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/ 13 January 2005
The death toll from the earthquake and tsunamis that devastated Indian Ocean coastlines last month rose to 163 338 on Thursday as Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka reported new deaths. Indonesia was hardest-hit by the December 26 quake and tsunamis, with 110 229 confirmed deaths by Thursday.
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/ 12 January 2005
Rescuers searching with shovels, high-tech cameras and their bare hands found the bodies of three children and an adult before dawn on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from a mudslide in the Californian seaside hamlet of La Conchita to 10, an official said.
Frantic search for survivors
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/ 12 January 2005
Three of the alleged masterminds behind a right-wing coup plot to overthrow the government were described on Wednesday as responsible, non-violent men who are not a danger to society. A psychology professor said the results of a series of psychological tests gave no indication that any of the three men are prone to violence.
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/ 12 January 2005
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended new pub-licensing laws that will allow Britons to drink around the clock and insisted it will not lead to an explosion in booze-fuelled violence. Later this year, licensing laws that require most pubs in England and Wales to close at 11pm from Monday to Saturday and at 10.30pm on Sundays will be lifted.
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/ 12 January 2005
A man frustrated by his inability to have his daughter enrolled at Potchefstroom Girls’ High School took four staff members hostage on Wednesday, North West police said. The man, who had been turned away from the school last week because it was full, took four administrative personnel hostage just after 9am.
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/ 12 January 2005
South African rescue workers said on Wednesday they have never before witnessed such devastation as they saw while performing relief work in Indonesia. Six Global Relief workers arrived back in South Africa from Indonesia on Wednesday. The organisation’s chief executive, Murray Louw, said the devastation the December 26 tsunami had caused was overwhelming.
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/ 12 January 2005
Charges have been dropped against four journalists who reported that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had commandeered one of the national airline’s aircraft to take him on holiday. On Monday, state prosecutors in the Harare magistrates court agreed to remove the four journalists from remand, said their lawyer, Linda Cook.
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/ 12 January 2005
The Northern Cape will immediately start applying its latest R26-million drought relief scheme, agriculture MEC Tina Joemat-Pettersson said on Wednesday. ”The funds would mainly be used for the purchasing of fodder, fodder transportation and drilling of boreholes to allow commercial and communal farmers to maintain their flock.”