'FORGOTTEN WAR': The independent study called for global support and warned of the dangers of trying to win the war with insufficient military forces and economic aid
Afghanistan risks sliding into a failed state and becoming the "forgotten war" because of deteriorating international support and a growing violent insurgency, an independent study said.

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Hundreds of Afghan women, many wearing burqas, prayed at a rare mass protest in southern Afghanistan, calling on authorities to find a kidnapped US aid worker and urging her captors to release her.

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PEACE ICON: The family of Mohandas Gandhi's eldest son, Harilali, who was estranged from his father, was to scatter his ashes as a gesture of reconciliation
India commemorated the 60th anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi's assassination yesterday with his great granddaughter scattering the peace icon's ashes in the sea off the country's most bustling metropolis.

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South Korea's next government yesterday unveiled a 4 trillion won (US$4.24 billion) program to make all high school graduates fluent in English.

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Shanghai's mayor won a second five-year term yesterday, cementing his political survival after a wide-ranging corruption scandal brought down the city's Chinese Communist Party (CCP) boss.

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DEADLY CRACKDOWN: US envoy Jendayi Frazer said that the violence represented 'clear ethnic cleansing' aimed at chasing out the Kenyan president's Kikuyu people
Kenyan police have been ordered to shoot to kill looters, arsonists, people carrying weapons or people blocking roads, a commander said yesterday, in a bid to stem violence sparked by disputed elections.

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'UP-HELLY-AA': The islanders' community spirit is highlighted by 'Guizer Jarl's squad,' a group of 72 men who head the evening parade dressed as Vikings
One of Britain's most remote communities came together on Tuesday to celebrate its Viking heritage with a spectacular festival of fire and fancy dress.

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The government's decision this week to lift a ban on women wearing head scarves in universities raised a troubling question: Is Islam starting to erode Turkey's secular democracy?

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"It's his ear," a photographer shouted gleefully, reviewing pictures he snapped of a police-escorted van thought to be carrying the alleged rogue trader in the scandal shaking Societe Generale.

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DROPPING OUT: Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was expected to formally exit the race yesterday. Democrat John Edwards told advisors he would follow suit
Senator John McCain won a breakthrough triumph in the Florida primary, seizing the upper hand in the Republican presidential race ahead of next week's coast-to-coast contests and lining up a quick endorsement from soon-to-be dropout Rudy Giuliani.

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Four heavily armed bank robbers freed six hostages and surrendered on Tuesday when police intercepted an ambulance they tried to flee in, ending a tense 29-hour standoff.

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KEEPING CONTROL: In a direct challenge to Palestinian President Abbas and the West, Hamas said it would not be willing to accept a partial role at the Egyptian border
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began crisis talks with Egypt yesterday about restoring order at the breached Gaza border, facing a challenge from his Hamas rivals for control of the frontier.

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A Jewish organization is threatening to go to court to stop a Carnival group from parading in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday with a float that invokes the Holocaust with a mound of mannequins.

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■ JAPAN

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