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| December 12, 2003 | Friday | Shawwal 17, 1424 |
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Hundreds of Iraqi army recruits quit over pay
BAGHDAD, Dec 11: Hundreds of recruits to the new Iraqi army Washington is building to replace Saddam Hussein’s forces have quit, complaining of bad pay and work conditions, Iraq’s US-led civil... 
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Schroeder warns Poland against blocking move: EU split over new voting system
BERLIN, Dec 11: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder piled fresh pressure on Poland on Thursday to back a new European Union constitution, saying new members should not make their first votes in...
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Khatami praises Western democracy
GENEVA, Dec 11: Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami insisted on Thursday that his country would not make nuclear weapons. He also advised Muslims to embrace Western democracy....
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German court frees Sept 11 suspect
 HAMBURG, Dec 11: In a dramatic legal twist, a German court on Thursday dealt a blow to prosecutors by ordering the immediate release from custody of a Moroccan facing trial over...
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Annan calls for end to abuse of press freedom
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday called for an end to abuses of press freedom worldwide....
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French report recommends ban on headscarf in schools
PARIS, Dec 11: A committee of French experts on Thursday recommended a ban on Muslim headscarves and Jewish skull-cap in schools in order to reaffirm the country’s secular identity, which they...
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Warlords to take over after Arafat: Israeli report
TEL AVIV, Dec 11: Leading Israeli security veterans predict in a report to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Palestinian warlords will take control in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in...
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Pope urges leaders not to ignore Christianity
VATICAN CITY, Dec 11: Pope John Paul made a dramatic eve-of-summit appeal to European Union leaders on Thursday, urging them not to neglect Christian values in the first EU constitution, due...
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UK troops fought war without kit: watchdog
 LONDON, Dec 11: British troops went into battle in Iraq without vital protective equipment because the ministry of defence was unable to deliver kit on time, a government spending watchdog said...
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Lok Sabha in uproar over corruption
NEW DELHI, Dec 11: India’s parliament erupted in uproar on Thursday over two corruption scandals in tribal Chattisgarh state which separately nailed a leader of the opposition and one of the...
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US court bans use of ‘soft money’ in polls
WASHINGTON, Dec 11: A Supreme Court verdict banning the use of unregulated money for campaign financing is being interpreted across the United States as a major move towards reducing money’s influence...
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US to promote reforms in S.Arabia: envoy
RIYADH, Dec 11: The US ambassador-designate to Riyadh, James Oberwetter, on Tuesday promised to encourage democratic reforms and tolerance for other religions in Saudi Arabia....
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Three killed in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV, Dec 11: A bomb apparently placed by criminals exploded in central Tel Aviv midday Thursday, killing three people and injuring 30, officials said....
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New activist network slams growing abuses under Bush
WASHINGTON: Key US civil liberties and social justice groups marked International Human Rights Day on Wednesday by launching a new “US Human Rights Network” dedicated to raising awareness about international human...
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US prefers warfare to delivering order: Instability rising in Afghanistan
GERESHK (Afghanistan): Viewed through a heat-seeking telescope, three blurry silver spots pierce the darkness outside Gereshk in southern Afghanistan, creeping across the desert like slow-motion tracer fire....
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Iraq will take years to fix
BAGHDAD: Donald Rumsfeld, the US Secretary of Defence, is getting around. He has been to Kabul to meet Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai. A few days later, he was in Kirkuk and...
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Contracts in Iraq to encourage ‘support for US actions’
WASHINGTON: The United States has said that its new policy of awarding reconstruction contracts worth $18 billion in Iraq to the countries that supported the war is also meant to increase...
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Make or break for Blair?
LONDON: Tony Blair says his student loans proposals — designed to meet a UK universities funding crisis — are a make or break issue and the outcome is far from sure....
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