Blasts kill at least 18 in China
Three explosions rock northern city

The Associated Press
Originally published March 16, 2001, 11:38 AM EST

BEIJING - Three explosions within an hour ripped through separate workers' dormitories in a northern Chinese city today, killing at least 18 people and reducing one building to rubble, state media and fire officials said. ...

The cause of the blasts was under investigation. Explosions, both accidental and deliberate, are common in China. While firearms are strictly controlled, industrial explosives are readily available. ...

Source: http://www.sunspot.net/bal-blast16.story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines

Date: Friday, March 16, 2001
Germany to deploy troops inside borders
by Allan Hall in Berlin

Germany is considering its first deployment of armed troops inside its borders since Adolf Hitler to seal off farms and guard its borders against foot-and-mouth as fears grow that a case confirmed in France could be herald a global epidemic. ...

Source: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=371307&in_review_text_id=316841

Thursday March 15 12:18 PM ET
an Shot Dead As Bulletproof Magic Fails

ACCRA (Reuters) - A Ghanaian man was shot dead by a fellow villager while testing a magic spell designed to make him bulletproof, the official Ghana News Agency reported.

Aleobiga Aberima, 23, and around 15 other men from Lambu village, northeast Ghana, had asked a jujuman, or witchdoctor, to make them invincible to bullets.

After smearing his body with a concoction of herbs every day for two weeks, Aberima volunteered to be shot to check if the spell had worked.

One of the others fetched a rifle and shot Aberima who died instantly from a single bullet.

Angry Lambu residents seized the jujuman and beat him severely until a village elder rescued him, the Wednesday report added.

Tribal clashes are common in Ghana's far north, where people often resort to witchcraft in the hope of becoming invulnerable to bullets, swords and arrows.

Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010315/od/witchdoctor_dc_1.html