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/ 4 June 2007

Paris Hilton behind bars

United States hotel heiress and Hollywood socialite Paris Hilton, known for her non-stop partying and high-society romps, has begun serving a 23-day jail sentence for violating her probation, according to prison records. An entry at the Los Angeles County Inmate Information Centre said Hilton (26) had been processed into the jail system and given a booking number.

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/ 2 June 2007

‘Dr Death’ Kevorkian leaves prison

Jack Kevorkian, the United States assisted suicide advocate dubbed ”Dr Death”, stepped free from a Michigan prison on Friday with few words but plans for a media blitz to support his cause. Kevorkian (79) who says he assisted in about 130 deaths, had served eight years for a second-degree murder conviction.

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/ 31 May 2007

Bush unveils new climate-change plan

United States President George Bush said on Thursday he would urge major industrialised nations at a summit next week to join a new global framework for fighting climate change after the Kyoto Protocol lapses. ”The US will work with other nations to establish a new framework on greenhouse-gas emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012,” he said.

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/ 29 May 2007

Bush gets tough with Sudan over Darfur

The United States slapped fresh sanctions on Sudan over the Darfur conflict on Tuesday as it seeks a tough new United Nations Security Council resolution to punish Khartoum. US President George Bush expressed frustration with the Sudanese government over the plight of Darfur civilians.

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/ 29 May 2007

US sanctions spark Darfur controversy

The United States plans to slap fresh sanctions on Sudan over the Darfur conflict on Tuesday and seek a tough new United Nations Security Council resolution punishing Khartoum, top US officials said. China, one of Sudan’s main allies, criticised the sanctions even before they were officially announced by President George Bush.

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/ 29 May 2007

Bush to slap new sanctions on Sudan

The United States will slap fresh sanctions on Sudan over the Darfur conflict on Tuesday and seek a tough new United Nations Security Council resolution punishing Khartoum, top US officials said late on Monday. The Darfur conflict has cost at least 200 000 lives and forced more than two million people from their homes, according to the United Nations.

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/ 27 May 2007

Hollywood icon calls it a day

Paul Newman’s career has included winning an Oscar, establishing a food company to fund charities, and operating a restaurant, but he said this week he is retiring from acting. ”I’m not able to work any more as an actor at the level that I would want to,” the Hollywood star (82) told ABC News.

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/ 26 May 2007

US schools overhaul art of programming

The lesson plan is called ”Artificial Unintelligence”, but it is written more like a comic book than a syllabus for a serious computer-science class. ”Singing, dancing and drawing polygons may be nifty, but any self-respecting evil roboticist needs a few more tricks in the repertoire if they are going to take over the world,” read the day’s instructions.

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/ 25 May 2007

UN and AU agree to mobile, robust force for Darfur

The United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) have agreed on a highly mobile, robust joint force to help protect civilians and restore security to the Darfur region — but Sudan still holds the key to its deployment. The report proposes tripling the number of peacekeepers now in Darfur with an AU-UN ”hybrid” force of at least 23 000 soldiers.

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/ 24 May 2007

Bush warns of heavy bloodshed in Iraq

United States President George Bush on Thursday warned of heavy fighting and bloodshed to come in the next ”critical” weeks and months in Iraq, and told Iran it faces tougher sanctions over its nuclear defiance. In a White House news conference, Bush also said that US forces would pull out of Iraq if asked to do so by the Baghdad government.

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/ 23 May 2007

US lawmakers advance in battling spyware

The United States House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday to combat the criminal use of internet spyware and other scams aimed at stealing personal information from computer users. Spyware, said the Bill’s Democratic sponsor, Representative Zoe Lofgren, ”is one of the biggest threats to consumers on the internet”.

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/ 20 May 2007

A long time ago in a Hollywood era far, far away

A long time ago, in a Hollywood era far, far away, the story of an intergalactic battle between good and evil took the world by storm — and changed the movie industry forever. Thirty years after Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Han Solo were introduced to the world in Star Wars on May 25 1977, the seismic impact of George Lucas’s science-fiction saga is still being felt.

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/ 18 May 2007

New model aims to improve hurricane forecasts

Meteorologists have spent decades improving predictions on where a hurricane could hit — warnings that potentially drive millions of people from their homes. Now, they aim to determine better how powerful those storms actually will be. Forecasters are debuting their new hurricane weather research and forecasting model next month.