PIT STOP: The protest ship, carrying the two activists who boarded a Japanese whaling ship last month, sailed into Melbourne to get fuel and more supplies
Police will grill the hardcore activists who docked in Australia yesterday amid pressure from Japan for Canberra to take stronger action over recent anti-whaling protests in icy waters near Antarctica.

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A beer that takes some of the guilt out of drinking, a system to stop would-be car bombers and, yes, even a better mousetrap, are on display as inventors from around the globe gather to revel in thinking outside the box.

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PILING UP: Snow and freezing rain continued to hamper power supplies and snarl transport as people struggled to make their way home for the Lunar New Year holidays
China warned yesterday the worst was not over in its national weather crisis as desperate holiday travelers jammed transport hubs and others endured bitter winter storms without power or water.

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LIABILITY INCIDENTS: China's product safety agency tested ingredients from the same batch as those that left 10 people sick, but said they found nothing amiss
China's product safety agency cast doubt yesterday on claims that a Chinese dumpling maker sickened consumers in Japan, saying tests on its ingredients found none of the insecticide cited by Japanese authorities, a state news agency reported.

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Police raided a suspected militant hide-out in northwestern Pakistan yesterday, triggering a shootout that killed at least two officers and wounded two others, police said.

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A gang of extortionists preying on businessmen has claimed responsibility for bombing a tuna canning factory that killed three people in the southern Philippines, an official said yesterday.

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Three people have been killed and nearly 90,000 forced to evacuate their homes in the Indonesian capital because of heavy floods, officials said yesterday.

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SHAKY ALLIANCE: Germany said it is doing important work in northern Afghanistan and was surprised to receive a 'stern' letter from the US demanding that it do more
Germany on Friday rejected an urgent US call for troops in the battle-ravaged south of Afghanistan, insisting Berlin's focus on reconstruction efforts in the relatively calm north was justified.

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SHACKLED BY WAHABISM: The world body called for Saudi Arabia to take steps to end concepts like male guardianship and endemic violence toward women
Women in Saudi Arabia are the victims of systematic and pervasive discrimination across all aspects of social life, a UN report said on Friday.

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CONFLICT: The French and the US governments told their citizens to move to secure locations, while the UN started evacuating its staff as militants entered N'Djamena
Rebels penetrated the capital of Chad yesterday, clashing with government troops and moving toward the presidential palace after a three-day advance through the central African nation, a French military spokesman and witnesses said.

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Dmitry Medvedev, the man who seems destined to be Russia's next president, came to the heartland of the Cossacks on Friday in an apparent bid by the bookish lawyer to impress Russia's legendary warrior caste.

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The Israeli armed forces, which took the rap in the final report on the failures of the 2006 Lebanon War, need to make big changes ahead of any new conflict, analysts said on Friday.

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DESPERATE: Officials said al-Qaeda had used two women with Down syndrome in Friday's suicide bombings because it was running short of able-bodied volunteers
Militants strapped a pair of mentally retarded women with explosives and blew them up by remote control in two pet bazaars on Friday, killing at least 91 people in the deadliest day since Washington began pouring extra troops into the capital last spring.

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To the sound of blasting samba, men dressed as nuns swilled beer and danced down the cobblestone streets of a Rio hillside on Friday night to kick off five days of uninhibited carnival madness in Brazil.

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Mayra Nieve is used to being ostracized and called names as an albino.

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The songs of the Beatles have always enjoyed a global appeal. Now one of their best-loved recordings is to be beamed into the galaxy in an attempt to introduce the Fab Four's music to alien ears.

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DRUG KINGPIN: Caracas confirmed that the bullet-riddled body discovered on Wednesday belonged to Wilber Varela, head of the Norte Valle Cartel
Colombia's top cocaine lord Wilber Varela, who ran the notorious Norte Valle Cartel and had a US$5 million bounty on his head, was found shot dead in Venezuela, Caracas' narcotics chief said on Friday.

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■ INDIA

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