Indigenous leaders used the anniversary yesterday of a landmark human rights report on past racist policies to ratchet up pressure on the government to pay compensation to Aborigines who suffered injustice.

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EXCEPTIONS: If couples who lost a legally born first child in the disaster were also raising an illegal second child, they can now legally register the second child
China announced yesterday it was making exceptions to its one-child policy for some families affected by the devastating earthquake two weeks ago.

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MIDTERM TARGETS: A statement issued by leaders said that global gas emissions should peak in the next 10 or 20 years, while pointing a finger at developing countries
Environment chiefs from top industrial countries called yesterday for an agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, declaring that developed nations should take the lead in battling global warming.

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A court in Japan convicted an alleged gangster and sentenced him to death yesterday for the fatal shooting of a popular mayor in a crime that stunned a nation that takes pride in its rigid gun-control laws.

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“I’m not the father,” Mehir Verani exclaims, accusing his virtuous wife Tulsi of having their son with another man.

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Nepal’s Maoists said yesterday they were pouring tens of thousands of members of their feared youth wing into the capital ahead of this week’s anticipated abolition of the monarchy.

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‘FIGHTING WON’T SOLVE PROBLEMS’: South African President Thabo Mbeki spoke out against the violence, describing the attacks as ‘savagery’ and an ‘absolute disgrace’
The death toll from two weeks of anti-immigrant violence in South Africa rose to 50 on Sunday as concerns mounted for an estimated 35,000 people displaced by the backlash.

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The last outsiders to visit the ruins of the once-mighty city of Babylon in Iraq came in tanks and helicopters, leaving a blight on its historic and fragile landscape, archeologists say.

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Norman Finkelstein, the controversial Jewish American academic and fierce critic of Israel, has been deported from the country and banned from the Jewish state for 10 years, it emerged on Sunday.

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Academics at a university in central England say a Muslim student and staffer were detained for nearly a week under British terrorism laws for attempting to print an al-Qaeda manual as part of the student’s dissertation research.

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Supporters of ex-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) of “politicization” of its remit on Sunday amid moves to extradite him on war crimes charges.

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PROLONGED STANDOFF: Gesine Schwan, who narrowly lost to Koehler in 2004, is likely to be nominated by the Social Democrats for the largely ceremonial presidency
Germany’s center-left Social Democrats were expected to nominate a challenger to conservative German President Horst Koehler yesterday, setting the stage for a prolonged political standoff before next year’s general elections.

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SUBSTITUTE: Barack Obama spent much of last week hammering John McCain for opposing a college aid bill for military veterans and linking him to George W. Bush
After days of hammering at Republican rival Senator John McCain, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama struck a conciliatory note and urged unity in service of a greater good in a speech to college graduates.

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KEEPING THE BEAT: The parade caps a full week of attractions, including the Cultural Gay Fair, Gay Day and the International GLS Tourism Forum, officials said
Millions of people waving rainbow flags and wearing lavish carnival costumes paraded in South America’s biggest city on Sunday to celebrate gay pride and demand an end to homophobia and sexism.

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‘Philosopher’: Whether the FARC heads in a new direction could depend on Alfonso Cano, a longtime ideologue who is the designated new leader
Most Colombians can’t remember a time when the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were not a major force to be reckoned with.

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An activist support group for the wives of Cuban political prisoners has written to US Senator Barack Obama, expressing hope his policies toward the communist-run island may help free their loved ones if he wins the US presidential race.

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■ AUSTRALIA
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