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/ 6 September 2005

‘Strong scent of racism’

Four Arab Israelis shot dead by a soldier opposed to the closure of the Gaza Strip settlements are not victims of ”terror” because their killer was Jewish, Israel’s Defence Ministry has ruled, and so their families are not entitled to the usual compensation for life.

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/ 6 September 2005

We survived genocide

On May 8 1994, my husband was brutally murdered by armed militias in Rwanda. His parents, sisters, his uncles, aunts and cousins were also killed. My name was on a list to be killed the next day. At midnight I escaped, carrying my three small children and two others whose parents had also died.

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/ 6 September 2005

Rolling with the punches

As someone who has spent the best part of 20 years covering global trade talks, I know from bitter experience that it takes a lot to elevate tariffs, quotas and subsidies on to the front page. Recently, however, reports that there are shiploads of ladies’ underwear lurking on the borders of the EU, due to a decision to limit imports from China, have elevated trade to the lead item on the BBC news.

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/ 6 September 2005

Evolution + life with no purpose

All is not lost in America. When George W Bush came out a couple of weeks ago in favour of teaching ”intelligent design” — the new manifestation of creationism — the press gave him a tremendous kicking. The Christian Taliban have not yet won. But, they are gaining on us. So far there have been legislative attempts in 13 states to have intelligent design added to the school curriculum.

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/ 5 September 2005

Eleven die in DRC plane crash

Eleven people were killed on Monday when an Antonov-26 freight aircraft struck a tree near Isiro airport in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), aviation officials said. The death toll was higher than a provisional figure of seven given by local officials and the United Nations-funded Okapi radio.