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/ 22 December 2004
The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday threatened to take measures against Sudan, blaming it for the ”serious degradation of the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur and repeated violations of the ceasefire”. The council condemned ceasefire violations and the shooting at an African Union helicopter.
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/ 22 December 2004
A United States man who served nearly 17 years for rape was freed from prison after DNA tests determined he was not responsible for the crime. He said he feels ”numb”. ”Have you ever had novocaine? It’s a lot like that, just from head to toe,” he said. He had been serving a 75-year sentence after his 1988 conviction for sexual assault.
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/ 22 December 2004
Former sociology lecturer James Christie, twisting the words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, once quipped that humans are born free, but are everywhere in chain stores. He might have added that some humans feel like resorting to chain saws — in order to carve a path through the crowds clogging the craw of December shopping malls.
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/ 22 December 2004
A Japanese man kept his 21-year-old girlfriend confined in handcuffs for 11 days in his apartment because he worried she may date other men, police said on Wednesday. Police said he told investigators: ”I was afraid that she may date other men if I left her by herself.”
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/ 22 December 2004
The Department of Health will strengthen efforts to educate consumers and alert them of ”dubious” weight-loss products, the department announced on Wednesday. ”Weight-loss products are of special concern to the department in that to date … there is no existing policy framework for regulation,” a departmental spokesperson said.
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/ 22 December 2004
A poor man in eastern India who fed a flame of hay for more than five decades to mark the 1947 independence of India from the British died in his thatched hut on Tuesday, relatives said. Paduram Mahanta (83) was cremated by one of his sons in their village, Dipila Kamargaon, 75km from Guwahati, the main city of Assam state.
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/ 22 December 2004
The corruption trial of former Central African president Ange Felix Patasse was postponed indefintely on Wednesday at the request of prosecutors. Patasse, in exile in Togo, is charged along with four co-defendants — all of them close aides during his presidency — with stealing 70-billion CFA francs (about R803-million) in public funds.
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/ 22 December 2004
The French press said on Wednesday that the release of journalists Christian Chesnot and George Malbrunot after four months of captivity in Iraq is surrounded by mystery and murky politics. But the sense of joy and relief that swept the country on the news of the release was reflected in bold headlines — ”Free!” and ”At last!”.
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/ 22 December 2004
The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday called the asset forfeiture unit’s reported intention to confiscate vehicles of drivers caught travelling at 30kph over the speed limit ”disproportionate”. ”The possibly unintended consequences of such confiscations should not punish innocent people, the DA said in a statement.
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/ 22 December 2004
Year-on-year consumer inflation less mortgage costs (CPIX) rose to 4,6% last month from 4,2% in October, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on Wednesday. The headline inflation rate for November — the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the historical metropolitan area — was 3,7%.