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/ 18 December 2006
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station readied for a fourth spacewalk on Monday to unstick a jammed solar array in an extra excursion that extended the space shuttle Discovery‘s mission at the orbiting outpost by a day. Astronauts Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang will try to clear snarled guidewires that are preventing the 33m panel from retracting.
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/ 18 December 2006
British Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged on Sunday to support Iraq’s government as it battles instability underscored when gunmen carried out a mass kidnapping at a Red Crescent office in the capital. Just before Blair landed in Baghdad for an unannounced visit, police said 10 to 20 people were seized from the Red Crescent’s Baghdad office but the aid agency said more were snatched.
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/ 18 December 2006
Iranian student activists who staged an angry protest against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week have gone into hiding in fear for their lives after his supporters threatened them with revenge. One student fled after being photographed holding a banner reading, ”Fascist president, the polytechnic is not for you”, during Ahmadinejad’s visit to Tehran’s Amir Kabir university.
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/ 18 December 2006
National off-road motorcycle and quad racing governing bodies, race organisers, sponsors and competitors are rallying to save the image and future of the sport after the final event of the season, the 39th Roof of Africa. Arguably one of the toughest races of its kind in the world, the Roof of Africa 2006 was plagued by poor organisation and a series of logistical and supply failures.
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/ 18 December 2006
It always amazes me how much money people spend on some vehicles. For instance, an SUV that will never see a mudsplat in its lifetime is the vehicle of choice for stay-at-home mums in Jo’burg’s northern suburbs, and they use it primarily for shopping and the school run, writes Sukasha Singh.
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/ 18 December 2006
Feeling very jetlagged after a long trip recently, I discovered that there’s nothing quite like a performance car to start your day. Vroom! A throaty growl from the Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG cabriolet’s supercharged engine said "Wake up, sleepyhead!" in the most arrogant way, writes Sukasha Singh.
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/ 18 December 2006
Perhaps it’s because their mettle was tempered when they bore the brunt of two world wars before the Americans belatedly stepped in help them, or maybe it’s just because they have a sense of humour. Whatever the reason, it’s unsurprising that the Poms were the first to turn adversity into strength and market a brand-new, pre-crashed motorcycle.
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/ 18 December 2006
It’s rare that concept cars are put into production without much being changed in terms of design, but there was such overwhelming support for the Honda Civic hatch concept when it debuted a few years ago that Honda decided to put it into production without changing much of the original concept.
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/ 18 December 2006
Ever wondered what SRS, which is written on most steering wheels and dashboards containing airbags, means? It stands for secondary reaction system, which means that, when all else fails, the airbags are deployed in an attempt to minimise the risk of injury during an accident.
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/ 18 December 2006
France is to withdraw all 200 of its special forces engaged in the United States anti-terror operation in south-eastern Afghanistan, the government announced on Sunday. The elite troops have been under US command near the Pakistani border since 2003 as part of the US operation to hunt down Taliban fighters.