| 09 February 2004 | Monday | 17 Zilhaj 1424 |
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UN team meets Iraq council
BAGHDAD, Feb 8: Iraq's US-backed Governing Council on Sunday met a UN team that will judge if elections demanded by the Shias can be held before a June 30 deadline for Washington to hand power back to Iraqis. ... 
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First contingent of Japanese troops enters Iraq
NAVISTAR, Feb 8: Japanese ground troops crossed the Kuwaiti border into Iraq on Sunday, launching a historic first deployment of the Self-Defence Forces to a combat zone since World War II. ...
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Prince Charles pays surprise visit to Basra
BASRA, Feb 8: Britain's Prince Charles paid a surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday, strolling around one of Saddam Hussein's old palaces to inspect British troops and share a traditional Arabic coffee with local dignitaries. ...
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Islamic Jihad vows to hit Tel Aviv
GAZA CITY, Feb 8: Islamic Jihad warned on Sunday that it would wreak a bloody revenge for the assassination of one of its military leaders, while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon continued to seek backing for a pullout from the territory. ...
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J. F. Kerry: the man who can undo Bush's jingoism
DAVOS: The two most harrowing parts of any trip to Vietnam, where the war against the United States - even 40 years on - still dominates, are the Cu Chi tunnels north of Saigon and the Mekong Delta. ...
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Bird flu termed twice as deadly as last outbreak
HANOI, Feb 8: Up to 70 per cent of people who have contracted bird flu in the latest Asian outbreak have died from the virus, making it twice as deadly as the last outbreak in 1997, a Hong Kong doctor said on Sunday. ...
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Bird flu may trigger global pandemic
The current outbreak of avian influenza - popularly known as bird flu - in a number of Asian countries is looming as a major international health crisis. It has potentially catastrophic human and economic consequences. ...
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Lanka president calls snap polls on April 2: Third election since 2000
COLOMBO, Feb 8: Sri Lanka's fragile peace bid and reconstruction from war were plunged into uncertainty on Sunday after the president sacked parliament and called elections nearly four years ahead of schedule. ...
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Indian parties warned over use of funds
NEW DELHI, Feb 8: India's new election chief on Sunday warned parties not to use public funds to entice voters ahead of parliamentary polls expected within months in the world's largest democracy. ...
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18 killed in Aceh
BANDA ACEH, Feb 8: Indonesian troops have killed 18 separatist rebels in Aceh province, the military said on Sunday. The 18 Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels were killed in separate gunfights on Saturday, Lt Col Asep Sapari told reporters. ...
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Six Asian states form free trade zone
PHUKET, Feb 8: Six Asian nations led by India and Thailand agreed on Sunday to create a free trade zone encompassing nearly two billion people, but Bangladesh held out over compensation issues. ...
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100 years after war with Russia, Japan rethinks its diplomacy
TOKYO: Exactly 100 years ago, Japan's navy attacked a Russian fleet, unleashing the Russo-Japanese War which ended with the first victory by an Asian nation over European colonialism, and propelled newly-modernized Japan into the ranks of the great powers. ...
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G7 leaders unified on fashion, finance
BOCA RATON: Like the matching G7 ties they wore around their starched collars, the finance chiefs of the world's leading industrial economies demonstrated the sort of unity on Saturday that no one expected. ...
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Amnesty blasts Britain over asylum seeker data
LONDON: Rights group Amnesty International accused Britain on Monday of putting asylum seekers' lives at risk by using out of date and inaccurate information to decide whether they should stay or be sent home. ...
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