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/ 11 December 2004

Thieves target giant SpongeBobs

Giant, inflatable advertising figures of SpongeBob SquarePants have become a coveted item among United States thieves and cost a worker her job in a dispute with a Burger King in Florida. The balloon figures, 3m tall, promote the SpongeBob SquarePants film and can be seen atop Burger King restaurants.

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/ 11 December 2004

No boughs of holly in New Zealand halls

No carols about the holly and the ivy will be sung in New Zealand this Christmas if the Conservation Department, the official guardian of the countryside, has its way. Sarah Boyle, a so-called department ”weedbuster” on the east coast of the North Island, said those traditional festive items threaten the environment.

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/ 11 December 2004

What is that smell coming from your PC?

The first pioneering steps have been taken in France to add one of the most emotive of the five senses — the sense of smell — to the already mind-boggling universe of multimedia. Life and art already jostle for our attention through myriad internet sites, DVDs and video games. Soon we may be able to smell the action, too.

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/ 11 December 2004

Living under the shadow of lynch law

Adults tend to ignore the scruffy kerbside shrine. However fast they walk past the drooping flower arrangements, the people of San Juan Ixtayopan admit the consequences of what happened are not so easy to leave behind. It was here that two police officers were murdered three weeks ago, set upon by an enraged mob.

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/ 11 December 2004

Guards call time on hooch pipeline

For years, pipelines from the former Soviet Union have shipped the prosaic necessities of oil and gas to western Europe. But now smugglers have developed their own pipeline network for a more potent fuel — moonshine. Border guards in Lithuania have unearthed a lengthy pipeline that was intended to convey illicit alcohol.

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/ 11 December 2004

Race to rescue volcano islanders

Several thousand people remain stranded without adequate food, water or shelter on a remote south Pacific island following repeated volcanic eruptions, local authorities said on Friday. Five people have already died after drinking ash-contaminated water on Manam in Papua New Guinea.