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/ 23 October 2006
Australians should stop singing and daydreaming in the shower because they are wasting money on hot water, one of the country’s largest power suppliers said on Sunday. Energy Australia has conducted research showing that the average Australian showers for seven minutes, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
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/ 23 October 2006
A police chief in southern England was caught driving his car while using his cellphone, an offence here, by a motorist who followed him, the <i>Times</i> reported on Monday. The motorist followed the chief to his station after the officer cut in front of him while talking on his cellphone.
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/ 23 October 2006
Panamanians have overwhelmingly approved a ,25-billion plan to widen their transcontinental canal, a project that will allow the world’s biggest ships to sail between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. About 80% of the gross domestic product of Panama, with a population of three million, is linked directly or indirectly to canal activity.
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/ 23 October 2006
Sudan is to expel the United Nations’s top official in the country after he reported two military defeats for the government and other embarrassing details in the largely invisible war in the western region of Darfur. This month he reported heavy government casualties, the sacking of several generals and the mobilising of Arab militias.
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/ 23 October 2006
Listed South African fast-food franchise group Famous Brands has reported a 22% increase in headline earnings per share to 51,8 cents for the six months ended August 31 from 42,7 cents for the comparable period last year. Gross revenue for the period increased by 33% to R406,3-million from R304,9-million in the prior period.
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/ 23 October 2006
The Israeli government has admitted that it used controversial phosphorus weapons in its attacks against targets during its month-long war in Lebanon this summer. The chemical can be used in shells, missiles and grenades and causes horrific burning when it comes into contact with human flesh.
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/ 23 October 2006
The biological father of 13-month-old ”Baby David” said on Sunday that he was misled into agreeing to give up his son to American pop diva Madonna, injecting new controversy and confusion into the adoption saga. Yohane Banda said that authorities had not made it clear to him that he was giving up his only son ”for good”.
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/ 23 October 2006
Child-committed sexual offences processed by the state have nearly doubled in the past year, the Star reported on Monday. It said 82 children — some as young as six — are being charged in courts across the country every day for raping or indecently assaulting other children.
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/ 23 October 2006
According to a column by its ”public editor” (aka ombudsman, or official busybody), the New York Times has been asking itself whether it does enough to distinguish between fact and opinion in its pages. A ”newsroom committee on credibility” looked into the matter and decided that what was needed was a ”news/opinion divide committee”.
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/ 23 October 2006
Fashion and decor shops trading in huge quantities of porcupine quills are contributing directly to the imminent extinction of the species, warns an independent report on the trade released this week. Despite the fact that porcupines are listed as a protected species, retail outlets are dealing in hundreds of thousands of quills.