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/ 23 January 2006
A lovelorn Bangladeshi chopped off one of his fingertips, wrapped it in gift paper and gave it to the girl he wanted to marry as a token of his love, officials said on Monday. But the gesture failed to impress 18-year-old Sahera Khatun, whose horrified father complained to village elders in the north-western district of Gaibandha.
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/ 23 January 2006
Ford Motor Company workers faced bleak prospects on Monday as the United States auto giant was to announce huge job cuts and plant closures in a bid to counter its loss of market share to Asian rivals. News reports said up to 29 000 job cuts and 10 plant closures could be announced.
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/ 23 January 2006
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/262374/vote-box_blue.gif" align=left>The ruling African National Congress’s promise to clear 215Â 000 bucket toilets within a year — part of its local-government campaign pledge — is "simply not going to happen", says official opposition leader Tony Leon. He said the ANC has "systematically broken the promises it made in its 2000 local government manifesto".
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/ 23 January 2006
Much of Russia on Monday suffered through the seventh day of brutal Arctic temperatures as the cold wave that swept into Moscow last Monday also pushed into eastern Europe, killing people in Estonia, Poland, Romania, Moldova and elsewhere. Meanwhile, firefighters are battling wildfires in Australia amid soaring temperatures.
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/ 23 January 2006
Officials said on Monday that a limited-range tsunami could potentially have been caused by a magnitude-6,2 earthquake that the United States Geological Survey said struck near the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. No casualties or damage were reported, and there was no immediate word of any tsunami in the sparsely populated area.
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/ 23 January 2006
Turkey’s appeal court sent Mehmet Ali Agca, who tried to kill pope John Paul II, back to prison until 2010 after his early release last week caused a wave of controversy. The court ruled that Agca still had four years to serve behind bars for the 1979 murder of a prominent Turkish journalist, two robberies and escaping from prison.
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/ 23 January 2006
African leaders on Monday opened a summit in Khartoum dominated by a controversial bid from host country Sudan to head the African Union as the pan-African body seeks to end the bloodshed in Darfur. The campaign by Sudan to take over the chairmanship of the 53-nation AU could derail peace efforts in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
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/ 23 January 2006
It may not have the Eiffel Tower’s global renown, but Belgium’s hi-tech Atomium hopes to super-charge its pulling power when it reopens next month, in all its shiny glory after a two-year renovation. In fact, the parallels with the world-famous Paris monument are striking: the steel-and-aluminium Brussels landmark was built for a World Fair; and it attracts hordes of foreign tourists.
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/ 23 January 2006
Chad Campbell’s conservative approach paid off on Sunday as a 71 saw him win the -million Bob Hope Classic by three shots. Campbell’s one-under effort gave him a five-round total of 25-under 335, three shots better than Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik and fellow American Scott Verplank.
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/ 23 January 2006
Power-hitter Amelie Mauresmo produced another no-nonsense straight sets victory on Monday to move into the Australian Open quarterfinals, as all the top seeds remaining kept their hopes alive. An in-form Patty Schnyder, Germany’s unfancied Nicolas Kiefer and Sebastien Grosjean of France also won.