RUSSIAN ROUBLE FACES WORLD MARKET!

Russian rouble faces world market
By Damian Grammaticas BBC News, Moscow

Many Russians want their salaries in roubles. It's not long since the Russian rouble was seen as a basket-case currency. Even in Russia itself, people have shunned it preferring US dollars. Now times are changing. This weekend Russia is lifting all currency controls. The rouble will become fully-convertible, free for you or I to buy and sell. The Kremlin wants to establish it as a strong international currency. Supported by high oil prices, the rouble looks like being an attractive proposition. But removing currency controls also brings significant new risks for Russia.

Flying off the printing presses in Moscow are sheets of perfect new rouble notes as Russia prepares to float its currency. The rouble will be freely tradeable, joining the world of fully-fledged international currencies. Liberalising capital and currency controls will encourage investment into Russia - Alexei Kudrin, Russia's Finance Minister."It won't be a quick process to gain trust. Step by step it will come," says Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. "Liberalising capital and currency controls will encourage investment into Russia. Allowing free movement of money is an important part of our new market economy."

Back in the 1990s, though, nobody wanted the rouble. It was a decade of inflation, debt default, devaluation, and poverty. Russians literally tore up their roubles. How things have changed. Today, Moscow is awash with money, expensive shops and neon lights, its consumers driving a booming economy. "Everybody wants their salary in roubles... and me also, I want to have my salary in roubles now... because the dollar became cheaper" - Anya Artamanova, Russian residentMany still prefer to use the dollar. Everywhere on Russia's streets are exchange kiosks displaying today's rates for the greenback and the euro. But as the rouble has prepared to float it has strengthened, and the dollar has weakened.

From dollars to roubles
A trip to the bank is a regular part of Anya Artamanova's routine. She gets her salary in dollars - then swaps them for roubles. Today Anya is enjoying an espresso in one of Moscow's smart cafes. She works for an internet company. Her clients are billed in dollars, her staff paid in dollars. But all believe it's time to switch. "Everybody wants their salary in roubles and they came to me and say, 'Oh, maybe we change it,'" she says. "Me also, I want to have my salary in roubles now, because the dollar became cheaper. I saw it."

Stronger competition
Russia's businesses - like Europe's biggest dairy products factory in Moscow, which churns out yoghurt, milk and drinks - will also feel the change. A floated rouble will bring risks and rewards.
The company, Wimm Bill Dann, has modernised an outdated production line. As the rouble strengthens, everything it imports will be cheaper - each gleaming new machine that costs millions of dollars, not to mention its raw materials like sugar, fruit, packaging.

But Russia will face stronger competition from abroad, and inefficient companies will struggle, says Wimm Bill Dann's Marina Kagan. "In Russia usually production sites are not very efficient," she says. "You have a lot of people working there. Now we are all moving, we have all our plants automated so you don't need so many people to service those lines. "Traditionally it was impossible to lay people off. Now more and more companies are doing it, gradually, offering very good termination packages. They are doing it because there is no other way."

'Strategic raw materials' It is oil and gas that's making Russia, the world's second biggest exporter, increasingly wealthy. The country has built up huge currency reserves. The rouble should become a more universal means for international transactions and expand its zone of influence - President Putin.And to make the rouble even more attractive internationally, President Putin now has plans to charge foreign buyers of oil and gas in roubles, not dollars. "The rouble should become a more universal means for international transactions and expand its zone of influence," Mr Putin said in his recent State of the Nation address. "We need a stock exchange where oil and gas can be traded in roubles. Our goods are being traded on world markets so why not here - in Russia?"

It all means that the rouble may prove a very attractive prospect. Traders, investors, even central banks may start to buy up the currency. Yaroslav Lissovolik, a Moscow-based economist, says it all comes down to Russia's increasing strategic importance in supplying vital strategic commodities such as oil. "I think it increasingly makes sense for the central banks of the world to start thinking about re-allocating part of their reserves from currencies such as the dollar into the rouble," he says.

So television advertisements are exhorting Russians to know their currency. But the danger is that the rouble looks cheap against other international currencies. If speculators buy it up in huge quantities, Russia may not be able to prevent the rouble strengthening too fast. The economy could overheat and Russia would face new economic problems - not from an economy in meltdown, but from a buoyant currency.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA ROLLS OUT RAILWAY TO TIBET!

The railway snakes for 1,000km across 'the roof of the world'The highest - and most controversial - railway in the world begins operating on Saturday between China and Tibet. The Qinghai-Tibet line boasts high-tech engineering to stabilise tracks over permafrost and sealed cabins to protect passengers from the high altitude.

China hails the 1,140km (710-mile) line as a feat of engineering, bringing major opportunities to a poor region. But critics fear it will be used by China to assert its control over a contested border region. They also say the railway line threatens not only the delicate Himalayan environment, but also the ancient Tibetan culture. Three foreign activists were briefly detained at Beijing's central railway station on Friday after unfurling a banner that read: "China's Tibet Railway: Designed to Destroy."

Follow the route of the China-Tibet railway

The train line runs from the city of Golmud in China's Qinghai province to the Tibetan capital, Llasa. At its highest point, it will reach 5,072m (16,640ft) - beating by 225m a route through the Peruvian Andes that was previously the world's highest railway, the China Daily newspaper reports. In parts, the train line has been built on bridges elevated above the most unstable permafrost.

QINGHAI-TIBET RAILWAY

Connects Lhasa to existing China rail network
New 1,140km stretch cost $4.2bn
World's highest railway, reaching 5,072m
Oxygen to be pumped into each carriage
Restaurant car's rice cooked in pressure cookers, to mitigate effects of high altitude
Beijing to Lhasa to take 48 hours, cost $50-$160 one waY

In pictures: New railway
Railway raises fears

Elsewhere, cooling pipes have been sunk into the ground to ensure it remains frozen to stabilise the tracks. The train carriages have windows with ultra-violet filters to keep out the sun's glare, as well as carefully regulated oxygen levels with spare supplies to combat the thin air. Zhu Zhensheng of the Chinese railway ministry called the new line a "major achievement" that will "hugely boost local development and benefit the local people". But exiled Tibetan Lhadon Tethong said the railway was "engineered to destroy the very fabric of Tibetan identity".

"China plans to use the railway to transport Chinese migrants directly into the heart of Tibet in order to overwhelm the Tibetan population and tighten its stranglehold over our people," he said on a Free Tibet Campaign statement. The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader in exile since 1959, was more circumspect. "The railway line itself is not a cause of concern for the Tibetan people," his spokesman, Thupten Samphel, said. "How it will be used is the main concern."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ETHOPIANS FEARS AFTER LAND BATTLE!

Ethiopian fears after land battle.
By Amber Henshaw BBC News, Arero

The fighting has been between pastoralist clans. As sporadic clan killings continue in southern Ethiopia, where 90,000 people have fled their homes, local elders fear a flare-up of violence. Last month, more than 100 people died in fierce clashes between the pastoralist Borena and the Guji clans. Villages and houses have been left deserted in the area, some 500km south of the capital, Addis Ababa. The bitter dispute began three years ago when the government marked out a border between the two clans' zones. But this is the first time there have been serious clashes between them for about 15 years. People were killed from both sides.

Hundreds of those who fled have gone to the remote town of Arero to collect basic provisions like blankets and plastic sheeting from aid agencies. "They fought us, they killed our people and they displaced us from our homes, they burnt our houses," says Ali Aden, an elder from the Gabre clan, which was caught up in the violence. "We had to leave without anything - without even being able to pick up a stick. We have no clothes, we have no food. This sheet I am wearing was given to me yesterday." Arero's chief administrator Jaatanni Taadhii has confirmed between 27,000 and 29,000 people have sought refuge in his area. "The greatest need is for food, shelter, clothes and medicine," he said.

The most recent violence erupted after a series of confrontations - but one key incident was when the Guji drove their cattle on to Borena land without asking permission, against clan tradition. The Borena claim the Guji are trying to expand their territory but the Guji insist there has been a misunderstanding. "People were killed from both sides. The conflict area was vast and there are still dead bodies which have not been collected," says Guji elder Shiferow Henbi. "We all feel very strongly about what has happened - two brothers killing each other. The Guji are Oromo, the Borena are Oromo - suddenly this conflict happened and we are all devastated about the conflict with our brothers."

Clan leaders say some villages have been burnt to the ground in the fighting and people I spoke to in the area say the killings are continuing despite the fact that elders have appealed for calm.
Traditionally, the elders resolve minor disputes over land and resources but say this one is unusual because of the level of violence. They say they need outside help from an independent third-party. The Ethiopian Red Cross says peace-building in the area is essential.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ROW BRINGS DOWN DUTCH GOVERNMENT!

Row brings down Dutch government.

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk is known for her hardline stance. The Dutch government is resigning after losing the support of one of its coalition partners, says Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. D66, the coalition's smallest member, withdrew its support in a row over Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk. Ms Verdonk had threatened to strip former politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali of her Dutch passport because of false information she gave in 1992. Mr Balkenende said he would tender the government's resignation on Friday.

"Following this, the remaining ministers and junior ministers decided to tender their positions to the head of state, the Queen. This also counts for me, the prime minister," Mr Balkenende said on television. Mr Balkenende's announcement came after two days of debate in the parliament, where Ms Verdonk had done a U-turn on her stance on Ms Hirsi Ali, claiming she had found a legal loophole that would allow the Somali-born woman to stay. The D66 party pulled three ministers from the government because Ms Verdonk, known as "Iron Rita" for her tough stance on immigration issues, refused to resign over her treatment of Ms Hirsi Ali.

"A rift was created with my party and I feel there is no other way but to withdraw support for this government," D66 party leader Lousewies van der Laan told parliament today. Ms Hirsi Ali, 36, became an international figure after writing a controversial film about the treatment of women in Islam, which was directed by Theo Van Gogh, later led to his murder by a Muslim extremist in 2004.

Since admitting to lying in her asylum application, Ms Hirsi Ali has stepped down as a member of parliament and planned a move to the US to work for a think tank. The resignation of the government could lead to new elections in October.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ANCIENT GARLAND IN EGYPTIAN TOMB!

The tomb was discovered by chance.
Inside the tomb

Archaeologists in Egypt expecting to find a mummy during their excavation of a burial chamber in Luxor have instead discovered a garland of flowers. The 3,000-year-old garland is the first to be discovered. It was found in the last of seven coffins which archaeologists had hoped would contain the mummies of royal queens or even Tutankhamun's mother. Researchers and media had been invited into the chamber, near Tutankhamun's tomb, to watch the coffin's opening.The chief curator of Cairo's Egyptian Museum said the surprise find was "even better" than discovering a mummy.

Click for map of Valley of the Kings

"I prayed to find a mummy, but when I saw this, I said it's better - it's really beautiful," said Nadia Lokma. "It's very rare - there's nothing like it in any museum. We've seen things like it in drawings, but we've never seen this before in real life - it's magnificent," she said. Experts say ancient Egyptian royals often wore garlands entwined with gold strips around their shoulders in both life and death.

The burial chamber was the first to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings since Tutankhamun's tomb more than 80 years ago and was found by chance. It is the 63rd tomb to be discovered since the valley was first mapped in the 18th century, and was unexpectedly found only five metres away from King Tutankhamun's. However, the chamber's discovery did disprove the widely accepted belief that there were no tombs left to find in the Valley of the Kings.

The Valley of the Kings, near the city of Luxor in southern Egypt, was used for burials for around 500 years from 1540BC onwards.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SA BOY STARVES DURING INITIATION!

A South Africa teenager has died of malnutrition during initiation rituals in the Eastern Cape province. He is the ninth youth to die this year during the initiation process, which involves weeks spent living in the bush, followed by circumcision. Others died from circumcisions that led to infection or gangrene.

South Africa has taken steps to reduce the number of initiation-related deaths, but fatalities still occur every year - many in the Eastern Cape. In the latest case, a group of youths had been kept in the mountains for three weeks and denied food, Eastern Cape provincial health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said.

Is initiation worth the risk?

"They look like skeletons," Mr Kupelo told the South African Press Association, adding that a man who had posed as a traditional healer was expected to be arrested in connection with the death of one boy. "We don't understand why a human being can do something like this. This is against the custom, it is contradicting custom," Mr Kupelo said.

On Monday, another Eastern Cape youth died as the result of a botched circumcision - the eighth since the start of the current winter initiation season - and two more were hospitalised. One of the two who are in hospital was reportedly circumcised by a traditional healer registered by the government in terms of a scheme to reduce the number of botched circumcisions. There has been particular concern over circumcisions being carried out by inexperienced practitioners, in unhygienic conditions and using unsterilised implements.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYAN TRAFFICKER GETS 30 YEARS!

Five defendents were acquitted after the 18-month trial. A Kenyan man has been sentenced to 30 years in jail in the capital, Nairobi, for his part in one of Africa's biggest cocaine trafficking operations. A court in Nairobi found David Mugo Kiragu guilty. Five other suspects, including two Italians, were acquitted.

The 18-month trial has been marred by controversy with allegations of corruption and tampering of evidence. It followed the seizure by Kenyan authorities of 1.1 metric tons of cocaine worth more than $88m in 2004. Kenya is still seeking the extradition of a man, Mr Kiragu's brother, they believe to be the prime suspect who is serving a jail term in the Netherlands.

Traffickers' drug haven

The drug haul was destroyed in a very public display back in February to dispel fears that it had been sold. More than 950 sachets of cocaine were burnt in front of journalists, diplomats, members of the judiciary and the suspects arrested for trafficking the shipments. "This country is now described as a major centre for drug trafficking and this has created a bad image and name for residents of this country," Chief Magistrate Aggrey Muchelule said when pronouncing sentence, AFP news agency reports.

The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says poverty, corruption and geography all conspire to make Kenya an attractive transit and storage point for drugs.

BBC NEWS REPORT

CASHE FOUND AT SA SHOOT-OUT HOUSE!

South African police have found an arms cache in a Johannesburg house where 12 people died in a shoot-out on Sunday. Four officers and eight crime suspects died after police followed suspects from an armed robbery at a suburban supermarket, to the city centre. Police say they were "ambushed" at a house in the Jeppestown district, where the suspects are thought to have lived.
Of the 14 suspects arrested on Sunday, three were freed later. The rest are expected in court on Tuesday.

"We found a large amount of weaponry, high calibre weaponry including AK-47s," police spokesman Captain Dennis Adriao told the South African Press Association on Monday. Capt Adriao said gang members had ambushed the police when they arrived at the house. "They waited for the police to come into the house before opening fire ... It was a real massacre," he said. The three who were later released were living next door and were not linked to the shoot-out, Capt Adriao said.

The head of police for Gauteng province - which includes Johannesburg - said: "The robbers that were dealt with today were causing havoc in the whole province." Perumal Naidoo added that he was "proud of the four policemen who paid with their lives to ensure that Gauteng will always be safe". The BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says South Africans are no strangers to violent crime but even by local standards, this latest incident has caused alarm.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CATHY BUCKLE'S LETTTER FROM ZIMBABWE!

Dear Family and Friends,

Zimbabwe has been slowly and painfully slipping downwards for the last sixyears but this week the pace moved into top speed. It has been a shocking weekhere and everyone is reeling as services and prices have suddenly taken on alife of their own.Petrol was 260 thousand dollars a litre three weeks ago. Last week it rose to360 thousand a litre and this week it galloped to 500 thousand dollars a litreand then disappeared altogether.

In the supermarkets the price increases are staggering and everywhere you see people bending down and counting digits on stickers before turning away empty handed. The smallest bag of shopping now needs great handfuls of money. Many people have resorted to handing a huge stack of notes to the tellers in shops and asking them to use the money counting machines to arrive at the required amount because it just takes too long to count by hand. Either way the queues at the tills are endlessly long as tellers count and recount and then struggle to close their tills which bulge at the seams with our almost worthless bank notes. This week I met a friend who is a retired civil servant on a government medical aid scheme. The pensioner showed me a letter just received saying that with immediate effect monthly contributions had increased by nine hundred percent. No apologies, no excuses, no humanity - not even for a woman as old as PresidentMugabe.

In complete contrast to the realities of four figure inflation, this week a dramatic crisis arose with bread. Bakers put the prices up, the government ordered them to put it back down. Bakers took out a full page advert in the press detailing the increases of everything from flour and yeast to wages, packaging and delivery. At the price stipulated by government, bakers said they were operating at a loss and putting twenty thousand jobs at risk. The government refused to allow the price increases and called in the police. In a week over 280 bakers and shop assistants have been fined for overcharging. As the bread war continued all week the obvious happened and fewer and fewer shops had bread on their shelves as less and less loaves were baked.

It has been an absurd but now familiar case of denial by the government. The inflation figure is calculated and published by the government. From April to May the government said that inflation rose by 151 percent and yet they insist that the price of bread must remain unchanged. Its not funny just frightening but one absolutely classic report in the state owned Herald raised a grimace of a smile. A quote was given by an Assistant Inspector Police woman who said: "I can confirm that we are arresting bakeries for overcharging." Not bakers, but bakeries : bricks and mortar !Some months ago the opposition promised a cold winter of discontent inZimbabwe. Well, it's cold and we are all very very discontented and winter ishalf way in and now...? Thanks for reading, until next week, love cathy

Copyright cathy buckle 24 June 2006. http://africantears.netfirms.comMy books "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available from:orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com

DICING WITH DEATH ON SA TRAINS!

Dicing with death on SA trains
By Franz Kruger BBC News, Johannesburg.

Train surfing involves different and often very dangerous moves. Thabo Thedise knows his hobby is dangerous. "Yes, I can fall, but I can phone my mom, she can take me to the doctor," he says. The tall 19-year-old is one of Johannesburg's "train surfers": mostly young men who perform daring stunts on the city's commuter trains. The most dangerous is train surfing proper, standing on top and dodging bridges and high-power cables. Then there's a trick that involves swinging out of a door as the train travels through a tunnel and running along the sides.
The mildest, and most common, move involves jumping off the train as it begins moving, and jumping back on board again.

It's a miracle that boy is alive - Ruth Motsemme, grandmother. If he dies, so be it, Thabo says, to boisterous laughter from the crowd that surrounds him at central Johannesburg's Park Station. His mother is a member of a burial society who will pay for the funeral. "They will cry and they will bury me. I will be a born again. You know anytime you are going to be born again. I might be a white boy." The group disperses, laughing. "I have to go and attend to some chicks," Thabo says with a swagger.

Johannesburg's commuter trains have seen an upsurge in train surfing, partly because of the long-running security guard strike that has only just been settled. Lebohang Motsamai, a strapping young man with hair braided tightly, describes another move, known as "gravul" from the gravel on the tracks: "I get under the train, when it is in motion, and kick the stones, kin, kin, I play with my legs."

The easiest manouvre is jumping on and off a moving trainSurrounded by a clutch of admirers, he says he plays these games to impress girls. "Because when I do this, they are going to love me. They are going to say, eish, this boy is clever." Some miles away, Desmond Motsemme, 15, is lying in hospital. His arms are tied to the rails of his bed because he's become aggressive in his disorientation. It's visiting time, and his doting grandmother and mother are there every day, talking softly and feeding him yoghurt. After weeks in hospital, slowly mending, he can still hardly speak. He fell while swinging out of a train, trying to retrieve his cap that had flown off. The result: severe concussion, and most of his scalp ripped off.

His grandmother, Ruth Motsemme, says the injuries were terrible to see. "I couldn't look at him, really, like that. The skin of the head was just off, from here to here, he was terribly swelling, and bleeding badly. Most of the kids see dying as a way of resting from all these problems, from all these issues that life is throwing at them Nonhlanhla Gasa, social worker"It was upsetting me to look at him like that. I couldn't believe that boy would survive, it's a miracle that boy is alive." Mrs Motsemme says she spoke to him about the dangers of playing these games just days before the accident, but nothing seems to help: "I said to him, please my boy, that is the train, it is steel, it is going to kill you."

Metrorail, the company that runs the commuter trains, says it is deeply concerned about the phenomenon. The company keeps records of the accidents, injuries and suicides on its system, which transports over 500,000 people a day in the greater Johannesburg area. Although the company won't release the figures, press reports about accidents have become a regular phenomenon. Metrorail's manager of educational projects, Dolly Gaelesiwe, is charged with visiting schools to talk to the kids about how dangerous the trains are.

But she also finds it very difficult to get through to them: "You know, whenever I go to schools I say guys, I'm an aunt, granny, mother - to me every child is my child. I don't like what you are doing. Why are you doing it? It worries me a lot because you see these kids getting hurt every day. This is a national crisis, it is a real national crisis."

One person who thinks she has an idea of what fuels train surfing is Nonhlanhla Gasa, a social worker with the counselling and support group Childline. She says that risk-taking is normal adolescent behaviour, but that it has a particular edge for kids from depressed communities. "Nowadays there is a lot of things happening at home, domestic violence in communities, children's rights are violated left, right and centre. "So children want to prove themselves, they want to attract attention in so many dangerous ways, from the people. It can be peer pressure, they want to see who is stronger than who."

Life is cheap, she says, and when the teenagers shrug off the possibility of death, it's not just bravado. "For them life really doesn't matter. Most of the kids see dying as a way of resting from all these problems, from all these issues that life is throwing at them that they cannot take." Now that the security guard strike is over, the incidents may become less frequent.
But the teenagers' delight in risk-taking is unlikely to disappear, and nor are the too-often disastrous consequences.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

URBAN CHANGE FOR RURAL CHINA!

Urban change for rural China.
By Carrie Gracie Wuxi County, west China.

Deep in Wuxi County in the west of China, a sleepy village is undergoing radical change - a symbol of China's economic revolution. Everything is about to change for White Horse Village.

Watch the report

No-one has ever heard of Wuxi County, let alone White Horse Village, and in a way, that's why we chose it. It's the China that doesn't figure in the economic miracle, the China of 700 million farmers still eking a living out of tiny plots of land. But it's now symptomatic of one of the most important stories in China, the story of whether Beijing can take an ancient brooding hinterland of subsistence farmers and drag it into the narrative of rising 21st century superpower.

Cultural revolution
Until now White Horse Village has been sheltered from the great convulsions of Chinese history.
True, the land was collectivised after the Communist revolution, people here died of hunger during Chairman Mao's Great Leap Forward, and the party secretary spent his Cultural Revolution marching and flag waving like teenagers across China.

Work has already started on transforming the landscapeBut location has been both curse and blessing to White Horse Village. Tucked in behind the mountains that rise to the north of the Yangtse's famous Three Gorges, it's always been too remote to play a role in China's triumphs or its catastrophes. All that is about to change.

Megalopolis
The Three Gorges project is nearing completion. It's reservoir will bring ocean going ships to the quays of Chongqing. By some counts already the world's biggest city, Chongqing and its population of 32 million are busy reinventing themselves. The hope is that this gritty fogbound megalopolis can do for China what Chicago did for the United States in the 19th century: open up the interior, shift the country's centre of gravity west and kick-start an economic superpower.

Within three years a motorway will run from Chongqing to Wuxi County. A new high rise county capital will be built, and White Horse Village marks the spot. The people of White Horse Village are some of the poorest citizens of this proud new city state. Until now, their only means of escape from subsistence farming was to move in search of factory of construction jobs on the coast, the muscle behind China's economic miracle.

Now the miracle is coming to them. Around 500m farmers need jobs in services and industry according to Beijing's count, and coastal cities can't absorb them. Beijing's answer is that new cities must rise in the fields instead. Within three years a motorway will run from Chongqing to Wuxi County. A new high rise county capital will be built, and White Horse Village marks the spot.

Sacrifices
There are very detailed plans for the new county capitalChina's progress is unforgiving, the past not permitted to stand in the way of the future. Like many other nameless villages before it, White Horse Village must make the necessary sacrifice. All of its emerald rice fields are disappearing under concrete. The houses the farmers built themselves, houses they were married in, houses their children were born in, are being demolished. Even the ancestors have to go. Their very graves are being moved. I've worked on these fields for decades. It's the same land my ancestors farmed for hundreds of years. But we have to keep in step with the authorities - Xiang Ciaguo, Communist Party Secretary, White Horse Village.

Not surprisingly, feelings can run high. Last year alone, Beijing recorded 74 000 violent protests nationwide, many of them over the expropriation of land and property. Some have ended in pitched battles, arrests, even murders. The law says the land belongs to the Chinese nation not to individual farmers. There are rules governing compensation for their usage rights. But that still leaves farmers watching their livelihood and their identity disappear overnight as developers turn enormous profits. Houses are private property. According to the law, that makes them harder for the government to expropriate and the language is certainly all about persuasion, compensation and the good of the next generation. It helps that the houses of White Horse Village are to make way for White Horse High School. The plans show dormitories, concert hall and tennis courts; and where the party secretary's house stands now, the school swimming pool.

Hard work
A new revolution is taking place in this sleepy corner of western China"It's natural for us to feel sad," Xiang Ciaguo, the local Communist Party Secretary told me as dragon flies danced on the village fish pond and a ladybird crept noiselessly up a maize stalk behind him. "I've worked on these fields for decades. It's the same land my ancestors farmed for hundreds of years. But this school is an important project and we have to keep in step with the authorities. As long as we can make a good job of the compensation our living standards won't be worse than farming. Farming is really hard work." Will the farmers be persuaded to sign up for demolition? Will they get their compensation and what will they spend it on? How will they adjust to urban living and reinvent themselves as another workshop of the world?

Over the coming three years, as the demolitions gather speed and the city, school and motorway are built, Newsnight plans to follow life in White Horse Village: a portrait in miniature of China's transformation.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GHANA BOSS PRAISES HISTORIC WIN!

Coach Ratomir Dujkovic thinks his side's qualification for the World Cup knockout stages heralds the start of a new era for football in Ghana. The World Cup debutants clinched their place in the second round with a 2-1 victory over the United States. Dujkovic said: "This is a historic moment for us, we are very happy. "This is a starting point for all Ghanaians, for this group of players and myself. The first time in the World Cup and we come in the world's top 16."

Highlights: Ghana 2-1 USA

He added: "We didn't play as we usually do but USA are a hard-working team. We are not afraid of any team. We are Africa's Brazil - Stephen Appiah. "They pushed us hard all the time so we're very satisfied and very happy."

Ghana will now meet Brazil in the second round, but will be without their influential midfielder Michael Essien who is suspended after picking up his second yellow card. But the Chelsea star is hoping that his country can knock out the tournament favourites. He said: "We did our best today. We did it for Ghana and the whole of Africa so they should keep cheering us." And Stephen Appiah echoed his team-mates' confidence. He said: "We are representing the whole continent of Africa and that's great. We are not afraid of any team. We are Africa's Brazil."

BBC SPORTS NEWS

CAMEROON GIRLS BATTLE BREAST IRONING!

Cameroon girls battle 'breast ironing'
By Randy Joe Sa'ah BBC News, Yaounde.

The campaign hopes to spare girls physical and emotional pain. A nationwide campaign is under way in Cameroon to discourage the widespread practice of "breast ironing". This involves pounding and massaging the developing breasts of young girls with hot objects to try to make them disappear.

Statistics show that 26% of Cameroonian girls at puberty undergo it, as many mothers believe it protects their daughters from the sexual advances of boys and men who think children are ripe for sex once their breasts begin to grow. The most widely used instrument to flatten the breasts is a wooden pestle, used for pounding tubers in the kitchen. Heated bananas and coconut shells are also used.

Student Geraldin Sirri recounted her painful experience. "My mother took a pestle, she warmed it well in the fire and then she used it to pound my breasts while I was lying down. She took the back of a coconut, warmed it in the fire and used it to iron the breasts. "I was crying and trembling to escape but there was no way." Another woman from Mamfe in south-west Cameroon told me she ironed her own breasts as a girl so that she would not be forced into early marriage as is the practice in her village. "I wanted to go to school like other girls who had no breasts," Emilia said. Many mothers have no regrets about ironing their daughter's breasts.

Most tools are warmed before pounding the girls' chests."Breast ironing is not a new thing. I am happy I protected my daughter. I could not stand the thought of boys spoiling her with sex before she completed school," one woman explained. "Unfortunately, television is encouraging all sorts of sexual immorality in our children." Anthropologist Dr Flavien Ndonko says that breast ironing is not an effective method of preventing early sex and pregnancies because many of the girls still become pregnant. He recommends plain talking between parents and their daughters. "What you have to really do is talk about the issue of sexual reproductive health with the child. So that she is aware about what it means growing up and having breasts or having periods," he says.

With the help of sponsors, a group of teenage girls called the Association of Aunties has produced a television campaign to expose the problems of breast ironing. "Massaging the breasts of young girls is very dangerous. This is harmful to health... Do not force them to disappear or appear - allow them to grow naturally," one of the adverts says. So far, no research has taken place on the medical effects of breast ironing. If you use very hot objects, if you pound on the breast at this tender age when the structures are developing of course you could cause damage - Prof Anderson Doh.

However, Prof Anderson Doh, a cancer surgeon and director of the state-owned Gynaecological Hospital in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, says the practice is dangerous. "There are structures in the breast made of connective tissue. Now if you over iron the breast, if you use very hot objects, if you pound on the breast at this tender age when the structures are developing of course you could also cause damage," he says. The victims do have protection under the law, as long as the matter is reported within a few months, lawyer Buba Ndefiembu says.

If a medical doctor determines that damage has been caused to the breasts, then the person responsible can go to jail for up to three years. This does not always deter mothers who see their daughters hitting puberty earlier and earlier thanks to better living standards. But the Association of Aunties hopes their campaign will start to change attitudes and spare other girls future physical and emotional pain.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RED CROSS VOTES TO ADMIT ISRAEL.

The new non-religious symbol can be used anywhere it is needed. The Red Cross humanitarian movement has voted by a large majority to admit Israel, ending decades of isolation. The Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) has sought membership since the 1930s, but it objected to using the traditional cross or crescent symbols.

The breakthrough came with approval of a third emblem, the Red Crystal, to identify relief and emergency workers. A vote was held after Muslim states opposed Israel's membership over the status of land it occupied in 1967. The same meeting of the international Red Cross and Red Crescent movement in Geneva approved membership for the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC). It had been excluded because the statutes only allow relief societies from sovereign states to join, but the rule was specifically modified to include the PRC.

It is hoped that the move to upgrade both societies from observer status will help engender better co-operation, say Red Cross officials. It comes amid a worsening of the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories, with three botched Israeli missile strikes in Gaza killing 13 Palestinian civilians in the last 10 days. The Red Cross and Red Crescent conference in Geneva had hoped for a universal consensus on Israel's admission, but the agreement almost collapsed when Syria raised objections over Israel's role in the occupied Golan Heights.

Used in conflict zones to protect medics and civil defence teams.Original symbol, reverse of Swiss flag, adopted in 1864 Red Crescent first used by Ottoman Empire in 1870s; formally recognised in 1929; used by 33 of 185 RC societiesRed Crystal can be used alone or in combination with recognised symbolsThe issue was then put to a vote, in which 237 states and societies voted for the changes, with 54 voting against and 18 abstaining.

This gave the necessary two-thirds majority to modify the movement's statute and allow the change of emergency relief symbols. An amendment demanding that the movement's rules apply to all the occupied territories - putting them under Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian responsibility - was also rejected. Correspondents say the Red Cross traditionally tries to work by consensus and to avoid potentially bruising ballot box confrontations among members. The chair of the American Red Cross, Bonni McElveen-Hunter, said it would now pay about $45m in dues it has withheld since 2000 because of Israel's exclusion.

The Red Cross symbol - the reversal of the colours on the Swiss national flag - was adopted in 1863 when the organisation was set up to care for wounded soldiers. The reversed Swiss flag was meant to signify neutralityMuslim countries objected to the use of the cross symbol, which is redolent of the Crusades in medieval times, and have used a crescent instead since the 19th Century. But until now, members have baulked at introducing a third symbol - a situation exacerbated by international opposition to Israel and its post-1967 occupation of Arab lands.
The new symbol, a red square at an angle on a white background, can be used by any relief teams in areas where there is sensitivity about Christian or Muslim symbols.

Israelis, including military medics, will be able to use the crystal by itself on a white flag. On their own territory - or with the agreement other states participating in UN operations abroad - they will be able to combine it with the star of David. Under the Geneva conventions relief workers and ambulances bearing Red Cross-authorised symbols are protected under international law and must be granted free access to people in need of help. In the past, RC officials have argued that having too many emblems could compromise their protection.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROFILE - FAZUL ABDULLAH MOHAMMED.

Profile: Africa's most-wanted terror suspect.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the man who the United States suspects is in Somalia, is one of the most wanted al-Qaeda suspects. He has been indicted by the US government for his alleged involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. He is also thought to have masterminded the simultaneous attacks on the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa and a missile strike on an Israeli charter flight in 2002.

The FBI has put a $5m bounty on his head. Mr Mohammed is on the US Government's list of 26 "most wanted terrorists" and has a $5m bounty on his head. The US believes he is one of many "foreign terrorists" being given shelter in Somalia and has asked the Somali group that now controls Somalia's capital to hand him over - despite repeated denials from Union of Islamic Courts that it is not harbouring foreign Islamic fighters.

He first came to the attention of US investigators after the East Africa embassy attacks. He is thought to be in his early 30s and is said by the FBI to be a master at using aliases, having evaded the agency for years. He is thought to have headed home to the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean immediately after the attacks, but as FBI agents tried to trace him there, he boarded a plane to the Gulf and disappeared without trace. According to Ahmed Rajab, editor of the magazine Africa Analysis which has published reports on Mr Mohammed, the FBI says that during a search of Mr Mohammed's home, investigators found computers that contained evidence linking him to the al-Qaeda network. They also claim to have found a number of passports of different nationalities.

Mr Mohammed was born in the Comoros Islands in the early 1970s. He is thought to have attended school in Saudi Arabia. Little more is known about him until he surfaced in East Africa in the late 1990s. Since then, like many suspected al-Qaeda operatives, he has been able to exploit the region's lax law enforcement and porous borders to move around and avoid detection. According to reports, US agents believed they had tracked him down to Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US. He was allegedly identified as one of a number of suspected al-Qaeda operatives to have set up base in Monrovia, as part of a plot to funnel diamonds and weapons through West Africa.

According to a report published in 2002 after a joint investigation by European intelligence agencies, the Pentagon planned to send a special forces team to Africa to snatch Mr Mohammed, but had to abandon the plot because his identity could not be confirmed. Before sightings by Kenya security operatives in Somalia, his last known whereabouts was on the island of Lamu off the north-eastern Kenyan coast where he was posing as a Muslim teacher, Ahmed Rajab says.
Mr Mohammed was said to have taken on a different name and got married there. The FBI's website says he speaks French, Swahili, Arabic, English and Comoran and describes him as a casual dresser.

"Mr Mohammed likes to wear baseball caps... He is very good with computers," his profile says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RAPE IN WAR A GROWING PROBLEM!

Displaced women, such as these in Darfur, are at risk. Rape and sexual violence in conflict appear to be worsening and very little is being done to tackle the problem, a major UN conference has heard. The conference organiser, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), wants a UN declaration and extra funding. Delegates from 14 conflict-affected countries, half from Africa, are attending the conference in Brussels. The UNFPA says that, while sexual violence in wartime is not new, there is evidence it is becoming more common. The trend towards more civil and regional conflicts means civilians are targeted more than ever before, the organisation says.

Women and children are vulnerable, not just during armed attacks, but also in displacement camps, during aid distribution and even after conflict has officially ended. "Everybody in the world knows that sexual violence, especially in war situations, is wrong," Thoraya Obaid, the UNFPA's executive director, said. "But very little effort is being directed either to stop it or to provide support to women who are facing this kind of a crime in their own countries."

A UN report prepared for the meeting found that systematic rape was a prominent feature of the conflicts in Bosnia-Hergovina, DR Congo, East Timor and Haiti, and is ongoing in the Darfur region of Sudan. Sexual violence is a human rights violation, a global public health problem, and an impediment to recovery, development and peace - Kofi AnnanUN Secretary General.No-one knows exactly how many women have been attacked in the chaos of Darfur, the BBC's David Loyn says from the conference. But rape has been used there as a weapon of war to impose the will of one people on another - as it was in previous conflicts such as those in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Rwanda, he says. In Rwanda, officials estimate that 60,000 women were raped during the 1994 conflict, two-thirds of whom have been infected with HIV/Aids, the UNFPA believes. In Bosnia, the figure is put at around 40,000.

The conference has already heard testimony from the DR Congo, where sex with very young children has become commonplace in the mistaken belief it can cure Aids. Sexual violence has also been linked to development funding. Cases in Gaza and the West Bank have increased significantly since the EU and the US cut funding after January's election of Hamas, Luay Shabaneh of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics says. The three-day conference, sponsored by the European Commission and Belgium, is the first such international event to address the problem, says the UN. In a statement, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the global body took the issue with "utmost seriousness" and urged donors to "provide the backing required" to deal with the problem.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MINT WORKER JAILED FOR STEALING!

A worker at Australia's mint has been jailed for stealing thousands of dollars of newly-minted coins which he smuggled out in his boots. William Bosia Grzeskowiak was jailed for three years for stealing A$135,000 ($100,000) in new two-dollar coins over a 10 month period up to February 2006. He avoided detection by hiding the coins in his steel-tipped boots, sometimes putting 150 coins in each.

Grzeskowiak, 48, was arrested while trying to change the coins into notes. The judge criticised security at the Royal Australian Mint, in Canberra, saying it was "extraordinary" a worker could walk out with 300 coins in his boots. The mint has since upgraded its systems. Prosecutors said Grzeskowiak put newly-minted coins in his pocket, then transferred them to his boots while inside a lavatory cubicle.

Grzeskowiak said he started stealing because of an argument with his boss, and that he took the money because he enjoyed the challenge. Police found A$100,000 in coins hidden in plastic buckets and shopping bags in the garage of Grzeskowiak's mother.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE PITFALLS OF HDTV

HDTV may promise of crisp, clear images but it is still going through some growing pains, as the BBC's Martin Shankleman found out.

Q&A: High-definition TV

I think I might be starting to fall out of love with High Definition (HD). Don't get me wrong, I'm still very impressed, but that misty eyed infatuation has gone. And I can tell you the exact moment when it happened. It was 14.03 pm on Saturday 10 June, during England's opening match with Paraguay. Beckham was poised to take a vital free kick. As the rest of the team jostled in the penalty area, I suddenly heard a loud roar from the pub down the road. For a split second I was puzzled, but then realised these were England fans celebrating a goal, which according to my set had yet to be scored.

Sure enough, I looked back at my HD set and saw Beckham's kick soar into the back of the net.
The truth dawned, the HD picture was delayed by a second or so. That may not seem much, but it is enough to spoil your enjoyment of a match. A roar from the pub serves advance notice of what I was about to see on my set. In the case of a penalty shoot-out, the delay would ruin the drama completely. A BBC spokeswoman admitted this was a problem.

HDTV IN EUROPE

Commercial HDTV services began with Belgian channel Euro180 in 2004
Telewest launched the UK's first HDTV service in March 2006.
BBC and Sky began HDTV transmissions in May 2006
BBC to have 100% HD programmes by 2010

Martin Shankleman on the mesmerising lure of HDTV

"It is something we're aware of, yes", she said, and helpfully suggested the most practical answer might be to shut the windows. She explained the problem was caused by the complexity of handling the extra information. "Any digital signal requires processing time at the capture stage, coding and again when it hits your set-top box. "This inevitably leads to a slight time lapse. Normally this doesn't matter very much, unless it's a live event as you've found," she said. If this delay was a big disappointment, so too was the lack of authentic HD programmes, even on the dedicated channels.

I first realised this while watching Test cricket from the West Indies. Even though this was shown on Sky Sports HD, the picture quality lacked the tell-tale clarity. A Sky spokeswoman confirmed my suspicion that I had been watching a conventional broadcast relayed on the HD channel. "Not all programming on all high-definition channels is actually HD," she said. A quick survey confirmed a real dearth of authentic HD programming on the dedicated channels. Not a single programme on Sky One HD in the schedules for the evening of 20 June had been shot in HD.

The same went for the evening schedules for Sky Sports HD for 19 June. Sky admitted that their only HD channels with guaranteed 100% HD content were the film channels. None of these criticisms detract from the amazing quality this new technology delivers to viewers. But customers should beware of the pitfalls before making what could be an expensive investment.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WORLDCUP DEBUTANTS : FINAL GROUP GAMES!

World Cup debutants: Final group games.

Ivory Coast fans at last have something to celebrateEight people - one from each of the debutant nations at the World Cup - are regularly giving us updates from their country as they watch the tournament.
Here, Alfred Jaovi celebrates a dramatic win for the Ivory Coast against fellow panellist Tom Zivanovic's Serbia and Montenegro side. Both are already out, but only one managed to salvage some pride.
Kahumba Pedro from Angola and Nylah Ali from Trinidad and Tobago also describe their mixed emotions of pride and disappointment following their teams' exits.

Explanation of the World Cup group scenarios

BBS SPORT NEWS REPORT.

THE US WANTS TO END GUANTANAMO!

The US has faced mounting criticism over the camp.
Watch Bush's speech

US President George W Bush has said he would like to close the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay and send many detainees back to their home countries. However, he said not all the inmates would be returned - some would need to be put on trial in the US because they were "cold-blooded killers". The comments came after talks with EU leaders at a one-day summit in Vienna. Mr Bush then flew on to Hungary, where he was due to commemorate the country's 1956 uprising. The US has faced mounting pressure over Guantanamo Bay, the camp that currently holds about 460 detainees, mostly without charge. I'd like to end Guantanamo. I'd like it to be over with - US President George W Bush.

Guantanamo pressure grows
Profile: Guantanamo Bay

Mr Bush has said before that he wants to close the camp. But the BBC News website's world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds says his remarks on Wednesday were significant because he revealed more about how he might bring this about.

Leaders at the summit also focused on other issues:

Mr Bush urges Iran to respond within "weeks, not months" on an international package of incentives to get Tehran to halt its enrichment programme He warns North Korea against testing a long-range missile believed to be capable of reaching the US, saying it must abide by international agreements The two sides pledge to push for a world trade agreement that would benefit poorer nations They agree to strengthen co-operation over the search for long-term energy security. Mr Bush said he understood European concerns over the US detention camp in Cuba.
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EU-US Vienna declaration (58K)

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Bush commits to trade deal

He said 200 detainees had been sent home, and most of those remaining were from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Afghanistan. But he added that there were some detainees "who need to be tried in US courts". "They will murder somebody if they are let out on the street." Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who hosted the talks, welcomed Mr Bush's commentson an eventual closure - and offered to help negotiate with countries that are to take detainees back.

Calls to close Guantanamo have increased following the first apparent suicides by prisoners earlier this month. Lawyers say the three men who are said to have hanged themselves had been driven by despair. Dozens of prisoners have been released without charge, but others have been held for up to three years without being charged or facing trial. At present only 10 inmates face trial by military tribunal and the US Supreme Court is to rule by the end of June on the legality of the tribunals.

European leaders and human rights groups have said procedures at Guantanamo Bay violate the rule of law and undermine the fight against terrorism. "We can only have a victory in the fight against terror if we don't undermine our common values," Mr Schuessel said. The Bush administration has denied allegations of abuse at Guantanamo, and the military says it provides safe, humane care and custody of the detainees.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRANIANS SEEKING POLITICS-FREE SPORT!

Iranians seeking politics-free sport.
By Laura Smith-Spark BBC News, Leipzig.

The World Cup has been a chance for Iran to present itself in a non-political light - at least that has been the hope held by Iranian football fans. Fans have turned out in force, many from Europe's Iranian diaspora.However, the country's three matches have attracted both demonstrations by pro-Israeli groups and the threat of neo-Nazi action. Questions have also been asked about the ban in Iran on women going to football matches. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was forced to go back on a promise to allow women into stadiums earlier this year following outrage from clergy. Women in Iran continue to protest against the ban, even as thousands of female fans have been flocking to the World Cup games in Germany. Iranians in Leipzig ahead of their team's final match, against Angola, were hoping this would not be what their participation would be remembered for. They came in numbers - mostly from Europe's Iranian diaspora - to cheer on their country.

Many said they were in Germany for the football and national pride - and wanted politics to be kept out of sport. Shayan Sadeghi, 35, who lives in Hamburg, said: "We hope the World Cup will change people's opinions. I think it has already. People will have an image of Iran which is more positive, more joyful. "There are always people who want to mix sport and politics but I think sport is peaceful and we shouldn't mix the two." Iranians who travelled from their home country said it had been difficult for many fans to make it to Germany.

Iranian fans discuss Iran's female football ban.

In pictures

"I'm very happy to be here. There are a lot of people who wanted to come with a group but they haven't been able to get a visa," said Mohammad, whose own paperwork took several months to clear. "It was very easy for some people who support the regime in Iran to come here. They have certain advantages because they support the political establishment." Iranian fans are aware their presence in the tournament has not been without controversy.

About 1,000 people, among them Israel supporters and exiled Iranians, rallied in Nuremberg when Iran played its opening World Cup match against Mexico, losing 3-1. A slightly smaller number joined a pro-Israel demonstration in Frankfurt on Saturday, where the Iranian team was defeated 2-0 by Portugal - sealing its failure to qualify for the next round. Leipzig city spokesman Christoph Hansel said between 300 and 400 people had joined a rally against anti-Semitism on Wednesday, at which Leipzig's Mayor Burkhard Jung spoke.

Sebastian Voigt said protests were not against the Iranian people.Mr Jung told the BBC News website he had decided to speak at the rally because the views of Mr Ahmadinejad on Israel went against his convictions. But at the same he was keen to welcome Iranian fans to the Zentralstadion and the city. Mr Jung said he had been confident the police were well prepared ahead of the game to ensure there would be no trouble from far-right groups. The demonstration was completely peaceful and no right-wing activities had been reported to the police, he said. Leipzig police spokesman Marko Laske said 1,800 police officers had been deployed - 200 more than usual on a match day - because of sensitivities surrounding the Iran-Angola match.

"We are very pleased with the situation. No right-wing groups disturbed the rally - it was very peaceful," he told the BBC News website. "In the stadium, of course, the fans of both teams were very peaceful and we hope that will continue through the next few hours." Mr Laske said police had been placed on alert after a suspicious package was found about 100m from the stadium. People in the surrounding area were briefly evacuated as a precaution but the package turned out only to be advertising material, he said.

Two men wearing skinhead badges are watched by police in Leipzig.Sebastian Voigt, a member of the coalition against anti-Semitism which organised the rallies, told the BBC News website: "We are not protesting against the Iranian people or the Iranian soccer team but against the Islamist regime in Iran and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." Two men wearing skinhead T-shirts and badges were seen handing out leaflets - closely watched by police - as 50m away the coalition members prepared for their rally.One man, who would only give his name as Tim, acknowledged they were there because of the pro-Israel rally but denied they were racist.

Ahead of the tournament, concerns were raised that it might be unsafe for foreigners to go to parts of the former East Germany, including Leipzig, following a series of racially-motivated attacks. But the Iranian fans in town for the game appeared far more interested in football than race or politics. Kourosh Nazari, 18, from Dubai, said: "It's hard to change people's opinions. What can we do about it? We are football fans. "We are just here for our national team. Last night we partied in Leipzig - in a place where we are supposed to be scared of everyone. We've won all our games in terms of the support given by fans."

Mesam Heivary, 25, from London, said: "It's important for our country to be here. With all the problems and so on it's good for the nation to have something to celebrate. "It's great for Iranians to hang about with all the other people from different nations and walk arm-in-arm in the street. "I've not really been aware of the protests, which is a good thing. It gets on my nerves when I'm trying to watch football."

BBC SPORTS NEWS REPORT.

DR CONGO CHILDREN FACING ABUSES!

Many DR Congo children have lived with the fear of abduction. Children still face attacks, abduction and rape in Democratic Republic of Congo, often at the hands of government forces, according to a UN report. Despite some progress, such abuses "continue to a large extent with impunity" said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The report details 29 child abductions and 60 deaths in the last year. Although a five-year war ended in 2003, some children are still being abducted and forced to fight, it said. The problems appear to be the result of efforts to combine former militias with government forces, Mr Annan said. The country's five-year civil war was notorious for its use of child soldiers. Mr Annan raises particular concerns over the Congolese armed forces, reporting that their chief of staff was notified of more than 26 cases of recruitment of child soldiers and other violations in the last year.

UN peacekeepers are operating alongside government forcesThe 17,000 UN peacekeepers in the country regularly conduct operations jointly with the government forces. The report covers the period from July 2005 to May 2006 and says many of the abuses were concentrated in the lawless east of the country where rebel groups are strongest. Among the perpetrators it names are Mai-Mai militiamen and Rwandan elements either linked to the chiefly ethnic Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) or the Tutsi dissident General Laurent Nkunda. Although some progress has been made on combating such abuses, the report said there was little trust in the judicial system and many rights violations went unchallenged.

Mr Annan urged all parties to release children still present in armed forces and groups. According to a national commission on demobilising children, which was established in 2003, more than 18,000 children have been released from armed groups. "Thousands more have escaped from fighting forces on their own and are discreetly returning to civilian life," Mr Annan said.

An estimated 4 million people died in the war, most from hunger and disease.

The country is preparing for its first multi-party elections in 40 years on 30 July.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE WORLD IN 2050?

Viewpoints: The urban world in 2050.

The world is fast approaching the point where the majority of the human population will be found in urban areas.
The projection is that in 50 years' time, two-thirds of humanity will live in cities.
Six experts outline their vision of the urban world in 2050.

"I would like to see cities that restored a more intimate relationship with the environment" Hank Dittmar, Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment

"We're going to see a lot more of what I call 'post-modern urbanisation'" Michael Dear, author of The Post-modern Urban Condition

"By 2050 in the developed world, energy sustainability will have become a very big deal" Professor Nigel Thrift, author of Cities: Reimagining the Urban

"The more we rely on advanced technologies, the more cities seem to grow" Stephen Graham, human geographer and author of The Cybercities Reader

"An urban nightmare in less than 50 years' time is certainly what will engulf us on current trends" Walden Bello, director of Focus on the Global South

"What we are going to see is the reinvention of the notion of the political" Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority and Rights: from Medieval to Global

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SPONSOR POLICE GUARD WORLD CUP BRANDS

Sponsor police guard World Cup brands.
By Laura Smith-Spark BBC News, Stuttgart

Dutch fans were forced to surrender trousers and other branded items.The streets around Stuttgart's Schlossplatz are filled with colour ahead of the clash between Spain and Tunisia - some fans dressed in the red and yellow of Spain, others in Tunisia's red and white.
But what stadium officials are looking at is not which team people are supporting - but what company made their shirt.
Up to 1,000 Dutch fans watched their side play Ivory Coast in their underpants on Friday after they were denied entry to Stuttgart's stadium for wearing orange trousers with the name of a Dutch brewery which was not an official sponsor.
Faced with missing the game or ditching their orange lederhosen - given away by the brewery - they made the obvious choice.
Fifa officials said the trousers were an attempt at so-called ambush marketing - where a company tries to gain free publicity - and that they had to act to protect the interests of sponsors.
Legal action
American firm Anheuser Busch, which makes Budweiser beer, is among 15 major companies to have paid up to $50m (£27m, 40m euros) each for the right to be official partners at this World Cup.

The tournament's official sponsors want their rights protected
"Anyone can wear whatever they want but, if a company tries to carry out ambush marketing, Fifa must prevent that happening," Fifa communications director Markus Siegler told reporters.
"In common with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and Uefa, we do not tell individual supporters what to wear, but I will remind you that Fifa has already won a court case against a beer manufacturer who tried this sort of thing."
Supporters in any of Germany's 12 host cities can hardly fail to notice who the official sponsors are.
Coca Cola banners cover the wire fence of the Fan Fest public viewing area in Stuttgart, while car-maker Hyundai shows off its latest models at a stand by the entrance and the Mastercard logo is prominently displayed.
The Fifa Fan Shop sells the official Adidas replica kit - and at 60 to 65 euros for a shirt it may prove too expensive for some.
'Not about football'
Some supporters argue that the efforts to protect the official partners' commercial interests means the fans lose out.

AMBUSH MARKETING
1984: Kodak sponsors TV broadcasts, despite Fuji being Olympics' official sponsor. Fuji returns favour at Seoul 1988 Games
1992: Nike sponsors news conferences with the US basketball team. Michael Jordan accepts the gold medal for basketball and covers up his Reebok logo
1994: American Express creates runs ads claiming Americans do not need "Visas" to travel to Norway (for Winter Olympics)
1996: Nike buys out billboards around Olympic sites
2000: Qantas Airlines' slogan "Spirit of Australia" coincidentally sounds like games slogan "Share the spirit" to chagrin of official sponsor Ansett Air

Cristina Morante, who has come from Asturias to cheer on Spain, says she has opted to buy an unofficial 10 euro replica top because of the cost of a real one.
"We would like to take our own drinks into the Fan Fest but we cannot because they only sell the drinks they want to sell. The beers are very expensive in there," she adds.
Ramze Maamer, a Tunisian living in Stuttgart, says: "It's too much. It's not about football, it's just a marketing thing, the World Cup.
"If we have paid for tickets that should be enough. We are really hoping that in South Africa (in 2010) it will be different. The sponsor companies already have all the tickets, and not the fans."
Mexico fan Rudy Magallon, who has travelled from Los Angeles for the tournament, says he understands why the official partners want to prevent other firms grabbing free publicity.
But, he says, making fans take off their trousers is going too far.
'Much at stake'
"It's an embarrassment. I think it would make me feel unwanted," he says.

One of the highest profile brand rivalries is between Adidas and Nike
Viken Oijizmedjian, a Fifa spokesman in Stuttgart, told the BBC News website that individual fans need not worry because the regulations on what brands can be worn apply chiefly to players and officials.
"Individual supporters can wear what they want. If they come in their normal tracksuit, that's okay," he said.
"But if companies are trying to do ambush marketing, that is not allowed because it can be seen on television."
With so much at stake financially for the organisers and sponsors of major sporting events, it seems unlikely the rules will be any less strict in the future.
In fact, the organisers of the London 2012 Olympic Games have already listed a string of Olympic-related words and images that are off limits to all but official sponsors.
And mindful of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics - when Nike "ambushed" sponsors Adidas by buying up vast numbers of billboards around the Olympic sites - the London committee has already taken the precaution of booking almost all the city's billboard space during the games.
Marketing 'very important'
For Tunisian Sahbani Anis, visiting Stuttgart from Paris, the economic advantages an event like the World cup brings to host countries outweigh the restrictions imposed under sponsorship deals.
"There's a lot of marketing but I think it's very important because it is the reason why countries seek to organise the World Cup," he says.
"Without the marketing people would not go to the shops, buy the goods and so allow the economy of that country to do well.
"For example, next time the host will be South Africa and it will have the chance to relaunch its economy.
"Football is perhaps a way to get money into an African country it would not see otherwise. I hope we will see that in South Africa."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FANS CHEER WORLD CUP VIDEO CLIPS!

Fans cheer World Cup video clips

The Brazilian football team has proved a draw on TV and on the net. Football fans are turning to the internet to watch clips of the action at the World Cup, figures show. The official Fifa World Cup site has supplied more than 31 million streams of video highlights in the first week of the tournament. This is the first time video clips have been available free on the web.

But the figures pale in comparison to the TV audiences. Some 60 million people were glued to their TV sets when Brazil beat Croatia. There has been a surge in the numbers of people following the World Cup online compared to 2002 tournament. Fifa says that the official site of the competition is attracting an average of five million unique users a day.

The football has attracted worldwide audiences. The most popular day was Monday 12 June, when 6.2 million fans visited the website. That was also the day that attracted the most clicks, with 226 million page views. In the first week of the tournament, Fifa reported more than 1.2 billion page impressions. This compares to a total of two billion page views for the entire 2002 World Cup. BBC figures

Sports and gambling sites have been riding high due to the intense interest in the football. The BBC Sport website is the most popular online source for World Cup news in the UK, according by a study released last week by internet research firm Nielsen/NetRatings. More than 1.3 million football fans visited the site in the first week of the tournament. The study showed more than half of the number of people visiting sports websites chose the corporation

The BBC is also streaming more than 50 hours of World Cup football to UK internet users. But it can only show live video from matches broadcast on its television channels. By comparison, Fifa is showing video clips from all the matches for free.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROSECTION DEMANDS SADDAM DEATH!

The defendants could face death by hanging if found guilty. The prosecution in the trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has called for his execution as it delivered its closing arguments.
The prosecution said Saddam Hussein and two of his seven co-defendants should be put to death for war crimes.
The trial has now adjourned and judges will consider their verdict after final defence arguments on 10 July.
The defendants are being tried in connection with the deaths of 148 Shia Muslim villagers in the 1980s.
The men are accused of launching a crackdown in the village of Dujail after a failed assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein.
The defendants, who were all in court as the trial resumed, deny the charges against them.
Leniency
The chief prosecutor, Jaafar al-Mussawi, said on Monday: "We demand the maximum punishment for Saddam, [his half-brother] Barzan al-Tikriti and [former vice-president] Taha Yassin Ramadan."
"They were spreading corruption on Earth... and even the trees were not saved from their oppression," Mr Mussawi said.
The law calls for the death penalty and this is what we ask be implemented
Jaafar al-Mussawi,chief prosecutor

Trial timeline

Saddam Hussein, dressed in a black suit, muttered sarcastically from the dock: "Well done."
Mr Mussawi asked for charges against one defendant, Baath party official Mohammed Azawi Ali, to be dropped and for him to be freed.
The prosecutor also asked for three other defendants - Baath officials Abdullah Kadhem Ruaid, Ali Daeem Ali and Mizher Abdullah Ruaid - to be treated leniently.
Mr Mussawi made no specific calls on the fate of Awad Hamad al-Bandar, former chief judge of Saddam Hussein's revolutionary court.
Another prosecution lawyer, whose name has not been released for security purposes, had opened Monday's proceedings by saying defendants had "carried out a systematic, wide-scale attack" in Dujail.
"They carried out broad imprisonments of men, women and children, who were exposed to physical and mental torture, including the use of electrical shocks," he said.
The lawyer argued that the assassination attempt had been "fabricated" for "political aims".
Criticised
The defence has argued the crackdown was necessary in the wake of an attempt to kill Saddam Hussein.
It has also claimed that some of the 148 people the prosecution says were killed are still alive.
The trial has so far lasted eight months and has been criticised by some international legal experts.
Some said the defence had been given a disproportionately short period to present its witnesses.
The trial has also been marred by the killing of two defence lawyers and the resignation of the first chief judge in January.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOWETO SEEKS ITS PLACE IN THE SUN!

Soweto seeks its place in the sun.
By Peter Biles BBC Southern Africa correspondent.

Vilakazi Street in the Soweto suburb of Orlando West is the only street in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners have lived: former President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The Mandela Museum draws crowds of tourists every dayThe tiny red brick home that once belonged to Mr Mandela is now of one of Soweto's big attractions, where the tour buses begin rolling up from 0930. The museum's administrator, Bernadette Komane, says the tourists are often very emotional. "They are touched by the history of Mandela's house and Soweto. They often cry a lot. "Previously, people were afraid to come and visit Soweto, but now a lot of people are coming here," Ms Komane adds. "It shows they're more confident. They can see Soweto is not as bad as it sometimes appears on TV."

However, there is a mixed response from the tourists when they are asked whether they would spend a night at Soweto's new hotel or at one of the many bed and breakfast guesthouses that are opening. "I hear it's very safe and yes, I would certainly stay here", says Janice Hoffman from Boston in the US. But Matt Russo from New York is hesitant. "I'd have to think about it. I'm not sure, because it's probably dangerous walking in the streets. That may not be such a good idea at this time".

Some reassurance comes from McMillan Topisi who is involved in a private tourism protection unit close to the Mandela Museum and the Hector Peterson Memorial. A four-star hotel and conference centre will make visitors stay longer. "We're working with the police in monitoring crime. We have guys stationed here in Orlando West to look after the tourists, and everything is cool", he insists. Hapiloe Sello, the Marketing Manager of Johannesburg Tourism Company, hopes that in future, many more tourists will come to Soweto, stay longer, and gain a better understanding of South Africa's most famous township. "On average, tourists spend about three hours in Soweto. The only problem is that it minimises the expenditure levels," she says. "So we're trying to stimulate a demand for people to sleep over, spend a couple of days in Soweto, and enjoy the entire area."

The headquarters of the Soweto Tourism Information Centre are on Walter Sisulu Square in the suburb of Kliptown: the place where anti-apartheid groups signed the famous Freedom Charter in 1955. Walter Sisulu, for whom the square is named, was a South African liberation leader who once wrote that the history of South Africa cannot be understood outside the history of Soweto.

Bernadette says tourists are more confident about coming to SowetoHapiloe Sello says Soweto's significance has as much to do with its present as with its past. "Soweto has played a pivotal role in the political developments in South Africa," she says. "But there's also another side to Soweto. There's a vision, there's growth, and there is the potential to create a booming twin city to Johannesburg." Behind the line of street traders and hawkers on Walter Sisulu Square, a new four-star hotel and shopping complex are now under construction.

New shops are part of plan to create jobs in SowetoThe hope is that the new shopping malls, the hotel and the growth of tourism will all bring desperately needed jobs to Soweto. The township, which has traditionally been a pool of labour for Johannesburg, wants to become more than just a dormitory town. Few white South Africans ever venture into black townships, and Ms Sello has the job of changing public perceptions of Soweto as a place of crime and violence. "Our biggest challenge is encouraging domestic tourism and getting other races to come here. They need to appreciate Soweto for what it is today: fun, vibe, and soul."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWEAN CHARGED WITH HIJACK!

Zimbabwean charged with SA hijack. A Zimbabwean man has been charged in connection with Saturday's apparent hijacking attempt in South Africa. Tinashe Rioga, 21, a student, is accused of trying to enter the cockpit on a Cape Town to Johannesburg flight.

Passengers quoted by local media said a man armed with a syringe tried to take an air hostess hostage and demanded the plane fly to Maputo in Mozambique. The plane returned to Cape Town after passengers overpowered the man. Mr Rioga was arrested on arrival. The motive for the attack is unknown.

Mr Rioga, a student at the University of Cape Town, was not asked to plead during hisappearance in the Bellville Magistrate's Court in Cape Town. He was remanded in custody pending a bail hearing on 26 June. "It appears a passenger threatened a crew member with some sort of weapon demanding access to the cockpit," SAA spokeswoman Jacqui O'Sullivan said. "The passenger was subdued and no-one was injured."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SRI LANKA ON BRINK OF WAR!

Sri Lanka on brink of war Government troops assault church with grenades after bus bombing and warnings of Tamil Tigers 'fear and panic' attacks Dan McDougall in Kebitigollawe.
Sunday June 18, 2006The Observer

Violence escalated in Sri Lanka yesterday when government forces stormed a Catholic church where 200 people had sought refuge, opening fire and hurling grenades at civilians cowering inside.
Witnesses say at least five died and scores were injured. The military denied responsibility for the attack, blaming Tamil Tiger rebels who hours earlier had attacked a navy base in the same northwestern fishing village, Pesalai, triggering a naval and helicopter battle.
The past few days have seen by far the worst bloodshed since the often-violated ceasefire was signed in 2002 by the government and the Tigers, who control much of Sri Lanka's north and east.
In a hospital in Mannar, near Pesalai, injured villagers gave near-identical accounts of security forces indiscriminately shooting into the Our Lady of Victory Church. 'We were all inside the church when the navy and army broke in and opened fire. A grenade was thrown,' said Mariyadas Loggu, 46, being treated for hand injuries. 'If this is what the people responsible for security do, where can we go?'
Sri Lanka is again on the brink of all-out civil war. Analysts conceded last night that the Tigers may be returning to 'fear and panic attacks' on tourist targets - similar in scale to the 2001 suicide attack on Colombo's airport, which destroyed half the Sri Lankan Airlines fleet, temporarily wrecking tourism and economic confidence. Jehan Perera, director of the country's National Peace Council, said the crisis was entering its deadliest phase in a decade. 'The message coming from the Tigers is they will stop at nothing. They are saying they will also target civilians if their demands are not met. Or they could be trying to push the government into a war. It's clear a concerted campaign of violence is under way.'
Some of the victims of that campaign were buried in a mass ceremony amid a maelstrom of unrelenting grief in the town of Kebitigollawe on Friday.
Sixty-eight people - 15 of them small children - died on Thursday after a landmine, allegedly planted by Tamil rebels, ripped through a bus on the outskirts of the town. Even as the traditional Sri Lankan mourning flags hung limply in the humid evening air, the sound of retaliatory government airstrikes could be heard. And again last night the north-east of Sri Lanka was a frontline shuddering to the boom of fighter jets pounding alleged Tiger positions. Colombo's military also claimed that 37 people had been killed in a sea and land battle with Tigers yesterday afternoon.
In Kebitigollawe yesterday a senior Sri Lankan military source told The Observer that government planes had hit targets near the Tigers' stronghold of Kilinochchi, in 'direct' retaliation for the bus landmine, despite the fact that the Tigers continued to deny responsibility for the attack.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have fought for 20 years to carve out a separate homeland in the north and east for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million Tamils, largely Hindu, oppressed for years by the majority Sinhalese Buddhists. The 2002 ceasefire ended large-scale fighting, but violence has persisted, intensifying after the assassination last August of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar - leaving 600 soldiers, rebels and civilians dead in the past six months. Both sides have repeatedly said they want peace, but neither has shown the flexibility needed to make concessions. This month the Tigers walked out of talks in Norway without even meeting the government delegation.
Among political analysts the consensus is that neither side wants to resume peace talks on their current basis and both share the blame for the bloodshed.
For the villagers of Kebitigollawe, the failure of a diplomatic resolution to the crisis was all too apparent this weekend. At the height of the troubles in the late Nineties this area was a no man's land. In the past few days it has once again found itself at the heart of South Asia's most debilitating conflicts. On the dusty roads around the town traffic is scarce with many expecting another assault soon. Many made the journey to pay their respects to the landmine victims on foot.
'Why are we caught up in this?' cried Priyantha Mahesh, 37, on Friday, over his daughter Devinda's coffin. 'What has she done to be in this coffin? Who chose for her to die?'
Alongside Devinda, aged four, in the school hall, which had become a makeshift morgue, the caskets of 14 other children lay in a row.
The choking stench of death was inescapable as mourners filed passed the open caskets. Schoolchildren, accompanied by a saffron-robed monk, walked through the hall, staring open mouthed at the dead. Some recognised classmates, but the youngest remained impassive as if they were participating in some huge game.

World news guideSri LankaTimeline14.11.2003: Conflict in Sri LankaUseful linksTamil NetEelamWebDaily NewsIslandSunday LeaderSunday TimesSri Lanka web serverOfficial site of the government of Sri LankaSri Lanka NetDepartment of information

OBSERVER WORLD

JEREMY PAXMAN BIOGRAPHY!

Jeremy Paxman biography.

Jeremy Paxman began his television career as a reporter covering the troubles in Northern Ireland. Graduating in English from St Catharine's College, Cambridge, he moved to Belfast after working in local radio. During his three years there, he became the first full-time television current affairs reporter, specialising in investigative journalism.

In 1977, he moved to London to work as a reporter on Tonight, and after two years he became a reporter on Panorama. His assignments over the next five years took him around the world. It was during this period he wrote A Higher Form Of Killing with Robert Harris, an acclaimed history of chemical and biological warfare. His investigation into the mysterious death of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, Called To Account, won the Royal Television Society award for international current affairs.

It was while travelling in El Salvador researching for his book about Central America - Through The Volcanoes - that he received a call inviting him to present the BBC's new Six O'Clock News. In 1986, he moved to Breakfast News. He joined Newsnight in 1989, shortly before publication of his portrait of the British Establishment; Friends in High Places. He also hosted You decide with Paxman, in 1995. When University Challenge was revived by the BBC, he became chairman.

Jeremy was awarded a broadcasting award for outstanding contribution to television by the Voice of the Viewer and Listener in 1994 and 1997 and was given the Richard Dimbleby Award, BAFTA's most prestigious award for current affairs, in 1996 and 2000. In 1998 he won the Interview of the Year award for his famous questioning of Michael Howard.

Click here to watch Jeremy's interview with Ann Widdecombe and Michael Howard

In 2002 he was named presenter of the year at the Royal Television Society Journalism awards.

BBC NEWSNIGHT.

BURUNDI REBELS AGREE TRUCE PLAN?

Hundreds of thousands have fled the Burundi conflict over the years. Burundi's government and the country's last active rebel group have agreed to end hostilities and draft a permanent ceasefire deal in the next two weeks. Representatives of the government and the Hutu National Liberation Front (FNL) rebels signed a framework accord in Tanzania's capital on Sunday.

This follows nearly three weeks of talks mediated by South Africa. Observers say a deal with the FNL is seen as one of the final hurdles for stability after the long civil war. It is the only group still outside a power-sharing agreement aimed at ending the conflict. Although the government and FNL rebels agreed a ceasefire in May last year, fighting between the sides resumed after only a week.

About 300,000 people have been killed in the civil war sparked in 1993 by the assassination of Burundi's first Hutu head of state and democratically-elected president, Melchior Ndadaye. "The parties commit to engage in serious discussions aimed at ending hostilities and to reach a comprehensive ceasefire within the period of two weeks," the agreement signed in Dar es Salam by NFL leader Agathon Rwasa said, AFP news agency reported. The presidents of South Africa and Tanzania were among those who witnessed the signing, along with representatives of the African Union and the United Nations.

President Nkurunziza led the rival FDD rebels during the conflict.The accord would pave the way for the FNL's return as a political party involved in post-conflict reconstruction and development, South African foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa was quoted as saying. There are no details of how remaining disagreements have been overcome. A government official had said that the earlier sticking point was a demand by the FNL for the national army to be disbanded.

The FNL was the only one of seven Hutu rebel groups not to sign a 2000 peace deal which saw a power-sharing government installed last year headed by Mr Nkurunziza, a former Hutu rebel leader. The talks which began on 29 May were the FNL's first direct negotiations with the Burundi government since it was elected. During the talks, the rebels shelled the Burundian capital twice, killing one person and wounding at least 15 others, Reuters news agency said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.S. TROOPS SEIZED BY INSURGENTS!

US soldiers are not allowed to travel alone or without a convoy. Two US soldiers missing in Iraq since Friday were abducted at gunpoint by masked militants, witnesses say. A huge hunt has been launched in the volatile area south of Baghdad where the pair were last seen. Witnesses say they were captured after their Humvee vehicle came under fire at a checkpoint. A third soldier died. The US military has not commented on the witnesses' claims but says it will hunt for the men until it establishes what has happened to them.

In other developments:
US and Iraqi troops set up extra checkpoints in the insurgent stronghold town of Ramadi in an effort to restrict militants' movements, but say a full-scale assault is not planned In Baghdad, which was rocked by a string of explosions on Saturday, 10 bakery workers are kidnapped at gunpoint from a mainly Shia areaThe bodies of 10 men are found elsewhere in Baghdad, bearing signs of torture, police say An explosion near a university in the northern city of Mosul kills one woman and injures 19 people The US search for the missing soldiers has focused on the area near Yusufiya, south of Baghdad, where they were manning a checkpoint at a road junction.

Local farmer Ahmed Khalaf Falah said three Humvees were at the checkpoint when it came under fire. Two vehicles drove off in pursuit of the attackers, but the third was ambushed, he told the Associated Press news agency. He said seven masked men killed the driver of the third vehicle, before seizing the two other US soldiers.

A similar account appeared in the New York Times newspaper. "I heard the men shouting 'God is great!' and I saw that they had taken the Americans with them. The gunmen took them and drove away," Hassan Abdul Hadi told the paper. Coalition and Iraqi forces will continue to search everywhere possible, uncovering every stone, until our soldiers are found - US military statement. The US military quickly launched an effort to find its troops, searching from the air, on land and in the canals around the River Euphrates. It carried out house-to-house searches on Saturday in areas near the site where the men were last since. "Coalition and Iraqi forces will continue to search everywhere possible, uncovering every stone, until our soldiers are found, and we will continue to use every resource available in our search," a statement said on Sunday.

In the US, White House spokesman Tony Snow said he had no information on the fate of the soldiers. "I don't want to try to create the impression that they're dead or alive," he said. "We're just simply trying to find them and we're hoping that they're alive." It is believed to be the first time in more than two years that US soldiers have been at the centre of kidnap fears. Sergeant Keith Maupin was seized in April 2004 when a fuel convoy was ambushed. A video purporting to show his death has not been authenticated and the US says it continues to search for him.

US soldiers in Iraq are regularly attacked and are forbidden from travelling alone, or in individual vehicles. The area south of Baghdad where the search for the two missing US soldiers is being conducted is known as the Triangle of Death, because of regular fatal clashes between US forces and Sunni insurgents.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

REITER FLIGHT SHIFTS EUROPE'S FOCUS!

Reiter flight shifts Europe's focus.
By Irene Klotz Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Thomas Reiter is no stranger to long-duration spaceflightWhen astronaut Thomas Reiter climbed aboard shuttle Discovery on Thursday for a practice launch countdown, it was as close as he has ever come to flying on a US spaceship. But unlike half the US space agency (Nasa) astronauts assigned to Discovery's upcoming mission, Reiter is no rookie flier.

The German-born astronaut spent six months in orbit on Russia's Mir space station. Now, after nearly a decade, Reiter, 48, is preparing for a second long-term stay in space, this time aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The European Space Agency (Esa), which paid Russia for a crew slot, is counting on Reiter's flight to jump-start its stalled microgravity and life sciences programmes. "We have been waiting for quite some time," Reiter said in an interview.

Europe's primary contribution to the space station, the Columbus laboratory module, arrived at the Florida launch site two weeks ago, joining a long queue of space station components awaiting shuttle rides to orbit. Space station assembly has been on hold since the 2003 Columbia accident. Nasa grounded the shuttle fleet for safety upgrades and flew an initial test-flight last July. Columbus is expected to get on a shuttle flight some time next year.

Problems with the shuttle's fuel tank, which triggered Columbia's demise, reappeared during Discovery's lift-off last year. With flights on hold, costs to maintain the Columbus engineering team and research community spiralled. The Esa had spent between $6bn and $7bn designing and building the module, and another $500m a year for operations, said Alan Thirkettle, Esa's International Space Station Programme Manager. "The delays have imposed some difficulties," Reiter explained. "The main goal was to keep these people together. That was quite a challenge - we are all desperately waiting for the moment when Columbus will be docked to the station. "

Nasa hopes to launch Columbus next year, but the shuttle's flight schedule hinges on Discovery's upcoming mission. Managers plan to set a launch date for Discovery on Saturday following a two-day flight review. The target date is 1 July.

The Discovery orbiter is aiming for a July launch window"It's still not clear when assembly will resume. We're trying to use this time to foster the public consciousness," said Reiter, who will become the first live-aboard station crewmember who is not from the United States or Russia. Reiter will join cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and astronaut Jeffrey Williams, who have been living aboard the station since April.

With Reiter's arrival, the station returns to a three-member crew for the first time since the Columbia accident. The crew was cut to two to save on supplies while the shuttle fleet was grounded. "All of the agencies that are involved in the programme are looking forward to the moment when we really can utilise the station for its originally designed purpose: to act as a multi-functional research laboratory," Reiter said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE SEVEN AGES OF SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY!

Sir Paul McCartney turns 64 on Sunday. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney turns 64 on Sunday.
The singer, who wrote When I'm 64 for The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album, says his children have urged him to disappear for the day, which is sure to trigger a flurry of press attention.
Here is how his life has changed over the last seven decades.
CHILDHOOD: 1942 -1951
James Paul McCartney was born to a working class family on 18 June, 1942, at Walton Hospital in Liverpool.
His mother, Mary, had been a nursing sister at the hospital, and was given a bed in a private room for the birth.
Sir Paul was baptised as a Roman Catholic, his mother's faith, but religion did not play a strong part in his upbringing.
His father, Jim, was a gifted musician who played with a jazz band in the evening while holding down a day job as a cotton salesman.
Both Sir Paul and his younger brother Michael received piano lessons during their early years, but neither kept up the instrument.
TEENAGE YEARS: 1952 - 1961

Sir Paul's childhood home is now owned by the National TrustThe McCartneys moved several times during Sir Paul's early life, but eventually settled in a terraced house in Liverpool's Forthlin Road in 1955.
Just one year later, the family was struck by tragedy when Sir Paul's mother died of breast cancer, aged 47.
Her death had a huge impact on Sir Paul. He referred to her in the lyrics of Let It Be, singing: "When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me".
Soon after she passed away, Sir Paul asked his father to buy him a guitar, and the young musician learnt to play by imitating American R&B hits he heard on the radio.
In October 1957, Sir Paul auditioned for John Lennon's band, The Quarrymen, at a church fair and was asked to join as the group's third guitarist.

One of the band's earlier names was Johnny and The MoondogsThe pair began writing songs together and several of their earliest hits were composed in the house on Forthlin Road, including Love Me Do and I Saw Her Standing There.
It was also about this time that Sir Paul wrote When I'm 64, and the band are reported to have played it early concerts.
After decamping to West Germany to play a residency in the Indra Club in Hamburg, the band - now rechristened The Beatles - returned to Liverpool in 1960.
It was at a gig in the Cavern nightclub that they were seen by Brian Epstein, who offered to become their manager.
BEATLEMANIA: 1962 - 1971
Epstein secured The Beatles an audition with Decca on New Year's Day 1962, but the record company decided not to offer the band a contract.

The Beatles got their famous "moptop" haircuts in GermanyHowever, the manager eventually persuaded producer George Martin to sign the group to Parlophone Records in May 1962.
Beatlemania was not long coming. The group's first single, Love Me Do, reached number four in October, and by August 1963 they spent seven weeks on top of the charts with She Loves You.
By then, The Beatles were household names, with Sir Paul as the band's main pin-up.
Around this time, he started to date actress and party cake designer Jane Asher. Several Beatles songs are thought to be about their relationship, including We Can Work It Out and Here, There and Everywhere.
The band conquered America in 1964, after an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show was seen by a reported 73 million people.
When I'm 64 was featured on the band's milestone album, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1967.

The Beatles played to 400m people on the first global TV link-up. The vaudevillian song is atypical of the album, featuring a clarinet trio, rather than the psychedelic rock that characterised the rest of the record.
Many speculated it was a love song to Linda Eastman, who later became Sir Paul's wife, but the couple didn't meet until a launch party for the Sergeant Pepper album.
Sir Paul married Eastman in a low-key register office ceremony in 1969.
The musician claims he nearly forgot to buy a wedding ring after becoming engrossed in a recording session.
The couple had three children together, and Sir Paul adopted a daughter from Eastman's previous marriage.
By the time of their wedding, The Beatles were becoming more and more fractious, with musical and personal differences tearing the band apart.
Sir Paul released his first solo album, McCartney, in 1970 at around the same time as The Beatles' swansong, Let It Be.
Some copies included a self-written interview explaining the break-up of the band.
WINGS: 1972 - 1981

Sir Paul's wife Linda was a member of WingsIn the year that he turned 30, Sir Paul found two of his singles banned by the BBC.
Give Ireland Back To the Irish, released in February, was blacklisted for its political content, while December's Hi, Hi, Hi was thought to contain drugs references.
Both singles were recorded by the musician's new band, Wings, which went through a variety of line-ups during the 1970s.
Sir Paul's songs of this period were often derided by critics for being overly-sentimental, but they found great favour with the public.
Mull of Kintyre, a paean to his Scottish retreat with Linda, stayed at number one for nine weeks in 1977 and for several years held the record for being the highest-selling single in the UK.
Wings' other hits included the James Bond theme Live and Let Die, and Band On The Run.
In 1980, Sir Paul was arrested in Tokyo's Narita airport for possession of marijuana. He spent ten days in prison before being released and deported to the UK.
In December that year, Sir Paul's former bandmate and writing partner, John Lennon, was shot dead on the steps of his New York home.
SOLO: 1982 - 1991

In the 1980s, Sir Paul's hits included Pipes Of PeaceAfter Wings disbanded in 1981, Sir Paul had continued solo success with his albums McCartney II and Tug Of War.
His duets with Stevie Wonder, on Ebony and Ivory, and Michael Jackson, on The Girl Is Mine, were big hits - but critics were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the saccharine nature of Sir Paul's work.
Even the public turned their backs on the 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street, written by and starring Sir Paul - although a single from the film, No More Lonely Nights, was a huge hit.
The artist's reputation for creating groundbreaking music took another blow in December that year when he released We All Stand Together, a waltz for Rupert The Bear credited to Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus.
1989's Flowers In The Dirt, which featured several collaborations with Elvis Costello, was better received, and was followed by Sir Paul's first world tour in a decade.
As he approached 50, Sir Paul made his first foray into classical music, scoring the Liverpool Oratorio with composer Carl Davis.
LEGEND: 1992 - 2001

The remaining Beatles recorded new songs for the Anthology albumsThe emergence of Britpop saw many artists citing The Beatles as an influence.
And, as fans of new bands such as Oasis started to investigate Sir Paul's back catalogue, so did he.
He helped to compile the Beatles Anthology albums, which unearthed alternative takes and forgotten recordings, and took part in the accompanying TV series.
Perhaps as a result, Sir Paul's next album, Flaming Pie, saw him go back to the skiffle and R&B songs that inspired The Beatles 30 years earlier.
He also kept up his interest in classical music, and released two albums of dance music under the pseudonym The Fireman.

Sir Paul's music has made him one of the UK's wealthiest entertainersIn 1996, Sir Paul opened the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, which was built on the site of his old school.
The following year, he received a knighthood.
However, the honour was overshadowed by the death of his wife, Linda, who succumbed to breast cancer, at the age of 56.
NOW I'M 64: 2002 - Present
Sir Paul's diverse interests came to the fore after his wife's death. He publicly exhibited his paintings for the first time, and released a book of poetry, Blackbird singing.
He has continued to record and tour, and headlined the Glastonbury Festival in 2004.

Sir Paul and Heather Mills became engaged in 2001But Sir Paul's music has been overshadowed by his marriage to the model Heather Mills.
The couple tied the knot amid considerable secrecy in Ireland in 2002.
Following their marriage, Mills and Sir Paul devoted much time to charity work, and recently campaigned against the slaughter of seal pups in Canada.
The couple had a daughter, Beatrice, in the autumn of 2003.
However, they separated last month, blaming press intrusion for putting a strain on their relationship.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BURMA'S CONFUSION OVER CAPITAL!

Farmers near Pyinmana have got used to all the trucks going past. In the fourth of a series from inside Burma, the BBC's Kate McGeown looks at how the government's abrupt decision to move its capital is affecting local people. When Burma's military rulers began moving their seat of power to a semi-rural area near the town of Pyinmana last year, many people were mystified. "I don't understand why they decided to leave Rangoon," said one man in the former capital. "I don't know why they wanted to come here," added a villager not far from the site of the new city. Many people said they had hoped the move would not actually happen, once the cost and complication became clear.

But now it seems there is no going back. The opening ceremony took place in March, and several locals who have seen the site - which the ruling junta has christened Naypyidaw (Seat of Kings) - said that half the buildings had been completed and were open for business. But the new capital is not open to everyone. Almost all foreigners, especially journalists, are strictly forbidden from going anywhere near it. Most ordinary Burmese are also denied access, and two Rangoon-based reporters were given three-year jail terms for attempting to film the area.

To local people living near the site, many of whom are farmers and agricultural workers, the whole situation must be bewildering. Until last year they were living in a rural hinterland. Now they are ploughing fields and raising cattle not far from their country's capital. "I keep seeing new buildings, but I don't know what they're for," said one young woman on the outskirts of the city.

Those living along the main road to Pyinmana have got used to seeing large trucks laden with construction materials passing by, as well as cars carrying important members of the military. "If you're driving down the road at the time they come past, you have to pull over and let them pass," said one woman. Other people have been affected more directly by the move. One man said some of his neighbours had been thrown out of their homes, and had their land repossessed, with no compensation. "I'm really scared that will happen to me, too," he said quietly.

Then there is the issue of who exactly is constructing the new capital. Definite evidence is hard to come by, but there are strong suspicions that the government is using forced labour. "I've spoken to people who have fled Pyinmana, and have now come over the border into Thailand," said Maung Maung, the general secretary of the Federation of Trade Unions in Burma. "They say they were forcibly made to work on the roads, and clear areas of bush."

Back in Rangoon, there are few obvious signs that the city is no longer the country's capital. The one direct impact on local people is that the electricity supply - which was already erratic before the move - has now become even more unreliable. "They've spent millions on the new capital. As a result, the services in Rangoon like electricity are getting worse and worse, but Pyinmana is all lit up," said one Western diplomat. "Locals joke that a 'transfer of power' has taken place."

Rare images of the new capital

Behind the scenes, there are other problems too. NGO workers and diplomats say the move is slowing down the process of government. "Everything is taking twice as long, because you have to go to Pyinmana to get your documents stamped," the diplomat said. "There are containers stacked up in the ports because the necessary paperwork hasn't been signed."

Anyone who visits a government office in Rangoon will quickly notice something has changed. One businessman said that when he went to the Ministry of Culture for a meeting, he found it was virtually empty except for a few stray dogs and children playing games. The ministers and officials might have gone to Pyinmana, but few seem to have gone willingly. Many were given little or no notice, and had to leave their families behind.

There are reports of several people retiring early, and rumours that an entire government department tried - and failed - to resign en masse. In fact, many analysts say the enforced move was probably one of the main reasons government salaries were suddenly increased in April - in an attempt to persuade people to stay in their jobs.

There are suspicions forced labour is being used to build roadsSince the announcement of the capital move last November, there has been intense speculation about the reasoning behind it. Some believe the military wants to move further inland for fear of a foreign attack. Others say that Burma's most senior military general, Than Shwe, wants to emulate the kings of old by building a new capital in his honour. Others even say it could be due to the advice of fortune-tellers, who play a central role in Burmese life.

So I asked a local soothsayer if the capital move would bring good luck. After studying his charts and making some calculations, he remained unconvinced. But whatever the future holds for Burma, it looks likely that a former agricultural backwater near Pyinmana is set to play a pivotal role.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GAMERS CALL FOR TOURNAMENT TV

Gamers call for tournament TV.
By Ian Hardy Click's North America technology correspondent.

Televised computer game tournaments are a big draw in Korea, but elsewhere, coverage has so far been non-existent. In the US however, there are growing attempts to turn next generation video games into a bona fide TV spectator sport. E3 confirmed an appetite for televised gaming tournaments.At last month's E3 video game convention camera crews were everywhere, yet at this type of event most of the coverage centres around reviews, trailers and demos of the software and hardware.

But there was clearly appetite for bigger and better TV events, like tournaments. Multi-camera viewing is the first big step in bringing tournaments to the small screen. Spectators demand fast-paced action from almost every possible vantage point. "When you build a stadium in real life you build little TV booths so you can get all the right angles," said Ankarino Lara, vice president of GameSpot.com. "They're now saying how do we build those virtual TV booths into video games? That's a challenge because it also increases costs."

For the first time American media companies are putting together highly focused programming with spectators in mind. "Now that this becomes a mass market, or a large market, opportunity, we're going to start covering it in a really, really big way on AOL," explained Carter Lipscomb of AOL Games. "We'll start streaming these events, we'll start hosting these events. So whether you want to be a spectator or a participant, you'll have an opportunity to compete for prizes, for prestige, or the opportunity to see the bigwigs play."

The larger organizations have set up their own leagues to keep everything in-house, and have dramatically upped the championship cash prize payout to six figures. Players were once fortunate if they got a new graphics card. Voom Networks, based in Manhattan, recently started Gameplay HD, a channel dedicated to tournament coverage from around the world for a US audience. With High Definition output and 5.1 surround sound, it is currently the boldest attempt to entice viewers to a yet unproven format. Mark DeAngelis is in charge and says the lack of a core viewership in the US is historical and cultural. "In Asia, especially Korea, you usually play games at community spots like cafes, sites specifically set up to give you the ability to get online there. "So it was a community thing right from the beginning. Here it's been sort of individual and at home, and it wasn't a family thing at the beginning, and the adults didn't really get into it."

Jonathan Wendel (aka Fatal1ty) won 2005's World Tour. So what makes gaming so interesting to US TV outlets all of a sudden? In a phrase - next generation graphics. It can be more like watching a movie now. But it will take a lot more than pretty pictures to keep an audience. America needs to create its own video game stars. At the moment the most recognizable face is World Champion gamer Jonathan Wendel, or "Fatal1ty" from Missouri. He realizes his image is becoming increasingly important as a wider audience tunes in. "I like to look clean cut, or like I'm a hard worker," he said. "People know that I'm a go-getter, I'm very competitive. I have my look and my style, people know that I'm serious about winning, and I'm serious about business as well." "The great thing is the personalities are already there, now it's just showing them to the people, doing the feature packages on those guys, getting you to want to root for them, being excited about their wins, seeing their action, understanding their strategy," said Mark DeAngelia.

"The industry as a whole agrees the time is right for tournament television. "Teams of top class players, knowledgeable commentators and experienced TV producers in the US hope to develop a multi-million dollar business around game play.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FRANCE DEPORTS AFRICAN RIOTER!

Youngsters in deprived suburbs accused police of harassment. France says it has carried out the first deportation of a foreigner convicted of taking part in the November riots that swept the country.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said a 22-year-old man had been flown back to Mali.
Six more expulsions will follow, Mr Sarkozy said. In November, Mr Sarkozy asked local authorities to deport 120 foreigners held over the riots - but most cases were dropped as many were minors.

Speaking on French television on Thursday, Mr Sarkozy said "it's taking a little while, because this is a state based on the rule of law, but when you're taken in by France and you're not French you do something other than setting fire to your neighbours' cars".

In three weeks of rioting, about 9,000 vehicles were torched, hundreds of schools and public buildings attacked, and more than 3,000 people arrested. It was the worst urban violence to hit France since the student-worker riots of 1968.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BLOGGING AFRICA'S WORLD CUP!

Muhammad Karim calls himself "informed and dangerous"The African blogosphere now has a village voice thanks to The Rantings of a Kenyan Villager, who believes the gods have been smiling on him.
"After the prolonged drought, the rains are finally here and money is also flowing around. I've made good profits in the last several weeks. I even managed to buy a small colour TV in time for the World Cup."
Despite the drought of African victories on Germany's pitches, some bloggers have taken heart from Africa's spirited play on the field, especially Togo's opening goal against South Korea.
"What a screamer of a shot it was... a brilliant goal," writes Soul on Ice.
"Mohamed Kader beautifully controlled the pig-skin and lashed home a rocket. At work I and my boy Willie were ecstatic."
Such ecstasy was shared by Ryan Corazza later in the week when Tunisia played Saudi Arabia. On Dead Spin's live blog he described it as the "most exciting tie I have ever seen in my life".
"To Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, thanks for making a seemingly boring game pretty kick-ass."
Identity
But for Muhammad Karim it is the more serious subject of football and racism that gets attention in his posting Soccer doesn't care about Black People.

I will almost always support a team that is fully or majority black against a team that is not. Does that make me racist?
Jay's Idle Notes
"If you're not white, stay away from small towns," is his advice to fans in The Front Line blog.
Racism in the beautiful game is also pondered on Jay's Idle Notes Rambling Thoughts From Sunny Kampala.
"I will almost always support a team that is fully or majority black against a team that is not. Does that make me racist?" asks Jay.
"I guess it does in a way."
Elisabeth Divis, a school teacher blogging from South Korea, addressed stereotypes with her students during a lesson about Togo after their defeat by South Korea.
"When I show my students where Togo is by chalking in its slim shape on the world map painted onto my classroom chalkboard, they all ooh and aww about how small it is. 'Smaller than Korea!' they say, rather enthusiastically.
"When I ask them what they know about Togo, they say not much, 'dark skin', 'poor', 'tall', and 'ugly'. When I asked one class what language Togolese people speak, I got 'African' in response. 'Yes, and you speak Asian fluently.'"
Landing on the moon
Nkem Ifejika, writing his blog from the tournament, sees the unifying force of the game.

TRAE says he's into hip hop, soccer and is a "fun loving intellectual"
"Football is a religion, the stadium is the temple, and the fans are the worshippers. There is no other way to explain what happens when people gather in one place in the name of football."
One commentator on his African Shirts blog felt this could have positive spin-offs for Nigeria:
"It would be interesting to have Nigerian presidential elections around the same time as World Cup (assuming the Eagles always qualify). History suggests Nigerians only share a common view at such big tournaments. In the process, we might just combine football, nationalism, humour, culture, heritage and politics."
For Aderemi the failure of Nigeria, who he describes as "the giant of African football", to qualify for Germany still rankles, something he puts down to priorities such as Nigeria plans moon landing by 2030.
"At least we can now explain where the money we refused to invest in our football team disappeared to," he concludes on Aderemi's Notebook.
Electricity
Blogging from Abuja, TRAE is more concerned with the here and now and expresses fears on TRAE Days that his World Cup viewing will be scuppered.

When Ghana qualified for the World Cup a gigantic street party broke out in the middle of Osu... we stumbled on the street party and joined in to the dancing
The (wish I was in) Ghana Journal"The power situation in Abuja is at its all time worst. PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) is so... unpredictable, they seize the power almost every day for at least five hours."
But Kenyan blogger Kabinti has a solution for those trapped at work during the tournament.
"I had to do something about watching a few matches since my kaboss was not going to give me a whole month off just to watch the world cup. Therefore, I bring you live streaming of the World Cup. You have to download a zip file and then fuata instructions."
For Emily, blogging on The (wish I was in) Ghana Journal, it is not yet over for Ghana - despite losing their first match to Italy.
"When Ghana qualified for the World Cup a gigantic street party broke out in the middle of Osu, my old neighbourhood. I was having dinner with the JHR crew and we stumbled on the street party and joined in to the dancing.
"The Black Stars gave me two of my favourite memories from my time there so I will be cheering until they're back on the plane."

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Letter from Zimbabwe!

Dear Family and Friends,

Zimbabwe tells a very strange story to the casual passer by. We are acountry so full of contradictions and extremes that sometimes just the fragments tell their own story about the situation here. Driving on the main road through Marondera this week I noticed that two big shops have just suddenly gone. A couple of weeks ago they were there but now they are unexpectedly closed; windows bare, doors locked, ironbars and grills padlocked and protecting empty showrooms.

Three years ago during a particularly bad fuel shortage I used to accompany my son to a nearby junior school by bicycle. There was no way to avoid a short but steep hill and I always had to get off and walk. My daily challenge was to stay on the bike until I reached a big boulder halfway up the hill. This week I saw with sadness that the boulder has gone.This big black rock, the size of a family car, has been painstakingly chipped into little stones by a man, woman and two children over the last few months. We do have municipal police in our town but it seems they are more concerned with impounding unlicensed bicycles than protecting the environment for us and those that come after us. Now a rock, thousands of years old, is stacked in little piles on the side of the road for sale to builders.

On a recent journey there were six police road blocks in a distance of just seventy kilometres. This is another fragment of Zimbabwean life where you are left with more questions than answers. As you repeatedly slow down for the road blocks you begin to feel like you are travelling in a country which is at war. You keep asking yourself just exactly what it is the police, who seem younger by the day, are looking for in so many roadblocks. Another view of Zimbabwe is the display of wealth by the nouveau riche in the country. Luxury cars and extravagant four wheel drive vehicles worth multiple billions of dollars fill car parks and block roads in shopping centres in affluent parts of suburban Harare. The new super rich people of Zimbabwe seem keen to show off their wealth and are keen to be seen. At the dirtiest tattiest little beer hall or bar on the side of the road there is always at least one Mercedes or one luxury double cab - more often though there is a whole line of them.

Life in Zimbabwe is such a strange mixture of wildly contrasting circumstances and these days almost nothing is as it seems. For the past week only one thing has been certain: If the electricity is on there is a world cup football game being shown on TV, if its off, then there's no game being played.

I end with the very sad news that a man so many of us felt we knew, passed away this week. Wrex Tarr, a businessman, an entertainer, newsreader, a national archer and rifle shottist died aged 71 in East London. Apparently Wrex Tarr died while entertaining a happy crowd of bowlers at the club after the day's play. I offer my sincere condolences to the family. Until next week, love cathy

Copyright cathy buckle 17 June 2006http://africantears.netfirms.com My books "African Tears" and "BeyondTears" are available from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com

RAMALLAL SUCCUMBS TO CIVIL STRIKE

Ramallah succumbs to civil strife.
By Martin Patience BBC News, Ramallah.

Anger in parliament reflects a breakdown of law and order. At the parliament building in Ramallah onlookers could see the widening divisions in Palestinian society marching before their eyes. First, hundreds of Fatah supporters stormed the parliament attacking Hamas lawmakers and forcing the Hamas speaker to flee the building. Two hours later, Hamas held a counter protest at the seat of government with its demonstrators calling for an end to the inter-factional violence between the two sides.

In the last week, the parliament building in Ramallah has become a focal point for the power struggle between the two main political factions in Palestinian politics - Hamas and Fatah. In January, Hamas defeated Fatah in the Palestinian elections. The international community imposed economic sanctions on the Palestinian Authority until Hamas renounces violence and recognises Israel. It's the worst time I've known in Ramallah because Palestinians are hurting other Palestinians - Ziyad al-AyadiRestaurant owner. Tensions have increased between the two factions as the salaries of 160,000 state employees have not been paid in over three months.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - head of the Fatah party - also called a referendum which will ask the Palestinian people whether they recognise Israel and accept a two-state solution. The ruling party Hamas has denounced the referendum as illegal and regards the move as a challenge to its authority. In recent months, 23 Palestinians have been killed in the inter-factional violence. Until now, the worst of the violence had taken place in Gaza - Hamas's stronghold - but in the last week the parliament in Ramallah has become a high-profile target.

Hamas's counter-protest followed the first attack on parliamentOn Monday night, gunmen loyal to Fatah shot out the windows of the Palestinian parliament and stormed the cabinet offices, smashing furniture and computers. Today, the Fatah supporters marched on the parliament chanting "We are hungry" and "We can't feed our families". The demonstrators were calling for the Hamas-led government to make the payment of salaries their top priority. As the Fatah supporters burst into the parliament, they pelted Hamas lawmakers with water bottles, tissue boxes and other small items.

"They drink mineral water in here when we can't afford to buy milk for our babies," cried one man inside the chamber. Another protestor shouted, "They are getting fatter while we are getting thinner." After half an hour the Fatah protestors were bundled out of the building by the police and security forces. Then came the counter protest. Hamas MPs looked on as Fatah supporters disrupted parliamentHundreds of Hamas supporters marched by the parliament building. Addressing the crowd through a speaker system, a senior Hamas official called for an end to the inter-factional violence. "It's more harmful to the Palestinian people than the Israeli occupation," he told a cheering crowd.

Across the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians will tell you that there has been a complete breakdown in law and order. Ziyad al-Ayadi, a co-owner of the al-Makan restaurant, knows better than most. On Tuesday night, 100 armed Palestinian youths entered his restaurant at night smashing windows, glasses and plates, and overturning tables and chairs. Most of the other restaurants in Ramallah were also attacked. "There is no law in the West Bank and Gaza anymore," says Mr al-Ayadi at his restaurant, while workers sweep up broken glass behind him.
"It's the worst time I've known in Ramallah because Palestinians are hurting other Palestinians."

The attacks on the restaurants did not appear to be politically motivated but seem to have been triggered when Palestinian police shot dead a well-known car thief in Ramallah on Tuesday night. But that is of little consolation to Mr al-Ayadi. "I'm not opening the restaurant until a solution is found for the lawlessness," he says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WHALING SUMMIT SETBACK FOR JAPAN!

Whale meat consumption has gone down in Japan. Japan has unexpectedly lost two key votes at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the Caribbean island of St Kitts. The pro-whaling nation wanted to end work on conservation of sea mammals and introduce secret ballots. Correspondents say for the moment at least the anti-whaling bloc appears to have retained the balance of power. Japan says it will consider leaving the IWC if it does not move back towards a resumption of commercial whaling.

Japan has spent years lobbying developing nations to join the IWC and wrest power from the majority anti-whaling bloc. Environmental groups accuse these countries of voting with Japan in return for aid, a charge which the Japanese deny. Conservation groups have expressed cautious relief. Allowing sustainable use of abundant species while protecting the depleted... we don't see the problem with that - Joji MorishitaJapanese spokesman.

Public 'ignored on whales'
The Japanese debate

The BBC's Richard Black in St Kitts says they believed a Japanese win on the conservation motion would have had serious consequences for many species of small cetaceans. Not all of Japan's traditional allies have turned up here and a couple voted unexpectedly with the pro-conservation nations, he says. However, other votes lie ahead during the five-day meeting and other countries expected to side with Japan may yet turn up, our correspondent says. The basic argument is the same as it has been for years. The self-styled pro-conservation countries led by Australia, New Zealand and the UK believe whales are intrinsically special animals and should never be killed.

Guide to whale species

In the opposition corner is a bloc led by Japan, which sees things differently. Japan's deputy commissioner to the IWC, Joji Morishita, says the organisation has become too concerned with conservation. Speaking on BBC Five Live Breakfast he said many Japanese people felt the IWC was "arrogant" and that whales could be used on a sustainable basis.

This meant "science and probably international law" were on the side of the Japanese, he said.
"Many of Japanese citizens think that Westerners, [the] outside world, are imposing their own value code on Japan on an emotional basis, and naturally they think they're bullies or... arrogant." He added: "Allowing sustainable use of abundant species while protecting the depleted... we don't see the problem with that. It's exactly the same as conservation and management of any other wildlife or fishery resources." But if the argument is familiar, the balance of power this year looks very different.

Four countries have just joined, of which three look set to support Japan giving it a majority on paper. That could mean a number of important changes to the IWC. Japan has hinted it may move towards overturning the 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling, although a vote for resumption of commercial hunting at this meeting itself is highly unlikely. To try to erode Japan's support, environmental groups have been campaigning in some of the small developing nations which traditionally support Japan.

A survey commissioned by WWF suggested there was a majority opinion against whaling in all 10 of the Caribbean and Pacific states in which they polled. WWF is urging delegates from those nations to cast their votes accordingly.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SHOE BOMBER HITS BAGDAD MOSQUE!

'Shoe bomber' hits Baghdad mosque

The mosque was attacked shortly before Friday prayers.

Enlarge Image

At least 11 people have been killed and 25 injured in a suspected suicide shoe-bomb attack at a key Shia mosque in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The blast hit the Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad, where up to 90 people were killed in a multiple suicide bombing on 7 April. The mosque's imam said he believed he was the target, but was unhurt. Friday's attack was the biggest in Baghdad since a massive security operation came into force on Wednesday.

The imam, Sheikh Jalaluddin al-Saghir, told the BBC the suicide attack appeared to have been carried out by a man who had explosives and ball bearings packed into his shoes to avoid detection in security checks. Stringent security measures were put in place at the mosque after April's attack, in which the bombers were said to have been dressed as women. The latest bombing took place shortly before weekly prayers were due to begin, during which Mr Saghir was due to deliver a sermon.

The imam, who is also a leading Shia member of parliament, said he believed he was the target of the attack, but added: "This will not deter us, this will not affect the political process." He said the bombing looked like it was revenge for the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. He was killed last week in a US air strike north of Baquba. Statements apparently put on internet by the militant group vowed to take revenge. Mr Saghir blamed al-Qaeda in Iraq and what he called "Baathists" for the attack. No defence The Buratha mosque has been surrounded by huge concrete blast walls, where visitors are subjected to an initial visual check, says the BBC's Hugh Sykes in Baghdad.

In pictures: Iraq clampdown

The bomber must also have got through a more thorough body check to gain access to the main courtyard of the mosque, he says. He got close to the imam's position, but before the imam arrived, security staff noticed he was still wearing his shoes, which is not allowed in a mosque. He was told to take them off, and appeared to be complying, when the bomb went off. It is believed to be the first time a shoe bomb has been used in Iraq. While extensive security measures have been introduced to many mosques in Iraq, our correspondent says, these are no defence against a suicide bomber who detonates his explosives when approached.

The mosque bombing comes despite a huge new security operation in Baghdad. Tens of thousands of Iraqi and US security forces have been patrolling the streets of the capital, on the orders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.


Cars were also banned from the streets of the capital for several hours on Fridays - in an attempt to prevent such attacks on Friday prayers. The measures initially appeared to have reduced the number of attacks. However, at least two people were killed when a barrage of mortars slammed into a northern district of the capital on Friday. On Thursday, a bomb in a parked car detonated in the south-west of the city, killing at least three civilians and wounding 14. Elsewhere on Thursday, gunmen shot and killed 10 workers riding a bus in Baquba.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GLOBAL SLUM CRISIS!

Report reveals global slum crisis.

Family life continues in slums despite the squalor, the report saysSlum-dwellers who make up a third of the world's urban population often live no better - if not worse - than rural people, a United Nations report says. Anna Tibaijuka, head of the UN Habitat agency, urged governments and donors to take more seriously the problems of at least a billion people. Worst hit is Sub-Saharan Africa where 72% of urban inhabitants live in slums rising to nearly 100% in some states. If no action is taken, the world's slum population could rise to 1.4bn by 2020.

Habitat - the UN's human settlements programme - is hosting an Urban Forum in Vancouver next week on how to stem the crisis.

Its report is billed as a ground-breaking survey of urban growth, making a clear distinction between slum and non-slum development for the first time in UN history.

See African states with biggest slum populations

According to Dr Tibaijuka, speaking to reporters in London, slum-dwellers suffer a double disadvantage: they both live in misery and their plight often goes unreported given the traditional focus on the rural poor in the developing world.

FIVE CHIEF FEATURES OF A SLUM
Lack of durable housing
Insufficient living area
Lack of access to clean water
Inadequate sanitation
Insecure tenure
definition: UN Habitat

"The average aid worker is not aware of the extent of the problem - this report is the proof," UN Habitat's executive director added. Some states, the report notes, have already taken significant action to improve conditions, notably in Latin America where about 31% of urban people are classified as living in slums (figures for 2005) - down from 35% in 1990. Such progress is welcomed as part of the UN's Millennium Development Goal of achieving a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers by 2020.

Among the report's findings:
Expectations of better access to education are unmet for most slum-dwellers; a 2003 study found that one in five children in the Nairobi slum of Kibera had no access to primary schools
Poor sanitation, described as a "silent tsunami", means illness and death are rife; in one part of Harare, 1,300 people share one communal toilet with just six squatting holes. In Cape Town's slums, children under the age of five are five times more likely to die than those living in the city's high-income districts Young adults living in slums are more likely to have a child, be married or head a household than their counterparts living in non-slum areas

"Rural poverty has long been the world's most common face of destitution but urban poverty can be just as intense, dehumanising and life-threatening," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in an introduction to the report.

A slum is defined by UN Habitat as a place of residence lacking one or more of five things: durable housing, sufficient living area, access to improved water, access to sanitation and secure tenure. People move to the cities not because they will be better off but because they expect to be better off - Anna Tibaijukaexecutive director of UN HabitatSlums have existed in what is now the developed world since the Industrial Revolution and 6% of its current urban population also fall under Habitat's definition.

However, the growth in slums is unprecedented, Habitat finds, and the nature of the problem has also changed. Of the urban population of South Asia, 57% live in slums though this is down on the 1990 figure of nearly 64%. Dr Tibaijuka told journalists that urbanisation in itself was not the problem as it drove both national output and rural development. "History has shown that urbanisation cannot be reversed," she continued. "People move to the cities not because they will be better off but because they expect to be better off."

The only effective way to upgrade slums and prevent new ones emerging, she said, was to persuade governments to improve infrastructure. While help from international donors was required, she also argued that governments could take relatively cost-free action such as reforming property laws.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IVORIAN MILITIAS FAIL TO DISBAND!

Ivorian militias fail to disband.
By James Copnall BBC News, Abidjan.

Several thousand militiamen are active in the south of the country. Several Ivory Coast militias which support President Laurent Gbagbo have missed a disarmament deadline, throwing doubt on elections due in October. Some 2,000 armed men were expected to be disarmed and sent to cantonment sites in the western town of Guiglo. but no-one showed up. The militias were meant to have been disbanded as part of a peace deal. Ivory Coast has been split in two since rebels seized control of the north of the country in September 2002.

The head of the UN Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme told the BBC he was not sure why the militias had not turned up. He said they had publicly committed to disarming and had now gone back on their word. A spokesman for Ivory Coast's DDR programme confirmed that information. The main militia leaders could not be reached for comment.

It is the second disarmament deadline that the militias have missed in just over a week. Until the militias, who support President Gbagbo, are shut down the rebels who control the north of Ivory Coast will not disarm. Elections are due in October but the country is still split in two and the peace process is flagging, making it extremely unlikely that elections will be held on time.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AFRICA MARKING SOWETO UPRISING!

South Africa is marking 30 years since the Soweto uprising, a student protest pivotal to the apartheid struggle. President Thabo Mbeki led a march along the route taken on 16 June 1976 by black students fighting a policy forcing them to learn in Afrikaans. Relatives of the children killed when police opened fire cried as wreaths were laid in their memory.

The BBC's Peter Biles says the events celebrate the role played by young people in the fight against apartheid. But our correspondent says they are also a reminder of their sacrifice and of the challenges which lie ahead for young South Africans today. That day was like death to me -
Isabel Boto

Audio slideshow: Soweto
How has S Africa changed?
Anniversary in pictures

The Soweto uprising and the riots that spread to other township are seen as a milestone in the growth of the movement against white minority rule, which was finally ended in 1994. In a sombre speech, Mr Mbeki told a crowd of some 20,000 people at the FNB stadium that young South Africans were confronted by poverty, unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse and Aids.
He accepted that a lot still had to be done to improve the education system.

The commemorations began at the Morris Isaacson High School where the first march began 30 years ago, before proceeding to the Hector Peterson memorial, named after the first and youngest student to die in the protests. He was caught on camera as he died in the arms of a fellow student, in a photograph that became iconic in the struggle against white minority rule in South Africa.

Poverty remains a big problem in Soweto.His mother Dorothy Molefi and President Mbeki were among those to lay wreaths at the memorial, watched by hundreds of people who observed a minute's silence and then sang the Zulu struggle song "Senzeni na?" ( "What have we done?") "I remember that day - it was like death to me," Isabel Boto, 70, told the BBC News website, recalling 1976. "I am here to honour the children. I am very happy now, I never thought this day would happen." Jeremiah Nkotsi, 21, said the day meant a lot to young people too. "It brings the memory of those who died to let us be free, to let us be what we are today."

BBC Africa correspondent Orla Guerin says there is now a feeling that Soweto is starting to turn the corner and move away from being seen as a deprived township on the outskirts of Johannesburg. 16 July is the Youth Day public holiday in South AfricaThe area's first two shopping centres have been built in recent years and a four-star hotel is to be opened in October. But in some parts, the old problems of poverty, unemployment and crime still remain.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu told the BBC's World Today programme that South Africa's continuing poverty was a "powder keg". "Unless we do something about that quickly, we may find all our achievements are a puff of smoke," he said.

In Soweto, red paving stones symbolising spilled blood have been laid along the route the protesters took in 1976 from Morris Isaacson High School to the Orlando West neighbourhood where the fateful confrontation with police took place. The government said that 95 black people had been killed, but unofficial estimates put the number of dead closer to 500. At the time, Winnie Mandela, the wife of then-imprisoned ANC leader Nelson Mandela, described the protests as "just the beginning"

.
Domestic and international pressure eventually led to the release of Mr Mandela in 1990 and the country's first non-racial elections four years later. Mr Mandela was overwhelmingly elected to become South Africa's first black president.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SERIES OF BOMBINGS HIT THAI SOUTH!

The blasts exploded across Thailand's southern provinces. At least 40 bombs have exploded in the south of Thailand, killing at least two person and injuring many others. They went off almost simultaneously across the three provinces closest to the Malaysian border - an area plagued by a long-running Islamic insurgency.

The homemade bombs exploded early in the morning, just as people were arriving for work. The largest hit a teashop in Pattani province, killing a local official and wounding many of the customers. Another went off at a government office in Yala province, minutes before the minister in charge of national security, Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya, was due to visit the area.

TROUBLED SOUTH

Home to most of Thailand's 4% Muslim minority
Muslim rebels fought the government up to the mid-80s
Suspected militants have upped attacks since 2004, targeting Buddhists
Security forces' response criticised by rights groups

Thailand's restive south

Interior Minister Kongsak Wanthana said he had been given information that insurgents were planning a "major operation" on Thursday, but he said that damage from the blasts had been "minimal". The Thai authorities are battling an insurgency in the Muslim majority south, which is culturally very different from the rest of the country. Officials have tried both crackdowns and promises of aid, but the killing shows no sign of stopping.

More than 1,300 people have died since early 2004 - mostly in isolated attacks on civilians or security personnel. But occasionally the insurgents launch more co-ordinated offensives - proving to officials in Bangkok that they're part of a well-organised group, capable of inflicting serious harm.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BUSH CREATES NEW MARINE SANCTURY!

Fishing will be phased out over five years. US President George W Bush has designated a swathe of Hawaiian islands as a US national monument, making them the world's largest marine sanctuary. He signed a law on Thursday which will give the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands the highest protected status in US law. The area, nearly as big as California, supports more than 7,000 species, a quarter of which occur nowhere else. Environmental groups welcomed the decision, although fishing industry bodies have raised concerns.

The designated site - more than 140,000 square miles (362,000 square kilometres) of reefs, atolls and shallow seas - is just larger than the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia, previously the world's largest protected marine area.

The remote and uninhabited islands and surrounding seas are important breeding grounds for sea turtles, and are home to the only remaining population of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. The new restrictions will mean all fishing is phased out within five years and visitors will need permits to snorkel or dive in the area.

The islands were already being considered for designation as a national marine sanctuary. But Mr Bush has used his powers under the 1906 National Antiquities Act, which allows the president to give instant protection to important sites, in a decision which will bypass a year-long process of consultation and afford a greater level of protection. "This is really for the first time saying the primary purpose of this area of the ocean is to be a pristine, or nearly pristine, kind of place," David Festa, director the ocean programme at Environmental Defense, told the New York Times. "It would take it off the books as a fishing ground. That's really the first time we'll have done that in any kind of sizeable area," he said.

In an interview with the Washington Post, local Democrat representative Ed Case lauded the president for undertaking "the most revolutionary act by any president, any administration, in terms of marine resources".

In pictures: Marine reserve

Although only eight fishing boats are licensed to fish in the area, a local fisheries body says it plans to fight a complete ban on fishing. "We supported the sanctuary concept but wanted the continuation of our healthy bottom fisheries up there," Kittie Simonds of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, told the New York Times. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, lobster populations in the area have not recovered from aggressive exploitation in the 1980s and 1990s, although this is now banned.

Recent research also shows signs of over fishing in the islands' remaining fisheries, the organisation says. Although environmental groups welcomed the news, many remain strongly opposed to other Republican policies on the environment, including a push to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas exploration.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RESCUE DRAMA ON SLOPES OF MERAPI.

The fierce heat has melted shovels and the tyres of vehicles.

Watch the evacuation

Rescuers in fire-retardant suits are battling to dig out two men trapped in a bunker on Indonesia's Mount Merapi. The fierce heat from the volcano's recent eruptions has melted shovels and the tyres of diggers as rescuers try to dig through two metres of rubble. The two men have been trapped in the bunker since Wednesday night, when they fled there to escape a burning cloud emitted by the simmering volcano. The bunker's door is blocked by a large hot boulder, rescuers say.

Mt Merapi, in the centre of the island of Java, spewed out clouds and ash on Wednesday after weeks of intermittent activity. "We have so far dug one metre deep. It's very difficult because the bunker was covered with rocks and sand," local official Suryadi told news agency AFP.

Rescuers are working amid the threat of further eruptions.

"We hope there won't be any victims but we have no idea whether or not they are alive. We hope that they are," another official said. He said the bunker was equipped with oxygen, but its electricity had been knocked out in the explosion. Wednesday's explosion has caused scientists to warn the volcano, which killed more than 1,300 people during an eruption in 1930, may erupt imminently.

Some 15,000 villagers who had been housed in makeshift camps during earlier activity since the middle of May had begun returning home on Wednesday.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UN TOLD OF MASS KILLINGS IN DARFUR

The ICC prosecutor criticised Sudan authorities for their investigations. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he has documented evidence of thousands of killings of civilians in Sudan's Darfur region. Luis Moreno Ocampo, investigating alleged crimes against humanity, says the killings include large-scale massacres and hundreds of rapes. In a report to the UN, he also criticised Sudan's own investigations. The report is seen as significant as the court may only prosecute if Sudan has not provided justice for victims. Investigators from the ICC have not been able to travel to Darfur but they have managed to collect information about thousands of alleged murders in the western region of Sudan.

DARFUR REPORT

Read the report from the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (213k)
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Download the reader here

Unveiling his report, Mr Ocampo told the BBC his team had faced "serious obstacles". He added: "We are now entering a new phase where unconditional co-operation will be essential to complete the investigation and identify those most responsible for crimes committed in Darfur." A "Darfur crimes database", collated by investigators from the court, lists thousands of alleged murders, including massacres of hundreds of people at a time. Eyewitnesses recounted the attackers saying things like: "We will drive you out of this land".

Horror continues in Darfur

Mr Ocampo's report to the UN Security Council says some two million people have been displaced by violence in Darfur. The first few months of 2006 saw increases in people forced from their homes in several areas of Darfur marked by increased violence, according to the document. The Khartoum authorities insist they are continuing to set up courts and that the Sudanese judiciary will investigate allegations of abuse, but the ICC prosecutor says they do not appear to have done that. But Mr Ocampo adds that the government has agreed to interviews with officials, to begin in August this year.

Some 200,000 people are thought to have died in Darfur, a vast region in the west of Sudan, in a three-year conflict. Most have died in attacks by pro-government militias against civilians. Rebel forces took up arms in February 2003, accusing the government of discriminating against Darfur's black Africans in favour of Arabs. A partial peace deal was agreed in May, but not all sides signed the agreement and fears have grown over worsening conditions in camps home to displaced people.

The International Criminal Court was set up by the UN in 2002 to prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAQ'S NEW SECURITY PLAN!

Iraq implements new security plan.

The new security plan is the toughest since the invasion of 2003Tough new security measures have been put in place in Baghdad in an effort to win back control of the city's streets. Some 40,000 Iraqi and US troops are out in the capital, enforcing a strict overnight curfew and a ban on all vehicle traffic during Friday prayers.

The measures came into force just after dawn, a day after President Bush flew into Baghdad and met PM Nouri Maliki. Fears are high that al-Qaeda in Iraq is preparing new attacks after the killing of their leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi's successor, named as Abu Hamza al-Mujahid, has reportedly vowed to defeat "crusaders and Shias" in Iraq.

The new security measures will be the strictest imposed on Baghdad since the US-led invasion in 2003. Beginning at 0600 local time on Wednesday (0200 GMT), troops were posted throughout Baghdad setting up new checkpoints to secure road travel in and around the city.
When America gives its word, it will keep its word - US President George W Bush.

Bush seizes the moment

Baghdad residents said they had already noticed the difference, with more vehicles being stopped and searched and long traffic queues building up as a result. So far, it is mainly Iraqi rather than American troops visible on the streets. That is how the Americans want it, says our Baghdad correspondent Andrew North, as they are keen to see the Iraqi authorities take over full responsibility for security as quickly as possible. It is not yet clear whether extra troops have been brought into Baghdad for the operation. Insurgents are to be targeted by snap raids, with the majority of resources deployed to the most dangerous areas of Baghdad. The nightly evening curfew will now begin at 2030, not 2300 as it did before, and run until 0600 the next morning.

Iraq's elite troops have been in intensive training.Officials sounded optimistic about the changes: "The terrorists cannot face such power," said Gen Mahdi al-Gharrawi, head of the interior ministry forces. The new Iraqi prime minister is keen to demonstrate that he can get a grip on security in Baghdad, our correspondent says. But the question among Iraqis is whether this is just a show of force or whether it can make a dent in the daily bombings and shootings that claim at least 20 to 30 lives in the capital every day.

Mr Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad on Tuesday gave Mr Maliki just five minutes' warning that the US president was in town. "Iraq's future is in your hands," Mr Bush told the Iraqi prime minister. The US president had been chairing talks in the US on future policy in Iraq and had been due to speak to Mr Maliki via videophone.

Judge ends Saddam defence

Instead Mr Bush personally congratulated him on the appointment of ministers in the Iraqi government for defence, security and the interior. Mr Bush told reporters afterwards that Iraq would continue to receive Washington's support. "When America gives its word, it will keep its word," he said. "It's in our interest that Iraq succeeds." For his part, Mr Maliki said he hoped the suffering of Iraq would come to an end and all foreign troops would return home.

Mr Bush also thanked the US military for their "sacrifice" during his visit. He travelled to Baghdad amid the same exceptional security and secrecy that surrounded his trip to meet US troops in November 2003. Most foreign leaders have made their visits to Iraq unannounced because of the security threats.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SUDAN TALKS THREATENED!

LRA attack threatens Sudan talks.

Gunmen in southern Sudan have attacked the outskirts of the city of Juba, killing nine people. Residents said the gunmen belonged to the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army who have been fighting for many years in northern Uganda. The attack comes just after LRA leaders arrived in Juba having been invited by south Sudan Vice-President Riek Machar. He has offered to mediate a peace agreement between the rebels and the Ugandan government.

But both Uganda and the International Criminal Court in the Hague have complained, saying that Sudan should arrest the LRA leaders as indicted war criminals. They have also criticised Mr Machar after television pictures showed him handing over money to LRA leaders to help pay for food for their militia.

The LRA has kidnapped many thousands of children over the years. It turns the boys into fighters or porters and uses many of the girls as sex slaves.

Previous attempts to negotiate an end to the war have failed, with both the Ugandan government and the rebels being accused of lacking commitment to peace talks.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NIGERIA AGREES BAKASSI HANDOVER!.

Many Bakassi residents say they do not want to live in Cameroon. Nigeria has agreed to hand over the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon in a deal brokered by the United Nations to resolve a tense dispute. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan hosted the talks in New York, which follow a 2002 World Court ruling. Thousands of Nigerians and a sizeable military force remain in Bakassi. The troops are to leave within 60 days. The territorial dispute sparked military clashes between the two neighbours during the 1990s. The deal was reached by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Cameroonian counterpart, Paul Biya.

"Our agreement today is a great achievement in conflict prevention, which practically reflects its cost effectiveness when compared to the alternative of conflict resolution," Mr Obasanjo said. "It should represent a model for the resolution of similar conflicts in Africa and... in the world at large." Mr Annan said that under the terms of the deal, the Nigerian troops could be given an extra 30 days to withdraw.

Bakassi juts into the Gulf of Guinea - an area which may contain up to 10% of the world's oil and gas reserves. It is also rich in fish. Nigeria has always said it would abide by the ruling but in 2004 said that "technical difficulties" prevented it from handing over the peninsula. Most of those who live in Bakassi are Nigerians and are strongly opposed to coming under Cameroonian jurisdiction.

The United Nations special envoy for the Bakassi peninsula, Ahmadou Ould Abdullah, said he was optimistic that the agreement would be respected by Nigeria. Most Bakassi residents are fishermen. Mr Abdullah told the BBC's Network Africa programme that he believed the presence of the UN Secretary General and witnesses from Germany, France, Britain and the United States would help guarantee the agreement was met.

He said there would be a two-year transition period for the Nigerian administration to leave.
Nigerians living on the peninsula would be able to live there under a special regime for four years after Cameroon took control and could stay on after that if they wished. The 2002 International Court of Justice ruling was based on a 1913 treaty between former colonial powers Britain and Germany. The agreement also settles the border for 1,690km (1,056 miles) up to Lake Chad. Somevillages further north have already been exchanged.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

STUDENTS DIE IN GUINEA UNREST!

Guinea unrest after students die.

The students are angry that the strike has suspended their examsClashes have continued in Guinea a day after security forces shot and killed about 10 student protesters. Police again fired teargas at hundreds of people manning barricades and burning tyres in the capital, Conakry. Sporadic gunfire could also be heard but eyewitnesses say police appeared to be firing above protesters' heads. The students are angered at a strike which has led to the suspension of their exams; the government says they were manipulated by the opposition. Government spokesman Moussa Solano said the authorities regretted Monday's deaths, but blamed opposition parties for "orchestrating and manipulating" the protests, AFP news agency reports.

The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in Conakry says BBC says four people died there and three more in the northern town of Labe on Monday. "Soldiers opened fire on a group of students who were marching on the governor's residence. Two people died there and a third student was killed at the Oumar Drame primary school," a witness of the violence in Nzerekore 970 km (600 miles) south-east of Conakry told Reuters news agency.

In Conakry on Monday, the students ransacked local education centres and set up barricades using school desks, chairs and tyres. The teachers' action is part of a nationwide general strike which began last Thursday in protest at fuel and food price rises. Nearly 100,000 students were due to sit their baccalaureate pre-university exams at the beginning of the week.

Unions began the industrial action in protest at massive increases in the price of fuel and other basic goods. Police in Conakry said the protesters had attacked market traders who had broken the strike on Monday. But our correspondent says most traders had resumed business on Tuesday with only a handful of shops still closed. Government offices, banks and Guinea's two main hospitals are all still observing the strike.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

COLOMBIANS REBELS TURN ON ALLIES!

The Farc and ELN have been at war with the state for decades. Rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) have declared war on the smaller guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). A statement posted on the Farc's website accuses the ELN of "attacks that we only expected from the enemy".

The flashpoint is in the province of Arauca, near the Venezuelan border, where the Farc have been trying to take over ELN sources of income. Analysts say the conflict is likely to play into the hands of the government. The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Bogota says that although the Farc are supposedly allied with the ELN, in practice the groups have never worked closely together. We invite ELN combatants and members who are aware of the gravity of these attacks to use their arms for the good of the revolution -Farc communique.

The Farc have for some years moved to take over ELN territory near the Venezuelan border, and the smaller rebel army reacted by killing several Farc militants. The statement posted on the Farc website on Sunday comes from the Farc's "Eastern Bloc". "From the ranks of the ELN we have received attacks that we only expected from the enemy," it said. "We have tried on several occasions to give them the benefit of the doubt as fellow revolutionaries, but we have not received a response that helped to build fraternal relations, and for this reason have decided to punish those responsible." The statement goes on to say that Farc had no desire to harm ordinary people but that the problem was with ELN commanders "who treat us as the enemy".

QUICK GUIDE
The Colombian conflict

It calls on ELN guerrillas "to use their arms for the good of the revolution and not against their brothers in arms" - an implicit invitation for ELN members to defect. There is nothing likely to make the Colombian army happier than the prospect of the two principal Marxist rebel groups fighting each other, our correspondent adds. President Alvaro Uribe, since coming to power in 2002, has stepped up the war on left-wing rebels while saying he is open to negotiations. The ELN is now in talks with the government to see if common ground for a lasting peace deal can be found.

Our correspondent says this declaration of war, although geographically restricted, may give the government the opportunity to remove the ELN from the conflict and concentrate its full military effort on the Farc.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CONGO'S CHILD MINER SHAME!

Congo's child miner shame.
By Orla Guerin BBC News, Katanga.

To commemorate World Day Against Child Labour, BBC News has spent a day with child miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who work for about one dollar per day. At Ruashi mine, in the Eastern province of Katanga, almost 800 children dig for copper and cobalt.

Ghostly-looking figures coated in choking grey dust dig for copperAt eight years of age, Decu has never owned a football, or played a video game. He has no computer, and no TV. He's never been to school, though he passes young pupils in uniform every morning, as he sets off for work. He is a child, born into poverty in what could be one of the richest places in Africa - the Eastern province of Katanga, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are vast mineral deposits beneath the soil here, but this treasure trove has always benefited the leaders not the people.
Decu's day begins at dawn. Usually he does not eat, just drinks a little water. Then he sets off on a two-hour walk with his twin, Kaba. Both have torn sweatshirts and trousers with holes. By their side is Cedric, their friend and neighbour, who is 15. He's a quiet boy with an earnest look. He has no shoes, just flip flops on his feet. Cedric used to go to school, but now his family can't afford to send him.

By seven or eight each morning, the boys arrive at Ruashi mines, where huge mounds of red, brown and grey soil scar the landscape. They join the ranks of child miners - close to 800 of them, working alongside fully grown men. It's all unofficial, but it's also highly organised.

CHILD LABOUR 2006

218m aged 5-17 in work
126m in hazardous work
Almost 50m work in Africa
122m work in Asia
70% of workers in agriculture
Estimated cost of ending child labour: $760m over 20 years
Read the full report (1.1MB)
Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader
Download the reader here

We stand at the top of one enormous mound of silky soil, looking down into a crater about 40 metres deep. All the way down there are ghostly-looking figures digging for copper, coated in choking grey dust. There are no safety standards. No-one wears a hard hat. In the midst of all this, there are some boys as young as Decu and Kaba, working with bare hands and bare feet. Many of the local middlemen prefer to use younger children, because the older boys get paid more. The children here can be as young as five or six. "We saw boys standing waist deep in toxic water, washing soil away from nuggets of copper. One, Antoine, told us he was ten.

For Cedric and the twins, the first job of the day was sifting away soil from mineral deposits. It was heavy work, especially for Decu. As he worked, he told me he wanted to be like children in Europe. "They go to school," he said. "I saw them on TV. But my father can't afford to pay my school fees. That's why my life is so hard." As the day wore one the twins dug for nuggets of copper with their bare hands, but didn't find much. A local buyer gave them a few grubby notes, enough for one small pastry each. Cedric moved on to cleaning cobalt with his bare feet, in a lake of toxic water. Between the three of them that day, the boys did not make enough to buy an evening meal.

The new owners of this mine, Metorex Limited from South Africa, would not give us an interview on camera. They inherited the informal miners when they bought the mine. The company says it's a difficult situation because so many local people depend on the mine. A manager at the site told us that they do not condone child labour and, in time, they want all the informal miners out, including the children. The irony is that without what they can scrabble together at the mine, life for Cedric and the twins might be a lot worse.

BBC NEWS REPORT

EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN.

Quake strikes south-western Japan.
A strong earthquake has hit south-western Japan, shaking major cities including Hiroshima.
At least five people were injured in the magnitude 6.2 tremor. Its epicentre was in Oita prefecture, about 800km (500 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
The quake, which occurred early on Monday, halted local rail services.
No tsunami warnings were issued. Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the most seismically active countries in the world.
In 1995 a magnitude 7.2 tremor killed more than 6,400 people in the city of Kobe.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ANGOLA VS PORTUGAL - WHO WILL WIN?

Angola determined to beat former master.
By Laura Smith-Spark BBC News website, Cologne

Angola has hoped for years to compete in the World Cup. A lot is riding on Angola's World Cup debut appearance. By a fluke of the draw, the very first nation it faces is Portugal - its colonial master for almost 500 years. Both Angolans and Portuguese are adamant: this is the one game of the whole tournament they have to win. In front of a 40,000-strong crowd in Cologne's stadium, they will play out a love-hate relationship stretching back centuries.

However, the Angolan team - known as the Palancas Negras, or Black Impalas, and placed 58th in the Fifa rankings - faces a tough challenge. The last match between the two nations, in 2001, was abandoned with 20 minutes to play after four Angolans were sent off - at which point Portugal were winning 5-1. But Angolan fans in Cologne for the game seem determined to be positive. Filipe Mendonnca, 25, who is working and studying business economics in Belgium, says the Angolan team had matured since 2001 and could do well. "Angola was a colony of Portugal for 500 years so now we have to beat Portugal to make up for our loss," he says.

Fans reflect on colonial history
In pictures

"We lost 500 years to them so this is our chance to win something back. It's very important to Angolan people - we have to win it." During its time as colonial ruler, Portugal transported more than a million Angolans to work in Brazil as slave labour, and only abolished forced labour in Angola itself in 1961. Nor has life been easy in the Portuguese-speaking southern African nation, known for its oil, diamonds and poverty, since it gained independence in 1975. The chaotic transfer of power led to a civil war lasting 27 years, in which an estimated 500,000 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced.

Tekasala, a 31-year-old fashion designer from Angola - one of several involved in a cultural exhibition showcasing Angola's artistic talent while in Germany - says there is a feeling they have history to avenge. "It's our first game in the World Cup and it's against our former colonial master, so it means a lot. "When the draw was made, we thought 'hey, revenge, let's get them".
"Last time there were lots of problems but I don't think it will happen again. It will be a neutral venue, a neutral referee, a neutral crowd. I think the Angolan fans felt the referee was favouring the Portuguese last time. "We've never beaten them. If there's one game we want to win, it's against them." To add to the intensity on the pitch, many of Angola's best players have played their club football in Portugal. Captain Fabrice Akwa formerly played for Benfica, while striker Pedro Mantorras is still at the club and midfielder Figueiredo plays for Varzim.

The Angolan fans acknowledge that the Portuguese - ranked joint 8th by Fifa - have many more star players and showed what they are capable of at Euro 2004. But it does not stop them hoping for the kind of upset that Senegal achieved when they beat France, their former masters and at that time reigning champions, at the opening World Cup game in Seoul in 2002.

Meanwhile the Portuguese do not underestimate what their rivals - considered well organised in defence although they scored few goals in qualifying As well as those who have travelled from Portugal, Germany's own Portuguese population appears to have turned out in force in Cologne to support their side. A group of folk dancers from Neuss, an hour away, was performing on one of the main pedestrian streets in the centre on the eve of the match. "Everyone is very excited," says Ruben Peixoto. "We don't have tickets but we'll be watching the game with our friends."

Near the city's riverfront, travelling Portugal fan Manuel Rola says: "It will be a difficult game and it's the one we all want to win. "If Angola starts the game by scoring and then defending hard, Portugal will be in some difficulty. However Portugal does have some stars, players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Simao." Of course, as World Cup debutants, the Angolans are under far less pressure to do well than Portugal. They can be satisfied just to be at the tournament and playing Portugal in front of the eyes of the world - as an equal. "It's very important for us because in a way they are like our brothers. We have a relationship," says Angolan fan Joaquim Pinto.
"I am hoping for a draw, for the sake of friendship."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's letter from Zimbabwe!

Dear Family and Friends.

The news in Zimbabwe this week has definitely been cause for saying: ifyou don't laugh you'll cry. Inflation raced up by another hundred and fifty percent from last month and now stands at 1193,5%. How are we surviving it - frankly we aren't and yet still the absurdity goes swirling around in the propaganda mill and no one believes a word of it.

This week one of the main stories making headline news on state owned television was that we are apparently in the process of reaping a bumper harvest. An above average rainy season has produced a bumper maize crop apparently and we should rest assured that there will be abundant food forthe next twelve months. The report reminded us that maize is a controlled crop and can only be sold to the state owned GMB (Grain Marketing Board)who are paying 31 million zim dollars for a tonne of maize. There are, apparently, some "unscrupulous traders" who are selling their maize privately for 37 millions dollars a tonne and this was illegal and these people would face "the full wrath of the law."

The GMB army man being interviewed by ZBC TV said that the security of farmers delivering maize to their depots was paramount. As if addressing kindergarten, he said that 31 million dollars a tonne represented a lot of money. He said that if a farmer came with 10 tonnes of maize then for sure that man would be in a lot of danger carrying around so much money. For this reason, said the GMB army man, it would be safer if the GMB didn't pay the farmer all the money at once, it would just be too risky. His exact words were: "we don't want to put our farmers at risk by making them carry so much cash around." The army man forgot to mention the fact thati nflation is making the money literally worth less for every day the GMB hold back on paying up in full.

The next part of the report was that the GMB have now got 80 permanent and 320 mobile depots where people can deliver their maize. The army man did not acknowledge the fact that the price of fuel went up from 200 to 260 thousand dollars in the last seven days so most people can't afford to move their crop off their front doorstep anyway.

Then the army man told us just exactly how secure the country is as regards our staple food of maize. He said the crop was coming in well so far and that as of last week (around the 1st June) depots all over the country had a total of six thousand metric tonnes in store. What only six thousand tonnes - can that be right I thought? Two and then three more times the army man said there were "already six thousand tonnes in storei n GMB depots." A few scribbles on a bit of paper followed by days ofasking lots of people for their opinions, the result is horrifying.

If we assume a population of 12 million people, allow an average consumption of half a kilogram of maize per person per day, then we need 6 thousand tonnes of maize a day. So, we have one day's worth of food in stock in 400GMB depots.The absurdity of this nightmare is the fact that the GMB are actually prepared to give out such horrifying figures on national television. Don't they think we can all work these numbers out - even with a stick in the sand in the dusty village. If we don't laugh we'll cry. Until next week, love Cathy.

Copyright Cathy buckle 10 June 2006http://africantears.netfirms.com My books "African Tears" and "BeyondTears" are available from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com

ON THIS DAY

ISRAEL, ONTHIS DAY, ENDS THE SIX-DAY WAR IN 1967.

GHANA AT THEIR FIRST WORLD CUP!

Ghana subdued despite World Cup first
By Kwaku Sakyi-Addo BBC News, Accra

There are few orchestrated celebrations of Ghana's participation. The 2006 World Cup has finally kicked off. For Ghanaians, the event is special because the national football team, the Black Stars, are playing for the first time. Their opening game is on Monday against Italy. However, whether it is due to a sudden attack of collective panic, or some illogical but more urgent priority, the mood in the capital is anything but expectant.

There is no orchestrated celebration of the country's participation in this global sport festival and that, some soccer analysts say, is because the entire Ghana Football Association is in Germany. "They've left nobody behind to whip things up," said one pundit. When we have a friendly match and we're able to win, then the demand for the shirts is very high. But when we lose then business goes down - SamuelTrader.

Indeed, there are no special flags or buntings dancing against the Atlantic wind. And even on the countless and ever-chattering radio stations, the dominant conversation is about a rather tedious dispute over junior doctors' wages, and the predictable proceedings of a parliamentary sub-committee, which is vetting deputies who have received promotion to full ministers. But if you keep faith with the dial long enough, a commercial break would sometimes yield the sensuous peals of "Put your Heart in it."

This is a sponsored cheer-song in which individual members of the Black Stars pledge to play with their hearts and not just their limbs. Or you might hear the more rugged and made-for-the-terraces "God Bless Our Homeland", which is inspired by the national anthem and sponsored by Joy FM, a radio station in the capital. There are also a few billboards paid for by a rice importer, featuring the team outfitted colourlessly in black and white.

However, in a few shopping streets in the capital, Accra, some young entrepreneurs seem to be keeping faith with the team and maintaining the season's spirit, whilst making a small profit. Some young businessmen are tapping into the tournament. Splashes of colour and hope are evident in parts of Cantonments Road (also known as Oxford Street) at Osu, in the south of the city. Here, street vendors sell the brighter and more preferred variations of Black Stars shirts, featuring the national colours of red, gold and green.

"For a long time business has been slow," says Samuel who, rather curiously, is wearing an Ivorian team shirt and a hat with Ghana's colours. "I was supporting Ivory Coast during the African Cup in Egypt, so it's just an old shirt I'm wearing," Samuel explains apologetically. He says business is starting to pick up with the national team's recent trial match victories against Jamaica and South Korea. "When we have a friendly match and we're able to win, then the demand for the shirts is very high. But when we lose then business goes down," says Samuel. Even so, not everyone is harvesting from the team's recent outings.

"Even now, people are not buying," says Kwame Opoku, an itinerant vendor who is advertising a Michael Essien jersey in one hand, and in the other a shirt with the inscription "I Love Ghana." "Today is almost over and I've only sold three or four shirts."

But on Ghana's chances at the tournament Opoku seems to have the early morning optimism of the hawker that he is. Maybe everybody is quiet because they're praying for the Black Stars.
Vendor Kwame Opoku"The Black Stars will do very well. I'm sure the cup will come to Ghana, from the way they're playing now." That, of course, is as likely as a Trinidad and Tobago-Ghana final in Berlin. But asked why the national mood remained so sombre when history was about to be made, Opoku put it down to meditation. "Maybe everybody is quiet because they're praying for the Black Stars."

A burly customer shopping in vain for a Stephen Appiah shirt in XXL has a more philosophical take on it. "I think that as Ghanaians, we like to keep our feelings to ourselves; we're a bit conservative." Except him. "Me? I'm really excited!" he says, shaking both fists in the air. Whatever he is on, could he please pass it around? Unless, perhaps, this is just the calm before the ecstasy.

Maybe this is a nation united in deep breath, waiting to exhale.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FIRST VACCINE AGAINST CERVICAL CANCER!

US approves cervical cancer drug.

Cancerous cervical cells are detected through smear tests. The US has licensed the first vaccine against cervical cancer, which kills at least 290,000 women worldwide a year. The new drug Gardasil - manufactured by Merck & Co. - is designed to be given to girls and women between the ages of nine and 26. It works by combatting the human papillomavirus (HPV). "This vaccine is a significant advance in the protection of women's health," said Andrew von Eschenbach, acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner. We can now include the worst types of HPV and most cervical cancer in the list of diseases that no-one need suffer or die from ever again -Alex AzarDeputy US Health and Human Services Secretary

A course of treatment over six months is expected to cost about $360 (£195). But conservative groups in the US argue that treating young girls before they become sexually active will encourage promiscuity. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gardasil after a six-month clinical testing programme, involving 21,000 women around the world. Gardasil was effective against two strains of HPV which cause approximately 70% of cervical cancers, the FDA said. It was also effective against another two separate strains of HPV which cause most genital warts.

Three injections will cost $360, with Merck saying the vaccine would be available within weeks.
"Fortunately, we can now include the worst types of HPV and most cervical cancer in the list of diseases that no-one need suffer or die from ever again," said Alex Azar, Deputy US Health and Human Services Secretary. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide after breast cancer. Most death occur in developing countries, where early screening is not as developed as in wealthy nations.

In the UK, the Department of Health issued a statement saying: 'Research has suggested that HPV vaccines may provide real benefit. "The department is currently seeking expert advice on the efficacy, safety and benefits that these new vaccines may offer." Ed Yong, of the charity Cancer Research UK, said: "Gardasil is one of two HPV vaccines being developed and both seem to be very effective. "This is great news for women and eventually a successful vaccination programme could prevent up to 2,800 cases of cervical cancer every year in the UK.

"But until HPV vaccines are introduced it is important that women attend cervical screening when invited as this remains the best way of preventing cervical cancer." Professor Peter Rigby, of the UK's Institute of Cancer Research, said the US licensing of the drug was a "significant step forward". He said an effective vaccination programme would be of particular value in developing countries where it is not practicable to screen the population.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GUNMEN ATTACKED COMPOUND IN MOGADISHU!

Somali president's compound hit.

Gunmen have controlled Mogadishu for 15 years. Gunmen have attacked the compound of Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf in the central town of Baidoa. At least 10 people were killed in heavy fighting when a local clan militia attacked the area reportedly angry at moves to dismantle their roadblocks. The unrest comes as the government discussed a response to the Islamist victory this week in the capital. Militia of the Islamic courts seized Mogadishu from warlords, who had controlled the city for some 15 years.

The central town of Baidoa, some 200km from Mogadishu, is the temporary base of President's Yusuf's fledgling administration, which has not moved to Mogadishu because of security concerns. There are some 3,000 militiamen operating in Baidoa who extort payment from the scores of checkpoints that line the route to Mogadishu. The BBC's Hassan Barise in Mogadishu says the gun battles broke out in the centre of Baidoa on Friday morning.

Among the dead included a well-known leader of the Geledleh clan, Malaq Somow Abdi Garrun, whose militia led the attack. MP Mohamed Hussein Afaraleh was among the wounded. President Yusuf was in his compound at the time of the fighting. Our correspondent says the battle may have been a sparked by an attempt by the president's militia to disband an illegal roadblock set up by local Geledleh militia on a road into Baidoa. In retaliation, the clan militias attacked the presidential compound, which is heavily guarded, our correspondent says.

The fighting forced all business in the town to come to a halt. The building which houses the parliament is only 200m from the presidential compound and clan elders and MPs attempted to intervene to calm the situation. By the afternoon the fighting had eased, with only sporadic gunshots being heard in the area. Correspondents say although the clashes appear to be unrelated to the fighting in Mogadishu, they add to the heightened sense of tension in southern Somalia and the killing of a clan elder could see an escalation of the violence in Baidoa.

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

Ministers and MPs in the town have been discussing their response this week to the change of power in Mogadishu. On Wednesday, a senior interim minister said he expected the Union of Islamic Courts to eventually join them in government. The deputy head of the government, Ismail Mahmoud, said contacts had been taking place.

BBC Somali Service editor Yusuf Garaad Omar says the Islamists are generally more popular than the warlords, who are hated for their role in Somalia's civil war. The transitional government only controls a small part of Somalia, which has not had a functioning national authority for 15 years.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CONCERN FOR AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S HEALTH!

US worried over Suu Kyi's health.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since May 2003. The US has expressed deep concern about reports that Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been taken to hospital. A state department spokesman said he could not confirm the reports but urged Burma's military rulers to assure she had any necessary medical assistance.

Ms Suu Kyi has been held since May 2003, and has spent 10 of the last 16 years under house arrest. Burma recently said she would be held for another year under house arrest.

"We have seen those reports... We are, of course, very concerned," state department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington. "We would call upon the Burmese government to provide Aung San Suu Kyi any and all medical assistance that she might need and to do so expeditiously and to ensure her safety during any treatment," he said.

Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won an overwhelming election victory in 1990. But the victory was never recognised by the junta, which has ruled the country - which it calls Myanmar - since a coup in 1962.

Ms Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, while still under house arrest.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LEADER OF AL-QAEDA IN IRAQ IS DEAD.

Zarqawi 'survived initial strike'

Pictures of Zarqawi's body were earlier put on display by the US. Militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still alive when Iraqi police got to the scene of the air strikes that targeted him, the US military says. But the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq died of his wounds shortly afterwards, Major General William Caldwell said. US planes dropped two 500lb (230kg) bombs on Zarqawi's safe house near the city of Baquba on Wednesday. After US troops arrived, Zarqawi tried to move off the stretcher where he had been placed, Gen Caldwell said.

"Everybody re-secured him back onto the stretcher, but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he had received from this air strike," he said. US military officials had earlier said Zarqawi had not survived the strike, which they said came after tip-offs from his organisation.

See a map of where Zarqawi was killed

On Friday vehicles were banned for hours from the streets of the capital and nearby Baquba, amid fears of bomb reprisals for the death. Thousands of worshippers go to mosques for Friday prayers and have often been targeted by bombers linked to Zarqawi. In fresh comments on the death, President George W Bush said it was a "major blow" to al-Qaeda, but it was not going to end the war. "It's certainly not going to end the violence, but it's going to help a lot," Mr Bush said. News of Zarqawi's death has given a massive boost to the Iraqi government and the Bush administration, correspondents say. We believe we will soon reach a tipping point in our battle against the terrorists -Nouri Maliki Iraqi Prime Minister.

How Zarqawi was found
Hometown reaction
World press hails killing

The Iraqi prime minister has promised to build on the momentum gained from the death to deliver security. Nouri Maliki said he wanted to launch a drive to "secure" Baghdad and confront "ethnic cleansing" around the city, in an article in the UK's Times newspaper. Giving the first details of the discovery of Zarqawi alive, Gen Caldwell told reporters the militant leader had "mumbled something indistinguishable and... very short" before he died. When US troops got there, they had made an identification of Zarqawi by distinguishing marks on his body and "some kind of visual, facial recognition", he said. "We do not know" why he had survived the initial strike, he said.

ZARQAWI-CLAIMED ATTACKS

19 Aug 2003: Bombing of UN office in Baghdad, 23 dead
29 Aug 2003: Bombing of Najaf shrine killing Shia cleric Muhammad Baqr Hakim, 85 dead
2 March 2004: Co-ordinated attack on Shia mosques during Ashoura ceremony, 181 dead
11 May 2004: Nick Berg beheaded, first of at least nine foreign hostages killed in 2004
14 Sept 2004: Car bomb targeting police recruits in Baghdad, 47 dead
19 Dec 2004: Car bombs in Najaf and Karbala, 60 dead
9 Nov 2005: Triple attack on hotels in Amman, 60 dead

Iraqis give their reaction

There was nothing in the report to indicate Zarqawi had been shot, Gen Caldwell said. He said some "analysis of his body" had been done and DNA results were expected in coming days. Zarqawi was one of six people killed in the raid, including two other men and three women, he added - contrasting with earlier statements that a child had died. The US military says the operation against Zarqawi has given them a "treasure trove" of new information. The militant leader was known for his particularly gruesome tactics, including videotaped beheadings of hostages and synchronised bomb attacks on civilians.

Unrest has continued in Iraq with several attacks targeting workers and installations used by the oil industry: A senior official from Iraq's state oil company is kidnapped near his home in Baghdad Three oil engineers are reportedly shot dead on the road from Baiji to the oil production centre of Kirkuk Gunmen in Kirkuk attack an oil pipeline, reportedly killing one civilian and injuring three soldiers

On the streets of Baghdad, most people welcomed the news of Zarqawi's death. "We consider this a great delight to the people because right must prevail," said one man. "Thanks are due to God for ending our ordeal." But a statement on an Islamist website, purportedly from al-Qaeda, said: "The death of our leaders ... only makes us more determined to continue the jihad." US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has dismissed as "utter nonsense" fears that Zarqawi's death will lead directly to more violence. "These things tend to get planned well in advance," he said.

Jordanian intelligence reportedly assisted the US-led operation.

Zarqawi traced to isolated safe house in the village of Hibhib approximately 10km outside Baquba, north-east of Baghdad.
US aircraft launched air strike at about 1815 on Wednesday. Two F-16 aircraft dropped two 500lb bombs.

The militant leader was reportedly holding a meeting with associates, including spiritual adviser Sheikh Abd-al-Rahman.Several others were reportedly killed.

Iraqi police were first on the scene, followed by troops from the Multi-National Division North.
Zarqawi identified by fingerprints, facial recognition and known scars.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WORLD'S LARGES SOLAR POWER STATION!

Portugal starts huge solar plant.

The plant in Portugal will be similar to an existing one in Bavaria, Germany.

Enlarge Image

Construction work has begun in southern Portugal on what is set to be the world's largest solar power station. The 58m euro (£40m) plant near Serpa, 200km (125 miles) south of Lisbon, will produce enough electricity for 8,000 homes when it starts next January. The 11-megawatt solar power plant, to be made up of 52,000 photovoltaic modules, will cover a 60-hectare (150-acre) southern-facing hillside.

Portugal plans other solar plants to counter a rise in carbon emissions. The project in the sunny Alentejo region has been developed by Portuguese renewable energy company Catavento, in conjunction with solar polar provider Powerlight and funded by General Electric Energy. The panels will be raised around two metres off the grass which, Catavento's Piero Dal Maso says, the sheep will take care of.

"The Serpa solar power project, along with other renewable energy initiatives, helps lay the foundation for Portugal's energy future," he said. "The project takes maximum advantage of the excellent environmental conditions in Portugal for solar power."

He told the BBC World Today programme that they were expecting a good yield. "It should provide energy enough for 8,000 homes. It will save 30,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions." Portugal's total CO2 emissions for 2005 was 36,413,004 tonnes, according to the European Commission. Mr Dal Maso says he believes the future will need a mix of renewable energies - wind, solar, water and wave energies to help provide coverage.

"It is a drop, but we think in Portugal that it will make sense to use renewables to get away from oil issues and the dependency on energy from outside which we have in Portugal." The plant will use PowerLight's PowerTracker technology which follows the sun as it moves across the sky throughout the day. The firm say this generates more electricity than conventional fixed-mount systems.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SIERRA LEONE'S FORGOTTEN BUSH WIVES!

Sierra Leone's forgotten 'bush wives'
By Penny Boreham BBC African Perspective

Girls have not received as much post-war help as boys. Everyone you meet in Sierra Leone has a story to tell you about how the war affected them, or their family, and of the struggle to make a living and gain any quality of life in the peace. But the enormity of the incidence of sexual abuse that occurred during the war is shocking. Human Rights Watch has estimated that 64,000 women and girls were subjected to sexual abuse, mostly by the rebels but also by members of the armed forces. The true figure is probably much higher, considering most rapes went unreported.

However, after the war, girls did not benefit from the demobilisation process or DDR as it was known, whereas the young male combatants did. This was largely because combatants were asked to hand over guns in order to get access to facilities and programmes - this excluded girls as, even though some had carried arms, most had served as cooks, porters and "bush wives". Music blares out on to the street from the Flamingo Club Disco in Makeni, Sierra Leone's largest northern town and the former headquarters of the rebel forces during the war. I would say that 99% of the girls who were affected by the war were not catered for -Christiana ThorpeFAWE

Surviving Sierra Leone

Inside, some young girls sit rather forlornly on chairs by the dance floor waiting to be approached, while others gyrate to the music, either together or with the men who frequent the club. These are the lengths to which many young girls have to go to survive. They can see no other way but prostitution. "There is nobody to take care of me and my baby," one of them said. "So I come out here and talk to men, whatever little they give me I use to feed my baby boy. The rebels amputated my father's hands and later killed him. My mother died out of despair."

Christiana Thorpe heads Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). Her organisation runs a rehabilitation programme for war affected and sexually assaulted girls. "I would say that 99% of the girls who were affected by the war were not catered for.

Projects such as Hanci are trying to fill the gap. "The boys got training, through the demobilisation process, money - they got everything and the girls were left out.'' During the war, Sarah was "married" to a rebel husband in the bush. Since the conflict ended in 2002, the main challenge facing girls like Sarah has been dealing with the stigma attached to them. Even after the horrors of the war they've had to face the judgement of the community and live as social outcasts.

Worst of all, many found themselves rejected and driven out by their own parents. Sarah became pregnant during the war. The father was a boy who was himself captured by the rebels and forced to fight with them. After the war she attempted to rejoin her family but was driven out by her uncle when he realised she was pregnant. She said she was filled with shame about her situation but has now been helped by a project called Hanci. 'I feel much better now, because when I was with the boy I saw many injured and even dead people," she says. "I saw people die of hunger and so much suffering. I saw it all, I'm so much happier now. I've been able to go back to school.''

To hear more, join Penny Boreham in the BBC's African Perspective programme broadcast in East and West Africa on Saturday 11 June 2006 at 1606 GMT and 2106 GMT.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DARFUR CAMPS ARE EVEN WORSE NOW!

Darfur camps 'worse' since deal.

More than 2m people have been forced to flee because of the conflict. Aid workers in Sudan's Darfur region have told visiting UN ambassadors that the situation has worsened there since the signing of May's peace deal. They warned that the camps for the 2m people displaced in the crisis faced a potentially explosive situation.

Rebel factions in favour or opposed to the agreement have been attacking each other's supporters and women were being increasingly targeted by rapists. Sudan is resisting plans for the UN to take over from African peacekeepers. And the ambassadors have so far been unable to visit camps for the displaced people because of resentment over a UN-backed partial peace deal. The 15 ambassadors from the UN Security Council are visiting Darfur to get backing for the peace agreement signed last month.

The BBC's Mark Doyle, who is travelling with ambassadors, says briefings by aid workers and human right activists painted an alarming picture of deteriorating conditions in the camps. The ambassadors were told it was too dangerous for them to visit the camps in case those who rejected the agreement mounted demonstrations. If diplomats with armed guards are not safe in the camps, the situation of vulnerable civilians is far worse, and the partial peace agreement could become even more fragile if tensions in the camps boil over, our correspondent adds. Human rights lawyers said the government was acting with impunity, arresting and torturing people on the basis of their tribe.

Members of the Security Council have been putting pressure on those leaders who did not sign the peace agreement. But the UN's top humanitarian official in Sudan, Jan Pronk, told Security Council members that antagonising those who had not signed the peace agreement would made the crisis in the camps even worse.

The second delegation, comprising 25 UN experts, will be accompanied by senior members of the African Union, who will pass on the experience gained from their troubled peacekeeping force. The UN wants to take over from African Union peacekeepersThe 7,000 AU peacekeepers currently in Darfur are poorly equipped and over-stretched, and have made little impact on the violence.

Some 200,00 people have died in three-year conflict, most of them in attacks by government and pro-government forces against the civilian population. Sudanese rebel forces took up arms in February 2003, accusing the government of discriminating against Darfur's black Africans in favour of Arabs.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TOGO FANS ANGRY AT VISA DENIAL

Togo's fans angry at visa denial.
By Ebow Godwin BBC News, Lome.

Mama Togo sells iced water and cannot provide bank statements. Togo's official World Cup supporters have been denied visas to go and cheer on their national team in Germany. The Togolese government has donated $500,000 for the 100 football fans to travel to the tournament. But the German Embassy refused the visas because they did not provide bank statements with their applications.

The fans' leader known as "Mama Togo" led angry protests outside the embassy, saying most of them were self-employed and did not have bank accounts. "Most of us are not official workers. In my case I sell iced water to earn my living. So how can I provide bank statements? " she said on Thursday. The fans chanted slogans accusing the German embassy in Togo's capital, Lome, of deliberately refusing to grant them the visas.

Last week, Togo's chief voodoo priest predicted success for the national team, the Sparrowhawks, who have qualified for World Cup for the first time. Togbui Assiogbo Gnagblondjro III said Togo would definitely beat South Korea and France to get to the next round. But unless conditions for visas are relaxed, the fans have little prospect of cheering on the Sparrowhawks themselves.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROTEST RALLY AGAINST EAST TIMOR PM!

Protesters want PM Alkatiri to resign. About 2,000 anti-government protesters have converged on the East Timorese capital, Dili. They are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, whom they blame for sacking hundreds of striking soldiers in March. The protests came amid further unrest and looting, which has prompted tens of thousands of residents to flee. International peacekeepers are struggling to control the violence, which has left at least 20 people dead.

TENSIONS MOUNT

Feb: More than 400 troops strike over pay and conditions
March: Government sacks nearly 600 of 1,400-man army
April: Rioting by sacked troops leaves five people dead
May: Violence intensifies, with battles between gangs from east and west of the country
24 May: Government asks foreign troops to take controL

Refugees tell of torment
Rocky ride to nationhood
In pictures: Dili rally

The protesters came to Dili on motorcycles, trucks and buses from western districts of East Timor. Foreign peacekeepers searched their vehicles and, after negotiations, allowed them into Dili, but under the escort of heavily armed troops. The demonstrators shouted "Down with Alkatiri!" as they punched the air and waved anti-government banners and flags. After the rally reached the government offices, its leader Augusto Araujo Taro met President Xanana Gusmao to explain the demonstrators' demands.

Mr Gusmao made an emotional appeal to the crowd, before asking them to return home "because there are many problems that have to be solved". Mr Alkatiri has refused to step down, despite being widely criticised for not doing enough to end the recent unrest. He sees the unrest as a political plot by his opponents to bring down his government, says the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney.

After the soldiers' sacking in March, the violence spread to different factions of the security forces and also led to gang violence in Dili. The disorder is the worst East Timor has seen since its bloody fight for independence from Indonesia in 1999, our correspondent says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FORMER PARAGUAY PRESIDENT JAILED!

Gonzalez Macchi was installed by Congress after rioting. Paraguay's former President Luis Gonzalez Macchi has been sentenced to six years in prison for involvement in illegal bank transfers. Judges told the former leader - in a nationally televised hearing - that his actions had led to thousands of account holders losing their savings. He was convicted of involvement in the illegal transfer of $16m (£8.5m). Mr Gonzalez Macchi, who was president from 1999 to 2003, denied the charges and said he would appeal. "I was in no way involved in the crime they have accused me of," he said after he was convicted on Monday.

However, the sentencing panel ordered that he be incarcerated in the country's biggest prison, Tacumbu, and he was led away by police. Prosecutors had asked the courts to sentence the former president to 10 years in prison. The case centred on funds sent from Paraguay's central bank to the United States in 2000.

The money originally came from two private commercial banks that collapsed between 1994 and 1998, prosecutors said, and was transferred to the US by a foreign bank. Four former central bank officials were jailed in 2004 for up to eight years for their roles. Prosecutors said that while transfer was done properly, the funds were sent abroad in violation of a local law. Mr Gonzalez Macchi said the four bank officials were the "true guilty ones" in the case. The former president was installed by Congress in 1999 after rioting that followed the assassination of Vice-President Luis Argana.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THREE GORGES BARRIER DEMOLISHED IN CHINA!

Engineers used 191 tonnes of explosives on the barrier.

Watch the explosion

Chinese engineers have demolished the temporary barrier behind the Three Gorges dam, in a spectacular explosion. The barrier, called a cofferdam, was used to hold back the waters of the Yangtze River while the permanent structure of the dam was built. Enough explosives to topple 400 10-storey buildings were used in the blast, China's Xinhua news agency said. The controversial dam - the world's largest hydro-electric project - will not be fully operational until 2009.

Click here to see a graphic of the Three Gorges Dam

When its 26 turbines become operational, the dam will have a capacity of more than 18,000 megawatts. On 20 May, builders poured the last concrete to complete the construction of the dam's 185m-high (610ft), 2,310m-long (1.4 miles) main wall. Just three metres of the cofferdam, 100m upstream from the main dam, protruded from the water before the blast, Xinhua said.

The Three Gorges dam
In pictures

Engineers used 191 tonnes of underwater explosives for a demolition operation which took about 12 seconds and caused some 190,000 cubic metres of concrete from the cofferdam to fall into the river. Its demolition left the main dam holding back the full weight of the river, with water behind the main dam expected to reach a height of 139m. Chinese officials said the blast would not cause geological damage.

China says the dam, in central Hubei province, will provide electricity for its booming economy and help control flooding on the Yangtze River. Critics say over a million people were moved from the area, and the reservoir behind the dam is already polluted.

THE THREE GORGES DAM

Type: Concrete Gravity Dam Cost: Official cost $25bn - actual cost believed to be much higherWork began: 1993Due for completion: 2009 Power generation: 26 turbines on left and right sides of dam. Six underground turbines planned for 2010Power capacity: 18,000 megawatts Reservoir: 660km long, submerging 632 sq km of land. When fully flooded, water will be 175m above sea levelNavigation: Two-way lock system became operational in 2004. One-step ship elevator due to open in 2009.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

STADIUMS HAVE TO BE RENAMED!

Stadiums renamed for Fifa sponsors.
By Bill Wilson BBC News, business reporter, Nuremberg

Nuremberg's Easycredit Stadion will look different for World Cup kick-off. Football fans and corporation-watchers attending the World Cup in Germany this summer may notice a plethora of match arenas all bearing the same rather mundane name. Out of the 12 stadiums, no less than seven have been retitled the "Fifa WM Stadion" - a result of Fifa stripping the grounds of their usual sponsor names before the tournament kicks off on 9 June.

Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Hannover, Cologne, Gelsenkirchen, and Dortmund, have all had their sponsor names removed, as Fifa sets about creating a "clean" environment for its 15 official partners' wares. To achieve this, the names of firms which are not among the official Fifa sponsors are being removed. In Munich and Hamburg, this has meant that the huge sponsor names on the outside of the stadiums - Allianz and AOL respectively - have had to be removed by crane. In Nuremberg, too, the stadium has also been stripped of its sponsor name, although on this occasion it is being allowed to revert to its previous title - The Frankenstadion - rather then the identikit Fifa labelling. Nonetheless, the venue will still have to lose any reference to its backer - in this case Easycredit.

Earlier this year, regional bank Norisbank paid between 8 and 10 million euros over 10 years to have its credit card brand plastered over the 46,000 capacity Nuremberg stadium. Now, however, all the livery, signage and flags have be removed until after the World Cup. Instead, the Frankenstadion name has been revived, named after the local Franconia region. "No-one was prepared to pay as much to sponsor the local football club's stadium as Norisbank, which is a regional bank behind the Easycredit product," says Andreas Franke, a journalist at the Nuernberger Nachrichten newspaper.

Workmen remove the AOL sign letters from the Hamburg stadium"Local people would have been happier to have our stadium called the Norisbank Stadion, but they insisted on Easycredit.
"So I do not think people are too worried about reverting to our traditional name of the Frankenstadion for the duration of the World Cup." Each stadium, surrounded by a fence around its "outer security perimeter," has been handed over to Fifa in "neutral" condition, with all signs of advertising and sponsorship removed. This is reported to have cost Hamburg club HSV 500,000 euros - the reputed settlement to its sponsor, AOL, for removing all references to the internet firm from the stadium. Aside from Nuremberg, only a few stadiums were able to convince Fifa that a proper or regional name was non-threatening.

Fifa signs are spreading round the stadiums ahead of the big kick-off. In Stuttgart - the home of the Daimler-Benz automotive group - the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium has kept its name, along with the Fritz Walter Stadion in Kaiserslautern, Centralstadion in Leipzig, and Olympiastadion in Berlin. But some of the biggest arguments between Fifa and the host cities have been about commercial rights in the areas surrounding the stadiums and at official big-screen match broadcasts.

At issue are the advertising opportunities for the official Fifa sponsors. Each of the 15 sponsors, including such names as Adidas, Coca-Cola and Yahoo, is spending about 40m euros for the right to bear the title of "Official Partner" of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. There are also six "National Sponsors", such as Deutsche Bahn and EnBW energy group, who have paid 13m euros each for the exclusive local rights. They are the sole sponsors within their respective product categories and can use logos and trademarks, such as the World Cup in their advertising.

Fifa is therefore keen not to foul up deals which are poised to reel in revenues of about 700m euros by letting any rogue products or signage within the sealed-off stadium zones. The global federation has in effect paid for the temporary rights of ownership to the stadium premises during the four weeks of the tournament, giving it the final say about what goes on during the World Cup. Fifa has kept its eyes on fan festivals too.Gregor Lentze, Fifa's marketing director for the World Cup, says: "We sell our official partners exclusivity and that's what we have to guarantee." But he admits that Fifa's demands were "a culture shock" for many cities.

The world organising body has also been in talks with local authorities, trying to get their support in cracking down on sales of "non-official" products on the access routes to stadiums. And it has also tried to ensure it has tight control over the 12 official fan festivals in the host cities, including in Nuremberg. Fifa even monitors the type of logos that can be displayed at the fan festivals, with prominence given to the signage and products of its official 15 partners.

BBC SPORTS NEWS REPORT.

INTERMITTENT EXPLOSIVE DISORDER.

Anger syndrome 'under-diagnosed'.

IED may be more common than previously thought. A condition which makes people lash out violently for no reason is vastly under-diagnosed, say US researchers. As many as 16 million Americans have been affected by intermittent explosive disorder (IED) in which the sufferer displays unwarranted violent outbursts. A study in Archives of General Psychiatry showed 4% of the US population had severe IED with three or more outbursts in the past year. An expert said cultural differences in the UK could mean its rate was lower.

IED is clearly defined in the manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV) but no-one really knows how many people might be affected by the disorder. If people think these explosive outbursts are just bad behaviour, they are not thinking of this problem as a serious biomedical problem that can be treated - Professor Emil Coccaro, study author.

To be diagnosed with IED, an individual must have had three episodes of impulsive aggressiveness which are grossly out of proportion to the situation, such as that seen in cases of road rage or domestic violence. The person must lose control suddenly and break or smash something, hit or try to hurt someone, or threaten to hurt someone. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Chicago University assessed results of a national face-to-face survey of 9,282 US adults which was carried out between 2001 and 2003. They found that 7.3% of the population could be classed as having IED, as they previously had three or more aggressive outbursts - a much higher rate than previously estimated. Around eight million adults had the most severe form of IED, with much more frequent outbursts.

Overall, the average person with IED will carry out 43 attacks, the study suggested. IE D tends to first manifest itself during adolescence, with the average age of the first episode found to be 14 years of age. Although most study respondents had seen a professional for emotional problems, only 12% had been treated for their anger in the past 12 months and only 29% of people had ever received treatment for the condition.

Dr Ronald Kessler, study leader, said: "IED is not a clinical term well-known in society, but the weight of these numbers should help patients and physicians come to recognise the pervasiveness of this disorder and develop appropriate treatment strategies." Co-author, Professor Emil Coccaro added: "In the general population, aggressiveness or 'blowing up' is considered bad behaviour. "But IED goes beyond that, having strong genetic and biomedical underpinnings. "If people think these explosive outbursts are just bad behaviour, they are not thinking of this problem as a serious biomedical problem that can be treated."

The researchers concluded that given the early onset IED, identifying the condition early, perhaps through violence prevention strategies in schools and providing treatment, mightprevent later associated problems such as alcohol and drug dependency and depression. Dr Deenesh Khoosal, spokesperson for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and consultant psychiatrist at Leicester General Hospital said IED was a very carefully defined syndrome. "There must be several discrete episodes so it can be a fairly long standing issue and it has to be terribly out of proportion. "You also have to exclude other things for example antisocial personality disorders. But he added that the prevalence seemed "pretty high".

"In the UK that would extrapolate to a lot of people, although there are cultural factors which could have an effect - we wouldn't confront someone who was ranting and raving and we don't have the same gun culture," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NEW ORLEANS SINKING FAST!

New Orleans 'sinking even faster'.

The city's flood protection is now being upgraded. Parts of New Orleans had been sinking much faster than previously thought before Hurricane Katrina hit last August, new research suggests.
Subsidence may explain why some levees were easily breached by floodwaters, the study in the Nature journal says. It argues some very low-lying areas of the US city should not be rebuilt, describing them as "death traps".

US engineers say the city is prepared for the start of the hurricane season, which "officially" begins on Thursday. However, some storm experts think the work of rebuilding the levees is incomplete. US meteorologists say there could be up to five major storms during 2006, but the season will not be as devastating as 2005. Last August saw Hurricane Katrina sweep across five US states, killing more than 1,300 people. The study published on Thursday in the international scientific journal was produced by a University of Miami team.

The people in St Bernard got wiped out because the levee was too low. It's as simple as that - Roy Dokka Study co-author. It is based on new satellite radar data taken from 2002 to 2005, which shows that New Orleans sank by an average of 0.22 inches (0.5cm) a year during that period. But the study says some low-lying areas are subsiding by more than one inch (2.54cm) a year - raising concerns about the city's future. The scientists name overdevelopment, drainage and natural seismic shifts as the main causes. "My concern is the very low-lying areas," said lead author Tim Dixon, geophysicist at the University of Miami.

Click to see subsidence in New Orleans - and area of flooding.
Enlarge Image

"I think those areas are death traps. I don't think those areas should be rebuilt," he said. The study says the areas of the city most at risk are Lakeview, Kenner and St Bernard Parish. According to the report, one of the city's levees has sunk by more than 3 ft (0.91m) since its construction three decades ago. "The people in St Bernard got wiped out because the levee was too low. It's as simple as that," said co-author Roy Dokka from the Louisiana State University. The study says the new evidence should be taken into account when rebuilding the city's defences.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE WORLD'S DESERTS NEED ATTENTION.

Deserts 'need better management'

A broad definition has deserts occuping almost one-quarter of the Earth's land surface More details Climate change, high water demand and even tourism are putting unprecedented pressures on the world's desert ecosystems, according to a report. The Global Deserts Outlook, produced by the UN's Environment Programme, is described as the first comprehensive look at the Earth's driest regions. It highlights the problems - and also the potential - in arid areas. The authors call for more careful use of scarce water resources to safeguard the futures of desert populations. "Far from being barren wastelands, [deserts] emerge as biologically, economically and culturally dynamic while being increasingly subject to the impacts and pressures of the modern world," said Shafqat Kakakhel, from Unep. "They also emerge as places of new economic and livelihood possibilities, underlining yet again that the environment is not a luxury but a key element in the fight against poverty and the delivery of internationally-agreed development goals." The report defines deserts in three ways: Climatologically, as the arid and hyper-arid areas of the globe Biologically, as ecoregions that contain plants and animals adapted to an arid existence Physically, as those areas with ample extensions of bare soil and low vegetation cover Taken together, these areas give a composite definition of global deserts, occupying almost one-quarter of the Earth's land surface - some 33.7 million sq km (13 million sq miles) - and inhabited by over 500 million people. Most of them live at desert margins and it is here that some of the pressures threatening ecosystems in arid areas are at their greatest. Population growth and inefficient water use are, by 2050, set to move some countries with deserts into water stress, or even worse, water scarcity, the report says. Examples include Chad, Iraq, Niger and Syria. Pioneers look to solar future Renewable supplies of water which are fed to deserts by large rivers are also expected to be threatened, in some cases severely, by 2025. Examples include the Gariep River in southern Africa; the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers in North America; the Tigris and Euphrates in south-western Asia and the Amu Darya and Indus Rivers in central Asia. One of the report's author's, Professor Andrew Warren from University College London, said that without careful management in the future, the unique landscapes, ancient cultures, flora and fauna in these areas were at risk of disappearing. However, the report concludes that although some trends are worrying, other changes likely to occur in the next 50 years could be positive. There are new economic opportunities, it says, such as shrimp and fish farms in Arizona in the US and in the Negev Desert in Israel, offering environmentally friendly livelihoods for local people. Desert regions are becoming a major draw from tourism Desert plants and animals are being seen as positive sources of new drugs and crops. Nipa, a salt grass harvested in the Sonoran desert of north western Mexico at the delta of the Colorado River by the Cocopahs people, thrives on pure seawater, producing large grain yields similar to wheat. "It is a strong candidate for a major global food crop and could become this desert's greatest gift to the world," the report says. Even the problems of global warming could be tackled by better use of deserts: some experts say that an area of the Sahara 800km by 800km (500 miles by 500 miles) could capture enough solar energy to meet the entire world's electricity needs. Nonetheless, climate change is seen a major hurdle for desert ecosystems in the years ahead. Most of the 12 desert regions whose climate has been modelled are facing a drier future. HAVE YOUR SAY If you really want to help the environment, look into the effect of your diet Jason Mills, Accrington, UK What are you doing for WED? The overall temperature increase in desert regions of between 0.5 and 2C over the period 1976-2000 has been much higher than the average global rise of 0.45C, the report says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LEIPZIG 'S WORLD CUP & GOTH FESTIVAL.

Vibrant Leipzig defies dour image.
By Laura Smith-Spark BBC News.

Some 20,000 Goths will gather in Leipzig ahead of the World Cup. Any World Cup fans who arrive early in Leipzig could be in for a big surprise. Instead of the beer and bratwurst they may be expecting, the streets will be awash with mead, medieval markets, music - and extravagantly dressed Goths. For Leipzig, the only city in the former East Germany chosen to host World Cup matches, is also home to the self-proclaimed world's biggest Goth festival. Some 20,000 enthusiasts will gather from as far afield as Japan, Australia and the US for the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival from 2 to 5 June. Six days later, the city's Zentralstadion will be the stage for the first World Cup game for Serbia and Montenegro and the Netherlands.

Sometimes you see elderly people talking to the Goths and asking them why they look like this
Cornelius BrachGoth festival spokesman. Festival spokesman Cornelius Brach said he was confident Leipzig's residents would have little trouble with the transition from Goth-magnet to a city bustling with soccer fans. "The people have got used to the Gothic audience - they know they look a little bit strange but they aren't 'dangerous'," he said. "[The townspeople] are very friendly and welcoming. Sometimes you see elderly people talking to the Goths and asking them why they look like this - and there's no problem." Aside from the ubiquitous black, PVC and piercings, festival-goers will also be dressed in styles last seen in the Middle Ages. The festival, now in its 15th year, prides itself on its diversity and has created a medieval village and pagan market to keep guests entertained.

Of course the city, dating from the 11th Century, is no stranger to change.

Peaceful protests in Leipzig helped lead to the collapse of communismBack in 1989, the Nikolaikirche (St Nicholas's Church) in Leipzig was the focus for the first protests against the communist regime, with thousands of people gathering to march after Monday prayers. As other cities followed their lead, the Monday demonstrations became the centre of a call for freedom that eventually led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since the reunification of former East and West Germany in 1990, the city has seen rapid economic growth for many and a boom in construction. Its streets, bombed during World War II, now present a striking mix of stark Soviet-era buildings, Baroque, Art Nouveau and modernist architecture.

LEIPZIG ALUMNI

JS Bach - worked in Leipzig, 1723-1750
Richard Wagner - born in the city, 1813
Chancellor Angela Merkel - studied physics at Leipzig University, 1973-78

But, as Leipzig's Mayor Burkhard Jung told the BBC News website, the courage that earned Leipzig the name "City of Heroes" is far from forgotten. "The events of 1989 have left an indelible mark in the hearts and minds of all Leipzigers. And they are still visible," he said. Visitors can take in a monument to the peaceful protests in the square next to Nikolaikirche, he says. "But above all it is the people that matter. Ask any of our citizens who are old enough to remember and they will tell you their story."

The city's transformation to a regional sporting capital began when it was chosen as Germany's candidate for the 2012 Olympics.

LEIPZIG'S WORLD CUP MATCHES

11 June: Serbia and Montenegro v Netherlands
14 June: Spain v Ukraine
18 June: France v South Korea
21 June: Iran v Angola
24 June: Group C winner v Group D runner-up.

Although it failed to make the final shortlist, its preparations gave it a headstart creating the infrastructure needed for soccer's biggest event. The city had its first taste of football-related excitement when it hosted the draw for the World Cup finals last December, watched by millions. In the coming weeks it will welcome fans for group stage matches involving Spain, South Korea, Iran and Angola, to name a few, as well as one second round game. It offers one of the World Cup's smaller venues, holding 38,000 in a stadium recently rebuilt within the walls of the city's old 100,000 capacity venue.

How Leipzig is perceived after the tournament may depend on whether the far-right NPD party is allowed to hold a rally planned for the Iran-Angola match on 21 June. Far-right groups have made Leipzig a centre for May Day rallies.In recent years the city has been the scene of sometimes violent clashes between far-right demonstrators, left-wing counter-protesters and police on May Day and 3 October, the anniversary of reunification. Mr Jung said some extremists appeared to want to turn the city into a nationalist symbol. "But so far, the people of Leipzig have thwarted their attempts. Each time neo-Nazis schedule a demonstration in Leipzig, the Leipzigers take to the street by the tens of thousands," he said.

"They show very peacefully but effectively Leipzig is no place for Nazis." The mayor hopes the tournament will be a chance to banish once and for all the idea that the former East Germany is a dour and gloomy place. "This city is vibrant with life... And the Leipzigers are a hard-working, bright and optimistic kind of people.

"We hope that as many visitors as possible will come here and share this experience."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WARD OFF FORCES OF EVIL?

Prayer vigil targets Devil's Day.

The Devil hates it when we worship God, say organisers. Dutch evangelical Christians are to hold a round-the-clock prayer vigil to ward off the forces of evil on Tuesday - the so-called Devil's Day. They believe that the sixth day of the sixth month of 2006 has great significance for evil-doers and Satanists who revere the number 666.

In a bid to counteract the forces of evil, more than 2,000 Dutch Christians will hold "a violent day of worship". They will be joined by Christians in 23 other countries, organisers say. The reference to 666 is taken from the Biblical book of Revelation, which talks about the events leading to the end of the world.

Revelation 13:18 states: "If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666." Behind the initiative is a Dutch evangelical organisation called Ambassadors Ministries. On this date, Satanists will try and do many things, so we Christians try and do the opposite. Mathijs Piet, one of the organisers, told the BBC news website that the prayer marathon was to officially start at 1800 on Monday with a prayer rally in Jerusalem. "666 is the number of the Devil and we know that on this date, Satanists will try and do many things, so we Christians try and do the opposite," Mr Piet said. "We know the Devil hates it when we worship God."

Organisers expect at least 2,000 Dutch evangelicals to take part in the mass prayer vigil across the Netherlands. They are not the only ones to note the significance of the date. Film company 20th Century Fox has chosen the same date to launch its remake of the 1976 horror classic The Omen, in which a man comes to realise his son is the Antichrist. The fear of the number 666 is known as hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FREEDOM OF THE SEAS SETS SAIL!

World's biggest liner begins work.

The ship has more than three miles of public corridor. The world's largest cruise ship has set sail from Miami on her first Caribbean cruise carrying regular passengers. The 160,000-ton Freedom of the Seas has knocked the Queen Mary 2 cruise liner off the top of the list of the world's biggest cruise ships. The vessel, which has more than 1,800 rooms for up to 4,375 passengers, is more than 1,112ft (339m) in length - longer than 37 double-decker buses. It offers a surfing pool, climbing wall and ice skating rink.

Click here to see the scale of the ship

The ship made its first transatlantic voyage in early May, when it sailed from Southampton in the UK to New York, and has since been offering private guests - including travel agents - and members of the public a glimpse on board. But on Sunday evening, it set sail from Miami, Florida, with 3,600 paying guests on board on the first of its commercial seven-day trips to the Caribbean. Passengers can surf using the ship's wave machine.

The vessel boasts several pools, an open-air nightclub, whirlpools cantilevered off the side of the ship, a full-size boxing ring and a Royal Promenade "entertainment boulevard". A review on the Frommers travel website gave the ship a "B+", saying the Royal Promenade was "dominated by shops and corporate co-branding arrangements ... giving it a feel that's as much mall as theme park", but "does offer that big, active, city-vacation feel".

However, luxury comes at a price. Passengers looking to take a week-long cruise during the summer months will pay between $1,500 (£800) and $3,200 (£1,700) for a ticket, spokeswoman Tracey Quan told the BBC news website. The company had already taken multiple bookings and there was only limited availability between now and December, she said.
Over the next two years, Royal Caribbean is planning to add two other similar-sized ships to its luxury fleet. Liberty of the Seas will take its maiden voyage in April 2007 and a second vessel, currently named Freedom III, will be introduced in April 2008.

Royal Caribbean is also working on a much larger project which will not see the light of day until 2009. The new liner, code-named Project Genesis, will dwarf the Freedom of the Seas, weighing in at 220,000 tons and will have the capacity for up to 5,400 passengers. Tricia Barnett of Tourism Concern said there were ethical concerns with travelling on cruise liners. The ships leave behind waste and pollution, she said, but rarely pick up local produce and goods.

She also said previous studies of cruise shops highlighted problems of staff being paid low wages and enduring bad conditions. Royal Caribbean refused to comment on the pay-scale or working conditions for the luxury liner's 1,360 crew. Asked about environmental policies aboard the ship, which has a fuel capacity of 3,533 tons, the spokeswoman confirmed that all provisions were purchased in Miami and the vessel did not restock along the way.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PERUVIANS ELECT GARCIA PRESIDENT

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Garcia greets supporters celebrating his remarkable comeback With most of the votes counted in the second round of Peru's election, it has become clear that ex-president Alan Garcia has won a convincing victory. Mr Garcia polled 53.52% of ballots to 46.47% for nationalist rival Ollanta Humala, with 91% of votes counted. The two men had fought a fierce and aggressive campaign. Mr Garcia, who served for five turbulent years from 1985-1990, told cheering supporters: "We thank the people of Peru." We must think this night of all of our past errors, about all our defects and make an act of contrition Alan Garcia

Second chance for Garcia

He said the result was a blow for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had strongly supported his opponent. "Today, the majority of the country has delivered a message in favour of national independence, of national sovereignty," he said. "...They have defeated the efforts by Mr Hugo Chavez to integrate us into his militaristic and backwards expansion project he intends to impose over South America. Today, Peru has said no."

GARCIA'S PLANS

Prudent fiscal management
Slash government spending
Encourage foreign investment
Ensure foreign companies pay more taxes
Tough on crime
Wants free trade agreement with US revised

Profile: Alan Garcia
Peru wary of Garcia's past
In pictures: Peru votes

The Venezuelan deputy foreign minister said Mr Garcia's election would not bring about an immediate change in bilateral relations. The two countries withdrew their ambassadors last month amid recriminations over MrChavez's alleged meddling in the election. Mr Humala accepted defeat but said his nationalist project had secured "an historic political and social victory". For weeks, the two men vying to be president had traded insults and allegations.
Mr Garcia tried to portray Mr Humala as a dangerous threat to democracy and peace, while Mr Humala reminded Peruvians of the mistakes of Mr Garcia's presidency, which was marked by rebel attacks and rampant inflation.

Mr Garcia won majorities in the capital, Lima, and along the more developed northern coast, but Mr Humala polled well in the southern and central areas. Many Peruvians can hardly believe Mr Garcia's victory, the BBC's Daniel Schweimler in Lima says. The former president, always a charismatic speaker, was able to hold the attention of huge crowds, confident and articulate.

Ollanta Humala went jogging before casting his voteLHis biggest challenge now, our correspondent says, is to unite a politically divided country. The new president acknowledged the challenges ahead as he greeted cheering supporters at the headquarters of his Apra party in Lima. "We must think this night of all of our past errors, about all our defects and make an act of contrition," Mr Garcia told supporters gathered at the headquarters of his Apra party. No-one had been defeated, he said, and promised to work to ensure development in the impoverished south of the country, Mr Humala's heartland.

During the campaign, Mr Garcia frequently referred to the former army officer's involvement in an armed uprising, and criticised his lack of political experience and close ties to Mr Chavez. In their desperation to gain an advantage, Peru's two candidates left a climate of distrust and confusion in a country where voting is compulsory. Many Peruvians said they would not vote for either man and would destroy their ballot papers. Even more said neither candidate appealed and they would have to decide which of the pair was the lesser of two evils.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UNKNOWN SPECIES FOUND IN CAVE!

Unknown creatures found in cave.

See the new species

Eight previously unknown invertebrate creatures have been discovered in a cave in central Israel. The largest is a white shrimp-like crustacean. Another resembles a species of scorpion and is blind.

The cave, near the city of Ramle, contains a lake and was uncovered during drilling at a quarry.
Scientists say it is a unique ecosystem that has been sealed off from the rest of the world for five million years and could contain other ancient lifeforms. "The uniqueness is of the environmental conditions and of the palaeohistory," said Dr Hanan Dimantman, a biologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "The result of this is that the ecosystem is unique. We are sure that the eight species that were found are only the beginning of the story of this ecosystem."

The cave is connected to a lake and a network of passageways that extend for more than a mile (1.6km) and some 400ft (120m) underground.

The creatures have yet to be given scientific names. The ecosystem is thought to date back millions of years to a time when the area was part of the Mediterranean Sea. Scientists believe the ecosystem has been isolated since then, creating a unique environment in which new species have evolved. Two of the crustaceans are adapted to seawater and two others live in fresh or brackish water, suggesting they may be descended from ancient sea creatures. They have lost their eyes over the course of evolution in the gloom of the cave. All of the species were found alive, except for one species of blind scorpion; but scientists are confident that a complete set of living specimens will be found.

Samples have been sent to experts in Europe and Israel to be named and classified. Paul Pearce-Kelly, senior curator of invertebrates at London Zoo, UK, said the organisms would give clues to how life could evolve in the absence of sunlight. "They can give a very good insight into how robust life, and the evolutionary process driving it, can be," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RUSSIA'S HIV CHILDREN NEED HELP!

Russia's abandoned HIV children.
By Emma Simpson BBC News, Moscow.

Russia has one of the fastest growing Aids epidemics in the world, with 100 new infections every day. Increasingly, women and their infants are being affected. Latest figures show 22,000 babies have been born to HIV-positive women. And many are being abandoned by their mothers into the care of the state. Many HIV-positive mothers give up their babies to the Russian state. The four babies in the maternity ward in the city of Tver were just a few days old and blissfully content. But two of them had been abandoned by their HIV-positive mothers, who were either too ashamed or unable to cope. They ought soon to have been heading to one of Russia's regular baby orphanages, but the two newborns are likely to be stuck here in this state-run infectious diseases hospital instead. If they are lucky it will be only for 18 months - the time it takes doctors in Russia officially to diagnose whether children are HIV-positive. Most babies born to women who are HIV-positive do turn out to be free from the virus. But if HIV is detected, the babies could end up being here a lot longer. Russia is quick to reject those with HIV.

In another part of the hospital, we found Tanya sitting in her dressing gown in a nurse's office, doodling happily away. She was three-and-a-half years old and had been living here all her life.
If they're abandoned, they stay in a hospital. - Yury LoshkarovTver health department head. Tanya had never played with another child and had only been outside once or twice. The staff told us that because she was HIV-positive, there was nowhere else for her to go, an outcast whom nobody seemed to want. In this region, there were 23 new cases of children confirmed with HIV last year alone - and sadly, we discovered that Tanya's case was not unique. Yury Loshkarov, in charge of Tver's health department, admitted that there were other children living in its hospitals because no orphanage wanted to take them. "If they're abandoned, they stay in a hospital," he said.

In Russia, some 20 babies are born every day to HIV-positive women, with two of those, on average, abandoned by their mothers. We spoke to Olga, who found out a year ago that she was HIV-positive. Doctors treat me differently - they are still trying to convince me against pregnancy. Modern drugs are widely available which can dramatically reduce the chances of mother-to-child transmission. Too many women, though, are still unaware of the treatment.
She is now 22 weeks pregnant and told us that she was determined to keep her baby, despite huge pressure. "In my clinic, doctors treat me differently. They are still trying to convince me against pregnancy. "When I ask questions they don't reply - they just shout at me. Even my grandmother thought that people with HIV should be sent to an isolated island."

Her experience helps explain why so many women give up their children. Russia is belatedly pouring millions of dollars into tackling this epidemic. The biggest challenge is changing attitudes. It is bad enough living with HIV, but what hope if you are young, orphaned and infected? Attitudes towards HIV/Aids must change for children to be accepted. If Tanya is lucky, she will get a place at the Republican Hospital for Infectious Diseases in St Petersburg.
It has proper medicine and specially trained staff. Most of all, there is love and compassion to help bring children's emotions alive. But there are fewer than 40 places for the whole of the country.

We watched one of the afternoon lessons - a visit to a make-believe corner shop. This was just one of the ways to prepare the young patients for the real world outside. Five-year-old Dima preferred to sit quietly at the back. He spent three years isolated in a hospital ward, and then was eventually separated from his little brother when he was finally diagnosed as HIV-negative. Yelena Vedmed, the hospital's deputy head, said it was a trauma he may never be able to forget. Maybe when people see how wonderful and talented our children are, this may change their attitude - Yelena Vedmed, Republican Hospital for Infectious Diseases"Absolutely all the children that came here had developmental problems. Many of them were locked up for several years in isolated hospital wards.

"They were basically ignored and abandoned. Two-year-old children had the developmental level of a six-month-old baby." Their progress has been remarkable. This, however, was only supposed to be a temporary haven. But the staff are wondering if these children will ever be accepted by the outside world. "About a year and a half ago a new law was introduced which obliged orphanages to accept them. We tried once - at an orphanage near by," Ms Vedmed said.
"But after we went there, we realised that the level of Aids-phobia is so high that our child would be isolated again, so we didn't give this child away."

She has called for a massive public relations campaign to explain to Russians that HIV-positive people are no different from anyone else. "Maybe when people see how wonderful and talented our children are, this may change their attitude," she said.

But that will take time - something that Russia currently does not have.

2008 : THE RACE BEGINS!

2008: The race begins.
By Richard Allen Greene BBC News, Washington.

In US politics, there's usually an incumbent running for the White House - if not the president himself (and so far it has always been a "himself"), then his vice-president.

Mr Bush will have to leave the White House when his term ends. But with George W Bush constitutionally limited to two terms and Vice-President Dick Cheney ruled out on health grounds, the race for the White House is wide open for the first time since 1928. And the race is so expensive and demanding that, though Election Day 2008 is more than two years away, candidates already need to be making their plans and hiring their teams. Here are the people presently considered the most capable of making a serious run.

DEMOCRATS
Evan Bayh
Joe Biden
Wesley Clark
Hillary Clinton
John Edwards
Russ Feingold
Al Gore
John Kerry
Bill Richardson
Tom Vilsack
Mark Warner

REPUBLICANS
George Allen
Jeb Bush
Bill Frist
Newt Gingrich
Rudolph Giuliani
Mike Huckabee
John McCain
Condoleezza Rice
Mitt Romney

CANADA CHARGES 17 TERROR SUSPECTS!

Police said the suspects planned "al-Qaeda-inspired" attacks. Police in Canada have arrested and charged 12 men who they say were planning an "al-Qaeda-inspired" bombing campaign in and around Toronto. Five other youths have also been charged, following an investigation involving more than 400 officers. Police seized bomb-making materials in a series of raids in Toronto, including three tons of ammonium nitrate. Officials said the group "posed a real and serious threat" with "the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks".

Fifteen of the suspects appeared in a heavily guarded courtroom in Brampton, a Toronto suburb, on Saturday. Some family members sobbed during the hearing while others attempted to speak or wave to the detainees, Reuters news agency reports. A list of the names and addresses of the 12 adults, which was released after the arrests were made, indicates that they are all resident in Toronto or the surrounding province of Ontario.

Ammonium nitrate is a commonly used fertiliser which has also been used to make bombs. One guy was doing some criminal activity, selling guns for money Aly Hindy Imam at a Toronto mosque who knows some of the accused"To put it in context, the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people was completed with only one ton of ammonium nitrate," said assistant commissioner Mike McDonell of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or Mounties. "Our investigation and arrests prevented the assembly of any bombs and the attacks from being carried out."

Southern Ontario is one of the country's main economic and business centres. The Mounties would not name any of the suspected bombing targets. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada had been targeted because of its way of life and "was not sheltered from the terrorist threat". "Today, Canada's security and intelligence measures worked. Canada's new government will pursue its efforts to ensure the national security of all Canadians," he added.

Officials showed what they said was evidence of bomb-making materials, a computer hard drive, camouflage uniforms and what appeared to be a door with bullet holes in it. Police seized an array of bomb-making materials .The Mounties and other government security agencies, including intelligence and border security, have been conducting a lengthy investigation, the largest of its kind in Canada.

Police said those arrested on Friday were all Canadian residents "of different origins", most of them citizens - some were students, some employed, others unemployed. Most of the 12 adults, whose ages range from 19 to 43, have Arabic names but police say no one community should be singled out. Muslim leaders in Toronto have condemned the planned attack and said extremist messages had been preached in some area mosques in recent years.

The suspects appear to have "chosen a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaeda", said Luc Portelance, assistant director of operations for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canada's spy agency. Aly Hindy, an imam at a Toronto mosque, said he knew most of the accused and believed one or two were involved in crime but not terrorism. "One guy was doing some criminal activity, selling guns for money," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency outside the courtroom.

More arrests are said to be possible.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SIX YEARS SENTENCE FOR GENOCIDE!

Media boss sentenced for genocide

Joseph Serugendo was arrested in Gabon last year. A former Rwandan media director has been sentenced to six years in prison after admitting inciting violence during the 1994 genocide. Joseph Serugendo this week agreed a plea bargain at a UN court, under which charges of genocide were dropped. Serugendo, 53, is terminally ill. He was reportedly unable to stand in court and he remained expressionless as the sentence was delivered.

Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the 1994 slaughter. Serugendo is a former technical director of Radio Mille Collines (RTLM), which urged Hutus to murder Tutsis.
Judge Eric Mose at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said he had taken "note of mitigating circumstances of the accused, notably his health," in the sentence.

The nature of Serugendo's illness was not disclosed but the judge said it was "fatal", according to the AFP news agency.
He becomes the 28th person, including other RTLM staff, found guilty by the ICTR, which was set up to try the ringleaders of the genocide.
He was arrested last year in Gabon and transferred to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania.

WORLD CUP FOOTBALL BBC NEWS UPDATE

BBC website shows World Cup games

England's possible second round and quarter-final ties will be shownAll of the BBC's 2006 World Cup matches will also be broadcast exclusively live on the BBC Sport website.
The service will be available to UK broadband users and will mirror terrestrial and interactive coverage.
In addition there will be four-minute highlight packages from every single game of the tournament on demand.
Head of Sport Roger Mosey said: "The World Cup on broadband is our biggest commitment yet to bringing people major events where and when they want them."
All of the BBC's group games will be covered live on the internet as well as all the subsequent games the BBC has in the knockout stages, including England's second round and quarter-final games, should they reach that stage.
EDITORS' BLOG
This reflects us taking seriously what you've been saying to us - you want BBC Sport on the platform, and at the time, of your choice
BBC Sport head Roger Mosey
Read more on our editors' blog
Viewers will be able to stream the same coverage as will appear on terrestrial television and listen to the same commentary.
In addition to watching the games, online users will be able to hear and read about the latest action - Radio Five Live will have an audio stream and there will also be live minute-by-minute written reports on every match.
Mosey added: "You can watch the World Cup from the BBC at home on TV, listen in the car on your radio and now also see full live coverage on your PC.
"We know a lot of online viewing is done in the office, so we suspect this will allow people both to do their job and to keep up with the very latest action from Germany."
The BBC has successfully broadcast football over the internet before, but this is by far its biggest-ever single commitment.
In 2005 the BBC showed the final of the Club World Championship between Liverpool and Sao Paulo online to UK internet users.
Similarly the BBC also broadcast online all the interactive streams from Athens 2004 Olympics.
And this year's Wimbledon Championships will be broadcast live on the BBC Sport website for the first time.

The BBC already has the broadband rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

Group matches available online:(all kick-off times are BST)

Friday 9 JuneGermany v Costa Rica (1700)
Saturday 10 JuneEngland v Paraguay (1400)
Sunday 11 JuneSerbia & Montenegro v Netherlands (1400)Mexico v Iran (1700)
Monday 12 June USA v Czech Republic (1700)Italy v Ghana (2000)
Tuesday 13 JuneSouth Korea v Togo (1400)France v Switzerland (1700)Brazil v Croatia (2000) Wednesday 14 JuneGermany v Poland (2000)

Friday 16 June Argentina v Serbia & Montenegro (1400)
Saturday 17 June Portugal v Iran (1400)
Sunday 18 June France v South Korea (2000)
Monday 19 June Togo v Switzerland (1400)Spain v Tunisia (2000)
Thursday 22 June Czech Republic v Italy (1500)Ghana v USA (1500)Japan v Brazil (2000)Croatia v Australia (2000)

Friday 23 June Ukraine v Tunisia (1500)Saudi Arabia v Spain (1500)Togo v France (2000)Switzerland v South Korea (2000)

BBC SPORTS NEWS REPORT.

LARGE RALLY IN NEPAL BY MAOISTS.

Maoists hold massive Nepal rally

People from all walks of life attended the rally.
Enlarge Image

At least 200,000 people have taken part in a Maoist rally in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu - the first there by the rebels for three years.
Streets were hung with banners bearing communist slogans and posters of the Maoist leader, Prachanda.
King Gyanendra ended 14 months of absolute rule in April after weeks of pro-democracy protests.
The new multi-party government has been holding talks with the Maoists aimed at ending the 10-year insurgency.
The Maoists are demanding the dissolution of the government and elections to a new constituent assembly.
The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says Friday's rally was huge, with people crushed against fences and climbing walls for a better view.
Tight security
It featured folk music and dance displays, characteristic of the Maoists' rural rallies.

Get rid of the royal regime. We want a republican state
Maoist chants

In pictures: Nepal protest

Hundreds of youths in T-shirts featuring the Maoist leader Prachanda kept the crowd orderly.
Hundreds of public transport vehicles were allegedly seized from villages around central Nepal and people compelled to come.
"Get rid of the royal regime... We want a republic state," they chanted as they arrived for the rally.
Others told the BBC they had turned up because they wanted to hear the Maoists' social message.
Some city hotels said they had been pressurised to let out rooms at reduced rates, or that young cadres had been putting up tents in their grounds.
Warning
The government tightened security in sensitive areas, and asked the demonstrators not to march towards the royal palace.

The Maoists have been in talks with the new government
Rebel negotiator Krishna Bahadur Mahara addressed the crowd and said the government had been slow to implement a move to hold elections to a constituent assembly.
"The present parliament is incapable of representing people's voice so it should be immediately dissolved," he was quoted as saying by AFP.
The government and the rebels have recently agreed to continue the peace process and follow an agreed code of conduct.
However, the rebels have already been accused of violating the code.
A Maoist leader has admitted the rebels killed two men in southern Nepal after kidnapping them and bombing their parents' house.
Coinciding with the rally, King Gyanendra is due to make his first public appearance since he gave up direct rule.
The king will attend a religious ceremony in nearby Lalitpur district, less than 10km (six miles) from the Maoist rally.
More than 13,000 people have been killed in the 10-year insurgency.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THIS MUST BE STOPPED !

Female mutilation is 'birth risk'

More than three million girls suffer circumcision each yearFemale genital mutilation increases the risk of complications during childbirth and infant mortality, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
Women who have had the procedure are more likely to need Caesareans and the death rate among their babies is up to 50% higher, it said in a report.
The study, reported in the Lancet, involved 30,000 African women.
The practice is common in parts of Africa, where some believe it will maintain a girl's honour.
'Torture'
The report is the first of its kind to look into the long-term health consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM).
The WHO described FGM as a form of "torture" that must be stamped out, even if performed by trained medical personnel.

TYPES OF FGM
Type one - where the clitoris is removed
Type two - where the clitoris and surrounding labia are removed
Type three - where the clitoris and labia are removed.

"By medicalising it, we will be endorsing this practice, this violation of a child's body and a basic human right of an individual and I think that's the worst thing we can possibly do," Joy Phumaphi, WHO assistant director-general for family and community health, told the BBC.
Women were studied in six countries in Africa - Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.
However, Egyptian doctor Professor Munir Falsi denies that type 1 or type 2 FGM, which he calls "female circumcision" is cruel, or dangerous.
"With type 1 and type 2, there is no problem whatsoever with pregnancy or childbirth," he told the BBC's World Today programme, pointing out that 90% of Egyptian women are circumcised.
"Most of the complications are with type 3, which is understandable," he said.
Millions circumcised
The report accepted that the more extensive the mutilation, the more serious the risks but said all forms were dangerous.

According to the report, mutilated women were 31% more likely to have a caesarean delivery, had a 66% higher chance of having a baby that required resuscitation and 55% more likely to have a child who died before or after birth.
"As a result of this study we have, for the first time, evidence that deliveries among women who have been subject to FGM are significantly more likely to be complicated and dangerous," Ms Phumaphi said.
The organisation says the new research is vital to protect communities in the future.
While many African countries have passed laws against FGM, the WHO says they are not being properly enforced.
FGM is practised in 28 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.
One hundred million women worldwide have undergone the procedure, which happens to three million girls under 10 every year. It is carried out by both Christian and Muslim communities.
The operation involves the partial or total removal of the external genital organs.
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BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINESE CHILDREN GROWING TALLER!

China children outgrow old rules.

Improved living standards mean average heights are increasingBeijing officials have been forced to raise the maximum height requirement for children so they can continue to receive free public services.
The average height of children has risen, meaning many are being denied access to services they should be entitled to, state media reports say.
Authorities have now raised the height limit for free bus rides and other perks by 10cm (4in) to 1.2m (3ft 11in).
The increased stature has been put down to improved nutrition and health care.
The guidelines were first introduced 50 years ago.
They originally stated that any child under 7 years of age and below 1.1m (3ft 7in) was eligible for free bus rides, free entry to parks and theatres and free school lunches.
Steady increase
But the average height of Chinese children has increased by about 2.3cms (1in) to 3cms every decade since the guidelines were first drawn up, Xinhua news agency quotes Beijing Municipal Children's Studies Institute as saying.
"Because of the growth in height, China's 360 million children have run into problems of buying tickets," Xinhua said.
The BBC's Dan Griffiths in Beijing says the discrepancy has been a sore point with children and parents alike.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LONDON POLICE IN TERROR RAID.

Man shot in terror raid quizzed

Police have cordoned off three roads in the area.
Residents' reactions A man shot by police in an armed raid is being questioned in hospital after his arrest under the Terrorism Act.
He and another man, being held at a central London police station, were arrested in Forest Gate, east London.
The BBC has learned they are Abdul Kahar 23, and Abdul Koyar, 20. Both are of Bangladeshi origin. Mr Kahar's injuries are not life-threatening.
It is understood the operation was related to a suspected chemical device, although none has been found.
Bio-chemical experts
A single shot was fired, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which will investigate.
Some officers wore bio-chemical suits and carried gas masks in the raid on the terraced house in Lansdown Road, but nothing chemical was found.

Profile: The IPCC
The go-ahead for the raid came after discussions between MI5, the anti-terrorist branch, and bio-chemical experts from the Health Protection Agency which advises on the potential health risks.
An air exclusion zone was imposed around the scene, banning aircraft above it. But local residents were not evacuated either because the threat of explosions was not deemed serious enough or police did not want to alert the suspects.
The operation was not linked to the London bombings of July 2005, police have said.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Met's anti-terror branch, said the operation was planned in response to "specific intelligence".
"Because of the very specific nature of the intelligence we planned an operation that was designed to mitigate any threat to the public either from firearms or from hazardous substances," he said.
He said the purpose of the raid was to prove or disprove intelligence they had received.
Surveillance operation
BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford described it as the most significant anti-terror operation this year.
Mr Kahar was arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism as he was being treated at the Royal London hospital.

See an aerial view of the area surrounding the raided house
Enlarge Image
Mr Koyar was arrested and is being questioned at Paddington Green police station.
Officers from M15 had been watching a group of British young people of Bangladeshi origin for weeks, the BBC's Margaret Gilmore said.
Their emails, phonecalls and movements were logged and the suspicion was they were planning a terrorist attack in the UK.
Intelligence officers did not link them with any other group of suspects but thought they were acting alone.
She said by Thursday they were convinced there could be a bomb in the East London house.
Roads closed
The search of the premises is expected to take several days.
A white and yellow tent has been set up outside the property, while workmen are erecting a two-storey high scaffolding screen around the building.
Several people in the house at the time of the raid were moved to other premises. They have not been arrested.
Lansdown Road, and neighbouring Rothsay Road and Prestbury Road, are all closed.

One eyewitness said officers smashed a window to gain access
A 14-year-old boy, Nimesh Patel, who saw the raid, said police broke in through a window, and then opened the front door.
He said the person shot appeared to have a shoulder injury.
Another witness said he had seen a man wearing a bloodstained T-shirt being carried out of the house after the raid.
Meanwhile, a group of around 20 Asian men gathered outside the gates of the Royal London Hospital to protest at what they believe was heavy handed treatment by the police in the raid.
The IPCC, in a statement, said it would use its own investigators to "examine the circumstances surrounding the discharge of a police firearm".
Deborah Glass, IPCC commissioner, said: "An examination of the officers' firearms confirms that a single shot was discharged in circumstances that are currently under investigation."
It investigated the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes by police at Stockwell Tube station, the day after the failed 21 July bombings.
Flying ban
The Civil Aviation Authority says an air exclusion zone has been set up over east London and will be in place for four days.
Aircraft are banned from flying over the site below 2,500ft.
Residents said Forest Gate was a typical east London "mixed" community with a large number of Bengali and Pakistani families, along with a recent influx of Eastern Europeans.
One neighbour said the operation early this morning had involved "the most police I've seen in my life".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DALAI LAMA AWARDS TINTIN AND TUTU.

The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu are old friends.

Watch the ceremony

Comic strip adventure hero Tintin and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have been honoured by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. At a ceremony in Brussels, he presented a Tibetan butter lamp to the Herge Foundation representing Tintin books. The book Tintin in Tibet was published in the same year that the Dalai Lama fled the Himalayan kingdom. He also presented a lamp and silk scarf to fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Archbishop Tutu of South Africa.

They came in out of the Brussels rain - two men in their seventies, old friends - one in a black suit with a silver cross, the other in the red robes of a Tibetan monk. Archbishop Tutu helped end apartheid in South Africa. The Dalai Lama is still campaigning against China's military occupation of Tibet. We used to say to the apartheid government... Come: join the winning side. His Holiness and the Tibetan people are on the winning side

The awards ceremony took place under tight security, at a 19th-Century concert hall in central Brussels. The Dalai Lama draped a silk scarf around the archbishop's neck and presented him with a Tibetan butter lamp: the Light of Truth Award from the International Campaign for Tibet. In his speech, Archbishop Tutu paid tribute to his friend. "I give great thanks to God that he has created a Dalai Lama," he said. "Do you really think, as some have argued, that God will be saying: 'You know, that guy, the Dalai Lama, is not bad. What a pity he's not a Christian'?" A preacher with the timing of a stand-up comic, the archbishop continued: "I don't think that is the case - because, you see, God is not a Christian."

The Dalai Lama, said Archbishop Tutu, "has a childlike, boyish, impish, mischievousness. And I have to try and make him behave properly, like a holy man!" We never thought that this story of friendship would have a resonance more than 40 years later. - Fanny RodwellHerge Foundation
The Dalai Lama rocked with laughter on his chair and wrapped his red robe more closely over his shoulder. There was also an award for the Herge Foundation, established in memory of the author of the Tintin cartoon adventure books. Tintin in Tibet is one of the most popular in the series. It is not a political book: instead it tells the story of Tintin's friendship with a Chinese boy, Chang, whose plane crashes in the Himalayas. When Tintin goes to rescue him, he encounters Tibetan monks and the mythical yeti - the Abominable Snowman.

The award was accepted by Herge's widow, Fanny Rodwell. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke. "We never thought that this story of friendship would have a resonance more than 40 years later," she said. Another shaven-headed monk knelt by the Dalai Lama's chair, whispering a translation of Mme Rodwell's speech, which was in French. When the book was published in Chinese, it was Tintin who needed rescuing. The Chinese authorities had renamed it Tintin in China's Tibet. When Herge and his publishers protested, the Chinese backed down. The book is now sold in China under its original name.

Some of the Tintin adventures are 77 years old.The Dalai Lama said Tibetan Buddhism was a heritage "not just for Tibetans: it can do good for billions of people in our modern world". "The Tibetan state is located between two of the world's great powers, India and China. Good relations between these powers are crucial for world peace. Tibet has an important role to play," he said. And he urged his supporters not to regard the Chinese as their enemies. Archbishop Tutu drew an explicit comparison between the anti-apartheid movement and the campaign for Tibetan autonomy from China. "We used to say to the apartheid government: you may have the guns, you may have all this power, but you have already lost. Come: join the winning side. His Holiness and the Tibetan people are on the winning side," he said.

Outside, there were free copies of Tintin in Tibet available, but only in Esperanto. One of the monks scurried past, clutching his copy under one arm. Archbishop Tutu dedicated his award to his fellow Nobel peace laureate, the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest from the military government. "Can you beat it?" Archbishop Tutu asked incredulously. "The military junta are armed to the teeth and they are scared of a little woman. They run away from Rangoon and hide somewhere in the forest, because she is good, and they are scared." But he looked forward to the day when he and the Dalai Lama would be able to attend her inauguration as Burma's president.

"Freedom," he concluded, "is unstoppable."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LOSS OF JOBS IN KENYA!

Kenyan shop chain shuts its doors

Several of the closing stores are in the capital, Nairobi. One of Africa's largest retailers has closed its doors after 30 years of trade after facing insolvency. Kenya's oldest supermarket chain Uchumi said it could no longer sustain its losses, blaming mismanagement, political interference and competition. The move, which has seen 1,200 people laid off, comes despite attempts to restructure the firm and the appointment of a new management team. Bosses said they were looking to find a financial solution to save the chain.

The BBC's Josphat Mokori in Nairobi said that Kenyans were surprised at the closure, given it had been attempting a turnaround. "It has come as a shock to many who used to shop there," our reporter said. The firm said it had shut the 17 outlets it owned - although ten which under a local franchise, including one in the Ugandan capital Kampala, were continuing to trade. The new management had tried to cut costs, get rid of non-strategic assets and raise additional capital, chief executive John Masterten-Smith explained.

"Business has been encumbered by various hurdles in day-to-day dealing with our trade and non-trade creditors," he said. "The board is of the view that the business is facing insolvency and it is prudent that necessary action is taken to stem further losses." Uchumi was hit earlier this year when local company Sameer Group pulled its 10% stake in the firm, weakening the supermarket.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TOGO TO BEAT FRANCE AND SOUTH KOREA!

Voodoo priest predicts Togo glory.
By Ebow Godwin BBC News, Lome

Togbui Assiogbo Gnagblondjro predicts that Togo will beat France and South Korea. Togo's chief voodoo priest is predicting success for Togo's football team at the World Cup in Germany. "The ancestral spirits say that Togo will go far at the World Cup," Togbui Assiogbo Gnagblondjro III says.

His prediction is giving hope to fans angered with their players' lacklustre performance and a demand of $200,000 each to take part in the tournament. Togbui, who will travel to Germany for the matches, said certain rituals will be performed to ensure their success. "We are going to perform wonders with many things. But I cannot tell you how, because you are not an initiated member of the voodoo," he said when I visited the voodoo mystic in the village of Vogan about 45km from the capital, Lome. I myself will be going to Germany with my traditional voodoo attire... Togo will win
Togbui Assiogbo Gnagblondjro III

Life of a voodoo priestess

He said that Togo will definitely beat South Korea and France to get to the next round and he would be able to predict the actual scores two days before the matches. As the chief voodoo fetish priest, Togbui Assiogbo Gnagblondjro is the traditional spiritual intermediary between the living and the ancestral spirits of those who have died and gone to the world beyond. He claims the team's bad performance during the African Nations Cup in January was because it ignored the powers of voodoo. "They asked the churches to do the prayers, and you saw the results," he said. "I myself will be going to Germany with my traditional Voodoo attire, because you cannot sit down here in Togo and say Togo will win. But Togo will win."

Togo's government, meanwhile, has donated $500,000 for 100 Togolese football fans to travel to Germany to cheer on the team.

BBC SPORTNEWS REPORT.

KENYAN HAWKERS KILLED

Kenyan clashes leave hawkers dead.

The hawkers set alight power transformersAt least four people, including a Kenyan policeman, have died in clashes between police and street hawkers in the capital, Nairobi. The trouble started when police tried to arrest illegal street traders in the River Road area. The BBC's Anne Mawathe says when one of the vendors tried to escape the police opened fire, infuriating the traders. They rioted and set fire to power transformers, which the police had to put out with piles of earth.

Local television reports that some of demonstrators have serious bullet wounds. Police commander Julius Ndegwa described the clashes as an "unfortunate incident", AFP news agency reports.

Our correspondent says confrontations between hawkers and the police are not unusual in Nairobi as the traders are not allowed to trade in the central business areas of the capital. They had come into the centre to take advantage of the public holiday as Kenyans celebrate their independence day, she adds.