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/ 22 July 2005

Soccer star in cricket whites

Eleven years ago Shane Warne had the record book in his sights. The leg-
spinner had taken only 141 Test wickets when he said he intended to beat Kapil Dev’s record of 434. One commentator wrote: ”Experts are projecting an eventual tally of 500 wickets, even 600, which is surely fanciful.”

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/ 22 July 2005

Enter the (friendly and humanitarian) Dragon

Democracy is a ­lascivious cad. An incorrigible dandy, he struts through the poorer neighbourhoods of the world, ­twirling his moustache and hopping deftly over cowpats, all the while sizing up the blushing, naïve ­daughters of dictators and tyrants, until he spies one who watches too long, smiles too widely. Come with me, he whispers up to her window, and I will give you the world.

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/ 22 July 2005

Caustic soda served in place of liqueur

Three pensioners were in intensive care in a Grenoble hospital on Thursday after ordering a glass each of a popular local liqueur, génépi, and being mistakenly served caustic soda. The three, a man of 69, his wife, 68, and her 94-year-old mother, were still in a critical condition after drinking the highly corrosive and toxic cleaning fluid.

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/ 22 July 2005

Iraq phone chief tries to tempt investors

London played host to one of its more unusual investment roadshows on Thursday as representatives of the Iraqi telecommunications regulator came to town to look for investors in the country’s fledgling cellphone industry. Years of warfare followed by crippling sanctions have left Iraq as one of the least developed telecoms markets in the world — just 3% of the country.