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/ 19 December 2004
Flag down a red and white taxi in Gabon’s capital between now and February and you might get more than you bargained for. Around 300 taxi drivers in Libreville have been drafted into the fight against HIV/Aids and are handing out free condoms to passengers as well as leaflets about the disease and practising safe sex.
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/ 19 December 2004
The introduction of genetically modified (GM) maize to Kenyan farmers is to be delayed, according to the <i>Science and Development Network</i>. The GM maize is now scheduled to make its debut in 2010, following revised safety regulations for the Insect-Resistant Maize for Africa project. The new regulations are focusing greater attention to potential threats that GM maize could pose to the environment.
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/ 19 December 2004
”When this music plays, we know that our comrades, out in the fog, are marching like automatons; their souls are dead and the music drives them, like the wind drives dead leaves, and takes the place of their wills.” Amid the snow-covered fields of Auschwitz, where more than a million people were killed, an extraordinary ”music memorial” has been arranged to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation.
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/ 19 December 2004
Come to Elephant Pass to witness a rarity: a place where the contradictions of the ”war on terror” have not produced the usual regression. In most of the world the fight against ”international terrorism” has had negative effects. But here in northern Sri Lanka, a group that Britain, the US and other western governments label terrorists administers a huge chunk of land with its own police and courts.
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/ 19 December 2004
”I was pregnant and running away. Three government soldiers caught me and raped me. They beat me and my unborn baby died.” More than a year after the curtain fell on Liberia’s 14-year conflict, no one has been prosecuted for the many wartime cases of rape and sexual abuse, said Amnesty International, calling on the government to swiftly bring criminals to justice and provide more help for the victims.
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/ 19 December 2004
The young woman lying in a hospital bed in Libreville, Gabon’s capital, complained of pains caused by poor blood circulation in her swollen legs. She could hardly walk, she said, because of the cramps which started after she took slimming pills her sister had bought on a city street. She could be considered lucky. Others have suffered much more from drugs bought from informal vendors on the street.
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/ 19 December 2004
When Beatrice, 32, took her husband to court for violence against her and their six-year-old daughter, it meant the breakdown of her family. Her husband was sentenced to three years in prison for beating Beatrice and their daughter, but then her lawyer discovered that he had also raped the girl. Attention to new threats, like sex trafficking, is growing, but is barely acknowledged in policies and laws.
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/ 19 December 2004
Lethal striker Collins Mbesuma steered Kaizer Chiefs to victory when he scored the only goal of the Coca-Cola Cup final, helping them retain the trophy at the Vodacom Park Stadium on Saturday. The goal saw AmaKhosi break the hoodoo against Supersport United, the club who beat them in five of their previous nine games.
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/ 19 December 2004
Leaders Juventus were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw at home to their closest rivals, AC Milan, on Saturday — which kept them four points clear of the defending Serie A champions. Juve barely threatened the 2003 European champions and will feel relieved to have come through their toughest test of the season unscathed.
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/ 19 December 2004
Chelsea moved six points clear at the top of the English Premiership table after cruising to a 4-0 victory over Norwich City on Saturday. Second-placed Everton could only manage a goalless draw away to Blackburn Rovers, who were left just a point above the relegation zone.