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/ 6 December 2004
An estimated 100-million paper birds were released on Sunday on the birthday of Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a goodwill gesture by the predominantly Buddhist kingdom towards a mainly Muslim region mired in communal violence.
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/ 6 December 2004
President Gloria Arroyo has banned logging in the Philippines after rampant deforestation was blamed for much of the devastation caused by four recent storms that have left more than 1 300 people dead or missing. Likening illegal loggers to terrorists, drug traffickers and kidnappers, Arroyo called for harsher penalties for anyone convicted of environmental destruction.
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/ 6 December 2004
Two Pretoria advocates who will go on trial next year for allegedly indecently assaulting and soliciting children will not have access to the personal files of two of their alleged victims. The judge said it is clear from affidavits filed by the advocates that the evidence they seek is not concerned with the offences with which they are being charged.
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/ 6 December 2004
The National Treasury discussion paper on retirement-fund reform fails to deal with the "most pressing problem" facing retirement funds in South Africa, namely excessively high taxation, says the official opposition deputy finance spokesperson, Pierre Rabie.
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/ 6 December 2004
Militant youths have seized control of two oil-pumping stations operated by the Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell in southern Nigeria, trapping 75 workers in their quarters, the firm said on Monday. ”About 200 youths occupied two flow stations, Ekulama I and Ekulama II, some time yesterday [Sunday],” a Shell spokesperson said.
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/ 6 December 2004
Media and entertainment group Johnnic Communications (Johncom) disclosed on Monday that it hopes to be in a position soon to announce a new black empowerment stakeholder following the announcement by its controlling shareholder, Johnnic Holdings, that it plans to unbundle its 62,5% stake in Johncom.
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/ 6 December 2004
Rich nations need to do much more to overcome global poverty, Oxfam said on Monday in a report aimed at influencing Britain’s turn at the helm of the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations. In a report, Paying the Price, the development charity said foreign aid budgets now are half what they were in 1960, while poor countries face debt repayments of -million.
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/ 6 December 2004
Half of all e-mails received in Hong Kong are spam and nearly all of it comes from outside the territory, according to a government survey released on Monday. Only five per cent of the unsolicited e-mails come from Hong Kong, while 40% come from Asia and the remainder come mostly from the United States, the study found.
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/ 6 December 2004
The 300-year row between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar enters a new and different phase this week as talks begin with, for the first time, the Gibraltarians also sitting at the negotiating table. Although the meeting is billed as talks about talks, the presence of Gibraltar’s chief minister, Peter Caruana, marks a radical change in the process of deciding what is to be done with the Rock.
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/ 6 December 2004
The ancient city-state of Teotihuacan was long thought a relatively gentle place because its art lacked the glorification of sacrifice and war so common in other Mesoamerican civilisations. Now a team of archaeologists has gone beneath that peaceful appearance and revealed the skeletons in the city’s pyramid.