CRACKDOWN: A Falun Gong spokesperson said that free speech in Hong Kong is in danger after a court upheld a misdemeanor ruling against 16 of its members
The Falun Gong spiritual group claimed yesterday that 16 followers convicted of causing an obstruction during a protest are being treated unfairly -- after a Hong Kong court failed for a full year to rule on their appeals.

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A day after being freed from prison in a dramatic court ruling, former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim obtained a passport yesterday to travel to Germany for specialized back surgery and tested the waters for a comeback in Malaysian politics.

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Pornography has few defenders among those not busy making money out of it.

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Soaking in a tub of piping-hot spring water is as much a part of Japanese life as karaoke, but unscrupulous innkeepers in some of the country's best-known spa resorts are in hot water of their own after they admitted filling their baths from the hot tap.

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DIPLOMATIC DEMAND: The UN envoy said more than 3,000 troops were urgently needed to stop attacks on civilians in Darfur -- but the US wants a harder line
The UN envoy to Sudan urged the government to accept an international monitoring force with more than 3,000 troops to help prevent escalating militia attacks in the violence-wracked Darfur region.

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This week's suicide attack in southern Israel has sparked a war of words between Israel and Syria and increased pressure to finish the West Bank barrier that many Israelis believe saves lives, regardless of international condemnation. Also Thursday, four Palestinians were killed in a Gaza town in clashes after Israeli forces found a tunnel leading to a Jewish settlement.

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CONFLICTING TAKES: Iran said its facilities comply with IAEA standards, and cannot produce weapons -- but some believe Iran could make one nuclear bomb per year
Iran acknowledged Thursday that it plans to process tonnes of raw uranium, but said the UN nuclear watchdog was informed long ago and accused Washington of sensationalizing the matter.

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CONTROVERSIAL PAST: Clashes broke out in the Baltic state after the government took down a monument honoring Nazi allies in World War II
At least two people were injured in clashes overnight Thursday in Estonia when police removed a controversial war monument commemorating Estonians who fought in the German army in World War II.

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DUBIOUS TRADITION: The capture of a school in North Ossetia may be shocking to most of the world -- but it's nothing new for the troubled area
For centuries, at least as far back as Leo Tolstoy's youth, hostage-takings and kidnappings have been a feared part of life in Chechnya and other parts of Russia's disorderly North Caucasus region.

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`PERILOUS TIMES': US President George W. Bush used his nomination speech to attack his opponent's ideas as the `policies of the past' and promised strong leadership
Even before the balloons had stopped falling, US President George W. Bush hurried back to the campaign trail yesterday to peddle the main message of his Republican convention speech: that he has the steadiest hand to guide the nation in perilous times.

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Residents and tourists in cars, trucks and campers clogged highways Thursday in the biggest evacuation ever ordered in Florida, fleeing inland as mighty Hurricane Frances threatened the state with its second battering in three weeks.

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The latest US Army investigation into the Abu Ghraib scandal is raising new questions about whether the CIA, operating outside military rules, contributed to the breakdown of military discipline at the prison.

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The digital cameras and video recorders popped up whenever there was a commotion at the Republican convention -- and even when there was not.

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A federal court acquitted five men yesterday of being accessories to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people, the deadliest terrorist attack on Argentine soil.

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■ India
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