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/ 11 December 2005

Nasa studies real-life Rain Man’s brain

It took Kim Peek just more than an hour to read Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October. Four months later, when asked to give the name of the book’s Russian radio operator, Peek quoted the entire relevant passage. Studies of Peek’s abilities are being used by scientists to shed intriguing light on the human mind.

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/ 11 December 2005

Many children among 103 dead in air disaster

Scores of schoolchildren heading home for the Christmas holidays were among the 103 people killed on Saturday when a passenger jet crashed as it attempted to land in the southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt. Witnesses said the accident site was horrific, with the remains of those on board and pieces of wreckage strewn over a large area.

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/ 11 December 2005

Drowned city cuts its poor adrift

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, it was the city’s poor — almost exclusively African-Americans — who were left to fend for themselves as the city drowned in a lake of toxic sludge. Now, three months on, the same people have been abandoned once again by a reconstruction effort that seems determined to prevent them from returning.

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/ 11 December 2005

Mugabe admits land-grab flaws

At the close of the ruling Zanu-PF’s annual conference, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on Saturday admitted that his government’s land redistribution has been fraught with problems. Zanu-PF also urged the government not to entertain any more ”clandestine” envoys sent to Harare under the auspices of the United Nations.

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/ 10 December 2005

Youths at the Service of Youth

They’ve spent the past year confronting many of South Africa’s problems head on, from the high incidence of rape to the fact that many schoolchildren battle hunger. They expected nothing less. These are the young men and women from the first batch of City Year South Africa service leaders.

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/ 10 December 2005

More than 100 dead in Nigerian airliner crash

A Nigerian jetliner carrying 110 passengers and crew crashed on Saturday as it approached a southern city in stormy weather, killing 103 people. Seven people survived, officials said. Reports said the plane apparently overshot the runway during a thunderstorm. An airport worker described a horrific scene: ”The place where I’m standing now is scattered with corpses.”

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/ 10 December 2005

Chiefs prove too strong for Pirates

Kaizer Chiefs proved a little too strong for their bitter rivals Orlando Pirates in the Castle Premiership encounter played at a packed FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Chiefs’ 1-0 victory was their second triumph over their Soweto counterparts this season after having run away with the first game 2-0.