The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Madrid - Spain's new prime minister is fulfilling an election promise to withdraw his country's troops from Iraq, but it's unclear how quickly the soldiers will return. Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced Sunday that Spain's 1,300-strong contingent will be brought home in "as short a time as possible." Zapatero had promised to remove Spanish troops unless military and political operations in Iraq were placed under United Nations control. Nuku'alofa, Tonga - Four fishermen from Tonga had a narrow escape in the Pacific Ocean after fighting off what are thought to be small sharks for more than eight hours. A fifth man was badly bitten and later died. The ordeal began when the fishermen's boat sank in rough seas about 50 kilometres northwest of Tonga. The country is made up of more than 170 islands east of Australia. Beijing - Scientists in China say they have found that cats and foxes can also carry the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), not just civet cats. Studies also show that more than 10 per cent of people working in animal markets in southern China's Guangdong province are carriers of the virus. China's official Xinhua news agency said researchers tested foxes, hedgeshrews and cats collected in Guangdong, the province where SARS first emerged in November 2002.
