that while he thought South Africa’s interest rates were too high, the sociology of the previous lower rate environment meant he had to raise rates to control inflation. He said the combination of household debt, loans and advances to the private sector and house-price growth meant that South Africa was beginning to have an unbalanced economy.

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/ 7 September 2006

Children pay price of Summer Rain offensive

On a humid afternoon, an hour or two after lunch, Nadi al-Attar, 12, set off on a donkey-drawn cart with his grandmother Khariya and two of his young cousins to pick figs from a small orchard near their home in northern Gaza. Ahmed (17) one of the cousins, remembers the moment when the shell struck, but pauses as he tells his story to nervously rub the muscles at the top of his thighs.

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/ 7 September 2006

Inmates keep phones in bowels in El Salvador jail

Four prisoners in an El Salvador jail hid cellphones, a phone charger and spare chips in their bowels so they could coordinate crimes from their cells, prison officials said on Wednesday. The four men, all gang members, wrapped their phones and accessories in plastic and inserted them into their rectums "far enough to reach their intestines".