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/ 21 January 2004
A court of appeal in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, has ordered the Nigeria Labour Congress to suspend a proposed strike that had been scheduled to start on Wednesday. It has also ordered authorities to reverse the one cent petrol tax that is at the heart of the labour dispute.
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/ 21 January 2004
The United States-led coalition in Iraq is on the verge of bowing to Shia Muslim pressure for direct elections before the handover of power on June 30. According to British officials, the Blair government has been swayed by Shia arguments and the US is also shifting ground.
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/ 21 January 2004
A resurgent John Kerry hit the hustings in New Hampshire on Tuesday, hoping to deploy his resounding victory in Iowa against a formidable opponent in the retired general Wesley Clark. Kerry took 38% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, staring down the threat of political oblivion to stage a dramatic last-minute comeback.
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/ 21 January 2004
The attempt to find survivors from the Norwegian bulk carrier which capsized in a freak accident in a fjord near Bergen was abandoned on Tuesday. Salvage experts said they had lost hope of pulling anyone else out of the vessel alive. Eighteen of the 30 crew of the MS Rocknes are presumed dead.
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/ 21 January 2004
The Haitian President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is under pressure to resign in the face of violent demonstrations by students and opposition supporters which killed one person and injured several others. His opponents refuse to take part in elections unless he resigns.
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/ 21 January 2004
The fourth World Social Forum in Mumbai, India, comes not a moment too soon. As 2004 begins, conflict and terrorism continue to grab the headlines, while issues of inequality and injustice are not given the urgency they require. This is true even though we know that poverty and social exclusion are at the root of so many of the problems that we have today.
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/ 21 January 2004
African countries are coming under increasing pressure from international seed companies to embrace genetically modified (GM) foods, says South Africa’s anti-GM lobby. The promise that biotechnology may be the panacea for famine has been a convincing selling point on the continent.
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/ 21 January 2004
Over the past decade, a raft of self-help books has promised to furnish women with the ultimate means by which they can find happiness in their relationships. From the supposed modern classic The Rules to last year’s Sex and the Married Girl, these books are most notable for what they don’t talk about — love.
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/ 21 January 2004
South African cricket captain Graeme Smith, having described Lance Klusener as disruptive, said on Tuesday the all-rounder had ”come a long way”. Klusener, having settled out of court with the United Cricket Board and following the injury to Andrew Hall, was drafted into the 14-man South African squad for the first two one-day internationals against the West Indies.
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/ 21 January 2004
England are set to cancel their cricket tour of Zimbabwe ”on moral grounds” according to a front-page article in The Times. A report compiled by a senior England and Wales Cricket Board official formed the basis for the decision, due to be taken at a board meeting next week, to cancel the October-November tour ”on moral rather than security grounds”.