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/ 12 May 2008

US flies cyclone aid to Burma

The first United States military aid flight landed in Burma on Monday, but relief supplies continued to just dribble into the reclusive state nine days after a cyclone. A C-130 military transport plane left Thailand’s Vietnam war-era U-Tapao airbase carrying 12 700kg of water, mosquito nets and blankets.

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/ 10 May 2008

Burma holds referendum amid cyclone chaos

The military rulers of Burma went ahead with a constitutional referendum on Saturday despite calls from the outside world to postpone it after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis.The plebiscite was postponed by two weeks in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy Delta and the city of Rangoon, but voting went ahead in other parts of the country.

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/ 7 May 2008

UN: One million homeless in Burma

Aid was trickling in on Wednesday for an estimated one million victims of Cyclone Nargis in military-ruled Burma, with the death toll of more than 22 500 expected to mount. France has suggested invoking a United Nations ”responsibility to protect” clause and delivering aid directly to Burma without waiting for approval from the military in Rangoon.

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/ 21 February 2008

US missile hits spy satellite

A missile from a United States navy warship hit a defunct US spy satellite 247km above the Earth in an attempt to blow apart its tank of toxic fuel, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. It was too soon to tell if the fuel tank had been shattered in the operation over the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon said in a statement.

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/ 11 January 2008

Doubts grow over Iranian boat threats

Doubts intensified on Thursday night over the nature of an alleged aggressive confrontation by Iranian patrol boats and American warships in the Persian Gulf on Sunday, after Pentagon officials admitted that they could not confirm that a threat to blow up the US ships had been made directly by the Iranian crews involved in the incident.

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/ 9 January 2008

Iran dismisses US navy video as fake

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accused the United States of fabricating footage claiming to show Iranian speedboats harassing US warships in the Strait of Hormuz, state television reported. ”The footage released by the US Navy are file pictures and the audio has been fabricated,” a source in the naval section of the Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying.

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/ 26 November 2007

Mission for James Bond’s Q: Seek venture capital

In the James Bond novels and films, it fell to technical expert Q to invent the gizmos and cunningly concealed weapons that helped the British spy cheat death and save the world. From a biometric keyboard to blast-proof curtains, the inventions on display in the real world this month came from five technology firms in the final round of the Global Security Challenge.

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/ 19 November 2007

Tragedy unfolds in Bangladesh

Four days after Cyclone Sidr killed more than 2 500 people in Bangladesh, rescuers were struggling to reach isolated areas along the country’s devastated coast and give aid to millions of survivors. ”The tragedy unfolds as we walk through one after another devastated village,” said relief worker Mohammad Selim in Bagerhat, one of the worst-hit areas.

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/ 19 November 2007

Bangladesh storm toll nears 3 000

Nearly four days after Bangladesh’s worst cyclone since 1991 killed at least 2 350 people, rescuers were struggling to reach some devastated areas and officials feared the toll could climb sharply. Media reports and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society chairperson Mohammad Abdur Rob said the death toll had already surpassed 3 000, and was likely to go up.

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/ 17 November 2007

Bangladesh cyclone toll nears 1 100

Military ships and helicopters were trying on Saturday to reach thousands of survivors of a super cyclone that killed nearly 1 100 people and pummelled impoverished Bangladesh with mighty winds and waves. Cyclone Sidr smashed into the country’s southern coastline late on Thursday night with 250km/h winds that whipped up a 5m tidal surge.