ISRAELIS WARY OF ARAB PEACE PLAN !

Israelis wary of Arab peace plan.
By Martin Patience BBC News, Netanya.

Memories linger of Netanya's nightmare in March 2002. Almost five years ago to the day, Dovrat Sharabbi settled down with her grandparents to enjoy a Passover dinner.
As they were halfway through their meal news broke that there had been an explosion in their home town of Netanya, a 20-minute drive away.
A Palestinian suicide bomber had walked into the Park Hotel in the town detonating his explosives. Thirty people, mainly elderly, were killed in the attack.
In Israel there was outrage particularly as some of the victims were Holocaust survivors.
On that same day, Arab leaders met in Beirut and formally adopted a Saudi peace initiative, offering Israel full recognition if it withdrew from all the land occupied in 1967.
The Arabs always say that they will make peace, but it's only peace on paper
Netanya shopkeeper Rivin Sadian. The plan demanded the establishment of a Palestinian state and also a "just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem", based on people returning to their homes or the payment of appropriate compensation.
This week, the plan was reaffirmed at the Arab League summit held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
No trust
But for Dovrat - whose friend's father was killed in the Park Hotel blast - the period of five years has done little to change her views.
"I want to believe that it can happen, that if we withdrew to 1967 that there would be peace," she said, sitting on a grassy knoll overlooking Netanya's thin stretch of beach.
"But there is no trust here. I don't trust the Arabs to deliver even if we did withdraw."
Across the Israeli political spectrum there have been encouraging noises about the initiative - and not just from left-wing parties.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, leader of the centrist Kadima party, lauded the Arab peace move as "revolutionary" in Israeli press reports, although he stressed he did not accept it in its entirety.
Refugee question
The Israeli Housing Minister, Meir Sheetrit, told the BBC that he would be willing to go to Saudi Arabia today if allowed.
"I think we should break the ice," he said.
But for most Israelis, Palestinian refugees returning to land which is now inside Israel is a non-starter.
If all the refugees were to return to Israel, there would cease to be a Jewish majority in the Jewish state.

Parts of modern Netanya stand on ruins of pre-1948 village Um Khalid. Former Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said that this single demand meant that there was nothing really to talk about.
"The Arabs should know that they should abandon their dream to destroy the state of Israel from inside," he said.
Some Israeli politicians and analysts, however, see the very fact the Saudi initiative was reaffirmed shows that there is now a marked difference in atmosphere.
Five years ago, the Palestinian uprising was at its height.
But last summer's conflict between Israel and Hezbollah changed the regional dynamics.
Downbeat
Israel and many of the Arab states - including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan - worry about Iran's increasing influence in the region, particularly if it acquires nuclear weapons.
"Basically what the Saudis are telling the Iranians is that we beg to differ with you," said Aluf Benn, the diplomatic editor of the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz.
"When the Iranians say that Israel has no place in the map, the Saudis are saying we think Israel, within different borders, does belong in the region."
But while there may be enthusiastic murmurings in government circles and elsewhere, people in Netanya seem more downbeat.
"The Arabs always say that they will make peace," said Rivin Sadian, 26, standing in front of his souvenir shop looking out for tourists.
"But it's only peace on paper; it's not peace for real."
Taxi-driver Samuel Coen, 35, was only slightly more optimistic.
"There cannot be real peace between us and the Arabs," he said.
"The best we can hope for is that we agree to live here and they agree to live over there."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BACKSTREET BOOKIES THRIVE IN PAKISTAN !

Backstreet bookies thrive in Pakistan.
By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Lahore.

On a roof-top terrace high above Lahore, four men are seated with mobile phones scattered around them, the cricket playing on a TV set in the corner.

Many small bookmaker shops thrive in Lahore.
Different ring-tones bring in new bets - all the calls are recorded on tape, and one of the men notes down the amount pledged and the odds offered.
Hundreds of thousands of rupees are being staked on the West Indies versus New Zealand game in this illegal Pakistani betting shop.
One big black phone is left on speaker mode in the centre of the room - an open line to the boss who is setting the odds, and monitoring all his mobile operations across the city.
We had parked in a dark alley and been led up the stairs by the well-to-do men running one of thousands of small operations across Lahore.
Way of life
Betting may be illegal in Pakistan but it's big business, and modern mobile technology makes it almost impossible to crack down on.
The cricket World Cup is a good opportunity - they are betting on the result and spread and spot betting throughout each match.

I believe that the mafia killed him
Mr C Pakistani bookmaker.

There are different opinions on whether there was fixing in the Pakistan-Ireland match, when Pakistan were defeated knocked out of the World Cup at the group stage.
Cricket is a way of life here and passions were high, with anger at the team's poor performance countered by sadness at the death of the Pakistan Cricket coach, Bob Woolmer.
And betting is such a big money-earner that it's in the interests of the "Mr Bigs" to influence the outcome of matches - despite efforts by the International Cricket Council to crack down on it.
Match-fixing claims
Mr C, the man running the bookies' shop in Lahore, explains how it works: "They call me and say they want half a million Pakistan rupees on this ball or that over, and it if doesn't work out they have to pay us."
And like everyone here, Mr C has his own theory as to what happened to Woolmer.
"I believe that the mafia killed him, but we'll have to wait for the reports," he says.
"By mafia I mean it is spread over not just Pakistan and India, but everywhere, from Pakistan to India to Dubai, South Africa and even Britain - it's spread all over."
And even the man tipped by some to be in line for the job as the next Pakistan coach admits match fixing goes on.
"I can't say there is no match-fixing in cricket because there is," said Aqib Javed, currently a youth coach for the national team.
"When the team lost the game the fans were very angry and emotional and aggressive, but after Bob's murder things have changed and they are more sympathetic.
"It's all speculation, but you can't relate match-fixing with Bob's murder."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE FALKLANDS ISLANDS WAY !

The Falkland Islands way.
By Brian Hanrahan BBC News, Port Stanley.

Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands 25 years ago, triggering a brief, but bitter war in which 655 Argentines and 255 British servicemen lost their lives. The BBC correspondent who famously said in 1982: "I counted them all out and I counted them all back," has been back to report on life there now.

Fishing and sheep farming are the main economic activities.
There is one question that Falkland islanders always get asked: "Why do you live here?"
It is not so much the weather or the landscape, bleak though both can be. It is the isolation.
The population is a whisker under 3,000 and they have none of the distractions most of the world takes for granted... no cinema and hardly any shops. They can watch the TV channel fed to the British base but have no station of their own.
It is a world where everyone knows everyone and the only social distractions are other people's lives.
Shades of green
Living in this social goldfish bowl, however, is not to everyone's taste.
I was being driven out of Stanley one morning which showed the islands at their best.
On one side the rock tumbles of the mountains slithering down from the clouds, on the other a sparkling ocean under a sky of purest, unpolluted blue.

We can now see more clearly what it was Britain went to war to preserve.
In between was a rainbow of greens. It seemed impossible that there could be so many shades, so many hues of such different intensity and they could all be the same colour.
Amid the small talk about the scenery, the young man who was driving suddenly told me how much he disliked the place - nothing to do, nowhere to go, nobody to meet - and that everybody knew too much about him.
He was off to England and could not wait to get out.
But my guess is he will be back.
Most young people leave the islands at 16 to finish their education but nearly all of them return once they have had a taste of the outside world.
Tourist trail
The lifestyle of the islands is distinctive and it is theirs. And however much it puzzles visitors, they want to keep it.

Take Debbie Summers who has come back to the islands with a degree in business studies.
On the jetty she meets tourists off the cruise ships wearing a brightly coloured knitted hat with woollen antlers bouncing up and down.
Debbie is an impressive businesswoman creating a new industry.
Cruise ships like to stop in at the Falklands.
She organises their day trips to see penguins, or sheep shearing, or war cemeteries, or just the neat rows of white-washed cottages straight out of an earlier age.
There were 6,000 trippers one day and it takes a lot of ingenuity to entertain them among just 3,000 islanders.
And it is bringing money into the islands.
'Easy bond'
Debbie's family left after the war.
She says then the Falklands were a very sombre place but once she had finished her education she could not wait to come back.

Major General Sir Jeremy Moore was the commander of the British Land Forces during the Falklands conflict
"People died for our system," she says.
They talk easily of the war here and their gratitude. This is no forgotten episode.
But it is not just the many memorials, or streets named after military leaders like Colonel H Jones or Major General Jeremy Moore. There is a very easy bond between the veterans who visit and the islanders.
Both share vivid memories and there is not anywhere else that British troops go back to old battlefields and find they are on home turf, being thanked for what they did by their own people.
And that brings me to the question that I am always asked: " Was it worth it?", as if somehow the accident of observing a war gave me a right to judge it.
But this trip has helped me put some things into perspective.
After the war the islanders were, understandably, gloomy.
They were grateful but also disgruntled about the way their lives had been messed up.
But now the pain caused by the fighting has passed and it is much easier to see what sort of society Britain went to war to protect.

A volunteer part-time force currently trains with the British Army. BritishArmy
Isolation once served as a shield to keep the world at bay but now it is more like a badge which shows the distinctiveness of life here and outsiders are welcome to share it, if it is to their taste.
That has encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit and set off a search for new businesses like tourism and mineral exploration.
It leaves a community which is happy, prosperous and part of the wider world but at the same time, keeping some distance from it.
The war was fought for political, not economic reasons, to protect a community whose origins, attitudes and aspirations are all British.
On the other side of the equation, after Iraq (twice), Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, we as a country, have more experience of what it costs to use military force.
So was it worth it?
I suppose the answer depends on whether, knowing what we know now, we would do it again.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 31 March, 2007 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
Falklands War veterans talk to Timewatch in Remember the Galahad at 2100BST on Monday 2 April on BBC Two.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

NAVY CAPTIVES 'FACE LEGAL ACTION'!

The crew has been held captive for more than a week. Legal action is being taken against 15 Royal Navy personnel held captive by Iran for "entering Iranian waters", a senior Iranian diplomat has said.
Gholamreza Ansari, Iran's ambassador to Moscow, said "legal process" had started but denied reports which quoted him saying the group may face trial.
The UK government says the captives were seized in Iraqi waters and is demanding their "immediate" return.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has sent a written response to Iran.
Iran's official IRNA news agency earlier carried a report saying the envoy had told Russian television that legal moves against the 15 had already started and that there was a possibility they could stand trial.
But the agency later quoted Mr Ansari saying the television channel had made a "translation mistake" when quoting him saying the group could face charges and a trial.
Raid
Britain denies Iran's claims that the UK crew was in its waters when seized on 23 March.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "Our position has not changed. We have made it clear that they were inside Iraqi waters and we want them returned immediately."

UK VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Crew boards merchant ship 1.7NM inside Iraqi waters

2 HMS Cornwall was south-east of this, and inside Iraqi waters

3 Iran tells UK that merchant ship was at a different point, still within Iraqi water

4 After UK points this out, Iran provides alternative position, now within Iranian waters.

Second 'apology' in full
Faye Turney's 'letters'

Mrs Beckett said she had replied to a letter from the Iranian government, but no detail of the contents was given.
The Iranian letter had not suggested Tehran was looking for a solution to "this difficult situation" and the fact that it was a holiday period in Iran was "not too helpful", she added.
Speaking later at a European Union meeting in the German city of Bremen, Mrs Beckett stressed the British government wanted the situation resolved quickly.
"What we want is a way out of it - we want it peacefully and we want it as soon as possible.
"We would like to be told where our personnel are - we'd like to be given access to them, but we want it resolved."
She said she was "concerned" about claims by Mr Ansari that the British personnel could face legal action.
"I don't think it's helpful to Iran, I don't think it's helpful to our detainees - I think that is not the tone really that I would wish anyone to strike," she added.
Earlier, US state department spokesman Sean McCormack rejected suggestions that a swap could be made for five Iranians captured in Iraq by US forces in January.
The Iranians, believed to be members of the Revolutionary Guard, were taken in a raid in the city of Irbil, along with equipment which the Americans say shows clear Iranian links to networks supplying Iraqi insurgents with technology and weapons.
'Parading'
US officials have condemned Iran's actions over the 15 Navy personnel and publicly supported the UK.
Mr McCormack said: "The international community is not going to stand for the Iranian government trying to use this issue to distract the rest of the world from the situation in which Iran finds itself vis-a-vis its nuclear programme."
Prime Minister Tony Blair has criticised Iran for "parading" the UK crew on television in a way which would only "enhance people's sense of disgust".

Letter Sacri
IRANIAN VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Royal Navy crew stray 0.5km inside Iranian waters

2 Iran gives set of co-ordinates to back up their claims

3 According to seized GPS equipment, the Royal Navy crew had previously entered Iranian waters at several other points

4 Iran informs Britain of the position where the crew were seized, inside Iranian waters.

Both versions in more detail

But a former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Said Rajai Khorasani, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Mr Blair had been too "authoritative" in his approach.
He added: "He could have said for instance, 'Well, even if there is possibly a mistake, in the light of good relations between the two countries, I hope that you will facilitate their release.'
"I mean that's a more friendly - let's say phraseology - than dictating, you know, immediately and unconditionally, and so on and so forth."
'Sacrificed'
In what appeared to be an edited broadcast on an Iranian channel on Friday, captured sailor Nathan Thomas Summers said: "I would like to apologise for entering your waters without permission."
He was shown alongside two colleagues, one of whom was Leading Seaman Faye Turney, from Shropshire, who had been broadcast apologising to Iran earlier in the week.
A letter, allegedly from LS Turney, was released on Friday in which she said she had been "sacrificed" to UK and US government policy.

HAVE YOUR SAY
They will have to be released by diplomatic means and I believe that this will happen
Neil Whittaker, Lancashire, UK
Send us your comments

European Union foreign ministers, meeting in Bremen, Germany, called for "the immediate and unconditional release" of the sailors and expressed "unconditional support" for Britain's position.
The BBC has been able to confirm the names of six of the 15 captured sailors and marines.
Along with LS Turney and Nathan Summers, who is from Cornwall, they are Paul Barton from Southport, Danny Masterton from Ayrshire, Joe Tindall from south London and Adam Sperry from Leicester.
The Britons, based on HMS Cornwall, were seized by Revolutionary Guards as they returned from searching a vessel in the northern Gulf.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.K. TO ASSIST IN WOOLMER INQUIRY !

UK to assist in Woolmer inquiry

Detectives believe Mr Woolmer knew his killer or killers. Police in Jamaica investigating the murder of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer at the World Cup have accepted an offer of help from UK police.
Officers from Scotland Yard will fly out next week, Jamaican deputy police chief Mark Shields told the BBC.
Mr Woolmer was found strangled in his hotel room on 18 March, the day after Pakistan's surprise defeat to Ireland.
Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq has denied his team was guilty of match-fixing in the West Indies.
Police say they do not yet have any suspects in the case and have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
Speaking for the first time since Mr Woolmer's murder, Inzamam said that none of his team mates were involved in the criminal investigations into the death.
He described the last two weeks as the worst in his life and he said he had been deeply hurt by allegations in the Pakistan press about match-fixing.
He blamed the defeat to Ireland on a bad pitch.
The Pakistan Cricket Board is to hold a public memorial service for Mr Woolmer in Lahore's Sacred Heart Cathedral on Sunday while a second public memorial service will later be held in Cape Town, South Africa, where Mr Woolmer had lived with his family.
Complex case
Mr Shields said the aim of the small team of Scotland Yard detectives would be to review the investigation.

Mr Shields has urged visitors to Mr Woolmer's hotel to contact police
They will also look at scientific evidence, work with the Woolmer family and help guide the Jamaican force through what has become a complex case.
Scotland Yard had offered its help from the beginning of the investigation.
That offer was accepted after a letter from the Jamaican government.
Reports that police were seeking three Pakistani men, said to have fled the Caribbean on the day of the murder, have been denied by the Jamaican force.
Police are still reviewing CCTV footage from the hotel and examining the hard drive of Mr Woolmer's computer.
Detectives believe Mr Woolmer probably knew his killer - or killers - as there were no signs of forced entry into his room and none of his belongings had been stolen.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE RIVAL 'ASKED FOR BEATING'!

Morgan Tsvangirai's injuries were clear to see after the beating. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has told supporters that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was attacked earlier this month - and deserved the beating.
At a Zanu-PF party meeting in Harare, he said Mr Tsvangirai was clearly told not to attend a banned rally.
Inside the meeting, Mr Mugabe called on Zanu-PF members to maintain party unity as he sought a new term as leader.
The meeting is to decide whether Mr Mugabe should stand in presidential elections due next year.
He was beaten but he asked for it
President Robert MugabeHe is under increasing pressure from Zanu-PF factions to stand down to end the political and economic crisis.
Mr Mugabe, who is 83, has made it clear he wants to remain in office.
No complaints
Arriving at the Harare conference, Mr Mugabe said he had discussed Mr Tsvangirai's injuries with fellow southern African leaders at a summit in Tanzania on Thursday.
"Yes, I told them he was beaten but he asked for it," AFP news agency quoted Mr Mugabe as saying.
"We got full backing, not even one [other African leader] criticised our actions."
Mr Tsvangirai spent several days in hospital and many other supporters were badly hurt when MDC activists were beaten after being arrested at the rally.
The assaults provoked international condemnation of Mr Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe, which he has led since independence in 1980.
Sanctions blamed
At Thursday's summit, southern African leaders agreed that South African President Thabo Mbeki should try to promote political dialogue inside Zimbabwe.

HAVE YOUR SAY
The problem with these African leaders is that they fear Mugabe and employ a quiet diplomacy
Henry, Harare
Send us your comments

The leaders expressed solidarity with Mr Mugabe, urged western countries to lift sanctions and called on the UK to pay for land reform.
The European Union and US sanctions are a travel ban and an assets freeze on Mr Mugabe and his close allies, yet Mr Mugabe blames them for causing Zimbabwe's economic woes.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is disappointed with the outcome of the meeting - it says the problems are Mr Mugabe's economic mismanagement and human rights abuses.
The secretary general of one MDC faction, Tendai Biti, said it did not want dialogue with Mr Mugabe but agreed to talk to other Zanu-PF leaders.
He also pointed out that Mr Mbeki had previously been tasked with ending Zimbabwe's crisis, to little effect.
Poor harvest
BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles say Mr Mugabe has never looked as isolated as he is at present.
In the knowledge that elections are due a year from now, there is intense lobbying going on within Zanu-PF, our correspondent says.

Summit disappoints critics
Profile: Emmerson Mnangagwa
Profile: The Mujuru couple

President Mugabe at first suggested extending his term in office until 2010 but he later said the elections could be held as scheduled - and said he could stand himself.
The 245 members of his party's Central Committee are to decide whether the elections should be postponed.
Two top Zanu-PF power-brokers are believed to want to contest the elections instead of Mr Mugabe.
They are former armed forces commander Solomon Mujuru - or his wife Joyce, Zimbabwe vice-president - and former Security Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
But it is not clear if either will stand up and directly challenge Mr Mugabe at the meeting.
Zimbabwe's economy is in meltdown, with inflation of 1,700% and widespread poverty and unemployment.
On Thursday, UN humanitarian director Rashid Khalikov said that 1.4 million Zimbabweans would need food aid this year, as harvests were only due to meet one-third of the country's requirements.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOMALI VIOLENCE 'WORST IN YEARS' !

The number of wounded and killed is unknown. The Somali capital Mogadishu is being wracked by the worst fighting in 15 years, with dozens killed and thousands fleeing the violence, aid agencies say.
Fighting resumed on Saturday for the third day, since Somali and Ethiopian troops launched an offensive against Islamist insurgents.
Ethiopia said it had killed 200 rebels in the course of the operation.
But civilians said the city was being shelled indiscriminately, and that bodies were lying in the streets.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the fighting was the heaviest in Mogadishu in 15 years, since the aftermath of the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991.
I saw two of my neighbours get killed - I'm not going to stay here anymore
Mohamed Deq Abukar AroniMogadishu resident
Since then the country has been torn by constant fighting. A rare six months of order imposed by the Islamists ended when they were ousted by Ethiopian troops in December.
One resident said that, despite the capital's violent past, he had never been forced to leave, until now.
"Today I'm fleeing because shells are hitting residential areas indiscriminately," said Mohamed Deq Abukar Aroni, carrying two mattresses on his head, while his children carried belongings in paper bags.
"I saw two of my neighbours get killed. I'm not going to stay here anymore," he told the Associated Press.
Helicopter hit
A doctor at Alhayat Hospital said the building had come under mortar fire, and two staff had been wounded.
"Since early this morning I have been hiding here from the mortar shells so I can't help rescue people. I urge the two sides to respect health facilities," Dr Mohamed Dhere told AP on Friday.

Dozens of people died in heavy fighting on Thursday
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for an immediate end to the fighting, saying in a statement he was "particularly concerned about the use of air strikes and the introduction of tanks and heavy artillery into densely populated parts of the city".
Ethiopia's information ministry said 200 members of the Union of Islamic Courts had been killed in the two-day offensive, but there was no independent confirmation of this.
Witnesses described how two Ethiopian helicopters fired on a rebel stronghold on Friday, before one of them was hit by an anti-aircraft missile.
"Smoke billowed from the cabin and it turned towards the ocean," Swiss journalist Eugen Sorg told Reuters.
"It crashed at the south end of the airport runway."
A spokesman for Ugandan troops, in Somalia as part of an African Union (AU) peacekeeping force, said they had recovered the bodies of two crew.
'Terrorist links'
Some 1,700 Ugandan troops are in Mogadishu as the advance party of an 8,000-strong AU force, which is supposed to replace the Ethiopian troops as they gradually withdraw.
Somalia's Interim Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Ghedi said the operation would continue in order to restore stability to Mogadishu.
"There are some insurgents in the city who have links with international terrorists and are fighting against the government and the people of Somalia," Mr Ghedi told the BBC Network Africa from the Arab League summit.
He said plans for the national reconciliation conference in April were under way and they have invited moderate Islamic scholars to the conference.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BREASTFEEDING ALONE CUTS HIV RISK !

Breastfeeding is the 'best option' for mothers in developing countries. Exclusively breastfeeding until a baby is six-months old can significantly reduce the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission, an African study says.
The South African researchers compared solely breastfed babies with those also given formula or solid foods.
They say breastfeeding carries a low transmission risk, but protects against potentially fatal conditions such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.
They say it is the best option for most women in the developing world.
Breastfeeding remains a key intervention to reduce mortality
Professor Hoosen Coovadia, researcher
In the developed world, the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission has been cut from 25% to under 2% because of the use of antiretroviral therapies, exclusive formula feeding and good healthcare support.
But these benefits are often unavailable in the developing world.
There, World Health Organization (WHO) guidance says HIV positive women who can afford to use formula, and who have the facilities they need to do so - such as a fire to heat water with - should do so.
But the researchers, from the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, say this is not the case for the majority of women in developing countries.
For this reason, and because exclusively breastfeeding protects against other diseases, they suggest it is the best option.
It is also associated with fewer breast health problems such as mastitis and breast abscesses, both of which can increase the amount of the HIV virus in the mother's breast milk.
'Breakthrough'
The research, funded by the UK's Wellcome Trust, found that there was a 4% risk of postnatal transmission to infants who were just fed on breast milk between the age of six weeks and six months.
Infants who received formula milk or animal milk in addition to breast milk were nearly twice as likely to be infected as infants who received breast milk only.
And those given solids in addition to breast milk were almost 11 times more likely to acquire infection.
It is thought that this higher risk is due to the larger, more complex proteins found in solid foods which may lead to greater damage to the lining of the stomach, allowing the virus to pass through the gut wall.
Professor Hoosen Coovadia, of the Africa Centre, said: "The question of whether or not to breastfeed is not a straightforward one.
"We know that breastfeeding carries with it a risk of transmitting HIV infection from mother to child, but breastfeeding remains a key intervention to reduce mortality.
"In many areas of Africa where poverty is endemic, replacement feed, such as formula milk or animal milk, is expensive and cannot act as a complete substitute.
"The key is to find ways of making breastfeeding safe."
Writing in the Lancet, Wendy Holmes of the Centre for International Health in Melbourne and Felicity Savage of the equivalent institution in London say the research is a "breakthrough".
"It provides crucial confirmatory evidence that when HIV-positive mothers breastfeed exclusively, their babies have only a low risk of infection with HIV.
"This risk is lower that that in babies who receive other food or liquids in addition to breast milk before six months."
Drs Holmes and Savage added: "The results emphasise that promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for all mothers and babies could prevent much paediatric HIV infection as well as deaths from other causes."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MYSTERY OF GREAT PYRAMID 'SOLVED' !

Internal ramps were used to push the stones into place, Houdin says. A French architect claims to have solved the mystery of how Egypt's Great Pyramid was built.
Jean-Pierre Houdin said the 4,500-year-old pyramid, just outside Cairo, was built using an inner ramp to lift the massive stones into place.
Other theories contend that the three million stones - each 2.5 tons - were pushed into place using external ramps.
Mr Houdin studied the problem for eight years and used a computer model to illustrate how he thought it was done.
"This is better than the other theories, because it is the only theory that works," said Mr Houdin as he unveiled his theory with a 3D computer simulation.
He believes workers used an outer ramp to build the first 43 metres (47 yards) then constructed an inner ramp to carry stones to the apex of the 137m pyramid.
The pyramid was built to house the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops.
The Grand Gallery inside the pyramid, another source of mystery for Egyptologists, housed a giant counter-weight used to hoist five 60 ton granite beams into position above the King's Chamber.

Internal counterweights also helped move the massive stones. "This goes against both main existing theories," Egyptologist Bob Brier told Reuters news agency after Mr Houdin explained his hypothesis.
"I've been teaching them myself for 20 years but deep down I know they're wrong."
Mr Houdin said that an outer ramp all the way to the top of the pyramid would have blocked sight lines and left little room to work, while a long, frontal ramp would have used up too much stone.
Further confusing matters, there is little evidence left of external ramps at the site of the Great Pyramid.
Mr Houdin said the pyramid could have been built by 4,000 people using his technique instead of 100,000, as postulated by other theorists.
The architect is now assembling a team to verify his theory on site using radars and other non-invasive means.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE PARTY BACKS ELECTION BID !

Mr Mugabe has made it clear he wants another term in office. Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party has endorsed President Robert Mugabe as its candidate for the 2008 election.
Mr Mugabe, 83, has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.
Correspondents say the move is a major setback for two party factions that wanted him to stand down in order to end the political and economic crisis.
The UN has warned that many people are facing starvation, and recent months have seen a harsh police campaign against opposition demonstrations.
The BBC's southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says Mr Mugabe's critics within the party believe his leadership is deeply damaging and, with the economy now out of control, that he should step down.
We can never entertain... a party that is walking the road of terrorism
Mr Mugabe speaking of the MDC

Tsvangirai 'asked for beating'
Should Mugabe stand again?

The opposition group, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), says it is appalled at the latest news - and there is likely to be deep disquiet across southern Africa, our correspondent says.
The US was quick to criticise Mr Mugabe's selection as a candidate.
"It's sad, it's outrageous and certainly we hope better for the Zimbabwean people," said state department spokesman Sean McCormack.
More than 80% of Zimbabweans are living in poverty, with chronic unemployment and inflation running at more than 1,700% - the highest in the world.
'Hit squads'
"The candidate for the party in 2008 will be the president himself. He was endorsed by the central committee," party spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira said after a meeting in Harare.

Morgan Tsvangirai says he was badly beaten in police custody. Parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2010, will be brought forward by two years to coincide with the presidential poll, he added.
Earlier, Mr Mugabe urged Zanu-PF members to stay united in the face of international and domestic opposition to his rule.
He branded the MDC as "violent", and said: "We can never entertain... a party that is walking the road of terrorism. We will not allow that in Zimbabwe."
However, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai says there has been a sharp escalation in violence against activists, with Mr Mugabe now using "hit squads" to crack down on group members.
Scores of activists were arrested and allegedly assaulted after police broke up a rally earlier this month. The police accuse the MDC of starting the violence.
Sanctions threat
On Thursday, an emergency southern African summit gave its public backing to Mr Mugabe despite international criticism over the crackdown on opposition activists.
The leaders, meeting in Tanzania, agreed that South African President Thabo Mbeki should try to promote political dialogue inside Zimbabwe.
They expressed solidarity with Mr Mugabe, urging Western countries to lift sanctions and also called on the UK to pay for land reform.
The UK and US governments are calling for sanctions beyond the current travel ban and assets freeze on senior officials.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SUMMIT DISAPPOINTS MUGABE CRITICS !

Summit disappoints Mugabe critics.
By Peter Greste BBC News, Dar es Salaam.

There was no public rebuke for Mr Mugabe. Before the summit of 14 of southern Africa's leaders opened, Zimbabwe's critics had hoped that at the very least Robert Mugabe would get a private dressing-down as well as a few pointed public rebukes.
But when he left smiling for reporters it was clear that his colleagues had done nothing of the sort.
We still do not know what transpired behind the hotel's gilded doors, but the final communiqué gave no sense of urgency or pressure.
What it did offer was South Africa's President, Thabo Mbeki, as a facilitator for talks between Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and President Mugabe's government.
The summit chairman, Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete, said that that decision alone was a breakthrough.
The communiqué was also significant for what it left out.
He described it as a landmark and to be fair, it is a departure from the deeply-held principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states here.
The final communiqué also called for a study group to look at Zimbabwe's plunging economy and come up with ways to help. It urged the West to end economic sanctions and engage diplomatically.
But the communiqué was also significant for what it left out.
It said nothing about timelines or dates, it gave no benchmarks for progress and said nothing about what might happen if Mr Mbeki's talks fail.
Regional strife
Yet the urgency is real. Zimbabwe's economy has already plunged through the floor, with inflation now over 1,700% and eight out of 10 workers without a job.
The government security services have taken to beating opposition supporters and accusing MDC activists of fire-bombing police stations and preparing for guerrilla war.
In that environment it is hard to see what middle ground there might be for Mr Mbeki's negotiations, but it might all be academic if he does not move fast.
Few people believe Zimbabwe is going to plunge into civil war next week or next month, but it is heading in that direction.
Without urgent and dramatic action, it is not just Zimbabwe that is in danger of slipping into conflict.
The country's neighbours, South Africa chief amongst them, would probably have to deal with a flood of impoverished and desperate refugees, and any violence could well follow close behind.
So self-interest alone would seem to inspire more robust action.
Yet the region's leaders have decided that the greater priority is to stick together rather than to risk internal dissent.
Overall, these measures will disappoint those who had hoped to see southern African leaders discipline Robert Mugabe for the recent political crackdown on opposition protests.
It also defied those who suggested that for their own sakes the 13 leaders would ramp up their efforts to avoid the regional crisis that civil war would inevitably provoke.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'I WAS A VICTIM OF I.D. THEFT' !

A quarter of UK adults say they have had their identity stolen or know a victim of ID fraud, Which? magazine has said.
Three BBC News website readers explain what happened to them when their ID was stolen.

Vikki Anderson suffered after having her bag stolen
Laura McDonald's old address came back to haunt her
Nasir Ahmed fell for a telephone ID scam

Vikki Anderson, 29, bank worker from Uxbridge
When Vikki Anderson had her handbag stolen last July, she knew she was in trouble.
She was moving home and her passport and key personal documents were in the stolen bag.
"I cancelled everything that day, including my passport and reported the theft to the police. But I was still worried about the possibility of ID theft."
Vikki's nervousness was justified when she received a call from a car loan broker asking her when she would like her new loan repayments to start.
Vikki had not bought a car.
I still fear that the fraudsters will strike again, even though I have done everything I can to stop it from happening
Vikki Anderson
"I told them that whoever had applied for the loan was not me and decided to check my credit record immediately."
Vikki found that a fraudster had used the stolen ID to obtain car loans worth more than £20,000 in her name.
Vikki also found that two direct debits had been set up on her bank account without her knowledge.
After a month, the loan company concluded that a fraud had taken place and told Vikki that she would not be liable for the loan.
"The fraudsters have caused a serious amount of damage.
"I was recently turned down for a credit card because my credit rating has been damaged."
Vikki is trying to get the two major credit reference agencies, Experian and Equifax, to amend her credit record.
"The whole process is not something I would want to repeat, I have spent hundreds of hours trying to sort everything.
"I still fear that the fraudsters will strike again, even though I have done everything I can to stop it from happening."
However, according to Vikki, one good thing has come of the experience:
"The day that the fraud emerged my boyfriend bought me a shredder which we now use."

Laura McDonald, 40, an accounts administrator from Edinburgh
Laura McDonald suffered four months of stress and heartache after a fraudster stole her ID.
"The first I knew of what was going on was when a letter from a debt collector landed on my doormat."
The debt collector was chasing up a recent £235 debt from a mail order company.
I was recently refused credit at a High Street retailer, I am sure the fraudulent mail order and book club debts are to blame
Laura McDonald
But the debt related to an address that Laura had left more than four years ago.
Laura had fallen victim to a not too sophisticated but still highly-effective fraud.
"The housing association had left my nameplate up outside my old address. The fraudster had simply seen my name and decided to obtain goods using it."
Laura soon discovered that the mail order debt wasn't the only cloud on the horizon.
"My name was used to obtain books from a book club and I am currently dealing with that debt."
In order to prove that she wasn't the person responsible, Laura has had to make dozens of phone calls and send a copy of her birth certificate and utility bills to debt collectors and credit reference agencies.
Unfortunately, Laura has found that her credit rating has been hit by the fraud.
" I was recently refused credit at a High Street retailer, I am sure the fraudulent mail order and book club debts are to blame.
"I am currently trying to get the credit reference agency to correct my file."
Laura reported the fraud to the police and was surprised at their response.
"They told me that they would not investigate because I am not the victim of the crime, it is up to the mail order firm and book club to complain.
"What the law does not realise is that I am a victim. I have spent at least a week sorting this mess out and the whole experience has been very stressful indeed."

Nasir Ahmed, 43, IT engineer from London
Nasir Ahmed fell for an increasingly common type of ID fraud.
It started in September 2004 when he received a call at home apparently from his bank.
The caller told Nasir that someone was trying to carry out a fraudulent transaction on his account and that to stop it they needed to confirm his personal details.
Where does a person go for help, the police said it was a matter between me and the credit card company
Nasir Ahmed
Eager to fight the fraudsters, Nasir confirmed to the caller his name, address, date of birth, place of birth - everything, in short, needed to perpetrate a sophisticated ID fraud.
Nasir heard nothing for a month, then on opening his credit card statement he found that more than £11,000 had been taken, mostly to buy flight tickets and travellers cheques.
"It was a real shock and I called my credit card company straight away who agreed to freeze my account and investigate.
"It took them three months to sort this out and credit the account. All that time I worried that they would say that they thought it was me who had spent the money, how would I find £11,000?
"Where does a person go for help? The police said it was a matter between me and the credit card company."
Nasir was struck by the professional nature of the fraud.
"The initial call was very plausible and they even changed my account details, including the password with the intention of carrying on with the fraud.
"I urge people not to disclose any personal details over the phone."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HACKERS TARGET TK MAXX CUSTOMERS !

Stores in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland and Puerto Rico are affected. Hackers have stolen information from at least 45.7 million payment cards used by customers of US retailer TJX, which owns TJ Maxx, and UK outlet TKMaxx.
In a statement to US watchdogs the firm said it did not know the full extent of the theft and its effect on customers.
TJX added that the security breach may also have involved TKMaxx customers in the UK and Ireland.
But the company added that at least three-quarters of the affected cards had expired or data had been masked.
Question marks
The company also told the BBC that 100 files were moved from its UK computer system in 2003, and two files were later stolen.

TJX HACKING TIMELINE

18 December 2006 - TJX discovers the breach in security
Within days it hires outside investigators and notifies US federal authorities
19 January 2007 - Publicly admits the problem, but not the full extent
29 January 2007 - Reveals the full nature of the breach
Says data was first hacked in July 2005
Stolen bank card details date back to December 2002

However, a spokesperson admitted that the firm may never know what was in those files.
"We don't know what was in those files - the technology the hacker used prevents TJX from knowing, and also the fact that TJX system routinely deletes files," the spokesperson added.
The data was accessed on TJX's systems in Watford, Hertfordshire, and Massachusetts over a 16-month period from July 2005 and covers transactions made by credit and debit card dating as far back as December 2002.
Sandra Quinn from the Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) told the BBC there had been a "massive" compromise of security - on a scale not seen before.
However, she said that that for most people, the card details stolen would no longer be relevant.
"If they were doing transactions with TK Maxx between those dates they will generally now have a brand new credit or debit card in their wallet, so they can be sure that it will be the old details of their card that has been compromised, not their current card."
Customers who discovered they had been victims of fraud, would be able to get money back from their banks, she added.
Chip and pin

We are deeply concerned about this event and the difficulties it may cause our customers
Ben Cammarata, TJX

Click here to read your comments

The company, which discovered the problem three months ago and reported it two months ago, said that a lot of questions remained about the attack.
"There is a lot of information we don't know, and may never be able to know, which is why this investigation has been so laborious," spokeswoman Sherry Lang said.
In its filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the group said it believed "the intruder had access to the decryption tool for the encryption software utilized by TJX".
It also admitted it did not know who, or how many people, were behind the attack, or whether there had been one breach or many.
The papers also said that a further 455,000 customers who returned merchandise without receipts had personal data stolen - including driver's licence numbers.
However, the firm does not believe return customers at its UK stores were affected - or that chip and pin data in the UK was accessed as none is stored on the systems in Watford.
The company warned many of its operations could be affected.
Hackers managed to access information from its TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods shops in the US and Puerto Rico, Bob's Stores in the US, and Winners and HomeSense shops in Canada.
Ben Cammarata, TJX chairman and acting chief executive, urged customers to check their credit and debit cards statements and any other account information for unauthorised use.
"We are deeply concerned about this event and the difficulties it may cause our customers," he added.
"Since discovering the crime, we have been working diligently to further protect our customers and strengthen the security of our computer systems."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HELICOPTER SHOT DOWN IN SOMALIA !

Helicopter gunships have been used in a security crackdown. A helicopter in Somali capital has been shot down, as Ethiopian and Somali government troops battle to clear insurgents from Mogadishu.
"The helicopter looked like a ball of smoke and fire before crashing," Ruqiya Shafi Muhyadin told AP news agency as it crashed in suburb near the airport.
Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Ghedi insists the operation will continue as it is aimed at restoring stability.
Dozens of people died in heavy fighting on Thursday, ending a six-day truce.
Ethiopian helicopter gunship and tanks were deployed against the insurgents.
Elders of the Hawiye clan - the largest in Mogadishu - brokered a ceasefire with Ethiopian troops after heavy fighting last week, but Ethiopia denies any agreement.
Reconciliation
Pro-government forces are reported to be battling the insurgents at close quarters near Mogadishu's main football stadium.
Dark smoke rose above the stadium, reports the AFP news agency.

Dozens of people died in heavy fighting on Thursday.
"We barely slept last night. The sky was lit up by shelling all night," said Mr Jamah.
"There are a lot of wounded, but there is no way to take them to the hospitals due to the fighting on the roads."
But Mr Ghedi said the media had exaggerated the scale of the fighting and also denied that his government was unpopular in Mogadishu.
"There are some insurgents in the city who have links with international terrorists and are fighting against the government and the people of Somalia - we are attacking their positions," Mr Ghedi told the BBC Network Africa programme by telephone from Saudi Arabia, where he is attending the Arab League summit.
On Thursday, crowds of people dragged bodies in uniform through the streets - it is not clear whether they belonged to Ethiopian or Somali soldiers.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told parliament that two-thirds of its troops have left Somalia and the remaining soldiers will leave in consultation with the African Union.
Ethiopian troops helped install the interim government last December, replacing the Islamists who had governed the city for six months.
Some 1,700 Ugandan troops are in Mogadishu as the advance party of an 8,000 strong AU force.
Mr Ghedi also said that plans for the national reconciliation conference in April were underway and they have invited moderate Islamic scholars for the conference.
"Those who denounce violence and recognise the transitional federal charter for Somalia are welcome for the conference," he said.
Western governments have called on President Abdullahi Yusuf's government to involve moderate leaders of the ousted Union of Islamic Courts in the national reconciliation conference that will be held in Mogadishu.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UGANDAN ARMY 'KILLS 66 CHILDREN' !

Sixty-six children were killed in eastern Uganda during an army operation against suspected cattle rustlers, UK charity Save the Children says.
They were shot by soldiers, run over by armoured vehicles or crushed by stampeding animals last month.
The aid group said it had not found physical evidence of the alleged deaths in Karamoja, but had consistent reports after interviewing some 200 people.
The army denied the allegations, saying only adults were killed in the raids.
The BBC's Sarah Grainger in Uganda says there has been an increase in violence in Karamoja since the army began its disarmament programme in May last year.
'Crushed'
"I saw many children killed, including my own son," one woman in Kaputh village near Kothido town told the BBC.
I ran away like many people and when I came back both of my young sons were missing
Villager

Surviving cattle wars

"He was with the livestock, trying to untie them so they could escape the firing. But he got crushed by the animals as they tried to run away."
Other villagers said the raid began at 0800 on 12 February.
A village elder greeted the army forces thinking they were carrying out a disarmament exercise, but was shot dead.
"I ran away like many people and when I came back both of my young sons were missing. Up till now I cannot find them so I think they were killed," another man said.
Army spokesman in Karamoja Lieutenant Henry Obbo said a five-day disarmament exercise had begun in the area on 10 February.
But when some warriors resisted the operation they opened fire on the army.
He said 52 warriors and four soldiers were killed in the incident, but no children were involved.
Save the Children has called for an independent investigation into the events at Kaputh.
"Reports of children being killed in indiscriminate, illegal and inhumane ways is absolutely devastating. Such allegations must be fully investigated and those involved brought to account," Save the Children's Valter Tinderholt said, Reuters news agency reports.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROFILE : THE MUJURU COUPLE !

Profile: The Mujuru couple
By Joseph Winter BBC News.

Solomon Mujuru is a former army chief, often seen as Zimbabwe's "king-maker".

Joyce "Spillblood" Mujuru claims to have shot down a helicopter with a machine gunBut after spending more than a decade wielding power from the shadows, he may be about to emerge once more into public life - possibly as president, or maybe as "first man".
His wife, Joyce Mujuru, is vice-president - the first woman to hold such a high-ranking role in Zimbabwe.
If Mr Mujuru wants to combine power with relative anonymity, he may opt to back his wife for the top job - a scenario which many people would interpret as him pulling the real strings.
But Mrs Mujuru has - wisely - denied having any presidential ambitions.
Solomon Mujuru was the director of Robert Mugabe's guerrilla forces during the 1970s war of independence, which ended white minority rule.
Using his "nom de guerre", Rex Nhongo, he is also said to have played a key role in Mr Mugabe's rise to the top of the Zanu party.
Following independence, he carried on doing pretty much the same job - as army chief, becoming a general.
He was also elected MP for the north-eastern Chikomba constituency, before leaving public life in 1995 to concentrate on his business interests.
'Insidious'
But he has always kept his senior role in the ruling Zanu-PF party, where the real power resides.
This could give him some say in how and when Mr Mugabe leaves office.
But despite his long and close ties to Mr Mugabe, he reportedly over-stepped the mark in recent days, meeting the US and UK ambassadors to Zimbabwe.
Even worse treachery - in Mr Mugabe's eyes - would be confirmation of reports that Mr Mujuru had met opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, possible to discuss a government of national unity for the post-Mugabe era.
Mr Mugabe has always portrayed himself as still fighting the colonial struggle - against the west.
He was widely believed to be referring to Mr Mujuru when he said there had been "an insidious dimension where ambitious leaders have been cutting deals with the British and Americans".
"The whole succession debate has given imperialism hope for re-entry. Since when have the British, the Americans, been friends of Zanu-PF?" he asked.
This was a pretty severe put-down for the Mujurus, who come from the same Zezuru branch of Zimbabwe's majority Shona group as Mr Mugabe.
It might suit Mr Mujuru to remain behind the scenes.
"He leads a very private life," one Zanu-PF insider told the BBC News website.
There are very few photos of him around.
Minister in education
Mrs Mujuru, 51, on the other hand, has remained in cabinet ever since 1980, when she was its youngest member.
She left school at the age of 18 to join the war of independence and adopted the name Teurai Ropa (Spill Blood), before marrying Solomon Mujuru in 1977.

Solomon Mujuru reportedly helped Robert Mugabe become party leader. She claims to have shot down a Rhodesian helicopter with the machine-gun of a dying comrade and was later promoted to commander.
After spending her youth fighting the war, she obtained secondary school qualifications and a degree while in government.
Before becoming vice-president, she was best known for blocking a bid to set up Zimbabwe's first mobile phone network in the early 1990s.
This was seen as not only a money-earner but a threat to the government's control of information.
As information minister, she managed to thwart Econet long enough for Telecel, part-owned by her husband, to set up.
She was also one of the biggest beneficiaries of a scheme set up to pay compensation to those injured during the war of independence.
The scheme paid out huge amounts of public money - one of the sparks for Zimbabwe's subsequent economic collapse.
Business interests
The Mujurus are accused of taking over at least one of the farms seized from their white owners in recent years.
Guy Watson-Smith has taken Mr Mujuru to court to seek compensation after his farm was invaded by ruling party supporters.
He says the famous couple are living on the 3,500-acre Alamein farm, 45 miles south of Harare.
He says the infrastructure alone was worth some $2.5m.
He won a court order in December 2001 but is still trying to get either the money or the farm.
Emmerson Mnangagwa is the other man seen as a possible Zanu-PF successor to Mr Mugabe.
He and the Mujurus have been business, as well as political, rivals for more than a decade after Mr Mnangagwa blocked Mr Mujuru's bid to take over the huge Zimasco chrome smelting operation.
Mr Mujuru is also a share-holder in the River Ranch diamond mine.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROFILE: EMMERSON MNANGAGWA

Profile: Emmerson Mnangagwa.
By Joseph Winter BBC News.

It has been an open secret in Zimbabwe for many years that Emmerson Mnangagwa would like to succeed Robert Mugabe as president.

Emmerson Mnangagwa received military training in China and Egypt. And Mr Mugabe has been almost toying with his emotions - one day promoting him to senior positions in both the ruling Zanu-PF party and the government, raising speculation that Mr Mnangagwa is the "heir apparent" but later demoting him, after he possibly displayed his ambitions a bit too openly.
He helped direct Zimbabwe's 1970s war of independence and later became the country's spymaster during the 1980s civil conflict.
He is currently minister of rural housing, a relative backwater after spells as minister of national security and speaker of parliament.
In 2005, he also lost his post as Zanu-PF secretary for administration, which had enabled him to place his supporters in key party positions.
This followed reports that Mr Mnangagwa, 60, had been campaigning too hard for the post of vice-president, backed by his close ally, former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo.
Mr Mugabe sacked Mr Moyo from both party and government but Mr Mnangagwa seems to be back in the president's good books.
The president has instead reportedly become alarmed at the activities of Joyce Mujuru, who got the vice-president's job, and her powerful husband, former army chief Solomon Mujuru.
Congo connection
Before his 2005 demotion, Mr Mnangagwa was seen as "the architect of the commercial activities of Zanu-PF", according to a UN report in 2001.
This largely related to the operations of the Zimbabwean army and businessmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zimbabwean troops intervened on the DR Congo conflict on the side of the government and, like other countries, it was accused of using the conflict to loot some of its rich natural resources, such as diamonds, gold and other minerals.
But despite his money-raising role, Mr Mnangagwa, a lawyer who grew up in Zambia, is not well-loved by the rank and file of his own party.
One veteran of Zimbabwe's war of independence, who worked with him for many years, puts it simply: "He's a very cruel man, very cruel."
Another Zanu-PF official poses an interesting question when asked about Mr Mnangagwa's prospects: "You think Mugabe is bad but have you thought that whoever comes after him could be even worse?"
The opposition candidate who defeated Mr Mnangagwa in the 2000 parliamentary campaign in Kwekwe Central, Blessing Chebundo, would also agree that his rival is not a man of peace.
During a bitter campaign, Mr Chibundo escaped death by a whisker when the Zanu-PF youths who had abducted him and doused him with petrol were unable to light a match.
Atrocities
Mr Mnangagwa's fearsome reputation was made during the civil war which broke out after independence between Mugabe's Zanu party and the Zapu of Joshua Nkomo.
He was tortured severely resulting in him losing his sense of hearing in one ear
Emmerson Mnangagwa's official profileAs National Security Minister, Mr Mnangagwa was in charge of the Central Intelligence Organisation, CIO, which worked hand in glove with the army to suppress Zapu.
Thousands of innocent civilians - mainly ethnic Ndebeles, seen as Zapu supporters - were killed before the two parties merged to form Zanu-PF.
Among countless other atrocities, villagers were forced at gun-point to dance on the freshly-dug graves of their relatives and chant pro-Mugabe slogans.
Despite the 1987 Unity Accord, the wounds are still painful and many party officials, not to mention voters, in Matabeleland would be reluctant to support a Mnangagwa presidential campaign.
School of Ideology
Mr Mnangagwa, though does enjoy the support of many of the war veterans who led the campaign of violence against the white farmers and the opposition from 2000.

Robert Mugabe has promoted and then demoted Mnangagwa. They remember him as one of the men who, following his military training in China and Egypt, directed the 1970s fight for independence.
He also attended the School of Ideology, run by the Chinese Communist Party.
On his official profile, Mr Mnangagwa says he was the victim of state violence after being arrested by the white-minority government in the former Rhodesia in 1965, after he helped blow up a train near Fort Victoria (now Masvingo).
"He was tortured severely resulting in him losing his sense of hearing in one ear," the profile says.
"Part of the torture techniques involved being hanged with his feet on the ceiling and the head down. The severity of the torture made him unconscious for days."
As he was under 21 at the time, he was not executed but instead sentenced to 10 years in prison.
He was born in the central region of Zvishavane and is from the Karanga sub-group of Zimbabwe's majority Shonas.
The Karangas are the largest Shona group and some feel it is their turn for power, following 27 years of domination by Mr Mugabe's Zezuru group.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE PARTY MULLS MUGABE ROLE !

Leaders of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF are expected to meet on Friday to decide whether President Robert Mugabe should stand for re-election next year.
Mr Mugabe has made it clear he wants to remain in office.
But he is under increasing pressure from Zanu-PF factions to stand down to end the political and economic crisis.
On Thursday, southern African leaders agreed that South African President Thabo Mbeki should try to promote political dialogue inside Zimbabwe.
In their communique, the leaders expressed solidarity with Mr Mugabe, urged western countries to lift sanctions and called on the UK to pay for land reform.
Correspondents say this kind of language would have been music to Mr Mugabe's ears.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is disappointed with the outcome of the meeting - it says the problems are Mr Mugabe's economic mismanagement and human rights abuses.

HAVE YOUR SAY
The problem with these African leaders is that they fear Mugabe and employ a quiet diplomacy
Henry, Harare
Send us your comments

The European Union and US sanctions are a travel ban and an assets freeze on the Mr Mugabe and his close allies, yet Mr Mugabe blames them for causing Zimbabwe's economic woes.
Decision day
BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles say that behind the scenes, the issue everyone is talking about is Robert Mugabe's future.
The man who has led Zimbabwe for nearly 27 years has never looked as isolated as he is at present, our correspondent says.
Friday's meeting of Zanu-PF's Central Committee brings together about 200 of the ruling party's most important decision-makers.
In the knowledge that presidential elections are due a year from now, there is intense lobbying going on within Zanu-PF, he says.

Summit disappoints critics
Profile: Emmerson Mnangagwa
Profile: The Mujuru couple

President Mugabe has said he wants to remain in power.
But he may only have support from around a third of the membership of his party's Central Committee, says the BBC's Peter Biles.
There are two opposing factions. One is led by the former armed forces commander, Solomon Mujuru, and his wife Joyce, who is the country's vice-president.
The other is headed by Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former security minister.
Both sides would like to see Mr Mugabe step aside, not least because under his leadership, Zimbabwe's economy is now out of control.
But it is not clear if anyone will stand up and directly challenge Mr Mugabe.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MBEKI TO TACKLE ZIMBABWE CRISIS !

A summit of 14 southern African nations has agreed that South African President Thabo Mbeki should try to mediate in the political crisis in Zimbabwe.
Mr Mbeki will aim to formally arrange talks between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the opposition.
The meeting also called on the West to drop sanctions and appealed to Britain to "honour its commitments" to fund land reforms in its former colony.
The Tanzania summit came amid rising concern about the Zimbabwe crisis.
Political violence is increasing in the country, which is beset by unemployment and poverty, and suffers the world's highest inflation - 1,700% a year.
Back from brink
Diplomats said before the summit that the leaders would tell President Mugabe that he should not stand for re-election next year, but there has been no word on whether they did so during their closed-door meeting.
Zimbabwe is under assault... it is under assault from Western countries that have imposed illegal sanctions on it
George Charamba Presidential spokesman
The decision had been taken to promote dialogue, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said at the end of the summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"Of course the appeal to parties is to be co-operative and give this initiative a chance, also for the parties to exercise restraint and avoid anything that's going to inflame the situation," Mr Kikweti told a news conference.
The summit, which was attended by Mr Mbeki and Mr Mugabe, echoed the demands of the Zimbabwean government for all sanctions against the country to be lifted.
Britain and other Western countries have imposed targeted sanctions, including a travel ban on Mr Mugabe and his circle.
The meeting's outcome will probably disappoint the opposition, which had hoped for a much tougher line, says the BBC's Peter Greste in Dar es Salaam.
Their resolution also falls far short of the action urged by the US, which had called on the SADC summit to hold Mr Mugabe to account "for his misrule, not only over the last few weeks but over the last few years".
Crackdown
Amid the rising tension, Zimbabwean police on Wednesday cracked down further on the opposition.

Mugabe's hold over Africa
Media urges pressure

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said leader Morgan Tsvangirai was held for several hours after Wednesday's police raid on the party's headquarters in Harare.
Police denied he was among those arrested.
The policy-making body of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF is due to meet on Friday to decide whether to postpone the elections and, if not, who its candidate will be.
Speaking to the BBC as the summit got under way, Mr Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, said the president would stay for as long as he had the popular vote.

HAVE YOUR SAY
The meeting between southern Africa's leaders is long overdue. Silent diplomacy has no future for Zimbabwe
Patrick Adar, Kampala
Send us your comments

The pressure for change, he said, was coming from the US and Europe, and Zimbabwe was hoping for the support of other African nations.
"Our expectations are very, very simple: to recognise that Zimbabwe is under assault... it is under assault from Western countries that have imposed illegal sanctions on it," Mr Charamba said.
Mr Mugabe, who has governed Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980, has blamed the opposition for the recent violence, accusing it of staging attacks.
He has also dismissed complaints from the West about human rights abuses and political oppression as the whining of old colonists.
The SADC summit also discussed the violence in DR Congo.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN CRISIS REFLECTS GROWING ISOLATION !

Iran crisis reflects growing isolation.
By Sadeq Saba BBC World Service Iran analyst.

The UK and Iran are in a diplomatic stand-off over the incident. The capture of 15 British Royal Navy personnel by Iranian forces in the Gulf comes at a time when Tehran feels it is under unprecedented international pressure.
The country is diplomatically isolated and feels under a constant and building US military threat.
Earlier this month the UN Security Council passed a resolution against Iran over its nuclear programme.
Iranian diplomats worked very hard to convince some members of the council, such as South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar, to support Tehran's case.
But it failed, and the vote in favour of the resolution was unanimous, further convincing the Iranian leadership that they have few friends left at the UN and that diplomacy is not working in their favour.
Siege mentality
Iran is now also militarily encircled by the US forces. American troops are based in almost every country bordering Iran - Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.
The US Navy has been conducting a series of exercises in the Gulf - the biggest war games in the area since the invasion of Iraq four years ago.
Hardliners are arguing that any release of the British sailors should be conditional on the release of five Iranians held by the US The sense of being under siege is compounded by the US military's detention in January in Iraq of five Iranians.
Tehran says they are diplomats but the US says the men are members of the Revolutionary Guards with a mission to support Iraqi insurgents.
There has been no consular access to them, no charges brought against them and no information about where they are being kept and under what conditions.
And in December a former Iranian deputy defence minister disappeared in Turkey. Some Western media reported that he had defected to the West.
But the Iranian government and his family say he was abducted by the US or Israel.
All these events and pressures have created a siege mentality in Tehran.
Act of desperation?
It was in this setting that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently made a significant statement.

The UN Security Council has voted against Iran on the nuclear issue. He said that so far Iran had acted legally to defend what it saw as its right to pursue a nuclear programme.
He went on to say that because the international community had responded with "illegal acts" - by which he meant the Security Council resolutions - Iran itself would from now on feel justified in acting illegally.
Ayatollah Khamenei emphasised that Iran would use any means available to it to defend itself.
It is not clear whether the capture of the British sailors and marines was premeditated or not, but the ayatollah's comments could have given a green light to Revolutionary Guards to seize them.
If it was premeditated, the capture could be interpreted as an act of desperation by a government which feels isolated and threatened.
President missing
Iran officially says there is no connection between the detention of the British personnel and its own grievances.
But some hardline elements make a link between their release and other issues.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has faced domestic criticism. The Iranian authorities themselves are under mounting pressure domestically to ensure the release of the five Iranians held by the US military in Iraq, and hardliners are arguing that any release of the British sailors should be conditional on the release of the Iranians.
Noticeable by his absence in all this is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
From the Iranian side, the crisis has been managed by the country's Supreme National Security Council, the highest body dealing with such important matters.
Its decisions are approved by Ayatollah Khamenei, and all senior officials take part in its meetings.
President Ahmadinejad's silence may suggest that the clerical leadership is deliberately keeping him out of this matter in order to ensure that situation is not inflamed by his usual hardline rhetoric.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SIX TRAPPED AFTER BEIJING CAVE-IN !

Experts say it is unlikely the workers will be found alive. Six construction workers are feared to have died after a subway tunnel being built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics collapsed on top of them.
Rescuers are searching for the six, but experts have told Chinese media the chances of saving them are fading.
The tunnel, in the Haidian university district of north-west Beijing, caved in early on Wednesday.
The city has undertaken huge building projects for the Olympics, and there have been several accidents.
Floods and cave-ins
China's Xinhua news agency reported that the collapsed section covered an area of about 20 square metres (215 square feet) and was about 11m (36ft) deep.
Officials have begun an investigation into the cause of the collapse, Xinhua said.
The station where the cave-in happened will be part of a line crossing northern Beijing, with a stop at the Olympic Village.
The 25km (15-mile) line has experienced several floods and cave-ins in the past - with workers killed in a collapse last June.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WOOLMER POST-MORTEM CLAIMS DENIED !

Woolmer's death has been the source of feverish speculation. Jamaican police have denied reports that a second post-mortem is to be carried out on murdered Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer.
Newspapers had claimed more tests were needed to confirm Woolmer was strangled - but deputy police chief Mark Shields said the cause of death was settled.
Woolmer was found strangled in his hotel room on 18 March, one day after Pakistan's surprise loss to Ireland.
Police say they do not yet have any suspects in the case.
'Unhealthy and unhelpful'
Mr Shields told India's New Delhi Television: "The reality is that we have a cause of death and we have an investigation to a murder."
He said a second examination would "detract from the main track of inquiry".

Mr Shields urged visitors to Woolmer's hotel to contact police.
"If there was going to be a second post-mortem it could only be on two counts - if ordered by the coroner, but he has not done that, or secondly if we had a suspect in custody.
"But since we have no-one in custody, I don't know where that came from. It is another piece of unhealthy and unhelpful speculation."
He also denied reports that police were seeking three Pakistani men, said to have fled the Caribbean on the day of the murder.
Earlier, Mr Shields had urged people who had visited Kingston's Pegasus hotel in the 72 hours before Woolmer's death to get in touch.
Police are continuing to review CCTV footage from the hotel in the hope of identifying a suspect.
They are also examining the hard drive of Woolmer's computer for anything which might establish a motive for the murder.
Detectives believe Woolmer probably knew his killer - or killers - as there were no signs of forced entry into his room and none of his belongings had been stolen.
There has been speculation that the murder is connected to match-fixing allegations which have haunted cricket for the past decade.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CAMEROON MOURNS PRESIDENTIAL LION !

People see the lion's death a bad omen for President Biya. Cameroon's wildlife minister has encouraged people to pay their last respects to the country's most famous lion, named Paul after the president.
The lion died in Mvog Beti zoo in the capital, Yaounde, on Saturday.
Wildlife Minister Elvis Ngolle Ngolle said Paul's body has been preserved and the public is now able to visit it.
A BBC correspondent says people see the death as a bad omen for President Paul Biya whose party is seeking to extend his time in office beyond 2011.
This week, parliament began debating a bill to amend the constitution.
The president is elected for seven years and, following a 1996 amendment, can only serve two terms.
Mr Biya has ruled Cameroon for 24 years and will be about 78 when his current term expires in 2011.
Castration
The BBC's Randy Joe Sa'ah in Yaounde says Paul and his mate were named Paul and Chantal after the presidential couple.

Chantel has been Paul's partner for a long time.
Last Thursday, Mr Ngole Ngole gave the zoo a cash donation for the treatment of the sick lion.
But despite these efforts the lion died two days later from kidney problems.
The minister said his illness is thought to be related to the lion's earlier castration.
That operation was performed after a lioness he mated with gave birth to deformed cubs, the minister said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PORTUGAL OPENS MAJOR SOLAR PLANT !

The solar power plant is in one of Europe's sunniest areas. Portugal has inaugurated what it says is the world's most powerful solar power plant.
The array of electricity-generating solar panels covers about 60 hectares (150 acres) in one of Europe's sunniest areas in southern Portugal.
Officials say the plant should produce enough energy to supply 8,000 homes.
The plant is part of Portugal's efforts to cut its reliance on imported fuel and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that add to global warming.
The plant is also meant to bring development and jobs to the Alentejo region 200km (125 miles) southeast of Lisbon, a poor area traditionally dominated by cork and olive production.
Renewable energy drive
The 11-megawatt plant has 52,000 photovoltaic modules, which will produce 20 gigawatt hours of power each year.
Burning fossil fuels to generate the same amount of energy would result in 30,000 tons of greenhouse gases being emitted over the course of a year.
"This project is successful because Portugal's sunshine is plentiful, the solar power technology is proven [and] government policies are supportive," said Kevin Walsh of Renewable Energy GE, which built the project.
The facility was designed by PowerLight which will also operates and maintains it.
Portugal is developing wind, solar and wave power projects as part of a plan to invest $10bn (£5bn) in renewable energy over the next five years.
Prime Minister Jose Socrates has said he wants 45% of Portugal's power consumption to come from renewable energy by 2010.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'FLAMING DEBRIS' NEARLY HITS JET !

The pilots of a Chilean passenger jet reported seeing flaming debris fall past their aircraft as it approached the airport at Auckland, New Zealand.
Lan airline said the captain "made visual contact with incandescent fragments several kilometres away".
New Zealand and Australian media suggested the debris was from a Russian satellite expected to enter the atmosphere later in the day.
But the US space agency Nasa said it was more likely to have been meteors.
'40 second margin'
The Lan Airbus A340 had just entered New Zealand airspace as it approached Auckland's airport when the debris shot by.
The pilots reported the near-miss to air traffic controllers, reportedly saying the noise of the debris breaking the sound barrier could be heard above the roar of his aircraft's engines.
The New Zealand Herald newspaper calculated the debris missed the jet by a margin of 40 seconds.
The plane landed safely and continued to its final destination in Sydney, Australia, a short while later.
Initial media reports in New Zealand said the debris was thought to be the remains of a Russian satellite.
New Zealand air traffic control officials had been warned by Russian authorities that a spacecraft was due to fall into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday.
But the debris was spotted by the pilots 12 hours earlier than the time advised by the Russians.
An orbital debris expert at Nasa told Associated Press news agency that he had checked with the Russians and that their vessel - a spacecraft resupplying the International Space Station - had fired its re-entry rockets 12 hours after the Chileans reported the near miss.
The Nasa expert, Nicholas Johnson, said no other space junk was expected to be re-entering atmosphere at that time so the pilots probably saw a meteor.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AFRICAN LEADERS IN ZIMBABWE TALKS !

A summit of southern African countries is getting under way in Tanzania, with the crisis in Zimbabwe at the top of its agenda.
Diplomats say leaders will tell Robert Mugabe that he should not stand for re-election in Zimbabwe next year.
The meeting comes a day after police in Zimbabwe detained opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for a few hours.
Police denied Mr Tsvangirai was among those arrested when they raided the offices of his opposition party.
Police cordoned off the Harare headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) ahead of a planned news conference by Mr Tsvangirai.
He had been expected to talk about the political violence in the country. Earlier this month he was allegedly beaten in police custody following his arrest at a banned rally.
International criticism
The summit brings together the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Talks are also expected to address recent violence in the capital of DR Congo, Kinshasa.

Mugabe's hold over Africa
Media urges pressure

Zimbabwe's president will be told in very plain terms, diplomats say, that the region cannot afford to see the situation continue, let alone deteriorate into a civil war that could engulf its neighbours.
The BBC's Peter Greste in Dar es Salaam says Mr Mugabe has dismissed such complaints from the West in the past and might find it much harder to ignore those from his neighbours.
However, much of the debate will be behind closed doors.
Most African leaders have been reluctant to publicly criticise Mr Mugabe, who is still seen be many as a hero of the fight against colonial rule.
However, there has been some change in tone following the assault on Mr Tsvangirai and other opposition activists.
Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa compared Zimbabwe to the Titanic.

HAVE YOUR SAY
The meeting between Southern Africa's leaders is long overdue. Silent diplomacy has no future for Zimbabwe
Patrick Adar, Kampala
Send us your comments

Richard Dowden, director of the UK's Royal African Society, told the BBC's Today programme that the SADC leaders might gently suggest that Mr Mugabe does not stand again in elections due next year.
But he says the people who really matter are those in his Zanu-PF party.
The policy-making body of his Zanu-PF party is due to meet on Friday to decide whether to postpone the elections and, if not, who its candidate will be.
Two party heavyweights might block Mr Mugabe's bid to stand again, Mr Dowden says.
Election decision?
As Mr Mugabe arrived in Tanzania on Wednesday night, the US state department expressed concern about Mr Tsvangirai and urged the SADC summit to hold Mr Mugabe to account "for his misrule, not only over the last few weeks but over the last few years".

The police say these guns and explosives belonged to the opposition. Mr Mugabe has blamed the opposition for the recent violence, accusing it of staging attacks.
The police on Wednesday exhibited explosives and guns, they say belonged to opposition activists.
He has dismissed complaints from the West about human rights abuses and political oppression as the whining of old colonists.
In addition to the political conflict, Zimbabweans are grappling with the world's highest inflation - 1,700% a year - while unemployment and poverty are widespread.
Mr Mugabe has governed Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NIGERIA BURIES TANKER FIRE VICTIMS !

Nigeria buries tanker fire victims.
By Senan Murray BBC News, Katugal, Nigeria.

Lami Dutse moves around her 27-year-old-son, Danasabe, fanning his badly burnt legs.
Danasabe Dutse's legs were badly burnt when his trousers caught fire"Thank God! Thank God!" she says with tears of joy in her eyes.
Danasabe, 27, is sitting just a few metres from a mass grave where the charred bodies of nearly 100 of his friends and other villagers are buried.
He is among about 20 survivors of a petrol tanker explosion in which at least 98 people were burnt alive in Katugal village in north-western Nigeria in Kaduna state.
The tanker was carrying 33,000 litres of petrol when it crashed at a bend on the road near the village, about 150km (93 miles) north of the capital Abuja.
Ali Peter, who helped with the mass burial, thinks the casualty figure could be as high as 115.
He says the victims were "young men, women and even little children."
'Big explosion'
The burnt carcass of the petrol tanker lies on its side a few yards across the road from where Danasabe sits.
Around the burnt tanker are charred remains of motorcycles, buckets and other containers the villagers used to scoop the fuel.
Many of the villagers are seen in small groups discussing the tragedy in hushed tones.

Nearly 100 of the victims were buried in a mass grave"There was a big explosion and I found myself drenched in petrol and my trousers caught on fire," Danasabe told the BBC News website.
"The explosion hit me as I made to pass near the crashed tanker which was lying in my way. So, I started rolling on the ground, trying to pull off the burning trousers.
"I did manage to get the trousers off eventually, but as you can see, these were the wounds I sustained.
"I consider myself very, very lucky. Some of my friends weren't as lucky as you can see," he says gesturing towards the shallow grave a few yards away.
'Greed and poverty'
Aminu Bako, an eyewitness who also helped with the hurried burial of the victims blames the accident on greed and poverty.
"It's not the driver's fault at all. It's largely due to greed and poverty. Things like this have been happening in the southern part of the country and we have seen them on TV.

People were taking fuel from the crashed tanker when it exploded. "Yet people don't seem to fear that it could happen again. It suggests to me that poverty is a lot hotter than petrol explosions."
Another eyewitness Bitrus Yohanna says it was not the villagers' fault.
"Look, the villagers did not tip the tanker over. They don't even own cars. They simply saw petrol wasting and thought it was a good idea to collect it and make some money."
But John Dogo who is a vigilante leader in the village disagrees. He says he tried to stop the villagers from going near the tanker, but they refused.
'Balls of fire'
"I was still calling on them to leave the scene when the tanker exploded.
"I saw that there were flying balls of fire and when they landed on a person, that person was gone.

Nearby motorcycles were completely burnt out in the fire. "The fire was so fierce that you dared not come close."
Danjuma Elisha, Kaduna State commander of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps led emergency operations at the scene.
He says the tragedy was a high price for what the villagers thought was free petrol.
"People came and started scooping free fuel, but as it turned out, that fuel was not free at all.
"The real price is this mass grave where 98 people are buried. People should learn from what has happened."
But in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, it is difficult to learn from such accidents. Fuel shortages are commonplace due to corruption, poor management and infrastructure problems.
When pipelines in the south pass through poor communities, they are often broken so that the fuel can be stolen.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CRICKET WORLD CUP !

WORLD CUP, SUPER 8s, GUYANA:

South Africa 212-9 bt Sri Lanka 209 by one wicket
By Sam Lyon.

Malinga produced heroics to mark a thrilling climax in Guyana.
Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga became the first bowler to take four wickets in four balls in international cricket but it was all in vain as South Africa won.
Jacques Kallis's 86 saw South Africa to a last-gasp one-wicket win in the Super 8 match at the Cricket World Cup.
Set 210 to win, the Proteas looked to be cruising as Kallis built on Graeme Smith's 59 to take them to 206-5.
Malinga's inspired spell took Sri Lanka to the brink of victory, before Robin Peterson hit the winning runs.
It was a sensational ending to the match at the new Providence Stadium as Malinga brought Sri Lanka back from the brink to give them hope with some superb full-length bowling.
But his efforts proved fruitless in the end, with his opposite number Charl Langeveldt's 5-39 proving the decisive figures as Sri Lanka were skittled out for 209.
The seamer struck late in the innings, just as Arnold and Dilshan were looking to open up, and ensured Sri Lanka fell 20-30 runs short of their ideal target.

That sudden burst by Malinga is the moment of this World Cup so far

Their total was still more than Sri Lanka, who had won the toss, might have hoped for at one stage, though, after Langeveldt and Makhaya Ntini had reduced them to 98-5.
Upul Tharanga was the first to go, edging a typical Ntini delivery, angled across the stumps, to Justin Kemp at first slip, before Sanath Jayasuriya's brief flurry of 26 from 27 balls ended when he sent a thick edge to Jacques Kallis at point off Langeveldt.
Langeveldt was making his case to replace Shaun Pollock as the Proteas' new-ball bowler, and he struck again to force a leading edge off Mahela Jayawardene to AB de Villiers at mid-off.
Kumar Sangakkara, ranked fourth in the world ODI rankings, briefly provided some resistance but he gloved an Andrew Hall bouncer behind for 28.

MALINGA'S FOUR-WICKET FEAT
44.5 overS: Pollock b 13
44.6 overs: Hall c Tharanga 0
46.1 overs: Kallis c Sangakkara 86
46.2 overs: Makhaya Ntini b Malinga 0

And when he was followed back into the hutch by Chamara Silva (9) thanks to Herschelle Gibbs' diving run-out - which was indicative of a fabulous display in the field for South Africa - Sri Lanka looked in trouble.
The Proteas did not account for Dilshan and Russel Arnold, though.
Helped by Smith's decision to bowl himself and Peterson in tandem during the middle overs, the pair frustrated their opponents for over 21 overs.
Dilshan finally fell in the 46th over, top edging Ntini to deep backward square, for 58 and Langeveldt returned to help clean up the tail with three wickets in a maiden 49th over.
Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas and then Arnold, who made his 50 off 73 balls, all holed out in the deep, with Muralitharan the last man out, run out by Pollock's fine throw.
In 44 one-day matches before this game, the two teams shared 21 wins apiece, with eight wins each on neutral ground, and another tight encounter duly ensued despite Smith's class up front for South Africa.
The opener was brutal and clever in equal measure as he made a mockery of the seemingly slow pitch with a series of boundaries on both sides of the wicket, building the Proteas' recovery after AB de Villiers had been bowled in the first over by a swinging Chaminda Vaas delivery.

Charl Langeveldt celebrates his five-wicket haul in Guyana
The skipper combined brilliantly with Kallis to take the score to 95-1 before Muttiah Muralitharan (3-39) drew him out of his crease and he was stumped.
Another tidy partnership was ended by the master spinner in the 33rd over when he caught Gibbs off his own bowling for a well made 33 and then trapped Mark Boucher lbw next ball.
And, with spin operating at both ends, Jayasuriya had Kemp stumped by a matter of inches for five to cause some wobbles in the South Africa dressing room.
But Kallis, who survived the most difficult of caught-and-bowled chances off Malinga when on 75, dug deep despite obvious cramp to steady the ship before the sensational late fireworks.
Malinga (4-54) yorked Pollock (13) and had Hall caught at cover in successive balls at the end of his eighth over, and returned to clean up Kallis for his hat-trick and then Ntini next ball.
It was the first time in international cricket a player had taken four wickets in four balls and all of a sudden the impossible seemed possible.
But Langeveldt negotiated nine balls before Peterson, who survived another beauty from Malinga that missed his stumps by a whisker, edged the winning runs to bring relief to the Proteas line-up.
The win takes South Africa up to second in the Super 8 table behind Australia and means they already have an excellent chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.
Immediately after the match it was announced Charl Langeveldt had won the Man of the Match award for his five wicket haul but the International Cricket Council later apologised to the Sri Lanka management team to say there had been a communication error and Lasith Malinga should have been jointly awarded the accolade.

BBC SPORTS REPORT.

SUDAN PLEDGES TO EASE AID ACCESS!

Sudan pledges to ease aid access.
By Jonah Fisher BBC News, Khartoum.

Many people in the region say they feel insecure and cut off. The Sudanese government has pledged to ease restrictions on aid workers in its western war-torn region of Darfur.
In an agreement signed with the United Nations, Khartoum promised to accelerate the issuing of visas and travel permits.
Some 13,000 aid workers based in Darfur are feeding more than 2m people in camps, in what is the world's largest aid operation.
Donors have complained that red tape was paralysing the aid effort.
'Too dangerous'
Providing food and shelter to Darfur's war-weary population is dangerous and complex.

The aid operation trucks food over 1,500km (932 miles) inland to Darfur and when it gets there the problems really begin.
After four years of conflict much of Darfur is simply too dangerous for humanitarian agencies to work in.
Large areas are off limits, meaning most food distributions now take place in camps around the major towns.
According to the aid agencies, restrictions placed on their work by the Sudanese government are now at their worst since the early days of the conflict.
Visas are expensive and can take weeks to be issued. A work permit requires proof of university education.
'Fast-track visas'
The agreement signed in Khartoum between Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti and the UN is supposed to solve all these problems.
Visas should now be issued in 15 days and the travel permit system has been simplified.
There is still considerable anger within the Sudanese government about the role aid agencies have played in highlighting Darfur's atrocities.
At the signing ceremony, Mr Karti complained that false accusations were still being made and that the government would not accept anyone who they considered was acting illegally.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CONGO'S BEMBA 'TO GO TO PORTUGAL' !

Mr Bemba says he was not planning a rebellion. The Democratic Republic of Congo's wanted opposition leader plans to go to Portugal for medical treatment, a South African diplomat says.
Jean-Pierre Bemba took refuge at the South African embassy in the capital, Kinshasa, after clashes between his militia and the army last week.
The fighting threatened to derail the peace process that led to recent polls.
A BBC correspondent says there is speculation the trip may be used as a diplomatic manoeuvre to ease tension.
Mr Bemba is planning to leave on Saturday to go to Portugal where he has been receiving medical treatment for a broken leg
Dumisani KumaloSouth Africa's UN ambassador.

Eyewitness: Foreigners' fears
In pictures: Kinshasa clashes
Clashes reflect Congo's divide

President Joseph Kabila defeated Mr Bemba, a former rebel leader, in a second round run-off vote last October.
Mr Bemba denied plotting military action to overthrow the president and accused the army of trying to kill him.
The violence started when his armed bodyguards refused to be integrated into the national army before last week's deadline.
Up to 600 people may have died in the clashes, according to EU diplomats in Kinshasa.
Immunity
South Africa's UN ambassador said Mr Bemba was "not a refugee" in the South Africa diplomatic compound in Kinshasa.
"Mr Bemba is planning to leave on Saturday to go to Portugal where he has been receiving medical treatment for a broken leg," Dumisani Kumalo told the BBC.
As a senator, Mr Bemba, who has been charged with treason, enjoys immunity from prosecution. The government says it will seek to have this stripped.
The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa says Mr Bemba spent several weeks in Portugal after the election seeking medical treatment for his leg.
Mr Kabila has said that no-one can be above the law.
But the trip looks like a diplomatic way to get round the issue of Congolese justice, our correspondent says.
Observers doubt that Mr Bemba would return to DR Congo to face trial if he got permission to go to Portugal for treatment.
A meeting of the southern African leaders in Tanzania is expected to discuss the violence.
Earlier, the United States condemned it says it represented "a set-back in the progress the Congolese people expect and deserve after last year's historic election."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOUTH AFRICA SLAMMED ON ZIMBABWE!

South Africa comes in for criticism from the African press for its role in Zimbabwe, facing accusations of inaction, indifference and having a "quasi-imperialist agenda".
Elsewhere, a Kenyan title sees Zimbabwe, formerly a "shining hope" for Africa, descending into anarchy, while a Nigerian daily says Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has turned into "a monster".
But some papers in Zimbabwe itself hit out at what they regard as the country's enemies, accusing the BBC of racism and Tony Blair and George Bush of not wanting to leave office while Mr Mugabe is still in power.

ALAIN BALAGEAS IN ZIMBABWE'S INDEPENDENT ONLINE NEWZIMBABWE
South Africa's persistence in its policy of 'quiet diplomacy' has revealed its double standards to Africa and the world... Its inaction on Zimbabwe... raises eyebrows... It is plainly a case of a sinister quasi-imperialist agenda, masquerading as 'diplomatic engagement' on their part that they seek to entertain in order to perpetuate their interests and hegemony as the chief politico-economic power edifice in the region... The ANC-led government in Pretoria simply couldn't care less about who runs Zimbabwe.

RHODA KADALIE IN SOUTH AFRICA'S INDEPENDENT BUSINESS DAY
Support for Robert Mugabe has more to do with SA's solidarity with a former liberation leader than its so-called non-interference stance on sovereignty. No matter how dictatorial its rule, Zanu-PF knows it can rely on SA for support because its identity as a former liberation movement seals its survival regardless of the atrocities it perpetrates against its own people... Equally, its support for communist China on Burma is in line with a foreign policy that has consistently supported pariah states such as Libya and Iran against countries that value human rights, good governance and democracy. It finds it so easy to condemn Israel on the grounds of human rights and self-determination, invoking similarities with the apartheid state, but when it comes to Zimbabwe and Burma, its forked-tongue agenda becomes nauseatingly transparent.

SOUTH AFRICA'S INDEPENDENT CAPE ARGUS
21 March 1960, looms large in South Africa's history as a milestone in the quest for freedom.. On that day police opened fire on a crowd of people that had gathered at the police station in Sharpeville... Surely - given the awful history that is embodied by that day in 1960 - we should never turn a deaf ear to the cries of others whose rights are trampled upon... Freedom is indivisible, including that involving our neighbours and fellow Africans in Zimbabwe, who are routinely beaten for exercising their rights to freedom of speech, association and assembly. In these circumstances, silence is not a sign of statecraft but, rather, of complicity and consent.

STEVEN FRIEDMAN IN SOUTH AFRICA'S INDEPENDENT BUSINESS DAY
Government's failure to take a clear enough stand against heightened tyranny in Zimbabwe is not an aberration. It illustrates a pattern in our foreign policy: that, whatever our goals in the world may be, supporting democracy elsewhere is not one of them. We have repeatedly ignored Zimbabwe's desire for democracy... Why would a government that owes its existence to a fight for democracy not support it energetically abroad? ... Supporting democracy beyond our borders is not a luxury that hampers our chances of getting on in the world - it is a necessity that is in our national interest.

KENYA'S INDEPENDENT DAILY NATION
The unfolding events in Zimbabwe in the past few weeks illustrate the depths of repression and political intolerance raging in a country that once stood as a shining hope for Africa. The brutal attacks on opposition chief Morgan Tsvangirai and a few others slightly over a week ago, and the violent events that followed meant Zimbabwe is sliding fast to anarchy.

NIGERIA'S INDEPENDENT VANGUARD
It is sad that Mugabe who started on a bright note has in the twilight of his life turned into a monster that could go to any length to remain in power.

JOHN ITESHI IN ZIMBABWE'S INDEPENDENT ONLINE NEWZIMBABWE
Racism, the worst kind of racism, is the only reason for the British media's obsession with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe... It seems to me that the only reason the white world is against Robert Mugabe is because he expelled white farmers... It is now clear to me that BBC and other British media are far worse than the British National Party (BNP) which is labelled racist. The BNP is not threatening the existence and survival of the black race while British journalists are... Zimbabwe is by far more democratic and successful than most other black African countries... but today it bears the ignoble reputation of being one of the worst places to live in!.. It is purely and squarely about race!

ZIMBABWE'S GOVERNMENT HERALD
It is easy to see why the gloves are off, the MDC's godfathers; George W. Bush and Tony Blair are running out of time; with the former expected to leave office in June, while Bush is in the final months of his tenure. Both men are not keen to go while their nemesis Cde Mugabe remains, they would rather have him go; if not to justify their ruinous foreign policies, at least to have him as a trophy in light of their glaring failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PRESS URGES SADC TO PULL ZIMBABWE SUPPORT!

African papers are displaying signs of a shift in regional opinion towards President Robert Mugabe, ahead of an SADC emergency summit in Tanzania to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe.
While some papers say Africans should stand by Mugabe, one daily directly accuses him of behaviour against his people that is worse than under colonial rule.
Others suggest that the end of his rule is approaching and that the SADC should no longer back him.

MOS KASIBANTE IN UGANDA'S INDEPENDENT DAILY MONITOR
What Africans have learned is that fellow Africans, including those who carry the label of a freedom fighter can visit atrocities on their people similar to, and in some cases worse than, those committed by the colonialists.

TANZANIA'S GOVERNMENT DAILY NEWS
Political stability and security is exactly what SADC countries need to implement... We have witnessed recently political stand-offs in Zimbabwe precipitated by the opposition's decision to go ahead with an unauthorized meeting. This is a situation which should not be allowed to get out of proportion. We want our Zimbabwean brothers and sisters to live in peace.

REASON WAFAWAROVA IN ZIMBABWE'S GOVERNMENT HERALD
Zimbabwe does not need street terrorism; it needs a battle of minds competing for the betterment of the country ... we need to share one history and one heritage just like other nations, among them settler colonies like the US.

BILAL ABDUL-AZIZ IN TANZANIA'S INDEPENDENT GUARDIAN
It should be clear to every one, especially the boastful 'Western fathers' led by the United Kingdom and her twin ally United States, that true sons of Africa, including Tanzania, stand by Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

ZIMBABWE'S THE INDEPENDENT
The heat on Mugabe is now coming from closer to home. In fact, there is a meeting of minds between Western governments and SADC states that Mugabe's time is up.
The answer from a SADC point of view lies in Mugabe leaving the political scene. The new approach hinted at by [Zambian President Levy] Mwanawasa replaces quiet diplomacy. It is a blend of megaphone diplomacy and SADC withdrawing its support for Mugabe. The leaders have now realized the folly of believing that Mugabe is amenable to reform.

RAYMOND LOUW IN SOUTH AFRICA'S INDEPENDENT BUSINESS DAY
A statement that goes beyond 'staying silent' is unlikely ... if [President Thabo] Mbeki maintains SA [SAfrica]'s view... that the current crisis in Zimbabwe could have been averted if Europe, the US and SA had adopted a common approach to the country's problems...
How long can Mugabe remain in power in the face of the condemnation of his peers in Africa, where he would be relegated to a lonely hermit with possible forays to friends in China...? Dissidents in ZANU (PF) would be given a powerful weapon to use against Mugabe and demand his departure.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE'S TSVANGIRAI 'ARRESTED' !

Mr Tsvangirai was allegedly beaten in custody earlier this month. Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been arrested in a raid on his headquarters, officials from his party have said.
He was seized along with about 20 members of staff ahead of a news conference, the Movement for Democratic Change's Tendai Biti told the BBC.
Mr Tsvangirai was also arrested earlier this month and beaten while in custody.
The latest arrest came as southern African leaders gathered in Tanzania for talks on Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe is expected to be at that meeting.
The BBC's Peter Greste in Tanzania's capital, Dar es Salaam, says that in private the gathered leaders will give Mr Mugabe a frosty reception following the beating of opposition politicians in police custody this month.
Riot police
In the latest raid, the opposition headquarters in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, were cordoned off before officers went in to make the arrests.
"There's a wall of riot police so you can't actually see what's happening," Mr Biti said.

Mr Mugabe may get a frosty reception at the Tanzania meeting.
Mr Tsvangirai had been planning to hold a news conference about the arrest and assault of scores of opposition activists after police broke up a meeting earlier this month.
Germany, which holds the European Union presidency, said it was "deeply concerned" at the latest arrests.
But Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the BBC the arrests were a police matter.
"If the police take action it's their prerogative... They are doing their job, we can't interfere," he said.
Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday that a suspected petrol bomber was arrested amid reports that ruling party offices and a police camp were bombed on Tuesday.
Mugabe is telling them, 'I've got the title deeds to Zimbabwe, you can go to hell'
Tendai Biti,Movement for Democratic ChangE

Media urges pressure

Mr Biti denied speculation that MDC members were involved as "fiction".
In Dar es Salaam, Mr Mugabe is expected to blame tensions in his country on an opposition campaign of violence.
The government has consistently accused the MDC of using violence and attacking the police.
Our correspondent in Tanzania, Peter Greste, says that Mr Mugabe built up strong regional support for standing up to former colonial masters but that is now waning amid the brutal suppression of opposition protests.
The leaders at the summit are expected to tell Mr Mugabe, who has governed Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980, that he should stand down when his term in office ends next year.

HAVE YOUR SAY
The meeting between southern Africa's leaders is long overdue
Patrick, Kampala, Uganda
Send us your comments

Our correspondent says Mr Mugabe has so far seemed immune from verbal attacks from the West may not be so resistant to criticism from his own contemporaries.
Mr Biti told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that Mr Mugabe appeared defiant. "Mugabe is telling them, 'I've got the title deeds to Zimbabwe, you can go to hell'. He's saying, 'Stuff diplomacy'."
Zimbabweans are grappling with the world's highest inflation - 1,700% a year - while unemployment and poverty are widespread.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BORDERS FARMERS TAKE ON TUSCANY !

It is hoped the new oil will take some custom from its Italian rivals. Farmers in the Borders have hatched a plan to tackle the Italians in the world of culinary oil production.
They have launched their own extra virgin rapeseed oil - designed to challenge the popular products from the olive groves of Tuscany.
Oleifera is produced by Borderfields Ltd a group of farmers in the Scottish Borders and north Northumberland.
They claim that the finished product has a "magnificent golden colour and nutty flavour".
The move is part of the farmers' plans to expand their businesses into new markets.
We wanted to add value to a crop that we were growing and this obviously helps us by giving us a better return
Jill McGregorBorderfields secretary
The group claims its cold-pressed oil has less than half the fat and ten times the omega 3 oils of its Mediterranean counterparts.
Company secretary Jill McGregor of Coldstream Mains Farm said a lot of effort had gone into the final product.
"We trialled 14 different varieties and found enormous differences between them," she said.
"But after many tasting sessions we have chosen an oil with a magnificent golden colour and nutty flavour."
The market for olive oil has been growing rapidly in recent years with annual sales in the UK now topping £100m.
It is that sector which the farmers hope to tap into.
"We wanted to add value to a crop that we were growing and this obviously helps us by giving us a better return," explained Ms McGregor.
"It also helps the discerning and health conscious consumer who is increasingly looking for quality, traceability and sustainability."
Further advantage
There are 12 farmers in the group, farming land from Alnwick in Northumberland to Coldstream in Berwickshire where their main office is located.
Their press house is situated near Belford in Northumberland.
That allows the oil to have another advantage over its foreign competitors, according to its producers.
It travels "minimal food miles" from the point of production to UK dinner tables.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

10 THINGS

10 things we didn't know last week!

Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.

1. The are 30,000 wild parakeets in London.More details

2. Alan Sugar is a big fan of Masterchef.

3. It's possible to map a 248-dimensional structure.More details

4. Harvesting rhubarb in candlelight helps preserve its flavour.More details

5. The Quakers invented the modern protest campaign - in calling for an end to the slave trade – deploying petitions, consumer boycotts, images, a logo and a slogan.More details

6. The Legal limit for flying a plane is 20mg of alcohol.More details

7. Martina Navratilova has spent four years secretly working as an artist.More details

8. NHS hospitals took more than £95m in car parking charges in 2004/2005.More details

9. Alcohol and tobacco are more "harmful" than cannabis, ecstasy and LSD according to a new ranking drawn up by the Lancet.More details

10. Tony Blair isn't a bad comedy actor, judging by his performance on Comic Relief.

Sources: 2 – the Independent, 21 March.
BBC MAGAZINE

N.Z. PROTEST TO BLOCK SMACKING LAW !

NZ parents are allowed to use "reasonable force" on their children. Hundreds of people in New Zealand have held a protest against a proposed law which would ban parents from hitting their children to discipline them.
At least 400 marched to Parliament in the capital Wellington, chanting slogans against the bill, which was due to be debated by MPs.
Another 1,000 marched in Christchurch, the largest city in the country's South Island to oppose the bill.
Some European countries have banned smacking, but globally most have not.
Some protesters carried banners reading: "Don't mess with the family" and "Kids don't belong to the state".
One girl waved a sign saying: "You are not my mum and dad."
Several other protests against the bill have been staged in recent days in the run-up to Wednesday's vote.
The bill is an amendment to the current law, New Zealand's Crimes Act, that allows parents to use "reasonable force" to discipline their children. This provision would be removed from the law.
Poor record
Supporters of the amendment say the current law has been used to acquit parents who were accused of beating their children.
Opponents say they do not support child abuse, but that the changes intrude too far into people's homes.
According to its sponsor, Green Party MP Sue Bradford, the change does not outlaw smacking.
"My bill does not create an offence when parents smack a child," she said recently. "That has been a technical assault for over 100 years."
But it aims to prevent parents who severely beat their children from using the "reasonable force" argument as a defence, she said.
A 2003 Unicef report said New Zealand had the third-worst rate of abuse and neglect of children in the OECD group of developed countries.
PM Helen Clark said the law change would help New Zealand tackle its poor record.
"New Zealand has on its conscience that our rate of child death and injury from violence, including in the home, is appalling," she said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DIVISIVE EGYPT REFORMS APPROVED !

Some polling centres saw just a trickle of voters. Controversial amendments to Egypt's constitution have been approved by 75.9% of those who voted in Monday's referendum, government officials say.
Turnout for the vote was 27%, the justice ministry said, although some independent groups put it at 5%.
The country's main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, boycotted the vote and criticised the amendments as paving the way for a police state.
A senior Muslim Brotherhood official said the result was forged.
The 34 constitutional amendments include a ban on the creation of political parties based on religion, and sweeping security powers.
The government says the changes will deepen democracy, but opponents say it will be easier to rig future elections.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
9,701,833 people voted, 27.1 % of the country's 35,865,660 eligible voters
'Yes' vote 75.9%, 'no' vote 24.1%

President Hosni Mubarak hailed the result on Monday.
"The people are the real winners in this referendum. What has been achieved does not represent the end of the road," he said.
Mr Mubarak promised further political, economic and social reforms but gave no specific details.
Mohamed Habib, the deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the government had made up the referendum result.
"It is 100% forged... They are lying," he told the Reuters news agency.
Sweeping powers
Under Egyptian election laws, a low turnout does not affect the outcome, as a simple majority of votes cast is required for victory.
Even before the official results were announced, the government papers were celebrating a successful referendum, BBC Cairo correspondent Heba Saleh says.

HAVE YOUR SAY
We have no democracy in Egypt. It is already a police state.
Osama, Fujairah
Send us your comments

Their front pages gloat about what they describe as massive participation and the failure of the opposition boycott.
It is a different picture in the private and opposition papers which report a low turnout of 10% or under, our correspondent says.
Religious ban
Officials say the changes will allow the drafting of a new anti-terrorism law to replace the emergency legislation in place since 1981, giving police wide powers of arrest and surveillance.

KEY AMENDMENTS
Article 5:Bans political activity/parties based on religion
Article 88:Removes judicial supervision of elections
Article 179:Invokes special powers to fight terrorism

Analysis: 'Permanent emergency'

In addition, the amendments ban all religious-based political activity and parties, a blow to the Muslim Brotherhood - an Islamic party banned in Egypt which represents the strongest opposition force.
The Brotherhood ran in the legislative elections in 2005, with candidates standing as independents, and won 88 seats in parliament.
The amendments also allow the adoption of a new election law and do away with the need for judicial supervision of every ballot box.
Opposition groups have voiced fears about the wording of the articles on the new anti-terrorism law because it will be possible to bypass the constitutional guarantees protecting basic freedoms.
Human rights group Amnesty International has called the changes the greatest erosion of human rights since a state of emergency was declared after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat 26 years ago.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

STUDENTS RAID ISLAMABAD BROTHEL !

The girls also demand that video owners close their stores. More than 20 young women from a religious school in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, have broken into a brothel and kidnapped the manager.
The students from the Jamia Hafsa madrassa burst into the brothel late on Tuesday, demanding it be shut down.
The students say they have a right to end immoral activity under Islamic law.
The BBC's Navdip Dhariwal in Islamabad says it is the first time such bold Taleban-style activity seen elsewhere in Pakistan has occurred in the city.
Police have not stepped in to rescue the brothel manager, who was taken by the women back to the madrassa after refusing to close her premises.
She is still being held against her will.
The girls have also demanded that video owners close their stores.
Our correspondent says it appears the administration is reluctant or helpless to take action against the students.
Taleban-style activity has been seen in Pakistan's tribal areas and in North West Frontier Province, where religious groups have tried to clamp down and impose Islamic law on local people.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ACID ATTACK ON WOMAN SHOCKS ETHIOPIA !

Acid attack on woman shocks Ethiopia.
By Amber Henshaw BBC News, Addis Ababa.

Kamilat Mehdi, 21, had a bright future ahead of her. She dreamt about doing a degree and becoming an air hostess.
Kamilat Mehdi knew her attacker. All that changed one night when she was walking home from work with her two sisters and a stalker threw sulphuric acid in her face.
She is now lying in hospital disfigured beyond recognition.
Her skin is red raw, her eyelids have almost been entirely destroyed and her hairline has been burnt back.
"I feel very sick now. Every day they need to do something without anaesthetic so it is hard to accept and it is very painful," says Kamilat.
Her sisters, Zeyneba and Zubyeda, escaped with lesser injuries but their faces were also burnt by the acid.
Shockwaves
"We were on our way home from our parents' shop. I was with my sisters," Kamilat says.
He gave her a hard time but she didn't tell the family for fear that something would happen to them
Kamilat's brother Ismael
"One guy came and he looked like a drunkard but he wasn't drunk. He forced us to go down a dark alley and then someone came and threw acid in our faces."
Kamilat fell to the floor unconscious while her sisters tried to get help. She lay there until her brother Ismael arrived.
Ismael says his sister knew her attacker.
"He bothered her for a long time - at least four years," he says.
"He gave her a hard time but she didn't tell the family for fear that something would happen to them. He was always saying he would use a gun on them."
This incident has sent shockwaves through the community in the capital, Addis Ababa, and amongst Ethiopians abroad.
Ismael says he has received calls from Ethiopians living around the world saying how angry and shocked they were about the attack.
Two men have appeared in court in Addis Ababa in connection with the attack.
Sexual harassment
"I hope the court will impose a proportional penalty within a short period of time," Justice Minister Assefa Kiseto says.

"That could make others learn from this and refrain from committing this crime. I think this kind of crime is a crime against the whole nation not just a crime against Kamilat."
Attacks like this are rare in Ethiopia but women's groups in Addis Ababa say that stalking and sexual harassment are common problems.
The Ending Violence Against Women report published by the United Nations at the end of last year said almost 60% of Ethiopian women were subjected to sexual violence at some point in their lives.
Mahdere Paulos from the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association says they would like to see a specific provision in Ethiopian law that tackles stalking and harassment so that there is better protection for young girls like Kamilat in the future.
"The problem starts with stalking - the end result is something else," she says.
"It might end in grave bodily injury, it might end in death and it might end in different difficult situations and that's why we want it to be taken seriously."
Following the uproar at Kamilat's attack, the Supreme Court announced that it has put in place procedures to help pass verdicts on such cases within two days.
And Ms Mahdere says some progress has been made by the government over the last few years in tackling violence against women.
There is a newly established ministry of women's affairs; there was a push before the 2005 election to get more women into parliament and there has been a complete overhaul of the penal code to beef up laws to protect women.
But in some rural areas, the traditional practice of abducting young girls and forcibly marrying them remains common - in one region it accounts for some 92% of all marriages, according to the most recent figures from 2003.
Kamilat and her sister have now flown to Paris for medical treatment, which is being financed by businessman Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DOZENS RIOT IN PARIS RAIL STATION !

Violence spilled out of the station and on to nearby streets. Nine people have been arrested and two hurt after an argument over a ticket in a Paris metro station sparked riots.
Police used tear gas to disperse up to 100 youths at the Gare du Nord, one of paris' busiest stations.
Rioters smashed windows and attacked vending machines and shops, after objecting to the treatment of a man arrested for jumping a ticket barrier.
Interior Minister Francois Baroin labelled the events "unacceptable, intolerable violence".
"Nothing justifies what happened last night," he said.
Chanting sloguns
France saw its most severe riots for decades in autumn 2005 amid simmering tensions in suburbs with large immigrant populations. Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, who was interior minister at the time, caused controversy when he labelled the 2005 rioters "scum".
The youths who gathered in the Gare du Nord on Tuesday shouted insults about Mr Sarkozy.
They also chanted slogans of "police are everywhere, justice is nowhere" and "down with the state, police and bosses".
Officers took until midnight to clear rioters from the subway station's main hall.
Growing crowd
Meanwhile, tourists and commuters at the station - one of Paris's major transport hubs incorporating the Eurostar terminal - tiptoed through smashed glass and overturned rubbish bins.
The violence was sparked when a 33-year-old man without a ticket jumped over a barrier.
Transport officials said the man punched two ticket inspectors who asked for his ticket as part of a routine inspection. He was eventually arrested by police.
But a growing crowd felt that the police had used excessive force to arrest the man, and their protest turned violent.
The riots spilled out into nearby streets, where rubbish bins and street signs were set on fire.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LEADERS GATHER FOR ZIMBABWE TALKS !

Mr Mugabe has governed Zimbabwe for 27 years Southern African leaders are gathering in Tanzania for two days of emergency talks over the crisis in Zimbabwe. The country's president, Robert Mugabe, will attend the meeting, called by the Southern African Development Community. BBC correspondents say support for Mr Mugabe in the region is waning, after opposition politicians were beaten up while in custody earlier this month. The Zimbabwean leader is expected to blame tensions in his country on an opposition campaign of violence. Frosty reception African leaders have been reluctant to criticise Mr Mugabe in public. They see him as a hero of the fight against colonial rule. But the BBC's Peter Greste, in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam, says in private the leaders will give Mr Mugabe a frosty reception. Our correspondent says South African leader Thabo Mbeki in particular is likely to put pressure on Mr Mugabe. South Africa is already taking many refugees from Zimbabwe, and Mr Mbeki will be aware that a complete collapse there would severely affect his own country, our correspondent says. Record inflation The leaders are expected to tell Mr Mugabe, who has governed Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980, that he should stand down when his term in office ends next year. Zimbabweans are grappling with the world's highest inflation - 1,700% a year - while unemployment and poverty are widespread. Critics blame the economic meltdown on Mr Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms, while he says he is the victim of a Western plot. The conference in Dar es Salaam, hosted by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, will also focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Recent fighting between the army and militias in DR Congo has left at least 150 people dead. BBC NEWS REPORT.

MIHIR BOSE VIEW !

Mihir Bose view.
By Mihir Bose BBC sports editor in Jamaica.

Woolmer's death has completely overshadowed the World Cup and dominated the media, relegating the matches to inside pages
The Jamaican government has had misgivings about the way cricket's governing body has handled events arising out of the murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, the BBC has learned.
The government wrote to the International Cricket Council last week asking for the appointment of a liaison officer to co-ordinate matters relating to Woolmer's death with the police.
The letter was politely worded - and led to the wish being granted - but it reflected concern about the impact the death was having on Jamaica.
The country has invested a lot in this World Cup, spending £66.3m on preparations.
It also attracted £15.8m from the Chinese government to help build the stadium where the now infamous match between Pakistan and Ireland took place.
The investment was clearly made because the Jamaicans, like all the other islands in the Caribbean, expected the World Cup to attract huge numbers of tourists.
The initial estimate of 50,000 visitors was soon abandoned as unrealistic - this island does not have the hotel beds for such numbers - but until Woolmer's body was discovered Jamaica had every reason to feel pleased with what was happening.
The opening ceremony had gone very well, the matches were exciting, there was a terrific Cup upset in Ireland beating Pakistan and, to the delight of the hosts, the West Indies looked likely to recover something like the form that made them undisputed world champions in 1975 and 1979.

The ICC has largely been in the background since Woolmer's death.
But the murder has changed everything and, as I have been discovering in the last 24 hours, many members of the local organising committee are not best pleased with the way the ICC has reacted, or rather not reacted, to this event.
One senior member who has been involved in running major sports events such as Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games has made it clear to me that had such an event taken place in, say, the athletes' village at either event, officials would have been much more prominent.
Chief executive Malcolm Speed did attend a news conference held by the Jamaican police on Thursday, the day it was confirmed Woolmer had been strangled, but since then he has not been seen here.
President Percy Sonn has been even less visible.
It is difficult to imagine International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, let alone Fifa president Sepp Blatter, behaving in the same manner.
The ICC could argue its officials are hopping from island to island covering the cricket matches.
But the fact is Woolmer's death has completely overshadowed the World Cup and dominated the media, relegating the matches to inside pages.
The ICC's official view is that this is now a police matter and the police must be left to deal with it.
Of course, the ICC is doing things behind the scenes. And the liaison officer the Jamaican government wanted is acting as the ICC eyes and ears. He is Jeff Rees, boss of the ICC's anti-corruption unit.
I am told he arrived on the island early last week and has promised to stay here indefinitely.

Many hundreds of media persons have wandered about quite freely in the Pegasus Hotel with no-one questioning us or even asking us to show our credentials
Rees can clearly set up a close relationship with Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner in charge of the Woolmer investigation - both men used to work at Scotland Yard.
But this ignores the fact that since Woolmer's death - and in particular since it was confirmed he was murdered - there have in essence been two parallel stories here.
One is the story of the World Cup and the matches taking place; the other is the Woolmer investigation, which is the focus of the world media, who are hardly bothering with the cricket.
In fact all the real action is taking place in one hotel, on the 12th floor of which Woolmer's body was found.
Unlike Olympic or Commonwealth Games, Cricket World Cups do not have athletes' villages. Yet Woolmer's murder has highlighted how one hotel in Kingston, the Pegasus, is in effect the Olympic Village.
This is a multi-storey hotel where the four teams in Pakistan's World Cup group stayed.
Athletes' villages and even hotels which house Olympic officials have the highest possible form of security.
But I and many hundreds of media persons have wandered about quite freely in the Pegasus with no-one questioning us or even asking us to show our credentials.
Indeed I have been more often asked for identification when paying by credit card than when going in and out of the Pegasus.
You could say that the murder has taken place and imposing security now would be a case of bolting the barn after the horse has gone, but it shows the curious attitude to security at this World Cup.
It is inconceivable anything like this would have happened at a sports event organised by the IOC or Fifa
Equally revealing is the attitude of Shields, who from an unknown a week ago is now something of a media star.
Drafted in from Scotland Yard two years ago as part of Jamaica's attempt to cope with its crime problem, Shields is clearly loving the spotlight.
In many ways this makes him an endearingly open policeman - on Sunday morning as the written media crowded round him he simply asked them to come up to the office he had set up in the Pegasus.
But it also means that the media scrums forming at the Pegasus are not controlled in any way.
Indeed, my producer Jon Buckley had to organise the impromptu television news conference Shields gave on Sunday morning.
It is inconceivable that anything like this would have happened at a sports event organised by the IOC or Fifa.
This speaks volumes about how much cricket has to learn about running major events - especially when there is an unexpected crisis.

BBC SPORTS NEWS REPORT.

MUTED REACTION TO US MID-EAST PEACE PUSH !

Muted reaction to US Mid-East peace push.
By Katya Adler BBC News, Jerusalem.

Ms Rice urged Arab nations to take a more active peace role. An Israeli journalist I spoke to was dismissive as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left Jerusalem this morning.
"Diplomacy, dishmomacy," were his actual words.
This was Ms Rice's seventh visit to the region over the last few months.
A lot of talk, little to show for it, is the accepted wisdom amongst most Israelis and Palestinians.
But Ms Rice is keen to point out that the peace process here has been stalled for years.
'Political horizons'
She cannot expect to solve the dispute in a matter of months, she says. Still, she insists some progress has been made.
Now, at least, we're still talking
Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator
"Israelis and Palestinians are interested in opening, not closing doors," she said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet every fortnight.
"To discuss humanitarian and security issues," says Ms Rice, but also providing an opportunity to explore what she calls "political horizons".
To many Palestinians this will seem like more frustrating diplo-speak, bringing them no closer to the dream of establishing their own independent state.
But Ms Rice says these meetings are necessary to build confidence between the two sides.
Some mutual trust must be restored, she believes, before Israelis and Palestinians can be ready to discuss the delicate details of a peace accord.
'Damage limitation exercise'
Rather less visionary was chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat's view of the visit.

The Riyadh summit is expected to focus on the Arab initiative.
A "successful damage limitation exercise" was how he put it to me.
Mr Erekat said there had been concerns Israel would reduce contacts even with those Palestinians it views as moderate after they recently joined the Islamist Hamas movement in a unity government.
"Now, at least, we're still talking," said Mr Erekat.
During this latest Middle East tour, Ms Rice also called on Arab nations to normalise relations with the Jewish state as soon as possible.
'Arab initiative'
She met the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates at the weekend - ahead of an Arab summit in Riyadh, starting on Wednesday.
The summit is likely to focus on the so-called Arab initiative.
A land-for-peace proposal where Israel would withdraw from the land it occupied after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, allowing a Palestinian state to be formed in Gaza and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
This done, Arab nations would recognise Israel.
But Ms Rice wants them to do so beforehand as an incentive to Israel to sit at the negotiating table.
'Biased' mediator
Palestinian critics say Ms Rice has shown, once again, that she is a friend of Israel, not an honest broker in this process.
She has called on Arab states to recognise Israel - a demand made of the Palestinian government too, as well as a call to renounce violence and honour past peace accords.
What pressure is being exerted on Israel, and what do we get in return, many Palestinians ask.
Ms Rice insists no-one should doubt America's commitment to ending the conflict here.
She wants Arab states to believe her.
The US needs their help to stabilise Iraq and to isolate Iran.
In return, they have told the US it must engage dynamically - and fairly - in mediating between Israelis and Palestinians.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.N. HIGHLIGHTS HUMAN TRAFFICKING !

The UN has launched a campaign to highlight human trafficking, an issue it says has reached epidemic proportions over the past decade.
Modern-day slavery affects millions of people around the world, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said.
Its initiative aims to raise awareness of trafficking both among potential victims and those who buy services or products that rely on slave labour.
It comes as the UK marks 200 years since abolition of the slave trade.
The campaign, entitled The Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, brings together a raft of UN agencies and NGOs.
At the launch in London, UNODC Executive Director Antonio Costa said that the types of exploitation varied from place to place.

Many women are forced to work in the sex trade.
"In Europe there may be sex-related exploitation while in other parts of the world there may be camel jockeys, children forced to dive looking for pearls or oysters, people beaten like modern slaves, women in quarries," he told Reuters news agency.
He said the campaign aimed to tackle human trafficking "both on the supply side, in making people less vulnerable and more aware, and on the demand side by showing people some of the services they ask for are forms of exploitation".
He also called for greater commitment from countries to legislate against the human trade and to prosecute violators.
Sex trade
According to a report last year by UNODC, countries that were major sources of trafficked persons included Thailand, China, Nigeria, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.
Thailand, Japan, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the US were the most common destinations, the report said.
There are no exact statistics on the number of people affected globally.
But according to UNODC, experts believe that some 2.5 million people throughout the world are at any given time the victims of human trafficking.
Many of these are women and young girls forced to work in the sex industry, while others are men forced to work as labourers in dangerous conditions for little or no pay, the UN agency said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FOOTBALL TRAFFICKER CONS IVORIANS !

Football trafficker cons Ivorians
Imogen Foulkes BBC Geneva Correspondent.

Many Ivorian boys dream of becoming the new Didier Drogba. Thirty-four boys have been returned home to Ivory Coast after being duped by a bogus football agent.
The boys had been promised contracts with European football clubs, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says.
Their parents had paid hundreds of dollars for their travel but they did not get to Europe.
Instead the boys were taken to neighbouring Mali where they were held against their will.
Warning
The boys were all passionate footballers, members of a club in one of the poorest districts of Abidjan.
This dream of going to Europe as a footballer is a very big one in West Africa - footballing is a real passion
Jemini Pandya, IOM
There, they were approached by a man who said he was an agent.
Each boy's parents paid between $200 and $600 to the agent and then didn't see their sons for three months.
They were being held in an abandoned house in Mali where they were given little food.
IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya says this kind of scam which exploits the hopes and dreams of young people is becoming more common.
She said: "This dream of going to Europe as a footballer is a very big one in West Africa - footballing is a real passion.
"If anyone comes up and says that they think that they'll be able to get talented young footballers into these teams they will take a chance and go for it and that's clearly what's happened."
Mystery
The bogus agent was finally arrested by Malian police after some of the boys escaped.
What his real plans were for these teenagers remains something of a mystery.
He told the police he wanted to take advantage of their activities and ominously, when the boys arrived at the house, 12 other teenagers were already there.
The IOM is warning amateur football clubs across Africa to beware of unfamiliar agents making big promises.
Ms Pandya said: "All these instances of late that we are reporting whether for trafficking or smuggling, don't tend to be one-offs. It's usually just the tip of an iceberg."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GARDENS 'ATTRACT FEWER SONGBIRDS' !

Robins are among the birds spotted less in gardens this winter. Fewer songbirds visited UK gardens this winter than last year - with the numbers for some species at a five-year low, a survey for the RSPB suggests.
The number of song thrushes spotted in gardens has fallen 65% in a year, while the number of blackbirds fell by 25%.
The RSPB blamed the mild European winter and a bumper countryside fruit crop, meaning the birds did not have to visit UK gardens for food as often.
Some 6.5m birds were counted in 236,000 gardens for the RSPB on 27-28 January.
More than 400,000 people took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch.

Chaffinch tops Scotland poll

Some 41,000 children participated in the Big Schools' Birdwatch, involving 1,200 schools.
The RSPB's head of climate change policy Ruth Davis said birds would adapt their behaviour to suit changing conditions.
"A snapshot in winter gives only part of the picture, but the varying birds visiting our gardens is one example of the impact climate change is having on the natural world," she said.
"Although the mild winter seems to have provided more food for song thrushes in the countryside this year, as changes to our climate become more extreme many birds will struggle to cope with the altered weather patterns."
The number of robins spotted has also fallen, according to the survey.
It suggests the house sparrow is the most common garden bird, followed by the starling and the blue tit.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TAMIL TIGERS UNVEIL LATEST TACTIC !

Tamil Tigers unveil latest tactic.
By Roland Buerk BBC News, Colombo.

Whatever you may think of their goals and methods, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have always been innovative.

Experts say the technology was rudimentary but effective.
It was they who refined the suicide bomber, and used them to devastating effect.
And what other insurgent groups can boast a naval wing? The rebels have boats armed with guns, known as the Sea Tigers.
Now they have confirmed what Sri Lanka's government had suspected for a long time - they have an air capability too.
The first mission of what the rebels are calling the Tamil Eelam Air Force, or TAF, took place overnight.
Two light aircraft - according to the government it might have been one - set off, presumably from a jungle airstrip in the north of the country, and flew south.
If they were detected they were not stopped.
Their target was the air force base at Katanayake, north of the capital.
They flew overhead and dropped several bombs, killing three airmen on the ground and wounding many more.
They also terrified passengers waiting for flights at the nearby international airport, some of whom described panic and chaos as people ran for cover amid the sound of explosions.
It's interesting, a bold effort... very Biggles
Colombo-based defence expert
As the air base echoed with the sound of machine gun fire the light aircraft turned around and flew back home.
The rebels have released photographs of the plane they said was responsible.
Pilots are shown wearing pale blue Tiger striped uniforms, in one shot grouped around the elusive rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran.
There is no shot showing the entire aircraft, but it is plainly of fairly simple construction. One picture shows four bombs mounted underneath the fuselage.
"It's a very basic system they seem to have put on their aircraft, very hit and miss," said one foreign defence expert based in Colombo.
"It's interesting though, a bold effort. To fly down at night and get back is quite a message to send. It's very Biggles."
Conflict-changing
The government says its air defence system was a success because the fighter jets housed in hangars at the air base were not damaged.
And there was nothing like the scale of damage caused in 2001, when a Tiger attack on the airport complex left half the national airline fleet in flames.

Vellupillai Prabhakaran was pictured with the Tamil "air force"
But the Sri Lanka Air Force has launched an investigation into how the planes got through.
And the police have also launched an inquiry.
A spokesman, citing the ongoing investigation, refused to confirm reports they were looking into the possibility that Special Task Force police commandos had spotted the rebel aircraft flying in the north of the country up to an hour before they struck.
Analysts believe the attack has opened a new dimension in Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war.
"It changes the conflict completely," said Iqbal Athas of Jane's Defence Weekly.
"For two decades the fight has been confined to the land and the sea. Now we see the emergence of the air capability of the Tigers. It's the first time they've demonstrated the capability that they can not only use it, but get away."
And he pointed out that army camps, the homes of important figures, and naval craft at sea have suddenly become more vulnerable.
'More to come'
The Tigers said this would not be the last aerial attack.
"It is not only pre-emptive, it is a measure to protect Tamil civilians from the genocidal aerial bombardments by Sri Lankan armed forces," rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan told Reuters.

The military said it prevented the attack from being worse.
"More attacks of the same nature will follow."
The air raid comes as the Tigers were seen to be facing setbacks on the ground.
In recent months they have been driven from many towns and villages along the coast in the Eastern province.
And one senior government figure has talked of defeating the rebels militarily within two to three years.
The government has long suspected that the rebels were trying to get aircraft, smuggling them in pieces to be assembled in their northern stronghold.
"It's not a new dimension," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe.
"They were constructing a runway about two or three years back. During the ceasefire agreement they have brought all these things. This is the first time they have come and they were successful in putting the bombs.
"But they were not successful as per the plan that they wanted as they couldn't destroy any air force facilities. Definitely this is not a major threat and it will be neutralised.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BRITON'S BODY FOUND IN JAPAN BATH !

Miss Hawker started her job in Japan last October. A woman found buried in sand in a bathtub in Japan has been named by police as 22-year-old missing Briton Lindsey Ann Hawker.
Colleagues identified the body of the English teacher, from Brandon near Coventry, found on a fourth-floor flat balcony in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo.
The cause of death is not yet known but there were bruises on the victim's face, the BBC's Chris Hogg said.
Police are hunting a man who fled the apartment in Chiba prefecture.
Disappearance
The BBC's correspondent said the teacher was reported missing by her flatmates on Monday afternoon after she disappeared from her home on Sunday.
Local media reported that Miss Hawker, who worked at the Koiwa school in Tokyo, had been in Japan for only a few months and was a popular teacher, he added.

The apartment block where the body was found has been sealed off.
They said she went to the apartment each Saturday to give English lessons to 28-year-old Tatsuya Ichihachi.
She had left details of the address at home before she disappeared and police are now trying to locate Mr Ichihachi.
A handbag and a passport thought to belong to the victim were found near the apartment.
The Nova language school in London, which employed Miss Hawker, said in a statement that she had graduated from university last year and had joined its teaching team on 25 October. "She took her job seriously and put every effort into it. She was trying to get used to Japan. We are very sorry that this has happened," it said.
The school was co-operating fully with the investigation, it added.
George Fisher, the headmaster of King Henry VIII School in Coventry where Miss Hawker was a pupil until 2003, said the staff were very upset by her death.
"I knew Lyndsay well, she was a very popular student, and the school and staff are devastated," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'UP TO 500 DEAD' IN CONGO CLASHES!

Soldiers and civilians brought bodies to city mortuaries. Up to 500 people may have been killed in last week's clashes in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, European Union diplomats say.
The authorities have said about 60 people died in violence between the army and armed guards loyal to opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba.
The EU diplomats expressed concern at the government's "premature" use of force which they say led to fighting.
President Joseph Kabila said his troops put down an armed rebellion.
There were enormous numbers of civilian casualties
UK's ambassador Andy Sparkes
The violence threatened to derail the peace process which ended DR Congo's war and led to elections last year.
Mr Kabila defeated Mr Bemba, a former rebel leader, in a second round run-off.
But Mr Bemba refused to have his armed bodyguards integrated into the national army before last week's deadline.
'Enormous numbers'
The German ambassador to Kinshasa told reporters that figures collated from hospitals and morgues indicated that up to 500 people could have died in the violence.
"There were enormous numbers of civilian casualties. Shells fell on the district, on homes. We will probably never know the exact number of victims," Britain's ambassador Andy Sparkes said.

I am afraid of what the opposition can do - Ugoo, Nigerian businessman.

Eyewitness: Foreigners' fears
In pictures: Kinshasa clashes
Clashes reflect Congo's divide
Have Your Say

Aid group Caritas had earlier put the number at 150.
Earlier, the United States condemned the violence.
"[It] represents a set-back in the progress the Congolese people expect and deserve after last year's historic elections," US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement.
Mr Bemba's allies have condemned what they described as the arbitrary arrest and intimidation of its members.
In a statement the EU ambassadors called on Mr Kabila's government "to do everything to assure the existence of a democratic space in order to guarantee the free expression of all political opinions", AFP news agency reports.
But Mr Kabila defended the army's role on Monday and he dismissed calls to negotiate with Mr Bemba, who has taken refuge in the South African embassy.
As a senator, Mr Bemba, who has been charged with treason, enjoys immunity from prosecution. The government says it will seek to have this stripped.
Mr Bemba denied plotting military action to overthrow the president and accused the army of trying to kill him.
As a former vice-president in the transitional government, Mr Bemba is entitled to 15 policemen for his protection.
Under another agreement signed ahead of the election, the winner of the presidential poll is committed to guarantee the loser's security.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYA ATTACKS SUSPECT SENT TO U.S.

The Paradise Hotel was popular with Israeli tourists in Mombasa. The US says a man suspected of planning twin terror attacks in Kenya in 2002 has been transferred to its detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.
A Pentagon spokesman said Abdul Malik was arrested in East Africa and admitted a role in the Mombasa attacks.
A suicide attack on a Mombasa tourist hotel frequented by Israelis killed 15 people in November 2002.
An Israeli airliner leaving Mombasa was targeted by a missile attack shortly afterwards, but not damaged.
The spokesman said Mr Malik was transferred into Guantanamo Bay at the weekend.
He will have a combatant status review at Guantanamo Bay to determine whether the US is legally allowed to detain him at the camp without charge.
There are now approximately 385 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon said.
Few details
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Abdul Malik was captured as part of an ongoing conflict with al-Qaeda and was involved in terrorist attacks in East Africa.
"Due to the significant threat that this terror suspect represents he has been transferred to Guantanamo," he added.
The spokesman offered no details about how Abdul Malik was captured, how he came into US custody or his nationality.
"Success in the global war on terror requires us to work closely as well as quietly with many of our allies in the region," Mr Whitman said.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged al-Qaeda mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, was reported earlier this month to have told a US military tribunal that the Mombasa attacks were among 31 plots he was involved in before his capture.
A Kenyan trial of three men suspected of conspiracy over the Mombasa attacks collapsed in 2005.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UNDER-FIRE CHAPPELL ON DEFENSIVE !

Chappell came in for some tough questioning from the Indian media. India coach Greg Chappell has hit back at his critics after his side's exit from the World Cup at the group stages.
India, one of the pre-tournament favourites, lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as they failed to progress.
Chappell said: "There's nothing more to say than, 'We didn't play well enough'. We didn't perform when the time came, that's the long and the short of it.
"I don't know what you want me to say. Do you want me to criticise someone in particular? I'm not prepared to."
Chappell, interviewed by BBC World Service Sport, insisted that he was satisfied with his side's preparation ahead of the World Cup.
He said: "Obviously I'm happy to take some responsibility - I'm the coach.
The preparation was good, but the execution on the day was not
Greg Chappell
"But I don't think the coaching staff alone should be blamed for what's happened here.
"I'm happy that I've done the best job I could do, and so did the coaching staff and support staff.
"The planning was good, the preparation was good, but the execution on the day was not.
"India haven't won an overseas tournament since 1985. There are obviously some reasons, but I'm not prepared to go into them at this stage."
Chappell refused to comment on reports that his time coaching India may be at an end.
He said: "Obviously I will have to face up to them (the Board of Control for Cricket in India) and give them a report and tell them what I think."
The BCCI has confirmed it will analyse the team's elimination, with both Chappell and captain Rahul Dravid's jobs expected to be key topics for discussion.
The views of former captains Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev will be heard by a special committee at the meeting on 6-7 April.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HICKS APPEARS IN GUATANAMO COURT !

David Hicks has been held at Guantanamo for five years. The first detainee at Guantanamo Bay to face terror charges under new US rules, Australian David Hicks, has begun a hearing before a military court.
He is accused of providing "material support for terrorism".
Lawyers for Mr Hicks, who has been held at the US base for five years, have been considering a plea bargain, hoping he can be handed to Australian custody.
He was the first detainee to be charged under the new Military Commissions Act, which human rights groups condemn.
It is alleged that the Muslim convert attended al-Qaeda training camps and fought with the Taleban.
He appeared in court on Monday, wearing khaki prison fatigues and hair down to his chest.

Profile: David Hicks
Q&A: Military tribunals

One of Mr Hicks's defence team, David McLeod, said his client had grown long hair so he could pull it over his eyes at night to keep out the light and allow him to get to sleep.
He had been clean shaven. Earlier the lawyer said Mr Hicks had been denied access to a razor.
Mr McLeod would not say how his client would plead, but suggested a plea bargain might be an option.
"All of the options obviously have to be discussed, from not guilty and tough it out, through to 'How do I get out of here at the earliest opportunity'," he said.
Unless he pleads guilty, he must proceed to a full jury trial by July.
'Sunken eyes'
Mr McLeod said the five years his client had spent at the Cuban base had "begun to take a toll".
"Today he had dark, sunken eyes and he looked very tired," the lawyer said after a meeting with Mr Hicks on Sunday.
He's not going to be the same person I saw three years ago -Terry Hicks David Hicks' father.
Mr McLeod said his client was approaching the hearing with "trepidation", and "doesn't have a lot of confidence in the process".
Mr Hicks was expected to be allowed an hour with his father and sister before the hearing, and another hour afterwards.
He last saw his father, Terry, at a previous hearing in August 2004.
"They will be allowed physical contact and to hug each other," Navy Commander Robert Durand, a Guantanamo spokesman, said.
Terry Hicks said he, too, was apprehensive about the reunion, after hearing from lawyers that his son's mental health had deteriorated.
"He's not going to be the same person I saw three years ago. We've got to brace ourselves for that bit," he said.
The hearing was also being opened to members of the press.
Criticism
Mr Hicks arrived in Guantanamo Bay in early 2002 after being captured in Afghanistan a month earlier.
Mr Hicks, 31, a former farm hand and kangaroo skinner, was charged and started a trial process previously, in August 2004.
However, the US Supreme Court last year ruled the system unconstitutional.
The administration of President George W Bush then tabled a revised tribunal system that was passed by Congress.
Mr Hicks is the first person due to be tried under the new procedures. Two others, Omar Khadr, a Canadian, and Salim Ahmed Hamdan, from Yemen, have been indicted but have not yet been read sworn charges, Cmdr Durand said.
The US has said it plans to use the new system to prosecute about 80 of the remaining 385-or-so prisoners at the camp.
Human rights campaign group Amnesty International has condemned the tribunals as "shabby show trials" and demanded that detainees be tried under the regular US judicial system.
US Air Force Colonel Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor for the tribunals, said he believed critics would find that the new system answered many of their complaints.
"One thing I hope is that in the way we conduct these proceedings, maybe we can change some of those attitudes," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KABILA WARNS DR CONGO'S EX-REBEL !

Mr Bemba's guards were chased out of the city centre. The Democratic Republic of Congo president has defended the army's role in last week's violence, which led to at least 150 deaths in Kinshasa.
"Order had to be restored at any cost," said President Joseph Kabila.
He also dismissed calls for talks with opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, saying: "You do not guarantee security through negotiation."
The violence threatened to derail the peace process which ended DR Congo's war and led to elections last year.
Mr Kabila defeated Mr Bemba, a former rebel leader, in a second round run-off.
But Mr Bemba refused to have his armed bodyguards integrated into the national army before last week's deadline.
'Judicial procedure'
Mr Bemba had tried to put himself above the law, Mr Kabila said in his first comments since the clashes.
"Could a militia group in Paris seize the Champs Elysees and then have a reconciliation the next day? If not, why should it be so in Congo," he said.

I am afraid of what the opposition can do - Ugoo, Nigerian businessman.

Eyewitness: Foreigners' fears
In pictures: Kinshasa clashes
Clashes reflect Congo's divide
Have Your Say

The army regained control of the capital, Kinshasa but Mr Bemba sought refuge in the South African embassy.
As a senator, he enjoys immunity from prosecution but the government says it will seek to have this stripped.
The "judicial procedure" would be followed, Mr Kabila said.
Mr Bemba denied plotting military action to overthrow the president and accused the army of trying to kill him.
On Monday, he told the French Le Monde newspaper that he feared "a new dictatorship" in DR Congo if the opposition continued to be targeted.
But Mr Kabila denied trying to turn the country back into a one-party state, as it was under Mobutu Sese Seko.
As a former vice-president in the transitional government, Mr Bemba is entitled to 15 policemen for his protection.
Under another agreement signed ahead of the election, the winner of the presidential poll is committed to guarantee the loser's security.
Last year's election - the first free poll in four decades - passed off peacefully, raising hopes of an end to years of conflict and mismanagement.
President Joseph Kabila won 58% of the vote compared to Mr Bemba's 42% in an election run-off last October.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EGYPTIAN VOTE ON MAJOR REFORMS !

Some polling centres have seen just a trickle of voters. Egyptians have voted in a key referendum on constitutional changes, which the opposition criticise as paving the way for a police state.
The information minister put turnout at between 23% and 27%, but unofficial estimates were much lower.
The 34 amendments include a ban on the creation of political parties based on religion, and sweeping security powers.
The government says the changes will deepen democracy, but opponents say it will be easier to rig future elections.
Some independent groups put the turnout figure at 5% or less.
Correspondents say there has been little sign of the "millions of voters heading to ballot boxes" reported by the official news agency, Mena.
"What's the use? All referendums are fixed," said one taxi driver quoted by AFP news agency.

KEY AMENDMENTS
Article 5:Bans political activity/parties based on religion
Article 88:Removes judicial supervision of elections
Article 179:Invokes special powers to fight terrorism.

Analysis: 'Permanent emergency'

"Egyptians know what's going on but we can't say anything or we'll be arrested and put in jail," he added.
Under Egyptian election laws, a low turnout would not affect the outcome, as a simple majority of votes cast is required for victory.
The government says the changes will allow the drafting of a new anti-terrorism law to replace the emergency legislation in place since 1981, giving police wide powers of arrest and surveillance.
In addition, the amendments ban all religious-based political activity and parties, a blow to the Muslim Brotherhood - an Islamic party banned in Egypt which represents the strongest opposition force.
They also allow the adoption of a new election law and do away with the need for judicial supervision of every ballot box.
Basic freedoms
Voting began at 0600 GMT and ended at 1700 GMT, although a number of the country's 10,000 polling stations were reported to have opened late. About 36m people are registered to vote.

Opposition lawmakers say the changes will undermine basic rights. Hundreds of riot police were deployed in Cairo.
The BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo says for many in the opposition this is a black day in Egypt's history as they say the changes spell the death of the constitution as the main guarantee of liberties and democracy.
The opposition says the changes will consolidate dictatorship, and that watering down judicial supervision of elections will make fraud easier.
They are also deeply uneasy about the wording of the articles on the new anti-terrorism law because it will be possible to bypass the constitutional guarantees protecting basic freedoms.
Human rights group Amnesty International has called the changes the greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SMUGGLERS 'DROWN' SCORES IN YEMEN !

At least 29 migrants have died after smugglers forced them at knife-point to jump into the sea off the coast of Yemen, the UN refugee agency has said.
The UNHCR said another 71 people - from Somalia and Ethiopia - were missing after Thursday's incident.
Some of the 293 survivors said the smugglers ordered some 450 migrants to jump when their boats hit rough seas near the coast town of Ras al-Kalb.
They said those who refused to jump were stabbed and beaten with clubs.
"We are horrified by this latest tragedy," said UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner Erika Feller after returning from a visit to Yemen.
"These brutal smugglers care nothing about the fate of the people they prey upon, both refugees and... migrants who are desperate to escape persecution, violence and poverty in the Horn of Africa," Ms Feller said.
'Attacked by sharks'
Some of the 293 survivors said four smugglers' boats approached the Yemeni coastline on Thursday morning in rough seas and strong currents.
They said the passengers were then ordered to jump into the sea.
Some of the migrants were attacked by sharks, and several recovered bodies showed signs of severe mutilation, the survivors said.
The incident is the latest in a series of tragedies involving smugglers' boats carrying people across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia.
It brings the total number of dead and missing so far this year in Yemen to 262, the UNHCR said.
Some 27,000 people made the crossing from Somalia in 2006, but 330 others died and 300 went missing, according to the UN agency.
The town of Boosaaso is the main point of departure for people fleeing Somalia.

BBV NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE 'TO LEAVE WITHIN A YEAR'!

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is unlikely to contest presidential elections due next year, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said.
He told the BBC that people within Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party were "anxious to get another candidate".
Mr Mugabe has said he would like to postpone the elections and stay in power until 2010 but Zanu-PF members are resisting this option.
Mr Tsvangirai also hinted that his party was in talks with Zanu-PF.
"We have always called on all patriotic Zimbabweans who want to see a solution about Mugabe coming together," he told the BBC's Today programme.
"I'm sure that there is national convergence on such a roadmap being worked out between some of the ruling party members and the MDC [Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change]."
However, he denied reports that he had personally held discussion with senior Zanu-PF figures.
'People power'
Western diplomats say that Zanu-PF power-brokers Emmerson Mnangagwa and Solomon Mujuru are both keen to replace Mr Mugabe as the party's candidate next year.
The party's policy-making central committee is due to rule on Wednesday whether to reject or approve Mr Mugabe's suggestion to change the constitution and postpone the elections.

Nothing frightens me, not even little fellows like Bush and Blair -Robert Mugabe.

Planning for post-Mugabe era

At last December's congress, the party unusually declined to back Mr Mugabe's wishes and the decision was postponed.
Mr Mugabe has governed Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
Mr Tsvangirai and other MDC officials say they were severely assaulted by the police after being arrested at a rally earlier this month.
Pictures of their injuries sparked outrage in the west and some criticism from other African countries.
On Friday, a Roman Catholic Archbishop repeated his calls for Zimbabwean citizens to take to the streets in protest at conditions in their country.
"This dictator must be brought down right now," said Pius Ncube, Archbishop of Bulawayo.
"Brought down by people power, not by a violent manner but let people fill the streets and demand that he comes down."
But during a rally of Zanu-PF supporters in Harare, the 83-year-old Mr Mugabe remained defiant.
"Nothing frightens me, not even little fellows like Bush and Blair. I have seen it all, I don't fear any suffering or a struggle of any kind," Mr Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe for 27 years, told cheering crowds.
Zimbabweans are grappling with spiralling annual inflation of 1,700% and widespread unemployment and poverty.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE SHADOW OVER CRICKET !

Cronje's admissions shocked fans across the world. The murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer has again cast the spotlight on corruption in cricket, with rumours abounding of a link to the world of illegal betting.
Tours to apartheid-era South Africa, perennial ball-tampering rows, the fallout from England's boycott of Zimbabwe and the extraordinary Bodyline series of the early 1930s all generated acres of press coverage.
But all pale in comparison with cricket's darkest corner, the ongoing scandal of match fixing.
Commentators have been quick to link Woolmer's murder with the underworld. Conspiracy theories that he was silenced as he about to lift the lid on the world of match rigging have spread like wildfire.
In some countries, it is now more lucrative to engage in sports corruption than drug dealing or robbery -Lord Condon.
Year zero for cricket was 2000. Before then, Pakistan batsman Salim Malik's reputation was as an elegant stroke-player with such guts that on one occasion he played with a broken arm.
After 2000, Malik was a cricketing pariah, banned for life for his part in alleged match fixing.
At the heart of cricketing's worst problem is the status of gambling in the subcontinent. Without the option of legitimate betting, gamblers in cricket-mad South Asia call on the services of illicit bookmakers. Those bookmakers are often in the pockets of gangsters.
And the sums of money involved are monstrous.
Lord Condon, former head of the Metropolitan Police and now the head of the International Cricket Council's corruption unit, says up to $1bn can be gambled globally on a single one-day international such as a key World Cup game.
Much of that money will pass through the illicit bookmakers in places like Mumbai and Karachi, and the temptation to steer the odds in their favour is huge.
Hansie is a God-fearing, intense cricketer - he would never succumb to such a thing
Bob WoolmerBefore Cronje admissions
Malik's downfall came because Australian stars Shane Warne, Tim May and Mark Waugh accused him of offering them money to play badly during a tour of Pakistan in 1994.
Warne and Waugh eventually had their own run-ins with the authorities after it emerged they had accepted money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for information during the tour to Sri Lanka in the same year.
But it was the investigation, led by Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum, into the numerous allegations against Malik that was to provide a real body blow to cricket.
After Justice Qayyum's report Malik and fast bowler Ata-ur Rehman were banned for life. He recommended six other players should be fined, including Inzamam-ul-Haq, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram.
In December 2000, the Board of Control for Cricket in India completed its investigation of allegations of match fixing by handing life bans to former team captain and flamboyant batsman Mohammad Azharuddin and fellow test star Ajay Sharma.
DAWOOD IBRAHIM

Accused of 1993 Mumbai bombs
Linked to illegal bookmakers
Allegedly controls drugs and prostitution
Thought to be in hiding in Pakistan
All-rounder Manoj Prabhakar and batsman Ajay Jadeja were suspended for five years.

But perhaps the greatest cataclysm in the history of the sport came on 7 April 2000 when Delhi police released transcripts of phone conversations between South African captain Hansie Cronje and businessman Sanjay Chawla.
The resolute Cronje, like Azharuddin and Malik, was idolised by fans and fellow players alike.
Woolmer, who had coached South Africa, was one of many to initially defend the born-again Christian against the charges.
"Hansie is a God-fearing, intense cricketer. He would never succumb to such a thing. It beggars belief," he said.
But within four days, Cronje had made a 3am call to Ali Bacher, the head of South African cricket, to admit to receiving money from a bookmaker for forecasting. He was sacked as captain.
The Guardian summed up the mood of the time when it used the headline "We can no longer say it's not cricket". The Times simply said "Cronje and cricket stare into abyss".
In June, Judge Erwin King started South Africa's investigation into Cronje's corruption and the all-rounder soon admitted taking money to ask team-mates to play badly. He denied ever fixing or throwing a match.

Azharuddin wants to overturn his ban.
In his evidence both Azharuddin and Malik were accused of involvement with bookies.
Herschelle Gibbs admitted taking $15,000 from Cronje to score fewer than 20 in a match in India and accused his captain of offering bribes to get a match thrown.
Gibbs and bowler Henry Williams were given short bans from international cricket, while Cronje received a lifetime ban. In June 2002 he died in an air crash.
In the autumn of 2000, bookmaker Mukesh "MK" Gupta accused England wicketkeeper and former captain Alec Stewart of accepting money for information, something he vehemently denied. He was later cleared by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and Sri Lankans Aravinda da Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga were also later cleared.
The same year also saw the appointment of Condon as chief corruption investigator and he has become one of the key figures in the fight against match-fixing.
In May 2001, his first report included allegations of murder, kidnap and drug use and condemned a climate of "silence, apathy, ignorance and fear" in the game. He traced match fixing back to the 1970s.
Speaking to the House of Lords recently he said the rise of more varied methods of gambling, such as spread betting had made the opportunities for corruption more varied.
There was no need now for a risky proposition, like attempting to corrupt a whole team. Instead, the Byzantine array of options in spread betting means bookmakers only need to get at one player.

Malik went rapidly from hero to zero.
"The betting analogy that I often draw is that the corrupt sportsman creates the equivalent of knowing in advance when the roulette wheel is going to land on red or black," said Condon.
"Imagine the betting potential if you knew that. Even better, by fixing a part of a sporting event - say, fixing to bowl two wides in a particular over of a cricket match - he creates the equivalent in betting terms of knowing in advance when the roulette wheel is going to land on an individual number, thus enabling a massive betting coup because of the long odds that you can obtain on such an event."
The end result was that rather than satisfying themselves that they have stamped out corruption, the cricket authorities must be aware that they may never beat it.
"In some countries, it is now more lucrative to engage in sports corruption than drug dealing or robbery," he noted.
West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels is currently under investigation over allegations he supplied team information to Indian bookmaker Mukesh Kochchar. Police in India believe Kochchar may have links to India's most notorious gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
The diminutive Ibrahim, who is accused of masterminding the 1993 Mumbai sectarian bombings that claimed the lives of 257 people, is thought to be a major figure in the world of illegal gambling.
Rooting out both players, bookies, middlemen and gangsters has proved difficult over the years.
The bookmakers reportedly use networks of safe houses and constantly changing untraceable mobile phones to deal with customers.
And the gangsters pulling the strings are not above murder to ensure their profits. A number of bookmakers are believed to have met violent ends, including South Africa-based Muhammad Hanif "Cadbury" Kodvavi, killed and cut up in May 1999.
Corruption investigations have even affected cricket's international minnows, with former Kenyan captain Maurice Odumbe banned for five years in August 2004 for accepting a string of blandishments from bookmakers.
And sometimes, the authorities have seemed rather ambivalent in their attitude towards the very people they label cheats.
In November, Ata-ur-Rehman had his ban lifted by the ICC, while Azharuddin was feted as a hero of Indian cricket by officials. He has sat in the VIP section of matches and also played in a veterans game. Azharuddin and Malik both hope to have their bans lifted.
But whatever is proved in the Woolmer case, the spectre of corruption will continue to dog the gentleman's game for some time to come.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROFILE : DONALD TSANG (HONG KONG)

Donald Tsang is easily recognisable due to his fondness for bow ties. Donald Tsang, widely expected to be re-elected as Hong Kong's leader, remains a popular figure.
A recent survey found Hong Kong's chief executive is almost as well-liked now as when he first succeeded Tung Chee-hwa just under two years ago.
This is despite widespread unhappiness about the slow pace of democratic reform under his leadership.
An 800-member committee of officials loyal to Beijing will determine the outcome of Sunday's election, with Hong Kong's seven million residents having no direct say.
Skilled administrator
A career civil servant and former deputy to Mr Tung, Mr Tsang is respected for his skills as an administrator, his calm demeanour and his strong financial acumen.
In contrast to his predecessor, he is also flamboyant, articulate and deals well with the media.
But critics of his period in office say he has lacked the political expertise and strength of personality to juggle the expectations of a restive public, a divided legislature and the Beijing government.
In particular, his aborted efforts to introduce some limited democratic reforms into Hong Kong's political system were heavily criticised.

The economy has fared well under Mr Tsang's leadership.
Mr Tsang, 62, was born in October 1944, the son of a Hong Kong police officer.
Unlike most senior civil servants in Hong Kong, he did not attend university, joining the colonial government in 1967.
He is married with two sons, with hobbies said to include hiking, swimming and bird watching.
Apart from a spell in the 1980s when he was working on details of Hong Kong's transfer from British to Chinese sovereignty, most of his career prior to taking the top job in 2005 was focused on financial matters.
After a succession of trade and economic roles, he was appointed financial secretary in 1995 - the first Chinese person to hold the position.
It was in this role that he chose to intervene in Hong Kong's stock market during the financial crisis of the late 1990s. The move protected it from speculators and won Mr Tsang praise.
With his financial background, it is no surprise that Mr Tsang's stewardship of Hong Kong's economy over the past two years has won him admirers.
The economy has grown strongly in each of the past two years and unemployment has fallen to a seven-year low.
Democracy dilemma
Mr Tsang was made a Knight of the British Empire just before the 1997 handover and many said he had been too close to Britain for Beijing to accept him.
But despite his colonial associations and the fact he is a devout Catholic, Mr Tsang has maintained amicable relations with Beijing.

Democracy campaigners say Mr Tsang must show more leadership.
His popularity and experience initially made him the stabilising force Beijing was looking for.
But the legislature's decision to reject his reform proposals early last year, disappointed that they did not go far enough, were a slap in the face.
Some observers said his reputation in Beijing may be seriously damaged by the setback but Mr Tsang has bounced back, focusing instead on strengthening the economy.
But the clamour for more popular representation is likely to define his second term in office, if, as expected, he is re-elected.
Although he says there is no consensus on what democratic model Hong Kong should adopt, Mr Tsang has promised to resolve the issue during his next five years in power.
He has not ruled out direct elections - allowed for in Hong Kong's constitution - but has given no indication of when this could happen or, indeed, if they ever will.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BID TO EXHUME HOUDINI'S REMAINS !

Houdini had countless fans - but also a few enemies. US forensic scientists are hoping to exhume the remains of escapologist Harry Houdini in an effort to find out whether he was murdered.
"We'll examine his hairs, his fingernails, any bone fractures," the head of the forensic team said.
Houdini died in the US city of Detroit in 1926 at the age of 52. There have been rumours that he was poisoned.
Relatives support the plan to examine the body and are due to formally request an exhumation on Monday.
The request will be made before a judge in New York, where the Hungarian-American performer was buried.
No autopsy was performed at the time, and the cause of death was said to be a ruptured appendix.
But Houdini's great nephew George Hardeen believes he may have been murdered by a group of psychics he had exposed as frauds.
Chad Seigel, one of the lawyers seeking tests, said:
"His later days were devoted to debunking these fraudulent mediums as phoneys and given the fact that he lived his life by uncovering the truth, it's only fair to make sure that there are no falsehoods surrounding his demise."
A biography published last year, entitled The Secret Life of Houdini, says he received death threats from mediums towards the end of his life.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DR CONGO GUN BATTLES 'CLAIM 150' !

Soldiers and civilians are bringing bodies to city mortuaries. At least 150 people have been killed in gun battles between government troops and militiamen in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa.
Aid workers told the BBC the bodies had been taken to hospitals.
A BBC correspondent in Kinshasa reports queues of army and civilian vehicles taking bodies to the city's mortuary.
The army has now regained control after violence flared on Thursday with fighters loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba, who lost presidential polls last year.
After two days of heavy fighting, Congolese aid workers have told the BBC that more than 150 bodies have been brought to the city's hospitals and mortuaries.
A doctor for the non-governmental organisation Caritas also said 80 severely injured people were being treated in hospital.
The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa says he has seen a number of bodies still lying in the streets of the capital.
Security arrangements
Government troops have recaptured most of the capital after Jean-Pierre Bemba's guards reportedly fled the business district and surrendered to UN peacekeepers.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Mr Bemba on grounds of treason. He has immunity as a senator but the government says this may be stripped.

I am afraid of what the opposition can do - Ugoo, Nigerian businessman.

Eyewitness: Foreigners' fears
In pictures: Kinshasa clashes
Clashes reflect Congo's divide
Have Your Say

Mr Bemba has taken refuge in the South African embassy compound and has denied plotting military action to overthrow President Joseph Kabila.
A deadline for Mr Bemba's guards to disarm expired this week but he wants additional security guarantees before they lay down their weapons.
He told the BBC: "I feel they want to kill me." He has called for negotiations with the government about his security arrangements.
As a former vice-president in the transitional government, he is entitled to 15 policemen for his protection.
Under another agreement signed ahead of the election, the winner of the presidential poll is committed to guarantee the loser's security.
But the country's information minister said there is no reason for fresh talks.
Last year's election - the first free poll in four decades - passed off peacefully, raising hopes of an end to years of conflict and mismanagement.
President Joseph Kabila won 58% of the vote compared to Mr Bemba's 42% in an election run-off last October.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WOOLMER'S BODY KEPT IN CARIBBEAN !

Bob Woolmer had coached Pakistan since 2004.
Family statement

A coroner in Jamaica has ordered that the body of the murdered Pakistan cricket coach, Bob Woolmer, should remain there until an inquest is held.
The former England player was strangled in his hotel room hours after Pakistan was eliminated from the World Cup.
Pakistan's cricket squad are returning home but two officials will stay after promising Woolmer's family they would follow the ongoing investigation.
Relatives have said they were unaware of any threats to his life.
The local coroner, Patrick Murphy, has ordered an inquest - which means that Woolmer's body will not be returned to his family in South Africa as planned.
Bob was a large man - it would have taken some significant force to subdue him
Mark Shields Deputy police commissioner
Profile: Mark Shields
Press mulls Woolmer murder
Meanwhile, investigators are still awaiting test results from pathologists that could give vital clues to his murder.
Jamaican police probing the former England player's death say they could be searching for more than one attacker.
Police say Woolmer - who was 58 - may have known his killer or killers, and are studying video footage from the Pegasus Hotel in the Jamaican capital where he was murdered.
Family 'devastated'
The BBC's Andy Gallacher in Kingston says the speculation continues in the Jamaican press, much of it about match-fixing and whether that was in some way connected to the death.

BOB WOOLMER TIMELINE

1. 17 Mar: Ireland beat Pakistan

2. 18 Mar, 10.45am: Woolmer found unconscious in hotel room

3. 18 Mar, 12.14pm: Pronounced dead at hospital

Photo: Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center.
Timeline: Woolmer case
All that is unconfirmed but officials are under extreme pressure to solve this case quickly, our correspondent says.
Flanked by Woolmer's widow, Gill, and their sons, Dale and Russell, Woolmer's agent, Michael Cohen, read a statement to reporters outside the family home in Cape Town, South Africa on Friday.
"To the best of the family's knowledge, there is absolutely nothing to suggest Bob was involved in match-fixing," Mr Cohen said.
"Contrary to reports, we can confirm there is nothing in any book Bob has written that would explain this situation and there were no threats received."
The statement said the family were devastated by Woolmer's death and were struggling to come to terms with it.
They have set up a trust fund to raise money to support his cricketing legacy.
Flying home
A post-mortem examination established that he died as a result of "manual strangulation".
Suspicions that the coach may have known anyone who attacked him have been raised after it emerged there were no signs of forced entry at his hotel room and none of his possessions was taken.
606: SHOULD CUP GO ON?
Mr Woolmer's murder is absolutely tragic but we should NEVER give in to any acts of terrorism or murder
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606: Have your say

Woolmer was found unconscious by hotel staff on Sunday, the morning after Pakistan's shock defeat to Ireland.
The deputy commissioner of the Jamaican police, Mark Shields, said this might now be a hunt for more than one killer, and urged the perpetrators to hand themselves in.
"Bob was a large man. It would have taken some significant force to subdue him," he said, adding that police were ruling nothing out and had "lots of lines of inquiry".
Members of the Pakistan team and staff have already been interviewed, and plan to return home on Saturday.
There are still many unanswered questions about the death of one of the sport's most prominent and well-liked figures, our correspondent says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SUSPECT 'AIDED U.S. EMBASSY BLAST' !

Mr Ghailani was one of 14 top suspects sent to Guantanamo. A prisoner at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has admitted delivering explosives used to blow up the US embassy in Tanzania in 1998, a Pentagon transcript shows.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani said he did not know about the attack beforehand and was sorry for his role, according to the transcript of a US hearing.
He is quoted as apologising to the US and to the victims' families.
Mr Ghailani is one of 14 detainees transferred in September from secret CIA prisons abroad to Guantanamo Bay.
'Misled over attack'
More than 200 people were killed in the simultaneous attacks in August 1998 on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

I apologise to the United States government for what I did - Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani.

Profile: Ahmed Ghailani

Most of the deaths were in Kenya. The attack on the Tanzania embassy killed 11 people and wounded dozens.
According to the transcript of the closed-door hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Mr Ghailani said he delivered the TNT explosive to "Fahad Mohammed" but did not know that they would be used in the Tanzania bombing.
He was first told the TNT was soap for washing horses, then later that it was explosives "for mining diamonds in Somalia" and for a Somali training camp, Mr Ghailani said, according to the transcript.
Kenyan-born Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam is wanted by the US in connection with the two bombings.
'I apologise'
"It was without my knowledge what they were doing, but I helped them," Mr Ghailani is quoted as saying.

Mr Mohammed is believed to have planned the 9/11 attacks. "So I apologise to the United States government for what I did. And I'm sorry for what happened to those families who lost, who lost their friends and their beloved ones."
According to the US transcript, Mr Ghailani admitted visiting an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan after the bombings. But he denied being a member of al-Qaeda.
Mr Ghailani, a Tanzanian, was arrested in Pakistan in July 2004 and handed over to the US at the beginning of 2005.
So far the US military has conducted nine hearings of the 14 suspects, to determine whether they should be declared "enemy combatants" and therefore subject to military trials.
Transcripts have been released for several hearings - including that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 2001 attacks on the US and 30 other plots, according to the Pentagon.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe !

WHO GETS TO COUNT?

Dear Family and Friends,

An air of quiet anger has settled over Zimbabwe in the past week as people have come to terms with the reality of what happened to opposition and civic society leaders at the hands of police. Those beatings followed bythe refusal to allow two victims to leave the country for specialist medical treatment and then the assault with iron bars of an oppositionspokesman just increased the anger and disgust. Ordinary people are bitter, they say they shop in the same stores as the police, they live in the same neighbourhoods and streets as the police and find it incomprehensible that the up holders of law and order could have done such things. For the last seven years police have largely turned a bind eye to war veterans and government supporters inflicting bodily harm. They excused their inaction by saying: "it is political." That was one thing but this now is a different matter altogether. There is a distinct feeling of tension in the streets but also an air of expectation. People are waiting for something to happen knowing that things are very close to coming to a head.

Yesterday Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, clutching a brown bible, spoke passionately about what has to happen next in Zimbabwe. "We must be ready to stand, even in front of blazing guns," he said, ''I am ready to stand in front." The Archbishop described himself and the people of Zimbabwe as cowards and said:' if we gather a crowd of 20,000, the government will not use its guns.'' No one in their right minds would describe Archbishop Ncube as a coward - for seven years he has not been silenced and has stood as a bright light in the darkness -for believers and non believers, for mothers and children, for the beaten and brutalized and for the poor, desperate and hungry people who are dying out of sight of the cameras and world headlines.

Even as we Zimbabweans wait for the unknown, we pray that what ever will lead to an election and not to bullets, bombs and bodies. We have begun asking the questions that so desperately need answering. how do we go to a truly free and fair election? What happens to the hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who have been stripped of their right to vote because, not them, but their parents were born outside of Zimbabwe? What happens to the three or four million Zimbabweans in political or economic exile in a score of countries around the world - how do they exercise their right to vote? With 80% of the population unemployed and hungry, how do we stop vote buying, with sugar, cooking oil, maize meal or just dirty banknotes? What happens to the utterly shambolic state of the voters roll, to the government control over every aspect of elections? What about the hundreds of thousands of people who do not have identity documents or passports because the Registrar General stopped work some months ago saying there was no money? What about the estimated 300 000 people displaced during farm seizures and the 700 000 people internally displaced after Operation Murambatsvina - most are no longer in their home and voting constituencies? How do we stop the intimidation, threats and violence that

invariably shadows the campaign rallies. And, even if all these issues could be satisfactorily resolved - who gets to count the votes, I mean to really, honestly, truthfully count the votes?

There are only eleven months until the scheduled March 2008 Presidential elections. Zimbabweans at home and abroad should already be working night and day for the path that will lead us to a truly free and fair election. Out here, in the dusty villages, the Zanu PF meetings at which attendance is compulsory, have already started. Propaganda and rhetoric aside, the clock is ticking.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 24 March 2007http://africantears.netfirms.comMy books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available fromorders@africabookcentre.com

THE EAGLE THAT CAME TO VISIT !

The eagle that came to visit
By Hamilton Wende BBC, Zambia.

The crash was terrifyingly loud. I was sitting upright naked in bed in my hotel room when a spray of glass shards shot across the room covering the bed and floor. It left me utterly disorientated.
Eagles and omens are part of African and Western mythology. My mind raced back to the war zones I had covered. Explosions or gunfire that I had experienced in Baghdad, Congo, or the townships in South Africa all came flooding back to me.
But this was a quiet Sunday morning in downtown Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, a country that has never known war, and it just did not make any kind of sense.
My hands were shaking slightly and my head spinning as I threw back the covers and scrambled out of bed.
Lying on the carpet below the shattered window was an eagle. It was, well, spread-eagled on its back amid the shards of broken glass.
Hauntingly beautiful
For a moment I stood there, transfixed, staring at this bizarre phenomenon.
The great sandy-coloured bird looked almost human in its semi-conscious distress. Its large wings were fully extended to the length of my own arms, its feet opening and shutting uncontrollably, its eyes fluttering half-open.
I held it in my hands for a few moments, aware of the strange paradox of vulnerability and power contained in its warm, surprisingly light body.
There was something hauntingly beautiful in the deep brown colour of its eyes, in the curve of its sharp talons and in its long scythe-like beak that would tear the flesh of my face and arms to shreds in panicked incomprehension if I picked it up.
I did not know what to do next. I knew I had to act before it regained full consciousness.
First I ran into the bathroom and wrapped a towel around my waist, partly to protect my dignity and partly to protect everything else.
Panicky moments

African snake eagles can have wing spans of six feet or more. I then tried to open the door, which led onto a balcony so the bird would have an escape route. But the door kept slamming shut, on an automatic spring, so somehow I managed to wedge it open with a plastic waste paper basket.
All the while the eagle was beginning to wake up and stare at me with increasingly bright and it seemed to me, angry eyes, as if it blamed me for its predicament.
Finally, I slipped on a pair of sandals and grabbed another towel. In a sliding, and certainly indecorous, series of panicky movements, I rushed across the sea of broken glass and wrapped a towel around the eagle.
Eagles and omens have been part of both African and Western mythology since earliest times
I held it in my hands for a few moments, aware of the strange paradox of vulnerability and power contained in its warm, surprisingly light body. Its head was held straight on its shoulders. It was clearly coming to. I threw it gently out through the remains of the window. It stretched its wings and flew unharmed into a nearby tree.
As I got dressed I found myself wondering what extraordinary circumstance had brought an eagle to crash through my window. There seemed something both wonderful and vaguely disturbing about it.
Bad omen
My Zambian colleague was visibly distressed when I told him. "It is a bad omen," he said. "Most people here believe that something terrible will happen to you now."
I did not want to believe him, but secretly I was uncomfortable. Eagles and omens have been part of both African and Western mythology since earliest times and we cannot shake off our primal psychological feelings that easily.
The front manager was both fascinated and appalled. "I must make an immediate physical inspection," he said, and soon my room was filled with hotel staff staring open-mouthed at the litter of broken glass and feathers.
The story spread quickly through the hotel, becoming a kind of Aesop's Fable for the age of air-conditioning.
"We have found the bird," the security manager told me at breakfast. I was escorted to a room beneath the kitchen where, with a dramatic flourish, he pulled a dead pigeon out of a drawer.
"No," I told him. "It was an eagle. A big eagle". I spread my arms out to make my point.
"I told you so," a young security guard said triumphantly to his boss. "It was chasing that little bird. The pigeon hit the window first and then the eagle crashed through the glass."
The case had been solved.
Seeking protection
But there was still the lingering omen to be cleared up. They gave me a new room, and all the next day, the staff looked at me curiously. "No birds this morning?" one of the elevator technicians asked.
Finally, the young security guard came to me in the lobby. "You must not be worried," he said, "about the meaning of what happened. It is a good sign. That pigeon was seeking your protection. It means you are man who has kindness."
Of course, I had not the heart to point out the irony that it was the pigeon which died, and the eagle which was saved.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 24 March, 2007 at 1100 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

LEADERS 'PLAN TO END MUGABE ERA' !

Leaders 'plan end to Mugabe era'
By Martin Plaut BBC News

Robert Mugabe's grip on power appears to be fading. As Zimbabwe slides into chaos and repression, there are indications President Robert Mugabe could be eased out of power by his own old guard.
Leading members of the ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition are reportedly mapping out an end to the Mugabe era.
Sources in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say the former security and army chiefs have held talks with the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mr Tsvangirai was badly beaten in police custody earlier this month.
The MDC leader is said to have met the former security and army chiefs, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Solomon Mujuru.
The next week could not just be critical for the future of Zimbabwe, but for southern Africa as a whole
Their talks took place before Friday's meeting in Johannesburg between the vice-president of Zimbabwe Joyce Mujuru, who is Solomon Mujuru's wife, and her South African counterpart, Phumuzile Mlambo-Nguka.
The first indications that President Mugabe's iron grip on his party was slipping came at the Zanu-PF congress in December last year.
He asked the party to endorse his proposal to extend his presidency until 2010. The party, for the first time, turned him down.
Three major camps have emerged within Zanu-PF:
Emmerson Mnangagwa's faction - he is a key Mugabe ally and one of his closest confidantes. He was minister of state security from 1982 to 1988 and has important links to the security services
Solomon Mujuru's faction - also known as Rex Nhongo, he is the former army chief, and leading member of Robert Mugabe's guerrilla forces during the independence war
Mugabe loyalists' faction
Both Mr Mnangagwa and Mrs Mujuru have presidential ambitions.
Until very recently they were at daggers drawn, but the economic collapse has driven them to talk.
Opposition sources report that they have met twice in the past 10 days, as well as holding meetings with Morgan Tsvangirai.
Together a plan has emerged. Essentially they are looking at the following:
An interim period, leading up to free and fair presidential elections in March 2008. Guarantees that there will be a level playing field for all parties. The opposition would, in return, call for economic support from the international community to stave off economic collapse
A dignified exit for Mr Mugabe, who would not be prosecuted and would be allowed to go into retirement, probably in South Africa after March 2008
This plan has been discussed with South Africa, which is immensely worried about the current state of affairs. There are already between two and three million Zimbabweans living in South Africa and another two million are thought to be considering fleeing from the economic chaos and hunger.
With the price of bread doubling in just one day, this exodus is becoming a real possibility.

Mr Mugabe has long been ruthless in dealing with opponents.
The South African deputy foreign minister, Aziz Pahad, has warned that it is difficult to see how a total meltdown in Zimbabwe could be avoided, with annual inflation at 1,700% and rising.
South Africa is also worried about the possible implications of further chaos and crisis on its borders with the 2010 World Cup looming large.
President Thabo Mbeki made this point in no uncertain terms when he met President Mugabe in Accra earlier this month during the celebrations of 50 years of Ghana's independence.
The plan is due to be put to a meeting of the Zanu-PF central committee due to be held next week.
It could be the final showdown between the president and his opponents. But he is an immensely powerful orator, and has dealt ruthlessly with internal challenges in the past.
Critics silenced
Josiah Tongogara, commander of the guerrilla army Zanla, was with Robert Mugabe at the Lancaster House conference that led to Zimbabwe's independence and the end of white minority rule.
Many expected him to play a leading role in his country's future. But six days after the Lancaster House agreement was signed, Mr Mugabe announced "an extremely sad message" to "all the fighting people of Zimbabwe".
Mr Tongogara was dead, killed in a car accident in Mozambique. Few in his party accepted this version of events.
President Mugabe also cracked down hard on opposition in Matabeleland in the early 1980s. His notorious North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade killed around 20,000 Matabele in an effort to stamp out resistance.
But President Mugabe will be cautious about moving decisively against his critics today.
Almost all the senior figures in the security services have links to Solomon Mujuru or come from his home area - Chikomba. The next week could not just be critical for the future of Zimbabwe, but for southern Africa as a whole.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SHOCK OVER 'KENYA'S NAKED MAN' !

Shock over 'Kenya's naked man'
By Kevin Mwachiro BBC News, Nairobi.

Mr Opati's family were taken by surprise when the billboards went up.
David Opati, who has the body and rounded stomach that would make many an African man proud, has earned himself the nickname "Kenya's naked man".
The 29-year-old wows Kenyan motorists and pedestrians, who cannot avoid his image.
He poses from billboards across the country, hands akimbo and with a broad smile asks people to open a bank account.
But - in what is considered a daring move in Kenya - he is dressed in nothing but floral boxer shorts, socks and shoes.
"It was not easy at first," Mr Opati says about his unorthodox, high-profile modelling job for Barclays Bank.
"I had to picture myself naked on the streets of Nairobi, everybody looking at me - my family and friends. But I had to do it so I gave it my best," he says.
He admits he was paid well enough for the job, but insists he did not just do it for money.
As expected, his siblings were shocked and amazed when billboards went up along streets in the capital, Nairobi.
"Some took it positively but others have asked why I had to pose almost naked," he says.
Humour
Barclays has defended its decision to use the half-naked male model.
If you are using sexuality as a device to sell a product, you must let it reveal a fundamental truth that connects people to themselves
Kiss FM's Patrick Quarcco
"There was a perception that to open an account with our bank, one has to have numerous documents but this is not the case," says Kariuki Ngari, the bank's retail director.
"So we opted to use some humour to pass on the message."
Initially, the bank considered using a female model but the idea was dropped, as it was deemed too scandalous.
Mr Ngari says since the campaign's launch more accounts have been opened and some clients have praised the bank's new advertising approach.
This is the second time in seven years that an advertising campaign has shocked Kenya.
Before the launch of Nairobi radio station Kiss FM, billboards across the capital promised that their half-dressed male and female models would strip on the day the radio station hit the airwaves.
The implied message was: Our station will be bold and frank on all issues, even those considered taboo by Kenyans.
But the billboards did not last the course and had to be changed following public protests - many describing the campaign as provocative and a bad influence on the youth.
Full monty?
Judging by the fact that Barclays' billboards are still up after three weeks, Kenyans may be shedding their conservative culture.

For a good cause I will do it again
David OpatiPatrick Quarcco, who runs Kiss FM, says that although he was forced to tone down his campaign, he still sees no issue in using sexuality or nudity in advertising.
The challenge, he says, is connecting sexuality with conservatism.
"If you are using sexuality as a device to sell a product, you must let it reveal a fundamental truth that connects people to themselves," he says.
In a society where nudity and sexuality are not discussed openly, advertisers in Kenya do seem more willing to push boundaries - even if it is ever so slightly.
"Kenya's naked man" believes that "things have changed" in the intervening years.
"We must be bold in a good way," he adds, "and for a good cause I will do it again."
Perhaps the day is approaching when Kenyans will be ready for the full monty.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S. AFRICA SEES ZIMBABWE 'MELTDOWN'

Mr Mugabe says he is not frightened by anyone. South Africa's deputy foreign minister has made the country's strongest comments on neighbouring Zimbabwe, saying it was on the brink of meltdown.
Aziz Pahad said it was now difficult to see how the country could avoid a complete collapse.
South Africa has come under pressure from the West over its reluctance to voice criticism of Zimbabwe.
But the authorities have insisted there is no alternative to its approach of quiet diplomacy towards Robert Mugabe.
Spiralling inflation
International outrage at the situation in Zimbabwe was heightened this month after a violent crackdown on opposition politicians left party leader Morgan Tsvangirai in hospital.
Nothing frightens me, not even little fellows like Bush and Blair -Robert Mugabe.

Q &A: Zimbabwe on the edge

The UK and US have threatened to broaden targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe's leaders.
But so far Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour South Africa has been muted in its response.
The BBC's Grant Ferret in Johannesburg said Zimbabwean activists in the county will be pleased with the comments, which they hope indicate a more interventionist policy towards Zimbabwe.
On Friday, a Roman Catholic Archbishop repeated his calls for Zimbabwean citizens to take to the streets in protest at conditions in their country.
"This dictator must be brought down right now," said Pius Ncube, Archbishop of Bulawayo.
"Brought down by people power, not by a violent manner but let people fill the streets and demand that he comes down."
But during a rally of Zanu-PF supporters in Harare, the 83-year-old Mr Mugabe remained defiant.
"Nothing frightens me, not even little fellows like Bush and Blair. I have seen it all, I don't fear any suffering or a struggle of any kind," Mr Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe for 27 years, told cheering crowds.
Zimbabweans are grappling with spiralling annual inflation of 1,700% and widespread unemployment and poverty.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FOREIGNERS HELD BY NIGERIA GUNMEN !

Foreigners are targeted for ransom kidnappings by militants. Gunmen in Nigeria have kidnapped three foreign construction workers in two separate incidents, police say.
The Dutch security manager of a German construction company was seized in the oil capital, Port Harcourt.
Later, two employees of a Nigerian construction firm - one Lebanese and one Indian - were taken from their workplace in the city of Warri.
About 60 foreigners - mostly oil workers - have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta so far this year.
Speedboat attack
The wave of attacks and kidnappings has led to a 25% cut in Nigeria's oil output.

Oil workers under siege

The Dutch manager was reportedly seized at dawn by his abductors, who arrived on the waterfront by the construction camp in three speedboats.
They are said to have exchanged heavy gunfire for several hours with guards before escaping with the man.
In the second incident, two men who worked for Nigerian firm Setraco were taken from a construction site in Warri.
AP reports that the men were taken away by boat into the creeks and mangrove swamps that surround the city.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for either of the kidnaps.
A spokesman for the Joint Task Force in charge of policing the volatile region told Agence France Presse that troops had been deployed, "to hunt for the kidnappers".
More than 100 foreign workers have been abducted over the past year, some by militant groups fighting for local control of the oil wealth.
Increasingly hostages have also been taken by gangs of gunmen seeking ransoms.
As a result some oil and construction firms have pulled out and those that remain live under increasingly tight security.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DR CONGO SEEKS TO ARREST EX-REBEL !

Some of Mr Bemba's guards have abandoned their positions. The Democratic Republic of Congo has issued an arrest warrant for an opposition leader, accusing him of treason, as his gunmen battle the army.
Militiamen loyal to ex-rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba are losing ground to government forces in the capital.
Mr Bemba, who lost elections last year, has immunity as a senator but the government says this may be stripped.
He has taken refuge in the South African embassy but the government wants him handed over.
Last year's election - the first free poll in four decades - passed off peacefully, raising hopes of an end to years of conflict and mismanagement.
'Rebellion'
The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in the capital, Kinshasa, says that in some areas, the army seem to be gaining the upper hand, with Mr Bemba's guards running away, abandoning their uniforms and surrendering to UN peacekeepers.
"Bemba committed treason in using the armed forces for his own ends," said Congolese government spokesman Toussaint Tshilombo.

I am afraid of what the opposition can do
Ugoo, Nigerian businessman

Eyewitness: Foreigners' fears
In pictures: Kinshasa clashes
Clashes reflect Congo's divide

But Mr Bemba denied trying to oust Mr Kabila and said his house had been attacked four times.
"I feel they want to kill me," he told the BBC.
South Africa's deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad urged all sides to stop fighting but did not say whether Mr Bemba would be handed over to the Congolese authorities.
The United Nations Security Council has expressed "serious concern" over the fighting and has called for an immediate ceasefire.
In neighbouring Brazzaville, capital of Republic of Congo, the government is preparing for an influx people fleeing across the river which separates the two cities.
DR Congo's oil reserves were bombed overnight and thousands of civilians remain caught in the middle of the fighting, our reporter says.
According to eyewitness reports, at least seven civilians and three soldiers have been killed but given the intensity of the fighting the final count could be much higher, our correspondent says.
A Nigerian diplomat has been injured in the fighting and is trapped in his residence.
Disputed election
Earlier, UN peacekeepers evacuated more than 450 civilians from areas affected by the fighting to its Kinshasa headquarters using armoured personnel carriers.
Some 17,000 UN troops - the world's largest peacekeeping force - are stationed in DR Congo.

Mr Bemba challenged his defeat in October's election.
On Thursday night, Mr Bemba called for a ceasefire and negotiations with the government.
However, the country's information minister said that since the government was democratically elected last year, there was no reason for fresh talks.
A deadline for Mr Bemba's guards to disarm expired this week but he wants additional security guarantees before they lay down their weapons.
Mr Bemba's personal armed guard is believed to number some 200 men, according to a 2006 estimate from the UN mission in Congo.
As a former vice-president in the transitional government, Mr Bemba is entitled to 15 policemen for his protection.
Under another agreement signed ahead of the election, the winner of the presidential poll is committed to guarantee the loser's security.
President Joseph Kabila won 58% of the vote compared to Mr Bemba's 42% in an election run-off last October.
Mr Bemba gained a majority in the west, including Kinshasa, while Mr Kabila won a landslide in eastern areas.
Mr Bemba contested the results, but his challenge was rejected by the courts.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EYEWITNESS: FOREIGNERS' FEARS IN KINSHASA

Nigerian businessman Ugoo, 24, tells the BBC News website what is it like in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, where militiamen loyal to opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba are fighting with the army.

Gunfire can be heard all over the city of Kinshasa. It is very, very terrible. We can't go out.
Gunshots are in the air and everywhere is shaking. Our ears are filled with 'boom-booms' from the bombs and the AK-47s' never-stopping 'rat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat, tat-tat'.
We are in God's arms now.
This fighting has come as a shock. I was at work when it started yesterday and making my way back to my house was frightening. It has caught us unaware. Because it came so quick, no-one was prepared. There is no food to eat.
The situation is shocking.
But we knew it was going to happen because on Sunday, Bemba [opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba] made a broadcast and in it he said a lot of bad things about the government, and so we knew that the government would react.
'The reason for all the trouble'
I am scared. I am afraid of what the opposition can do. They are well-armed and they are very brave. They are different, those fighters. The government soldiers are not like them.

I am afraid of what the opposition can do. They are well-armed and they are very brave. They are different
Ugoo, Kinshasa
We just pray the governement soldiers will be able to kick them, and send them out of Kinshasa.
My brother and I are the only foreigners in the whole of the compound where we live in the Kasavubu area of the city.
We have lived here for a year now but it is not good to be a foreigner here. The Kinois [locals] are all supporters of the opposition, who are against foreigners.
We feel marginalised all the time. And with the fighting going-on now, it makes us more afraid. It is a worry. We are fearing for our safety.
We are calling our family in Nigeria regularly to keep them updated. They are very scared for us.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UGANDA MP'S ANGRY AT FOREST PLAN !

Uganda wants to expand its sugar industry. Ugandan MPs have criticised a plan to clear thousands of hectares of rainforest east of the capital, Kampala, for a sugar plantation.
MP Beatrice Atim said that leasing parts of Mabira Forest Reserve to a sugar company was a matter of national concern, the state-run paper reports.
The lawmakers were reacting to reports that the government is to seek parliament's approval for the plan.
Mabira Forest supports more than 300 bird species.
According to BirdLife International, Mabira Forest Reserve is the largest block of moist semi-deciduous forest remaining in the central region of Uganda.

"The give-away is a threat to the biodiversity of the eco-system of the forest and it cannot be brushed aside," the New Vision newspaper quotes MP Sebuliba Mutumba as saying.
An official from Uganda's National Forestry Authority said the move would be a "disaster".
"The ecosystem will be disturbed, the biodiversity will be destroyed and people's livelihoods will change for the worse," the official told AFP news agency, requesting anonymity.
Last year, President Yoweri Museveni ordered a study into the possibility of axing 7,000 hectares of Mabira Forest, nearly a third of the reserve, to expand a nearby sugar estate, Reuters news agency reports.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GUNFIRE RATTLES DR CONGO CAPITAL !

Mr Bemba's personal armed guard are believed to number 200 men. Gunfire and explosions have echoed around the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, as government troops clashed with the opposition leader's personal militia.
The UN Security Council has expressed "serious concern" over the fighting and has called for an immediate ceasefire.
Troops loyal to failed presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba have refused to disband and join the army.
The half-naked guards, wearing red head scarves and carrying bows and rifles, took over streets near Mr Bemba's home.
Ceasefire call
On Thursday night, Mr Bemba appealed to his soldiers to return to their positions.
"I ask the soldiers of the FARDC [Congolese army] not to fire on my soldiers. We must talk like politicians," he said in a message broadcast across the city on UN radio.
Mr Bemba, a former rebel leader, was defeated by Joseph Kabila in landmark presidential elections in October last year.
His personal armed guard are believed to number some 200 men, according to a 2006 estimate from the UN mission in Congo.
Mr Bemba's party says his safety is not guaranteed if his guards disarm.
'Bodies'
The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman, in Kinshasa, says that it is not clear who started the shooting on Thursday morning.
Gunfire continued throughout the day and, by late evening, Mr Bemba's guards controlled a large area of the city's business district.
The explosions could be heard across the Congo River in the neighbouring capital of the Republic of Congo, Brazzaville, and the city's town hall was hit by a rocket.
There are reports of both soldiers and civilians being killed and wounded in the fighting in Kinshasa.
Our correspondent says eyewitnesses have told him they have seen the bodies of five civilians and two soldiers killed in the street battles.
UN peacekeepers have not intervened, but our reporter saw a few UN armoured vehicles deployed near the scene of the fighting.
Some 15,000 UN troops - the world's largest peacekeeping force - are in DR Congo.
Security
Mr Bemba, who was a vice-president in the transitional government and is now a senator, is entitled to 15 policemen for his protection.
Under an agreement signed ahead of the election, the winner of the presidential poll is committed to guarantee the loser's security.
Mr Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) party says their leader is in danger and wants talks about the terms of these agreements.
Last year's elections were DR Congo's first democratic elections in more than 40 years after a transitional peace process that ended a brutal five year civil war.
Mr Kabila won 58% of the vote compared to Mr Bemba's 42%.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE: WILL HE STAY OR WILL HE GO?

Mugabe: Will he stay or will he go?
By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website.

Robert Mugabe has run Zimbabwe for 27 years.
The British and some other Western governments believe that the most likely way for President Robert Mugabe to leave office in Zimbabwe is by a "palace coup" led by factions in his own party.
A military-type coup is thought to be unlikely. There would be an accumulation of overwhelming pressure instead.
However, it is also accepted that he might face down his critics and contest and win another six-year term as president next year, despite being already 83.
Opposition too weak
Foreign diplomats do not appear to think that the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is strong enough at the moment to effect a change. "The opposition was swept off the streets," said one.
They are therefore looking to people inside the ruling Zanu-PF party.
The names of a former general, Solomon Mujuru (whose wife Joyce is a vice-president), and Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former head of security, are being mentioned as possible future leaders, with a former finance minister, Simba Makoni, as a prime minister.
And signals are going out that there would have to be a change of direction not just of personality for Zimbabwe to re-enter the international fold.
"2007 is a pivotal year", a senior British official told reporters in London.
The problem with that statement is that there have been pivotal years before and nothing has changed.
Differences
This time, in the British view, it is different.
There is the 2008 election coming up and that requires decisions.
There is economic catastrophe, in which inflation could reach 5,000% later this year.
There is internal dissent within Zanu-PF, which in December refused Mr Mugabe's request to stay on until 2010.
There is civil unrest and there is Zimbabwe's international isolation, including growing isolation from its neighbours.
The British government believes there are several scenarios for a Mugabe exit - he could negotiate his departure, he could be pushed out or there could be a civil explosion.
The most likely scenarios are seen to be the first two, his departure engineered in some way by his own party.
And Western governments are now drawing up what they called "principles of re-engagement".
These are the basic conditions under which they would help a Mugabe successor.
A new leader would have to stabilise the economy, by ceasing to print money for a start, return to a rule of law, end state violence and eventually hold an election.
The concept of a peacekeeping force to help in that process has not been ruled out.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is not seen as strong enough to withstand Mugabe
Britain is quietly helping human rights lawyers, though it denies funding the opposition.
It is also gathering information about violence by the government, has given aid totalling £150m over the last few years and is encouraging Zimbabwe's international isolation.
However, it does not want to give Mr Mugabe a stick with which to beat it, so is preventing its ambassador Andrew Pocock, who is in London at the moment, from speaking out publicly, unlike his American counterpart Christopher Dell.
Political football
One obstacle to bringing international pressure on President Mugabe is that he is regarded as the liberator of southern Africa.
South Africa has tried quiet diplomacy but is unwilling to engage in public condemnation.
It could cut off electricity to Zimbabwe but is reluctant to do so.
The British hope may sound far-fetched but it is that South Africa will want change in time for the football World Cup it is hosting in 2010.
But nobody is counting on such change.
Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NO ANGOLAN 'TROOPS FOR ZIMBABWE' !

African leaders have been loth to criticise Mr Mugabe publicly. Angola has denied reports it is sending 2,500 feared paramilitary troops, known as the Ninjas, to Zimbabwe as a "lie".
"It is not the custom of the Angolan government to interfere in the internal matters of other governments," Angola's embassy in Harare said in a statement.
As part of a bilateral deal signed last week Angola agreed to train Zimbabwean police, a BBC correspondent says.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International says the African Union has failed to act on human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
"What more do we need to witness before the African Union or the UN tell the Zimbabwean government 'enough is enough'?" Amnesty's Kolawole Olaniyan wrote in a letter to the UK's Guardian newspaper.
Scores of activists have been arrested and allegedly assaulted after police broke up a banned rally in Harare on 11 March.
Four senior MDC officials were prevented from leaving the country, some to seek treatment for injuries they say were sustained in police custody.
Feared
The UK Times newspaper reported on Thursday that about 2,500 Angolan paramilitary police were to be deployed in Zimbabwe to boost the security forces of President Robert Mugabe.
International condemnation has freely flowed, but little action has followed
Amnesty's Kolawole Olaniyan
SA slammed over Zimbabwe
The BBC's Lara Pawson in Luanda says the Ninjas, so called because they are dressed in black, are feared by most Angolans for their brutality.
Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi confirmed their arrival, the Times reported, adding that the first batch of 1,000 Angolan troops were due in April.
But our correspondent says the Angolan ministry of interior denied reports of their Zimbabwean deployment on Wednesday.
"Not a single man is being sent," Angola's interior ministry spokesman Carmo Neto told the BBC.
Our correspondent points out that Angola long denied that they had sent any sort of support - military, financial or otherwise - to assist Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo in 2003, although a UN panel later insisted that they had.
Mr Olaniyan, Amnesty's Africa programme director, hit out at the international community over its inaction on Zimbabwe.
"International condemnation has freely flowed, but little action has followed. Although the African Union has called for human rights 'to be respected' in Zimbabwe, this is far too weak a response," he said.
Earlier this week, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa likened the current crisis in Zimbabwe to the sinking of the Titanic
Over the past week, South Africa has become more forthright in its remarks, but it has not openly criticised President Mugabe's government.
More than 80% of Zimbabweans are living in poverty, with chronic unemployment and inflation running at more than 1,700% - the highest in the world.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RABID CHEETAH BITES BBC PRESENTER !

King said "all hell was let loose" during the attack. BBC presenter Simon King, best known for the Big Cat Diary programmes, was attacked by a rabid cheetah while filming in Kenya, it has emerged.
King was filming the story of orphaned cheetah cub Toki when a wild female ran at him, leaping up at his body.
Both he and assistant Stephen Nangunye were bitten and scratched during the attack but were not badly hurt.
The men were given rabies jabs after the incident last summer. The wild cheetah later died of the disease.
"The attack was unprecedented - cheetahs just don't do this," said King in the documentary, Toki's Tale, which will be screened on BBC Two next month.
"Having spent 20 years watching cheetahs in the wild, I was utterly shocked by this female's behaviour".

Seven jabs later, I should be able to bathe in the rabies virus without being infected
Simon King Toki's Tale tells the story of King's attempts to return a hand-reared cub to the wild.
The animal was raised by humans after its twin brother, Sambu, was killed by lions - as seen in King's previous film, Fast Track to Freedom.
The wild female cheetah was discovered near Toki's enclosure a few days before his release.
Seeing that she appeared tame, King assumed the animal was also hand-reared and approached it cautiously before it attacked.
"I managed to plant a foot in her chest and push her back," the photographer and film-maker wrote on his website.
But the animal attacked again, biting Nangunye and leaving King with cuts.
Tests were carried out and the animal was diagnosed with rabies.
"It was desperately sad that such a beautiful animal should succumb to such a deadly virus," said King.
"I, meanwhile, am fine. Seven jabs later, I should be able to bathe in the rabies virus without being infected."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NIGERIA TEACHER DIES 'OVER KORAN' !

Secondary school pupils in north-east Nigeria of the country have killed a teacher after apparently accusing her of desecrating the Koran, police say.
The teacher, a Christian, was attacked after supervising an exam in Gombe city. It is not clear what she had done to anger the students.
The authorities, concerned that communal unrest could break out, have ordered all the city's schools to shut.
Similar accusations sparked riots in neighbouring Bauchi State last year.
At least 15,000 people have been killed in religious, communal or political violence since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.
'Restored calm'
Nigerian police say students beat the teacher to death outside the school compound after she had been invigilating an exam.
The students had apparently accused her of desecrating the Koran, though it is not clear exactly what she had done.
The police arrived at the scene to restore calm and say their intervention stopped a riot.
The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says violence based on such accusations is not new.
Last year, in Bauchi State, a rumour swept the city that a Christian teacher had also desecrated the Koran, which prompted riots in which at least five people were killed.
In fact, the teacher had confiscated the Koran from a pupil who was reading it in class.
Religious differences have long been used to justify all kinds of violence in Nigeria, our reporter says.
In reality it is often fuelled by ethnic or political conflicts and competition for resources, which can be fierce, given that so many people live in poverty, he says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

INDONESIAS JAILED FOR BEHEADINGS !

Hasanuddin has admitted his involvement in the attacks. An Indonesian court has sentenced three Muslim militants to jail for beheading three Christian schoolgirls in Central Sulawesi in 2005.
Hasanuddin, 34, was given 20 years for planning the attack, while two accomplices were given 14 years.
Hasanuddin had earlier told the court he helped plan the attack but rejected allegations he masterminded it.
The beheading of the girls, attacked as they walked to school in Poso in 2005, drew international condemnation.
It also fanned tensions in Sulawesi, where Muslim-Christian violence has continued despite a 2002 peace deal.
Recent tensions
VIOLENT PAST

Previously known as Celebes, Sulawesi is Indonesia's fourth largest island
80% of residents are Muslim, while 17% are Christian
A December 1998 brawl in Poso led to months of religious violence in which hundreds died.

Flashpoint Sulawesi

Hasanuddin's denial was rejected by chief judge Binsar Siregar, who said: "The accused was proven to plan and move other people to carry out terror acts."
The court in Jakarta was also told that Hasanuddin had left a message next to the severed heads of the girls, saying: "A life for a life. A head for a head".
A separate court sentenced defendants Irwanto Irano and Lilik Purwanto to 14 years each.
Speaking before his sentencing, Hasanuddin said going to jail did not concern him.
"It's not a problem (if I am being sentenced to prison) because this is a part of our struggle. What will become a problem is if our brothers decide to get revenge," he said.
The three girls were attacked as they walked to the private Christian school near their home in Poso. One of their heads was discovered outside a church.
The trial had been told that the attack was timed to take place during a festival at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Hasanuddin said he wanted to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed during previous religious violence in the country, the world's most populous Muslim nation.
More than 1,000 people are believed to have been killed during two years of violence triggered by a brawl between Christian and Muslim gangs in December 1998.
Tensions have risen in recent months following the execution of three Christian militants in September 2006, for attacks against Muslims in 2000.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROBE OF DARFUR 'SLAVERY' STARTS !

Probe of Darfur 'slavery' starts
By Joseph Winter BBC News website.

Are the Janjaweed also taking slaves?. Lawyers in Sudan's Darfur region are investigating reports of slavery during the conflict, the BBC has learned.
"There are many cases of abductions," a Sudanese lawyer told the BBC.
They are too afraid of possible reprisals from either militias or state security agents to give their names but say there is strong evidence.
"It is happening but on a smaller scale than in the south," one Sudanese human rights worker said. Some 11,000 people were enslaved in the north-south war.
Arab pro-government "Murahaleen" militias rode their horses into southern villages, killing men, raping women, looting anything they found and burning the huts.
Muslims are strictly forbidden to enslave fellow Muslims
Darfur lawyer
The Darfur conflict broke out just as the war in the south was coming to an end and eyewitness reports bear a striking similarity of atrocities committed by the militias, known in Darfur as the Janjaweed.
One of the worst affected parts of south Sudan was Bahr al-Ghazal - just south of the border with the largely Arab north and not far from South Darfur.
Training
Sudanese human rights workers say some members of the Arab Rezeigat community have been in both the Janjaweed and the Murahaleen but most of the Janjaweed are from different Arab tribes.
Sudan's veteran anti-slave campaigner James Aguer, however, says they are exactly the same groups, just with a different name.

No return for Sudan slaves

Sudan's government has strongly denied claims it mobilised first the Murahaleen and then the Janjaweed to terrorise civilian populations seen as rebel sympathisers.
It also denies there are slaves in Sudan, instead using the euphemism "abductees".
But some analysts say the similar methods used could be because they have undergone the same training.
One aid worker said that in both cases, after local groups took up arms against the government, Arab tribal leaders were told that black Africans were trying to take their land and needed to be resisted.
The Arabs were given weapons with horrific results, he said.
Until now, a key difference between the two conflicts is that despite all the other atrocities committed, there have been no reports of people in Darfur being abducted and held for more than a few weeks.
Arrest warrant
A court in Khartoum has heard evidence that some 40 women and girls were abducted two years ago from the village of Wadi Saleh by a group of Janjaweed.
One of the militiamen sought a court order to let him legally marry one of the women but after he admitted how they had met, the judge refused his request.

Ex-slave's audio slideshow

Both the woman and the man said the 40 had been divided up between the raiders as a form of booty.
But the woman has since disappeared.
There is no independent confirmation of the claims but the testimony closely resembles that of some of the southerners who were abducted during raids on their villages and spent years in slavery in the north before returning home following the north-south peace deal.
One of the lawyers now investigating the reports says he has personally met two people who were forced to work for a prominent Janjaweed leader for six months, before another member of the militia helped them escape.
One reason why there seems to be less slavery in Darfur could be religion.
Both Darfur and south Sudan are mostly inhabited by black Africans but southerners are mostly Christian and animist, while Darfuris are generally Muslim, like the Arabs who have traditionally dominated Sudan.
Forced conversion seemed to be one motivation behind the abduction of southerners - they were mostly given Islamic names and told they were now Muslim.
One group of abductors was known as the Muhajadeen [Islamic holy warriors].
But this justification cannot be used in Darfur.
"Muslims are strictly forbidden to enslave fellow Muslims," the lawyer said.
While they proceed with their investigations, the lawyers are extremely concerned for their safety.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court has already issued an arrest warrant for a top Sudanese official over the conflict in Darfur - and says it is investigating others.
As a result, anyone seen asking questions about possible war crimes such as enslavement would be seen as a potential ICC spy, the lawyers fear.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NIGERIA GRAFT SHOCK RESIGNATIONS !

Mr Abubakar denies the allegations of corruption. Members of a Nigerian Senate committee probing graft allegations against the president and his deputy have resigned.
They say Senate leaders were interfering with their investigations.
They also say there had been pressure on them to "water down" their report which alleges money belonging to a government agency was misappropriated.
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is barred from running in next month's presidential poll and is challenging an indictment in court.
Our integrity was at stake. We resigned because we are principled people
Senator Umar Tsauri Chairman of the committee
A government ministerial panel accused him of diverting money belonging to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).
The country's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which examined the PTDF financial records accused Mr Abubakar of diverting some $125m to his personal businesses.
Mr Abubakar denies all the charges and is in court challenging his exclusion from the presidential election.
Senator Umar Tsauri, chairman of the committee, told the BBC they had met "repeated roadblocks" in trying to present the report to the Senate and felt its release before the elections was being prevented.
"We pleaded with the leadership of the Senate to allow us to present our report but they said no and we just felt it was better to resign because it'd be a blow to our integrity, " he said.
"Our integrity was at stake. We resigned because we are principled people."
The Senate is currently debating the sudden resignation of the committee members behind closed doors. A BBC correspondent in the Nigerian parliament says the leadership of the Senate has been shocked by the resignations.
Disappointed supporters
Mr Abubakar fell out with President Olusegun Obasanjo after he publicly opposed moves to change the country's constitution to give the president a third term.

President Obasanjo is standing down after two terms in office.
Mr Obasanjo's political loyalists then forced Mr Abubakar out of the ruling party and he joined the opposition Action Congress (AC) on whose platform he is running for president.
Meanwhile, thousands of Mr Abubakar's supporters were disappointed on Tuesday when he failed to turn up for his own campaign rally in the north-eastern Jigawa State.
"He is still recovering from his recent surgery and is not likely to attend any rallies for the next one week or so," Mr Abubakar's spokesman Garba Shehu told the BBC's News website.
The vice-president fell off his running machine last week and was flown to the UK to be treated for a torn tendon.
Mr Shehu denied that Mr Abubakar had abandoned the campaign because he had been barred from running in the elections.
Some AC insiders, however, say Mr Abubakar avoided the Jigawa rally because he feared that the police might "try to embarrass him on the basis that he is no longer a candidate".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE'S CRISIS 'LIKE TITANIC' !

African leaders have been loath to criticise Mr Mugabe publicly. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has likened the current crisis in Zimbabwe to the sinking of the Titanic.
He said the country's economic difficulties were forcing its citizens to leave like passengers jumping from the sinking ship to save their lives.
He called for a new approach as quiet diplomacy was not producing results.
Meanwhile, the UK's leader Tony Blair told the British parliament that the solution to Zimbabwe's problems had to come ultimately from within Africa.
An estimated 3m Zimbabweans, about a quarter of the total population, have fled the country in recent years.
Scores of activists have been arrested and allegedly assaulted after police broke up a banned rally in Harare on 11 March.
Four senior MDC officials were prevented from leaving the country, some to seek treatment for injuries they say were sustained in police custody.
Forthright
The BBC's Grant Ferrett in Johannesburg says the remarks by Mr Mwanawasa are among the strongest made by any of Zimbabwe's neighbours during years of economic turmoil and political confrontation.

One Sadc country has sunk into such economic difficulties that it may be likened to a sinking Titanic whose passengers are jumping out
Zambian leader Levy Mwanawasa
UK and US under fire
Have Your Say
Mr Mwanawasa did not mention Zimbabwe by name, but said a member of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) had sunk into "serious difficulties".
"As I am speaking right now, one Sadc country has sunk into such economic difficulties that it may be likened to a sinking Titanic whose passengers are jumping out in a bid to save their lives," Mr Mwanawasa said during a state visit to Namibia.
"Zambia has so far been an advocate of quiet diplomacy and continues to believe in it, but the twist of events in the troubled country necessitates the adoption of a new approach."
Our correspondent says such a change would need the support of South Africa.
Over the past week, South Africa has become more forthright in its remarks, but is not yet willing to openly criticise President Robert Mugabe's government.
Mr Blair said the solution to Zimbabwe will not come through pressure applied by the UK.
"That pressure has got to be applied within Africa and particularly within the African Union," the British prime minister said.
"We will continue to do all we can to make sure Africa realises this is a responsibility of Africa as well as the Zimbabwean government."
'Profiteering'
In Zimbabwe itself, the governor of the central bank, Gideon Gono, has complained that increases of about 200% in the price of petrol had made life unbearable.
He said that the spirit of profiteering had become as deadly as HIV and Aids.
Mr Gono warned that the law would be used to prevent people being ripped off.
Our reporter says the fuel price rises merely reflect the continuing collapse in value of the Zimbabwe dollar.
Mr Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 27 years, but there is increasing discontent over the country's economic crisis.
More than 80% of Zimbabweans are living in poverty, with chronic unemployment and inflation running at more than 1,700% - the highest in the world.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOMALIA TOPS MINORITY THREAT LIST !

Somalia was third-worst last year for minority rights, says MRG. Somalia has overtaken Iraq as the world's most dangerous country for minority groups, a study has found.
Sudan, Afghanistan and Burma followed in the global survey by the Minority Rights Group International (MRG).
It alleges the US ignored abuses of minorities in countries supporting the US "war on terror" including Pakistan, Turkey and Israel.
Sri Lanka saw the highest rise in persecutions with renewed fighting between government and rebel forces.
"A new government in Somalia has raised hopes for democracy, but it is also a uniquely dangerous time," said MRG's director Mark Lattimer.
"There is the spectre of a return of large-scale clan violence - and groups that supported the old order are now under tremendous threat."
MRG said the Darood, Hawiye and Issaq clans are under threat as well as the Bantu group.

Darfur crisis
Sudan is the third worst offender, said the State of the World's Minorities report, because of the violence in Darfur.

FIVE WORST COUNTRIES

Somalia
Iraq
Sudan
Afghanistan
Burma

Source: Minority Rights Group International
State of the World's Minorities 2007 [4.25 MB]

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More than two million people have been displaced since the fighting began in 2003 and the UN says refugee camps in the region are almost full.
At least 200,000 have died in the ongoing violence between pro-government Arab Janjaweed militia groups and rebel groups in Darfur.
The MRG said farmers from the Zahgawa, Masalit and Fur groups, amongst others, have been targeted.
Minority groups in Iraq including Christians, Yezidis and Mandaeans face targeted killings, abductions and torture.
The group's study links tensions in Turkey surrounding the EU accession process to a surge in religious and nationalist extremism behind attacks on minorities - such as the murder of Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink at the end of 2006.

Minority groups in Iraq face daily violence, abduction and torture"US allies have managed to barter their support for the war on terror in return for having their human rights records ignored," said Mr Lattimer.
The MRG also blames the "war on terror" for a rise in anti-Muslim attacks and intimidation within the European Union affecting millions of ethnic Arabs, South Asians and other Muslim minorities.
In Sri Lanka, minority Tamils and Muslims are caught up in fighting and increasingly becoming targets for abduction and disappearance after the breakdown of peace efforts between Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces last year.
"In three-quarters of the world's conflicts, the killing is now targeted at particular ethnic or religious groups," said Mr Lattimer.
"Because they are usually minorities their suffering is largely ignored."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WORLD 'IGNORING IRAQI REFUGEES' !

Some two million Iraqis are estimated to have fled the country. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says there has been an "abject denial" around the world of the humanitarian impact of invading Iraq.
The UN faces an enormous task in helping countries such as Jordan and Syria cope with the huge influx of Iraqi refugees, a spokesman said.
He said the international community had to step in to help address their food, health and education needs.
Syria says it is home to 1.2m Iraqi refugees, with up to 800,000 in Jordan.
Damascus has repeatedly called for help to deal with the problem.
UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler said: "There has been an abject denial of the impact, the humanitarian impact, of the war, the huge displacement within Iraq of up to 1.9 million people who are homeless because of the war, and those people who are homeless and never got back to the homes after Saddam Hussein was overthrown."
There's a need for governments to come in and address the health, the education, all the needs
Peter KesslerUNHCR spokesman

Exiles in deportation fear
Doors close on fleeing Iraqis

Many of the refugees need considerable support, and about a quarter of them are children who need education.
Many need food and healthcare, some need counselling because of the violence they have experienced or witnessed, while others need jobs.
"There's a need for governments to come in and address the health, the education, all the needs," Mr Kessler said.
"Food aid needs as well are becoming vital because the population is becoming further and further impoverished since they cannot work.
"So clearly in every area, there's a need to support what the main host governments are doing and then to gird ourselves for what could be, if the war is prolonged, an increasing movement further westwards."
Displaced inside Iraq
On top of that, almost two million more people are displaced inside Iraq - people who have fled their homes to escape the violence.

Jordan has an interest in stopping Iraq from disintegration, for fear that the already high number of refugees going to Jordan will increase substantially.

Iraq neighbours' interests

That number, too, is steadily growing, the UN says, with some provinces feeling overwhelmed and attempting to close their boundaries to refugees from other areas.
Many Sunni Arab and Shia people have been forced to flee from mixed areas to districts where their respective communities are in the majority.
A number of Arab Iraqis have moved to the autonomous Kurdish area in the north, where the security problems are less severe.
Most of the people killed in Iraq's violence are men.
Their deaths leave households headed by women who struggle to survive the loss of the main breadwinner, says the BBC's Jill McGivering.
The public distribution system within Iraq is no longer providing a safety net for these people in the way it used to. .
All these factors encourage the flow of people into other countries.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'CRACKDOWN' ON ZIMBABWE ACTIVISTS !

MDC official Sekai Holland is one of those allegedly beaten by police. Zimbabwe's opposition says there has been a sharp escalation in violence against activists across the country.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has accused the authorities of carrying out arbitrary arrests.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai also told a UK newspaper that President Robert Mugabe was now using "hit squads" to crack down on the group's members.
Scores of activists were arrested and allegedly assaulted after police broke up a rally just over a week ago.
Four senior MDC officials were prevented from leaving the country, some to seek treatment for injuries they say were sustained in police custody.
The police accuse the MDC of starting the violence - which it strongly denies - and say the travel ban is necessary because some activists may face charges.
'Badly beaten'
On Monday, Zimbabwe's foreign minister warned foreign diplomats that the government would not hesitate to expel them from the country if they gave any support to opposition activists.
Meanwhile in Brussels, a senior European Union politician said officials from Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party should be banned from attending planned meetings of EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) officials later this week.

Mr Tsvangirai says activists across the country are being targeted. "It is clear that the participation of Zanu-PF delegates in the ACP-EU meeting would send a terrible signal," said Glenys Kinnock, co-chair of the EU-ACP group.
MDC spokesman, MP Nelson Chamisa, said he was severely beaten on Sunday as he tried to leave the country to travel to the meeting.
But the Zanu-PF delegation has arrived in Belgium.
A statement issued on behalf of Mr Tsvangirai says that groups of youths from Zanu-PF and officials of the Central Intelligence Organisation have been targeting known MDC activists.
Those targeted have been taken into custody and assaulted, but none have been charged or brought to court, the statement says.
It claims another 35 MDC members - on top of the 50 injured when police broke up the rally nine days ago - have been taken to hospital with fractures and severe bruising.
Mr Tsvangirai's spokesman William Bango told the BBC that six had gunshot wounds.
The MDC argues this bears the hallmark of a deliberate attempt to crush all legitimate resistance to the government, the BBC's Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says.
'Flat lie'
In an interview for the UK's Daily Telegraph, Mr Tsvangirai - who needed stitches in a head wound after he was arrested - said the authorities' crackdown on MDC members had become much more focused.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Wake up Mr Blair, wake up Mr Bush! Everyone knows your stance: 'There is not much we can do but condemm what is happening'
Arl Parma, Leicester
Send us your comments
"Instead of random beatings at police stations, [Mugabe] is now using hit squads, unidentified men, unidentified vehicles," he told the paper.
"But we know there are units of state agents that have been given this assignment."
He said the violence was "coming directly from Mugabe".
But Security Minister Didymus Mutasa denied the allegations, saying they were "a flat lie".
Mr Mugabe has said Western critics should "go hang".
More than 80% of Zimbabweans are living in poverty, with chronic unemployment and inflation running at more than 1,700% - the highest in the world.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S.LEONE HONOURS AFRICA SLAVE CAMPAIGNERS!

S Leone honours Africa slave campaigners
By Yvonne Ndege-Burke and Mohammed Fajah-Barrie BBC Africa Have Your Say, Freetown.

Howe will be called John Ezzidio after the slave who become mayor. As the UK marks 200 years since it abolished the slave trade, Sierra Leone has decided to purge its capital, Freetown, of streets named after the British and replace them with the names of Africans who fought in the abolition movement.
Freetown, as its name implies, was founded in 1787 as a home for freed slaves and many residents have welcomed the move to recognise African heroes on its streets.
"Since the British came and went, they have done nothing for us after slavery. All their names are on the streets. You come into Freetown you see them, the only street with an African name is Siaka Stevens street," says resident Sammy Conteh.
Readdressing history
Mohamed Bobson-Kamara, chairman of the city's planning committee for the bicentenary, says the role of black abolitionists has been greatly underplayed.
AFRICAN ABOLITIONISTS

Thomas Peters - ex-slave, who helped Wilberforce found Sierra Leone as colony for freed slaves
Sengeh Pieh - led revolt on slave ship, Amistad
Olaudah Equiano - ex-slave, some believe helped abolition movement
John Ezzidio - ex-slave who became Freetown mayor
He hopes this will be partly rectified by changing the street names.
Percival Street will become Thomas Peters Street in remembrance of the slave who was taken to America from somewhere along the West African coast.
It is believed Thomas Peters fought on the side of the British during the American Revolution and ended up in the UK, where he went on to work with the white abolitionists, William Wilberforce and Granville Sharp to establish a colony in Africa for freed slaves - which is now Sierra Leone.
Mr Peters was honoured by the government of Sierra Leone in 1998.
Charlotte Street will be renamed Sengeh Pieh in memory of the African slave who led a revolt on the Amistad, a slave ship, in 1839 as it sailed to America.
Likewise, Waterloo Street will take Olaudah Equiano's name.
Nigerian by birth, Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped into slavery in 1756. Some historians credit him with being one of architects of the UK's abolitionist movement.
Suffering
The city's mayor Winstanley Bankole Johnson explains: "These names are the names of Africans that were directly connected with the history of slavery.
"It is for us to know where we are coming from. It is people like us who have to bring the names of black abolitionists to the fore. I think their whole effort has been obscured in the process of writing history. We want to take this opportunity to give credit where credit was due."
AFRICA HAVE YOUR SAY

I am a descendent of African slaves, and proud of my heritage of endurance and perseverance against all odds
Brian, Washington DC
Send us your comments
The Bicentenary of the Abolition of Slavery Act, which banned slavery in the British Empire, is 25 March 2007.
The UK intends to spend £20m to mark the occasion.
But Freetown mayor Winstanley Bankole Johnson is critical of the amount of money being spent and wants the UK to re-think its plans.
"I would rather they did not spend those millions of pounds, where the impact would be far less felt.
"I would rather they focus their attention in countries in Africa that suffered and experienced the worst effects of slavery, particularly in the west coast of Africa. The economy of this region was comprehensively devastated.
"What better way to celebrate than to make people see that the suffering of their ancestors was not in vain?"

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FROM HOPE TO DESPAIR IN BAGHDAD !

From hope to despair in Baghdad.
By John Simpson BBC World Affairs Editor

In Baghdad, the most common sound you hear in the streets today is the insistent racket of small private generators.
The most common sight, apart from police and army roadblocks, are the black banners on walls and fences announcing people's deaths.

Iraqi commandos and US military advisors now patrol Haifa StreetAnd the most common feeling you come across is a kind of slow-burning, gloomy anger.
These things represent a major failure of the hopes and expectations which many Iraqis entertained four years ago.
The generators are there because the Americans and successive Iraqi governments have failed to sort out the power situation. And the deaths happen because they have not established peace here.
'They will help us'
It is easy to forget how high the expectations once were.
"I don't like the feeling that my country has been invaded," a shopkeeper in Haifa Street told me, a day or so after the fall of Baghdad.
"But thanks to God that it is the Americans who have done this. They are the richest country on earth. They will help us."
But they did not. They did not even protect the ministries and public buildings and museums from being looted.
We filmed as people shouted "Do something!" at an American soldier, while thieves were running out with valuable medical equipment from the hospital behind us. He just shrugged his shoulders and turned away.
Iraqis were infuriated by the gross mismanagement and open theft that American contractors and Iraqi politicians carried out in the first year after the invasion.
They had little but contempt for the feeble administration of Paul Bremer, the American proconsul whose only previous senior job had been as US ambassador to the Netherlands.
Then and now
When I went to see the shopkeeper in Haifa Street in May 2003, I walked there on my own.
There was the occasional rattle of small-arms fire, and groups of people sometimes looked at me angrily. But I did not feel my life was in any kind of danger.

Baghdad hospitals routinely deal with those injured in suicide attacks
A couple of days ago I went back to Haifa Street. It has recently been the scene of a series of battles, with Sunni gunmen being winkled out of their positions by the Americans and the Iraqi army.
It is difficult for an unarmed Westerner to go there now, and I had to travel in an unmarked van with dark curtains at the windows and two British security men to protect me.
The shopkeeper I had met four years before had long gone. There was no-one to ask: all the other shops in the row had closed down as well.
Early next day, I went to film at a big city hospital. During the hour I was there, six bodies, found in the streets that morning, were brought in. All had obviously been tortured, and one had had his feet sawn off. It was just a normal morning.
After Baghdad fell, I would satellite reports back to London about attacks in which one or two people were killed. It was big news in those days. Last Thursday, a bomb exploded near the end of the street in central Baghdad where the BBC has its office. Eight people were killed and 25 injured, and we had rather good pictures of it.
But I did not ring London to offer a report about it. To get on the news, or the front page of the newspapers nowadays, a lot of people have to die. I would say the current figure is 60 or 70; and it certainly wouldn't be the lead.
This is not because editors do not care; it is because it happens so often it scarcely seems like news.
Cynicism and anger
After four years of occupation, this is a dangerous, callous, frightened, anxious city.
Its people are wearily sceptical about the current dip in violence which the current American troop "surge" seems to have brought.

Two separate bombs in Baghdad killed at least 10 on Thursday They mostly believe that the various warring militia will keep their heads down while the surge lasts, then come out again when the Americans have left.
But cynicism and anger are not the only emotions.
At the hospital I visited, I interviewed a vascular surgeon who had succeeding in patching up a young girl's arm after a bomb attack.
"You must get sick of all this," I said. "Are you tempted to leave the country, like so many of your colleagues have?"
"No," he answered, "Even if I knew I was going to be killed tomorrow, I would stay here. It's my duty."
One day, that kind of attitude will turn this back into a vibrant, effective country again. But it will not happen for a while.

BBC NEW REPORT.

KIDNAPPING IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA !

Two foreign workers and their Nigerian colleague have been kidnapped in the south-eastern Nigerian Anambra State, police say.
The workers were taken on Saturday and are thought to be Chinese or Korean.
The seizures of foreigners are the first outside the oil-rich Delta, where dozens have been taken and then released after ransoms are paid.
No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings - the second in the town of Nnewi in less than two months.
Chinese Embassy officials in Abuja said they were not aware of any of their nationals being kidnapped.
A local reporter in Awka, the Anambra state capital, said that the kidnapped Asians were members of a team of about 40 foreigners building a car assembly plant in Nnewi.
Massob
The police say the separatist group, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob), might be behind the kidnappings.
The police also say Massob members may have received some assistance from militant groups in the nearby Niger Delta creeks.
In January, a wealthy local businessman Pius Ogbuawa was kidnapped in the town by a group which called itself the Biafran Soldiers.
He was released after a ransom was paid.
It is the first time foreign workers have been kidnapped in the south-eastern Nigerian state
All the previous kidnappings had taken place in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
"They've seen what the boys in the Niger Delta are doing and they are copying from them," Anambra state police commissioner John Haruna told AP news agency.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE 'RESPOSIBLE' FOR ATTACKS

Chamisa said unidentified men hit him and ran.

Chamisa on attack

The United States has said it holds Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe "personally responsible" for the recent attacks on opposition figures.
MP Nelson Chamisa said he was severely beaten by unknown men at Harare airport on Sunday as he tried to leave, while scores were beaten last week.
Two of those were prevented from leaving the country to seek medical treatment for their injuries.
President Mugabe has said his western critics can "go hang".
He blames the violence on the opposition, who he says are backed by western countries opposed to his rule.
This is strongly denied by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), whose leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he was severely assaulted by police after being arrested a week ago.
There is no security. There is no protection. All of us are at risk
Nelson ChamisaMDC spokesman
"We hold President Mugabe personally responsible for these actions, and call on him to allow all Zimbabweans the right to live without fear and to fully participate in the political process," said US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
Earlier, the African Union urged Harare to respect human rights in the country.
In a statement, the pan-African body also called for a "constructive dialogue" to resolve Zimbabwe's deepening crisis.
'Arbitrary act'
Mr Chamisa, an MDC spokesman, had been on his way to attend an Africa Caribbean Pacific-EU meeting in Belgium.
He said he had been approached by unidentified men as he got out of his car outside the departures' hall at Harare Airport.

'Zimbabwe is still working'

"I was suddenly surrounded by, I think, about eight men," he said later.
"One wore a green t-shirt. The other ones had suits. Then I was hit, I think about three times... Then I fell to the ground."
Mr Chamisa said he had seen his attackers running off towards two vehicles without registration plates.
He has now been admitted to hospital in Harare where his doctor says he has a fractured skull.
"There is no security. There is no protection. All of us are at risk," Mr Chamisa said.
Arthur Mutambara, the leader of one of the factions of the MDC, was re-arrested on Saturday.
Senior MDC officials Grace Kwinje and Sekai Holland tried to go to South Africa to receive specialist treatment on Saturday evening, Tafadzwa Mugabe, a lawyer who accompanied them, told the BBC's World Today programme.
They were among a number of activists who say they were beaten while in police custody after being arrested last week.
Tafadzwa Mugabe said all their papers were in order but - just before boarding the flight - the authorities said the two women needed an additional "clearance letter from the ministry of health".
"This was just an arbitrary act," the lawyer said, adding that they would be taking legal action.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has told the BBC's Sunday AM programme that the situation has reached a critical stage.
"Things were bad, things are bad, but I think this crisis has reached the tipping point and we could be seeing the beginning of the end of this dictatorship," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EGYPTIAN MP'S IN PROTEST WALK OUT !

The lawmakers say the changes will undermine basic rights. More than 100 mainly Islamist lawmakers have walked out of Egypt's parliament in protest at constitutional changes they say will stifle opposition.
The government says that the changes will deepen democracy and the rule of law in the country.
But almost a quarter of the 454-member parliament say they are a way for the president to maintain control.
The changes include a ban on the creation of political parties based on religion and sweeping security powers.
'Rights erosion'
"We have decided to boycott these sessions to clear out conscience... and let the National [Democratic] Party bear the responsibility before the people," said Mohammed Saad al-Katatni, head of the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary group.
Egypt's parliament approved the changes in principle on Sunday.
They are expected to be passed by the legislature, dominated by President Hosni Mubarak's governing party, later next week.
The proposals will then be put to a referendum.
The amendments, which include changes to 34 articles of the constitution, will also allow the drafting of a new anti-terrorism law to replace the emergency legislation in place since 1981.
They will ban the establishment of religious parties, allow the adoption of a new election law and do away with the need for judicial supervision of every ballot box.
Basic freedoms
President Mubarak and other government officials say the changes will give a boost to democratic practice in the country.
But the opposition, which includes the illegal but popular Muslim Brotherhood, says the changes will consolidate dictatorship.
They say that watering down judicial supervision of elections will make fraud easier.
They are also deeply uneasy about the wording of the articles on the new anti-terrorism law because it will be possible to bypass the constitutional guarantees protecting basic freedoms.
Human rights group Amnesty International has called the changes the greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RALLY FOR MISSING BBC JOURNALIST !

Johnston has been the BBC's reporter in Gaza for three years.

Johnston in Gaza

Palestinian journalists have rallied outside parliament in Gaza City in support of the BBC's Alan Johnston, who is thought to have been abducted.
They were joined by Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti and the BBC's Middle East bureau chief, Simon Wilson.
Palestinian security officials say Johnston was kidnapped from his car by masked gunmen on Monday.
The BBC says it cannot independently verify these reports.
Efforts to secure Mr Johnston's release have been continuing.
'High regard'
More than 20 journalists gathered to voice their support for Johnston who has been the BBC's Gaza correspondent for three years.
Wilson thanked the Palestinian journalists for their support for Johnston and spoke of the high regard in which they hold him.
"It is clear to us that in Gaza, Alan is regarded as a Gaza journalist foremost and a foreign journalist second."
He again called on anyone with information that could help resolve the situation to come forward.
Reports earlier in the week said Johnston was in good health.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya are those who have called for Johnston's return.
There has been a series of abductions of Westerners in the Gaza Strip where law and order has been a growing problem.
All were eventually released unharmed.
The motives for the abductions were mainly local - unpaid salaries, demands for jobs or the release of jailed family members.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PRESSURE FOR ZIMBABWE CHANGE !

President Mugabe said Western critics of his rule could "go hang" after they blamed him for the mistreatment of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Observers are now asking if this week's events could lead to real change in Zimbabwe.
As BBC News is banned from reporting inside Zimbabwe, Peter Biles has been following developments from Johannesburg:

Morgan Tsvangirai was prepared for a brutal response from the state.

A week ago, we sat in the ballroom of a luxury hotel in Johannesburg. It was the annual dinner of the Foreign Correspondents' Association, and almost everyone from our Southern Africa press corps was there.
For the guest of honour was Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change.
Over the course of an hour or so, he gave us his assessment of the current situation in Zimbabwe.
There was a need, he said, to confront Robert Mugabe's dictatorship on the streets. Mr Tsvangirai made it clear he was prepared for a brutal response from the state, for the banning of meetings, and for arrests.
"We've been to jail in the past," he pointed out.
Less than 48 hours later, Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens of other activists were once again in police custody. And they were severely beaten in the process.
The man who limped into court in Harare on Monday, with a serious head injury and his face heavily swollen, looked nothing like the confident figure who had sparred with the press, here in Johannesburg, a couple of days earlier.
Shocking picture

Sixty-four-year-old Sekai Holland suffered a fractured arm, leg and ribs.
As the battered MDC activists were treated in hospital, one of our local papers published a truly shocking picture on its front page, of Sekai Holland, a founding member of the Zimbabwean opposition.
She is a roving ambassador for the MDC and I have met her on numerous occasions at international gatherings.
This week's photograph - captioned "Mugabe's Dirty Work" - showed Sekai Holland lying in her hospital bed with her nightdress pulled up, to reveal massive bruising on her thighs.
Her arm was in plaster and her eyes closed. She looked unconscious.
It is thought she was beaten more severely because she was originally a member of the ruling party - Zanu PF - and defected to the MDC.
These are, of course, images that the Zimbabwean government would prefer the world not to see. The authorities have made it as difficult as possible for us to report on Zimbabwe in recent years.
Mugabe's 'axis of evil'
I last went to Harare in the winter of 2001, just a few weeks before BBC News was officially barred from entering the country.
We had gone to report on the death of the man known as Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi, the leader of the War Veterans' Association who had led the seizure of white-owned farms a year earlier.
He had died suddenly and was given a funeral at Heroes' Acre in Harare.
It was the day after Tony Blair's first re-election as prime minister, and President Mugabe used the occasion to rant about his axis of evil: Britain, Blair and the BBC.
It may take a lot more than opposition protests before Zimbabwe enters the post-Mugabe era
A while later, we found ourselves reporting from one of the most beautiful places in the country: the Mana Pools National Park, on the banks of the Zambezi.
Here, at least, one could quietly forget about Zimbabwe's woes and enjoy a rare event: a total eclipse of the sun.
But the recent death of "Hitler" Hunzvi was still on my mind and I asked the white safari operator what the reaction of local white farmers had been when they had first heard the news.
His response was entirely predictable: "Jeez, man, we finished the beers before lunch that day."
These days, there is not much to laugh about in Zimbabwe.
The nation is on its knees. Inflation is running at 1,700%. There is said to be 80% unemployment, and most people are unable to buy even the most basic goods.
The state health service has collapsed. Doctors and nurses have been on strike and people are leaving the country in huge numbers.
Many Zimbabweans end up here in South Africa.
There are thought to be about three million of them. And that is not good news for the government in Pretoria.
No country can satisfactorily absorb an influx on this scale.
Border crossing
A few months back, I watched the daily routine on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border at Beit Bridge.
Desperate Zimbabweans swim the crocodile-infested Limpopo River and then worm their way under the border fence, before crossing nearby game farms.

If they get caught by the police, they are sent back to Zimbabwe immediately. If not, they gravitate towards the big cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg.
After the violent attacks on the opposition in Zimbabwe, the South African government has at last spoken out about the crisis, calling on the Zimbabwean authorities to respect the rule of law.
The statement from Zimbabwe's most powerful neighbour was long overdue.
But South Africa is treading carefully. It does not want to trigger an even bigger exodus of Zimbabweans.
And whether Robert Mugabe is listening is another matter.
He is set on remaining in power, while those closest to him in the ruling party bicker about how to manage the succession.
The problem is that no-one can reliably predict whether this is the beginning of the end-game for President Mugabe, after 27 years in power.
The security forces remain loyal to him, and it may take a lot more than opposition protests before Zimbabwe enters the post-Mugabe era.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 17 March, 2007 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

"MAKE HIM CRY" !

Dear Family and Friends,

This week the country came to a virtual stand still when we learned that a large number of the top leaders of civic society and opposition groups had been arrested. Everyone, everywhere was talking about it and the world began watching us again. It was then with shock and outrage that we saw the first grisly pictures of men and women covered in blood, bruises and wounds getting off a huge open Police lorry outside the Harare courts two days later. Now the details have begun to emerge and the statements are being made by the victims of how they were brutally assaulted whilst in Police custody. The quotes from those that were involved tell this story better than any letter or newspaper report.

An MDC youth activist, Gift Tandare was shot and killed by the police. A friend went to visit his family and said: "We arrived at their humble little home to find mourners grieving for this senseless and brutal loss. It was heart wrenching and humbling to share their grief."

Hours later two men were shot by Police at the Tandare home where they had gone to pay their respects. The same friend wrote again: "When I arrived at the hospital Dickson was in theatre having an emergency operation and the doctors thought they would have to amputate his foot. Their crime is that they were mourning the senseless killing of their friend."

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights described the condition of Grace Kwinjehwhen she came out of Police custody saying: "she was brutally assaulted at Machipisa and lost part of her ear after being assaulted with a metal rod."

When Lovemore Madhuku came out of Police custody the Lawyers said: "He has a broken arm in a cast, bandages over his head and a swollen face from assaults suffered at Machipisa."

A husband recounted what had happened to his wife, Sekai, while she was in police custody: "A woman repeatedly jumped on her with booted feet -fracturing or breaking three of her ribs. Her clothes were covered in blood- both her own and that of others suffering the same brutality." Sekai also had a broken arm, broken leg and cracked knee.

One of Morgan Tsvangirai's bodyguards described what he saw of the assault on the leader of the opposition: "They were beating him and he collapsed. They were going for his head. He didn't scream or shout, he was silent as they beat him, and it made them so angry, they were shouting, - 'we must make him cry'." Throughout the week criticism, condemnation and concern has poured in from around the world. Voices everywhere are raised in outrage and here in Zimbabwe there is a feeling of extreme tension. These are very dark days indeed.

Until next week, with love, cathy

Copyright cathy buckle 17th March2007 http://africantears.netfirms.com My books: "African Tears" and "BeyondTears" are available from: orders@africabookcentre.com

ZIMBABWE STOPS ACTIVISTS LEAVING !

Sekai Holland was badly beaten in police custody, the MDC says. Three leading Zimbabwean opposition members have been prevented from going abroad and one of them was beaten up on his way to the airport, reports say.
Nelson Chamisa was beaten as he tried to leave for Brussels on Sunday to attend a meeting, the opposition said.
Grace Kwinje and Sekai Holland had planned to seek treatment in South Africa for injuries sustained in police custody, their lawyer said.
Earlier, the African Union urged Harare to respect human rights in the country.
In a statement, the pan-African body also called for a "constructive dialogue" to resolve Zimbabwe's deepening crisis.
Western criticism of Robert Mugabe's government intensified after Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was beaten after last Sunday's rally in Harare.
'Arbitrary act'
Mr Chamisa, an MDC spokesman, was "badly beaten this morning whilst he was on his way to the airport by security agents", MDC official William Bango told AFP news agency.

Things were bad, things are bad, but I think this crisis has reached the tipping point and we could be seeing the beginning of the end of this dictatorship
Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC leader

'Zimbabwe is still working'

He had been on his way to attend an Africa Caribbean Pacific-EU meeting in Belgium.
"The security agents have taken his passport, laptop and his luggage," said Mr Bango. "One of his eyes has been badly injured. It's really bad. His head has been severely injured."
Ms Holland and Ms Kwinje tried to go to South Africa to receive specialist treatment on Saturday evening, Tafadzwa Mugabe, a lawyer who accompanied them, told the BBC's World Today programme.
They were among a number of activists beaten while in police custody after being arrested last week.
Tafadzwa Mugabe said all their papers were in order but - just before boarding the flight - the authorities said the two women needed an additional "clearance letter from the ministry of health".
"This was just an arbitrary act," the lawyer said, adding that they would be taking legal action.
He said that the condition of the two women activists remained critical.
He added that Arthur Mutambara - the leader of one faction of the MDC - was also prevented by the police from leaving the country, though he was not seeking medical help.
'Tipping point'
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has told the BBC's Sunday AM programme that the situation has reached a critical stage.
"Well I think that this is a tipping point," he said.
"Things were bad, things are bad, but I think this crisis has reached the tipping point and we could be seeing the beginning of the end of this dictatorship."
President Mugabe has rejected Western criticism and blamed the opposition for instigating the violence.
Mr Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 27 years, but there is increasing discontent over the country's economic crisis.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

A.U. CONCERN AT ZIMBABWE VIOLENCE !

African leaders have been reluctant to criticise Mr Mugabe. The African Union has urged Zimbabwe to respect democratic principles and human rights as the political crisis in the country deepens.
In a statement, the pan-African body also called for a "constructive dialogue" to resolve Zimbabwe's issues.
Western criticism of Robert Mugabe's government was heightened after the main opposition leader was beaten.
But until now African leaders have been reluctant to publicly speak out against Mr Mugabe's regime.
'Resilience'
The statement said the AU commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare had been watching events in Zimbabwe with "great concern".
"He urges all concerned parties to commence a sincere and constructive dialogue in order to resolve the problems facing Zimbabwe," the statement said.

Mr Tsvangirai said Zimbabweans were ready for confrontation.
Meanwhile the authorities in Zimbabwe have stopped two senior opposition officials from leaving the country for medical treatment.
Sekai Holland and Grace Kwinje, from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), were among activists beaten in police custody after being arrested at a political rally in Harare last week.
They were prevented from boarding a flight to South Africa, and are now back in hospital in Harare, under police guard.
The leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was also beaten while in police custody following the rally, left hospital on Friday. Four of his colleagues remain in hospital.
On Saturday Mr Tsvangirai told the BBC said that the people of Zimbabwe were ready to confront Mr Mugabe's government.
"We know that people are resilient in spite of the brutal response by this regime," he said.
"People are determined to confront the regime in any way possible so I'm very positive that the people of Zimbabwe are not going to lie low and submit."
His comments were echoed by fellow MDC leader, Arthur Mutambara, who said that Zimbabweans were ready to drive Mr Mugabe from office.
"If there is going to be any war, this is the time to declare war," he said, adding that they aimed to achieve their goals by "democratic means".
Economic crisis
UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has said she holds Mr Mugabe personally responsible for Mr Tsvangirai's injuries.
The British envoy to the UN called for the Security Council to be briefed on developments in Zimbabwe.

'Zimbabwe is still working'

But South Africa, which holds the council's rotating presidency, has made it clear that the body will take no action against the country.
It maintains the crisis in Zimbabwe is no threat to international peace and security.
Mr Mugabe has rejected the criticism and blamed the opposition for instigating the violence.
Addressing the youth faction of his party on Friday, the 83-year-old threatened to kick out diplomats if they dared to attend opposition meetings.
He also warned his political opponents: "If they do it again, we will bash them again," he said.
Mr Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 27 years, but there is increasing discontent over the country's economic crisis.
More than 80% of Zimbabweans are living in poverty, with chronic unemployment and inflation running at more than 1,700% - the highest in the world.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CAUTION URGED ON CLIMATE 'RISKS'!

Caution urged on climate 'risks'
By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News

Both scientists believe that man's activities are causing global warming. Two leading UK climate researchers say some of their peers are "overplaying" the global warming message and risk confusing the public about the threat.
Professors Paul Hardaker and Chris Collier, both Royal Meteorological Society figures, are voicing their concern at a conference in Oxford.
They say some researchers make claims about possible future impacts that cannot be justified by the science.
The pair believe this damages the credibility of all climate scientists.
Both men are highly respected across the world and hold the mainstream view on climate change - that human activity is the cause.
But they think catastrophism and the "Hollywoodisation" of weather and climate only work to create confusion in the public mind.
They argue for a more sober and reasoned explanation of the uncertainties about possible future changes in the Earth's climate.
I've no doubt that global warming is occurring, but we don't want to undermine that case by crying wolf - Professor Chris Collier.

Q&A: Climate change

As an example, they point to a recent statement from one of the foremost US science bodies - the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The association released a strongly worded statement at its last annual meeting in San Francisco in February which said: "As expected, intensification of droughts, heatwaves, floods, wildfires, and severe storms is occurring, with a mounting toll on vulnerable ecosystems and societies.
"These events are early warning signs of even more devastating damage to come, some of which will be irreversible."
According to Professors Hardaker and Collier, this may well turn out to be true, but convincing evidence to back the claims has not yet emerged.
"It's certainly a very strong statement," Professor Collier told BBC News.
"I suspect it refers to evidence that hurricanes have increased as a result of global warming; but to make the blanket assumption that all extreme events are increasing is a bit too early yet."
'Scientific basis'
A former president of the Royal Meteorological Society, Professor Collier is concerned that the serious message about the real risks posed by global warming could be undermined by making premature claims.
"I think there is a good chance of that," he said. "We must guard against that - it would be very damaging.
"I've no doubt that global warming is occurring, but we don't want to undermine that case by crying wolf."

Chaotic world of climate truth

This view is shared by Professor Hardaker, the society's chief executive.
"Organisations have been guilty of overplaying the message," he says.
"There's no evidence to show we're all due for very short-term devastating impacts as a result of global warming; so I think these statements can be dangerous where you mix in the science with unscientific assumptions."
The AAAS said it would not be commenting directly on the professors' remarks.
"We feel that the recent consensus statement of the AAAS Board of Directors speaks for itself and stands on its own," a spokesperson explained.
"The AAAS Board statement references (at the end), the scientific basis upon which the conclusions are based, including the joint National Academies' statement and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change."
The 'right thing'
Professor Hardaker also believes that overblown statements play into the hands of those who say that scientists are wrong on climate change - that global warming is a myth.
We have to stick to what the science is telling us
Professor Paul Hardaker

Climate change: in graphics

"I think we do have to be careful as scientists not to overstate the case because it does damage the credibility of the many other things that we have greater certainty about," he said.
"We have to stick to what the science is telling us; and I don't think making that sound more sensational, or more sexy, because it gets us more newspaper columns, is the right thing for us to be doing.
"We have to let the science argument win out."
The pair have contributed to a pamphlet called Making Sense of the Weather and Climate, which will be presented on Saturday at the Garden Quadrangle Auditorium at St John's College, Oxford.
The AAAS position on climate can be read on the organisation's website.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

VOTE DUE ON PALESTINIAN CABINET !

Ismail Haniya seems likely to have the Cabinet approved. A new Palestinian unity government formed of members of the rival Fatah and Hamas factions is being presented before parliament in Gaza.
The vote of confidence in the new cabinet of prospective Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas is expected to be a formality.
Palestinians hope there will then be an end to a crippling Western boycott.
The EU and UN have indicated there could be a softening, but Israel says the government is a step backwards.
Finance minister
The parliament opened its session shortly after 1100 local time (0900 GMT) to hear a speech from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also the leader of Fatah.
Mr Haniya was then presenting his planned cabinet and reading a policy speech before the vote of confidence.

Israel has indicated it will deal with only Mahmoud Abbas.
If ratified, the ministers will then be sworn in at Mr Abbas's office.
The Palestinian economy has been badly hit by the international embargo.
It was imposed after the election victory in January last year of Hamas, which rejects international calls for it to recognise Israel and renounce violence.
The BBC's Matthew Price in Jerusalem says the new government contains a cross section of Palestinian parties, including some ministers who recognise Israel.
As a result, he says, UN and EU sources have indicated there will be a softening in their stance towards the government.
The US has also indicated it may leave the door open to some contact with the proposed finance minister.
Salam Fayyad is a Western-backed economist who is thought to be respected by the Bush administration.
One US official said Washington would not deal with him officially but might consider unofficial contacts.
Israel, however, said it would shun the new administration.
Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh said on Friday that Israel should try to deal with only Mr Abbas as a means to "drive Hamas out of power".
Increasing lawlessness
Although there have been signs of a softening in the international stance towards the new government, particularly by France and Russia, there are no guarantees the international boycott will end.

Clashes between Fatah and Hamas gunmen have left scores dead.
Britain has said it will only have diplomatic contact with non-Hamas members of the government.
The US says the administration must accept Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and conform to past peace deals but has otherwise reserved judgment.
The new administration was forged after several months of fighting between the Hamas and Fatah factions left more than 140 people dead.
Saturday's vote comes amid increasing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip.
There has been a series of abductions over recent months of Western aid workers and journalists. Intensive efforts are continuing to find missing BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston, who is feared kidnapped.
On Friday, Palestinian gunmen fired on a vehicle transporting UN aid official John Ging in the northern Gaza Strip.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FARMERS AND MARXISTS AT LOGGERHEADS !

Farmers and Marxists at loggerheads
By Subir Bhaumik BBC News, Calcutta.

Marxists are believed to be have pushed for action in Nandigram. When West Bengal police opened fire on Wednesday against protesters in Nandigram it was not the first case of such strong action during the 30 years of Communist rule in West Bengal.
At least 14 peasants have died in the firings in Nandigram and more than 70 were wounded.
However, this is the first time that the Communist state government has ordered such massive police action against poor farmers - the backbone of its own political support base in the state, the very people who benefited from the government's land reforms and decentralisation of power.
"In a way, Nandigram may prove to be a fatal stab in their own back for the Marxists ," says analyst Ranabir Sammadar.
He says Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya's "top-down" approach is responsible for the present crisis after the Nandigram deaths.
"Normally the Marxists use their party machinery, trained cadres would fan out to communicate the government's programme, even cajole in some cases, but this time , it was totally top-down. Officials drew up plans and the villagers were told one fine morning your land is being taken away ," said Mr Sammadar.
The chief minister himself admitted that the land acquisition plans at Nandigram were flawed.
'Lawlessness'
"I admit we made mistakes, so if the people of Nandigram are not convinced about the benefits of the chemical hub, we will not force it on them, we will take the project elsewhere in the state," he told reporters recently.

So why did the same chief minister authorise such a huge mobilisation of riot policemen at Nandigram within a week of promising to take the chemical hub project elsewhere?
"Nandigram had descended into lawlessness. The police did not go there to acquire land , they went there to restore administrative control," said Mr Bhattacharya in his statement tabled at the state assembly.
Observers say the real push for the fierce police action at Nandigram came from the local level Marxist leadership.
The ferocity of the peasant protests at Nandigram since January had forced nearly 3,000 Marxist supporters to flee the area .
"This cannot go on, our boys must be able to go home," said Laxman Seth, the local Marxist parliament member.
It was the Haldia Development Authority controlled by Mr Seth which had issued the land acquisition notices at Nandigram for the special economic zone that was to contain a hub for chemical outlets run by Indonesia's Salim group.
'Red terror'
In Left-ruled West Bengal, there have been brief occasions when the Marxist political machine has been overwhelmed by the opposition parties.

Farmers have traditionally been loyal to the Communists.
"The Marxists have always retaliated in great strength to take control of an area slipping out of their hands. The lost ground was regained by red terror backed by a pliant administration," says political analyst Sabyasachi Basu Roy Choudhury.
But he said the party leadership and the armed supporters always took the lead in regaining such lost enclaves - as in the Panskura-Kespur-Garbeta region during the 2001 state assembly elections.
"In Nandigram, the party had lost complete support and all within a year of the land takeover question. So they forced the police to take the lead," said Mr Choudhury.
And the police it is alleged, equipped with automatic, let go whenever they ran into resistance from the peasants at Nandigram, who had killed five Marxist supporters and a police officer during the violence in January.
"There was a complete lack of fire control and professionalism. This is a clear case of massive overkill," said a former senior police official BB Nandi.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

REPORTING PROTESTS IN RURAL CHINA !

Reporting protests in rural China
By James Reynolds BBC News, Zhushan.

In a one-party state, made up of more than a billion people, there is an awful lot to hide.

Several vehicles were burned in the riot.On any given day in China there may be 200 different protests. Most take place in the countryside, where many feel left behind by China's economic boom.
But the Chinese state works hard to make sure that these demonstrations are kept well out of sight.
This week, though, there was an exception.
People in the town of Zhushan, near the city of Yongzhou, in central China's Hunan province, burned buses in a protest against a rise in bus fares.
Riot police were sent in to take control. A camera crew managed to film and broadcast pictures of the aftermath.
We wanted to go and have a look for ourselves.
Security presence
Until last year, there was a clear procedure to follow. We would have needed permission from the local authorities to travel to Zhushan. Once we got there, local officials would have had to accompany us to every interview.
But, in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the Communist Party has decided to relax its rules.
I was scared. My whole body trembled. I ran away holding my baby
Witness to the violence
In theory, foreign journalists no longer need to seek permission from the local authorities in order to visit.
So, I flew with my colleagues to Hunan and we drove straight into the town of Zhushan.
Along the main road, shops and market stalls were open. All evidence of the recent protests had been swept away.
But as we drove on, we saw riot police standing in formation in the grounds of the police station. The station's gates were left open.
A few blocks away, we saw soldiers in green camouflage uniform. A handful were standing over a pot preparing to cook a leg of pork.
We approached a few local people who were happy to talk to us.
They told us that problems began after the Chinese New Year in February when a single bus company took control of all local routes.
They say the company took advantage of its monopoly to double its fares.
One regular passenger told us that fares rose from between five to seven yuan (65-90 US cents) to 15 yuan ($1.90).
Violent clashes
What angered people in Zhushan was the belief that their local officials were colluding with the bus company to raise prices - for a share of the takings.
So, last Friday, parents of secondary school students started to protest against the fare rises.

'Thousands riot' in protest
Security tight in riot town

The protests gained momentum. Four days later, reports say that around 20,000 people took part in demonstrations. Protestors set fire to a number of buses.
At this point riot police moved in to impose order.
"I was scared," said one woman, who did not want to be identified.
"My whole body trembled. I ran away holding my baby. I heard they attacked a pregnant woman. Also they dragged a man off his motorbike to beat him. They didn't care whether or not you were a protester."
Reporter's arrest
Still, the protesters made their point. The bus company was forced to abandon its fare rise.
But it came at a cost. It is reported that dozens of people were injured and that one student was killed, although the Chinese authorities denied there were any deaths.
The police had made their point - this was their town. And we had broken their rules
We tried to check the report of the student's death. One woman insisted that he had not been killed, but his legs had been broken. No-one could give us his name.
Before we could find out any more, several dozen soldiers approached us and told us to stop what we were doing.
They told us the town was under military control and we did not have permission to stay. They called for the local police.
The police decided we should answer questions in the upstairs bedroom of a hotel off the main road.
So we climbed the stairs, sat on the bed and handed over our documents.
Half a dozen officers watched over us. Several had video cameras with them - so our interrogation turned into a kind of photo shoot.
The officers took it in turn to film us as well as each page of our passports.
Then, two senior officers came in. The room went quiet.
"You need a certificate of permission to be in this town," said one of them as he sifted through the passports.
Then he paused and looked up to make his point. "Do you have such a certificate?"
"No, we don't," I replied.
"This is not Britain or the United States," he warned. "This is China."
We told him of the new decree that allowed foreign journalists to travel anywhere in China without permission.
"That's only for Olympics-related stories," he said. Then he paused again. "And I don't think you are here for the Olympics."
He looked down at the passports once more. Outside, it was beginning to get dark. In the hallway, officers discussed the idea of watching us overnight.
We prepared for a long stay. But then, they told us we could go. We were escorted to our car. Slightly bizarrely, the police officers stood by the side of the road and waved us off.
They had made their point - this was their town. And we had broken their rules.
We left Zhushan. We never did get to find out the name of the teenage boy who may or may not have been killed in the protests.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE THREATENS TO EXPEL ENVOYS !

Mugabe threatens to expel envoys.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has threatened to expel Western diplomats whom he accuses of supporting the political opposition.
The veteran leader said diplomats who wanted to represent their countries had to "behave properly" or they would be thrown out.
His government has faced criticism after opposition activists who tried to stage a rally in Harare were beaten.
But the authorities say opposition protesters caused the violence.

BBC NEWS REPORT..