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/ 8 September 2004

Of lice and men

A controversy over lice that has had zoologists scratching their heads for almost 250 years has been resolved at last, a report in next Saturday’s New Scientist says. The squabble dates back to 1758, when Carl Linnaeus declared there was one species of human louse, which he boldly baptised Pediculus humanus.

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/ 8 September 2004

Russia warns of terror strikes

Russia warned on Wednesday it could launch pre-emptive strikes on terror bases anywhere in the world and put a bounty on two top Chechen rebels after the broadcast of a chilling video of the school hostage siege. ”We will take steps to liquidate terror bases in any region” in the world, Russian Chief of Staff General Yury Baluyevsky said.

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/ 8 September 2004

Yemen blast kills six

Six people were killed and about 50 injured on Wednesday in an unexplained explosion in north-west Yemen near an area where there have been clashes between the army and followers of a rebel Muslim preacher, witnesses and medical sources said. The blast occurred in a market in Kataf, east of Saada province.

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/ 8 September 2004

Nineteen die in Turkish tunnel fire

A fire that raged through a copper mine in northern Turkey killed 19 workers and injured 17 others on Wednesday. Rescuers were searching the smoke-clogged shafts to make sure that no one was left inside. The fire broke out inside the mine in the town of Kure in Kastamonu province, trapping about 30 workers.

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/ 8 September 2004

World pleads for release of Italian hostages

The European Union, the Arab League, the pope, Muslim and pacifist groups in Italy appealed on Wednesday for the release of two Italian women abducted in Iraq while working for a humanitarian group. Simona Pari and Simona Torretta were kidnapped by an armed commando that stormed into their offices in central Baghdad.

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/ 8 September 2004

Burning wasp sets attic on fire

In a freak chain of events, a burning wasp triggered a fire in the attic of a house in an eastern German town, police reported on Wednesday. Police in the town of Drebach said a roofing worker was set on by a swarm of wasps. To protect himself, he used his blow torch against the insects, setting one of the wasps on fire.

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/ 8 September 2004

Hostage drama in Uganda govt office

Police and army stormed a Ugandan government office where three gunmen had taken a Cabinet minister’s secretary and an unidentified man hostage on Wednesday. An Associated Press photographer heard shooting in the building and saw several bodies being taken out, but could not tell whether the people were injured or dead.