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/ 25 October 2006
A deadly fungal disease linked to climate change is wiping out huge numbers of amphibians in Spain and could push some species to the brink of extinction, researchers said on Wednesday. The infectious illness that has already killed entire populations of frogs in Central and South America has now been spotted in Europe.
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/ 25 October 2006
A hacker who as a teen cracked the encryption on DVDs has found a way to unlock the code that prevents iPod users from playing songs from download music stores other than Apple Computer’s iTunes. Jon Lech Johansen, a 22-year-old Norway native who lives in San Francisco, cracked Apple’s FairPlay copy-protection technology, said Monique Farantzos, managing director at DoubleTwist.
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/ 25 October 2006
Ailing Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang would probably spend the rest of the week in hospital, South African Broadcasting Corporation television news
reported on Tuesday. Although she had shown a remarkable improvement in the past few days, she would probably be discharged only at the end of the week.
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/ 25 October 2006
Japanese tourists feel so let down by Paris shop assistants that they need treatment for a type of depression known as ”Paris Syndrome”. ”There are around 20 cases a year of the syndrome and it has been happening for several years,” said Miyupi Kusama, an administrator at the Japanese embassy in Paris.
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/ 25 October 2006
Niger said on Tuesday it planned to expel 150 000 Arabs, who fled conflict in neighbouring Chad two decades ago, because of tensions with indigenous rural communities in the West African nation. The nomadic Arabs sought refuge in Niger during the 1980s from a series of armed conflicts which shook Chad, as Libyan-backed forces tried to conquer the country.
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/ 25 October 2006
Holidaymakers on the beaches around Sri Lanka’s southern port of Galle seemed unconcerned about the recent Tamil Tiger suicide attack here, but industry professionals are shaking their heads. One day after five Tiger rebel boats tried to shoot their way into a key naval base in Galle, carefree foreigners frolicked in resort swimming pools or sunbathed on the area’s pristine white sands.
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/ 25 October 2006
The naked body of a 23-month-old baby boy was found in Bekkersdal in Westonaria on Tuesday afternoon, West Rand police said. The baby’s penis had been cut off. Captain Paula Terreblanche said Tekano Seleki’s body was found next to a stormwater drain at around 4pm.
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/ 25 October 2006
The South African Police Service has been hit with civil claims totalling R5,3-billion — which is equal to one-quarter of its annual salary bill, media reports said on Wednesday. The amount included R253-million in claims for shooting incidents, R1,67-million for alleged police assaults and R1,9-billion for undisclosed ”police actions”.
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/ 25 October 2006
Sudan is willing to accept a large increase in the number of foreign peacekeepers in Darfur with a stronger mandate to protect civilians, as long as they remain under African Union control, President Omar al-Bashir has told the Guardian.
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/ 25 October 2006
Australia on Wednesday announced plans for the world’s biggest solar power plant under a Aus$500-million ($375-million) radical rethink on climate change. The government said it would contribute Aus$75-million towards a Aus$420-million solar-power concentrator in the first of a series of projects aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.