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/ 11 December 2004
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
A United States soldier is expected to be sentenced on Saturday after being found guilty of murder for shooting to death a severely wounded Iraqi civilian, while the US army pressed its sole supplier of armored Humvees to increase production amid a growing domestic controversy over armour for troops.
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/ 11 December 2004
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
The International Bar Association has accused Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe of conducting a reign of terror and said he should not be allowed to elude international justice. In neighbouring countries, human rights groups protested the Zimbabwe Parliament’s approval of legislation seeking to curb the activities of NGOs there.
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/ 11 December 2004
Cape Town’s water-resource situation remains of crisis proportions, despite the city’s water-restrictions campaign entering its third month. The city will be intensifying measures to ensure that the targeted water savings are achieved through measures including heightened awareness and media campaigns.
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/ 11 December 2004
The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) has unconditionally apologised to President Thabo Mbeki for infringing his dignity and that of his office. ”The breakdown of procedures to protect the confidentiality of donor and medical information is deeply regretted,” the SANBS chairperson said on Friday.
Apology for Mbeki blood slip-up
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/ 11 December 2004
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
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
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.
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/ 11 December 2004
He is most famous for his far-fetched tale of how dinosaurs could be brought to life with DNA from mosquitoes trapped in amber. Now the bestselling author Michael Crichton has written a thriller about ecoterrorism that the critics say is equally fantastic in its refusal to accept that global warming is a clear and present danger.