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/ 28 December 2005

Kerry Packer ‘knew he was on borrowed time’

The late Australian media mogul Kerry Packer knew he was dying late last week but refused further treatment, newspapers reported on Wednesday. Packer — listed by Forbes magazine this year as the 94th richest man in the world with a -billion fortune — died at his Sydney home on Monday evening at the age of 68.

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/ 28 December 2005

Fraud may be behind fuel shortage

A thorough forensic audit was needed to investigate signs that fraud could have led to the massive fuel shortages of the past few weeks, media reports said on Wednesday. The president of the SA Institute for Corporate Fraud Management, Bart Henderson, said on Tuesday they had already called for the Scorpions to investigate the matter, and the request was apparently under serious consideration.

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/ 28 December 2005

Marines charged with rape in the Philippines

Philippine prosecutors on Tuesday charged four American marines and their local driver with raping a Filipina after an evening drinking in a nightclub near the United States’s former Subic Bay navy base. The marines, who were on leave at the end of joint exercises with their Philippine counterparts at the time, met the woman in the nightclub, the charges state.

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/ 28 December 2005

Israeli air raid on Palestinian base

Israeli warplanes early on Wednesday staged a raid on a Palestinian base in the southern outskirts of Beirut, a military spokesperson said. "This raid is a riposte to the rocket attack against the north of Israel," he declared. "We consider this kind of attack serious." Seven Katyusha rockets were fired at north Israel from southern Lebanon overnight on Wednesday, Lebanese police said.

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/ 27 December 2005

Israeli air raids strike Gaza Strip

Israeli air raids struck buildings and roads in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday with the army poised to implement a security zone in the Palestinian territory intended to thwart militant rocket attacks. Army helicopters fired missiles, heavily damaging offices connected to the ruling Fatah movement and roads in the northern part of the territory.

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/ 27 December 2005

Indian Kashmir casts net to lure fishermen

Fisheries inspector Muntasir Rah beams proudly as he struggles to hold steady a net full of thrashing trout at a hatchery in insurgency-racked Indian Kashmir. And when peace finally returns to the revolt-hit Himalayan region, he hopes anglers from around the world will take the bait and come back to fish for what he calls his "brown beauties".

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/ 27 December 2005

Aceh rebels disband armed wing

Indonesia’s Aceh rebels formally disbanded their armed wing on Tuesday, fulfilling one of the most crucial elements of a tsunami-inspired peace plan to end one of Asia’s longest separatist conflicts. The move paves the way for the group to transform itself into a political party.