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/ 18 October 2005
Prom night, that iconic moment in the life of almost every American teenager, is under unprecedented scrutiny after a Long Island school cancelled its prom on the grounds it had become an overpriced ”orgy” of drugs, alcohol and sex. Kellenberg Memorial High School’s decision to scrap an event it described as ”an exaggerated rite of passage that verges on decadence” is the culmination of decades of debauchery.
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/ 18 October 2005
This year has seen an explosion of new pampering products for man’s furry friends, among the more unusual of which is a fragrance designed to neutralise the sexual scent of female dogs, a study said on Tuesday. The products also include weight loss supplements, sun screen and stress relief sprays, alongside cosmetics like nail polish and hair colour highlights.
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/ 18 October 2005
A senior United Nations official said on Tuesday there are not enough tents in the world to protect refugees from the coming winter after the October 8 earthquake in South Asia. Tents are a priority item with about three million people made homeless, with many of them forced to live in the open in plummeting temperatures.
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/ 18 October 2005
The issue of whether either of the two most senior officials in the African National Congress should occupy equivalent or corresponding positions in the government was up for debate in the build-up to the 1997 Mafikeng conference. With regard to the deputy presidency, in 1994 the issue had not arisen.
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/ 18 October 2005
The worldwide pattern of natural misfortunes in the form of hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis is a challenge that no one nation can handle and no one nation must ignore, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Tuesday. She was speaking at the National Climate Change Conference in Midrand.
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/ 18 October 2005
The body of former Ugandan president Milton Obote arrived home on Tuesday for a state funeral to tears and jeers over the late leader’s legacy, which left the nation deeply divided. Torn between remembering Obote as a national hero or despot, Ugandans grieved and rejoiced as the white government-chartered twin-propeller cargo carrying his body landed at Entebbe at 12.45pm.
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/ 18 October 2005
This year’s seasonal ozone hole over Antarctica was the third largest on record, but forecasters are uncertain how it will behave in the future, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Tuesday. The hole peaked last month at almost 27-million square kilometres, and then began shrinking as usual, the WMO said in a statement.
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/ 18 October 2005
An infant gorilla in a Democratic Republic of Congo sanctuary is smashing palm nuts between two rocks to extract oil, surprising and intriguing scientists who say they have much to learn about what gorillas can do — and about what that says about evolution.
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/ 18 October 2005
Jurors in United States death penalty cases are often excluded because of race and gender, are not shown critical evidence and tend to be conviction prone, the Death Penalty Information Centre said on Tuesday in a report. ”While most Americans never serve on a capital jury,” the report said, ”everyone is affected by a system that fails to respect those who do serve and that falls woefully short of justice.”
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/ 18 October 2005
United States Federal Reserve chairperson Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday that the world would have to learn to live with high oil prices and their negative impact on economic growth ”for some time to come”. He said the recent shutdown of US oil production and refinery facilities battered by hurricanes was ”an accident waiting to happen”.