ON THIS DAY

AFTER A FOUR MONTH SIEGE DURING THE BOER WAR, ON THIS DAY, THE

20,000 STRONG BRITISH GARRISON IN LADYSMITH WAS RELIEVED IN 1900!

ONE OF THE SOMALIS ESCAPE ROUTES!

Somalis pushed into sea and drown. A boat sailing from Somalia forced all of its 137 passengers into deep waters off the Yemeni coast, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says. More than 30 of the migrants have drowned. Survivors that reached shore on Monday night says dozens more, including children, are missing. Thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians attempt to cross the Gulf of Aden each year, many hoping to reach Europe. Fearing Yemeni coast guards, smugglers often force their passengers overboard.

Trafficking boom town

The smuggling networks target migrants and asylum seekers and an estimated 100 people a day arrive in Yemen between September to March - when sailing conditions are at their best. However, the UNHCR says the risks of the voyage are extremely high, with passengers often paying the ultimate price. "Smugglers torture, rape and shoot their passengers if they complain. It's very dangerous," UNHCR's Peter Kessler told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
Those aboard in this incident were Somalis and Ethiopians, including men, women and children. Bodies have been washed up along the southern coast of Yemen east of Bir Ali. "It is a sign of the fragility of the situation in Somalia and more and more Ethiopians are also opting to escape on this route," Mr Kessler says. "It's clear that the political insecurity, especially after the election in Ethiopia, are driving more people from that country to seek asylum."

UN staff in Aden say they are taking care of the survivors, giving them medical help and food.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

POWER CUTS IN CAPETOWN!

S Africa's power cuts 'political'

President Thabo Mbeki is confident of victory. Power cuts which have caused havoc in Cape Town are the result of sabotage possibly intended to influence South Africa's local polls, a minister says. Minerals and Energy Minister Lindiwe Hendricks said there was a "curious coincidence" with Wednesday's polls. "Clearly other forces are at play here," she told local media.
The opposition has used the power cuts to illustrate what it says is the failure of the ANC government to deliver good services. Cape Town is one of the few parts of South Africa where the ANC does not have an overwhelming majority and could be defeated. Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin also said that the damage at one of the Koeberg nuclear power plant's two generators was deliberate.

SERVICE DELIVERY
Achievements since 1994
1.8m new houses built or being built
70% households electrified
11.4m access to water
Challenges ahead
2.4m families still in shacks
3.2m houses need electricity
3.5m people without water
Source: South African government.

Mbeki on the campaign trail

"Let me be very clear on this. The bolt that caused the generator's destruction did not get there by accident," he said. The generator has not been working properly since December. President Thabo Mbeki acknowledged that the ANC had come in for "very strong criticism" during the campaign - mostly over service delivery and corruption allegations - but said he was confident of victory. There have also been violent protests by people demanding housing and against plans to redraw provincial boundaries. While many people in squatter camps do not have access to running water and mains electricity, such services have been delivered to millions of poor South Africans since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The largest opposition party is the Democratic Alliance but this suffers from charges that it mostly caters for the white minority.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WHAT ABOUT THE RENT MBEKI?

Mbeki woos voters as polls loom.

President Mbeki is making an effort to present a friendly face to voters. This week's municipal elections in South Africa are being seen a test of whether the governing ANC has managed to live up to public expectations. BBC southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles went on the campaign trail with President Thabo Mbeki.

It is rare for ordinary South Africans to get a visit from their president. However, on the election campaign trail, Thabo Mbeki moves effortlessly from house to house through Soshanguve, a township half an hour's drive north of the capital, Pretoria. He wears a t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan "Vote ANC", and stops every few metres to greet, embrace and dance with the residents who have turned out to welcome him. There is no doubting both the warm reception here and the loyal support for the ANC, but there is also frustration and some anger about the government's record on "service delivery". Soshanguve is one township that has seen violent protests of late. Joyce Matjeke, 69, will definitely vote for the ANC in the local elections. "We are not going anywhere else", she insists. But she also wants President Mbeki to hear her concerns about increased rents and rates.

Can you afford the rent?

"I owe 3,000 rand ($500). Where am I going to find that money?" she asks. "The rent has been put up and up. We pay for this and that. Sometimes, I don't know what we're paying for. Please do us a favour. "Think about the rents. The children here don't work. The boys have got no jobs". Making his way down the street, President Mbeki stops to talk to Nathaniel Sibiya, 35. He wants the government to provide young people with more information about jobs and training opportunities. "We are willing to go and help our communities. But we don't know where to go, and who to consult," he tells the president. Mr Mbeki assures him that the government will work on setting up youth information centres. "And I'm going on pension next year, so you will need to take over," jokes the president.

Mr Sibiya says he is reassured by what Mr Mbeki has had to say. "As the president, he knows very well what the country needs at this moment. South Africa needs people who can take this country forward." The no-go area means it's difficult for the ANC to campaign there. But it's that much harder for opposition parties to campaign as well Ebrahim FakirCentre for Policy Studies. Mr Sibiya makes it clear that he too will be voting for the ANC in the municipal elections, and proudly displays the autograph signed on his t-shirt by Thabo Mbeki. During a short break between the house visits, I asked President Mbeki what lessons he has learnt from listening to the views of the people during this election campaign. "The principal thing is that we did not assist local government to get the capacity it needs, given the expectations that are put on the shoulders of local government. "This is where everything happens, whether it's water, electricity or roads. We said local government must deliver on these things, but when you look at the capacity of local councils to do this, many of them can't. "I am sure you will see from the election results that the ANC continues to enjoy the support it has in the past. But people expect 'more and faster'. "I am sure we can deliver 'more and faster', provided we attend to this matter of local government capacity," Mr Mbeki says.

The presidential visit to Soshanguve passed off without a hitch, but to the west of here, the township of Khutsong has become almost a no-go area for the ANC in the past few weeks. Loyalty to the ANC runs deep here, though many are dissatisfied with public servicesResidents have been protesting about government plans to change provincial boundaries - the protests have turned violent on several occasions. "This is proving quite a serious problem for the ANC," says Ebrahim Fakir of the Centre for Policy Studies, a political think-tank. "The ANC has had to send its national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota to the area to calm things down, but it is still a very volatile situation. "The no-go area means it's difficult for the ANC to campaign there. But it's that much harder for opposition parties to campaign as well." Khutsong and other restive areas will be an important barometer. The ANC has promised much - clean water to all households by 2010 and electricity by 2012.

In a country as big as South Africa, that is why these local elections matter more than most.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MY TWO LIVES

The two contrasts in my life.

A rural picture of my life in Scotland.
A very peaceful, safe, cultured and a very
beautiful place to be. Plenty animals of
course, but not the really wild kind.













And here is my life in Africa, where I feel I belong, where my heart and soul is.

But as I am a white African I am really not wanted there, but accepted just for visits.
 

FIRST MULTI VOTE IN UGANDA

Uganda's Museveni attacks rival.

Museveni warned opposition supporters against "causing chaos". Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has accused his defeated opponent in last week's presidential elections of failing to understand democracy. He told the BBC that Dr Kizza Besigye's plan to challenge the result in court was "neither here nor there" as he is not the one who decides. Dr Besigye - once Mr Museveni's doctor - is currently out on bail having been accused of several crimes he denies. UK and US diplomats have urged Dr Besigye's supporters to avoid violence. Mr Museveni again accused Dr Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change party of links to "terrorist groups", which he said they must cut.

ELECTION RESULTS

Yoweri Museveni: 59.28%
Kizza Besigye: 37.36%
With 99% of polling stations reporting
Source: Electoral Commission
Press urges calm

"The FDC does have some links with terrorism and so on. It will be sorted out in time. For us we are patient. We are watching." Dr Besigye, who has been facing treason and rape charges during the campaign, described the result as "outrageous", saying the Electoral Commission's compilation of votes was "illegal" and all part of an "illegitimate process". In the parliamentary elections at least 80 MPs lost their seats, including 17 ministers, the Uganda media reports, but Mr Museveni's National Resistance Movement will still have a huge majority.

New faces in the next parliament will include First Lady Janet Museveni. Earlier, in his first address to the nation since his victory, Mr Museveni thanked Ugandans for rejecting "negative forces". Kampala saw clashes between police and opposition supportersMr Museveni said opposition supporters threatened "to cause havoc" but large deployments of security forces were ready for trouble. He also referred to the protesters who gathered outside FDC offices on Saturday to demonstrate against the result. They were dispersed by riot police using tear gas. "They tried [to cause chaos]. They couldn't. It's too late for that type of game," he said. Mr Museveni - who has been in power for 20 years - won 59% of the vote, the Electoral Commission said on Saturday. Dr Besigye took 37%.

Uganda's first multi-party vote in 25 years was seen as a test of its democratic credentials. The outcome has been broadly endorsed by international monitors, although EU observers noted some problems with the campaign. In their preliminary report, the observers said there was no "level playing field", pointing to Dr Besigye's arrest last year. They also said state-media was biased towards Mr Museveni and his National Resistance Movement. Chief EU observer Max van den Berg recommended Uganda should reinstate a law limiting a president to two terms. Mr Museveni changed the constitution to allow him to contest these polls.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ON THIS DAY

IRAQI TROOPS, ON THIS DAY,

RETREATED FROM KUWAIT,

SIGNALLY THE END OF THE GULF WAR, IN 1991.

CHINA'S ANGER OVER SHOES!

China anger over EU shoe ruling.

China and Vietnam's shoe exports to the EU have surged. China has reacted angrily to a European Union plan to slap anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese-made shoes. Beijing said the measures, due to come into force from April, were groundless and "smacked of protectionism". EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Thursday that punitive duties would be imposed on leather footwear imported from China and Vietnam. The EU said it had found evidence that suppliers from both countries were dumping footwear on EU markets. The duties, which are due be introduced between 7 April and 15 September, will be up to 19.4% for imports of Chinese-made shoes and 16.8% for shoes made in Vietnam. China denied allegations that it was dumping shoes, adding that the EU duties would be a breach of global free trade principles.
"This smacks of protectionism and is completely out of line with the overall trend of free trade represented by the (World Trade Organization) Doha Round," Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Chong Quan said. Mr Chong said China's leather shoe industry was one of the country's most market-orientated, with 98% of the sector owned by private firms. "It's well known that shoemaking is a labour-intensive industry, and China, with its low labour costs, has a comparative advantage in this industry," he said.
Mr Mandelson said on Thursday that the EU measures were designed to deal with "disguised subsidies" and "state-supported dumping". "We are not targeting China and Vietnam's natural advantages, we are targeting anti-competitive behaviour," Mr Mandelson said. Imports of Chinese leather shoes into Europe rose by 320% in the year to March 2005, while those from Vietnam gained by 700%, an EU official said earlier in the week. China's trade relations with key Western partners have become increasingly strained recently.

US trade representative Rob Portman said earlier this month that the US was readjusting its view towards the Asian economic powerhouse. He announced the setting up a task force to monitor China's trade policies. Critics in Washington have accused Beijing of engaging in unfair trade practices. China responded by warning that the possible threat of US trade sanctions would damage both countries.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON LIFE IN SOMALIA NOW!

Life in Somalia:
Personal stories.
Eight residents of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, tell us what the new government's priorities should be and how they have survived 13 years of anarchy.

Mahamut:Scrap metal worker
"I smash the foundations of the US embassy wall to get steel rods to sell"

Nimo:Khat dealer
"The government should regulate khat - it's bad. I wish I had another job"

Abdullahi:Cattle-herder
"We were chased off our land by a group who had more weapons than us"

Abdi:Refugee
"I see a dark future for my children. There are no schools or health services"

Abdidir:Bus driver
"We can accept President Yusuf even though he is from northern Somalia"

Bashir:Gunman
"The gun rules Somalia today - my gun is how I support my family"

Halima:Refugee
"I am too busy looking for food to think about the peace process"

Idi:Singer
"Only members of the armed clans can have big parties for their weddings"

BBC NEWS REPORT.

A TIMELINE OF MEXICO - KEY EVENTS.

Timeline: Mexico.
A chronology of key events:

1910 - Beginning of Epic Revolution, triggered by unrest amongst peasants and urban workers, who are led by Emiliano Zapata.
Emiliano Zapata: Revolutionary was killed in an ambush in 1919

2001: In the footsteps of Zapata

1911 - Mexico's dictator, Porfirio Diaz, is overthrown. The new president is Francisco Madero, a liberal. Madero introduces land reform and labour legislation. Political unrest continues with Zapata leading a peasant revolt in the south.
1913 - Madero is assassinated. Victoriano Huerta seizes power.
1914 - Huerta resigns. He is viewed with suspicion by the United States for his alleged pro-German sympathies. Huerta is succeeded by Venustiano Carranza.
1916 - US forces cross the border in pursuit of the guerrilla leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa.
1917 - US forces withdraw, having failed to kill Villa. A new constitution is adopted, which is designed to ensure permanent democracy in Mexico.
1920 - Carranza is murdered. Civil war follows.
The PRI
1929 - The National Revolutionary Party is formed. In 1946 it is re-named the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
1934 - President Lazaro Cardenas begins programme of oil nationalisation, land reform and industrial expansion.
1940 - Leon Trotsky murdered in Mexico.
Mexico City's Torre Mayor, Latin America's tallest building
City founded by Aztecs in 14th century
1519: Spaniards led by Hernan Cortes arrive
Population (metro area): approx 20 million

2005: Mexico's sinking city

1942 - Mexico declares war on Japan and Germany.
1960s - Unrest amongst peasants and labourers over unequal wealth distribution is suppressed. 1968 - Student demonstration in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, during the Olympic Games is fired upon by Mexican security forces. Hundreds of protestors are killed or wounded. The extent of the violence shocks the country.
1976 - Huge oil reserves discovered in southern state of Chiapas.
1985 - Earthquake in Mexico City kills thousands and makes many more homeless.
1993 - Mexican parliament ratifies the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the US and Canada.
Chiapas rebellion
1994 - A guerrilla rebellion in Chiapas by the Zapatista National Liberation Army is brutally suppressed by government troops. The rebels oppose NAFTA and want greater recognition for Indian rights. The government recognises the Zapatista National Liberation Front (EZLN).
1994 August - Presidential elections won by PRI candidate Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, after the previous candidate, Luis Donaldo Colosio, was murdered. The stock market plunges in December, the peso loses a third of its value.
1995 - Former President Carlos Salinas goes into exile after his brother Raul Salinas is connected with Colosio's murder.

2003: In pictures - Mexico's Zapatistas
Profile: Zapatistas' mysterious leader
2001: Zapatistas address congress

1995 November - The government and the EZLN reach an agreement on greater autonomy for the indigenous Mayans of Chiapas.
1996 - The insurgency in the south escalates as the leftist Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) attacks government troops.
1997 - The PRI suffers heavy losses in elections and loses its overall majority in the lower house of parliament for the first time since 1929.
1997 December - 45 Indians killed by paramilitary gunmen in a Chiapas village. The incident causes an international outcry, President Zedillo starts an investigation.
1998 January - Governor of Chiapas resigns. Peace talks with the rebels are reactivated, but break down at the end of the year.
Fox election victory
2000 July - Vicente Fox of the opposition Alliance for Change wins presidential elections, the first opposition candidate ever to do so. Parliamentary elections see the Alliance for Change emerge as the strongest party, beating the PRI by just over 1%. Vicente Fox: First opposition president, said to have a cowboy image.

2003: BBC Talking Point - Interview with President Fox
2003: Fox at signing of UN anti-graft pact

2000 December - Vicente Fox is sworn in as president.
2001 March - Zapatista guerrillas, led by Subcomandante Marcos, stage their 'Zapatour', a march from Chiapas to Mexico City to highlight their demands.
2001 April - Parliament passes a bill increasing the rights of indigenous people. A few days later, Subcomandante Marcos rejects the bill, saying it leaves the Indian population worse off than before. Marcos says the uprising in Chiapas will continue.
2001 November - President Fox appoints a prosecutor to investigate the disappearance of left-wing activists during the 1970s and 1980s.
2002 March - Roberto Madrazo wins the contest to lead the PRI, which governed for 71 years until 2000.
2002 June - Millions of secret security files are released, shedding light on the torture and killing by security forces of hundreds of political activists in the 1960s and 1970s. President Fox says his government is not afraid to pursue prosecutions.
2002 July - Former president Luis Echeverria is questioned about massacres of student protesters in 1968, when he was interior minister, and in 1971 when he was president.
Many would-be migrants are intercepted at the US border.

2004: Mexican migrants' growing influence
2005: Mexico's tips to enter US safely

2002 September - Three army officers are charged with first-degree murder over the killings of 134 leftists in the 1970s.
2003 September - World trade talks in the Atlantic resort of Cancun collapse after four days of wrangling between rich and poor countries over farm subsidies.
2004 January - Federal-level investigation ordered into unsolved murders of more than 250 women over 10 years in border city of Ciudad Juarez.
2004 July - Investigator deems 1971 shooting of student protesters by government forces to have been genocide; judge refuses to order arrest of former President Luis Echeverria on charges that he ordered attack.
2005 January - Six prison officers are murdered and Mexico's top-security jails are put on high alert amid escalating tension between the authorities and drug gangs.
2005 April - Political furore as Mexico City mayor and presidential favourite Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is stripped of his immunity from prosecution by Congress in a land expropriation dispute. The government eventually abandons the prosecution.
2005 October - At least six people killed when Hurricane Wilma hits Yucatan peninsula, causing severe floods and damage to buildings.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ON THIS DAY

SAMUEL COLT, ON THIS DAY, WAS GRANTED A
PATENT FOR HIS REVOLVER FIREARM IN 1836,

THE RIO CARNAVAL HAS STARTED!

Rei Momo opens Brazilian carnival.

Watch the carnival

One of the world's biggest carnival celebrations has officially started in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Amid beating Samba drums, Mayor Cesar Maia handed over the keys to the city to the Carnival King or Rei Momo. The government is promoting safe sex during the next five days of revelling and is distributing 25m free condoms. On Thursday, a gang caused panic by firing at random in a middle-class Rio district in retaliation for the death of its leader in a fight with police.

While better known for partying and reckless abandon, this year's carnival is being used to push anti-Aids and healthy eating campaigns. "May a condom be your main Carnival costume," said Alex de Oliveira, 33, an architect when not the Carnival king. Mr de Oliveira has had to shed some excess weight to comply with the mayor's anti-obesity campaign.

Some 11,000 police officers will be on patrol in the coastal city, which has one of the world's highest murder rates. Up to 700,000 tourists, 20% from abroad, are expected to visit Rio during the annual festival. Many will pack the Sambadrome, a 700-metre (2,300-feet) avenue where the top Samba groups will parade on Sunday and Monday.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ATTEMPTED COUP IN THE PHILIPPINES!

Emergency declared in Philippines.

Army roadblocks have been set up throughout Manila. Philippines President Gloria Arroyo has declared a state of emergency, after the army said it had prevented a coup. She said was taking the action "because of the clear threat to the nation". A top general is being held, suspected of planning to use rallies marking 20 years since the fall of President Ferdinand Marcos to launch a coup. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Manila on Friday in breach of the emergency order, but were beaten back by riot police using water cannon. Coup rumours have grown ahead of Saturday's 20th anniversary of the popular revolt which ousted Marcos. Mrs Arroyo's decision prompted street clashes between riot police and people banned from rallying at a shrine commemorating the 1986 uprising. Police beat protesters with truncheons and used water cannon to disperse the 5,000-strong crowd. Earlier, some 3,000 people gathered in a largely peaceful protest.

Profile: Gloria Arroyo
Philippines: Have your say

Schools around the country were also shut, checkpoints erected around the capital, Manila, and soldiers were sent to strengthen security around the presidential palace. The BBC's Sarah Toms in Manila says coup rumours are common in the Philippines, which has seen a dozen attempts to overthrow the government in the past 20 years. Two of Mrs Arroyo's predecessors, Marcos and Joseph Estrada, were ousted in public revolts. But the scale of protests on Friday was much smaller than in previous "people power" revolts, where hundreds of thousands took to the streets to undermine Mrs Arroyo's predecessors, our correspondent adds.

The head of the army's elite Scout Rangers regiment, Brig Gen Danilo Lim, has been accused of heading the plot. In 1989 he was arrested over an attempted coup against then-President Corazon Aquino, who succeeded Marcos. The army said he was planning to lead troops to Friday's protest, to tell demonstrators that they were withdrawing support from the president, hoping this would spark an uprising.

President Arroyo has survived attempted coups beforeHe is now under arrest and at least eight to 10 other people - including the commanders of an elite marine unit and a special police squad - are reportedly being sought for questioning. Army chief of staff Gen Generoso Senga said the government had the full support of the military. "We have reduced the threat," the Associated Press news agency quotes Gen Senga as saying. "We cannot say it has been stopped." Announcing the state of emergency, Mrs Arroyo said on Friday that she had authorised the military and police "to take ample measures". "This is my warning to those who are attempting anything against the government," she added. The conspiracy by "totalitarian forces of both the extreme left and extreme right" constituted "a clear and present danger to the safety and the integrity of the Philippine state and of the Filipino people," she said.

Emergency rule allows arrests without warrants and extended detention without charge. Analysts say it is a very sensitive issue in the Philippines, where martial law was in force for nine years under President Marcos. Both the Philippine stock market and the national currency, the peso, plunged at the news of the emergency declaration. Over the past few months, Mrs Arroyo has faced a mounting crisis because of allegations of vote rigging and corruption. She survived an impeachment attempt in September 2005 and an army mutiny, involving some 300 soldiers, in July 2003.

BBC NEW REPORT.

RAMBLINGS

EVEN IF THERE IS NOTHING TO LAUGH ABOUT,

LAUGH ON CREDIT!

RACISM IN RUSSIA!

Living with race hate in Russia.
By Patrick Jackson BBC News website, Moscow.

Juldas Okie Etoumbi, a postgraduate international relations student at Moscow's RUDN university, remembers well his first encounter with a Russian. Gabriel Kotchofa says the number of prosecutions is minute.Standing in a Moscow Metro carriage for the first time, the young Gabonese man was thrown forward when the train started with a jolt and he grabbed a pole to keep his balance, brushing the Russian man's hand. Without a word, the Russian withdrew his hand, produced a handkerchief and proceeded to wipe it demonstratively in front of the other passengers.
Christian, a former electrical engineering student from Cameroon now working in Moscow, was recently assaulted by a group of about 10 teenagers on a Metro train in the city centre. Struck by a bottle on the head, he fell in a pool of blood. The driver kept the carriage doors shut at the next station and police caught three of the gang, but Christian thinks no action was taken. He hit me and I tried to hit him back, but another one struck me from behind - Mukhtar Ahmed Osman
Somali blood on the snow

When Somali civil engineering student Mukhtar Ahmed Osman was beaten unconscious in the snow by a gang of teenagers in a Moscow suburb, nobody came to his aid. Such violence has turned murderous in recent years. In St Petersburg, three Africans have been killed in suspected race attacks since September. Non-African foreign students have also been murdered, but it is the black students who attract most attention from the racists. Juldas, now leader of the African students at RUDN, says "monkey" insults and actual assaults are so frequent that students have ceased reporting them. "We see it as normal now because that's how we live."

Gabriel Anicet Kotchofa, head of the Foreign Students' Association in Russia, offers fellow Africans considering an education in Russia two pieces of advice: "Consider your personal safety" and "Make sure your parents can pay your living costs". Such considerations did not exist when he arrived in Moscow a quarter of a century ago from Benin. No Soviet citizen, he recalls, would have dared raise their hand against a foreigner, and the USSR bore all the costs of its student "guests" from the developing world. Benin was then "building communism", he says, and an education in the Soviet Bloc was a vital chance for poor students without the connections to net a French grant, for instance. After the USSR collapsed, Russia paid no grants to foreign students for five years. A fraction of the system was restored in 1997, and today the number of foreign students in Russia from outside the ex-USSR is barely half the 1991 figure. Some 1,000 African students from 43 states now study at RUDN, Moscow's purpose-built university for foreign students.
Communism may have gone, but the quality of Russian education is apparently still high. "If you are prepared to study, you can get an education here you would not get even in the West," says Juldas. As a professor at Moscow's Gubkin Oil and Gas University, training cadres for such giants of the market-driven economy as Gazprom and Lukoil, Mr Kotchofa is very much at home in the new Russia but is bitter about some post-Soviet "liberties".
One thing democracy brought Russia was the freedom to insult and attack people and be sure of not being punished," he says. He can, he adds, count on his fingers the number of criminals punished for hate crimes and "even the murders are immediately treated as cases of hooliganism". "Because nobody is arrested, it has become pointless to complain to the police."
What worries him especially is that organised groups appear to be inciting the violence with impunity, with slogans like "Russia for the Russians". RUDN students attending faculties off the campus, which has its own police station and security guards, have found the three days around Hitler's birthday in April particularly stressful, with neo-Nazis often turning up to taunt them with Hitler salutes and abuse.
Inna Svyatenko, chairwoman of Moscow City Council's Security Commission, accepts that Moscow has a problem with "groups of hooligans who have in common only a taste for public disorder", and that Africans are particularly at risk. Better protection for foreign students is being discussed, she says, along with the idea of a new city police force to specifically protect foreigners. Student leaders report that the worst of the racist violence is now in the provinces, but believe this is largely because of new anti-terrorism measures in the capital. Ms Svyatenko attributes some of the problem to a common misconception that foreign students are taking college places away from Russians.

RUSSIA'S FOREIGN STUDENTS
Total about 103,000, including 43,000 from other ex-Soviet states
About 15,000 are African
Some 15,000 former students are staying on illegally, including about 5,000 Africans
sSource: Foreign Students' Association in Russia

Some suggest violence against foreigners may also be a sublimation of aggression towards Caucasian ethnic groups such as Chechens and Azerbaijanis, regarded as harder targets. Moscow sociologist Nikolai Fyodorov sees a deep-rooted psychological need for an "enemy figure" dating back to the Cold War. And he says irresponsible Russian journalism adds to the dangerous mix, with television crime reports regularly identifying the ethnic background of suspects. A decade ago, when foreign students were struggling to survive without Russian state funding, African student drug dealers were in the spotlight. "Back then Africans were in a desperate social situation, and when a person needs money that badly they may agree to do anything," says Juldas.

Even today, one in 10 Africans at RUDN has to live on a daily budget of 15 roubles ($0.50, £0.30), the price of a loaf and two eggs or a single ticket on the Metro. But speaking as a student rep, Juldas says the drug problem appears to have all but disappeared, and new students are warned about the dangers of being recruited by dealers. "Sadly, however, the stereotype of the drug dealer in the media here is the black student," he adds.
Some students have simply abandoned their studies and left. The Foreign Students' Association knows of Vietnamese, South Koreans and Africans who "went home in fear of their lives". But some have reacted by challenging racial stereotypes through an educational programme. With the support of Nashi, a youth movement set up by supporters of President Vladimir Putin, and funding from African embassies, 20 groups of black students have been visiting Moscow schools since September to explain about African culture. "We give free classes on subjects like daily life in Africa, or African weddings, and the schoolchildren are very receptive," says Juldas. "We get letters from schools to come and see them. It is fun for us and it teaches people about our culture. This should influence the mentality of the young."
Many believe that the existence of unique institutions like RUDN is a cause worth defending. "For a prospective diplomat, what other university brings together 132 countries?" asks Juldas. "We have students here from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti - countries with territorial conflicts. But when students come to RUDN, they form a single homeland. It is like a mini-United Nations. Such an experience is priceless."

BBC NEW REPORT.

NIGERIA'S OIL WARS!

Nigeria's shadowy oil rebels.

Delta residents want to share in the region's oil wealth. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has threatened "total war" in Nigeria's main oil-producing region and is behind the recent kidnapping of oil workers is a shadowy group, about which little is known. The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar managed to meet one of the group's leaders, who used the alias Major-General Godswill Tamuno. But he refused to be interviewed on tape or for his location to be disclosed.

Our correspondent says the "general" was not visibly armed and you could easily walk past him in the streets without noticing him. Mend's leaders like to be faceless, our reporter says, and they usually send statements to the media via e-mail. Yet their threats and attacks on oil installations in the region have caused a 15% cut in Nigeria's oil output and a surge in world oil prices. Mr Tamuno told our reporter that Mend was fighting for "total control" of the Niger Delta's oil wealth, saying local people had not gained from the riches under the ground and the region's creeks and swamps. He said the Delta had been exploited for the benefit of other parts of Nigeria and foreign companies and ordered all oil companies and Nigerians whose roots lie elsewhere to leave the region.

Nigeria's oil hope and despair

This argument has been made by several other militant groups who have staged attacks in the Niger Delta in recent years. Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil exporters and yet most Delta residents live in poverty. There are few major roads in the area and even fewer decent hospitals. The group enjoys considerable local support and it is difficult to pinpoint exactly who is a member, our reporter says. But unlike at least one other group, Mend has not specifically called for the Niger Delta to secede from Nigeria.

This was one of the demands of Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, the leader of another militant group which said it was standing up for the rights of the Niger Delta's biggest community, the Ijaws. Last year, his threats of open warfare against foreign oil companies caused similar turbulence on the world markets.

In pictures: Fighting for oil

He was invited to the capital, Abuja for a meeting with President Olusegun Obasanjo. He operated quite openly and after talking about independence once too often, he was arrested and is in custody, awaiting charges of treason. Another Mend demand has been for the release of Mr Asari but they insist they are a separate organisation. However, Mr Asari's Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force has gone quiet recently and it is quite likely that at least some of his supporters are behind the new group. While Mend and the other militant groups claim to be standing up for Delta residents, some locals say they are just oil thieves. The region is home to a huge industry of stealing oil and selling it on the black market. This trade is believed to fund the purchase of weapons.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ON THIS DAY

IT WAS ANNOUCED , ON THIS DAY, THAT DOLLY,

THE FIRST WORLD'S CLONED SHEEP HAS BEEN BORN IN 1997 !

CALM IS CALLED FOR IN IRAQ!

Dozens die amid Iraqi shrine fury.

Many Sunni mosques have been vandalised in Baghdad. More than 100 people have been killed in Iraq in the aftermath of a bomb attack on a key Shia Muslim shrine. Fifty bullet-riddled bodies were found in Baghdad overnight and 47 factory workers were killed at a roadblock on the outskirts of the capital. Iraq's leaders are warning about the dangers of a civil war, amid anger over the bombing of the shrine in Samarra. Sunni Arab politicians have suspended coalition talks in protest at reprisals against dozens of their mosques. "We are facing a major conspiracy that is targeting Iraq's unity," President Jalal Talabani said.

I hope both sides acknowledge that whoever executed this act of religious terrorism is seeking only to fan the flames of hatred - Chris, Glasgow.

Shrine blast: Have your say
Analysis: Civil war nightmare
Samarra: Pilgrimage centre

"We should all stand hand in hand to prevent the danger of a civil war."

The 47 factory workers were killed at a roadblock in Nahrawan, on the outskirts of Baghdad. The victims, aged between 20 and 50, had been travelling home from work in a convoy of buses. At the checkpoint, they were forced out of their vehicles and shot dead. It is not clear whether the murders are linked to the attack on the shrine or whether they are part of the general insurgency. However, the government has cancelled all police and army leave and extended the curfew in Baghdad to deal with the violence. The attack on the al-Askari shrine takes the danger of a civil conflict to a new level, which will be seen as a direct assault on the identity and rights of an entire community, the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen says.

A civil war would destroy the chances of the elected Shia-led government which is still being formed following December's election, and could lead to the break-up of the country, he says. In other developments: A prominent Arab TV reporter and two of her crew are killed in Samarra, where they had gone to cover the attack Gunmen kill one person in a Sunni mosque in the town of Baquba, where a bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol kills 12 people At least 11 people are killed after gunmen masquerading as police abducted them from a jail in the southern city of Basra.

Atwar Bahjat was a well-known face on Arabic television. The journalists killed in Samarra worked for the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV. Correspondent Atwar Bahjat's body was among the three found early on Thursday about 15km (10 miles) north of the city. The journalists had gone to Samarra to report on Wednesday's bombing, which destroyed the 100-year-old golden dome of the shrine. Protesters in several cities took to the streets following the bombing, some shouting anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans. "Death to America which brought us terrorism," they chanted in Samarra.

Iraqi political and religious leaders have called for calm. But a spokesman for Iraq's top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said the anger may be hard to contain. "You wouldn't expect an abrupt or sudden calm, because there are some people whose reaction you can't control," London-based spokesman Fadel Bahar al-Eloum told the BBC.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUGABE!

Mugabe 'feels 28' as he turns 82.

Mugabe is planning a huge party on Saturday. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe turns 82, saying he still feels like a 28-year-old. Mr Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, and his current term in office is due to end in 2008. In a hint that he might then stand down, Mr Mugabe said his Zanu-PF party was capable of choosing his successor. The official birthday celebration will be a party for thousands of youths in the eastern city of Mutare on Saturday.

"The other day they said in Singapore my bones were not exactly of a boy of 26 but they said certainly of someone 30," Mr Mugabe said in an interview broadcast on state television. "I feel like a 28-year-old." The president said Zanu-PF was "capable of electing a successor as long as aspirants campaign properly and people rely on leaders who come through [the party congress," the official Herald newspaper reported. "There is time to campaign, but campaign at the right time and not become divisive and over-ambitious, with secret meetings taking place and denouncing and denigrating others and so on," Mr Mugabe said.

Several top Zanu-PF officials were suspended last year as factions formed around rivals to succeed Mr Mugabe. The Herald described Mr Mugabe as "the greatest hero ever to grace Zimbabwe and Africa", and published a 16-page supplement of birthday messages. "May your visionary selflessness, dedication and shrewd acumen continue to inspire us towards land utilisation for maximum productivity, food security and enhancement of the quality of life for farmers," said the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, which mainly represents small-scale black farmers.

Mr Mugabe's critics say his land reform programme has ruined Zimbabwe's economy. Food, fuel and foreign currency are all in desperately short supply, and last month inflation topped 600%.
His supporters blame the economic decline on Western sanctions.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ADVICE ON BIRD FLU

Bird flu: Country preparations.
The spread of bird flu has forced countries around the world to look at how they would tackle an outbreak.
Many have also developed plans to protect against the possibility that the virus will start to spread between humans.
The World Health Organization recommends countries should stockpile enough anti-viral drugs to cope with a pandemic, which it estimates would affect 25% of the population, but warns that developing countries in particular are likely to fall well short.
Click to see WHO advice to countries

BBC NEWS REPORT

ON THIS DAY

NATHANIEL GORDON, ON THIS DAY, BECAME THE ONLY

AMERICAN TO BE EXECUTED FOR SLAVE TRADING, IN 1862!

POWER STRUGGLE IN SOMALI CONTINUES!

Somali warlords battle Islamists.

Mogadishu is controlled by thousands of gunmen. At least seven more people have been killed on the fourth day of the heaviest fighting seen in the Somali capital for several years. Supporters of some of Mogadishu's militia leaders have clashed with an armed Islamist group which says it is trying to establish law and order. Their opponents say the Islamic courts are terrorising local people. More than 22 people have died since fighting began on Saturday - many of them civilians hit by stray bullets.
A witness told AFP news agency on Tuesday that they had seen two people die and 15 wounded in a clash in southern Mogadishu's Daynile district. "The place is full of blood and it is very scary," he said. The main airstrip there which is used by aid agencies and businessmen has been shut.

Facts and figures about life in Somalia. - At-a-glance

Another witness told AP news agency that a woman was killed and two children injured when a mortar exploded near a milk factory. AP also reports further deaths in the city centre and that two more people have died of their wounds in hospital. Clashes between armed groups have been common in Somalia since former military leader Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. The country has been without a functioning government since then.
Over the weekend, a group of MPs urged both sides to stop fighting. The fighting pits a new group, the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, against the Islamic courts' militia. But AP reports that gunmen from other groups have taken advantage of the fighting to go on a looting spree.
The fighting has also led to the closure of the Daynile airport, used by many aid workers. Hundreds of families have fled their homes around the former military academy. The BBC's Hassan Barise in Mogadishu says at least five warlords-cum-ministers in the transitional government are behind the new alliance, opposed to the Islamic courts. The courts have set up Mogadishu's only judicial system in parts of the capital but have been accused of links to al-Qaeda. Their critics accuse the courts of being behind the killing of moderate Muslim scholars.
On 26 February, the country's parliament is due to meet for the first time on home soil since it was formed in Kenya more than a year ago.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PALESTINE START FORMING ITS GOVERNMENT.

Hamas presents PM choice to Abbas.

Ismail Haniya has dismissed Israel's economic sanctions. Hamas leaders have officially presented Ismail Haniya as their choice for prime minister during talks in Gaza with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Mr Abbas was to ask Mr Haniya on Tuesday to start the formation of the government, said senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar after the talks. Hamas says it wants a coalition, and Mr Zahhar has been meeting faction leaders to enlist their support. Mr Abbas' Fatah party has refused to join as has militant Islamic Jihad.
Israel has announced a range of punitive measures against a Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority. The UN envoy to the Middle East raised objections to Israel's move to withhold tax and customs duties which are paid monthly to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.

Carter urges contact
Press anxiety over Hamas

Israel backed by the United States and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organisation because of its past suicide bombings against Israeli targets. Hamas calls the attacks legitimate resistance. Mr Haniya has dismissed the effect of Israeli financial restrictions on the PA. He told the BBC that Arab and Islamic states would offset a drop in Western aid and said Hamas would not disarm or recognise Israel. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has announced an international fund-raising campaign and Iran has called for pan-Islamic support. Hamas controls 74 of 132 parliament seats and could govern alone - even though nine of its candidates are currently held in Israeli jails. Hamas leaders have said they want to form a coalition that would include Mr Abbas's Fatah Party.
It is not clear who will take part in a Hamas-led coalition.Mahmoud Zahhar met representatives of other factions in Gaza and said the group expected to form a government in the next two weeks. "We are optimistic about establishing a national unity government that can represent a national attitude," Mr Zahhar said after holding talks with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. However, Fatah officials say they will remain in opposition, as have members of the Islamic Jihad militant group, which like Hamas does not recognise Israel's legitimacy. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) says it has agreed in principle to join a Hamas-led government.

Israel's acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel would "not hold contacts with the administration in which Hamas plays any part - small, large or permanent". The head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, Yuval Diskin, told Israeli parliamentarians on Monday that a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority posed a serious danger to Israel. "A Hamas state on the borders of Israel is a real threat. This will be a radical Sunni state that radical forces can reach from around the world," Mr Diskin told the parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee. "Therefore a Hamas state like this, with military and terror capabilities, is a strategic threat to Israel."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE I. D. CARDS DEBATE!

MPs reject ID card costings call.

The ID Cards Bill suffered a number of defeats in the Lords. MPs have voted against making the government carry out a report on costs before introducing identity cards. They decided by a majority of 53 to overturn an amendment made to the ID Cards Bill by peers last month. But MPs called for a report on costs every six months for the first 10 years of the scheme being in place. MPs also backed ministers in making it compulsory for people to be given cards - and put on a register - when they apply for passports. Critics are concerned about the cost and civil liberty implications of the scheme and some commentators had predicted the votes would be closer. ID card plans, opposed by Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, will now go back before the House of Lords.
An amendment, put forward by former health secretary Frank Dobson, requiring the government to produce a report every six months, was approved without a vote. MPs backed plans to put people applying for passports from 2008 on the ID cards register by a majority of 31. Around 20 Labour backbenchers rebelled against the government. MPs also decided by a majority of 51 to ensure all passport applicants are given ID cards.

Q&A: ID card plans
Interview: Info commissioner
Labour rebels in full

Earlier, MPs approved a government compromise requiring new legislation before ID cards are made compulsory for all. Prime Minister Tony Blair was not able to attend the debate after his plane was grounded by engine troubles in South Africa. He told the BBC: "I think we've won the argument on it. People have this idea that there's a problem in civil liberties with people having an identity card and an identity registered today when across all walks of our life this is happening. "And with the real problems people have today with identity fraud, which is a major, major issue; illegal immigration; organised crime: it's just the sensible thing to do."Last month, peers voted for the scheme not to go ahead until the full costs were known and for more security provisions for stored personal data.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke had said a stand-alone ID card would cost £30, while one linked to a passport would cost £93. But that figure has been disputed, most notably by a London School of Economics report estimating the cards could cost up to £300 each. Home Office minister Andy Burnham told BBC News that the vote showed support for the Bill was "solidifying". "We think it gives the vote a very clear mandate going forward," he added. "It's dispelled some of the doubts, the criticism, and we think the scheme can now move forward with confidence."
But shadow home secretary David Davis described the scheme as one of "creeping compulsion".
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: "The government made a pledge at the election to introduce voluntary identity cards. Tonight they broke that pledge. "The only way in which people will be able to opt out of the system is by giving up their right to travel abroad.
"The fight against compulsory ID cards will continue in the House of Lords, where we will hold the government to their manifesto commitment." Before the debate got under way about 70 people were at a protest outside Parliament involving civil rights group Liberty and the No2ID pressure group.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RAMBLINGS

WE MUST BELIEVE IN LUCK!

FOR HOW ELSE CAN WE EXPLAIN

THE SUCCESS OF THOSE WE DON'T LIKE?

JEAN COCTEAU. 1889 - 1963

FRENCH WRITER

ON THIS DAY

JOHN GLENN, ON THIS DAY, BECAME THE FIRST

AMERICAN TO ORBIT THE EARTH IN 1965!

HOLOCAUST DENIAL JAILED FOR 3 YEARS.

Holocaust denier Irving is jailed.

British historian David Irving has been found guilty in Vienna of denying the Holocaust of European Jewry and sentenced to three years in prison. He had pleaded guilty to the charge, based on a speech and interview he gave in Austria in 1989. "I made a mistake when I said there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz," he told the court in the Austrian capital. Irving appeared stunned by the sentence, and told reporters: "I'm very shocked and I'm going to appeal." An unidentified onlooker told him: "Stay strong!". Irving's lawyer said he considered the verdict "a little too stringent". "I would say it's a bit of a message trial," said Elmar Kresbach.

But Karen Pollock, chief executive of the UK's Holocaust Educational Trust disagreed."Holocaust denial is anti-Semitism dressed up as intellectual debate. It should be regarded as such and treated as such," Ms Pollock told the BBC News website. Fears that the court case would provoke right-wing demonstrations and counter-protests did not materialise, the BBC's Ben Brown at the court in Vienna said.

Irving arrived in the court room handcuffed, wearing a blue suit, and carrying a copy of Hitler's War, one of many books he has written on the Nazis, and which challenges the extent of the Holocaust. Irving was arrested in Austria in November, on a warrant dating back to 1989, when he gave a speech and interview denying the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz. He was stopped by police on a motorway in southern Austria, where he was visiting to give a lecture to a far-right student fraternity. He has been held in custody since then. During the one-day trial, he was questioned by the prosecutor and chief judge, and answered questions in fluent German. He admitted that in 1989 he had denied that Nazi Germany had killed millions of Jews. He said this is what he believed, until he later saw the personal files of Adolf Eichmann, the chief organiser of the Holocaust. "I said that then based on my knowledge at the time, but by 1991 when I came across the Eichmann papers, I wasn't saying that anymore and I wouldn't say that now," Irving told the court. "The Nazis did murder millions of Jews." In the past, he had claimed that Adolf Hitler knew little, if anything, about the Holocaust, and that the gas chambers were a hoax.

COUNTRIES WITH LAWS AGAINST HOLOCAUST DENIAL
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Israel
Lithuania
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Switzerland
Timeline: David Irving
Denying the Holocaust

In 2000, a British court threw out a libel action he had brought, and declared him "an active Holocaust denier... anti-Semitic and racist". On Monday, before the trial began, he told reporters: "I'm not a Holocaust denier. Obviously, I've changed my views. "History is a constantly growing tree - the more you know, the more documents become available, the more you learn, and I have learned a lot since 1989." Asked how many Jews were killed by Nazis, he replied: "I don't know the figures. I'm not an expert on the Holocaust."

Of his guilty plea, he told reporters: "I have no choice." He said it was "ridiculous" that he was being tried for expressing an opinion. "Of course it's a question of freedom of speech... I think within 12 months this law will have vanished from the Austrian statute book," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE BAFTA AWARDS

Brokeback emerges as Bafta winner.

Red carpet highlights

Western romance Brokeback Mountain emerged as the big winner at the Orange Bafta awards, winning best film and director for Ang Lee. Jake Gyllenhaal also won a best supporting actor for his role in it playing a gay rodeo cowboy.
There was disappointment for The Constant Gardener, which took only one of the 10 awards it was nominated for.
Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor for Capote, while Reese Witherspoon won the actress award for Walk the Line.
British actor Rachel Weisz had been nominated in the best actress category for The Constant Gardener, alongside Charlize Theron for North Country and Dame Judi Dench for Mrs Henderson Presents.

They all deserve one. This is the first time that Bafta nominated films have actually interested me said Andrew, Devon.
Send us your comments
In all Brokeback Mountain won four awards, including best adapted screenplay. It is widely tipped to win many of the same awards at the Oscars in March. Speaking backstage, director Lee said: "When we started making the movie we thought it was going to be a small precious film, now it's a big precious film. "I'm not saying the British are smarter but I feel very committed to them."
But Heath Ledger and his real-life partner Michelle Williams missed out on the actor and supporting actress titles. Speaking after receiving his supporting actor award, Gyllenhaal said: "It's just a pleasure to be a part of this movie and I can't even believe I've got this for it." George Clooney also walked away empty handed, having been nominated for four awards, including two supporting ones for Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck and best director for Good Night, and Good Luck.

Full list of Bafta winners

The best British film on the night went to Nick Park's animated feature Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit. Accepting his award, Park said: "This is just amazing. I was just so delighted to be nominated alongside all the proper films tonight, I never thought I'd be up here."
The special achievement of a British director or producer in their first film went to director Joe Wright for his adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Thandie Newton won for her role in Crash.

Memoirs of a Geisha, based on Arthur Golden's best-selling novel, won three awards including best soundtrack, composed by John Williams, and costume design.
Ensemble drama Crash won two awards, including best supporting actress for Thandie Newton, who is part British and part Zimbabwean. Paul Haggis won the best original screenplay for the film, which centres around 24 hours in a racially volatile Los Angeles.
The make-up and hair award went to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, while Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire won best production design.

British film producer Lord Puttnam was given a Bafta fellowship in recognition of his body of work, which includes Chariots of Fire and The Killing Fields. Lord Puttnam, who received a standing ovation when he collected his award, said he was disappointed Clooney had not one any awards. "He puts his career on the line. He's been politically committed and has taken big cuts in his salary to make these kinds of films," he said. "My hope is that other film-makers will do that too. "I'm sorry that Clooney didn't win best director because of what he put himself through."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOLAR-POWER MUST BE THE ANSWER!

Solar-powered vision of the future.
By Martin Patience BBC News website, Rehovot.

Sitting in his book-lined office, Professor Jacob Karni likes to quote the French novelist Jules Verne. "Yes, my friends," says Prof Karni, director of the Centre for Energy Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, quoting from Verne's 1874 novel The Mysterious Island.

Harnessing solar energy cost-effectively is the aim of research.

"I foresee that in the future, water will be used as fuel... water will be the coal of the future." The professor enthuses about the French author's vision 130 years ago that the world's reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable. But he disagrees with Verne, famous for 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, in one fundamental respect. Whereas the French writer saw water as the fuel for the future, the Israeli scientist says the future lies with solar energy.

"Even if we were to dam every river in the world and put wind turbines where ever there is wind," says Prof Karni, "it wouldn't be enough to provide for our energy needs. But with solar energy we could meet the world's energy demands." We will only find the solution when it's really urgent said Prof Karni. For the last 16 years, he has worked with colleagues at the Weizmann Institute, situated in a leafy campus in the Israeli city of Rehovot, to make renewable energy a viable alternative. The professor, who regularly works a 12-hour day, researches how to harness solar energy in a cost effective way and thentransport the energy to the user. The institute has been researching solar panels that produce a greater yield of energy. "One of the big problems with solar energy is that the energy is very diluted," says Prof Karni, "it can give you a suntan but not much else." Snags ahead But one of Prof Karni's projects has been to use solar energy to produce a non-polluting synthetic fuel that could be used, for example, to power cars.

Solar power is finding various other uses worldwide. Last summer, the Weizmann Institute published research that was "a step towards the solution," he says. Using solar power energy, zinc oxide was heated to 1,200 C. The temperature splits the ore, releasing oxygen and creating gaseous zinc, which is then condensed into powder. When the zinc powder reacts with water, it produces hydrogen that could power a car. The chemical reaction produces no greenhouse gases and the zinc oxide can be recycled into zinc and the process starts all over again. Prof Karni says that the research demonstrated that the process is achievable, but problems remain. For every kilogram of hydrogen gas produced, you would need 60 kg of zinc, which is not feasible on a large scale, he insists.
But with a map of China hanging in his office, Prof Karni insists we have to think big. "We could put solar panels here," he says, pointing at west China, "and this could provide the energy for the east of China where most people live. We just need to devise an effective way to transport the energy." The massive consumption in global energy coupled with rising pollution has made finding a renewable energy alternative more important, he declares. Over 3.5 billion people live in countries where the consumption of energy more than doubled from 1990 to 2003, according to the Energy Information Administration. If countries were to form a "Manhattan project" for solar energy, employing the best minds and ploughing enormous resources into research, renewable energy could be challenging fossil fuels in five years, the professor believes.

But that moment of reckoning has yet to arrive.

BIRD FLU FLIES WEST?

France confirms lethal bird flu.

France has taken steps to try to stop the virus reaching its poultry. French officials have confirmed that a wild duck found dead near Lyon had the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu - marking the first such case in France. The bird's remains had been undergoing tests since it was discovered in marshland last Monday. France - Europe's largest poultry producer - is the sixth country in the EU to suffer the deadly virus. The H5N1 strain has killed at least 90 people around the world, mainly in South-East Asia, since 2003.

The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says France - a crossroads for migrating birds - has been on high alert over bird flu for months. As soon as the case was suspected, the French government ordered all poultry to be either vaccinated or confined indoors to protect them from infection.
But our correspondent says French farmers already fear their livelihoods are under threat, even though no avian flu has been found in French poultry.

QUICK GUIDE
Bird flu
H5N1 bird flu can infect humans in close contact with infected birds, but there is no evidence that it can be passed from human to human.

In other developments:

India says it has recorded its first cases of H5N1 on a farm in western Maharashtra state. Iran confirms its first cases of H5N1in the northern province of Gilan. Emergency plans A 3-km (2-mile) safety cordon has been established around the site in Ain region where the wild duck was found, and wildlife surveillance stepped up across a 10-km area. Vets will check all birds in the zone, in accordance with EU emergency measures.

In an effort to address public concern, the French government has set up a telephone hotline and an information website as well as telling people not to handle any dead wild birds but to report them straight to the authorities. The French case follows the confirmation of the H5N1 virus in dead swans in Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Greece and Italy in the last week.
Other European countries to have confirmed outbreaks are Croatia, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. Tests are still being carried out on two dead ducks found in the Somme region in the north of France. Earlier this week, the EU approved a series of measures to try to halt the spread of the virus, including the automatic creation of protection and surveillance zones around outbreaks in wild birds.

If the virus transfers from wild birds to poultry, "buffer zones" that could cover an entire region could be established and the transport of poultry restricted within them.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RAMBLINGS

YOU MAY HOUSE THEIR BODIES, BUT NOT THEIR SOULS,

FOR THEIR SOULS DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF TOMORROW!

- Kahill Gibran.

THE BAFTA AWARDS

Thriller hoping for Bafta glory.

The Constant Gardener follows a diplomat (Fiennes) in Kenya. The Constant Gardener is tipped to be the big winner as some of the world's biggest movie stars gather for the British Academy film awards. It has 10 nominations including best film, best actor for Ralph Fiennes and best actress for Rachel Weisz. The British thriller competes against Ang Lee's cowboy love story Brokeback Mountain and LA racial drama Crash, both with nine nominations. Based on a John le Carre novel, The Constant Gardener follows diplomat Justin Quayle (Fiennes) as he attempts to get to the bottom of his activist wife's death in northern Kenya. The movie has been nominated for four Oscars, including best supporting actress nomination for Weisz, who has already won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Tessa Quayle.

Full list of Bafta nominees

The Constant Gardener, Brokeback Mountain and Crash were nominated in the best film category alongside Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck. Fiennes faces competition in the leading actor category from Oscar favourite Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain and Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote. Good Night, and Good Luck has six nominations, including best original screenplay and best director for George Clooney. Clooney is short-listed for a total of four Baftas, including best supporting actor nominations for Good Night, and Good Luck and oil thriller Syriana. Joe Wright's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice also has six nominations, as does Rob Marshall's adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha.
NUMBER OF NOMINATIONS

Constant Gardener - 10
Brokeback Mountain - 9
Crash - 9 [pictured]
Good Night, And Good Luck - 6
Memoirs of a Geisha -6
Pride and Prejudice - 6
Capote - 5

In the leading actress category, Weisz vies with fellow British star Dame Judi Dench for British comedy Mrs Henderson Presents. They compete against Charlize Theron for North Country, Ziyi Zhang for Memoirs of a Geisha and Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line. In the best director category, Brokeback Mountain's Ang Lee goes head to head with Clooney, Fernando Meirelles for The Constant Gardener, Bennet Miller for Capote and Paul Haggis for Crash.
Crash also received three nominations in the supporting acting categories - Matt Dillon and Don Cheadle for supporting actor, and Thandie Newton for supporting actress. Haggis, the screenwriter behind last year's Oscar-winning film Million Dollar Baby, also received a nomination in the original screenplay category with co-writer Bobby Moresco.

Brokeback Mountain dominated this year's Golden Globe awards. Pride and Prejudice is a contender for best British film, and director Joe Wright is nominated for the Carl Foreman award - which recognises a special achievement by a British director, writer or producer. Britain's Brenda Blethyn is nominated in the supporting actress category for her role as Mrs Bennet but Keira Knightley missed out on a leading actress nomination.
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit received just one nomination for the Alexander Korda award for best British film. Kung Fu Hustle, Joyeux Noel, Le Grand Voyage, Tsotsi and The Beat That My Heart Skipped compete in the foreign film category.
The Orange British Academy Film Awards are broadcast on BBC One at 2100 GMT on Sunday.

BBC NEWS REPORT

THE ROLLING STONES KEEP ON ROLLING!

Rio ready for Rolling Stones gig.

Stage preparations have been underway for days.
Enlarge Image

Rio de Janeiro is gearing up to welcome almost two million people to Copacabana Beach for a free Rolling Stones gig. The massive concert - featuring a huge stage with eight video screens and 16 sound towers - will be one of the biggest the world has ever seen. It is the third time the Rolling Stones have performed in Brazil but the first time they have played for free.
About 10,000 police officers will be on duty for the show which is part of the Stones' A Bigger Bang world tour.

They will patrol the slums around the beach to safeguard the trouble-prone area of the city, officials said. Marcelo Itagiba, Rio de Janeiro's State Public Security Secretary, said everything will be done to prevent violence and theft during Saturday's show. "I don't think the venue is ideal either from the point of view of security or tranquillity for residents," he said.

The city is paying $750,000 (£432,000) for the gig, which takes place just a week before Rio's famous carnival. Fans in the US will be able to listen to the show on radio and on the internet and also in more than 150 cinema screens across the country. Saturday's crowd may not be as big as that at Rod Stewart's 1994 concert, also at Copacabana beach, which drew a crowd of 3.5 million.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TOP OF THE POPS!

Soaring sales for pro-Zuma song.

A record backing South Africa's charged former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, has sold 50,000 copies. The album, by the group Izingane Zoma, is called Msholozi, Mr Zuma's clan name, which is used as a respectful way of addressing a leader. The record calls for Mr Zuma to be the next leader of South Africa and for charges against him to be dropped. Mr Zuma was sacked as deputy president last year and accused of corruption and rape, both of which he denies.

State broadcaster the South African Broadcasting Corporation decided last week to exclude the album's title track from its playlist over fears some lyrics could be read as "indirect incitement".
Everybody says they want Zuma to rule, to be the government of South Africa, but parliamentarians are refusing. Madiba [Mandela] said Zuma would become president at the end of his term. Charges against Zuma must be withdrawn so that he can lead government.

Translation of Msholozi lyricsSABC spokeswoman Lesego Mncwango said that the SABC had excluded the song from its playlist because the words were strong. But other radio stations have played the song - and sales have soared. "The sales have been tremendous in a very short time," a spokeswoman for the record company said. "We expect it to sell at least 100,000 by June because of all the controversy about the trial," she said. The distributors were selling the CD outside the High Court in Johannesburg on Monday, where hundreds of Mr Zuma's supporters gathered for the first day of his rape trial.

Izingane Zuma, made up of three Zulu women, is a big name in South Africa's traditional music scene. The group's marketing manager, Linda Sabelo, said the group had not intended to make a statement. "Our song is not political, we just write about what is happening and what people think," she said. But the song has caught the public mood, with one radio DJ suggesting a recording of a house version to better suit urban tastes. Mr Zuma, once seen as heir-apparent to the presidency, was one of South Africa's most popular politicians.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ON THIS DAY

THE HOUSE OF COMMOMS, ON THIS DAY, VOTED

TO JOIN THE EUROPEAN COMMON MARKET IN 1972!

RAMBLINGS

"CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME, AND JUSTICE BEGINS NEXT DOOR"

CHARLES DICKENS

PHILIPPINE'S TRADEDY - ANOTHER MUDSLIDE.

'Many die' in Philippine mudslide.

Traumatised survivors have been hauled from the mudHundreds of Filipinos are feared to have died after the side of a mountain collapsed and buried their village. Nineteen people are known to have been killed and 83 have been found alive, but rescue officials say between 1,500 and 2,500 more might be under the mud. A school and hundreds of homes were swamped as a torrent of mud and rocks swept over the site on the island of Leyte, following heavy rains. Rescuers suspended efforts as boulders continued to cascade down the mountain.
Send us your experiences
Search efforts have been further hampered by thick mud, blocked roads, collapsed bridges and severed communication lines. I pulled out the body of a... child who must have been as young as my own daughter Dag NavaretteRescue worker.

In pictures: Village destroyed
'The mountain collapsed'
Was logging a factor?

President Gloria Arroyo ordered the coast guard and navy to the affected area, and two US vessels are on the way to the remote coastal village of Guinsaugon. Mrs Arroyo urged her compatriots to "pray for those who perished and were affected by this tragedy". "Everything was buried," survivor Eugene Pilo said. "All the people are gone." 'No signs of life' The landslide followed reports of a minor earthquake in the area on Friday morning.

Click to see more detailed map of the area
Enlarge Map

Survivors spoke of boulders bigger than a house tumbling into the village amid the torrent. Television images showed only coconut trees and a few tin roofs emerging from the reddish soil. "There are no signs of life... no nothing," provincial Governor Rosette Lerias said. She said the school that was buried had about 250 pupils and teachers. "We have been able to rescue only one child and one adult from the school area," she said. A rescue worker told the BBC News website they had been forced to pause their search because the mountain was still "crumbling" and "rumbling". Dag Navarette said teams had hauled bodies and traumatised survivors from mud, which was waist-deep in parts of the devastated area. "People are in shock," he said. Officials said the mudslide happened after heavy rains dumped about 200cm of rain on the area in the space of 10 days.

PHILIPPINES STORMS
Dec 2004 About 1,800 people killed after a series of storms in north-eastern Philippines
Dec 2003 Up to 200 people die in landslides in Southern Leyte
Nov 1991 Typhoon Thelma strikes Leyte causing floods that drown at least 5,000

Eva Tomol, a board member for the Southern Leyte provincial government, denied that deforestation caused by illegal logging may have contributed to the disaster. Correspondents say the area lies in the path of several typhoons each year, and that coconut trees common locally have shallow roots which leave the soil vulnerable to landslides. Governor Lerias said many residents had left last week, fearing landslides, but had begun to return as rains eased in the past few days.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GRIM WARNING FROM MILITANT IN NIGERIA!

Nigeria oil 'total war' warning.

Despite the money generated from oil, many people still live in poverty. A Nigerian militant commander in the oil-rich southern Niger Delta has told the BBC his group is declaring "total war" on all foreign oil interests. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has given oil companies and their employees until midnight on Friday night to leave the region. It recently blew up two oil pipelines, held four foreign oil workers hostage and sabotaged two major oilfields. The group wants greater control of the oil wealth produced on their land.

The warning came as militants and the army exchanged fire after a government helicopter gunship attacked barges allegedly used by smugglers to transport stolen crude oil. Correspondents say the militants provide security for the smugglers. Nigeria is Africa's leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of US oil imports, but despite its oil wealth, many Nigerians live in abject poverty. It is the first time the military leader of the Mend movement, Major-General Godswill Tamuno, has spoken publicly of his group's aims.

Nigeria's oil hope and despair

He refused to be interviewed on tape or for his location to be disclosed. He told the BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar that they had launched their campaign, called "dark February", to ensure that all foreign oil interests left. He said that they had had enough of the exploitation of their resources and wanted to take total control of the area to get their fair share of the wealth.
Our correspondent says the movement brings together a variety of local Ijaw groups that had been operating in the Niger Delta before. The group enjoys considerable local support and it is difficult to pinpoint exactly who is a member, he says. Mend's leaders tend to like to be faceless, our reporter says, and they usually send statements to the media via email.

Shell, one of the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, told our reporter that security measures were being taken to secure their staff and property, but would not give details. The Niger delta has been the scene of a low-level war in recent months and the government has increased its military presence in the region.

In pictures: Fighting for oil

After a government raid on oil barges earlier this week, Mend released a statement saying the helicopter gunship had fired rockets and machine-guns at targets on land and accused the military of targeting civilians. It warned that its fighters were capable of shooting down military helicopters and accused Shell of helping out the security forces by allowing them use of an airstrip it operates. The military has denied it used the facility. According to AFP news agency, Shell has not confirmed or denied that its airstrip was the base for the attack. The smugglers are believed to exchange oil for weapons from eastern Europe.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IS THIS A DEATH SENTENCE FOR WOMEN?

Woman loses Herceptin court bid.

Ann Marie Rogers is devastated by the ruling. A breast cancer patient has lost her landmark legal challenge to be allowed the drug Herceptin on the NHS. Ann Marie Rogers, 53, had gone to court after she was denied the drug - which is not licensed for early-stage breast cancer - by Swindon NHS bosses. But the judge ruled that the trust had not been acting unlawfully. Mrs Rogers has been given leave to appeal against the court's decision, and will be able to receive Herceptin treatment until then. Mrs Rogers is in the early stages of breast cancer, but has an aggressive form of the disease. When the judge made his ruling, Mrs Rogers simply shook her head and looked downwards. She is fighting for her life - Yogi Amin, Ann Marie Rogers' solicitor.

Plea to 'end the confusion'

Speaking outside the court, her solicitor Yogi Amin, of Irwin Mitchell, said: "Mrs Rogers is bitterly disappointed by the decision. It has come as a shock. "She felt it was common sense that a policy to refuse to provide treatment, where other authorities are providing it, should be struck down." He added: "It's an ordeal for her. This legal fight is something she is forced to do. She is fighting for her life." Mr Amin said Mrs Rogers felt the hopes of women had been built up after the health secretary said PCTs should not refuse patients the drug solely on the basis of cost.
Making his ruling, Mr Justice Bean said he knew there were different opinions on whether or not to prescribe Herceptin to patients with early-stage breast cancer. But he added: "The court's task is not to say which policy is better, but to decide whether Swindon's policy is arbitrary or irrational and thus unlawful. Ruling Swindon had not acted unlawfully, the judge said: "Accordingly, despite my sympathy with Ms Rogers' plight, I must dismiss the claim for judicial review."

HAVE YOUR SAY

The drug hasn't been proven to the extent that it should be freely prescribed - Rae Purnell.

Send us your comments

Jan Stubbings, speaking for Swindon PCT, said the judge had vindicated the trust's actions.
She added: "If something has not been approved as a treatment, and has not been through the licensing process, its safety and benefit haven't been absolutely checked. "This wasn't an economic decision." Mrs Rogers' case was the first of its kind to reach court. Herceptin has been licensed in England and Wales for the treatment of advanced breast cancer.
But pressure is mounting for the NHS to use it on patients with early-stage cancer, as research has shown it is effective in fighting the disease. However, the drug must first be licensed, and then assessed by the NHS drugs watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE, which determines if drugs are cost-effective, has said it is one of five drugs it has selected for fast-track appraisal. In the meantime, some trusts have been hesitant to fund the drug when asked.
Other women, including nurse Barbara Clarke, had threatened legal action. But their local NHS trusts had decided to fund the drug - which costs around £20,000 per year - before their cases reached court. In November, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt intervened when North Stoke Primary Care Trust refused to fund the drug for mother-of-four Elaine Barber.

HERCEPTIN FACTS -
It targets the HER-2 protein, which can fuel the growth of breast tumours
Herceptin prevents this process happening
Around a fifth of breast cancers are HER-2 positive
It is currently licensed for use in women with advanced breast cancer - where the disease has spread within the breast or to another organ
Early stage breast cancer refers to the first occurrence of the disease
The cost for one year's treatment with Herceptin is 20,000 pounds.

Q&A: Herceptin

Ms Hewitt said she wanted to see the evidence upon which health bosses had made their decision and within a day the trust had reversed the decision, citing Ms Barber's "particular exceptional circumstances". Following Mrs Rogers' High Court judgement, a Department of Health spokesman said its position remained unchanged. He added: "PCTs need to take into consideration a whole range of factors before making a decision whether to fund Herceptin for a woman with HER2 positive early stage breast cancer. "Ahead of a decision on licensing, or NICE appraisal, such decisions will continue to be made at a local level on a case by case basis."

But Joanne Rule, Chief Executive of the charity CancerBACUP said cancer patients would see that as 'postcode prescribing'. She added: "The people who call our helpline want to know that decisions about their treatment depend on clinical need and not on where they live, how much money they have, or how 'exceptional' they are in comparison to someone else."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LONDON FASHION WEEK HIT BY FUR PROTEST!

Hilton targeted in anti-fur demo.

Hilton had wowed the audience with diamond jewellery. Hotel heiress Paris Hilton's sparkling debut at London Fashion Week was eclipsed when she was hit by flour bombs in a fur protest. The US socialite opened Julien Macdonald's show on the first night wearing diamonds valued at £2m. But animal rights campaigners from Peta showered flour over Hilton and the designer, who uses fur, as they went to an after-show party in Mayfair. London Fashion Week runs until Saturday at the Natural History Museum.

"There is nothing remotely fashionable about the torture and death of animals killed for fur," said Peta Europe's Yvonne Taylor.

"Julien Macdonald may have been able to ignore images of bloody skinned animals gasping for breath in the past, but hopefully a dash of flour will help him rise to the occasion and forsake fur once and for all." A spokesman for Macdonald said he did not wish to comment on the incident outside The Cuckoo Club. Earlier, in the first day of the bi-annual event audiences saw Autumn-Winter collections by Paul Costelloe, inspired by post-war Britain, and Amanda Wakeley, known for her glamorous tailoring.

Some 170 designers will show off their wares in a series of 48 catwalk shows over the week. Unusually, US Vogue editor Anna Wintour is expected to make a visit, widely interpreted as suggesting the London scene is back in vogue.

BBC NEWS REPORT

ON THIS DAY

BRITAIN ADOPTED, ON THIS DAY, THE DECIMAL CURRENCY IN 1971!

CHINA RESPONDS TO INTERNET CRITICISM!

China defends internet regulation.

China blocks news websites like the BBC's. China has responded to international criticism of its internet regulations by saying its rules are "fully in line" with the rest of the world. Government official Liu Zhengrong said western criticism of China's internet censorship smacked of double standards. He also said no one had been arrested just for writing online content. According to a BBC correspondent in Beijing, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, these assertions contrast sharply with a number of recent cases. Several people are reported to have been jailed in recent years for posting information on the internet deemed subversive.

Foreign websites covering politics and sensitive issues are blocked.Chinese internet providers face strict censorshipWebsites, forums and blogs must officially register and are monitored China's internet 'police' thought to number 50,000 censors.

Tight rein on growth

Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, was last year jailed for 10 years for sending foreign-based websites the text of an internal Communist Party message. The Chinese official's comments came amid mounting concern in the US about how its companies are operating in China, because of local regulations. Internet firm Yahoo has been accused by human rights groups of providing information to Chinese authorities that led to two internet users - inlcuding Mr Shi - being imprisoned.

Companies like Google have also been criticised for deciding to censor their search engines in China. China's authorities are also facing internal opposition to a crackdown on media freedom. On Tuesday, a group of former senior Communist Party officials published an open letter to denounce the recent closure of investigative newspaper Bingdian (Freezing Point), and said strict censorship might "sow the seeds of disaster" for China's political transition.

For years the outside world has been criticising China for its control of the internet. Now the Beijing government is hitting back, our correspondent says. China is no different from Western nations like the US and Britain in the way it controls the internet, argued Mr Liu Zhengrong, deputy chief of the Internet Affairs Bureau of the State Council Information Office. "After studying internet legislation in the West, I've found we basically have identical legislative objectives and principles," Mr Liu was quoted as telling the state-run China Daily newspaper on Tuesday. "It is unfair and smacks of double standards when (foreigners) criticise China for deleting illegal and harmful messages, while it is legal for US websites to do so," he said. He also said that only a "very few" foreign websites were blocked, and that was mostly because they contained pornography or terrorist information.

The BBC News website continues to be blocked in China. And he insisted that "no one in China has been arrested simply because he or she said something on the internet". Another well-known case which appeared to contradict this statement involves Li Zhi, who was sentenced to eight years in jail in 2003 for "subversion". Human rights groups said Mr Li and four others jailed in 2003 were posting opinions on the internet and calling for political change.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RAMBLINGS

NATURE ABHORS A VACUUM!

CORRUPTION HASTENS POVERTY!

Geldof moves to tackle corruption.

Mr Geldof is now to press the issue with Tony Blair. Bob Geldof has joined forces with pressure group Transparency International (TI) to better ensure global aid is not lost to corruption. They will focus on the $50bn (£29bn) of additional aid to developing nations pledged last year by the Group of Eight (G8) most industrialised nations. "It will not be possible to beat poverty without fighting corruption," said Mr Geldof.

Mr Geldof wants TI founder Peter Eigen to head a group studying aid delivery. This co-operation has the potential to save millions of lives and improve the quality of life for millions more The Live Aid founder said he would urge UK prime minister Tony Blair to appoint Mr Eigen to lead the independent monitoring committee on aid delivery proposed by Mr Blair's Commission on Africa Report. Mr Geldof, along with fellow anti-poverty campaigner and pop star Bono, says he wants Mr Eigen to head a committee of six or seven high-profile members. Anti-poverty champion The call comes at a time of growing interest and concern about the effects of corruption on aid and development.

In several countries, worries about the transparency of oil and energy income have emerged. In Kenya, meanwhile, several government ministers have resigned following allegations by a former senior member of Transparency International of widespread corruption. The allegations have helped trigger a freezing of some aid to Kenya. Mr Eigen said Tuesday's coming together of TI and Mr Geldof would have a real impact. "Today we have started a dialogue between a champion of the global fight against poverty and the worldwide organisation at the vanguard of the anti-corruption movement," he said. "This cooperation has the potential to save millions of lives and improve the quality of life for millions more."

Mr Geldof said the proposed monitoring committee must "have an understanding of corruption and how it works". He added that structures need to be put in place to ensure that the G8's promised increase in aid got through to those who needed it. Headquartered in Berlin, Transparency International is an independent global anti-corruption pressure group.

BBC NEWS REPORT

TAKE PART IN CLIMATE EXPERIMENT!

BBC links to huge climate project.

Climateprediction.net uses the power of thousands of ordinary PCs. The BBC is inviting viewers to join the world's biggest online climate prediction project. Climateprediction.net has already been running for two years and has generated forecasts on the likely extent of climate change. Participants download software onto their personal computers which run the program when the machine is idle. Its newest, most sophisticated computer model is being launched on Tuesday in conjunction with BBC Four in the UK. "The main change in this model is that it uses a fully dynamic ocean," said the project's chief scientist David Stainforth from Oxford University. "Previous versions used a very simplified ocean, whereas this one allows us to see how the atmosphere and the ocean interact," he told the BBC News website.

Click here to take part in the climate experiment

The upgraded design should provide a more accurate representation of the real world, where heat and gases are continuously exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean, and should produce more realistic projections of future climate. Climateprediction.net was established more than two years ago and uses the "distributed computing" approach.

Alarm at new climate warning

Rather than running programs on one supercomputer, it uses the combined power of numerous PCs, each running a slightly different computer simulation. No two simulations produce exactly the same results; overall, the project produces a picture of the possible range of outcomes given the present state of scientific knowledge. Last year climateprediction.net released results from its existing model suggesting that a doubling of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide would increase the global average temperature by between 2C and 11C. Distributed computing has been used before, notably by the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence or Seti, where several million people have downloaded software enabling them to analyse data from observations of distant stars for signs of alien life.

The scientists behind climateprediction.net believe their project is also a tool to spread awareness and understanding of climate change. The link to BBC television may, they believe, help with this angle of their project as well as recruiting more users. They hope to have initial results from the new model about three months after it is launched. Frances McNamara, the BBC's producer for the experiment, said the project would give people a chance to be part of efforts to tackle a warming world. "We wanted to use the BBC's web and interactive services to help the audience to make a personal contribution - not only to the climate change season of programming, but also to genuinely new science."

At the end of the BBC Four programme Meltdown, viewers will be asked to log in, download, and set their PCs to the task of predicting the climate of the future. Meltdown, part of the Climate Chaos Season, will be broadcast on BBC Four on Monday 20 February 2006 at 21:00GMT.

BBC NEWS REPORT

ON THIS DAY

MARCONI BEGAN REGULAR BROADCASTING TRANSMISSION,
ON THIS DAY, FROM WRITTLE IN ESSEX IN ENGLAND IN 1922!

RAMBLINGS

"NOTHING IS EASIER THAN SELF-DECEIT.

FOR WHAT EACH MAN WISHES,

THAT HE ALSO BELIEVES TO BE TRUE"

Demosthenes 384-322 B.C. Greek Orator.

BIRD FLU IN NIGERIA!

Chickens in northern Nigeria have been dying for a month. As the deadly strain of bird flu is confirmed on three more farms, the BBC's Alex Last visits a farmer in Kano State battling with diseased poultry. Some 20,000 birds died in just one week The farm stands in dry fields just outside Kano city. Inside its walls stand 11 concrete rectangular barns with corrugated roofs where the birds were kept. They are now empty save for feathers strewn on the floor.

The birds starting dying two weeks ago - 20,000 died in just one week - then the alarm was raised. The birds that survived were culled but their carcases are still being burnt in the open - black smoke coming off the smouldering pile of birds. The work of destroying the poultry is done by farm workers simply wearing their work overalls.

Nigerian poultry farmers have been losing livestock for weeks.The farm's owner, Abdullahi Saidu, said so far no-one had reported any illness. He said he was devastated by what had happened and said the government had yet to do anything to help. The farm is not sealed off - the villagers still come there to draw water from a well. Mr Saidu said other farms in the area had also suffered similar losses.

In the adjacent fields, two men with facemasks said they were burning 1,000 dead chickens that had died on a nearby farm. The four farms named so far may just be the start of the problems here.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MALAWI M.P. GETS 5 YEARS IN JAIL

Jail for former Malawi minister.

Former Malawi Education Minister Yusuf Mwawa has been sentenced to five years in jail for fraud and corruption. He is the first official convicted since President Bingu wa Mutharika launched an anti-corruption campaign. He was sacked last year after being accused of using $1,500 of public funds to pay expenses for his wedding at a hotel in Blantyre. His wife, Diana, burst into tears when the sentence was read out. The court was packed with his supporters.

His conviction last month means he loses his seat in parliament, which he won on the ticket of the former ruling United Democratic Front (UDF). His lawyer said he would appeal and had already repaid the money.

He collapsed in prison last week following a bout of hypertension and diabetes. The BBC's Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says Mwawa looked calm as the sentence was announced.
President Mutharika has left the UDF, saying the party did not support his drive against corruption.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EXILE OR TRAIL FOR KING GYANENDRA!

'Exile or trial' for Nepal king .

Only one photo of Prachanda had been in circulation until now. Nepal's top Maoist rebel leader has said the only future he can envisage for King Gyanendra is exile or trial. Prachanda made his remarks in a rare BBC interview to mark the 10th anniversary of the Maoist revolt. He said a trial of the king might take place in a "people's court", leading to possible execution. However, elsewhere in the interview Prachanda also said he could envisage Nepal remaining a monarchy if the people wanted it. Whatever decision the people should give, we will be ready to accept this
Maoist leader Prachanda.

Meeting the Maoist leader
Send us your comments

Nepal's minister of state for information, Shrish Shumsher Rana, described the remarks as "unfortunate". Asked whether it was time to consider direct negotiations with the Maoists, Mr Rana said the interview had made it clear the Maoists would give no quarter to their opponents or go back on their demands.

'People's verdict'
This was the first face-to-face broadcast interview given by the Maoist's reclusive chairman, Prachanda, who has been living an underground existence for 25 years. His rebels now control much of the countryside, but the BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu, who conducted the interview, says this is a conflict most observers believe neither side can win militarily.

INTERVIEW IN FULL
Read the full transcript of Charles Haviland's interview with Prachanda (63k)
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Download the reader here

The Maoists are pressing for an elected assembly to write a new Nepalese constitution. Prachanda said he believed such an assembly would make Nepal into a republic. But he said his party would accept "the people's verdict". "Whatever decision the people should give, we will be ready to accept this," he told the BBC. Asked if that meant he would theoretically be able to accept a people's verdict of keeping the monarchy, he said: "Yes, theoretically it is like that." But asked later what place the king might have in Nepal five years from now, Prachanda said: "I think he'll either be executed by the people's court or maybe exiled." He said the king, who took direct political power a year ago, had left no room for compromise. Nepal does not allow capital punishment and Prachanda's comments will shock many Nepalis and probably cause discomfort to a group of opposition parties which recently signed a political agreement with the Maoists, our correspondent says.

'Pragmatic'
Prachanda said he was "saddened" by the number of deaths in the conflict - some 13,000 - and by what he called accidents such as the death of children in bomb blasts. The rebels are in effective control of large swathes of rural Nepal.But he was unrepentant about using violence against those he described as informers. Asked if the Maoists aimed to conquer the capital, Kathmandu, militarily, he said that foreign help to the government had made that difficult, and that such an action would "cause a lot of harm to the Nepali people".

Analysts say the Maoists are nowadays a pragmatic party, and for much of this interview the 52-year-old Maoist reflected this, our correspondent says. But at other times he spoke with what seemed like rage against those he repeatedly described as feudalists, he adds.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TWO MAGAZINES BANNED IN ALGERIA.

Algeria cartoon publishers jailed.

The now-banned Errisala is aimed at the youth. A leading media watchdog has condemned the arrest of two Algerian editors who published some of the cartoons satirising the Prophet Mohammed. "The detention of those two men is absurd and dangerous" says Reporters Sans Frontieres.

Kamel Boussaad and Berkane Bouderbala were arrested last week and their magazines,Errissala and Essafir banned from publication. The images,first published in a Danish paper, have angered many Muslims. Both magazines were critical of the original cartoons and were asking their readers to complain to the Danish authorities. But according to Algerian law, both journalists now face between three and five years in jail for "insulting the prophet".

Essafir's declared objective was to explain their readers why the caricatures had sparked so much controversy within the Muslim world. This initiative "has turned itself against us", says Essafir editor-in-chief Mohammed Fardjallah. "We can't criticise journalists for trying to explain the row without the slightest reference to the object of the controversy," argues RSF.

The BBC's Mohammed Areski Himeur in Algiers says that both Essafir (The Ambassador) and Errissala (The Messenger), published in Arabic, have moderate pro-Islamist views and print only a few thousand copies a week. Both magazines are aimed at the youth.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE GREAT WESTERN PLOT!

Zimbabwe axes forex petrol outlet.

Petrol queues can be hundreds of cars long. Zimbabwe has stopped motorists buying petrol in foreign currencies, a system introduced six months ago. Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono told state media that its abuse had led to high black market prices. Zimbabwe is facing an economic crisis with a chronic shortage of fuel and basic food stuffs.

Meanwhile, a government minister has warned financial institutions against lending to white farmers in case they are farming "illegally". Some 4,000 white farmers have been evicted from their land since a controversial land reform programme began in 2000. Land has been redistributed to some 150,000 black farmers but agricultural production has halved.

Mr Gono said the foreign currency coupon system, where certain garages accepted payment in foreign currency had initially worked well, but it had only ever been intended as a temporary measure, to reduce queues.

Robert Mugabe blames Zimbabwe's problems on a western plot" Some members of the public started to abuse the facility and used it for speculative and parallel market activities, thus militating against its main objective," he told the Sunday Mail newspaper. He said he regretted any inconvenience, but it was being scrapped "for the best interest of the wider economy".

In the same paper, Land Reform Minister Didymus Mutasa accused Mr Gono's Reserve Bank and unspecified financial institutions of getting into contract farming with white farmers without checking their status on the farms with his ministry. He said before any loan can be extended to a white farmer, his ministry needed to be consulted. Mr Mutasa claims new black farmers are being sidelined on the grounds that they do not have collateral support, while white farmers are perceived to have the capacity to repay as they have title deeds.

President Robert Mugabe has always accused western countries led by former colonial power Britain of sabotaging the economy because of opposition to land reform.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ON THIS DAY

FRANCE, ON THIS DAY, EXPLODED ITS FIRST ATOMIC BOMB IN 1960!

ID CARDS

'I've got a biometric ID card'.
By Tom Geoghegan BBC News Online.

Biometric testing of face, eye and fingerprints could soon be used on every resident of the UK to create compulsory identity cards. BBC News Online's Tom Geoghegan volunteered for a pilot scheme and looked, unblinking, into the future. Your life on a chip....within minutesAs I was led up to the first floor of the UK Passport Office in London's Victoria, the butterflies I used to get at the dentist began to flutter. But as it turned out, the photo booth we passed on the way would have provided a more invasive exercise.
The simple 15-minute process to get my own identity card simulates what probably lies ahead for everyone. Biometric tests are likely to be introduced for all new driving licences and passports from 2007. They could become compulsory six years later. Explaining the purpose of the six-month pilot schemes being held across the UK, the Home Office's Peter Wilson said: "This isn't a test of the technology - that's likely to change in the future as things move on - it's the process. "We're looking for customer reactions and perceptions, and any particular difficulties."
I was greeted in a reception area for enrolment, which consisted of filling out a form with basic information about myself such as gender, age, postcode and ethnic background. Then I gave the form and my name to operator Rachel Davies, who fed the information into a computer. I was ushered into a room and directed to sit in a sophisticated-looking booth, facing a hi-tech camera. No going back now. The first test is the facial recognition, which is like a prolonged photograph without the flash.
Big Brother - No cheesy grins will be allowed, because the machine is scanning the measurements of your face and "doesn't like teeth". Target of 10,000 volunteers. No figures yet, but more than 16,000 have shown an interest All details are destroyed and feedback anonymous Set in London, Glasgow and Leicester, plus a mobile facility travelling the UK
Aims to identify any practical difficulties and give a cost projection of full scheme. Current cost predicted £1.3bn to £3.1bn The iris scan required more concentration because I had to stare hypnotically at two ellipses in the camera, while the machine verbally directed me. "Come closer," says a Big Brother-like voice, instructing me to shuffle my seat forward while keeping my eyes fixed on the shapes. After about 60 seconds, the machine indicated the scanning was complete. No messy carbon required for the fingerprints. Instead I had to put each hand's four fingers, then the thumb, on a glass scanner. My prints appeared on a computer screen and within minutes were compared against one million others which, for the sake of the pilot scheme, had been imported from the US.

ID CARDS TIMETABLE

Nov 2003: Draft Bill published
Apr 2004: Pilot schemes begin
Autumn 2004: White Paper in Parliament
2005: Facial biometrics used on passports (scanned from passport photograph)
2007: New passports and driving licences to require biometrics, separate ID cards optional
2013: Parliament to vote on making it compulsory for all to have some form of biometric ID.

With all three tests completed, I had to give a copy of my signature which they stored electronically. I filled out a feedback form about my experience and then the card was ready and in my hands. It's strange to think that the identity card's small microchip contains some personal information and my biometrics. Although I don't feel psychologically invaded or like an android - as I feared I might - I can understand why others might. Another simple fingerprint test verifies that I match the card and that's it, over. If the government gets its way, the information on the chip would also be stored on a national identity register, accessible to the police, government departments, the Inland Revenue, immigration and intelligence services.
No wonder as I leave, a member of staff jokes: "We'll be tracking you."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

JUMA FACES THE COURT TODAY!

Rape trial final test for Zuma.

Jacob Zuma faces the Johannesburg High Court on Monday, down but not quite out, writes the BBC News website's Justin Pearce in Johannesburg. A guilty verdict would be the end of Zuma's political careerA rape charge laid against former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma late last year was widely thought to have delivered a fatal blow to a political career that was already wounded by charges of corruption. Supporters who had stood by him during the corruption investigation suddenly backtracked, rather than associate themselves with a rape suspect.
In December, the African National Congress in which Mr Zuma had played such a prominent role for so long announced that he would be standing down from official duties pending the outcome of the trial. It was a tough decision for the party, since Mr Zuma's huge popular support has helped to cement the ANC's hold over South African voters.
As a speaker with the common touch, he could work crowds in a way that President Thabo Mbeki never managed; as a Zulu, he appealed to South Africa's largest ethnic group; as one who spoke the language of the left, he appealed to the poor who felt left behind by South Africa's conservative economic policies since the end of apartheid. He remains, technically, the party's deputy president, but that is because he can only be removed from that post by the party's biennial congress.
And despite the suspension of Mr Zuma's official duties, the party tacitly acknowledged the pulling power of "JZ" by allowing him to participate in its campaign for municipal elections scheduled for 1 March. While other ANC allies - notably the South African Communist Party and the trade union federation, Cosatu - dropped their support for Mr Zuma in the light of the rape charges, the ANC Youth League remains his staunchest ally as the rape trial begins.
Some Zuma supporters are now having second thoughts"Our members will therefore come out in numbers to pledge support to the ANC Deputy President," a Youth League statement said.
How many people do in fact demonstrate in support of Mr Zuma on Monday will be a crucial test of how far his popular support has survived the rape furore.
At least 1,000 people demonstrated when he appeared in court to hear corruption charges - but that appearance was before the rape allegations appeared, and took place in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal where his support base has always been strongest. The rape charge will be heard in the Johannesburg High Court, in the city where the alleged offence took place.
Mr Zuma is expected to argue that he had a consensual sexual relationship with the woman who accused him. The trial will essentially pit his word against that of his accuser - and examine whether she was under political pressure when she laid the charge, and when she later reportedly told some journalists that there was no case to be made. The corruption trial, due to move to the Durban High Court in July, is likely to involve the lengthy weighing of evidence.

Of course, a guilty verdict in either of the two trials would make it impossible for even Mr Zuma's most ardent supporters to carry on defending him. But that could be some months away - and up to now, the popular mood has appeared independent of the decisions of the party leadership.
The disbelief that greeted the conviction last June of Mr Zuma's adviser Schabir Shaik demonstrated that for some, political loyalties were stronger than respect for the judiciary.
If Mr Zuma draws a crowd in Johannesburg, his supporters will take it as a victory - while other in the ANC and in the government will be anxious that their biggest political headache in years has not quite been dealt with.

EGYPT WINS THE AFRICAN CUP AGAIN.

Egypt rejoices at record Cup win
By James Copnall BBC News, Cairo.

Cairo witnessed wild scenes after Egypt's African Cup win. Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo to celebrate Egypt winning the African Nations Cup. The main streets near the Cairo International Stadium, the site of Egypt's triumph, were blocked solid by jubilant fans. Most were waving the black-white-red Egyptian flag. One supporter, driving the wrong way down the road, was wearing a balaclava in Egypt's colours. Cars honked their horns to a wild rhythm, and young men sang loud choruses of support for their team. "I am so happy, we have won the Cup," said Amr, who was still outside the stadium long after the team had left. "Egypt has hosted the best African Cup, and we have the best team!"
Penalty shoot-out
Other fans had some kind thoughts for the losers in the final, the Ivory Coast. "I wish Ivory Coast good luck for the World Cup," said one. "But today Egypt were too strong!" Egypt's football team has now won the cup five times.Egypt beat Ivory Coast 4-2 on a penalty shoot-out, after regular time and extra time finished goal-less. Mohamed Abou Treika scored the winning penalty, after the Ivorian attackers Didier Drogba and Bakari Kone missed spot kicks. Drogba had missed two good chances earlier, but it was by no means one-way traffic. Egypt had a goal disallowed, and the Egyptian captain Ahmed Hassan struck a controversially-awarded penalty against the post. More than 74,000 fans watched the game, and the stadium was full a good three hours before kick off.

The Egyptian fans - and perhaps the 200 or so Ivorian supporters - made an indescribable amount of noise. The Egyptians applauded the Ivorian national anthem politely, then roared out their own so strongly there was no need for microphones or amplifiers. People honked their car horns and flew the Egyptian flag. One of their biggest cheers was reserved for Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak, who watched the game and then presented the cup to Egypt's 39-year-old striker Hossam Hassan. Mubarak also brandished the Cup himself, as if he - and not Egypt's footballers - had provided the heroics on the pitch.
As the trophy was handed over, vivid fireworks burst over the stadium, illuminating the Cairo skyline. After the trophy presentation, several hundred ecstatic fans massed around the Egypt team bus, banging on the side and refusing to let it leave the stadium until they had been acknowledged. Those wild scenes carried out into the rest of Cairo, as people massed alongside the road the team would take, and throughout the rest of Egypt. Egypt have now won a record-breaking five African Nations Cups.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOPHIATOWN CELEBRATES ITS NAME AGAIN.

'Harlem of South Africa' renamed.

Celebrating on the streets of Sophiatown. A Johannesburg suburb at the centre of a notorious episode in South Africa's apartheid era has had its original name, Sophiatown, restored. Sophiatown was renowned as a vibrant, multicultural centre that nurtured some of thecountry's most famous musicians. But in 1955 thousands of residents were evicted to make way for whites under the notorious Group Areas Act. The area, once known as the Harlem of South Africa, was renamed Triomf, or Triumph in the Afrikaans language.
There were emotional scenes in Sophiatown as some of those evicted in 1955 returned for a name-changing ceremony and celebrations. Sophiatown as portrayed in the award winning film Drum. "Triomf meant the victory of white supremacy," the mayor of Johannesburg Amos Masondo, said. "However the name Sophiatown was never erased from the hearts of the people." Sophiatown was noted for its racial mix. It was also where the early careers of musicians such as Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela developed.
The overcrowded area was also known for its crime and poverty. In February, 1956, demolition teams with bulldozers, protected by some 2,000 people moved in to evict the local people. The African National Congress had pledged to restore its original name on taking power. But the process was delayed for years, partly because of the costs involved.
Last year South African film director Zola Maseko won the top prize at Africa's premier film festival, Fespaco 2005, for his film Drum, set in the jazz clubs and bars of Sophiatown in the 1950s.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE BRONZE IMPERIAL EAGLE!

Graf Spee's eagle rises from deep.

The eagle's swastika was hidden as a mark of consideration. Divers have salvaged a 2m (6ft) bronze imperial eagle from the German World War II battleship Graf Spee that was scuttled in the River Plate. Three divers had to loosen 145 bolts securing the 300kg (661lb) eagle to the stern of the craft in the muddy waters off Uruguay's capital, Montevideo. "The eagle is really impressive... it's all virtually intact," said team leader Hector Bado. The ship was scuttled in December 1939 to stop it falling into enemy hands. Mr Bado told Associated Press news agency the eagle had a wingspan of 2.8m (9ft) and a special barge with a crane was needed to raise it from the river.

When it emerged from the water held by steel cables by the crane, it was just spectacular, something unreal said Hector Bado.

In pictures: Earlier salvaging
Click for Graf Spee facts

The barge brought the eagle back to port on Friday with a yellow tarpaulin covering the swastika at its base - out of consideration for those who still hold strong feelings against the symbol of Nazi Germany, Mr Bado said. The eagle was taken to a customs warehouse, but not before curious cruise ship guests had had a chance to disembark and get some snapshots. The ship has lain in waters only 10m deep since its scuttling - until a project financed by private investors from the US and Europe with the backing of the Uruguayan government sought to salvage it.

Cruise ship tourists get a snapshot of the eagle in Montevideo. The operation has now been going two years. Previous items raised included a 27-tonne section of the battleship's command tower and a range-finding device for gunners. It is hoped the vessel will become a tourist attraction in Montevideo. The Graf Spee was once a symbol of German naval might. In the early days of World War II it roamed the South Atlantic, sinking as many as nine Allied merchant ships. But during the Battle of the River Plate it received several direct hits and took refuge in Montevideo harbour. Uruguay, under diplomatic pressure from Britain, ordered the Graf Spee out to sea. And there she was scuttled by her captain, Hans Langsdorff. Capt Langsdorff committed suicide in a Buenos Aires naval camp three days later.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ON THIS DAY

The Great St. Bernard Tunnel under the Alps,

on this day, was opened to traffic in 1964.

NEW TOMB FOUND IN EGYPT!

Pharaonic tomb find stuns Egypt.

Inside the tomb

Archaeologists have discovered an intact, ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the first since King Tutankhamun's was found in 1922. A team led by the University of Memphis found the previously unknown tomb complete with unopened sarcophagi and five undisturbed mummies. The archaeologists have not yet been able to identify them. The Valley of the Kings near Luxor in southern Egypt was used for burials for around 500 years from 1540BC onwards.
The tomb, the 63rd discovered since the valley was first mapped in the 18th century, was unexpectedly found only five metres away from King Tutankhamun's, a member of the team told the BBC's World Tonight. Patricia Podzorski, curator of Egyptian Art at the University of Memphis, said the team had not been looking for it.

Click for map of Valley of the Kings

"The excavation team was focused on the tomb of a 19th Dynasty pharaoh, King Amenmesses," she said.

In pictures: Pharaonic tomb

"They were working in front of the tomb looking for foundation deposits possibly related to that tomb, and clearing away some workmen's huts from the 19th Dynasty that were both to the left and right side of the tomb," she explained. "Underneath these workmen's huts, they found a shaft." Four metres below the ground was a single chamber containing sarcophagi with coloured funerary masks and more than 20 large storage jars bearing Pharaonic seals. Kings? The sarcophagi were buried rapidly in the small tomb for an unknown reason. Ms Podzorski said the tomb was thought to date from the 18th Pharaonic Dynasty, the first dynasty of the New Kingdom which ruled between 1539BC and 1292BC and made its capital in Thebes, the present city of Luxor.
Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass told Reuters news agency the mummies "might be royals or nobles moved from their original graves to protect them from grave robbers". "We don't really know what kind of people are inside but I do believe they look royal. Maybe they are kings or queens or nobles," he said. 'Still wrong' The discovery has come as a surprise to many, Ms Podzorski said. "People have been saying the valley was done for 100 years," she said. "They said it before Howard Carter found King Tutankhamun's tomb and they said it after. But, obviously, they are still wrong."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ON THIS DAY

TREVOR FRANCIS, ON THIS DAY, BECAME THE FIRST £1 MILLION FOOTBALLER

IN ENGLAND, TRANSFERRING TO NOTTINGHAM FORREST FROM BIRMINGHAM!

T.V. PROGRAMME BANNED IN ALGERIA

Pop idol pulled from Algerian TV.

Singing contests are a big hit with many male and female fans. Algeria's national television channel has stopped showing the popular pan-Arab programme, Star Academy, after protests by the main Islamist party. Islamist leader Aboudjerra Soltani said the show was a "provocation against society and attacked its moral values". The Lebanese-produced show is based on the global Pop Idol concept and has attracted large viewing figures in Algeria and the whole Arab world. Mr Soltani told the media the show was cancelled by order of the president.

Mr Soltani, the leader of the Movement for a Society of Peace, is a government minister without portfolio and his party, formerly known as Hamas, is part of the ruling coalition. The president of Algeria's High Islamic Council has also welcomed the ban. The show "is far from artistic and goes against our society's moral standards", says Cheikh Bouamrane. Both leaders have said that the programme, broadcast during prime time, is not fit for family viewing.

"Today, they ban television shows. Tomorrow they will brain-wash the population, in the name of Islam", writes Omar Belhouchet, the editor of the popular daily newspaper El Watan. Star Academy is not the only pan-Arab programme based on the Pop Idol concept. Its main rival, Super Star, has just ended its latest season this week and has proved just as popular. The BBC's Areski Himeur in Algiers says that hardline Islamists have been shocked by some images of and dances performed by some of the female contestants.

However Star Academy has proved very popular among Algerian television viewers, in particular women. Those who want to keep following the show will still be able to see the showon the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) which is available via satellite dishes.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYA HOTEL COLLAPSE ARREST!

Owner of Kenya building arrested.

The collapse has been blamed on poor construction and corruption. Kenyan police have arrested the owner of a building that collapsed in the capital, Nairobi, last month. At least 20 people were killed in the building, which was under construction. The arrest came after police placed notices in newspapers seeking help in finding businessman Nganga Kihonge, who disappeared shortly after the collapse. Mr Kihonge could be charged with negligence, Criminal Investigation Department spokesman Gideon Kibunja told the BBC Network Africa programme.

Mr Kihonge was arrested as he left a hospital where he was being treated for injuries sustained in a car accident before the building collapsed, the AP news agency reports. Earlier reports have suggested Mr Kihonge may face manslaughter charges. Four Nairobi city council officials have already been suspended from their posts and charged with negligence. They have pleaded not guilty.

More than 100 people were injured when the building fell down on 23 January. Shoddy construction and corruption in the issuing of building licences have been blamed for the collapse of the unfinished five-storey structure.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BIRD FLU IN AFRICA?

Deadly bird flu found in Africa.

The OIE said the strain detected was "highly pathogenic". The deadly strain of bird flu has been found in poultry in northern Nigeria, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has said in a statement. The Paris-based organisation said this was the first time the disease had been detected in Africa. The body said it was the "highly pathogenic" strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus, which can kill humans. It was detected on a farm in the northern state of Kaduna, where a team of experts have been sent. Authorities there said they had taken measures to stamp out the outbreak by disinfecting the affected premises, imposing a quarantine and putting restrictions on animal movements.

Bird flu

It is not clear if the case on a commercial chicken farm in Jaji, near the city of Kaduna, has any relation to the deaths of thousands of chickens in neighbouring Kano state. Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture say they are still investigating whether the poultry there died of a more common avian disease. The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says an outbreak of bird flu could have devastating consequences in Nigeria where millions of people rear chickens as a basic source of income. The OIE said that an Italian laboratory for avian flu had detected the strain from samples from the infected farm which had some 46,000 birds. The dead birds are being sent to market to be sold as meat. It's a health hazard said Auwalu Haruna - Poultry farmer.

Nigerian bird farmer's fears
Q&A: Bird flu

"We are really not dealing with a backyard operation," OIE expert Alex Thiermann told Associated Press news agency. Farmers are preparing to hold an emergency meeting in Kano, where the price of chickens has halved, with a bird now fetching not more than $2. Nigerian Agriculture Minister Adamu Bello said the government would cull all infected birds and has announced a multi-million dollar compensation programme for farmers. But a northern Nigerian farmer told the BBC News website that people fear they will not be compensated. "The dead birds are being sent to market to be sold as meat... because people are not sure if the government will assist them," said Auwalu Haruna from Kano. Mr Bello said the bird flu might have been carried by migrating birds or the smuggling of infected chickens from abroad.

For two years Nigeria has banned poultry imports from countries which have experienced cases of bird flu. There are fears that the disease could easily spread in Africa because of a lack of safeguards. "What is most important now is not how it got into Nigeria, but how it can be prevented from leaving Nigeria," Cape Town ornithologist Phil Hockey told Reuters.
Mr Haruna said affected farmers from Kano were still waiting to be quarantined. More than 80 people have died of H5N1 bird flu since the disease's resurgence in December 2003 - most in Asia. Experts point out that cross-infection to humans is still relatively rare, and usually occurs where people have been in close contact with infected birds. But they say if the H5N1 strain mutates so it can be passed between humans some 150m people could die.

BBC NEWS REPORT

ELECTIONS IN NEPAL?

Nepalis shun polls amid violence.

Security was tight for the elections. Nepalese police have shot dead an opposition activist during controversial local elections, a year after King Gyanendra seized power. One other protester was wounded when police opened fire in south-western Dang district, the authorities say. Turnout was low amid an opposition boycott and a strike ordered by rebels, which was called off as polls closed. The US criticised the elections, calling them a "hollow attempt to legitimise power" by the king. At least three people died in two separate clashes between troops and Maoist rebels, officials said. The opposition activist died from his injuries after being shot in the town of Tribhuvan Nagar in Dang, officials said. When the political parties are not participating what is the use of having elections? These elections are unwanted Kamal Prasad Joshi, voter.

In pictures: Nepal election
What now for Nepal?
Q&A: Democracy

The defence ministry said protesters had attacked and injured security personnel guarding a polling station. Security forces had been told to shoot anyone trying to disrupt voting. There were many reports of opposition supporters being arrested in connection with election-related protests. Initial estimates put voter turnout at about 10%. Chief Election Commissioner Keshav Raj Rajbhandari in a television broadcast gave an estimate of 20%, but said the figure was still being calculated.
Both the opposition and the Maoist rebels, who had threatened attacks against those taking part, said the election was a sham to try to entrench the king's direct rule. As soon as polls closed, rebel leader Prachanda called off the week-long shutdown three days early, saying it had achieved its aim of disrupting the vote. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also condemned the vote, and said the only way to deal with the Maoist threat was to restore democracy.

Turnout was thin in the capital and elsewhereThe BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says King Gyanendra will be disappointed by the outcome. Most people eligible to vote appear to have been deterred by the opposition boycott or the rebel threats. Our correspondent says at one polling station he visited in the capital voters were outnumbered by security forces. Most observers say anything approaching a free and fair election is impossible given Nepal's security situation. Maoists were blamed for killing at least two candidates and attacking others in the run-up to the vote. More than 600 candidates withdrew. Those remaining were advised to report to paramilitary camps or safe houses. The lack of candidates meant voting took place in just 36 out of 58 towns and cities, either because there were no candidates or candidates stood unopposed in 22 municipalities.
Local and parliamentary elections have been due for three years and this was the first national vote since 1999. The king has promised a general election by April 2007. Violence has risen sharply since the rebels called off a four-month ceasefire in early January. On Wednesday, officials said two people had died in clashes between troops and rebels in the eastern town of Dhankuta. Earlier reports that nine had been killed could not be confirmed. The rebels are said to have abducted 15 government officials and security personnel in a massive attack hours before the polls opened. Later in the day, the government said one Maoist rebel had been killed in another clash in western Kailali district. More than 13,000 people have died in Nepal since the revolt began in 1995.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYA'S MR GITHONGO'S SECRET TAPE!

'Taped evidence' in Kenya scandal.
By Fergal Keane BBC News.

Mr Githongo says ministers have blocked his investigations.The BBC has obtained evidence of a major corruption scandal in Kenya. In his first interview since going into exile in Britain, Kenya's former top anti-corruption official says he told his president about the corruption. But John Githongo, Kenya's former permanent secretary for ethics, says President Mwai Kibaki failed to act. Mr Githongo has also given the BBC what he says is taped evidence of a senior government minister trying to impede a corruption inquiry. Mr Githongo says he made the tape secretly during a meeting with the man who is now Kenya's energy minister. Britain's International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said the revelations marked a moment of truth for Kenya and has called for action. Mr Githongo says government money was being paid to companies that did not exist or to others which were massively overpricing their contracts.

The president faces tough decisions ahead of polls due next year. He believed the finance was being given to business figures close to the government, who were then re-directing some of it back to the ruling elite for political campaigning. In one case, he says, the country's then-Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi tried to pressure him by using the issue of a loan owed by Mr Githongo's father. On a tape heard by the BBC, a man Mr Githongo says is the minister is heard telling him that the loan is owed to a businessman with links to powerful politicians and that if he goes slow on his investigation the businessman will also go slow. Mr Benn described Mr Githongo as a courageous man. The eyes of the world would now be on the government to see how it reacted. The politician involved, Kiraitu Murungi, would not be interviewed but denies wrongdoing.

BBC NEWS REPORT/

ON THIS DAY

SHERGAR, THE AGA KHAN'S DERBY RACE WINNER, ON THIS DAY,
WAS KIDNAPPED FROM ITS STABLES IN CO. KILDARE AND, DESPITE
A £2 MILLION RANSOM DEMAND, WAS NEVER SEEN AGAIN!

SOUTH AFRICAN BANS SONG!

Anger as Zuma song taken off air.

Zuma's supporters believe he is the victim of a political vendetta. Supporters of South African ex-deputy president Jacob Zuma have threatened protests after the national broadcaster decided not to play a pro-Zuma song. The South African Broadcasting Corporation says the words of the song "Msholozi" could be read as incitement.
Mr Zuma, a popular leader once seen as heir apparent to the presidency, was sacked as deputy president last year amid allegations of corruption. He was later charged with corruption and with rape. He denies both charges. Msholozi, the title of the song by the group Ingane Zoma, isMr Zuma's clan name, which in South Africa is used as a respectful way of addressing a leader.
A statement on the Friends of Jacob Zuma website speaks of plans for a march on the SABC studios in Durban, in Mr Zuma's home province, KwaZulu-Natal. "These events will take place within the next two weeks as we believe same will be about the protection of SABC as a public broadcaster," says the statement, which was published in the name of KwaZulu-Natal structures of the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions. "We can not justify the payment of TV licences, if such institutions are to be use as private tools for political campaigns and factional agendas," the statement says.
SABC spokeswoman Lesego Mncwango rejected the idea that the SABC banned the song. "If you use the word 'ban' you presuppose we are engaging in censorship. What happened was the station management decided the words were strong and would be excluded from the playlist at this time." She added that some of the lyrics of the song could be read as "indirect incitement".
"We are trying to uphold the principle of responsible public broadcasting," Ms Mncwango said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FLAG BURNING IN NIGERIA.

Nigerian MPs burn Denmark's flag.

Muslims regard the controversial cartoons as blasphemous. Nigerian MPs cheered in the northern majority Muslim state of Kano as Danish and Norwegian flags were burned in a ceremony in the parliament premises. The flags were torched to show disapproval of the publication in Denmark and Norway of cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad. Earlier Kano state MPs passed a resolution to call off multi-million dollar trade negotiations with Denmark.
In Niger, thousands took part in banned protests against the cartoons. The cartoons, originally published in a Danish newspaper, have been denounced in other African countries and throughout the Islamic world.
In Somalia, a teenage boy died after protesters attacked police on Monday. Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits images of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad. Christian backing The BBC's Ado Saleh in Kano says some 200 people, including the 40 state parliamentarians, attended the flag burning.

CARTOON ROW

30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons.
20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM.
10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons.
26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador.
30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology.
31 Jan: Danish paper apologises.
1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons.
4 Feb: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus.
5 Feb: Protesters sack Danish embassy in Beirut.

Cartoon row: Your views.

They shouted "Allah Akbar" (God is great) as Kano's parliament speaker Balarabe Saidu Gani set the flags alight, he says. On Monday, the MPs passed a resolution ordering the Kano state government to call off negotiations with Denmark over a hydroelectric plant worth some $25m and to cancel the purchase of 72 buses from the country worth some $57m.

The Christian Association of Nigeira has condemned the publication of the cartoons.

BBC NEWS REPORT

THE ANGLO LEASING AFFAIR UPDATE!

Kenya gold scam charges delayed.

Mr Murungaru was sacked following corruption allegations. Kenyan officials say an inquiry into the $600m Goldenberg gold fraud will not necessarily lead to prosecutions. Critics fear that the decision could be an attempt to protect senior government officials implicated by the inquiry. Meanwhile, former Transport Minister Chris Murungaru has denied new allegations of corruption. The claims against him and three ex-cabinet colleagues have threatened to bring down President Mwai Kibaki, elected on pledges to tackle graft. The Goldenberg scam involved licences and credits for fictitious gold and diamond exports in the early 1990s.

Sleaze hits 'clean' rulers

The investigation led by Judge Samuel Bosire was originally expected to lead to the prosecution of those involved. But a meeting chaired by Justice Minister Martha Karua decided new investigations were necessary before any charges could be brought. Education Minister George Saitoti - who served as finance minister under then President Daniel arap Moi - is believed to have been implicated by the Bosire report. The meeting on Monday said new investigations should begin at once, led by the CID director Joseph Kamau, the Daily Nation newspaper reports. The paper quoted officials close to the justice minister as saying the CID team should question those named in Judge Bosire's report and interview witnesses who could back up the prosecution cases in court. Ex-President Moi denied any links to the Goldenberg scam.

The Bosire report comes as Mr Moi's successor, Mr Kibaki, is threatened by a separate corruption scandal: a multi-million dollar scam linked to bogus security contracts, known as the Anglo Leasing affair. Some commentators believe the release of the Bosire report may have been timed to deflect attention away from the later scandal, which has the potential to damage the present administration. Mr Murungaru has broken his silence to deny links to Anglo Leasing affair, or that he blocked attempts by former anti-corruption tsar John Githongo to investigate it. "I never asked John Githongo or anyone else to slow down any investigations into Anglo Leasing... It is a fabrication and a figment of his imagination," he said.

Mr Murungaru was sacked after the UK and US revoked his visa last year. Mr Kibaki was elected in 2002, promising to fight corruption that had become endemic during Mr Moi's 25-year presidency, but correspondents say the Anglo Leasing scandal has already tarnished his reputation. On Tuesday, Mr Kibaki said all members of his cabinet would be put under "performance contracts" to improve public service.

BBC NEWS REPORT

ON THIS DAY

THE SOVIET COMMUNIST PARTY, ON THIS DAY,

VOTED TO ABANDON ONE-PARTY RULE IN 1990!

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FERRY?

Ferry disaster: Possible causes.

The al-Salam Boccaccio '98 was sailing in poor weather. Survivors of the sinking of a Red Sea ferry carrying some 1,400 people have said that the disaster was caused by a fire breaking out below decks. Witnesses report that fire erupted about 90 minutes into the overnight journey from Duba in Saudi Arabia to Safaga in Egypt. It is not clear where exactly the fire started - some say it was in the car deck, others in the engine room. David Osler from the London shipping paper Lloyds List says a engine room fire would be more likely, although neither possibility could be ruled out. The scale of the blaze is also unclear - survivors have spoken of the ship being engulfed in smoke and passengers running onto the decks wearing life jackets, begging the crew to turn the vessel around. However, the captain made no attempt to return to shore, opting instead to continue on to Egypt while the crew tackled the flames. Ships should be equipped with the means to put out a fire - especially important in ships such as the al-Salam Boccaccio '98 - a "roll on-roll off" (ro-ro) ferry with a large open space for cars, where fires can easily spread.

According to Mr Osler, methods for fighting ship fires vary according to the sophistication and age of the vessel, ranging from the use of inert gas to douse flames to hoses and hand-held extinguishers. The al-Salam Boccaccio '98 was 35 years old and there are conflicting reports on whether it met all safety requirements. Nonetheless, one UK expert on fighting ship fires, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that it was likely the ferry had sprinklers. Normal practice in such an incident, he said, would have been for the crew to also tackle flames with hoses, pumping the water out to ensure it did not accumulate.

What seems likely to have happened in this case, the expert conjectures, is that the crew failed to remove the excess water allowing it to build up. Rani Kamal, the surviving third officer on the ship, told the Arabic news channel al-Arabiya that "the ferry sank because of firefighting operations". "Water flooded the garage [car deck]... and it pooled on one side. Then the water increased and increased until the ship listed sharply," he said. According to the UK expert, in the kind of rough weather the al-Salam Boccaccio '98 experienced before it went down it would only take two or three inches (5-8cm) of water on the deck to set off a Free Surface Effect.

Click here for an illustration of Free Surface Effect

The Free Surface Effect is a phenomenon whereby a small amount of water inside the vessel starts slopping from side to side, making the ship rock. As the water moves it gathers momentum, causing the rocking to become more pronounced. The shifting water quickly makes the ship unstable, and can shift cargo and capsize the ship quickly. Mr Osler says that the ferry's chances of surviving were further reduced by modifications made in the 1980s, when two more passenger decks were added.

Like the reverse of an iceberg, the vast majority of the ship was standing out of the water, with little below the surface to keep it stable. Compounding the problem were the high winds on Friday, which may have further tipped the vessel, and reports that panicked passengers all ran to one side in bid to escape the fire. Marine experts say that after foundering caused by the collision or grounding, fire is the greatest risk to a ship.

As a result crews are expected to be well trained and strict guidelines on how to deal with such incidents are outlined in the International Safety Management (ISM) Code. Eyewitnesses say the ship sank in five to 10 minutes. Many people are believed to have still been below decks when it went down. The tragedy was made worse by fact that the rescue effort did not get under way for at least seven hours after the disaster. Even a small amount of water sloshing about below decks can seriously affect a ship's stabilityAs the vessel rolls, the water pours to one side which moves the ship's centre of gravityIf this moves beyond a critical point, the ship cannot right itself and will capsize.

BBC NEWS ITEM.

CHINA'S CENSORING THE INTERNET!

Internet firms 'bowed to Beijing'.

Google's decision has been hotly debated. US congressmen have condemned major IT firms including Microsoft and Google for helping China censor the internet. Members of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus said four US firms were putting profits before American principles of free speech. The hearing follows Google's decision to block politically sensitive terms from its new Chinese search site. Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco and Google were also criticised for not attending the hearing in Washington. Yahoo and Microsoft defended themselves in a statement, saying they did not have the power to force change on governments. Their services had, they said, "enabled far wider access to independent sources of information for hundreds of millions of individuals in China and elsewhere". Tom Lantos, top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said: "There has been a string of disturbing incidents in which US-based Internet companies have bowed to pressure from Beijing."

Chinese computer users are barred from some websites."These massively successful high-tech companies, which couldn't bring themselves to send representatives to this meeting today, should be ashamed. They caved in to Beijing for the sake of profits." The Chinese government enforces strict laws on internet use, blocking content it considers a threat, including references to the Tiananmen Square massacre and notable dissidents. Google.cn, launched last month, complies with these guidelines.

The group Reporters Without Borders alleges that Yahoo provided information to the Chinese authorities that helped them identify and convict Shi Tao, a journalist who criticised human rights abuses in China. Microsoft pulled an internet posting by a Chinese government critic, after being ordered to do so. Information 'will out'.

Carolyn Bartholomew, an internet expert, told the hearing that China was becoming the biggest internet hub in its region, and was exporting filtration technology that allowed other "oppressive regimes, including North Korea and Uzbekistan" to control and use the web for their own ends.
Congress will hold a more formal inquiry in two weeks' time. The firms have said they will attend that process.

In Portugal on Wednesday, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said attempts to prevent the spread of information would ultimately fail. "The ability to really withhold information no longer exists... if there is a desire by the population to know something, it is going to get out," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE POWER'S ON THE BLINK!

Zimbabwe power cuts 'to worsen'.

Some areas are already experiencing daily black-outs. Power cuts already blighting Zimbabwe are set to get worse because of a lack of coal supplies for electricity generators, state-run media reports. The state electricity provider is also reported to be unable to pay its debts to suppliers and transport companies.
Coal-fired stations in the capital, Harare, and in the second city, Bulawayo, have already been shut down. Zimbabwe's main external power provider South Africa says it has temporarily halted supplies for maintenance work. "I would like to bring to the attention of all consumers that the current load shedding due to supply shortfall is set to worsen," head of the power regulatory commission, Mavis Chidzonga, was quoted in Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail as saying. 'She warned that electricity production at the Hwange facility servicing north-west Zimbabwe may also have to be reduced due to the shortages. She said the recent coal shortages had been made worse by the state electricity provider's inability to pay its debts to suppliers and transporters.
The government has previously refused to approve inflation-linked hikes in electricity fees. But Ms Chidzonga said management reforms and massive tariff increases were needed to address what she called the country's "precarious" power situation. She told the newspaper they were trying to obtain additional supplies from Zambia. But BBC correspondents say this is unlikely as drought is affecting that country's hydro-electric power service.
Harare is already experiencing daily black-outs. The country's regular cuts in power and water supplies are blamed on acute shortages in hard currency, gasoline and imported spare parts. The country imports around 40% of its power from South Africa, DR Congo and Mozambique.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FOOD SHORTAGES IN ZAMBIA.

Zambia: Fertile but hungry.
By Peter Biles BBC southern Africa correspondent.

Zambia has had good rains this season.As you drive around the Zambian countryside, to the north and south of the capital, Lusaka, it is sometimes difficult to understand why there is a food crisis in this country. The fields are green, fertile and full of maize. There is also an abundance of water. It has been raining heavily. These are promising signs for the forthcoming harvest. However, the food shortages that Zambians are experiencing at present, with more than 1.2m people in need of food assistance this year, stem from the drought in 2004-5. Like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, this is about far more than just poor rainfall. There are deeper, long-term problems that cause hunger. For the last five years, Emily Miyanda and her husband, Steve, have run Pamusha Farm, about 15km from Lusaka.
In a near perfect setting, the well-irrigated seven-hectare farm produces maize, cabbages, tomatoes and other vegetables. "We're employing local workers here and helping the government to secure jobs. But in return, we'd like some government support in buying seeds and fertiliser. That would make life easier," says Emily Miyanda. Zambian farmers lost out on subsidised agricultural inputs when tough World Bank and International Monetary Fund conditions were imposed. However, Zambia's Minister of Agriculture Mundia Sikatana admits that more must now be done to help small farmers like the Miyanda family. "We are giving fertiliser and seeds to 150,000 farmers but that's not enough. It's a drop in the ocean. One million small farmers need assistance," he said. "We hope to improve on our numbers in this year's budget because it's much cheaper for the country to support the farmer than to import food". In the meantime, farmers are being urged to diversify and end their over-dependence on maize. Some are turning to sorghum, sweet potatoes and ground nuts.
Grandparents often care for the young in rural communities.Mr Sikatana says he would also like to see Zambians growing cassava, a crop much favoured in neighbouring Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo. In this way, Zambia would have the potential of returning to the days when it was a food exporter. One problem for farmers is access to markets. In spite of the fact that the Lusaka skyline lies in the distance, Pamusha Farm can only be reached by several kilometres of poor dirt roads. "Some of the roads in Zambia are just impassable," says Henry Malumo, co-ordinator of the Global Call To Action Against Poverty. "The issue of infrastructure is a major one. There's no way you can expect peasant farmers to lift themselves out of poverty when there are such bad roads."
In the rural communities, hunger is directly related to poverty. At the Kapopo primary school in the Naluyanda district near Lusaka, teacher Gift Shiyanga says that around half the 500 children are not getting enough food. "They come from families that are poor. They are starving," he says. Perhaps the biggest cause of food insecurity in southern Africa is the HIV/Aids crisis. This has decimated the farming sector. Ninety minutes' drive south of Lusaka is the farming town of Mazabuka. The Ndeke Community Centre there provides support for those who are chronically ill, most of whom are HIV positive.
Under a thatched rondavel hut, 30-year old Gideon Lungu sits listlessly in the summer heat. He is suffering from tuberculosis, and like many here, he looks gaunt and weak. TB sufferer Gideon Lungu is too weak to work"Most of these people are farmers who can no longer work their fields," says Samuel Banda who works for a local non-governmental organisation called Programme Urban Self Help (Push). "As a result the season is ending without any farming activity, and there is widespread hunger." Life expectancy in Zambia has fallen from 50 to 32. In a country that depends so heavily on agriculture, the loss of so many bread-winners is having a catastrophic effect on the farming sector and on society in general. Many orphans are now being brought up by grandparents and elderly relatives who struggle to take on the burden of farming.
On the road back to Lusaka, I encounter an afternoon thunderstorm. For half an hour, the countryside soaks up the torrential rain. Drought and hunger are synonymous, but the storm is a potent reminder that it is Zambia's long-term developmental needs that must be addressed if people are to escape the hunger trap.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUCH OF AFRICA IS ANTI GAY.

Row over Cameroon 'gay' witchhunt.

This is not the first such campaign in Cameroon. Cameroon's political and business elites have been rocked by a campaign by tabloid newspapers to "out" top personalities they say are homosexual. The newspaper editors say they are exposing people who engage in "deviant behaviour". Some 50 people have been named and the papers have sold out. Homosexual acts are banned in Cameroon, with up to five years in jail.

But the campaign has been condemned by the state communication council for invading people's private lives. The council also challenged anyone who felt they had been libelled to take legal action. So far, none of those named has gone to the courts. Like much of Africa, Cameroon is a conservative society, where homosexuality is frowned upon. the BBC's Randy Joe Saah in Yaounde says it is an open secret that homosexuality is alive in the country and that the law banning homosexual acts is rarely used.
The campaign has sparked a national debate about gay rights and privacy. Communications Minister Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, who is one of those named, has threatened legal action and told Cameroon's media they risked breaking up families, reports Reuters news agency."Whether it is heterosexual or homosexual, sexual intercourse takes place in an intimate environment between two persons," he told media chiefs last month.
The newspapers say they are waiting to defend themselves - and have proof of their allegations. The publisher of the weekly L'Anecdote, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, defended headlines such as "Gays are among us" and promised more revelations to come. "We could not remain silent. We had to ring the alarm bell. We don't regret it and we have to do it again... in spite of numerous death threats me and my journalists have had," he told Reuters. One newspaper had to have two extra print runs and some vendors resorted to selling photocopies to satisfy demand.The newspapers also carried a vehement denunciation of homosexuality by Cameroon's Roman Catholic bishop Victor Tonye Bakot who criticised European countries for giving it legitimacy. Last year, lobby group Human Rights Watch condemned the practice of forced anal examinations of those arrested on charges of having gay sex.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

2ND JUDGE WITHDRAWN IN MALAWI.

Judge quits Uganda treason trial.

Dr Besigye was once President Museveni's personal physician. The judge due to hear the treason trial of Uganda's opposition leader has withdrawn from the case, saying there was a perception he would be biased. Judge John Bosco Katutsi described the view as "absolute rubbish" but said a judge should be above suspicion. He said he had had sleepless nights and his health had suffered.
He is the second judge to withdraw from a case concerning Kizza Besigye - expected to be the strongest challenger in elections due on 23 February. Dr Besigye faced four different sets of charges, which he said were designed to sideline him in the elections. The BBC's Will Ross in Uganda says the withdrawal of another judge from the trial of Dr Besigye is likely to raise further public concern over the Ugandan judiciary's independence. Dr Besigye said he had little hope of receiving a fair trial. "The whole aspect of attacking the judiciary points to the end result that the judiciary is intimidated. Whoever will judge my case will do so in fear," he said.

President Museveni remains popular in rural areasA new judge has not yet been named to hear the trial, which is now due to start on 15 February - just eight days before the elections. Earlier this week a constitutional court ruled that Dr Besigye and his co-accused could not be tried on charges of terrorism and weapons offences before a military court martial. That ruling prompted a Ugandan army general to criticize the judiciary and accuse the judges of siding with "wrongdoers."
Mr Katutsi also heard Dr Besigye's rape trial, which finished earlier this week. The court assessors recommended that he be cleared of the charges - but Mr Katutsi has not yet ruled on whether or not to he will follow their recommendation. In November the military deployed while Dr Besigye's co-accused were appearing at the High Court - which the principal judge described as a "defilement of the judiciary". He was arrested in November shortly after returning from four years in exile. Dr Besigye, who has been out on bail for the last month, is viewed as the first credible challenger to President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for 20 years. These will be the first multi-party elections since Mr Museveni took power.

BBC NEWS REPORT

CHRISTIAN SUPPORT FOR MUSLIMS IN AFRICA.

Nigeria's Christians back Muslims.

Religious tensions in Nigeria has often led to deadly clashes. An umbrella Nigerian Christian body based in the majority Muslim north has condemned the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have sparked Muslim protests across the globe.

A leading Islamic cleric in Kaduna, which has previously had deadly religious riots, has also spoken about the insensitivity of printing them. He called for calm in the city where security is tight at Friday prayers. Tensions between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria have led to clashes leaving thousands dead in recent years. Rev Joseph John Hayep, the secretary general of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said the publication was totally uncalled for at a time when the world was looking for unity.

On Thursday, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Arabic TV he was sorry for any offence caused but insisted his government was not responsible for newspaper articles. Sheikh Ibrahim el-Zakzaky, leader of Nigeria's Muslim Brothers, said the prime minister's words went some way to easing the situation. More than 200 people died in religious clashes in Kaduna over the Miss World beauty contest in 2002. The BBC's Adamu Yusuf in Kaduna says the city is calm and the cartoon row is not being widely discussed.

The cartoons' publication has also drawn strong criticism in other African countries. Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade has issued a statement condemning the reproduction of the images by European newspaper editors, saying freedom of the press could not be used as an excuse. The foreign minister of Sudan, where the ruling party has organised a boycott of Danish products, says the decision was "disappointing". "Whatever religion, whether Islam, Christian or Jewish, we would never support anybody who talks negatively about other religions," Foreign Minister Lam Akol said during a visit to London.

BBC NEWS REPORT

LAND REFORM IN SOUTH AFRICA

Mbeki may speed up SA land reform.

Mr Mbeki remains popular among many South Africans. South Africa may move more quickly on the emotive issue of land reform, said President Thabo Mbeki as he outlined this year's government's programme. He promised to "review" the policy of "willing-seller, willing buyer", which could reduce the compensation received by farmers who lose their land. Mr Mbeki was delivering his state of the nation address at the annual opening of parliament in Cape Town. He also noted the "mood of confidence" from recent economic growth.

He focussed on measures that the government believes will help to reduce poverty and improve public services. The land question is an emotive one in South Africa, where the majority of farmland remains under the ownership of white farmers. Until now, measures to restore land to the black majority have been largely along market lines, but Mr Mbeki hinted this would change. "The minister of agriculture and land affairs will, during 2006, review the willing-buyer willing-seller policy, review land acquisition models and possible manipulation of land prices, and regulate conditions under which foreigners buy land," Mr Mbeki said, to both cheers and jeers from members of parliament.

Mr Mbeki began his address by pointing to surveys that indicated that South Africans in general and business owners in particular were optimistic about the country's future. "Our people are firmly convinced that our country has entered its age of hope," Mr Mbeki said. He said some 372bn rand ($61bn) would be spent over the next three years to improve services including electricity, water and telecommunications services, and to build houses and other infrastructure. Service delivery and housing are pressing issues for Mr Mbeki's ANC as it approaches municipal elections in March. He spoke of efforts towards "the attainment of a society free of shack settlements in which all our people enjoy decent housing" and pledged to eradicate the "bucket toilet" system by the end of next year.

He added that "the government will remain focused on the challenge to fight corruption in the public sector and in society at large." Mr Mbeki pointed out that after this year's football World Cup in Germany, the world of football would be watching South Africa, which is to host the 2010 championship, but which was eliminated in the first round of this year's African Cup of Nations. "I am afraid that our performance in the current African Cup of Nations in Egypt did nothing to advertise our strengths as a winning nation," Mr Mbeki said, to laughter from the house. "However, starting today, the nation must make every effort to ensure that we meet all the expectations of Fifa and the world of soccer, so that we host the best soccer World Cup ever," the president said.

BBCNEWS REPORT

TRAGIC SINKING OF EGYPTIAN FERRY.

'Many dead' as Egypt ferry sinks.

Relatives and friends can only wait for news. Hundreds of people are feared to have died after an Egyptian ferry carrying about 1,400 people sank in the Red Sea. Officials say 185 bodies and about 300 survivors were pulled from the water, but hundreds more remained unaccounted for as darkness fell. The al-Salam Boccaccio '98 sank about 80km (50 miles) off Egypt during an overnight trip from Duba, Saudi Arabia. The cause of the disaster is not known, but there were high winds when the 35-year-old vessel set sail.
How can they put all these passengers in such an old ship that was not fit for sailing? Ahmed Abdul HamidFerry passenger's relative. The Egyptian transport minister said there had been no concerns about the seaworthiness of the ship. But President Hosni Mubarak has ordered an immediate inquiry into the cause and circumstances of the sinking, as his spokesman has suggested there were not enough lifeboats on the ferry. Most of the passengers were Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, but some were said to be pilgrims returning from Mecca. The ship vanished after setting sail for Safaga on Thursday evening, but no distress signal was said to have been received by Egyptian officials.

Warships and helicopters have been searching the area, which Ayman al-Kaffas, spokesman for the Egyptian embassy in London, described as "vast". A spokesman for the ferry's Egyptian owner, the el-Salam Maritime Transport, said later on Friday that between 300 and 400 passengers had been rescued. "We have found them and we took them on board one of our ships which was sent to take part in the rescue operation," Mohammed Helmy told the AFP news agency. A British warship sent to the area has been recalled after Egypt said it was no longer needed.

RECENT SHIPPING DISASTERS
2002: Joola, Senegal, more than 1,800
2001: Java, Indonesia, more than 500
1996: Bukoba, Tanzania, more than 500
1994: Estonia, Baltic Sea, 852
1991: Salam Express, Egypt, 464
1987: Dona Paz, Philippines, more than 4,300

The Egyptian ship was carrying 1,310 passengers and 96 Egyptian crew, Jan Maher from el-Salam Maritime Transport told the BBC. There were about 100 people from other countries, including Saudis and Sudanese, Capt Maher said. In Safaga, many anxious families have been waiting for hours for news of their loved ones. "There is nobody... to tell us what is going on. We are in a complete blackout, " Ahmed Abdul Hamid, who was waiting for his cousin, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
AL-SALAM 98

Capacity: 1,487
Built: Italy 1970
Length: 118m (388ft)
Gross tonnage: 11,779t
Owner: El-Salam Maritime.

Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said "the speed at which the ship sank and the fact there were not enough life rafts on board confirm that there was a [safety] problem". "But we cannot anticipate the results of the investigation," he told public television. A sister ship of the al-Salam '98 sank in the Red Sea in October after a collision. Two people were killed and 40 injured.

BBC NEWS REPORT

CHIKUNGUNYA FEVER

Island disease hits 50,000 people.

The authorities are eradicating mosquitoes across Reunion. A crippling mosquito-borne disease is spreading at an accelerating rate on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, health officials say. They say the number of cases of the viral illness, known as chikungunya, had risen to 50,000, an increase of 15,000 in the past week alone. The disease is not fatal, but those affected suffer high fever and severe pain. There is no cure or vaccine. Hundreds of troops have been deployed on the island to eradicate mosquitoes. Officials said the troops would be spraying the whole island against mosquitoes in the coming days.

The latest outbreak was first noticed there in February 2005 - but has spread at an accelerating rate since December. Meanwhile, neighbouring territories are mobilising to contain the disease.
On the Seychelles - where 2,000 cases have been reported in the past four weeks - the army has been mobilised to exterminate mosquitoes, Reuters news agency reports. The authorities in Madagascar also fear the disease may have reached their island, AFP news agency says.
Chikungunya fever is named after a Swahili word meaning "that which bends up" - referring to the stooped posture of those afflicted.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUSLIM'S OUTRAGE AT A CARTOON!

Danish plea for calm on cartoons.

Protests against Denmark have spread to many Muslim countries. Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen has appeared on Arabic television to try to defuse a worsening row over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in European media. Mr Rasmussen again apologised for any offence but insisted his government was not responsible for newspaper articles. The cartoons, first seen in a Danish paper, have sparked violent protests and boycotts across the Muslim world. Editors of a Jordanian and a French newspaper who chose to republish the cartoons have been dismissed. One of the cartoons shows the Prophet wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that paradise is running short of virgins for suicide bombers. Islamic tradition bans depictions of the Prophet or Allah.

In an interview with the Dubai-based al-Arabiya channel, Mr Rasmussen called on all parties to avoid escalating the row. Freedom of speech has its limits when it concerns others... How would it feel if Jesus Christ was the one insulted instead? Randa Ahmed Essa, Egypt.
Cartoon row: Your reaction
"I have sent a very strong appeal to everyone in Denmark that though this dispute may raise many strong feelings, everybody should take the responsibility to ensure peaceful co-operation in Denmark," he said. Mr Rasmussen said the issue has gone beyond Denmark to become a clash between Western free speech and Islamic taboos. Denmark has summoned ambassadors in Copenhagen to talks on the row on Friday. Syria and Saudi Arabia have already withdrawn their envoys. Danish companies are already feeling the pinch of Muslim boycotts. Dairy firm Arla Foods said on Thursday it was laying off 125 staff in Denmark. Although the cartoons originated in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten paper, they have been reprinted in newspapers in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain - all saying they were expressing free speech.

CARTOON ROW

30 Sept: Danish paper Jyllands-Posten publishes cartoons
20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors in Denmark complain to Danish PM
10 Jan: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons
26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador
30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology
31 Jan: Danish paper apologises
1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons.

Q&A: Depicting Muhammad
UK Muslims voice concern

In Jordan, an independent tabloid, al-Shihan, reprinted three of the cartoons on Thursday, saying people should know what they were protesting about. In a separate article, the newspaper's editor, Jihad Momani, urged the world's Muslims to "be reasonable" in their response to the drawings. The paper's publishers sacked him hours later over the "shock" he had caused, Jordan's official Petra news agency reported.
There has been widespread anger over the cartoons among Muslim nations and communities. Norway closed its mission to the public in the West Bank in response to threats from two militant groups against Norwegians, Danes and French people. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned that the decision to publish the cartoons could encourage terrorists. Afghan President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned their publication, saying it was "an affront... for hundreds of millions of people". Hundreds of students demonstrated in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Multan, burning flags and effigies of the Danish prime minister. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson also criticised the European papers which re-ran the cartoons, saying they were "throwing petrol onto the flames of the original issue and the original offence that was taken".

The row intensified on Wednesday when France Soir, alongside the 12 original cartoons, printed a new drawing on its front page showing Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy figures sitting on a cloud, with the caption "Don't worry Muhammad, we've all been caricatured here."

MUSLIM CONCERNS OVER ART.

1989: Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini calls on Muslims to kill British author Salman Rushdie for alleged blasphemy in his book The Satanic Verses
2002: Nigerian journalist Isioma Daniel's article about Prophet and Miss World contestants sparks deadly riots
2004: Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh killed after release of his documentary about violence against Muslim women
2005: London's Tate Britain museum cancels plans to display sculpture by John Latham for fear of offending Muslims after July bombings.

France Soir's editor, Jacques Lefranc, was dismissed by the paper's French-Egyptian owner after the decision to publish the cartoons. But journalists at France Soir stood by their editor's decision on Thursday, printing a front page picture and editorial in which they strongly defended the right to free speech. The man named to replace Mr Lefranc in an interim role, Eric Fauveau, said he would not take up the post. Mr Fauveau called the dismissal of Mr Lefranc "inopportune". Jyllands-Posten has apologised for causing offence to Muslims, although it maintains it was legal under Danish law to print the cartoons.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TSVANGIRAI OF ZIMBABWE ESCORTED TO BORDER!

Mugabe rival expelled from Zambia.

Tsvangirai's leadership of the MDC is under scrutiny. Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been expelled from neighbouring Zambia for allegedly violating immigration laws. He and his 10-member delegation were escorted to the border town of Victoria Falls early in the morning. Zambian authorities deny that they were being deported, merely asked to leave.
The BBC's Musonda Chibamba in Lusaka says Mr Tsvangirai's visit there a year ago was a highly publicised event and included a visit to the president. But our correspondent says little is known of this second visit or why the usually vocal leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) left Zambia so quickly and so quietly.

According to the Zambian immigration department, Mr Tsvangirai and his team were asked to leave because some members of the group were alleged to have presented false identities to officials. A spokeswoman for the department said the group entered Zambia three days ago as ordinary visitors. She said their expulsion had not been politically motivated - they had been treated like anyone else who presented false information.

But MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa challenged this explanation. "He followed all the relevant immigration laws to the letter," Mr Chamisa told a German radio station. The MDC has split over whether Mr Tsvangirai should continue to lead the party. His critics accuse him of going against party decisions, especially in his boycott of last year's senate elections. The MDC is set to hold a congress this month, which should hold leadership elections.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ENTIRE FINANCE MINISTRY SACKED!

Liberia ministry sacked for graft.

President Johnson-Sirleaf has promised to fight corruption. Liberia's new President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has sacked the entire staff of the finance ministry as part of her anti-corruption drive. She said the ministry's corrupt practices had embarrassed Liberia in front of the international community. On Tuesday, the president told all outgoing ministers to stay in Liberia pending a financial audit. Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf took power last month following elections intended to end 14 years of civil war. She is promising to tackle the corruption that has retarded the development of resource-rich Liberia for decades.

In recent weeks, there have been reports of widespread theft from government offices and their vehicles, with reports of outgoing officials leaving with everything, including carpets, desks and light fittings. During a surprise visit to the ministry, Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf said she considered everyone in the ministry to be political appointees, who were now relieved of their functions. "Those who are part of financial malpractices and scandals must give way for those who are prepared to do the will of the Liberian people." Sacked worker Robert BryantThe president said they would all have to reapply for their jobs and those who were successful would be given extra training to improve their skills

.
Employees at the ministry are reported to be shocked and angered at the move. "Government owes us months of arrears, we have family to feed, and how are we going to manage it? This is not the way to take decisions," sacked worker Robert Bryant told AFP news agency.
He said he would challenge his sacking legally.

At her inauguration last month, Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf described corruption as a cancer that was eating up Liberia's rich resources. The BBC's world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle says that as a relatively small country with a population of just three million, Liberia has the potential to be a middle income country. After a quarter of a century of misrule, Liberia's road network is in ruins, there is no national telephone network, no national electricity grid and no piped water.
Competition for diamonds and timber in Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone fuelled a 14-year war in Liberia, which ended in 2003 when ex-President Charles Taylor went into exile in Nigeria. An interim regime, made up of representatives of the warring parties ruled until Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf took office in January. The subsequent peace deal led to the election of Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CASH FLOW PROBLEMS FOR HAMAS!

Funding crisis looms for Palestinians.
By Robert Plummer BBC News business reporter.

The new Hamas-led Palestinian government may be facing the potential loss of international financial help, but a more immediate cash crisis is likely to come from closer to home. The Palestinian Authority's cashflow could be sharply curtailed.The salaries of some 140,000 Palestinian Authority employees largely depend on regular money transfers from the Israeli government which are now in jeopardy. The $50m or so that the authority receives each month from Israel helps to pay security officers, teachers and medical staff who, between them, support up to one-fifth of the Palestinian territories' 3.8 million people. This money is not aid, but income. It is customs duty and value-added tax, collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians, which is normally handed over automatically on the first of each month.

Israel's acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has now ordered a freeze on these payments, saying he will not allow "a situation in which money transferred by the government of Israel will somehow end up in the control of murderous elements". Mohammad Mustafa, an economic adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told BBC News that the authority would be unable to pay January's wage bill of $115m-$120m unless the money was released. He said: "People are used to receiving their salaries on time and unless we do that, there will be a real crisis." Mr Mustafa called on Israel to transfer the money, saying that Hamas had yet to form a government and the original, pre-election cabinet was still in place. "This is Palestinian money and it's badly needed and nothing's changed as far as we're concerned."

With other forms of taxation raising some $400m, the Palestinian Authority's core income is normally about $1bn a year, with foreign aid from the US and EU amounting to another $1bn. The EU as a whole has given about $600m to the Palestinians every year since 2003. Nearly half of that comes from member states, not from Brussels. Arab donors, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, also contribute regular sums. Some foreign money goes towards the Palestinian Authority's payroll, but most is earmarked for particular aid and infrastructure projects and is handled by UN relief agencies or non-governmental organisations.

Protests against unemployment are frequent in the Gaza Strip. Continuation of that aid is now in doubt, with both Brussels and Washington calling on Hamas to renounce violence and recognise Israel's right to exist before they provide further funding. However, even when the money comes in as planned, it is not enough. Well before Hamas' stunning election victory over the late Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, the authority was already running a monthly deficit of more than $50m and has repeatedly borrowed from banks to cover the shortfall. All this merely serves to exacerbate the harshness of life for the Palestinian population, half of whom are below the poverty line. Palestinian officials say unemployment in the Gaza Strip is running at more than 50%.

Such levels of hardship were, of course, a major factor in Hamas' electoral success. For the international community, it remains an Islamic militant group, officially classified as a terrorist organisation for the dozens of suicide attacks that it has launched on Israelis. But at home, Hamas has been winning increasing support for its charitable activities. These include the funding of schools and medical centres, as well as the distribution of food to those most in need.

Hamas has been paying for these services out of its own funds, but where does the money come from? The answer is considerably less straightforward than in the case of the Palestinian Authority. In 2003, US intelligence sources estimated Hamas' annual budget at $50m. Some of it is believed to come from Palestinian expatriates, who contribute to fund-raising drives carried out through charitable foundations and associations. Hamas has a high public profile in the Palestinian territories.Hamas' links to the worldwide Islamic Brotherhood are also apparently lucrative, with other branches of the movement in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia thought to be sources of funding. Hamas has always denied persistent reports that it receives financial assistance from the Iranian authorities. It is also unclear whether the group receives money from the Syrian government, although some of its top leaders live in exile in Syria and Lebanon.
Whatever the provenance of its funding, it is clear that Hamas does not have deep enough pockets to make up for the loss of international assistance to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas leaders have said they are looking to Arab and Muslim countries to step in and make up for any shortfall in aid.

But so far, Egypt appears to be falling behind the US and EU's attempt to use the threat of a funding crisis as a way of persuading Hamas to moderate its stance on Israel. Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman told journalists in Cairo on Wednesday: "Nobody will talk to [Hamas] before they stop violence, recognise Israel and accept agreements including the road map [peace plan]." It is not clear at present what countries not bound by peace treaties with Israel will do. Mr Mustafa, for his part, told the BBC that the Palestinian people should not be penalised for the outcome of the election. Victory for Hamas did not mean that Palestinians supported violence against Israel, he said. "I understand why [the international community] need to reflect the new arrangement. But according to opinion polls, 80% of Palestinians support a peaceful solution. The Palestinian people voted for change on domestic issues. They have not voted against the peace process."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TRAVEL BAN FOR SOME IN LIBERIA!

Liberian ex-ministers travel ban.

President Johnson-Sirleaf has promised to fight corruption. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia has told former transitional government members to stay in the country pending a financial audit. All former officials are to be audited in an attempt to ensure accountability and transparency, the government says. Last week the president said she would investigate allegations that officials had sold government property. The interim regime ruled from the 2003 ousting of Charles Taylor until Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf took office in January. Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf came to power promising to tackle the corruption that has retarded the development of resource-rich Liberia for decades.

"Consistent with its policy of ensuring accountability and transparency in government, the government of Liberia will shortly commission a comprehensive audit of all government agencies and public corporations," a government statement said. "In order to avoid a situation where vital questions are not answered during the audit, the government hereby calls on all former officials ... to remain in the country until such audit is commissioned and concluded." Competition for diamonds and timber in Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone fuelled a 14-year war in Liberia, which ended in 2003 with the election of former warlord Charles Taylor. Mr Taylor resigned and sought exile last year as a new rebellion threatened to overrun the capital, Monrovia. A peace deal led to the election of Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYA'S 'GRAFT' CONTINUES!

Kenyan 'graft' minister resigns.

David Mwiraria was accused of warning off investigations into Anglo Leasing. Kenyan Finance Minister David Mwiraria has resigned after being linked to a corruption scandal that has shaken the Kenyan government. The multimillion dollar "Anglo Leasing" corruption scam involved contracts for a company that existed in name only. Mr Mwiraria, who is one of President Mwai Kibaki's key allies, has said the allegations against him are false. The former anti-corruption tsar who made the allegations says he will testify before Kenyan investigators. President Kibaki has come under pressure from donors to live up to his 2002 poll pledge to curb corruption. Mr Mwiraria said he was stepping aside in order to clear his name, after he was mentioned in a report by the government's former anti-corruption chief John Githongo.

The 31 page report, leaked just over a week ago, alleges that he and three other top ministers blocked investigations into the Anglo Leasing Scandal. "The allegations made against me... cast serious aspersions on my character and integrity, have greatly disturbed me," said Mr Mwiraria, reading his resignation letter live on Kenya television. Mr Githongo resigned a year ago, amid reports that his life had been threatened because of his corruption work. He accuses the ministers of having links to a huge contract given to a non-existent company, Anglo Leasing, to print new high-technology passports, and build navy ships and forensic laboratories.

In a copy of the report obtained by the BBC, Mr Mwiraria, it is alleged, told Mr Githongo that it was felt he should "go easy" with his investigations into the affair. Later it emerged that Mr Mwiraria allegedly knew that a well-known Kenyan businessman, whose involvement in previous government deals has raised serious questions, was also linked to Anglo Leasing. The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says Mr Mwiraria's is the first-high profile resignation. It is understood that other ministers are meeting the president at the moment, she said. The other ministers mentioned in the report were Vice-President Moody Awori, Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi and sacked Transport Minister Chris Murungaru. Mr Murungi and Mr Awori have also publicly denied the claims.

Civil rights groups, church leaders and lawyers had urged Mr Kibaki to suspend the ministers until investigations are carried out. Mr Mwiraria requested that investigations were made into the Anglo Leasing affair "so that the truth and the facts of the matter can be established". "As I step aside, my conscience is clear that I have served the Kenyan people with dedication and honesty, and have not been party to any irregularity, criminal or unethical conduct," he said.

John Githongo says he stands by his allegations. Mr Githongo has agreed to testify before parliament's public accounts committee and also co-operate with Kenya's anti-corruption commission. And in response to Mr Mwiraria's resignation, Mr Githongo said that he stood by his report, which he alleges, proves Mr Mwiraria was a key player in the Anglo Leasing scandal.
International donors have urged Kenya's president to take tough action against any cabinet ministers found to be corrupt. The World Bank has delayed the release of $260m in loans to the country because of corruption allegations. In his report, Mr Githongo said President Kibaki had known about the Anglo Leasing scam but had done nothing to stop it.

BBC NEWS REPORT.