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/ 26 October 2003
France booked their place in the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup in Sydney on Saturday with a record-breaking 51-9 win over Pool B opponents Scotland at the Olympic Stadium. The Six Nations heavyweights confirmed their status as genuine tournament contenders in an awesome five-try performance.
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/ 26 October 2003
Wales fought off Italy’s challenge to claim a quarterfinal spot at the Rugby World Cup with a 27-15 win in Pool D at Canberra Stadium on Saturday. It is the one-time rugby power’s third quarterfinal appearance in five World Cups and their ninth win in 10 encounters against Italy.
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/ 26 October 2003
Left-handed opener Imran Farhat hit an imperious hundred as Pakistan dominated South Africa on the second day of the second and final Test in Pakistan on Saturday. At close the home team reached 237-2, just 41 runs behind South Africa who were dismissed earlier for 278 in their first innings.
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/ 26 October 2003
Redemption arrived for Irish rugby Sunday, four long years and 80 agonising minutes after their most harrowing World Cup defeat. Ireland held on for a thrilling 16-15 victory over Argentina at Adelaide Oval, avenging the loss that knocked them out of the 1999 tournament.
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/ 26 October 2003
Late tries by Iain Balshaw and Phil Vickery spared England the biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history on Sunday as the hotly favoured stars scrambled a 35-22 victory over Samoa in easily the best game yet of the championship. The Samoans led 10-0 early and 16-13 at halftime.
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/ 25 October 2003
A geomagnetic storm spawned by a giant eruption of gas on the sun has reached the Earth’s upper atmosphere, interfering with high-frequency airline communications but causing no major problems so far. Power companies were taking precautions to avoid voltage problems and blackouts.
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/ 25 October 2003
Thousands of residents were evacuated from their homes as a raging wildfire threatened hundreds of homes east of the United States city of Los Angeles on Friday. About 1 400 firefighters were battling to bring the fire under control as it menaced homes and forced the closure of two major freeways.
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/ 25 October 2003
In the late 1980s ambitious peasants in China’s impoverished Henan province established themselves as ”bloodheads” (brokers), selling their blood to officials desperate for money. Whole villages are HIV-positive due to this unregulated blood-selling operation, but authorities are only now starting to take steps.
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/ 25 October 2003
One more person has died and a hand belonging to a three-year-old child has been found near the scene of Friday’s truck accident on the Main Street in Mount Frere near Umtata, Eastern Cape transport officials said on Saturday. A truck travelling from Umtata collided with 12 vehicles, killing 11 and injuring 28.