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/ 14 December 2004
A white judge who wore blackface make-up, handcuffs and a jail jumpsuit at a Halloween party will be suspended for six months, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The justices voted 5-2 to suspend Judge Timothy Ellender for a year without pay for dishonouring his position, but to defer half of that penalty.
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/ 14 December 2004
Of the seven women claiming to be the mother of twin baby boys found abandoned in a minibus taxi in central Johannesburg, only two have come forward with documentation, the police said on Tuesday. The other five women had contacted police telephonically and had not identified themselves, Constable Sefako Xaba said.
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/ 14 December 2004
African Union mediators worked on Tuesday to break a Sudan rebel boycott of Darfur peace talks, meeting separately with the warring parties at talks thrown into chaos by rebel allegations of a new government offensive. The rebels announced a boycott of peace talks on Monday, alleging a government offensive and saying a return to talks isn’t possible until the government promises to cease attacks.
Murders stop aid work in south Darfur
Govt seeks to extend emergency laws
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/ 14 December 2004
A United Nations team set off on Tuesday for the town of Kanyabayonga in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to investigate two days of fighting there between the DRC army and dissident troops, a UN official said. Kanyabayonga was the scene of clashes on Sunday and Monday between government forces and army rebels.
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/ 14 December 2004
At least 38 people died on Tuesday when two trains collided in northern India, officials said, revising downwards a previous death toll of 50. Rescue workers used gas-powered cutters to reach passengers trapped inside in the trains, and authorities appealed to villagers to donate blood. At least four carriages were badly damaged in the collision.
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/ 14 December 2004
Eastern Cape emergency workers struggled to clear a scene of carnage on Tuesday after a runaway truck ploughed through a taxi rank in the town of Flagstaff, instantly killing four and injuring 10 others, two critically. It appears the articulated truck was speeding through the town centre when it lost control.
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/ 14 December 2004
Responding to a Pretoria High Court judgement on Tuesday awarding limited legal costs to the organisation, the Treatment Action Campaign said the court’s decision sends a ”very strong signal” that the government should ”act in a constitutional manner” and not ignore calls for access to information.
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/ 14 December 2004
Children going to the Al-Amel primary school have to take Baghdad’s airport road, considered the most dangerous in all of Iraq. But that’s just one of the many threats they face in the war-torn city. ”I dream there’s an explosion, a big one. Then I wake up and I’m scared,” said eight-year-old Nour as she sat in a school classroom in southwest Baghdad.
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/ 14 December 2004
The Zimbabwean government will not tolerate foreign interference in next year’s parliamentary elections, the country’s foreign minister, Kembo Mohadi, said on Tuesday. ”The government of Zimbabwe will not allow its people to become gullible victims of hybrid, genetically modified propaganda, affectionately fanned, doctored and synthesised by reactionary forces to discredit our election process,” Mohadi said.
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/ 14 December 2004
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir is seeking to extend a state of emergency for another year because of the conflict in Darfur and security problems in other areas of the country. Beshir has gone to the national assembly to secure a renewal of the emergency laws, which are due to expire on December 31, as well as a six-month extension of Parliament’s term.
Murders stop aid work in south Darfur