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/ 23 December 2004
People in Hong Kong and Malaysia are the world’s biggest consumers of fast food with six in 10 people eating fast food at least once a week, according to a survey on Thursday. Sixty-one percent of Hong Kong adults and 59% of Malaysians go to a fast-food restaurant once a week or more, compared with just 35% of Americans and 11% of Europeans.
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/ 23 December 2004
A 12-strong group of nationalist Israeli MPs have signed a petition promising to obstruct physically the ”immoral” evacuation of settlers from their homes in the Gaza Strip, Parliament sources said on Thursday. The petition was drawn up by National Religious Party leader Effi Eitam, who quit Ariel Sharon’s government in June.
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/ 23 December 2004
Police on Thursday morning seized every last examination script written by this year’s Mpumalanga matrics as part of an investigation into suspected exam fraud in the province. ”We seized the scripts of all pupils, in all subjects in all schools in the province,” said police spokesperson Superintendent Izak van Zyl.
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/ 23 December 2004
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille opened her personal bank account records to members of the media on Thursday to refute claims by former ID Western Cape leader Lennit Max that she pocketed about R400 000 meant for party coffers. De Lille has rejected Max’s allegations, saying the ID is very open and transparent.
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/ 23 December 2004
The United Nations on Thursday appealed for relief supplies worth -million to support more than 7,2-million Ethiopians affected by drought in the Horn of Africa country. A total of 387 482 tonnes of food worth -million and non-food assistance worth -million is needed for 2005.
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/ 23 December 2004
A giant billboard in Johannesburg is promoting the Homecoming Revolution, a campaign that aims to persuade South Africans who are living abroad to return to their country, and help rebuild it. The initiative has particular resonance at a time of the year when absence does not necessarily make the heart grow fonder.
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/ 23 December 2004
The Somali Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly approved Mohammed Ali Gedi as Prime Minister of the war-shattered Horn of Africa nation, 12 days after it fired him and his government for being in office illegally. ”I thank all MPs for approving me as prime minister,” Gedi said. ”Now, I will form the government after wide consultations with each of you.”
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/ 23 December 2004
At least 20 people were killed in an explosion as they stole fuel from a damaged pipeline in a fishing community near Nigeria’s economic capital, Lagos, police said on Thursday. Fire broke out on Tuesday night in the Ilado community on a pipeline operated by the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
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/ 23 December 2004
Two more young girls have been rescued from being sold for sex, and four people have been arrested, Gauteng police said on Thursday. The girls were lured into a child-prostitution ring after they ran away from an orphanage in Johannesburg, said Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.
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/ 23 December 2004
South African insurance assessors are counting the costs of the damage caused by the pre-Christmas deluge that swept across the drought-ravaged southern Cape on Wednesday, flooding towns, cutting power supplies and washing away roads. Santam said on Thursday that early indications are for a ”catastrophe” rating.