The International Committee of the Red Cross, in a confidential report about East Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, accuses Israel of a “general disregard” for “its obligations under international humanitarian law — and the law of occupation in particular.”
The committee, which does not accept Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, says Israel is using its rights [...]

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ROME (Reuters) - Who invented the mafia? Italy’s left-leaning government asked on Wednesday, reminding the opposition that not only foreigners commit crimes and seeking to quell growing pressure to get tough on immigration.
With a bus hijacked by three Albanians on Tuesday, a woman killed on the Rome metro by a Romanian woman using an umbrella, [...]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOe5uYFcXzY

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Giles MacDonogh is a bon viveur and a historian of wine and gastronomy, but in this book, pursuing his other consuming interest - German history - he serves a dish to turn the strongest of stomachs. It makes particularly uncomfortable reading for those who compare the disastrous occupation of Iraq unfavourably to the post-war settlement [...]

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Hundreds of African migrants landed on Spain’s Canary Islands on Monday, bringing to at least 800 the number who have landed there since Thursday.
The Spanish Interior Ministry says the immigrants, mostly young men from Gambia, Guinea and Senegal, arrived in five boats.
Last year, more than 30,000 illegal immigrants landed on the islands.
Read [...]

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[But they cannot go into Darfur?-ed]
Nato is considering deploying sea-borne rapid-reaction forces to help private oil firms such as BP, one of its senior officials has announced.
Jamie Shea, director of policy planning in the office of Nato’s secretary-general, said the proposal may mean sending Nato forces to Africa, Asia and the Middle East to protect [...]

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Indian leaders in Brazil have reacted angrily to comments by Pope Benedict that they had been purified by the Roman Catholic church since Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492.

In a speech to bishops at the end of a visit to Brazil on Sunday, Benedict said indigenous people of the Americas had welcomed European [...]

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To get ahead, get an accent. The lilt of Scottish and southern Irish voices are much more attractive than the Queen’s finest English.
In a boost to Gordon Brown and the Scottish and Irish diaspora, new research to find out what accents people like - and dislike - most has found that the English are [...]

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Ministers are to investigate arrangements for erecting mobile phone masts in the light of growing fears that they may cause cancer and other diseases because of “electronic smog”.
They will review the exceptionally favourable rules that allow mobile phone companies to escape normal planning regulations and stop councils from considering the effects of the masts [...]

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In the early hours of 1 January , 17-year-old Andrew Farrugia was waiting near a taxi rank with friends in the NSW rural town of Griffith when he was accosted by two young Aboriginal thugs spoiling for a fight with a white person.
After repeatedly taunting Andrew Farrugia, one of the Aboriginal youths grabbed him by [...]

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