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/ 24 February 2005
Online games where players battle fantasy creatures in interactive universes, pitting their skills against thousands of others simultaneously, are changing the internet and reaping huge profits for developers. In five years, since Everquest — now owned by Sony Online Entertainment — was launched in 1999, global sales of all video games have reached ,5-billion, outstripping cinema sales.
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/ 24 February 2005
Pope John Paul II has been hospitalised on Thursday at the Gemelli clinic in Rome suffering a flu relapse, Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. He said the pope suffered a relapse on Wednesday, but was not hospitalised until early on Thursday. ”He has been hospitalised … for specialised treatment and tests,” Navarro-Valls said.
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/ 24 February 2005
Don’t cry for Carly Fiorina. She may have lost her job running Hewlett-Packard, but she’s leaving with a severance package worth at least -million. She’ll probably make lots more money in the future, having become famous as the world’s most powerful businesswoman.
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/ 24 February 2005
A partially sighted man who allegedly bit his guide dog on the head and kicked it has been charged with animal cruelty, Scottish police said on Thursday. An eyewitness reported seeing the 34-year-old bite the Labrador and kick it repeatedly at a shopping mall in Edinburgh on February 8.
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/ 24 February 2005
Somalia’s exiled president and prime minister left Kenya on Thursday on their first visits home since taking the helm of the country’s transitional government last year, officials said. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi left the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in separate planes.
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/ 24 February 2005
The African Union’s Peace and Security Council is to meet to consider further sanctions against the government of Togo, where the military installed Faure Gnassingbe as president to replace his late father. His accession has been deemed a power grab by much of the international community, further isolating the West African state.
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/ 24 February 2005
The suicide of a South Korean movie star who hanged herself after succumbing to depression illustrates a tragic trend in South Korea where more people than ever before are killing themselves. Lee Eun-Joo (24) was found dead inside the walk-in closet of her bedroom in the southern suburbs of Seoul on Tuesday.
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/ 24 February 2005
After a trial and appeal process lasting close to seven years, it would surely not be fair to allow Dr Wouter Basson to be tried afresh, the Constitutional Court heard in Johannesburg on Thursday. Basson’s lawyer was arguing against the state’s application for leave to appeal against issues arising from Basson’s acquittal on a variety of charges in 2002.
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/ 24 February 2005
Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said he could never have made remarks comparing his son with African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) spokesperson Zizi Kodwa, as was reported last week. He was commenting on a South African Press Association article about his return from Zimbabwe.
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/ 24 February 2005
A statement from the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) condemning violence was welcomed by Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour on Wednesday. Popcru can reinforce its commitment to discipline and order, Balfour said, by condemning other criminal acts, often committed in prisons.