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/ 15 September 2004
The gay community is up in arms after police announced that drag queens will not be allowed to participate in this year’s Gay and Lesbian Pride parade. Furthermore, several businesspeople claim they are still owed money from last year’s Pride, and a top advertising agency dropped this year’s Pride publicity campaign due to non-payment.
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/ 15 September 2004
A Canadian inventor has devised the world’s first computer to be controlled by the nose and eyelids, New Scientist reports. The gadget could be a boon for people with disabilities who cannot use the conventional mouse, it says. The nose-steered mouse is called a ”nouse”.
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/ 15 September 2004
Citizens of Chiawelo in Soweto protested on Wednesday against the installation of prepaid water meters, the Anti-Privatisation Forum said. However, Jameel Chand, spokesperson for Johannesburg Water, said the protest was not about the installation of prepaid meters, but about local labourers not being used to do the work.
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/ 15 September 2004
A strong earthquake rocked Indonesia’s famous tourist island of Bali on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring at least two others, officials said. ”People rushed out of their homes, they panicked. The quake was very strong and lasted a long time,” said Budi Sunarso, of Bali’s geophysics agency.
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/ 15 September 2004
Opec oil cartel ministers began formal deliberations on Wednesday amid supply fears in world oil markets that sent prices higher prior to the start of the ministerial session. Oil for October delivery had risen 0,47% prior to the meeting to ,60 per barrel on New York’s Mercantile Exchange.
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/ 15 September 2004
An illiterate sweeper doubles as the only doctor in an eastern Indian village, highlighting the dismal state of health care in rural areas, it was reported on Wednesday. Ganesh Das is a government-appointed sweeper at Ramchandrapur in Diamond Harbour, about 90km from Calcutta city.
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/ 15 September 2004
The value of a British woman’s handbag and its contents is a lot higher than most women — or men — realise, according to a survey by an insurance company published on Wednesday. The survey of 1 700 women found many women were shocked to find the total value of all the items in their handbags.
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/ 15 September 2004
Firefighters in Derbyshire county in central Britain have been banned from playing team sports during work breaks because they keep getting injured. The fire and rescue service said on Wednesday nearly 80 staff have been injured during volleyball and football matches in the yards of firestations over the past four years.
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/ 15 September 2004
Colonel Daouda Malam Wanke, a military commander who ruled for eight months after a 1999 coup in the West African country of Niger, died on Wednesday of cardiovascular trouble, family members said. He was 58. Wanke had been in poor health for years, suffering from high blood pressure.
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/ 15 September 2004
A young Jordanian man is facing jail after donning a veil and joining an all-female wedding party in order to win a bet, the official Petra agency reported on Wednesday. The man, identified only by his first name Salim, wore a black coat and a veil to get into the party, where female guests were dancing and singing.