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/ 19 December 2004
”When this music plays, we know that our comrades, out in the fog, are marching like automatons; their souls are dead and the music drives them, like the wind drives dead leaves, and takes the place of their wills.” Amid the snow-covered fields of Auschwitz, where more than a million people were killed, an extraordinary ”music memorial” has been arranged to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation.
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/ 19 December 2004
Come to Elephant Pass to witness a rarity: a place where the contradictions of the ”war on terror” have not produced the usual regression. In most of the world the fight against ”international terrorism” has had negative effects. But here in northern Sri Lanka, a group that Britain, the US and other western governments label terrorists administers a huge chunk of land with its own police and courts.
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/ 19 December 2004
”I was pregnant and running away. Three government soldiers caught me and raped me. They beat me and my unborn baby died.” More than a year after the curtain fell on Liberia’s 14-year conflict, no one has been prosecuted for the many wartime cases of rape and sexual abuse, said Amnesty International, calling on the government to swiftly bring criminals to justice and provide more help for the victims.
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/ 19 December 2004
The young woman lying in a hospital bed in Libreville, Gabon’s capital, complained of pains caused by poor blood circulation in her swollen legs. She could hardly walk, she said, because of the cramps which started after she took slimming pills her sister had bought on a city street. She could be considered lucky. Others have suffered much more from drugs bought from informal vendors on the street.
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/ 19 December 2004
When Beatrice, 32, took her husband to court for violence against her and their six-year-old daughter, it meant the breakdown of her family. Her husband was sentenced to three years in prison for beating Beatrice and their daughter, but then her lawyer discovered that he had also raped the girl. Attention to new threats, like sex trafficking, is growing, but is barely acknowledged in policies and laws.
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/ 19 December 2004
Lethal striker Collins Mbesuma steered Kaizer Chiefs to victory when he scored the only goal of the Coca-Cola Cup final, helping them retain the trophy at the Vodacom Park Stadium on Saturday. The goal saw AmaKhosi break the hoodoo against Supersport United, the club who beat them in five of their previous nine games.
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/ 19 December 2004
Leaders Juventus were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw at home to their closest rivals, AC Milan, on Saturday — which kept them four points clear of the defending Serie A champions. Juve barely threatened the 2003 European champions and will feel relieved to have come through their toughest test of the season unscathed.
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/ 19 December 2004
Chelsea moved six points clear at the top of the English Premiership table after cruising to a 4-0 victory over Norwich City on Saturday. Second-placed Everton could only manage a goalless draw away to Blackburn Rovers, who were left just a point above the relegation zone.
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/ 18 December 2004
As latter-day Randlord Roger Kebble prepares finally to enter the dock in his much delayed fraud trial, allegations have emerged of a campaign, conducted by his family and associates, of financially inducing witnesses. Some evidence points to Willem Heath, the former judge who once headed the corruption-busting Special Investigating Unit, having played a less than proper role in the rough-and-tumble that followed Kebble’s arrest in November 2002.
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/ 18 December 2004
A controversial new Kenyan law, passed this month to allow sport hunting and killing of wildlife straying on to private land, has triggered complaints from conservationists, activists and local communities. ”Just a few words of legislation could spell doom for wildlife conservation,” Maasai wildlife activist Godfrey ole Ndopaiya said.