GUANTANAMO SAUDI 'KILLS HIMSELF' !

About 380 prisoners are held at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay. A Saudi Arabian prisoner has died in an apparent suicide at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the US military has said.
A statement by the US Southern Command said the inmate was found unresponsive and not breathing by guards, and attempts to revive him failed.
Two Saudis and a Yemeni prisoner were found hanged in an apparent suicide at the camp in June last year.
There are about 380 prisoners at the camp, some held for five years.
'Appropriate care'
There were no details as to how the prisoner died. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has begun an inquiry into the incident.
You have five-and-a-half years of desperation there with no legal way out -Michael RatnerUS Center for Constitutional Rights.
"The detainee was found unresponsive and not breathing in his cell by guards," the statement said.
"The detainee was pronounced dead by a physician after all lifesaving measures had been exhausted."
A cultural adviser was working with the military to ensure that the prisoner's remains were handled "in a culturally sensitive and religiously appropriate manner", Southern Command said.
The president of the US Center for Constitutional Rights, Michael Ratner, told the Associated Press news agency the death was likely an act of desperation.
"You have five-and-a-half years of desperation there with no legal way out," Mr Ratner said.
'Unfair' trials
The death came just days before two detainees - Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni, and Omar Khadr, a Canadian - were due to face trial before a US military tribunal on charges of war crimes.

Q&A: US military tribunals

On Wednesday, Mr Khadr fired his American lawyers, leaving him without representation for Monday's hearing.
Mr Khadr's former lawyer, Marine Lt Col Colby Vokey, said his former client was being held under a process that was "patently unfair".
"He doesn't trust American lawyers, and I don't particularly blame him," Lt Col Vokey said.
Mr Hamdan won a landmark case last year when the US Supreme Court ruled the military tribunal system illegal.
The decision forced US President George W Bush to return to Congress to authorise the tribunals.
Inmates at the Guantanamo Bay facility are not protected by the Geneva Conventions covering prisoners of war, the US says, as it describes them as "unlawful enemy combatants".

NIGERIA MILITANTS SET CONDITIONS !

The militants' activities have led a 25% cut in oil production. The main militant group in Nigeria's Niger Delta says it is willing to stop its violent campaign only if the new government frees its jailed kinsmen.
Newly sworn-in President Umaru Yar'Adua has said the crisis in the oil-rich region will be his priority and has called for a ceasefire.
But the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said he must show "genuine willingness" for dialogue.
The government must prepare for more violence if it fails to act, Mend said.
The militants have waged a sabotage campaign for more than a year in the under-developed region, including kidnapping dozens of foreign oil workers.
The activities of the militants have led to a more than 25% cut in oil production.
Criminal gangs in the region have used similar tactics to obtain ransoms for the release of captives.
Standing firm
Mend said that people were tired of words and wanted urgent action to end their impoverishment.

The shadowy militants in Nigeria's Delta

"Only time will tell if Mr Yar'Adua is not just another politician," Mend leader Jomo Gbomo said in an email to the media.
"The most important requirement of the Niger Delta people is justice. Genuine negotiations towards a just resolution are sufficient hope for the people of the Delta."
The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura in the Niger Delta says the militants want to make it clear to Mr Yar'Adua that they are standing firm.
Mend militants have always demanded the release of a militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who is charged with treason, and former Bayelsa State governor Diepreye Alamieseigha, who standing trial for alleged money laundering.
Analysts say putting an end to the Niger Delta violence will be a slow and frustrating as hostage taking has become a very profitable business and the proliferation of arms in the region all combine to make the militants very powerful.
Although Mend appears to be the most prominent militant group in the region, analysts say there are other copycat criminal gangs that may not be interested in negotiations with the government.
Some of the militants are also believed to be involved in "bunkering", a term used to describe the breaking of pipelines and stealing fuel which is then sold illegally.
Insiders say it would be difficult for the militants to willingly give up this lucrative lifestyle.
Although Nigeria's oil money comes from the Niger Delta, the majority of the region's people remain deeply impoverished.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and fifth largest supplier of crude to the US.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

S.A. WORKER REJECT WAGE INCREASE !

South Africa's unions want a 12% wage increase. Wage negotiations between the South Africa government and trade unions have broken down and mass action is planned, the country's main union group says.
The government improved its offer to a 6.5% rise, but the Congress of South African Trade Unions is demanding 12%.
It says more than 1m workers, including police, nurses and teachers, will go on indefinite strike from Friday.
Last week, tens of thousands of workers marched through cities demanding a pay rise bringing services to a standstill.
The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says the government improved its offer by 0.5%, to 6.5%, but employees vehemently refused to accept it and talks broke down.
The labour federation called on the government to drastically revise its offer, contradicting a statement made by the Public Service Minister, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, that there had been a breakthrough in the negotiations.
Our correspondent says that union leaders have announced that even if a wage deal is struck before Friday - the rolling mass action will still commence on the set date.
This follows public servants promising to intensify their industrial action - bringing the South African government to its knees.

BBC NEWS REPORT

UGANDA ANGER AT PHONE TAP MOVE !

Security agencies have been accused of illegal phone tapping. The opposition in Uganda has condemned a government move to legalise phone tapping by the security agencies.
The bill, which is to be tabled before parliament, seeks to allow the lawful interception and monitoring of communication in Uganda.
The Uganda People's Congress (UPC) party claims the move is intended to suffocate the opposition.
Relations between the government and the opposition have been acrimonious following disputed polls in 2006.
?It is a bad thing to entrench telephone tapping into our laws. It will jeopardise people's freedom,? UPC youth leader Benson Obua-Ogwal said during a press briefing.
Security Minister Amama Mbabazi presented the draft bill to a ruling party meeting where the government was canvassing MPs to ensure the bill sails through parliament.
President Yoweri Museveni, who was at the meeting, said that the bill was intended to monitor communication between suspected terrorists.
It would also protect the country from criminals such as Lord's Resistance Army rebel leader Joseph Kony, he said.
The bill, which has cabinet approval, also seeks to legalise the interception and monitoring of postal letters and money transfers.
Correspondents say security agencies in the country have been accused of illegally tapping the phones of prominent opposition leaders in the past.
Mr Mbabazi said the bill would reinforce the provisions of the anti-terrorism act.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DEATH AT SPECTOR HOUSE 'HOMICIDE' !

US actress Lana Clarkson's death was a homicide, a coroner has told the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector.
Dr Louis Pena said bruising suggested the barrel of a gun may have been forced into Ms Clarkson's mouth before she was fatally shot in 2003.
Ms Clarkson was a hopeful person with no history of depression or suicide attempts, he told the court.
Mr Spector, 67, is accused of killing Ms Clarkson at his Hollywood mansion. The defence says she shot herself.
It says she placed the gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger.
'Blunt-force trauma'
Dr Pena also told the court that there were bruises on Ms Clarkson's right arm and wrist but could not confirm the cause of the marks.
Referring to the bruise on her tongue, he said it was "very unique and is consistent with blunt-force trauma. Something struck the tongue".
Dr Pena said there was no evidence that Ms Clarkson had been preparing to kill herself and that she died with a purse on one shoulder, which, he said, was not typical of a suicide.
"I found her to be a hopeful person from the notes I read," he said.
Ms Clarkson had been taking two drugs generally given for depression at the time of her death, but her neurologist had prescribed them for her chronic headaches, Dr Pena said.

Lawyers for Mr Spector say Clarkson killed herself. In cross-examination, Mr Spector's lawyer Christopher Plourd sought to show that the coroner had relied heavily on the work of others in analysing the forensic evidence.
Dr Pena conceded he was not an expert in gunshot residue or blood spatter and acknowledged he consulted textbooks in coming to his conclusions.
Mr Spector pioneered the "Wall of Sound" recording technique in the 60s, working with stars such as The Beatles, Tina Turner and The Righteous Brothers.
He is accused of killing is Ms Clarkson, 40, on 3 February 2003, hours after meeting her at the Sunset Strip nightclub House of Blues where she worked.
If convicted, Mr Spector faces between 15 years and life in prison.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FIRM SUED OVER SECRET CIA FLIGHTS !

The CIA is believed to have flown more than 1,000 flights over Europe. A US civil liberties group is suing a subsidiary of Boeing for allegedly helping the CIA fly suspects to secret overseas jails where they were abused.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed the lawsuit against Jeppesen Dataplan on behalf of three men allegedly abducted by the CIA.
The Bush administration acknowledges its policy of "extraordinary rendition" but denies any suspect is tortured.
Jeppesen has said it cannot confirm whether or not the CIA is a customer.
A spokesman for the Colorado-based firm told the BBC News website: "We have thousands of customers who fly tens of thousands of flights every day and with each one of them they have a reasonable expectation that their operations will be kept confidential."
A report approved by a European Parliament committee earlier this year said more than 1,000 covert CIA flights had crossed European airspace or stopped at European airports in the four years after the 9/11 attacks.
'Main provider'
The ACLU's lawsuit, filed in California, accuses Jeppesen of knowingly providing direct flight services to the CIA that enabled the clandestine transfer of the three suspects to foreign prisons.
The cases involve the alleged abuse of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen currently held in Guantanamo Bay; Elkassim Britel, an Italian citizen now held in Morocco; and Ahmed Agiza, an Egyptian citizen taken from Sweden to Egypt where he remains in jail, the ACLU says.
American corporations should not be profiting from a CIA rendition programme that is unlawful and contrary to core American values
Anthony Romero, ACLUIt claims Jeppesen, through the travel service provided by Jeppesen International Trip Planning, has been a "main provider of flight and logistical support services for aircraft used by the CIA in the US government's extraordinary rendition programme".
These services include preparing route, weather and fuelling plans for flight crews, gaining over-flight and landing permits, and facilitating customs clearance, the ACLU says, as well as providing security for crews and aircraft.
Since December 2001, Jeppesen has provided flight and logistical support to a total of 70 rendition flights made by at least 15 aircraft, it concludes.
"American corporations should not be profiting from a CIA rendition programme that is unlawful and contrary to core American values," Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement.
The US administration has faced criticism from legal experts and human rights activists over its policy on detentions of terrorism suspects.
US President George Bush admitted in September 2006 that terror suspects had been held in CIA-run prisons overseas, but he did not say where the prisons were located.
He said no detainees were now held under the CIA programme and that the CIA treated detainees humanely.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BLAIR ATTACKS AFRICA TRIP CRITICS !

What is Blair's Africa legacy?

Prime Minister Tony Blair has attacked UK critics of his week-long trip to Africa, after receiving a warm welcome on his arrival in Sierra Leone.
Mr Blair's trip, just before he steps down as PM, has been dubbed a "vanity tour" by some UK newspapers.
But Mr Blair said: "The one thing I have come to despise more than anything else in my 10 years is cynicism".
He said there had been real progress in Sierra Leone where he sent peacekeeping troops during his first term of office.
The move made him a popular figure in the West African state, as it proved decisive in preventing rebels from taking over.
Paramount chief
He is due to be made a paramount chief later - a mark of respect in the country - during a ceremony in the village of Mahera.
Speaking after talks with the country's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Mr Blair said: "However ferocious the challenges are in this part of Africa it's better to intervene and try to make a difference than stay out and try to cope with the consequences at a later time."
All I'm saying to cynics back home is if we care it might make a difference -Tony Blair.
Asked about criticism of his visit, Mr Blair said just a few years ago Sierra Leone had been in danger of being taken over by gangsters - while today it was approaching elections.
"I don't say that is perfection, but I say it's a darned sight better than it was before," he said.
"All I'm saying to cynics back home is if we care it might make a difference and making a difference is what politics should be about."
Corruption problem
During his visit he saw a display by the new army and police force. British troops have led efforts to rebuild the national army since 2000.
Sierra Leone is expected to hold presidential elections in August - the first poll since UN peacekeepers left in 2005.
It is now stable but it remains desperately poor and high levels of corruption are a major problem.

Mr Blair inspected a guard of honour at Lungi airport.
Many people would like to see donor countries like Britain put more pressure on the government of Sierra Leone to ensure aid reaches the people who need it.
Asked by local reporters about allegations of poor governance in Sierra Leone, Mr Blair admitted development was "painfully slow" but said he was sure President Kabbah would do everything he could to make the forthcoming elections free and fair.
The prime minister had said he hoped his tour would help to focus attention on Africa and climate change in the run-up to the G8 summit.
I'm really sorry I couldn't come to Freetown but I say to you, next time I come back I will certainly come to Freetown and other parts of the country
Mr Blair on local radio
He is also calling for a strengthened African Union peacekeeping force, to intervene in the continent's conflicts, backed by a £25m reserve fund from the EU.
He added: "Yes it's Africa's responsibility for peacekeeping, but we in the West have a responsibility to fund it, to help to train the force and with logistics. If we do not do that, the impact is faced not just here but in the wider world."
He also apologised for not visiting Freetown - which is a helicopter trip away from Lungi airport - which left some residents of the capital disappointed.
He told a local radio station: "I'm really sorry I couldn't come to Freetown but I say to you, next time I come back I will certainly come to Freetown and other parts of the country.
"It's just been a little difficult in terms of time today."
On his last major tour before he steps down as prime minister at the end of June, Mr Blair has already held talks with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FBI REOPENS FILE ON RACE HATE MURDERS !

FBI reopens file on race hate murders.
By James Coomarasamy BBC News, Louisiana.

MaeVella Moore has never given up hope of finding her husband's killer.
Forty-two years after the event, MaeVella Moore still remembers the tiny details of the night that her husband, Oneal, was killed.
"I was preparing catfish," she told me, in her vibrantly coloured house in the rural Louisiana town of Varnado, "when they called me and said he'd been hurt.
"I went to the hospital and as I got there, I saw his arm flopping over the gurney. And I knew he was dead."
Oneal Moore was one of the first black sheriff's deputies in Louisiana. He had been in the job for a year and a day when shots were fired at his patrol car, from a pick-up truck bearing a confederate flag.
The car crashed into an oak tree at the end of the road where Oneal, MaeVella and their four young daughters lived.
His African-American partner, Creed Rogers, was blinded in one eye. Oneal was killed. He was 34.
'Makes you bitter'
In a room festooned with photos of her late husband, their four daughters, and the grandchildren whom Oneal was destined never to see, MaeVella showed me a scrapbook filled with frayed and fading newspaper cuttings from the time.

Oneal Moore was one of the first black sheriff's deputies in Louisiana.
According to the reports, there was little doubt that the Ku Klux Klan was responsible for the killing, but - despite a handful of arrests - no one was ever convicted. The case of Oneal Moore became just another one of the racially-motivated murders in America's Deep South that went unsolved.
"It's hard to hate when you don't know who to hate," MaeVella, now 71, told me. "It makes you a bitter person."
Soon after the murder she had thought about getting her revenge, by putting a pistol in her handbag and going to a "whites only" day at the local fair. She had planned to wait for someone to say something to her about her husband, then retaliate.
But nothing was said and the gun was never used.
She has remained determined though. She has never moved away from the town and never given up hope of a conviction.
"I'm not going to give up trying to find out who did this to my husband and my children's father," she said. "Some say 'It's 40 years, let it go,' but if my kids' grandchildren have to pick it up, we need to know a name. A true name."
Cold cases
Oneal Moore's case is one of a raft of unsolved murders from that era that the FBI is now re-examining, to see whether there is enough evidence to reopen an investigation.

RACE HATE KILLINGS

Aug 1955: Emmett Till, 14, from Chicago, is murdered and mutilated while on holiday in Money, Mississippi after whistling at a white woman. Two white men were acquitted of murder by an all-white jury.

Jun 1963: NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers murdered in Jackson, Mississippi. White supremacist Byron De La Beckwith was jailed for life in 1994 but died seven years later.

Sep 1963: Four black girls killed in bombing at a church in Birmingham, Alabama. Three men were convicted of murder, the last of them in 2002.

Aug 1964: Three civil rights activists murdered in Mississippi - Edgar Ray Killen convicted of the killings in 2005.

It is a decision that follows a handful of well-publicised convictions, such as that of a former Baptist preacher, Edgar Ray Killen. He was found guilty in Mississippi, two years ago, of the killings of three civil rights workers in 1964. The FBI is also under pressure to act from Congress, which is preparing to draw up legislation that would mandate the FBI to reopen all of these civil rights era cases - and to give an annual progress report.
It will not be easy, though, according to Ken Kaiser, assistant director of criminal investigations at the FBI.
"You go through the state files and you might find they have legitimately destroyed the evidence. Or you'll find that the witnesses are growing old, and in some cases, dying. And then there are those who are still afraid to come forward and give evidence."
Tensions remain
That fear may well exist in Varnado, a sleepy village where, according to local white people such as Clarice Lang Fitzgerald, race relations have not moved on much since the 1960s.
They've changed their white hoods for black suits, white shirts and black ties
MaeVella MooreShe was a young girl at the time of Oneal Moore's killing, living just a few houses from where the shooting took place.
She remembers rushing out and seeing the car with the policeman's body inside.
"People don't really want these cases investigated," she told me
"There is a lot of speculation about who did it, but you'll find it hard to find people who feel remorse for what happened. I think they need to examine the case, for the sake of the family."

Not everyone wants the FBI to reopen civil rights era casesHer next door neighbour disagreed. "It's a waste of taxpayers' money, opening up these cases," he told me. "As far as I know, all the people involved are dead now."
MaeVella is not surprised by such attitudes.
"They've changed their white hoods for black suits, white shirts and black ties," she said, tending the flowers on Oneal's grave.
"They're more respectable, more intelligent, but they still look down on us. I don't understand why it happened. You may not love us, but you don't have to kill us."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NIGERIAN BLOGGERS MOUNT CAMPAIGN !

As Umaru Yar'Adua is ushered in as president of Nigeria, the BBC News website looks at a campaign mounted by Nigerian bloggers to express their disappointment at recent political events and the April elections.
Solomonsydelle on Nigerian Curiosity called on the Nigerian blogosphere to make a statement about Yar'Adua's inauguration.

Vera Ikeji is impressed by Nigeria's first civilian handover of power
"My people, let us join together to show our rulers and leaders that we are watching, that they are accountable to the people and that we will not let them forget."
She drafted "The Nigerian Proclamation" to reflect Nigerians' "disappointment over the recent polls and expressing expectations in the future" and urged bloggers to post it on their blogs on the day of Mr Yar'Adua's inauguration.
Solomonsydelle went on to say that while the proclamation might not achieve immediate change "it gives us all an opportunity to 'do something' and not just watch from the sidelines".
The Nigeria Proclamation reads in part:
"In recent history, Nigerians have been overwhelmingly betrayed by those charged with addressing their needs. Instead of serving the people, public servants have served themselves to the detriment of the masses. The result is a nation lacking adequate infrastructure, organization and security.
"The ineffectiveness of Nigerian leaders indicates a lack of accountability to the constituents. Nigerians are no longer relevant to the leaders, thus, leaders do not feel responsible to them."
'One voice'
Several Nigerian bloggers took up Solomonsydelle's challenge.

A wise man once said that evil triumphs when good men do nothing
Olawunmi
One of them - Omodudu - describes himself as "an economist with Nigeria on the brain".
He praises Solomonsydelle's initiative as "a one of a kind opportunity for bloggers in the Nigerian blogspace to make a mark" and noted that blogs could one day become a voice for the Nigerian people.
"Let us speak with one voice. Let us make demands," Omodudu implored.
"A wise man once said that evil triumphs when good men do nothing," Olawunmi began a posting on his Silent Storms in an Ocean of One.
Blogging from the UK, Olawunmi confessed that his first reaction to the Nigerian Proclamation was one of scepticism, but he soon realised its value.
"It's not only to call for action, but to remind us (you and I), what is wrong, so that we can watch out for it in future and seize the opportunity to fight it any way we can," he wrote.
"What this statement, this manifesto, represents, is a call for people to be vigilant to their rights as a nation," he said.
"We will achieve nothing if we sit still, if we hang our chins on our shoulders and complain quietly, while our 'leaders' drag our country to hell in a hand-basket."
'Cheating referee'
Not all Nigerian bloggers are supportive of the campaign.
Commenting on Ugo's Nigerian Blogger in Cyprus , Donzman doubts the campaign will achieve much.

Pardon my cynicism, but isn't it a little too late for this?
Chxta
"Pardon my cynicism, but if this rises to the top of Google search, then what? Google will evict Yar'Adua from Aso Rock with missiles painted in the different colours of the rainbow?," poses Donzman - a contributor to Lagos blog!.
"What exactly do you expect to achieve, for Yar'Adua to type 'Nigeria' into his Google search bar, see all the complaints and proceed to pack his bags?"
Chxta of Chxta's World , also commenting on Ugo's blog, suggested that the campaign was coming a bit late in the day.
"Pardon my cynicism, but isn't it a little too late for this? Where were we when the events that led us to this pass were occurring?" Chxta wondered.
"This kind of thing is a little like a football match in which the referee cheated. The best that would happen afterwards is that Fifa would acknowledge that the referee cheated (and maybe suspend the ref), but the result would still stand."
But some bloggers supported Mr Yar'Adua's victory and ascension to the presidency.
Vera Ikeji was elated about Mr Yar'Adua's inauguration.
"Yay!!!!," she exclaimed. "We have a new president.
Some idiots are planning to spend almost a billion naira to swear in an illegitimate government.
Thy Glory O Nigeria!
"The swearing in ceremony was done with all pomp and pageantry. There were some displays and stunts by the Nigerian Police Force." Although Thy Glory O Nigeria! took issue with the cost of the inauguration ceremony, which reports say will come to a some 820m naira ($6.2m).
"Some idiots are planning to spend almost a billion naira to swear in an illegitimate government. Wonders shall never end in Nigeria. This country is run by mad men. This country is obviously sick," the unnamed blogger wrote in a post titled "Nigerian leaders are fools!".
The blogger blames Nigerians for the conduct of politicians.
"One thing is sure, all Nigerians are to blame for this stupid acts played out by the useless leaders and politicians everyday. These politicians are just crazy, they are insane."
The post ends by suggesting that the time has come for Nigerians to take matters into their own hands.
"Nigeria needs nothing short of something similar to the Orange Revolution. The time is over-ripe."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DEATH PENALTY FOR CHINA OFFICIAL !

Zheng Xiaoyu was accused of accepting some $850,000 in bribes. China has sentenced the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration to death after he was convicted of corruption, state media has reported.
Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted on charges of taking bribes and of dereliction of duty, Xinhua news agency reported.
The sentence is unusually harsh for a senior figure, but Zheng could have his sentence reduced to life on appeal.
The verdict came as the government announced plans for the first ever recall system of unsafe food products.
Beijing has been under pressure to act over increasing concern both at home and abroad about the poor standards of Chinese-produced food and medicines.
Name poisoned
State television showed footage of a grey-haired Zhang - who was expelled from the Communist Party earlier this year - appearing in court in Beijing flanked by police officers.
He had been accused by an official investigation last month of accepting more than 6.5m yuan ($850,000) in bribes to approve hundreds of drugs.
One company, Kongliyuan Group, allegedly paid Zhang bribes in return for approving 277 drugs, mostly antibiotics.
Zheng's former secretary, Cao Wenzhuang, also faced trial, accused of accepting bribes.
Thirty-one other people were also alleged to have been involved in the scandal, including Zheng's wife, Liu Naixue, and his son, Zheng Hairong.
Following Zheng's sacking in 2005, the Chinese government announced a review of about 170,000 medical licences that were awarded during his tenure at the agency.
Dozens of people have died in China because of poor quality or fake drugs.
Last year, a sub-standard antibiotic, Xinfu, which was not properly sterilised, caused the deaths of 11 people.
Thirteen babies died of malnutrition in 2005 after being fed powdered milk that contained no nutritional value.
The Chinese government recently announced an urgent review of industry food standards after public alarm over a recent spate of cases.
US inspectors blamed exported Chinese pet food ingredients, contaminated with melamine, for the deaths of cats and dogs in North America.
And they recently halted shipments of toothpaste from China to investigate reports that they may be contaminated with toxic chemicals.
On Tuesday, as Zheng was sentenced, the government said a new recall process targeting "potentially dangerous and unapproved food products" would be brought in by the end of the year.
"All domestic and foreign food producers and distributors will be obliged to follow the system," Wu Jianping, of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, was quoted as saying.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BUSH TOUGHENS SANCTIONS ON SUDAN !

Some two million people have fled their homes in the conflict
The refugee camps

US President George W Bush has announced fresh sanctions against Sudan over the four-year Darfur conflict.
Mr Bush said more Sudanese companies and individuals involved in the violence in Darfur would be barred from trading or banking with the US.
He also said he would push for a new UN Security Council resolution to put more pressure on President Omar al-Bashir.
More than 200,000 people have died in the four-year conflict between rebels and pro-government militias in Darfur.
"For too long the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder and rape of innocent civilians," Mr Bush said.
"My administration has called these actions by their rightful name: genocide.

SANCTIONS ON SUDAN

30 Sudanese firms targeted
Mostly firms in oil business
Three individuals listed
Barred from US banking system
Barred from business with US

Americans take up cause

"We're targeting sanctions against individuals responsible for violence."
It is unclear how much extra leverage the new US sanctions will bring, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus.
Mr Bush wants Sudan to allow more UN peacekeepers into Darfur and to stop backing the Janjaweed militias.
Sudan denies supporting the armed groups and says the suffering in Darfur has been exaggerated for political reasons.
The Sudanese government criticised the new sanctions as "unfair and untimely" and urged the rest of the world to ignore them.
"I think it [the US] has revealed its intentions and that it does not want stability," Majdhoub al-Khalifa, an adviser to the Sudanese president, told al-Jazeera television.
US sanctions imposed in 1997 mean Sudanese companies cannot use US dollars, making international trade more difficult.
But the effects of these measures have been limited as China has become one of Sudan's major trading partners, supplying arms to Sudan and buying more than half of its oil. It has also spent millions of dollars investing in Sudan's oil infrastructure.
'Not timely'
Even before Mr Bush spoke, China condemned the fresh US sanctions and said investing in Sudan was a better way to stop the violence.

Q&A: Darfur crisis

US officials said 30 companies controlled by the Sudanese government, mostly in the oil business, are now barred from the US banking system or from doing business with US firms or individuals.
Another company suspected of shipping arms to Sudan has also been added to the sanctions list.
Also targeted are three individuals, including a rebel leader, who are suspected of involvement in the violence in Darfur.
The AP news agency says these are:
Ahmad Muhammed Harun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, accused of war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court
Sudan's head of military intelligence and security, Awad Ibn Auf
Rebel Justice and Equality Movement leader Khalil Ibrahim.
Arms ban
After Mr Bush's announcement, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the bloc was open to considering new sanctions against Sudan.
He said the matter would be discussed on Wednesday at a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in Berlin.
Having given new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon some space, President Bush's patience has now run out, our correspondent says.
China - which wields a veto on the UN Security Council - has not agreed to support the tougher UN resolution wanted by the US.
On Friday, the Security Council endorsed proposals to let a combined UN-African Union peacekeeping force protect civilians and use force to prevent violence.
The existing AU force has been unable to stop the conflict.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EX-UGANDA HEALTH MINISTER CHARGED !

Ex-Uganda health minister charged
By Sarah Grainger BBC News, Kampala

Jim Muhwezi cannot apply for bail until Tuesday. Uganda's former Health Minister Jim Muhwezi has been charged with embezzlement and abuse of office.
He presented himself voluntarily to police on Monday after arriving back in the country and denied the charges.
Three other former officials were arrested and charged last week, but retired Major General Muhwezi was in the UK at the time.
The charges against all four relate to the alleged gross misuse of a $4.3m fund for children's vaccinations.
Gen Muhwezi is to spend the night in custody as he cannot apply to the High Court for bail until Tuesday.
He left Uganda a week ago, saying he needed medical treatment in London.
That was just a day before his two former colleagues, Captain Mike Mukula and Dr Alex Kamugisha, were arrested and charged with embezzlement and abuse of office.
Former state house official Alice Kaboyo was also arrested and charged last week.
The other three also denied the charges.
Surprise
The case against all four follows an investigation by the Inspector General of government into the alleged gross misuse of a $4.3m immunisation fund given to Uganda by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi).

Uganda has been praised for its fight against Aids. But the three former ministers have also been implicated in the mismanagement of money granted to Uganda by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Investigations into that issue are continuing.
Many people in Uganda have been surprised that Gen Muhwezi has been pursued so vigorously over the Gavi issue.
He has long been a close ally of President Museveni who has survived controversy in the past.
While state minister for primary education in the 1990s, he was questioned in parliament over his personal wealth, and eventually lost his ministerial portfolio.
He bounced back in 2001 as minister of health, but after investigations began into the fate of the Global Fund money granted to Uganda, he was dropped from cabinet.
Now he will have to answer questions in court.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NIGERIA STRIKE OVER 'FLAWED' POLL !

Nigerian trade unions have started a two-day general strike in protest at last month's elections, on the eve of the inauguration of the new president.
A BBC reporter in Lagos says offices and banks are closed, with few vehicles or people on the streets.
There is more activity in the capital, Abuja but government offices are shut.
A senior union official told the BBC the new government had been brought to power by fraudulent means. Umaru Yar'Adua is to be sworn in on Tuesday.
The BBC's Fidelis Mbah in the commercial capital, Lagos, says the heavy traffic you would normally see on a Monday morning is absent.
But he says some people may have stayed at home because of local media reports that Monday and Tuesday had been declared public holidays because of the inauguration.
We want to tell the world, we want to tell Nigerians that the elections were massively rigged -
Nuhu ToroDeputy NLC leader.

Can Yar'Adua tackle corruption?

The government has denied these reports.
However Reuters news agency reports that many Nigerians are apathetic about the protest.
"Tomorrow is the handover, so what difference will it make?" said Daniel Legunsen, who was at work selling photocopiers in Abuja.
This is to be the first time in Nigeria's history that one elected leader has handed power to another.
'Perilous time'
Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has told the BBC the country needed a revolution to break the cycle of incompetent and inhuman leadership.
"I think what a country like Nigeria needs is a genuine, authentic but humane revolution," he said.

Umaru Yar'Adua won by a landslide, according to official results. Mr Soyinka said Mr Yar'Adua was "an unknown quantity" who was taking power at a "perilous time".
Previous opposition protests over the elections have not succeeded but our reporter says the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has the organisation to ensure that its call for workers to stay at home for two days is heeded.
"We want to tell the world, we want to tell Nigerians that the elections were massively rigged," deputy NLC leader Nuhu Toro told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
Local and international observers also condemned the poll as a "charade" and "not credible".
Observers say that results were announced even in areas where no elections were held, either because of violence, or because voting materials were not delivered to polling stations.
In most such areas, candidates from the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) were credited with massive victories.
The election commission, Inec, has denied charges that it favoured the PDP.
Mr Yar'Adua has promised to introduce electoral reforms.
The two main opposition candidates have challenged the results in court.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE TO BOOST POLICE FOR POLL !

The police are accused of favouring the ruling party. Zimbabwe has started a massive recruitment drive to almost double numbers ahead of next year's election, a senior police officer says.
Faustino Mazango told the state-owned Herald newspaper that he wanted to have 50,000 officers for the elections, up from 29,000 at present.
Correspondents say this will be seen as the start of preparations for a crackdown on the opposition.
President Robert Mugabe has said he intends to stand for re-election.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) often accuses the police of harassing and beating its members.
Pretext
Almost 200 MDC activists were arrested on Saturday but have been released without charge.
A police spokesman had said Saturday's arrests were in connection with recent bombings around the capital, Harare.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa says that some of those arrested were beaten and have gone to hospital.
The government accuses the MDC of stirring up election violence.
It denies these charges and says they are a pretext to justify clamping down on its activities.
"We have started a massive recruitment exercise so that we have a minimum of 50,000 police officers by the time we have elections," The Herald quotes Senior Assistant Commissioner Mazango as saying.
The AFP news agency reports that many police officers are leaving the force to seek better paid work elsewhere.
In March, scores of MDC activists, including party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, were severely assaulted in police custody, sparking international condemnation.
President Mugabe has said Mr Tsvangirai deserved to be assaulted for ignoring police warnings not to go ahead with a banned rally.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LIBYA CLEARS MEDICS OF DEFAMATION !

The six medics still face the death penalty after their earlier conviction. A Libyan court has dismissed defamation charges against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor already sentenced to death in a separate trial.
The six have been convicted for infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
They had also been charged with defaming police officers and a doctor by accusing them of torture during investigations into their case.
The foreign medics say their confessions were given under duress.
The six have already spent eight years in prison. During a retrial in 2006, they said prosecution evidence had been obtained under torture.
They said they had been mistreated by several police officers, including a police officer, Juma al-Mishri and a doctor, Abdulmajid al-Shoul.
The two men then sued, claiming 5m Libyan dollars ($4m) in compensation.
The six medics had denied the defamation charges.
The court did not give any reason for its ruling in a short hearing at which the medics were not present.
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov described the latest verdict as a good sign.
The six are due to launch a final appeal against their death sentences shortly.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe !

Saturday 26th May 2007
Dear Family and Friends,

A friend phoned recently with the news that her grand-daughter had just had a baby. The words of congratulations for the great grandmother froze when I heard that there were serious complications. The baby had been born with her bowel and intestine outside of her abdomen. Under normal circumstances in a fully functioning country this would be dire news. In Zimbabwe it sounded like an almost certain death sentence. Doctors and nurses strikes, chronic shortages of drugs, ten to twelve hour electricity cuts, interrupted water supplies and worst of all, the brain drain. Seven years of political turmoil, oppressive laws dictating every facet of our lives and the devastating economic collapse has seen professionals pour out of the country in hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions.

Every single step of the way in saving my friends newly born great grand daughter was littered with problems. Nothing at all was guaranteed from fuel for the ambulance to doctors not on strike, electricity being on and water coming out of the taps. From the University of Zimbabwe where we normally hear that the lecturers are on strike, the students are protesting or the student leaders are being arrested - out of this came one professor. A fortnight of delicate operations and proceedures, highly professional expertise and care and then came the wondrous news that the baby girl can go home. By now no one is calling the baby by her name, she is known as 'the miracle baby' and every one knows that without the 'Professor', this little Zimbabwean girl would not have made it. On Africa Day, a public holiday, I had no water at home and the electricity was off for just over ten hours and I found myself thinking about this little miracle baby and the Professor who had saved her. It is very hard to stay in Zimbabwe when everything around you is collapsing. It is even harder for the young, highly educated professionals to stay. Without a doubt these men and women could get work anywhere in the world and the temptation to leave is very high. Those few who have been able to stay are doing so at great sacrifice to themselves and I don't know how we ordinary Zimbabweans can thank them - but we do.

It would be unrealistic to believe that all the hundreds of thousands of professionals who have left Zimbabwe these past seven years will come home, but we hope some will. The load on Zimbabwe's professionals is very heavy but for many of us it is because they have found a way to stay they have ensured that we too are able to stay. It was a bleak Africa Day for many Zimbabweans but for the family of the miracle baby, it was a day of peace and love and one filled with gratitude.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

'LOVE TRIANGLE' PILOT LEAVES NASA !

William Oefelein admitted to having had an affair with Ms Nowak. The space shuttle pilot involved in a love triangle that led to a bizarre show-down between a female astronaut and her rival is to leave Nasa.
William Oefelein, 42, has been reassigned to the navy, his original corps, the US space agency said.
Astronaut Lisa Nowak, who had an affair with him, is awaiting trial on charges of attempted kidnapping and assault.
In February she drove across five states to confront her love rival and pepper-sprayed her car.
On her 1,600km (1,000 mile) journey from Texas to Florida, Capt Nowak wore a wig, as well as a nappy so she would not have to stop to use the toilet.
She was stopped allegedly carrying an air rifle, a steel mallet and a knife.
Capt Nowak, 44, denies attempting to kidnap her rival - Air Force Capt Coleen Shipman.
She has been sacked by Nasa.
Mr Oefelein admitted having had an affair with her, but said it had been ended before he began dating Capt Shipman.
Nasa gave no reasons for reassigning Mr Oefelein to the navy.
A spokesman said: "Nasa has determined that Cmdr Oefelein's detail is no longer required for the purposes it was originally granted."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LEADING MUSLIM CALLIGRAPHER SHOT !

Leading Muslim calligrapher shot
By James Shaw BBC News, Baghdad.

One of the Muslim world's leading calligraphers has been shot dead by gunmen in Baghdad. Khalil al-Zahawi was the most famous practitioner in Iraq of the art of writing classical Arabic script.
He was outside his house in the New Baghdad district of the city on Saturday when he was ambushed by gunmen and killed.
The art of writing classical Arabic script is highly regarded in Iraq and the rest of the Muslim world.
Attack on culture
Mr Zahawi's body has been taken to his home in Diyala province for burial.
In the 1990s, he taught students from all over the Middle East.
It is said that anyone in Iraq who wanted to be considered proficient in Arabic calligraphy had to have his seal of approval.
His death will be seen as another attack on culture and learning by insurgent groups and militias in Iraq who in the past have targeted scientists, doctors and academics.
In a separate incident, police say they have found 12 bodies in Dora in south-east Baghdad.
The victims, aged between their 20s and 40s, had been blindfolded and shot in the head. They also showed signs of torture.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Do elephants intentionally kill their young?
WHO, WHAT, WHY? The Magazine answers...

Pori and Dumbo have now bonded.

The mother and calf

Pictures of an elephant calf being rescued after his mother appeared to try to crush him made headlines. So, do elephants intentionally kill their young?
Poor old Dumbo, it's hardly the display of loving motherly devotion most newborns receive.
The 250lb elephant calf made headlines on Wednesday when he was rescued after his mother appeared to try to crush him, then drown him in their enclosure at Friedrichsfelde Animal Park in Berlin.
The incident turned the new arrival - nicknamed Dumbo but officially still nameless - into Germany's top animal celebrity overnight and also made headlines around the world.

THE ANSWER
Some have been known to kill their calves in captivity, but there is no conclusive reason why
Staff played down the incident, saying it is a natural reflex action of elephant mothers to stimulate their newborns to stand by nudging them.
But while African elephant Pori may have been lovingly, yet clumsily, trying to do this, she has history - she crushed her first baby to death.
Ian Redmond, wildlife consultant with the Born Free Foundation and elephant expert, says Pori's behaviour will be influenced by what she learned about motherhood when she was growing up.
"Elephants don't work on instinct," he says. "They are flexible in their behaviour and are cultural animals. Whatever they learn in their formative years will influence the way they act."
Quality of life
In the wild, elephant calves are looked after by the females in the group, who are all involved in their protection, education and discipline.
From an early age young females babysit the calves. This is known as allo-mothering. As a result they have a lot of experience and knowledge of calves before becoming mothers themselves, which stands them in good stead.
When they do give birth, they also have another female with them who acts as a midwife.
If Pori has spent a long time in captivity she may have little experience of rearing young, so giving birth and dealing with her newborn could have been a frightening experience, says Mr Redmond.

WHO, WHAT, WHY?
A regular part of the BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer some of the questions behind the headlines"In captive elephants it is common for them not to know about looking after their young."
She may also have gone through birth without another female to help and comfort her.
Elephants in zoos have been known to intentionally kill their young, but there is only speculation as to why this is.
"Some people think it could be a conscious decision," says Mr Redmond. "If their quality of life is poor and they are faced with just a concrete yard, they don't want their offspring to face the same and kill them. But it's just a theory."
This incident ended happily. Pori was given a mild sedative and placed with Dumbo in the elephant house under observation.
According to the latest from the zoo, mother and son are getting along "magnificently".

BBC NEWS MAGAZINE

10 THINGS !

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

1. Pizza was known as “Italian Welsh rarebit” in 1950s Britain. More details

2. Using a gas-fired patio heater for just one hour can waste enough energy to make 400 cups of tea, according to Friends of the Earth. More details

3 Laurence Olivier and Tintin's creator Herge were born on the same day. More details More details

4. A swarm of bees can ground a Boeing 737. More details

5. On the first day of filming Star Wars in the deserts of Tunisia, the country experienced its first major rainstorm in 50 years and a rest day had to be called. More details

6. Sharks have virgin births. More details

7. Articles of 50,000 words - parliamentary reports in particular - were common in the Times in the early 1890s, just as the first tabloid newspapers came into being.

8. Japanese whalers in the 17th Century buried the foetuses of the pregnant whales they caught in a special graveyard facing out to sea.More details

9. One in four house sales fall through.

10. Captive elephants often don’t know how to look after their young because they don’t work on instinct – in the wild, calves are looked after by the herd and this is how young females learn mothering skills. More details

(Sources, where not linked: 7. A Tabloid is Born, BBC Four, 23 May; 9. Which? online.)
BBC MAGAZINE

ZIMBABWE POLICE HOLDING ACTIVISTS !

The police in March said these arms belonged to MDC members. Zimbabwe police are holding 84 activists without charge a day after they were arrested in party offices, an opposition spokesman has told the BBC.
Nelson Chamisa said that most of the 200 people detained on Saturday were freed later in the evening.
A police spokesman said the arrests were in connection with recent bombings around the capital, Harare.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has denied any links to bombings and has condemned the arrests.
Mr Chamisa said the police did not have a search warrant when they raided the MDC headquarters in central Harare.
He told the BBC that the meeting was held in party offices to discuss civil issues and insisted the MDC was doing nothing illegal.
The arrests came a day after police extended a ban on political rallies.
'Harassment'
In March, scores of MDC activists, including party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, were severely assaulted in police custody, sparking international condemnation.
The Zimbabwe government accused the MDC of being behind the bombing of several police stations.
Following Saturday's arrests, police spokesman Supt Andrew Phiri told the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper:
"Some suspects arrested in connection with recent petrol bombs have given us leads we are following up."
Mr Chamisa said those detained had been taken to the notorious Law and Order division of the Central Police Headquarters.
South Africa is currently trying to negotiate a political solution to Zimbabwe's escalating crisis.
The BBC's Peter Greste in South Africa says diplomats say Zimbabwe is in danger of breaking into open conflict.
Mr Chamisa said the police raid showed the government's disdain for the diplomatic efforts.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SIGHTING SIGNIFICANT SAY MCCANNS !

The McCanns say they are pleased with the new information.

Parents' statement

The father of Madeleine McCann has described the sighting of a man seen on the night of her disappearance as being "significant" to his daughter's case.
Gerry McCann said he and his wife Kate welcomed the release of the information by the Portuguese police.
He said the sighting of a man "with what appeared to be a child in his arms" was both "significant and relevant to Madeleine's abduction".
The man is said to be white, 5ft 10ins, medium build with short hair.
He was seen on the night Madeleine was taken from the Praia da Luz apartment in the Algarve, Portugal.
Portuguese police went public with the description of the man seen on the night after pressure from the McCann family to move the investigation on.

MAN'S DESCRIPTION

White
5ft 10ins
Medium build
Short hair
Wearing a dark jacket, beige trousers and dark shoes
Carrying "a child or an object that could have been taken as a child"

In a statement made to the press, Mr McCann said he and his wife welcomed the release of the "important" information which had come following an amicable and very constructive meeting with Portuguese police.
"We feel sure that this sighting of a man with what appeared to be a child in his arms, is both significant and relevant to Madeleine's abduction," he said.

Map of locations

The couple also appealed for more information about the man spotted by witnesses.
"Was this man seen anywhere else in or near the town with a child, or what appeared to be a child? What direction was he headed in? Did he have a vehicle?"

Madeleine with her father and brother Sean
'Nightmare' of parents

BBC correspondent Steve Kingstone in the Algarve said it was the first time the police had given a detailed description of a man they wanted to speak to.
But it is not known how long detectives had known this information or whether they believed the man abducted Madeleine, he added.
The BBC's correspondent said police were publicly playing down the similarities between the man described and the only official suspect in the case, Robert Murat.
Mr Murat denies any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
A family spokesman has also revealed Chancellor Gordon Brown has had several telephone conversations with Mr McCann.
Mr Brown offered both parents "his full support" in their efforts to find the four-year-old, who vanished on the night of 3 May.

Gordon Brown offered to support the search for Madeleine.
The spokesman said: "Brown offered both Gerry and Kate his full support in their efforts to find Madeleine, although details of the conversations will remain private."
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall also said on Saturday they had been following the case "closely and with deep concern" and "fervently hoped" Madeleine would be reunited with her family.
Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, was abducted from her bed in the Algarve resort as her parents ate dinner at a nearby tapas restaurant.


Back to link

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ANGLICANS 'OBSESSED' BY GAY ISSUE !

Anglicans 'obsessed' by gay issue.
By Mike Lanchin BBC News religious affairs correspondent.

Archbishop Tutu said there were more pressing issues. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called on Africa's Anglican church to overcome its "obsession" with the issue of gay priests and same-sex marriages.
He said they should spend time on more pressing issues in the region.
Speaking to the BBC World Service, the South African bishop said Zimbabwe, HIV/Aids and the crisis in Darfur were not getting sufficient attention.
Zimbabwe's Anglican church also lacked courage to stand up to President Robert Mugabe's regime, he said.
'So many issues'
This was the 76-year-old Nobel peace laureate touching raw nerves for the Anglican church in Africa on very sensitive subjects.
In his usual forthright manner, Archbishop Tutu told the BBC that the Anglican communion was spending too much of its time and energy on debating differences over gay priests and same sex marriages - a subject, he said, that had now become "an extraordinary obsession".
He said: "We've, it seems to me, been fiddling whilst as it were our Rome was burning. At a time when our continent has been groaning under the burden of HIV/Aids, of corruption.

The church had "kow-towed" to Mr Mugabe's regime, he said. "There are so many issues crying out for concern and application by the church of its resources, and here we are, I mean, with this kind of extraordinary obsession."
For Archbishop Tutu, the crisis in Zimbabwe was one such issue that had been eclipsed by the sexuality debate. He said he was saddened by the muted response other African governments had shown to the Mugabe regime.
Growing tensions
But he also said that leaders of his own Anglican Church in Zimbabwe had failed to show more courage in dealing with the Zimbabwean president.
"One seems to have to say they have kow-towed to President Mugabe. Certainly there's not been anything like the same kind of standing up to the evil and exercising the prophetic ministry that one would have expected from the church, and that has been very distressing."
There are growing tensions within the worldwide Anglican communion - pitching liberals against conservatives - mainly over the issue of sexuality.
But as Archbishop Tutu recognised, there are other points of contention that need to be resolved and other issues that the church, especially in Africa, needs to turn its attention to.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYAN JUDGE RELEASES SECT LEADER !

The Mungiki sect has a violent reputation. A Kenyan court has dropped charges against a former leader of the banned Mungiki sect for lack of evidence linking him to the gang.
A court in the capital said that police failed to prove that Maina Njenga administered oaths for the group.
Security Minister John Michuki blames the judiciary for thwarting efforts to rein in the secretive and violent sect.
Mungiki claims to have two million members and is linked to the gruesome killings and crime in central Kenya.
The group promotes female circumcision and oath taking and was banned in 2002.
I acquit Njenga and others because prosecution has failed to prove its case to sustain a conviction,? Magistrate Teresia Ngugi said in her ruling.
Mr Njenga was charged along with 28 other suspected members of the sect who were also freed. He however faces other charges of having a gun illegally.
The judiciary is letting us down on its role of containing these criminal gangs like Mungiki, Mr Michuki told reporters this week after announcing a crackdown on the gang.
Police have so far arrested more than 200 people suspected followers of the outlawed sect.
The judiciary spokesman Dola Indidis has urged the minister to desist from making statements that imply he wants to control the courts.
There are several cases involving Mungiki pending in court and commenting on them amounts to contempt,Mr Indidis said.
This week, six people were beheaded and their bodies dismembered in central Kenya by people believed to be the sect members.
Mungiki followers have been battling with public transport operators who have refused to pay protection fees to them.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PAKISTAN RAPE VICTIM QUITS IN ROW !

Mukhtar Mai says her goal is to fight injustice with knowledge.

Pakistani gang rape victim Mukhtar Mai has resigned as head of a women's crisis centre in her village.
She told the BBC she did so because she was about to be replaced by a woman from the ruling PML-Q party.
The local administration in her village of Meerwala in Punjab province say she was nearing the end of a maximum one-year term of office.
Mukhtar Mai has become known around the world after she was raped, allegedly on the order of a village council.
The council gave the order because her brother was reported to have behaved inappropriately with a woman from another tribe.
Mukhtar Mai ignored taboos about her ordeal and fought to have her attackers convicted.
Since then she has become a champion for women's rights in Pakistan and an internationally recognised figure.
'Undermined'
The developments at the Meerwala women's crisis centre, where she has been chairwoman, happened while she was away on a lecture and fundraising trip to the US.
She has been replaced by Umme-Kulsum Siyal, the general secretary of the local women's wing of the ruling PML-Q political party in Meerwala.

Life in Ms Mai's home village is tough.
Mukhtar Mai told the BBC that when she learned that the board of the crisis centre had met to find a replacement, she sent in her resignation as she no longer wanted anything to do with the centre.
She said that the local administration officials had done their utmost from the beginning to undermine the work being done by the centre.
She said that, because of their obstructive attitudes, the crisis centre was still not fully operational despite being launched a year ago.
She also complained that although she insisted the women's centre be run only by women, a majority of men had become involved.
The local administration, however, say that they acted by the rules of the centre.
The chairperson can only serve for a year, they say and Mukhtar Mai's term was coming to an end.
Correspondents point out that some local administration officials and some members of the federal women's affairs ministry have been opposed to Mukhtar Mai's involvement in the centre.
The women's crisis centre was originally going to be in nearby Muzaffargarh city.
But Mukhtar Mai persuaded the then Women's Affairs Minister, Nilofer Bakhtiar, to shift it to rural Meerwala, where she said it was needed more.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MADELEINE POLICE SEEK SUSPECT MAN !

Madeleine has been missing for more than three weeks.

Parents' interview

Police searching for Madeleine McCann have issued a description of a man seen walking close to her apartment on the night she disappeared.
The white man, said to be 35 to 40 years old, was seen at about 9.30pm on 3 May in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
He is said to be 5ft 10in, medium build with short hair, and wearing a dark jacket, beige trousers and dark shoes.
Police told a news conference the man was "carrying a child or an object that could have been taken as a child".
Ch Insp Olegario de Sousa urged the man or anyone who had seen him to come forward.
The description of the man was given by one witness involved in the case, he said, but would not elaborate.
Mr Sousa said witnesses were interviewed on Thursday and Friday "to confirm or invalidate" certain details.
Dozens of possible sightings of four-year-old Madeleine were still being investigated, but none had so far proved positive, Mr Sousa added.
'Worst nightmare'
A spokesman for Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, said they were pleased that there "appeared to be a new development".
"They will be taking time to consider what the police have said before making any comment," he added.

'Nightmare' of Madeleine parents

Earlier, the McCanns told the BBC of their guilt at not being with their daughter when she was abducted.
They said they were experiencing "every parent's worst nightmare" and loved her "more than anyone could imagine".
Madeleine was abducted from her bed in the Algarve resort on 3 May as her parents ate dinner at a nearby restaurant.
The McCanns said criticism of them for leaving her was "hard to deal with", but insisted that thousands of other people would have done the same "in such a safe resort".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SIERRA LEONE'S POEMS OF WAR !

Sierra Leone's poems of war
By Penny Boreham BBC African Performance, Freetown.

MY WILL - OUMAR FAROUK SESAY

When I die
Don't bury my poetry.
In the prison of yourShelves under your beds.
In your cockroachInfested boxes for mice
And cockroaches to dine.
Dont pluck the pages of My poetry to wrap crumbs

An important document of the tragic 10-year-long war in Sierra Leone exists and yet, until now, has had no international recognition.
It is a collection of poems produced by a group of Sierra Leonean writers who met regularly throughout the war.
They came together, wherever and whenever they could, to share their writing and also for companionship in the direst of circumstances.
One, Oumar Farouk Sesay, recalls that at the time, every individual in Sierra Leone was confronted with his or her own mortality.
"No-one escaped," he says.
"Status did not matter. I began to realise that soon we all would exit and then I began to consider what would be left behind. This is why I wrote My Will."
Dark days
The 10-year war was marked by horror difficult to comprehend.
Some of the atrocities included mass rape, brutal amputations, and the widespread use of child soldiers - many of whom were abducted and forced to commit these atrocities against their own families.

TRYING TO FORGIVE - KOSONIKE KOSSO THOMAS

I hear your plea but now I'm losing
The spirit to forgive,
Just when it moves through me
And enters right into my thinking lobe.
I sense it fail to instruct the bits in me
Which respond to acts of love,
And keep me trying to forgive.

In the early stages of the long war, the physical fighting was one stage removed from these writers, as the capital Freetown was not affected.
But in the latter stages of the war Freetown was invaded and ransacked by the rebels.
This put the war on these writers' own doorsteps.
Dark days followed. All of the writers encountered violence.
One, Tom Cauuray, remembers being stripped naked by a group of rebels in the centre of town.
He says they were ready to kill him, accusing him of being Nigerian; the rebels had a particular hatred of the Nigerians, who made up the West African peacekeeping force, Ecomog.
Mr Cauuray describes how a group of evangelists, who happened to be passing, called on the rebels to pray and as the rebels were distracted, and some of them prayed, he escaped.
Aftermath of war
Five years after the war ended, Sierra Leoneans are trying to move on - but are still reeling from the war's dire effects.
Kosonike Kosso Thomas sums up the tension of the war's aftermath in the poem Trying To Forgive.

WHERE WILL OUR CHILD LIE - MOHAMMED GIBRIL SESAY

Headside-footside-jamming-wall
The bed Is workbenchwide
The room twice that
And my woman pregnant
will our child lie?

In their poetry, the writers all contemplate the way that poverty in the aftermath of war is restricting the lives of the population.

Mohammed Gibril Sesay's short poem Where Will Our Child Lie deals with this.

He says that a poem is "a rainbow," and about "controlled emotion."
"You can tell the individual has experienced pain but right now it is not overwhelming him," he adds.
"The poet is in the driving seat of his emotions."
Oumar Farouk Sesay believes that most Sierra Leonean writers feel an immense responsibility to their country, and want to use their words and their voices to tackle fundamental and ethical issues and problems in their country.
"We are the voice of the people," he says.
"We try to articulate what the illiterate in our society would like to say if they had our access to the written word."
Listen to the programme

BBC NEWS REPORT.

US FEARS GROW OVER CHINA MILITARY !

China is launching a new class of nuclear submarines. The United States has expressed concern over China's growing military might, in a Pentagon report given to Congress.
It particularly highlights China's new Jin-class nuclear submarines and what it believes are increasingly accurate air-to-ground missiles.
These capabilities could lead to a change in China's no-first-use policy for its nuclear weapons, analysts say.
China announced in March that it was increasing its military spending by 17.8% this year.
Speaking before the report was released, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said: "We wish that there were greater transparency, that (the Chinese) would talk more about what their intentions are, what their strategies are.
''It would be nice to hear first-hand from the Chinese how they view some of these things," he added in comments reported by the Associated Press news agency.
One issue that appears to be of concern to US officials is China's development of a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines equipped with ballistic missiles with a range of around 8,000km (5,000 miles).
Andrew Yang, chairman of the Chinese Council for Advanced Policy Studies in Taiwan, said these Jin-class vessels could carry 12 missiles, with each rocket armed with three nuclear warheads.
'Gradual build-up'
One of these Chinese-built submarines is currently undergoing tests, and five more are planned, according to Mr Yang, an expert on China's military.
Previously, China had just one nuclear-powered submarine, which had been so unreliable it rarely travelled far from its base, Mr Yang said.
He added: "The Americans are concerned about whether a gradual build-up of nuclear forces implies China will change its nuclear policy of no first use."
The report adds that training focusing on no-notice, long-range air strikes could "indicate planning for pre-emptive military options in advance of regional crises".
Also highlighted in the 2007 Department of Defense Report to Congress on the "Military Power of the People's Republic of China" was a space test carried out by China in January.
It destroyed a defunct weather satellite with a missile fired from Sichuan province.
"The test put at risk the assets of all space-faring nations and posed dangers to human space flight due to the unprecedented amount of debris," AP quoted the report as saying.
International pressure
Over the last decade, China has embarked on a programme to upgrade its military capabilities.
It plans to allocate 350.9bn yuan ($45.9bn) to its military this year, although many analysts believe it spends two or three times more than this.
China has also come under increasing pressure from the US, Japan and others to be more open about what it is spending its money on.
But despite the US concern, there are those who believe the US is exaggerating China's military threat in order to make a stronger case for an upgrade of US military capabilities.
This was the main finding of a report published last November by the Federation of American Scientists and the US-based Natural Resources Defense Council.
"The Pentagon has been sounding the alarm about China's nuclear intentions for a long time, but our analysis shows that they are overstating the threat," said Robert S Norris, an NRDC nuclear analyst and co-author of the report.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HUGE MOROCCAN TERROR TRIAL STARTS !

Huge Moroccan terror trial starts
By Richard Hamilton BBC News, Rabat.

Authorities in Morocco are on high alert after recent suicide bombings. One of Morocco's biggest terror trials has started in the city of Sale.
Fifty defendants belonging to a group called Ansar al-Mehdi are accused of plotting attacks on politicians, diplomats and tourists.
The trial has been adjourned three times over several months. The defendants deny the charges.
The prosecution says the plot, if carried out, would have eclipsed the 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca, in which 45 people died.
High alert
The judge read out the charges separately to each of the 50 defendants.
He said they were accused of participating in a terrorist plot, being members of an illegal organisation and holding an unauthorised meeting.
The security services have alleged that Ansar al-Mehdi was planning to kidnap Moroccan government ministers, attack the United States embassy in Rabat and target tourists.
The wives of two pilots with the national airline Royal Air Maroc are among the accused, some of whom have alleged they were tortured.
The authorities in Morocco are on high alert after five suicide bombers blew themselves up in Casablanca last month.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE CRISIS LEADS TO MORAL DECAY !

Judith Melby, an Africa specialist with aid agency Christian Aid, says that Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis has also led to a moral decline.
Many workers are unable to afford to get buses to work"How do you tell your children it is important to get an education when jobs - if you are lucky enough to get one - have worthless salaries," asks one Zimbabwean mother.
"They know that a quick deal on the black market can give them the same amount as a month's salary."
Like many people in Zimbabwe, she did not wish to be identified.
Students milling about in the sunshine at the University of Zimbabwe don't have much faith in degrees either.
Tuition fees increase every term and students find it impossible to pay even for notebooks, much less books.
You have to go on the black market in order to pay for all this.
"It is so hypocritical," said one young student.
"All those people in power received free education under [former white minority leader] Ian Smith or from the missionaries. They don't care that we can't afford the education; also all the good teachers have left. Is it any surprise we look for other ways to get money?"
Worthless currency
The government has warned there will be wheat shortages in the coming months because farmers have only planted 10% of the required winter wheat crop.
Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation of 3,700% is destroying the economy.
We have lived in a society for a long time now that has tended to reward political criminals -Jonah Gokovah, Christian Alliance.

Unemployment is already more than 80%, while average incomes are less than $1 a day and life expectancy is just 36 years.
The official rate for $1 is 250 Zimbabwe dollars but on the black market $1 can net you more than 40,000 Zimbabwe dollars.
That's fine if you can get your hands on foreign exchange, but what happens if you can't?
"I earn 200,000 [Zimbabwe] dollars a month," said a security guard.
"But cooking oil costs 90,000 and I still haven't paid for food, rent, clothes, school fees and transport to work. How am I supposed to live?"
The worthless currency is also one of the reasons people are fleeing the country; by some estimates up to one-third of Zimbabweans now live abroad.
"It is impossible to find farm workers," complains a farmer outside Bulawayo in the south of the country.
"They prefer to chance their luck in South Africa where at least the money is worth something. Even if it is dangerous crossing the border and they risk being deported back home."
'Divided society'
The Christian Alliance is an organisation, supported by Christian Aid, which is seeking to find a peaceful transition to democracy.
It wants to participate in the mediation efforts by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Those without jobs, or family support, have few other options. In March, the governments in southern Africa entrusted him with the job of opening a dialogue between the government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
But the alliance sees the restoration of traditional values as just as important as the reform of government institutions.
"We are a very divided society," said Christian Alliance coordinator Jonah Gokovah.
"As a result we have become very suspicious of each other. People are finding all kinds of ways of surviving and that is turning a large number of our people into criminals."
This struggle for survival corrupts everyone.
The security services have infiltrated opposition groups and informing on others is common.
"We have lived in a society for a long time now that has tended to reward political criminals," Mr Gokova said.
"Those who engage in violence need to be punished openly and those who are seeking to promote peaceful coexistence need to be rewarded for those actions."
The director of an aid agency, who also did not want to be identified, said she felt she was ridiculed when she travelled abroad.
"They think that if you are still in Zimbabwe you must be stupid; they say anyone intelligent would have left long ago."
And she worries any change may come too late for a return to the Zimbabwe she knew when she was a child, a Zimbabwe that cherished and rewarded education and hard work.
"The warmth of the people's hearts is slipping away."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THOUSANDS MARCH FOR S.A. PAY RISE !

South Africa's unions want the government to ease poverty. Tens of thousands of South African workers are marching through cities across the country to demand pay rises.
Unions say 30,000 people have taken to the streets in the town of Nelspruit alone, although there is no independent confirmation of this figure.
The unions want a 12% increase for all public sector workers, while the government has offered 6% to everyone, with more for teachers and nurses.
The unions are threatening to call a general strike next Friday, 1 June.
The government has said it is ready to hold further talks on Monday.
Police say 12,000 workers gathered outside parliament in Cape Town.
"This is notice of very serious and militant actions by the workers of our country - unless government moves... there will be problems," said Willie Madisha, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which has more than 1m members.
"We are not baboons, we cannot be given peanuts."
Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said the government claimed South Africa's economy was booming and tax receipts were rising, so it could afford a pay rise of more than 6%.
I don't think the message has got out to grass-roots teachers -Kenny Govender, Government negotiator.

How the unions fell out with the ANC

South Africa's inflation rate has risen to 5.5%.
"The [ruling party] ANC seems to have lost touch with the people they represented through the anti-apartheid years," he told the BBC.
"Lots of well qualified people like teachers and nurses are leaving the country, yet the government still refuses to improve their pay and conditions."
Chief government negotiator Kenny Govender told the BBC that the government's offer included pay rises of 15-40% for teachers and nurses.
But he said if all public sector workers were given a 12% rise, there would be less for teachers and nurses.
"I don't think the message has got out to grass-roots teachers," he said.
Cosatu is officially part of a governing alliance but the unions have become increasingly critical of the government, which they accuse of not doing enough to relieve poverty.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

STRIKE SHUTS NIGERIAN OIL WELLS !

The violence in Nigeria has shut down a fifth of its oil production. Staff at Nigeria's state oil company have started an indefinite strike over welfare benefits and in protest at the privatisation of a major oil refinery.
Deliveries to Nigeria's four refineries have been halted by striking workers, with a long queue of tankers outside.
A BBC reporter in the oil capital, Port Harcourt says the strike is remarkably effective.
A trade union spokesman said talks with the government to try to resolve the dispute were due to be held later.
Recent attacks on Nigeria's oil facilities and the threat of this strike are factors in the latest oil price rises.
Peter Akpatason, president of the junior oil workers' union Nupeng said that if their demands are not met soon, they would also stop work in oil production facilities.
"We will wait for two or three days and see what happens. If we don't get the desired results, we will then extend it to the upstream sector where the impact will be immediate," he said, according to Reuters news agency.
The oil workers' strike comes just days before the scheduled inauguration of Umaru Yar'Adua as president of Africa's most populous nation.
Similar strikes have led to widespread fuel shortages - including aviation fuel - in the past in Africa's biggest oil producing country.
A separate two-day strike by all unions is planned to coincide with Mr Yar'Adua's inauguration next Tuesday.
Nigeria's Bureau of Public Enterprises last week sold the Port Harcourt Refinery to two prominent businessmen as part of its privatisation exercise, an action that has not gone down well with the company's employees, who fear possible job losses.
Oil workers have recently lost some of their allowances, as the government decided that all state workers should enjoy the same benefits.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LACK OF NURSES 'KILLING AFRICANS' !

South Africa is struggling to cope with the Aids pandemic. A critical shortage of doctors and nurses means people are dying unnecessarily from HIV/Aids in southern Africa, according to a report.
In some areas, drugs are available but there is nobody to administer them, the Medecins sans Frontieres report says.
A BBC correspondent says this is a reality check for those who thought the fight against HIV/Aids was simply a matter of more anti-retroviral drugs.
MSF criticises donors who fund new health clinics but not nurses' wages.
MSF praises efforts to roll out ARVs and build health clinics, but its head of mission in South Africa, Eric Goemaere, says that is only half the solution.
"We see across Africa too many empty clinics - empty because at the end of the day there is no real treatment available there, so patients, people, prefer to stay at home and die there."
'No choice'
The BBC's Peter Greste in South Africa says doctors and nurses are underpaid, overworked and disillusioned, and they are leaving in droves.
In 2005, for example, 44 nurses graduated in Malawi while 86 left the country.
The solution, says Dr Goemaere, is to improve working conditions and give nurses the power to prescribe drugs - something that until now has been the exclusive responsibility of doctors.
"Of course, you take risk in using nurses to do what in the UK would be only an issue not even from a medical practitioner but a specialist," he said.
"In this case, we have no choice."
The World Health Organization's minimum standard is 20 doctors for every 100,000 patients.
Lesotho has five, Malawi has two and Mozambique has 2.6, MSF says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ANALYSIS : LEBANON'S NEW FLASHPOINT !

Analysis: Lebanon's new flashpoint
By Roger Hardy BBC Middle East analyst.

Thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing the refugee camp. This week's heavy fighting between the Lebanese army and a shadowy radical Islamist group is adding a new flashpoint to a region in crisis.
Fatah al-Islam - a small group said to number no more than a few hundred fighters - might not sound like a serious threat to the Middle East. But the nature and timing of the challenge posed by the group mean it is more than just a Lebanese problem.
To be sure, the origins of the three days of fighting seem to have been local.
Four gunmen of Fatah al-Islam robbed a bank near the northern city of Tripoli and made off with $125,000 ($63,000). The next day, when the Lebanese security forces tried to arrest the suspects, they were met with a hail of bullets from the Tripoli apartment where they had sought refuge.
From there the fighting spread to the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared which the group had made its base.
'Syria's hand'
Fatah al-Islam, small though it is, has shown it can cause serious trouble for the weak and beleaguered Lebanese government of Fouad Siniora.

FATAH AL-ISLAM

Split from Palestinian group Fatah al-Intifada in late 2006
Believed to have 150-200 armed men, based in Nahr al-Bared camp
Denies al-Qaeda links but says it endorses its ideas
Has links with Syrian intelligence, Lebanon says
Leader is Shaker al-Abssi

Profile: Fatah al-Islam

No sooner had last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah ended, Lebanon was plunged into political turmoil.
A powerful Syrian-backed opposition movement threw down a direct challenge to the legitimacy of Mr Siniora's anti-Syrian, Western-backed government.
The government regards Fatah al-Islam as an instrument of Syrian intelligence. It believes the timing of the current crisis is linked to efforts to set up an international tribunal into the killing in 2005 of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Syria denies involvement in the assassination, but its critics suspect it is trying to destabilise Lebanon in order to block the creation of the tribunal.
In the murky, complex world of Lebanese politics, Syrian manipulation of Fatah al-Islam cannot be ruled out.
Al-Qaeda links
But equally plausible - and no less worrying from a Lebanese point of view - is that the group is following a radical Islamist, rather than a Syrian, agenda.
Over recent years, Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon have been infiltrated by small groups of the al-Qaeda type. This has eroded the authority of the main Palestinian faction Fatah, which has traditionally run the camps and acted as a bridge between the refugees and the Lebanese authorities.
The militant groups, though small, are well funded and highly motivated. They reject the old-style nationalism of Fatah and identify with the new global jihad of al-Qaeda. They have ties to radical networks inside and outside the Middle East.
The leader of Fatah al-Islam, Shaker al-Abssi, had reported links with Abu Musab Zarqawi, who led al-Qaeda in Iraq until he was killed last year. Another member of the group seems to have been involved in attempted train bombings in Germany last year.
The implications for Lebanon are grim. It may have joined the list of failed or failing states which provide ideal terrain for the new global jihadists.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYAN SMOKERS FLOCK TO TOILETS !

Kenyan smokers flock to toilets
By Noel Mwakugu BBC News website, Nairobi.

Several arrests have been made since the ban came into force. Public toilets and the bathrooms in restaurants have never been so popular in Nakuru, Kenya's fourth largest town as they are today.
At lunchtime most cubicles are jam packed and on occasions people have to queue to access them, but most though are there for the wrong reason - smoking.
Since the council authorities passed a by-law banning smoking in public places, the toilets have become an "acceptable" safe haven for cigarette consumers.
Lighting up a cigarette on the streets of the town - famous for its generous population of flamingos on the nearby lake - can land you in jail or lead to a fine of up to $140.
"The threat is real, several people have been arrested here at the bus terminus this week for just lighting up a cigarette and I have to take precautions," said Mike Gaithuma, one of the residents now using public toilets as a smoking venue.
Consultation
Mr Gaithuma is however unhappy that the new by-law was passed without wide consultations and now wants its implementation put on hold.
"We may be a few smokers but it is only fair that the council designates areas where we can smoke freely before introducing such a law," Mr Gaithuma said.
Last year, the High Court suspended a controversial ban on smoking in public places across Kenya by the Ministry of Health.
Health Minister Charity Ngilu who issued the directive said it was aimed at reducing the number of tobacco-related deaths.
Anyone found smoking in offices, bus stations, airports and sports venues would be fined $700 (£375) or face six months in jail, according to the suspended law.
Nakuru Municipal Council however argues that it is within their right to implement a by-law that bans smoking in public.
"We received lot of complaints from people about smoking at social places and they called on us to put in place regulation that will address their concerns," Simon Kiarie, the Director of Environment at the council told the BBC News website.
Mr Kiarie said the by-law which came to effect in April this year, will target offenders at markets, bus stations, cinema halls and within public offices.
"We hope that people will co-operate with the council so that we avoid unnecessary conflict," Mr Kiarie said.
Fuming
Plans are under way to involve stakeholders who include cigarette manufacturers and hotel industry players who will be required to provide secluded places.
We received lot of complaints from people -Simon Kiarie.
But residents in Nakuru are divided on plans to provide the special areas within the town.
"I think our taxes should not be wasted to erect these areas, most smokers do not respect the rights of other people, and they should just smoke in their homes" Alice Karimi an expectant mother said.
But Cyrus Maina, tout at the main bus station says that it only fair that the smokers were also allowed to exercise their freedom but in an orderly manner.
"I used to smoke but stopped after I developed health problems. However it is an individual's choice to smoke, it is only fair that special areas are provided for them" Mr Maina said.
Hawkers within the central business district report that cigarette sales have reduced since the by-law came to effect.
"I used to sell at least 10 packets of cigarettes in a day but in the past two weeks I hardly sell three packets. Something should be done otherwise we will suffer due to loss of income," said George Juma, who runs a kiosk on Nakuru's Kenyatta Avenue.
Mr Juma says many people are afraid of buying cigarettes since they are convinced that it is now illegal.
But the by-law is not aimed at totally banning smoking, according to Mr Kiarie, the council's director of environment.
British American Tobacco Company (BAT), the largest cigarette manufacturer in Kenya, says it is watching the developments in Nakuru.
BAT's communications manager Maureen Sande said since Kenya is in the process of reviewing tobacco regulations, the company does not wish to react to the move taken by Nakuru Municipal council.

BBC NEWS REPORT

ZIMBABWE SLUM EVICTIONS 'A CRIME' !

Thousands of people's homes and livelihoods were destroyed. The forcible eviction of 700,000 people from slums in Zimbabwe in 2005 was "a crime against humanity", according to independent legal opinion.
The human rights groups that sought the legal advice, say the issue could now be referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Zimbabwe's government called Operation Murambatsvina an urban clean-up campaign to remove illegal structures.
But the United Nations condemned the demolitions of shops and homes.
The Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and another group, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, sought independent legal opinion.
This concluded that the evictions in Zimbabwe were a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population, as part of state policy.
"What happened in Zimbabwe was akin in magnitude to the Asian tsunami," Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehma told reporters in The Hague.
The finding is that Operation Murambatsvina was a crime against humanity, and the UN Security Council therefore has authority to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court.
"We believe it is now time for the Security Council to take up this issue and we are calling on all 15 members ... to put it on the agenda and officially debate it," said Malcolm Langford, of the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions.
The programme to build new homes to replace those demolished has faltered, says Amnesty International in its 2007 annual report.
"By May (2006) one year after the programmes launch, only 3,325 houses have been built, compared to 92,460 housing structures destroyed in Operation Murambatsvina," it said.
In recent years, millions of Zimbabweans have left the country as it grapples with runaway inflation, high unemployment and food shortages.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PAKISTAN FATWA MINISTER 'TO QUIT' !

Pakistan's Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar has submitted her resignation after strong criticism from hardline Islamist clerics.
Last month, a fatwa was issued against her after she was pictured hugging a man following a paragliding flight.
The clerics described Ms Bakhtiar's behaviour as obscene. She said the photo was misleading.
The tourism minister made the jump in France in March to raise money for victims of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.
'Noble cause'
Shortly afterwards newspapers published photographs showing her hugging her elderly instructor.
I have taken the decision due to unavoidable circumstances -Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar.

Does fatwa promote bigotry?

Hardline clerics at the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) Islamabad issued a religious edict condemning her behaviour, saying it violated Islamic morality.
At the time she vowed not to be intimidated but officials have confirmed reports that she has now handed in her resignation.
"Despite my exceptional commitment to the cause of tourism in Pakistan, I have taken the decision due to unavoidable circumstances," she said in a letter faxed to newspapers.

The madrassa administration is accused of being 'extremist'.
"French media praised my daring attempt but unfortunately some irresponsible elements in Pakistan presented this noble cause in a malicious manner," she told the Dawn newspaper.
She was quoted as saying she had been hurt by the way the issue was sensationalised and that her parachute jump had been for a noble cause.
Earlier she had shrugged off the clerical criticism, saying she would do another jump for a good cause.
"We don't need to be intimidated by these people," she told Reuters Television in April.
"I have no regrets... I would do it again happily if it helps the people of Pakistan."
'Extremism'
It is not clear if the prime minister will accept Ms Bakhtiar's offer to resign.
But the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad say the incident highlights a growing climate of extremism in Pakistan.
In February a female provincial minister was shot dead by a man who, police said, did not think women should be in politics.
The clerics who denounced the tourism minister have set up their own vigilante anti-vice squads in the capital.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

JULIA ROBERTS TO PLAY MURDERED BRITON !

Julia Roberts won an Oscar in 2001 for Erin Brockovich. Hollywood actress Julia Roberts has signed up to play the murdered British wildlife conservationist Joan Root.
Roberts, 39, will also produce the as-yet-untitled movie, which will begin filming in Africa next year.
It will follow Root's earlier life making award-winning wildlife documentaries, before she was shot in her bed by a gunman in Kenya last year.
Tim Bevan of Working Title films said the company was "delighted" that Roberts had agreed to be involved.
"We are thrilled to be making a film about such a courageous, adventurous and passionate woman," he added.

Joan Root helped make many celebrated wildlife films.
At the time of the shooting police in Kenya investigated whether she was killed as a result of a botched robbery or assassinated by people objecting to her conservation work.
The announcement of the movie was made at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was also revealed that Daniel Craig will star in Flashbacks of a Fool.
The 007 star will play a washed-up British Hollywood actor.
British stars Helen McCrory, Olivia Williams and Emilia Fox will also appear in the film.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Q & A : WI-FI HEALTH CONCERNS !

A number of education professionals have raised concerns about the use of wi-fi internet networks in schools, following a Panorama report into the technology. So just how safe is it?
What is wi-fi?
Wi-fi is the acronym for Wireless Fidelity, essentially a set of standards for transmitting data over a wireless network.
Wi-fi allows you to connect to the net at broadband speeds without cables, as long as you have the right equipment and, in most cases, a regular internet service provider and a wi-fi account.
How does it work?
Wireless uses radio waves of a particular frequency - in this case 2.4Ghz - to send and receive data. It is the same frequency on which microwaves, cordless phones and Bluetooth devices work - which can cause interference between these gadgets when used in conjunction on the same channel.
Radiowaves such as wireless, are a type of radiation, called non-ionising. This radiation includes microwaves, infrared light, mobile phone communications and visible light.
Ionising radiation, such as X-Rays, can be destructive to biological tissue, and can cause DNA damage in cells.
Non-ionising radiation does not carry enough energy to ionise atoms and at high levels of exposure can only excite atoms, causing heating.
This is the process by which microwave ovens heat food, by exciting the molecules that are exposed to the radiation.
A typical microwave oven has 100,000 times the radiation intensity of a wi-fi network.
What are the concerns over wi-fi safety?
Some scientists have reported that low levels of non-ionising radiation can cause damage to chromosomes. But there is currently no scientific evidence that wi-fi, in particular, causes this to happen.
There is speculation that low level radiation can do more than just excite atoms, a non-thermal interaction., but again there is no current evidence to suggest this is possible.
Recent concerns over mobile phone use and children - the UK government recommends that young children do not use mobiles as their skulls are thinner than adults - have given rise to concerns over wi-fi.
The Health Protection Agency points out that a person sitting in a wi-fi hotspot for a year would be exposed to only the same amount of radiation from a 20-minute mobile phone call.
So is wi-fi 100% safe? Scientists distinguish between a current lack of evidence to show that wi-fi is unsafe and definitively saying something 100% harmless.
Some people have called for more research into wi-fi, to prove that it is safe.
But it is impossible to prove a negative, scientists point out; there is no way of demonstrating that wi-fi has zero effect on someone.
Should I err on the side of caution and stop using wi-fi?
The World Health Organisation says there is no risk from low level, long-term exposure to wi-fi networks.
However, Professor Lawrie Challis, chairman of the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) programme management committee, encourages young children not to use a computer on their lap and to place it on a table.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BEHEADINGS SPARK KENYAN SECT HUNT !

The Mungiki sect has a violent reputation. Police in Kenya have launched a manhunt for followers of the outlawed Mungiki religious sect accused of beheading six people in the centre of the country.
Security Minister John Michuki said some 200 suspects have been arrested this week since the corpses were found.
Followers of the Mungiki sect, have been battling with public transport operators who refuse to pay them protection fees.
The sect promotes female circumcision and oath taking and was banned in 2002.
Police say the latest victims of the sect members were abducted and tortured before being hacked to death and their bodies dismembered.
The body parts were found dumped near a police station, in Kiambu town, a few kilometres from the capital, Nairobi.
The group has been linked to influential politicians from central Kenya in the past and there are fears they may be used to disrupt the general elections later this year.
President Mwai Kibaki is seeking a second term in office and is facing a stiff challenge from the opposition Orange Democratic Movement of Kenya.
¿Mungiki, Taliban or whatever they call themselves we are going to wipe them out tomorrow and we are determined,¿ Mr Michuki told reporters in Nairobi.
The security minister denied claims that the killings are linked to politics.
Mungiki which means a multitude of people in Kikuyu, one of the major tribes in Kenya, claims to have more than one million followers across the country.
Police are also investigating reports that the sect has extended its criminal activities to kidnapping and extortion.
Last week, security forces were placed on high alert following the distribution of leaflets allegedly authored by the sect leaders asking the youth to join the banned sect in readiness for an uprising against the government.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SON FIGHTS AMIN'S BLOODY LEGACY !

Amin proclaimed himself the last king of Scotland.

Former Ugandan leader Idi Amin Dada's son wants a truth and reconciliation commission to probe alleged atrocities committed during his father's rule.
Jaffar Amin has set up a website to put the record straight over his father's "misinterpreted legacy".
But the government says investigations have confirmed many atrocities committed by the former president.
Rights groups say 500,000 people were killed during Amin's eight-year rule.
Idi Amin died in 2003 in Saudi Arabia, where he had lived in exile after his ousting by Tanzanian-backed Ugandan rebels in 1979.
"All the evidence is there in a 15-volume report by the human rights commission and It is a well known fact how many people were killed," President Yoweri Museveni's advisor, John Nagenda, told the BBC.
Guilt
Mr Nagenda, who was also a member of the commission that investigated the former ruler's alleged crimes, said President Amin was given a chance to defend himself but failed to appear before them due to his guilt.

Amin expelled Uganda's Asian population in 1972
Thousands of Asian businessmen from Uganda in were also expelled in 1972 after President Amin accused them of milking the country's economy.
But his son, Jaffar, told the BBC's Network Africa programme that his father compensated the businessmen who had British passports.
Mr Amin first broke the family's 20-year silence when the award-winning portrayal of his father, The Last King of Scotland, was released last year.
He also disputes the numbers of people killed during his father's rule.
"If you bring a demographic expert here, the numbers don't add up," Mr Amin said.
Several films have been made about President Amin's regime which was symbolised by bloodshed and cannibalism.
"Our father had his faults. I do not see the period of his rule in Uganda with 'rose tinted glasses'. However, we need to counterbalance history with all the truth," Mr Amin said.
He insists that some people in Uganda have fond memories of his father and are ready to testify before a Truth and Reconciliation Commission similar to that set up in South Africa.
Jaffar Amin is also writing a book to try to counter his father's reputation as a brutal and murderous dictator.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOUTH AFRICA'S VIRGINITY TESTING !

South Africa's virginity testing
By Antony Kaminju Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

Having her virginity regularly tested makes South African Nsomawethu Tshobeni feel good.
"At 31 I'm very proud to be a virgin, and when I attend the test regularly it gives me self-esteem as a woman," said the nurse who works in the coastal city of Durban.
A revival in the traditional practice among young Zulu women in South Africa is portrayed by supporters as the best way to stop unwanted pregnancies and the spread of HIV/Aids.
But opponents say the practice is sexist and outdated and can even increase the chances of Aids - given the widely held misconception that unprotected sex with a virgin is safe or can cure Aids.
Workshop
Some 200 young Zulu women attended a session in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province ranging in age from seven to 31.

Human rights activists say virginity testing is demeaning.
They met five female elders in a workshop and discussed general sexuality as well as more specific problems.
The physical examination to determine if they have ever had sex seemed very much a secondary part of the proceedings.
How to deal with rape, which is at epidemic levels in South Africa, was one of the topics that came up during the session.
The discussions, however, rarely mentioned condoms, regarded in South Africa as the first defence against Aids.
'Colonialist mentality'
Instead, abstinence was highlighted as the main way to prevent infection.
Nomagugu Gobese, an elderly woman who founded the Nomkhubulwane Culture and Youth Development Organisation and who is dubbed "auntie" by many of the girls who come for testing, is among those who strongly support the tradition.

Female elders discussed general sexuality matters with the girls
Gobese said virginity testing had been practised for hundreds of years and those opposing the tradition, which she likened to a religion, were adopting "a colonialist mentality".
"The lesson should be to teach the school kids on how to abstain and not to make them think that it's OK to fall pregnant," she said.
Makhosaza June has been sending her 24-year-old daughter for virginity tests every month.
"I have seen the effect on my daughter since she started attending the tests," she says.
"She now has self-respect and she is the one who wants to attend those tests, I don't force her."
Risk
But Loveness Jambaya, of the non-governmental advocacy group Gender Links in Johannesburg, said the practice puts women's lives into jeopardy.

This event gives me a chance to meet other girls who are virgins. I now know myself and I'm responsible for my body
Sthabile Buthelezi, 25
"You are at greater risk of rape because of (the incorrect) belief of sex with virgins helping to fight Aids. And if you're found to have had sex you are open to being ostracised by the community and all forms of abuse," she said.
"HIV/Aids is the greatest risk they face."
For generations Zulu homes have run tests to ensure their daughters fetch a higher "lobola", the traditional payment made by the groom's family to the bride's family.
"It's unacceptable. It's imposed on a girl but not a boy which is unfair," says Cecilia Ncube of the UN's women's rights agency, Unifem in Johannesburg.
"And it stigmatises.
"A man is expected to marry a virgin - if she is exposed then she will be an outcast in the community."
South Africa's parliament in 2005 considered a proposal to ban the tests, but the measure was defeated.
Tests
Doctors and Zulu elders concede the tests do not in themselves reveal whether a person is HIV-positive.
But the tests can reveal who may be having unsafe sex and which among them need counselling and possibly treatment.
Supporters add that girls who successfully pass the tests receive reaffirmation for their choice to remain chaste.
Sthabile Buthelezi, 25, said she had been attending virginity testing sessions since 1994.
"This event gives me a chance to meet other girls who are virgins, and we can show the whole world that we are virgins. I now know myself and I'm responsible for my body," she said.
For those who say the virginity tests place too much of an onus on women, Nomagugu Gobese has a surprise.
She said she will begin testing boys later. Medical experts might question her methods, but she said she is sure she will be able to tell who has been having sex.
"Boys should be taught to be good mannered as well, not just girls.
"Otherwise we are fighting a losing battle by concentrating on the girls only," she said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MOBILES BEAT ZIMBABWE FUEL QUEUES !

Mobiles beat Zimbabwe fuel queues
By Lucy Fleming BBC News website

Text messages from abroad have never been received so eagerly by cash-strapped Zimbabweans.
The "beep beep" signals an end to hours spent queuing at petrol stations.
"Hey... you have been sent a Mukuru Voucher for 40 litres of Petrol from..." reads the message.
A voucher number follows which allows the recipient to swap the pin number for coupons redeemable at certain garages.
This is all the handiwork of Mukuru.com - a website set up by Zimbabweans in the UK to help their fellow countrymen in the diaspora pay for petrol, satellite TV or transfer money to their friends and relatives at home.
It properly got off the ground last year, and its customers are steadily growing as news of it spreads.
Little fuss
Within seconds of opening an account and sending an order to a grateful guinea pig in Zimbabwe, I received an email from Mukuru.

Zimbabwe suffers from constant fuel shortages.
"Shamwari Lucy, Uri bho here? (friend, how are you?)" it began in conversational Shona.
"Thanks a bunch for using Mukuru.com - we have sent an email to (your friend) notifying them of the order below."
The next morning, another email arrived to tell me the funds had cleared and a voucher had been issued.
At the same time, my friend in the capital, Harare, got a text message and went off to collect the petrol coupons - valid for three months. Forty litres costs $40 - the going black market rate.
Several days later they went to fill their car, with little fuss from one of Zimbabwe's garages allowed to import fuel using foreign currency.
"I arrived there at 3pm and looked in the book and they must've sold more than 500 litres that day," my friend said.
Groceries
I was left in no doubt about my generosity, receiving texts to let me know about every moment of the transaction right up until the petrol was gushing into the tank.

I think Zimbabwe would be dead right now if wasn't for imports - it would be on its knees
Zimbuyer spokesman
For one of the founding members of Zimbuyer.com - another new website allowing Zimbabweans to buy groceries for people at home - this control is what makes these services popular.
"They're a lot of people who left Zimbabwe and, for example, have left their children over there," he told the BBC News website.
"But sometimes the money they have sent home for the care of their children is diverted into other things.
"With our service, people buy the stuff - we deliver them to the recipients so they know that they're buying."
Shopping on Zimbuyer - run by a team of four in the US and UK - is like doing a supermarket shop online in the UK, with a little less software finesse.
The prices are marked in British pounds, but the products are Zimbabwean staples such as sadza maize, Cashel Valley Baked Beans and Ingrams Camphor Cream - delivered to addresses in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo.
Lifeline
Zimland.com offers a similar service for customers from 52 OK supermarket branches nationwide. Its website says it gives Zimbabweans abroad "a quick and efficient way of ensuring their families did not starve in Zimbabwe".
We're running it as a service to help people -Dr Brighton Chireka.
With Zimbabwe's economy spiralling out of control, high unemployment and one of the highest HIV rates in the world, people in the diaspora can literally provide a lifeline.
UK-based Dr Brighton Chireka and his wife Prisca, a nurse, have set up Beepee Medical Services, allowing Zimbabweans abroad to pay for doctor's appointments, prescription drugs and surgery for relatives at home.
"Mostly we're running it as a service to help people," Dr Chireka told the BBC News website, adding that since its launch last September BPMS now gets about two consultation bookings ($30 an appointment) a day.
"It should be able to pay itself... We've employed people who are working full-time in Zimbabwe. This side it's on a part-time basis to answer the calls."
Dr Chireka says they have to review their prices every two or three weeks because of the rampant inflation which stands at 3,731.9% - a climate ripe for a flourishing black market.
This is something Zimbabwe's no-nonsense central bank governor is keen to stamp out.
Legal
Last year Gideon Gono banned several money transfer agencies, accusing them of abusing their licences by doing deals on the black market.

Satellite systems and subscription services are also popular.
Zimbuyer says their service - which at the moment attracts about 10 customers a day - is a way around this for Zimbabweans abroad who are loath to send money back at the official rates.
Last week, the black market rate was Z$29,000 to US$1 - compared to the long-standing official rate of Z$250 to US$1. This week, the black market rate for the US dollar has risen by Z$4,000.
"The government it is cracking down on the black market or foreign currency dealers - they buy money in Zimbabwe or take the wealth outside Zimbabwe which is something we're not doing," the Zimbuyer spokesman - which imports most of the products - told the BBC.
"I think Zimbabwe would be dead right now if wasn't for imports - it would be on its knees."
Mukuru.com also allows customers to transfer money - at the black-market rate - to accounts in Zimbabwe; it has also started this service to South Africa.
Their customer service line says a "dispersment agent" deposits the money in Zimbabwe.
All the services are clearly being careful not to antagonise Mr Gono, and offer tight security and the online payment system PayPal for their clients.
And as Mukuru's petrol fame spreads, what are Zimbuyer's most popular products?
"Cooking oil and sugar - right now we've run out of the sugar we have it bought in from Botswana.
"And power generators are proving popular because the electricity always goes off nearly every day."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DUKE TO VISIT CUTTY SARK REMAINS !

The Duke of Edinburgh is to visit the burned remains of the Cutty Sark.
The 19th Century ship, which sits in a dry dock in Greenwich, suffered serious fire damage on Monday morning.
Police are treating the blaze as suspicious and are waiting for the wreck to be made safe before continuing their investigations.
Richard Doughty, chief executive of the Cutty Sark Trust of which the duke is president, called for help in raising the funds to restore the ship.
The Queen and Prince Philip were already due to open a new planetarium and education centre at the nearby Royal Observatory and National Maritime Museum on Tuesday.
The Duke, who helped form the Cutty Sark Society in 1951, will follow the opening with a visit to the damaged tea clipper.

See which parts of the ship were damaged

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "The Duke was sorry to hear of the fire, this sad setback to an important example of our national maritime heritage.
"The Duke takes a close interest in historic ships and their preservation for future generations and as president of the Cutty Sark Trust since 2000 he has been working closely with them in support of their fundraising."

In Pictures: Cutty Sark fire
Send us your comments

The Trust has raised £18m towards a £25m restoration of the ship, which was due to reopen to the public in November 2009.
More than half the ship, including the masts, had been taken apart and moved off site as part of the refurbishment and was therefore not affected by the fire.
However, the restoration costs will increase substantially following the blaze and the Trust still needs to examine the hull of the vessel to determine the extent of the damage.
Mr Doughty said: "We are appealing for help to close the funding gap and to get us through the crisis and return the ship to its former glory.
"It has been rescued twice before, in 1922 and 1953. This will be third time lucky."
After visiting the ship on Monday evening, Culture Minister Tessa Jowell said: "It's absolutely devastating. This is an icon, not just here in Greenwich but right around the world."
Police have appealed for people who were in the area close to the ship in the early hours of Monday morning to come forward.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DR CONGO REBEL THREAT TO GORILLAS !

Rebels have attacked a nature reserve in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing a ranger and critically injuring three, say conservationists.
Some 200 Mai Mai militia fighters attacked three observation posts in the Virunga National Park.
They are threatening to kill a rare group of mountain gorillas if the authorities come after them.
WildlifeDirect director Emmanuel de Merode said the Mai Mai attack may be a reprisal for a government clampdown.
"Our understanding is that this was a deliberate attack on the Congolese wildlife authorities," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa.

Almost 100 rangers in Virunga have died protecting the gorillas.
Hutu rebels and Mai Mai fighters have sought sanctuary in recent years in the park, during a long conflict that has led to some four million deaths.
But there has been a recent attempt to drive out and demobilise the remaining militias in the east.
Mr Merode said there were two important guerrilla populations who have been under attack since the beginning of the war.
"The efforts of the Congolese rangers to protect these have been quite successful but at a huge human cost."
"Over 97 rangers have been killed in Virunga National Park since the war started in 1996," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SPAIN SENDS AFRICAN MIGRANTS HOME !

The Canary Islands are struggling with an influx of African migrants. The Spanish government has repatriated more than 750 African migrants, including 30 children.
The majority were Senegalese and were caught last week trying to enter the Canary Islands, according to Spain's interior ministry.
The government said all illegal immigrants would be expelled.
The latest influx is blamed on the temporary suspension of maritime patrols between the Spanish islands and the western coast of Africa.
The Spanish Interior Minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, confirmed the migrants had been returned home.
"We have repatriated, with the invaluable help of the government of Senegal, nearly 600 citizens of that country," he said. "This is an unmistakable message to the mafias."
Traffickers often extort money from Africans trying to reach Europe via hazardous sea crossings to the Canaries.

See the main routes taken by African migrants

No information was given about where in Africa the other migrants had come from.
Overall this year, though, the numbers of would-be immigrants are down compared to the same time last year.
In 2006 an estimated 30,000 immigrants were caught trying to reach the Canary Islands.
The vast majority sailed from west Africa in crowded open boats, many dying en route.
The European Union's external borders agency, Frontex, suspended maritime patrols around the Spanish islands early last month, when its 2006 mission ended.
The patrols are expected to restart within weeks, after the agency receives equipment including planes, helicopters and boats.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA CONFIRMS BIRD FLU OUTBREAK !

China has confirmed a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in the central province of Hunan, state media has reported.
More than 11,000 poultry died of the virus in Shijiping village near Yiyang city, the Agriculture Ministry said.
Some 53,000 birds have since been culled and officials say that the outbreak is now under control.
China's last reported case was in March, when chickens died at a poultry market near the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
There were no reports of human infection in the latest outbreak.
A total of 15 people have died in China from the H5N1 virus and millions of birds have been culled.
Officials are working to vaccinate billions of domestic poultry by the end of May in preparation for the northward migration of wild birds in the summer, Xinhua news agency has said.
Since the H5N1 virus emerged in South East Asia in late 2003, it has claimed more than 180 lives around the world. Indonesia has been hardest hit, with more than 70 deaths.
Scientists fear the virus could mutate to a form which could be easily passed from human to human, triggering a pandemic and potentially putting millions of lives at risk.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe !

Pay in bits and pieces !
Saturday 19th May 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

The last time I had occasion to call the fire brigade was in March 2002. It was just a couple of weeks before the Presidential elections and a house a few doors away was petrol bombed. Windows exploded, the roof collapsed and a raging inferno turned night into day. The fire brigade didn't answer their phone so I dialled the police. They said they couldn't help as they didn't have a vehicle and were unable to alert the fire brigade as the police telephone was not able to make outgoing calls. The fire raged out of control and finally I got through to the fire brigade. They said they couldn't send a fire engine as it was busy picking up a sick person in a high density suburb. Despite my best efforts to explain that I wasn't asking for an ambulance but a fire truck with hoses and water, the fire brigade never came.

About eighteen months later, without any explanation, a new charge suddenly appeared on rate-payers municipal accounts. It was called a 'fire levy' and it had been added to our monthly accounts along with a massive increase in all municipal services ranging from 475% for something called a development levy, to 1600% for water. On my account for that month I wrote in big letters: "NOT PAID: Public Protest; To be Reduced. " A hastily convened and heated public meeting, a protest by residents to the Municipal offices and it was all over. Victory came swiftly! The accounts were withdrawn and the increases were slashed by over 50%.

The 'fire levy,' however, became a permanent fixture on the bill.

This week Marondera residents received their monthly Municipal accounts and were staggered to find that charges have increased by one thousand two hundred percent. Phoning for an explanation residents are being told they can "pay in instalments." How do you pay a monthly bill in instalments if the account is higher than your entire monthly wage, one resident asked? 'Just pay what you have" came the reply; "pay in bits and pieces" the man said.

Another asked if the increase had been advertised in the press as required under the Urban Councils act. The municipal employee said that they didn't have to advertise in the press because they had consulted their 'stakeholders'. Asked who these stakeholders were, the employee declined to answer and said the Town Accountant would know but he wasn't available. When the resident asked if he was a 'stakeholder' as he lived in the town, owned property and paid rates, the municipal employee said "aaaaah" and laughed but did not answer.

Another resident who tried to complain declined to reveal his exact address because he is well aware of the recriminations which accompany all forms of protest in Zimbabwe these days. He met with a very hostile response. The Municipal employee, whose salary is paid with our rates, said: "If you don't want to tell me where you stay, I no longer want to talk to you" and slammed the phone down. Hardly professional behaviour for a senior municipal employee who has clearly forgotten just exactly where the money comes from to pay his salary.

Dialogue and plain common sense have left the caretakers of this bankrupt town. People are complaining, more will speak out. A small picture of the bigger picture.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe !

Pay in bits and pieces !
Saturday 19th May 2007
Dear Family and Friends,

The last time I had occasion to call the fire brigade was in March 2002. It was just a couple of weeks before the Presidential elections and a house a few doors away was petrol bombed. Windows exploded, the roof collapsed and a raging inferno turned night into day. The fire brigade didn't answer their phone so I dialled the police. They said they couldn't help as they didn't have a vehicle and were unable to alert the fire brigade as the police telephone was not able to make outgoing calls. The fire raged out of control and finally I got through to the fire brigade. They said they couldn't send a fire engine as it was busy picking up a sick person in a high density suburb. Despite my best efforts to explain that I wasn't asking for an ambulance but a fire truck with hoses and water, the fire brigade never came.

About eighteen months later, without any explanation, a new charge suddenly appeared on rate-payers municipal accounts. It was called a 'fire levy' and it had been added to our monthly accounts along with a massive increase in all municipal services ranging from 475% for something called a development levy, to 1600% for water. On my account for that month I wrote in big letters: "NOT PAID: Public Protest; To be Reduced. " A hastily convened and heated public meeting, a protest by residents to the Municipal offices and it was all over. Victory came swiftly! The accounts were withdrawn and the increases were slashed by over 50%.

The 'fire levy,' however, became a permanent fixture on the bill.

This week Marondera residents received their monthly Municipal accounts and were staggered to find that charges have increased by one thousand two hundred percent. Phoning for an explanation residents are being told they can "pay in instalments." How do you pay a monthly bill in instalments if the account is higher than your entire monthly wage, one resident asked? 'Just pay what you have" came the reply; "pay in bits and pieces" the man said.

Another asked if the increase had been advertised in the press as required under the Urban Councils act. The municipal employee said that they didn't have to advertise in the press because they had consulted their 'stakeholders'. Asked who these stakeholders were, the employee declined to answer and said the Town Accountant would know but he wasn't available. When the resident asked if he was a 'stakeholder' as he lived in the town, owned property and paid rates, the municipal employee said "aaaaah" and laughed but did not answer.

Another resident who tried to complain declined to reveal his exact address because he is well aware of the recriminations which accompany all forms of protest in Zimbabwe these days. He met with a very hostile response. The Municipal employee, whose salary is paid with our rates, said: "If you don't want to tell me where you stay, I no longer want to talk to you" and slammed the phone down. Hardly professional behaviour for a senior municipal employee who has clearly forgotten just exactly where the money comes from to pay his salary. Dialogue and plain common sense have left the caretakers of this bankrupt town. People are complaining, more will speak out. A small picture of the bigger picture.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy

SEVEN DEAD IN KENYA PARK GUNFIGHT !

Kenya has been hailed for its efforts to combat ivory poaching. Three wildlife rangers and four suspected poachers have been killed in a gun battle in Kenya.
A spokesman for Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said seven rangers patrolling the Tana River District were attacked by an unknown number of armed men.
The area is home to three national parks where poaching is common.
KWS spokesman Paul Udoto said two AK47 assault rifles and two axes were recovered and rangers were pursuing several suspected poachers.
Mr Udoto said another ranger was seriously wounded in the gunfight that took place at 0200 (2300 GMT).
Kenya has been hailed for its efforts in combating the trade in elephant tusks and other animal parts that is a big business for poachers in East Africa.
Wildlife tourism is an important source of revenue for Kenya.
The trade in ivory is banned under international treaty and Kenya has been opposed to calls for a partial lifting of the ban.
Last year the KWS said it broke up an international syndicate dealing in ivory and other illegal animal products.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SHIPWRECK YIELDS RECORD TREASURES !

The artefacts have been shipped to the US for examination. US treasure hunters have recovered half a million silver coins and hundreds of gold coins and worked gold from a colonial-era shipwreck in the Atlantic.
Odyssey Marine Exploration said the find was the largest of its kind and is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
"The gold coins are almost all dazzling mint state specimens," Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm said.
The team has kept secret the location of the wreck, codenamed Black Swan, citing security and legal reasons.
The artefacts, including more than 17 tonnes of silver coins, have been shipped to the US and are being examined by experts at an undisclosed location.

The mammoth haul was salvaged using a tethered underwater robot. The haul was salvaged using a tethered underwater robot. The Odyssey team said the site was of huge historical importance because of the insight it would offer into seafaring and the social life of the period when the ship sank.
"Our research suggests that there were a number of colonial period shipwrecks that were lost in the area where this site is located, so we are being very cautious about speculating as to the possible identity of the shipwreck," said John Morris, Odyssey's co-founder.
"We have treated this site with kid gloves and the archaeological work done by our team out there is unsurpassed.
"We are thoroughly documenting and recording the site, which we believe will have immense historical significance," he said.
The company said it expected the shipwreck would eventually become one of the "most publicised in history".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE WORLD BANK AFTER WOLFOWITZ !

The World Bank after Wolfowitz
Analysis By Steve Schifferes BBC News economics reporter.

Paul Wolfowitz was a controversial figure from the beginning. The departure of Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank has cast a cloud over the organisation and the way that it is governed.
Mr Wolfowitz, who was accused of favouritism, was a leading advocate of the fight against corruption.
Now the Bank will have to re-examine its priorities and heal the splits that emerged between the US and Europe.
And it will have to move quickly to find a new leader who commands respect among rich and poor countries alike.
Undemocratic process
Mr Wolfowitz was never going to be a popular choice among development agencies and many Europeans, with his background at the Pentagon as a key architect of the US invasion of Iraq.
If the outdated convention (of leadership selection) is not abandoned, the leadership crisis at the World Bank is unlikely to be fully resolved even if Paul Wolfowitz decides to resign
Open letter by 200 development expertsBut the manner of his departure has rekindled a broader debate about how the World Bank, and its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, are run.
By tradition, the World Bank president has always been appointed by the US government, while the Europeans have had the right to nominate the head of the IMF.

NEXT WORLD BANK PRESIDENT: RUNNERS AND RIDERS

Robert Zoellick: Former US trade representative and US Deputy Secretary of State
Paul Volker: Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, investigated corruption at UN
Stanley Fisher: Former World Bank and IMF official, now head of Bank of Israel
Robert Kimmitt: Deputy US Treasury Secretary
Andrew Natsios: former director of USAID

Now this convention is under attack. In a letter to the World Bank, 200 leading development organisations have called for and open process for selecting the new leader that includes "transparency of process, and competence of prospective leadership without regard to national origin".
"If the outdated convention is not abandoned, the leadership crisis at the World Bank is unlikely to be fully resolved even if Paul Wolfowitz decides to resign," they said.
Oxfam's Barbara Stocking said "the US and other rich countries must now show that they are serious about good governance by reforming the recruitment process to allow the next head of the Bank to be appointed on merit and commitment to alleviate poverty".
Japan, the World Bank's second largest donor, has also called for the Bank make a selection without restricting itself to an American.
"The nationality of the successor is a governance matter for the World Bank," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said.
But it is not clear that either the Europeans or especially the US are prepared to abandon their tacit agreement, and give more power to other countries in the selection process.
Leading candidates
Already speculation is rife in Washington about who President George W Bush is likely to appoint as Mr Wolfowitz's replacement in six weeks' time.

Poor countries want a bigger role in the Bank.
The leading contender appears to be Robert Zoellick, the former US trade representative who reportedly has been lobbying hard for the role after quitting his job at the State Department last year.
Other candidates include Paul Volker, the chairman of the Federal Reserve before Alan Greenspan, who is a respected figure in Washington but rather old for the job; Stanley Fisher, a key official in the 1990s at the Bank and the Fund, but seen as very much part of the Clinton Administration era, and former USAID director Andrew Natsios.
Nancy Birdsall, director of the Center for Global Development, said the crisis was a real opportunity for the World Bank to reform itself.
"I wish the Bush administration would announce its support for an open, competitive and merit-based process," she said.
"This whole mess illustrates the need for change in how the nations of the world oversee the bank."
Voices of the poor?
One reason why the Europeans may be reluctant to open the selection debate is that it is linked to the broader issue of who runs the Bank and the Fund.

China was given more voting power at the Bank.
Currently the votes on the executive board of the Bank and the Fund are based on the size of a country's economy, not its population.
The US, with the world's largest economy, has around 17% of the votes, enough to give it veto power as key decisions require an 85% majority.
But relative to the size of their economy, the EU is over-represented on the Bank's board, and developing countries, such as India and China, are under-represented.
Last September, the Bank and the Fund moved to increase the quotas, and the voting rights, of fast-growing developing countries like India, China and South Korea.
But many observers believe that a more radical redistribution of power is needed, with either independent directors, or more representation for developing countries who are the main clients of the Bank.
The countries of sub-Saharan Africa, for example, have only 5% of the Bank votes.
Battle over corruption
Mr Wolfowitz arrived at the World Bank at a key moment in its development, with renewed calls for Western commitment to end poverty in Africa and tackle climate change.
But Mr Wolfowitz's most controversial policy was aimed at tackling corruption and ensuring good governance.
We know that when governments don't work, the development assistance we provide to governments doesn't work either.
Paul Wolfowitz
Mr Wolfowitz sought to develop an index of corruption for each country, which would show how easy it was for the private sector to do business.
But it was his arbitrary actions in suspending development aid without consulting the Executive Board that caused the most friction.
Mr Wolfowitz argued that "when governments don't work, the development assistance we provide to governments doesn't work either".
It was unclear, however, what criteria he used in deciding when to suspend World Bank projects.
Now his successor will have to rebuild the image of the Bank and reassure its clients that it is living up to its own ethical principles.
Funding development
The most important reason that Paul Wolfowitz had to go, however, may not have been the corruption issue.
Rather, the controversy over his role was threatening the future of the World Bank's development funding.
The Bank lends about $10bn (£5bn) per year to poor countries under its IDA programme interest-free, but it relies on rich countries to replenish its funding for IDA every few years.
This year, key negotiations about IDA replenishment have just begun, and it had become increasingly clear that European governments were reluctant to pledge additional funds while Mr Wolfowitz was still in charge.
This would threaten the ability of the Bank to meet its development goals.
It was this fact that led the Bank, and Mr Wolfowitz himself, to conclude that "the poorest people of the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, deserve the very best we can deliver".
"I have concluded that it is the best interests of those whom this institution serves for that mission to be carried forward under new leadership."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA'S BALANCING ACT OVER DARFUR !

China's balancing act over Darfur.
By Dan Griffiths BBC News, Beijing.

The future of the war-torn region of Darfur is likely to be decided thousands of kilometres away from Sudan. But not at the United Nations in New York, or in Washington.
This time it is China that holds the key - a reminder of Beijing's growing global influence.
China and Sudan have long had strong political, economic and military ties.
Chinese leaders have traditionally resisted international pressure to use that clout to bring peace to Darfur. But in the past few months there have been signs of a change in Beijing's approach to Sudan.
So, is this really a new beginning or just a public-relations exercise designed to placate China's critics?
Strong criticism
China and Sudan have a relationship that goes back decades, and the booming Chinese economy has strengthened those ties.
Beijing is now one of Sudan's main investors and trading partners. It has spent millions of dollars investing in Sudan's oil infrastructure. Khartoum now exports close to 500,000 barrels of oil per day with much of that going to China.

Celebrities such as actress Mia Farrow are piling on the pressure.
China also has a long history of selling weapons and arms to Sudan. In fact, earlier this year Beijing offered to increase military co-operation with Khartoum.
So China has been reluctant to pressure Sudan over Darfur - fearing it might undermine the close relationship with Khartoum.
Beijing has even used its veto at the UN Security Council to block moves to impose sanctions on Sudan unless it stops the fighting in Darfur.
But in recent months international pressure on Beijing has been growing.
More than 100 US legislators signed a letter calling on Beijing to take immediate action to stop the violence in Darfur.
The London-based human rights organisation, Amnesty International, claimed that China was selling weapons to Sudan in violation of a UN arms embargo.
Hollywood stars like Stephen Spielberg and Mia Farrow have voiced their concerns about China's role in Sudan.
And human rights activists have called on countries to boycott the Beijing Olympics in 2008 because of China's close relationship with Sudan.
A change of heart?
On the surface, China appears to have got the point. This month Beijing appointed its first ever envoy for African affairs.
Liu Guijin is an experienced diplomat who knows Africa well, having served as ambassador to both Zimbabwe and South Africa. His work is expected to focus on Darfur.

China is having an increasingly large impact on Africa's economy
In April, China urged Sudan in unusually strong terms to show greater flexibility on the UN peace plan for Darfur.
Beijing has also announced it would send nearly 300 military engineers to help international peacekeeping forces in Darfur.
All that is a change from China's traditional foreign policy stance of not interfering in the internal affairs of another country.
So what's going on?
China wants to be seen as a responsible player on the world stage with a diplomatic stature to match its growing economic might.
Growing international criticism on Sudan could dent that strategy.
But there is another reason as well. China does not want anything to impact on the Olympic Games in 2008. Talk of a boycott is the last thing that Chinese politicians want to hear.
But at the same time China does not want to lose its relationship with Sudan.
So it is attempting a delicate balancing act - trying to manage the expectations of the international community while maintaining close ties with Khartoum.
China's leaders are pretty conservative in their outlook. They will not want to perform a major foreign policy u-turn, but these small moves are a sign that they are willing to be increasingly flexible in their approach towards the crisis in Darfur.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

STOLEN COPPER IS MAJOR S.A. EXPORT !

High prices have led to made it more profitable to steal copper. The South African city of Cape Town has launched a major crackdown on people who steal copper electricity wires.
The copper is sold to scrapyards, which then export it to China.
Last year, $10m-worth of copper was sold - the city's second biggest export to China after fruit - even though the region has no natural copper reserves.
The wave of thefts has led to power cuts in some areas and the cancellation of trains which use overhead copper cables, business leaders say.
So far, 33 people have been arrested red-handed.
Officials say scrapyard owners will now be targeted.
Cape Town Chamber of Commerce head Albert Schuitmaker says that some 200 trains were cancelled in March this year because of the theft of copper cables.
He also points out that the figure of $10m only covers official exports - far more may have been sold on the black market.
Cape Town councillor Peter van Dalen says the city has lost 22m rand ($3m) due to the theft of copper wires in the past year.
This week, three security guards were arrested for allegedly stealing copper they were supposed to be protecting.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S.A. BRACED FOR BIG ZIMBABWE INFLUX !

Four out of five Zimbabweans live below the bread line, analysts say. South African President Thabo Mbeki has said his country will "have to live with" an influx of illegal immigrants from neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Up to three million are thought to have fled to South Africa, amid a worsening economic and political crisis.
There is high unemployment, and fuel and food shortages across Zimbabwe.
Addressing parliament, Mr Mbeki said it was not possible to put "a Great Wall of China" between the two countries and stop people walking across the border.
The South African authorities regularly deport Zimbabwean illegal immigrants, but many make repeated attempts to enter South Africa, in the hope of finding refuge and employment.

Starving border jumpers

They often find work in the farms of northern South Africa, where some complain they are exploited.
The annual rate of inflation in Zimbabwe has soared to 3,731.9% - by far the highest rate in the world, official figures show.
President Mbeki has been appointed by Southern African leaders to mediate between Zimbabwe's governing Zanu-PF party, and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, in the hope that free and fair elections can be held next year.
Mr Mbeki said on Thursday the discussions were going "very well" but he gave no details.
It is understood however that the government and the opposition in Zimbabwe have yet to hold a face-to-face meeting.
Mr Mbeki has always preferred "quiet diplomacy" to public criticism of President Robert Mugabe's government.
But recently, senior ANC official Toxyo Sexwale said he feared that the Zimbabwe government was not listening and the "volume may have to be turned up".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

INDIAL AND US MAY CLASH OVER VISAS !

India and US may clash over visas
By Karishma Vaswani BBC Mumbai business correspondent.

A diplomatic row is brewing between the US and India over how companies issue temporary working visas to staff.
US officials have written to nine Indian firms based in the US, asking them to account for their workforce, and explain how the visas were granted.
The US authorities are concerned that the Indian companies are trying to avoid hiring skilled American workers.
Indian commerce minister Kamal Nath has warned that the row could affect trade relations between the two countries.
Mr Nath is in Brussels on Thursday and is expected to raise the issue with the US trade representative Susan Schwab.
Job mobility
US authorities grant a total of 65,000 temporary working visas every year.
However, in recent months, the US has become concerned that many companies are bringing over lower-paid Indian workers at the expense of the more expensive Americans.
In the past few years, the US has been urging India to open up its own economy to American businesses.
Many US companies have come to India, lured by the fortunes of firms that have flourished because of the strength of the Indian economy.
Ironically, salaries in India have risen, thanks to the boom in outsourcing, but many Americans still fear they are losing their jobs to foreign workers.
Mr Nath says that he is concerned that the US authorities want to reduce the number of temporary working visas issued each year.

MADRID SUSPECTS ON HUNGER STRIKE !

Most of the 29 defendants are Moroccan. A hunger strike by 14 defendants will not interrupt the trial of suspects in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, the judge has said.
Officials said 10 defendants had now joined a hunger strike started by four others last Thursday.
Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez ruled out any suspension of the trial, which began in February. It is expected to continue for at least five months.
The bombings killed 191 people and injured more than 1,700.
The alleged masterminds of the bombings are among those on hunger strike: Rabei Osman - known as Mohamed the Egyptian, Youssef Belhadj and Hassan el-Haski.
They are protesting over what they call the unjust accusations against them.

TRIAL IN FIGURES
29 men on trial
Six charged with 191 counts of murder and 1,755 of attempted murder
One is charged with 192 counts of murder and 1,755 of attempted murder
They face up to 40,000 years in jail each
22 others face lesser terror-linked charges
About 600 witnesses and 100 experts will give evidence
The indictment itself is 100,000 pages long

Madrid bombs: Defendants

Twenty-nine people - most of them Moroccan - are on trial over the blasts in the Spanish capital.
Ten bombs hidden in rucksacks were detonated on four rush-hour trains in Madrid in March 2004.
Investigators in Spain have attributed the attacks to a local cell of Islamic extremists inspired by al-Qaeda.
Seven key suspects, including Mr Belhadj and Mr Haski, face charges of murder and belonging to a terrorist group.
Twenty-two others face lesser terror-linked charges including collaborating with a terrorist group and handling explosives. Eleven of them are from Morocco, eight from Spain and one each from Algeria, Syria and Lebanon.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ISRAEL LAUNCHES RAIDS INTO GAZA !

Israeli aircraft struck a Hamas office in Gaza City. Israel has launched air raids in Gaza and deployed tanks and infantry across the border after it vowed a severe response to rocket attacks on its soil.
It said its land force was small and had been deployed as a deterrent.
At least three militants were killed in four separate air raids, one of which targeted Hamas offices in Gaza City.
The Israeli attacks came as fighting eased between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah. It has left at least 40 people dead in the past five days.
Correspondents say the rocket attacks into Israel appeared to be an attempt to draw it into an internal Palestinian conflict, although the Israeli defence ministry denied its attacks were linked to factional fighting.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads Fatah, on Thursday suddenly called off a trip to Gaza that had been billed as an effort to shore up the fourth Hamas-Fatah ceasefire in five days.

HAVE YOUR SAY
How can Palestinians unite when the West and Israel will only support one side
Angs, New York

Send us your comments
Residents' voices
Aftermath in pictures

Officials said he might now travel from Ramallah in the West Bank on Friday.
The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi says control of the security forces appears to have been the trigger for the latest factional fighting but that it has now developed a momentum of its own.
Armed supporters on the ground may no longer be paying attention to orders from their political leadership, he says.
On Thursday in Washington, US President George W Bush said both he and visiting UK Prime Minister Tony Blair were urging all parties to work for peace.
Series of strikes
Israel has deployed artillery batteries on the Gaza border to support the tank and infantry units.
A military spokesman said the force was on a "defensive operation".

Media outrage at infighting
Rivals: Fatah and Hamas
Unrest gains momentum

The move came after Hamas militants fired more rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
The BBC's Middle East correspondent Tim Franks, who is in Sderot, said many people there were demanding the Israeli military take robust action inside Gaza.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
The military earlier confirmed four air strikes in Gaza.
One destroyed the second floor of a two-storey building belonging to the Executive Force, a militia force with the task of maintaining security in Gaza.
Hamas's armed wing threatened to renew suicide bombings in Israel after the strike.
The second air attack targeted a car carrying militants in Gaza City, Israel's military said. A Hamas official told Associated Press news agency one senior commander was killed and another wounded.
One Hamas militant was killed in the third attack - on a housing unit for security guards of a senior Hamas official.
Israel said the fourth attack targeted a rocket squad near the southern town of Rafah but Palestinian sources said a father and his two teenage sons were killed in a case of mistaken identity.
'Shameful'
On Thursday morning, factional gun battles broke out in the southern Gaza town of Rafah during a funeral march for a slain Hamas man.
A pro-Fatah gunman was said to have been killed. However clashes were reported to be lighter overall.
The fighting between Mr Abbas's Fatah and the Islamist Hamas threatens a hard-won unity government they formed in March.
Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti - one of the Palestinian cabinet's independent members - described the violence as shameful.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LOW TURNOUT IN ALGERIA ELECTIONS !

The polls have been marred by a boycott and unhappiness with politicians. A low turnout is being reported in Algeria's parliamentary elections, where recent bombings have raised fears of a renewed radical Islamist campaign.
Algerians are frustrated with the failure of politicians to tackle social problems like unemployment, says the BBC's Richard Hamilton in Algiers.
He says there is an uneasy calm at polling stations, amid heavy security.
In a bomb attack on the eve of voting, one man was killed and five people injured in the city of Constantine.
Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said turnout by 1300 GMT was 19% - far lower than in previous polls in 2002.
The interior minister said the blast was an "act of sabotage" against the Algerian democratic system.
An Islamic group said it carried out suicide bombings that killed 33 people in the capital, Algiers, last month.
Voters will elect 389 members of parliament in the general election, in which more than 20 political parties are taking part.
The Islamic Salvation Front, which used to have massive popular support, was banned in 1992 and has not been allowed back into the political fold.
Our reporter says they are the ghost at this banquet and without them many poor Algerians feel their voice is not heard.
The main political group linked to the Berber-speaking areas in the north-east is boycotting the polls.
Islamists banned
The BBC's Ian Pannell in Algiers says the Western-leaning government has proved a reliable ally to the West, in particular to Washington and its fight with Islamic extremism.

The best way of responding to this kind of attack is strong participation in the legislative elections -Noureddine Yazid ZerhouniAlgerian interior minister.

Vote under shadow

No-one imagines that these elections will have an immediate impact on these substantial issues, he adds.
Mr Zerhouni said the latest bomb attack was not unexpected.
"We have been expecting this kind of act. It is an act of sabotage, an act against the democratic system in Algeria," he said.
"The best way of responding to this kind of attack is strong participation in the legislative elections."
Our correspondent says some in the international community say Algeria has the potential to be a role model for the wider Arab world.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika launched a programme of national reconciliation in 2005, following years of a violent Islamist insurgency.
About 150,000 people were killed in the civil war in the 1990s.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AUSTRALIA 'FUNDS ZIMBABWE TERROR' !

Mr Howard accused Robert Mugabe of being a "grubby dictator. "Zimbabwe's government has accused Australia of funding violence in an attempt to remove President Robert Mugabe from power.
In an interview, Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikyaniso Ndlovu said Canberra was financing "terrorist activities" by channelling money to aid groups.
Australia is a vocal critic of Mr Mugabe and announced it was increasing funding to civic groups in Zimbabwe.
Relations were already bad after an Australian cricket tour was cancelled.
Announcing the tour boycott on Sunday over human rights concerns, Australian Prime Minister John Howard called Mr Mugabe a grubby dictator and said the "Mugabe regime at present is behaving like the Gestapo towards its political opponents".
Mr Ndlovu responded angrily in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, accusing Mr Howard of acting in "Gestapo-like" fashion by banning the cricket tour which he said would have no effect in Zimbabwe.
Mr Ndlovu also warned that they would not tolerate any violence "by the puppets here who are funded by the Australian government".
"The monies that come to them are to cause violence - I've got a list, a long list of their terrorist activities here," he said.
Zimbabwe rejected an offer for the Australia cricket tour to take place in a neutral country.
This is the first time a government has acted to stop its cricketers travelling to Zimbabwe.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HUGE RISE IN ZIMBABWE INFLATION !

Four out of five Zimbabweans live below the bread line, analysts claim. Zimbabwe's rate of inflation surged to 3,731.9%, driven by higher energy and food costs, and amplified by a drop in its currency, official figures show.
April's inflation rate jumped up from the 2,200% recorded last month, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) said.
The announcement came after Zimbabwe's government created a commission charged with finding a way to curb the country's spiralling cost of living.
There is high unemployment, and fuel and food shortages across the nation.
Price increases to 'worsen'
The surging cost of domestic electricity, food, fuel and commuter transport fares were at the heart of last month's price surges, the CSO said.
Economists believe that these price increases will continue because Zimbabwe will be forced to import maize, a basic food staple, to make up for a lack of home-grown produce.
The government has also recently warned of shortages of bread and flour, which may cause even more hardship.
Last week, households in Zimbabwe were told they would be limited to four hours electricity supply a day in a move designed to support the country's wheat farmers, who need power to irrigate their crops.
Economic crisis
Rampant inflation is a clear sign of a deep economic crisis, analysts said.
Critics have blamed President Robert Mugabe's policies, particularly the seizure of white-owned farms, for damaging the once self-sufficient country - in the past described as the bread basket of Africa.
President Mugabe, meanwhile, has accused foreign governments of trying to sabotage Zimbabwe's economy and topple him.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE SHORT OF BREAD AND FLOUR !

Record inflation rates may rise further if staple foods run short. Zimbabwe faces shortages of bread and flour, the government has warned, which may cause even more hardship.
It says the planting of this year's wheat crop is well behind target and the season ends in two weeks' time.
Zimbabwe's agricultural sector has been in decline since the government's chaotic seizure of white-owned farms began seven years ago.
The government blames shortages of fuel and fertiliser, but disturbances are still reported on commercial farms.
According to Zimbabwean officials, farmers have only planted 10% of the expected winter wheat crop.
Zimbabwe faces a huge maize deficit this year, making it dependent upon imported food, and food aid for the most vulnerable.
The government had already declared 2007 "a drought year".
Teams from the United Nations are currently making a more detailed assessment.
A report in the government controlled newspaper - The Herald - says Zimbabwe's sugar industry is also experiencing problems, including industrial action by workers.
An official of the governing Zanu-PF party says he is concerned about a nationwide sugar shortage.
Last week, households in Zimbabwe were told they would be limited to four hours power supply a day in a move designed to support the country's wheat farmers who need power to irrigate their crops.
The monthly rate of inflation rose to 2,200% in March, the highest in the world.
This has led to widespread shortages of fuel and food.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WHISKY GIANT SOLD TO BILLIONAIRE !

Mr Mallya's United Breweries Group confirmed the purchase. An Indian billionaire has bought the Scottish whisky distiller Whyte & Mackay in a £595m ($1.2bn) deal.
The spirits giant United Breweries, which is headed by Vijay Mallya, announced the all-cash acquisition to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
In a statement, the firms said the deal would help expand the market for Whyte & Mackay's brands in emerging economies such as India.
It will also help UB Group add Scotch whisky to its portfolio of products.
United Spirits, part of the UB Group of companies, said it planned to introduce Whyte & Mackay's brands to the Indian market immediately.
Mr Mallya, who has been dubbed India's Sir Richard Branson after he took his Kingfisher beer brand into airlines, will become chairman and chief executive of the firm.
Speaking at a conference in Glasgow on Wednesday, he said: "Until today, the only missing link in our portfolio has been Scotch and, due to the shortage and rapidly increasing prices of Scotch whisky, we needed a reliable supply source.
In Whyte & MacKay we not only have a strong place in the Scotch whisky business but of course a great heritage of brands
Vijay MallyaNew Whyte & MacKay owner
"In Whyte & MacKay we not only have a strong place in the Scotch whisky business, grain and more distillation, but of course a great heritage of brands."
The tycoon also made assurances that jobs at the company were safe with expansion more likely than any cuts.
He also said he had an emotional attachment to the firm, with its Jura whisky being his late father's favourite single malt.
Vivian Immerman and his brother-in-law, Robert Tchenguiz, had taken full control of Glasgow-based Whyte & Mackay two years ago.
Mr Immerman had been part of a group of investors who paid £208m for the company in 2001.
He said he was selling the company because it would be "very difficult" for him to take it to the next level.
Mr Immerman told BBC Scotland: "Vijay will bring the international distribution, especially in the emerging markets where Scotch has exponential growth which has not been seen over the last several decades, and that is vital for this business."

Whyte & MacKay owns the Dalmore distillery in the Highlands
He said all the existing staff would be transferring over to the new owner and dismissed suggestions that any of the company's brands could be distilled in India.
"Scotch whisky can only be made in Scotland," he stressed.
Whyte & Mackay's self-branded whisky holds about 3% of the UK whisky market.
The company, which employs more than 500 staff on sites around Scotland, also owns the Dalmore and Jura brands as well as Vladivar vodka and Glayva liqueur.
UB Group dominates the Indian spirits market, which is the world's largest for whisky.
But Scotch whisky only makes up about 1% of the Indian market, as a result of tariffs imposed by the country's national and state governments.
Mr Mallya has been criticised by the spirits industry for trying to sell cheap Indian whisky in Europe.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has in the past argued that UB's Indian-made product was not whisky as it was distilled with molasses rather than malt.
But following the deal, an SWA spokesman said: "This announcement again shows that Scotch whisky has a global appeal and that international confidence in the Scotch whisky industry's future prospects is strong."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PRINCE HARRY NOT TO SERVE IN IRAQ !

The prince has expressed a wish to be involved in active service. Prince Harry will not be sent to Iraq, the head of the British Army has said.
The Prince had previously stated that he wanted to be involved in active service with his unit.
But the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, has confirmed the Prince will not go with his regiment, the Blues and Royals.
BBC defence correspondent Paul Adams said the MoD would have taken account of reports the insurgents in Iraq planned to target the Prince.
It is believed that Sir Richard took his decision in light of the risk to the Prince and his men.
In a statement, the General said: "Following a visit to Iraq last week I discovered a number of threats relating directly to Prince Harry and those around him and I am not prepared to export those risks.
"I know Prince Harry will be extremely disappointed and his soldiers will miss his presence in Iraq.
"I've asked his commanding officer to develop his future career but I won't speculate on that.
"One of the contributing factors to my decision has been the knowledge and discussion of the Prince's deployments in the media."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

COURT QUASHES KURD ATTACK VERDICT !

Days of rioting after the attack left four people dead. Turkey's top appeals court has overturned jail terms imposed on two paramilitary officers over a 2005 bomb attack on a former Kurdish guerrilla.
Last July, Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildeniz were sentenced by a civilian court to nearly 40 years in jail for the attack in Semdinli that killed one man.
But the appeals court overturned the ruling, saying the trial was flawed.
The case is being seen as a key test of whether Turkey can act independently against the powerful security services.
The attack in Semdinli set off days of rioting in the predominantly Kurdish south-east.
Military tribunal
The appeals court in Ankara quashed the verdict on grounds of procedural flaws and an inadequate investigation.

It also said that a military court should hear the case, because the charges related to the army's struggle against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
It was not immediately clear when the new hearing would begin.
Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildeniz were each sentenced to 39 years and five months by the civilian court in the town of Van for the November 2005 grenade attack on a bookstore that killed one man and injured another.
The bookstore was owned by a former PKK militant suspected of still helping the banned party.
At the time of the attack, the two convicted men were chased and nearly lynched by furious bystanders.
The discovery of weapons and a list of names in their car prompted allegations that they were an undercover execution squad.
The attack triggered days rioting in the region that left four people dead.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in the fighting between PKK guerrillas and Turkish troops, which has been going on for more than two decades.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GRAFFITI ART ENCOURAGED AT CASTLE !

The graffiti will remain on the castle for two years.
Artists at work

Artists are spraying graffiti onto the walls of one of Scotland's most historic castles. A team of Brazilian artists are painting street art onto one side of Kelburn Castle in Ayrshire. The idea came after the owner of the castle, the Earl of Glasgow, was told the concrete rendering was destroying the walls and would have to come off.

His son and daughter, David and Alice Boyle, came up with the idea, which they say has the support of locals. The pair, who are encouraging artists to paint graffiti on the wall, believe it will become a work of art.

Send us your views

Four well-respected artists have come to Scotland from Brazil to carry out the task over the next month. The completed work is expected remain on the castle for at least two years, by which time rendering work will need to be carried out.

In the meantime, a debate is likely to be sparked about whether this is art or legal vandalism. Kelburn is thought to be the oldest castle in Scotland to have been continuously inhabited by the same family. Originally the family name was de Boyville but this changed over the years to Boyle. The de Boyvilles from Caen in Normandy came over to Britain with William the Conqueror in 1066 and the present branch of the family settled in Kelburn in 1140.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ATTACK ON NIGERIAN LEADER'S HOUSE !

Mr Jonathan will become vice-president in two weeks time. Militants have attacked the country residence of the Vice-President-elect Goodluck Jonathan, in the oil-rich Niger Delta in a dawn speedboat attack.
Police says the house in Bayelsa State, where Mr Jonathan is currently governor, was partially destroyed.
The attackers also blew up a nearby police station. Two policemen died in the raid.
No group has claimed responsibility so far for the attack. Mr Jonathan was not in the house at the time, say sources.
"We know they are from one of the militant groups operating in the Niger Delta but we don't know from which group. We lost two officers in the attack," said Nigeria's national police spokesman Haz Iwendi.
Meanwhile, gunmen have taken a child from a house in an affluent part of Port Harcourt, the region's oil capital. Police say they are combing the area.
Crisis
The men arrived at Mr Jonathan's house in Otueke village in the Ogbia area in the south of the state in two speedboats at about 0200 local time, Mr Iwendi said.
"The parents of the vice president-elect, who were in the house, were saved by our men and the house has been partially destroyed."
Mr Jonathan and President-elect Umaru Yar'Adua - both Nigeria's governing party candidates - won by a landslide in the 21 April elections.
The Nigerian government must move on from press release responses and really deal with these attackers - Benjamin Akande, US-based Nigeria expert.

The shadowy militants in Nigeria's Delta

The opposition has described the polls as "flawed", demanding a re-run.
The vote was also criticised by international observers.
There was a similar attack on Mr Jonathan's official residence by unidentified militants on the eve of last month's presidential election.
Police say they have not established any link between the two incidents.
It is not clear why the militants attacked, but analysts say they are trying to remind the incoming president Umar Yar'Adua that the crisis in the region is far from over.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA DEFENDS ITS ROLE IN AFRICA !

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has rejected criticism that his country is only interested in Africa because of its huge wealth of raw materials.
He told a meeting of the African Development Bank in Shanghai that China was committed to helping the continent develop socially and economically.
He also called on rich nations to do more to assist Africa, by helping with aid, trade and debt relief.
This is the first time the ADB's annual meeting has been held in Asia.
It is a sign of China's growing importance for the continent, say analysts.
'Reduce debt'
"We are truly sincere in helping Africa speed up economic and social development for the benefit of the African people and its nations," Wen Jiabao said.
This is an implicit rejection of criticism that China is only interested in Africa because of its resources, the BBC's Quentin Somerville in Shanghai says.
"Africa needs to rely on itself to sustain development but international support and systems are also indispensable," Mr Wen told delegates at the start of the two-day meeting.
"We call on the international community to deliver on aid pledges to Africa and reduce and cancel African debt."
Mr Wen also called for increased market access and technology transfers.
No strings
China gets about a third of its oil from African countries, as well as other natural resources, which have helped fuel the country's dramatic economic transformation.
More than 700 Chinese companies are active in Africa. China's trade with the continent has quadrupled in the past six years to $55bn (£28bn).
Beijing has already written off almost $1.5bn in debt to Africa and says it will write off a similar amount again.
However, it has been criticised for having a no-strings lending policy in Africa, which critics say supports repressive regimes and hinders good governance on the continent.
China was recently accused of breaching a UN embargo by continuing to supply arms to Sudan - a key supplier of its oil - to the troubled region of Darfur.
Although it rejected the claims, Beijing has since appointed a special envoy to focus on the Darfur situation.

BBC NEWS REPORT

'NO EVIDENCE' FOR ALGARVE ARREST !

Robert Murat has worked for the police as a translator. Police are still investigating a man regarded as a suspect in Madeleine McCann's abduction, despite not having enough evidence to arrest him.
The 33-year-old man is believed to be Briton Robert Murat, who lives with his mother Jenny in Praia da Luz, Algarve.
Mr Murat said later he had been made "a scapegoat for something I did not do".
Police searched the Murat's villa 150 yards from where Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, was last seen on 3 May.
Speaking off camera, Mr Murat told Sky News: "This has ruined my life and made my life very difficult for my family here and in Britain.
"The only way I will survive this is if they catch Madeleine's abductor."
He added: "I've been made a scapegoat for something I did not do."
Earlier, Chief Inspector Olegario de Sousa told a news conference he could not confirm whether Madeleine was alive or dead.
He said police had searched five houses on Monday and seized "various materials" from the properties which were being subjected to forensic tests.
They also questioned two other people as witnesses, he added.

Map of locations

The suspect has signed an identity and residence statement which prevents him from moving house or leaving the country, and requires him to regularly report to police.
Mr Sousa confirmed that the suspect, whom he declined to name, had assisted police in the early stages of the investigation by working as a translator.
Meanwhile, Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate McCann were joined by about 15 of their friends and several villagers at a private church service in Praia da Luz.
The service was held jointly by a Portuguese priest and Father Paul Seddon who baptised Madeleine and has flown out to the Algarve to support her family.
'Hope for more'
Earlier Mr Murat, formerly of Hockering, Norfolk, was officially declared a suspect - or "arguido" - which gives him additional legal rights under Portuguese law.
He may have been named as an arguido by police or could have chosen to take the status himself to gain those protections.

ARGUIDO STATUS
Officially a suspect
Bestowed by police or requested by individual
Right to remain silent
Right to a lawyer
Must report to police every five days

An arrest can be made once someone is an arguido, but only if there is sufficient evidence.
"We can hope for more, but for the moment we can say we are continuing on this objective," Mr Sousa said.
"When you work, you work to get results, but this doesn't always happen at once.
"Let's wait and see. We are hopeful that this case will be over in the near future."
Pool drained
Mr Murat, a former property developer, had become well known to journalists during the search for Madeleine.

Madeleine McCann disappeared on 3 May.

The search of his mother's property, known as Casa Liliana, began at 0700 local time on Monday after Sunday Mirror journalist Lori Campbell had spoken to the British Embassy and the police about Mr Murat.
It is believed police have drained its swimming pool and taken away computers, mobile phones and several video tapes
His mother is a 71-year-old former nurse, believed to be a widow, who has lived in Portugal for 40 years and brought her son and daughter up in the country.
Mr Murat's uncle, Ralph Eveleigh, who runs a bed and breakfast in the nearby village of Burgau, said his nephew was at home with his mother on the night Madeleine went missing.
"Robert is so sweet and good-natured. He was just trying to help," he added.
Madeleine disappeared from her bedroom 12 days ago as her parents ate dinner at a nearby tapas restaurant.
On Monday, Mr and Mrs McCann said they would not return to the UK until she was found safe and well.
Mr McCann, who is originally from Glasgow, said the couple would continue to believe she was being cared for until they received "concrete evidence to the contrary".

The international number for Crimestoppers is +44 1883 731 336. People with information about Madeleine can call anonymously.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GAZA FACTION BOOSTS POLICE RANKS !

The latest factional fighting is the worst in several months. About 500 Fatah loyalists have returned to Gaza from police training in Egypt as factional fighting escalates with Fatah's main Palestinian rival, Hamas.
Thirteen people have died in the latest violence, including eight in an attack on a Fatah security base - the worst incident in three days of bloodshed.
A Fatah official denied the returning force would fight Hamas, saying it would give Palestinians security.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has urged an end to the fighting.
But BBC Jerusalem correspondent Katya Adler says the latest events in Gaza appear to be a significant escalation in the factional fighting, pushing the area closer to all-out civil conflict.
Ambush
The Fatah official, Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, said of the returning men: "The role of the security forces is to protect the security of the Palestinian people and not to take part in internal fighting."

Press split on crisis
Palestinians under rule of the gun

The force is reported to be under the command of Muhammad Dahlan, national security adviser to Mr Abbas, who also leads Fatah.
At least 20 people have died in Gaza since Sunday in the worst outbreak of factional violence in several months.
Gun battles continued to rage on the streets of Gaza City on Tuesday. Schools and businesses were closed and most residents kept indoors.
Tuesday morning's attack on the Fatah base took place near the key Karni crossing point, and drew fire from Israeli troops guarding the border.
Reports say the fighting erupted when suspected Hamas gunmen approached a training base used by the pro-Fatah Presidential Guard which is responsible for security on the Palestinian side of the Karni crossing.
A Presidential Guard spokesman told Associated Press the Karni base was attacked with rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

After the ambush, bodies were seen strewn in the grass near an overturned security vehicle.
A spokesman for the Hamas paramilitary Executive Force denied its members were involved in the clash.
The head of the Palestinian Energy Authority said electricity in Gaza could be shut down by Wednesday because the fighting near Karni had stopped fuel trucks arriving.
Also on Tuesday, Hamas accused Fatah of killing one of its commanders, and Fatah said Hamas killed a pro-Fatah security officer and wounded three others near Gaza City.
Civil strife
The fighting, and Monday's resignation of Interior Minister Hani Qawasmi, have dealt a major blow to the two-month-old national unity government set up by Islamist Hamas and its secular rival Fatah.

An Israeli tank observes the attack on the base near Karni.
In a speech marking Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, the anniversary of the establishment of Israel in 1948, Mr Abbas called for an immediate implementation of a security plan to halt the internal fighting.
In a separate speech, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas urged people to work together to protect the national unity government.
UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she was "deeply concerned" by the rising violence.
She said: "This fighting is senseless: it endangers civilians, makes it harder for the international community to help the people of Gaza and undermines the peace process."
Up to 170 people have died in clashes between Fatah and Hamas since the latter won parliamentary elections in January 2006.
Israel withdrew its settlers and troops from Gaza in 2005, but kept control of its borders, airspace and territorial water.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NEW DOUBT CAST ON WOOLMER MURDER !

Mr Woolmer was found dead in his hotel in Jamaica on 18 March. Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was not strangled, a UK government pathologist has concluded, according to the Times newspaper.
Dr Nat Carey said after studying autopsy material that death was not by asphyxiation from strangling, it said.
The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper has separately cited Scotland Yard sources as saying Mr Woolmer was not murdered.
Mr Woolmer was found dead in his hotel in Jamaica after Pakistan's first-round exit from the World Cup.
The comments from the UK sources led Jamaican opposition lawmaker Derrick Smith to say the case had become a "global embarrassment" for the Caribbean nation.
There have been a number of contradictory claims about the cause of Mr Woolmer's death since his body was found on 18 March.
On Tuesday, Jamaican deputy police commissioner Mark Shields again insisted the case was being treated as a murder investigation.
Herbicide
The Times was citing sources close to the investigation of Dr Carey.
It said there was growing speculation that death was by natural causes, although it gave no new information on what may have led to Mr Woolmer's death.
The results of toxicology tests are still awaited but the Times said they might indicate the levels of a herbicide said to have been found in his body.
[The media should] refrain from speculation because of the additional distress it places upon the Woolmer family
Karl Angell,Jamaican police
The herbicide is used for weeding cricket pitches. The tests may show whether the level was sufficient to have triggered the sickness and diarrhoea Mr Woolmer suffered before death, it said.
Heart trouble has been suggested as another cause for the death of Mr Woolmer, 58, who also suffered from diabetes.
The original autopsy said Mr Woolmer may have suffered manual strangulation, indicated by a broken bone in his neck.
UK authorities were asked to help with the investigation.
The Jamaica Gleaner said Scotland Yard's pathology report said Mr Woolmer "died of natural causes and not manual strangulation as was initially reported by Mark Shields".
The paper said the report contradicted that of the local pathologist, Dr Ere Sheshiah.
Jamaican police spokesman Karl Angell said such press reports were "unhelpful" and urged the media "to refrain from speculation because of the additional distress it places upon the Woolmer family".
Mr Shields said: "Every theory, from weed killer to aconite, has come from the media, not the police... We maintain that this is an ongoing murder investigation."
Derrick Smith, of the Jamaica Labour Party, said the case had jeopardised the reputation of the nation's police.
"The matter has become a global embarrassment for us," he said.
No-one has yet been arrested in connection with Mr Woolmer's death, which overshadowed the cricket World Cup.
Investigations have included the possibility of murder by a disgruntled fan, player or by figures concerned Mr Woolmer was going to make allegations of corruption.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LOCALS SEIZE NIGERIA OIL FACILITY !

Protests have led to cuts in oil production in Nigeria. Angry Ogoni youths have taken over an oil facility in Nigeria's volatile Niger Delta region leading to cuts in oil production, officials say.
The villagers, angered by oil spills from pipelines running through their community say they will not leave until they are paid compensation.
The protests have led Royal Dutch Shell Plc to reduce crude oil production by 170,000 barrels per day.
A Shell spokesman said negotiations with the youths had begun.
The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura in Port Harcourt says the Ogoni people have had a running battle with the oil giant for the past 14 years over oil spills.

Insiders say Shell is planning to resume production in Ogoniland, 14 years after they were forced out of the area by the villagers, a factor that may have triggered the new protest inside the facility near K-Dere in Ogoniland.
Nigeria's authorities have warned the company to resume oil production in Ogoniland or risk having their oil prospecting licence for oil blocks in the area revoked.
"The villagers are aware of this and may have decided to take over the facility to remind the company that they haven't forgotten their past deeds," a security source told the BBC's News website.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GADDAFI TO SUE OVER HEALTH CLAIMS !

Gaddafi to sue over health claims.
By Rana Jawad BBC News, Tripoli

Col Gaddafi has had a tense relationship with some Arab states. The Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has said he will sue a Palestinian news agency for making false claims about his health.
The news report on Monday quoted an unnamed European source, saying that Col Gaddafi was in a coma in a hospital in the coastal town of Benghazi.
Speaking to journalists in Tripoli, he appeared well and blamed members of the Arab world for the error.
The news agency has apologised for the mistake, blaming an unreliable source.
The Arabs and those who control them are behind this, but we are going to sue this news agency - from now on, no-one will lie and get away with it
Col Muammar Gaddafi
The Libyan leader looked well and far from being in a coma as he stepped out for cameras outside a banqueting hall in a hotel where he hosted the Ghanaian President, John Kufuor.
The media was clearly invited to dispel earlier reports alleging that Col Gaddafi was in a coma after suffering from a blood clot in his brain.

Click here to send your question for Col Gaddafi

The Libyan leader was visibly annoyed with the false claims as he pointed the finger at the Arab world and demanded legal justice.
"The Arabs and those who control them are behind this. But we are going to sue this news agency. From now on, no-one will lie and get away with it. They should face justice.
"We should fire at those who fire at us and we should consider ourselves the enemy of those who say they are our enemy," he said.
Tense relationship
In the 1990s, Col Gaddafi was dismayed that the Arab world had abandoned Libya when international sanctions were imposed on the country and repeatedly declared that he has divorced the Arabs.
In the past few years, he has had a tense relationship with some Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly called the Libyan leader and spoke to him.
This was followed by a report from the Palestinian agency in which it apologised for the confusion that their claims about his health had caused, citing an unreliable source as their mistake.
It remains to be seen whether this latest apology will bear any weight on the Libyan leader's decision to legally pursue them.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PAKISTAN CITY SHUT DOWN BY STRIKE !

At least 41 people died in street battles over the weekend. A strike in the Pakistani city of Karachi has closed shops and cleared transport from the roads after two days of violence left 41 people dead.
The strike was called amid some of the worst street battles in recent years, triggered by the suspension of a top judge by President Pervez Musharraf.
Authorities have now banned gatherings of more than five people in the city.
Correspondents say the weekend's violence marked a serious escalation of a crisis that began in March.
The city is totally paralysed -Azhar Farooqi Karachi police chief.

Timeline: Legal crisis
Familiar theme to violence
Press anger at 'carnage'

In those two months, suspended chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has become a focus for protesters trying to end military rule.
Karachi city police chief Azhar Farooqi told Reuters news agency that there had been no violence on Monday, although the city was very tense.
Mr Farooqi said the city remained "totally paralysed" throughout Monday, with shops closed and very little public transport on the roads.
He said people were still scared.
Opposition parties on Monday called for a national strike and a day of mourning to protest against the bloodshed.
Meanwhile, provincial authorities have banned all political rallies as security forces tried to restore order.
"We have banned the assembly of more than five people in any public place in Karachi for Monday," Sindh province interior secretary Brigadier Ghulam Muhammad Muhtaram told the AFP news agency earlier on Monday.
Shoot orders
Funeral processions were accompanied by gun battles and arson.
The fighting on Saturday was between supporters of the government and supporters of the chief justice but by Sunday it had begun to turn into clashes between traditional ethnic rivals.

A number of people were injured in clashes.
Opposition groups blamed the pro-Musharraf MQM party of organising the unrest, but it denied the claim.
Pakistan's government on Sunday authorised paramilitary troops to shoot anyone involved in serious violence.
Speaking at a mass rally in Islamabad on Saturday night, Gen Musharraf ruled out declaring a state of emergency and appealed to the country to stand united.
He also blamed "elements who tried to create turmoil by politicising" Chief Justice Chaudhry's suspension.

Since his suspension on charges of "misuse of authority", Mr Chaudhry has become the focus of widespread opposition to the government of Gen Musharraf, who took power in a coup in 1999.
Correspondents say opposition parties have turned Mr Chaudhry's case into a campaign against military rule.

Mr Chaudhry was suspended from his post in March.
His supporters say that Gen Musharraf wants the judiciary headed by a lawyer whom he can more easily manipulate.
Meanwhile, a hearing into a petition by the chief justice challenging his dismissal has been halted in the Supreme Court in Islamabad after one of the 14 judges on the bench refused to hear the case.
Justice Falak Sher raised objections over the constitution of the bench saying several judges were his junior.
The bench will be reconstituted later.
Also in Islamabad, an official of the Supreme Court was shot dead. Police say he was killed by robbers in an unrelated incident.
But lawyers fighting on behalf of the suspended chief justice say that Syed Hammad Raza, an additional registrar of the Supreme Court, was an "important person" in their case against his dismissal.
"He was witness to many things, like the chief justice said in his petition that some files were removed from his chamber on the day he was suspended," lawyer Tariq Mehmood told Reuters.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WALRUS PROJECT BANKS ON ONE TAG !

In pictures: Tagging on ice
Walrus Watch: Reporter's log

Scientists' hopes are now pinned on one walrus to help them understand where the walruses of west Greenland migrate over the summer months.
Of the eight satellite tags the BBC saw attached to walruses in April, seven now appear to have stopped working.
Project leader Erik Born said the tags were probably expelled as the walruses' hides began to heal or they could have been knocked off by the thick sea ice.
The remaining working tag is attached to a female who has a calf in tow.
There is a chance that some of the tags may start sending data again, but I am not so sure about this -Erik Born, project leader.

On the BBC News website's Walrus Watch map, she appears as walrus two (W2) and is thought to be between 10 and 12 years of age.
So far, she has remained close the area where she was tagged.

See where the walruses have gone

Dr Born, a biologist at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, said: "There is still a lot of ice in this area, and she will probably stay there until the ice begins to retreat.
"But we hope she begins to move soon while the tag is still working. She should begin migrating any day now, but we could be unlucky if the ice remains."
Dr Born said he was a little disappointed that the rest of the tags had stopped working.
He said: "This year we tried a new smaller tag that we were hoping would last for longer, but this does not seem to be the case.
"Walruses have a very rapid healing process, and I think the tags are being expelled as their hides are starting to mend. They might also have been knocked off as the walruses were hauling out on to the ice.
"There is a chance that some of the tags may start sending data again, but I am not so sure about this."
The tagging study is being run by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Danish National Environmental Research Institute and the Technical University of Denmark.

MIGRATION MAP

Walrus 1: Male, 4-5 years
Walrus 2: Female, 10-12 years - has yearling calf in tow
Walrus 3: Anomalous data
Walrus 4: Male, 5-6 years
Walrus 5: Male, 18-20 years
Walrus 6: Female, 5-6 years
Walrus 7: Male, 5-7 years
(No data yet received from a tagged female and her son)
Click here to return

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.S. SAYS TROOPS HELD BY 'AL-QAEDA' !

US troops are operating in some of their most dangerous areas. The US military in Iraq says it believes three of its soldiers missing after an ambush have been abducted by militants from, or linked to, al-Qaeda.
Some 4,000 US soldiers are searching for the three men, who disappeared on Saturday after their patrol came under attack south of Baghdad.
The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of militants led by al-Qaeda, says it is holding the soldiers.
It told the US to stop searching for them if it wanted their safety.
"Your soldiers are in our hands," the group said in a statement posted on an Islamist website. "If you want them safe, do not search for them."
There were no pictures of the soldiers to back up the group's claim.
'Highly credible intelligence'
The attack on the patrol, in the town of Mahmudiya, left four US soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter dead.
"At this time, we believe they (the three missing soldiers) were abducted by terrorists belonging to al-Qaeda or an affiliated group and this assessment is based on highly credible intelligence information," chief military spokesman Major-General William Caldwell said.

US troops are carrying out an intensive search in the area, known as the Triangle of Death because attacks by insurgents are so common.
Officials said operations were focussing on Mahmudiya's outlying towns and villages.
"US and Iraqi forces are cordoning off the farmsteads and orchards in all these areas," Mahmudiya Mayor Moad al-Amiri said.
In the town of town of Yousifiya, US troops broadcast warnings for residents to stay indoors, as units searched house-to-house for the missing men.
Forces on the ground around Yousifiya were being supported by aircraft and satellites.
Gen Caldwell said that the search would continue until the men were found.
Last year, two American soldiers were kidnapped in the same area - their bodies were found several days later.
Elsewhere in Iraq, at least eight people were reported killed in a series of attacks in and around Baghdad.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.N. TO PROBE SOMALI HUMAN RIGHTS !

Mr Holmes cut short his visit after a bomb blast. Somalia's interim government welcomes a probe into alleged human rights abuses during recent fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, a UN official says.
UN emergency relief co-ordinator John Holmes said although the Somali administration denies any wrong-doing, it will co-operate with investigators.
Some 1,600 people died during fighting between Ethiopia-backed government troops and insurgents in Mogadishu.
The government has declared victory after the worst clashes in 16 years.
Somali's former deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed has accused Ethiopian troops of committing genocide since they arrived in December.
They are accused of shelling residential areas as they battled Islamist fighters and clan militias.
The Somali government says the force was needed to install a functioning authority for the first time in 16 years.
Deplorable conditions
"They did not accept any allegations made against them but were nevertheless ready top accept the idea of a visit by the UN high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, and we will organise that in the near future," Mr Holmes said.

AU peacekeepers have failed to end the violence in Somalia. Arbour is currently on a tour of DR Congo and may visit Uganda during her African tour.
Mr Holmes, who cut short his trip in Mogadishu at the weekend due to security reasons, said the UN priority at the moment is to support the African Union mission in Somalia.
Four people were killed when a bomb exploded near the UN compound in Mogadishu while he was there.
"I do not think the devices that exploded on Saturday were aimed at me or the United Nations but I think someone was trying to send a message that the conflict was not over and Mogadishu was not safe," Mr Holmes told reporters in Nairobi.
Up to 400,000 people were displaced from Mogadishu during the fighting and many are living in deplorable conditions outside the capital.
Mr Holmes said the UN has not been able to meet the humanitarian needs of the displaced people due to difficulties posed by insecurity and lack of access.
Relative calm has been restored in Mogadishu and several hundred residents who had fled the city have started to return.
The BBC World Service is holding a special day of programming on Somalia on 15 May

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EDITOR DEFENDS SCIENTOLOGY REPORT.

John Sweeney was filmed shouting at a Scientologist.
Panorama's editor

The editor of the BBC's Panorama programme has defended a documentary on the Church of Scientology in which a reporter shouts at one of its members.
Reporter John Sweeney lost his temper during the filming and shouted at Scientology representative Tommy Davis.
Panorama editor Sandy Smith said he was "disappointed" by Mr Sweeney's actions.
But he also said Scientology was an "extraordinary organisation" and had "no way of dealing with any kind of criticism at all".
Mr Smith said that: "As you go in as a journalist to try and deal with that, it's explosive."
Footage of the argument between Mr Sweeney and Mr Davis was posted on internet site YouTube in advance of the television broadcast of the documentary on Monday.

Row over Scientology video

Mr Smith told BBC Breakfast: "Very quickly, two stag beetles were locked."
He added that it was "not a question of calling it a cult" and that the programme had not alleged that people were "brainwashed".
'Elephant trap'
Mr Sweeney, writing on the BBC News website, said he had fallen into an "elephant trap" in getting into an argument.
He wrote: "If you are interested in becoming a TV journalist, it is a fine example of how not to do it.
"I look like an exploding tomato and shout like a jet engine and every time I see it makes me cringe."
During the argument Mr Davis was also seen telling Mr Sweeney: "I hope somebody is shooting this... You have no right whatsoever to say what is and what isn't a religion.
"The definition of religion is very clear and it's not defined by John Sweeney."
He also told Mr Sweeney his comments about his Scientology faith were "derogatory", "offensive" and "bigoted".
Mr Sweeney later responded by saying: "I am a British subject, not an American citizen, and in my country we have a freedom of speech. I have a right to report that."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HELP - SAVE THE PLANET !

8am: Shower. Save the water. Save the planet
By Robert Greenall BBC News Magazine

Craggers use natural light.
Would you switch everything off and rely on natural light to save the planet? It's the only answer for the families going to extreme measures to cut emissions.
Most families get up in the morning, switch on the lights and start their ablutions. The Robinsons do not.
The Robinsons get up, leave the lights off and open the curtains a crack so some light gets in but little heat escapes.
This is the world of "carbon rationing".
The term may fill some people with horror - conjuring up images of wartime austerity measures and queues for bread and sugar.

Using the streetlamps and other tips

For others it may suggest green fundamentalists forcing us to swap our central heating for woolly jumpers and run our cars on chicken dung.

ROBINSONS' ENERGY TIPS

Don't turn on lights in morning - open curtain slightly to allow light in but stop heat escaping.

Cycle or walk to work or school. An electric bike has low emissions - and makes the journey easier.

Keep thermostat for heating and water on low. When showering, collect water for shaving in a jug.

Cut out or cut down watching television during week. Never leave it on standby.

Evenings, stay in kitchen to avoid switching on other lights. Use energy-saving bulbs.

Read more tips

A recent poll suggested only 28% of Britons thought the idea of setting mandatory limits on individuals' carbon emissions - raised by Environment Secretary David Milliband - was socially acceptable, even though most feel lifestyle changes are needed to reduce the impact of climate change.
But the term does not trouble Peter Robinson, and dozens like him around the country who have signed up to voluntary groups whose aim is to substantially reduce the CO2 their members are releasing into the atmosphere.
These Carbon Rationing Action Groups advise their members, known as Craggers, on how to minimise energy use.
The Robinsons have eagerly set about finding ways to cut their personal energy use, many of which have also proved financially beneficial.

It's not draconian, you're not leading the life of a monk - Peter Robinson.
"It's only when you stop and start looking that you realise that you do waste a lot of energy, not out of spite or just being lazy or anything, it's just your normal lifestyle," Peter says.
"Our lifestyles were very energy-rich whereas now... there are things you can do in your life that don't stop you having a really nice time... but you can still make really substantial savings.
"It's not draconian, you're not leading the life of a monk, it's just stuff that's really easy to do."
The 36-year-old school administrator may not think it is draconian but there are some who would raise an eyebrow at the prospect of using only the upstairs bathroom during the hours of darkness and relying on ambient light from streetlamps.

PETER'S ENERGY SAVINGS

Use jug to collect hot water in shower for shaving
Open curtains a fraction instead of switching on light
Walk or cycle to school/work
But Peter has been an enthusiastic "cragger" since joining his local Crag, in Worcester last year.
Though he, his wife Sarah, and children Jacob and Molly, have been actively trying to reduce their carbon footprint for some time, he believes being members has helped to focus their minds on the task in hand.
"Being involved in the Crag... has really made a difference - monitoring how you produce your carbon... is what really has driven me and enabled us to look at what we do, how we live our lives, make those savings," he says.
It is easy to see the Robinsons as driven. They do not watch television, but for reasons that have nothing to do with the environment. Their children are allowed to watch DVDs at the weekend but the brightness control has to come down.
Developing habits is the key, Peter says. He described how he once visited a prison with a group of psychology students.

RISE OF THE CRAG
Currently at least 23 groups throughout the UK
Each group sets individual targets, but most going for 4.5 metric tons per person for 2006/7
In some Crags, a financial penalty for those who exceed limit
Aim is to reduce personal footprints by about 10% a year, to achieve a 90% cut by 2030
"One thing you notice there is that each time any of the prison staff went through a door they would close it and lock it, it becomes second nature. And when I started going round at home turning lights out it reminded me of that routine."
Most of the family's savings have come from using less heat (turning it off altogether from April to October and restricting its use at other times), less light and turning off electronic equipment at the wall. Peter has also pledged not to fly this year.
He says they reduced their personal carbon emissions from 12.7 metric tons in 2005 to 10.9 in 2006, well below the national average. He is hoping savings this year will have knocked another 10% off their emissions by December.
Financial penalties
Frustratingly for him, his local Crag has not offered any guidance or reduction targets. But in nearby Hereford one of the first groups to be set up recently finished its carbon "accounting" for the year April 2006 to April 2007.
It set a limit of 4.5 tons per person. Some Crags have elected to impose financial penalties for those who exceed the limit, but Hereford decided not to.
Carpenter Steve Ball, 36, who joined Hereford Crag last year, found a combination of his car use and a flight to Slovenia had pushed him well over the limit to more than seven tons.

Craggers do not like energy-hungry tungsten bulbs.
But although he had never previously calculated his footprint, he believes changes he has made have already cut deeply into his emissions - for instance, converting his car to run on a biodiesel mix and resisting regular calls by friends to fly off to Tallinn or Prague.
Like Peter, Steve has taken small steps across the board - like using a small motorbike for some journeys or insulating his converted loft.
He plans to insulate his floor as well, but his dream is to build afresh.
"Renovation is quite a hard thing to do, to make an old house efficient energy-wise, but I'm looking into building a new house," he says.
Both Peter and Steve have made massive changes and are prepared to go further. But they both seem wary of the Crags' ultimate aim - to reduce personal carbon emissions by 90% by 2030, which the movement says is necessary to avoid dangerous and potentially runaway climate change.
"We would struggle as a family to get 90% cuts," Peter says.
"If it's do-able, then great idea," says Steve. "We can strive for it, but whether or not it's realistically possible I don't know."
One thing is sure. If anyone can do it, it's the Craggers.

BBC NEWS MAGAZINE.

NEUTRAL VENUE 'NO' FOR ZIMBABWE !

Australia last played Zimbabwe in a World Cup warm-up game in St Vincent. Australia Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has played down hopes the country's cricket team could play against Zimbabwe at a neutral venue.
Prime Minister John Howard ordered Australia to pull out of a scheduled one-day tour of Zimbabwe in September in protest at President Robert Mugabe.
And Downer allayed Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland's claim a game could be played on neutral ground.
"It is highly unlikely. I suspect, it'd be humiliating for them," said Downer.
"At least for the Zimbabwean government, it would be seen to be humiliating to acknowledge that they're not able to play against the top cricket team within their own country.
"My guess is that this won't come about."
It is a device, it is a method of sending a very strong signal of disapproval -Australia Prime Minister John Howard on the boycott.
Meanwhile, the Australian government has announced $15m (£7.57m) in funding for human rights groups working in Zimbabwe - a move likely to further antagonise Mr Mugabe.
He tries to portray the opposition and other critics as western puppets.
Zimbabwe's government has condemned Australia's boycott.
"This is also a racist ploy to kill our local cricket since our cricket team is now dominated by black players as we slowly transform cricket from being an elite sport," Zimbabwe's Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told the state-owned Herald newspaper.
Howard added his government had taken the initiative to ban the players from touring because it was unfair to leave the decision to sportsmen.
"I'm sorry it has come to this. It really does pain me as a cricket lover. But this is a terrible regime," Howard said.
CSA has not received an approach to host the series - CSA chief Gerald Majola.
"This is a weapon available to the government. It is a device, it is a method of sending a very strong signal of disapproval."
And it has emerged that several members of the Australian team had been considering their own personal boycott, had the tour gone ahead.
Opener Matthew Hayden said "I was seriously considering my position this time", while wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist added: "If we can play them elsewhere, then I'm very supportive of the idea."
Cricket South Africa, meanwhile, has denied receiving an approach to host the Zimbabwe-Australia series.
Chief executive Gerald Majola said: "CSA has not received an approach to host the series. Zimbabwe would need to decide on what to do.
"Should Zimbabwe and Australia make an official request to stage the series here, I would need to take the application to the CSA Board for consideration because this is a policy matter."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

VIOLENCE AHEAD OF ALGERIA POLLS !

Violence ahead of Algeria polls.
By Mohamed Arezki Himeur BBC, Algiers.

An insurgency began after the army annulled polls won by Islamists. Dozens of people have been killed over the last three days in Algeria in a fresh wave of fighting between the military and armed groups.
Violence is intensifying ahead of parliamentary elections due on 17 May.
According to local newspapers, 18 soldiers and 22 Islamist guerrillas were killed in a wave of bomb attacks and ambushes in the east.
The attacks stretched from the suburbs of Algiers to near Constantine, more than 500km away.
In one of the latest incidents on Saturday, a group of eight soldiers were killed as they were pursuing guerrillas in the mountains.
Seven soldiers were also killed and another 20 were injured in two bomb attacks in the east.
Offensive
The rebels are believed to belong to an Islamist armed group that calls itself the al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, the newspapers said.
The army has launched fresh offensives on rebel hideouts in several provinces since a triple suicide bombing killed 33 people in Algiers last month.
The armed forces have stepped up their search operations against the armed groups ahead of the parliamentary elections.
Security measures have being reinforced notably with road blocks and check points around the main cities.
On Monday, the leader of the al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly known as GSPC, called for a boycott of the elections in a statement broadcast on al-Jazeera television, which enjoys a large audience in Algeria.
In his message, Abou Moussab Abdelaouadoud, described the election as a comedy.
He added that anyone taking part in them would be committing a sin.
Despite an amnesty announced two years ago, violence in Algeria has not completely died down since its height in the mid-1990s.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE 'IGNORING' S.A. DIPLOMACY !

Zimbabwe's government is not listening to South Africa's attempts to mediate its political crisis, says a senior African National Congress figure.
South Africa has refused to criticise Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe in public, preferring "quiet diplomacy".
But Tokyo Sexwale told the BBC it might be necessary "to turn up the volume".
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has been asked to help mediate Zimbabwe's political crisis ahead of elections dues next year.
South Africa is the region's powerhouse and continues to supply electricity to Zimbabwe even though it struggles to pay the bills on time.
'Two to tango'
Mr Sexwale - a veteran ANC activist and one of South Africa's wealthiest businessmen - told the BBC's Hardtalk programme that a meltdown in Zimbabwe had to be avoided at all costs, as this would have serious implications for South Africa.
"I'm beginning to feel my president, who's gone out on a limb, is not being listened to," he said.
"He won't fail because he didn't try. He'll fail because he's not being listened to. It takes two to tango."
BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says these comments by Mr Sexwale, a close confidante of Nelson Mandela, reflect a mood of growing public frustration about the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe.
While the US and the EU have imposed a travel ban and assets freeze on Mr Mugabe and his close allies, many African leaders see him as a hero of the fight against colonial rule.
Mr Sexwale said the rule of law must be upheld by the Zimbabwean government.
In March, opposition activists, including Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, were severely assaulted after being arrested by police.
Mr Mugabe said they deserved the beatings for ignoring police warnings not to hold a banned rally.
Mr Sexwale said he was praying that President Mbeki's intervention on behalf of the Southern African Development Community would succeed, but he acknowledged that punitive sanctions were an option that might become necessary in the future.
Asylum
An estimated two to three million Zimbabweans are now living in South Africa.
Most are trying to escape poverty in a country with the world's highest rate of inflation - 2,200%.
Just one Zimbabwean in five has a job.
But some have fled political persecution.
In a significant move, it has been confirmed that former MDC MP Roy Bennett has been granted political asylum in South Africa, after fleeing there last year.
His request was initially turned down last May.
He fled Zimbabwe after police had said he was wanted in connection with an alleged plot to kill President Mugabe.
Mr Bennett was jailed for eight months in 2004 after pushing a minister in parliament.
His farm has been seized under the land reform programme and several of his workers were beaten up by pro-government militias.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ICC ACCEPTS AUSSIE TOUR BOYCOTT !

Speed says Australia will not be fined for their decision. The International Cricket Council has welcomed the "clarity" given by Prime Minister John Howard in stopping Australia's tour of Zimbabwe.
Howard ordered the country's cricketers to pull out of the trip in protest at the regime of President Robert Mugabe.
"A government has prohibited their team from going. That's the clarity we've been seeking," said Speed.
"We don't like governments expressing opinions but then leaving the political decisions to cricket administrators."

Interview: ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed

Speed added that as Mr Howard had taken the decision not to tour out of Cricket Australia's hands, they would not be fined.
And Speed contrasted Mr Howard's decision to that of the British Government, who in 2004 voiced opposition to England's tour of the country but said they could not order the team to cancel the trip.
It is unfortunate for Zimbabwe's cricketers and supporters
ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed
"For the last three years, and you have seen it pretty clearly in England, politicians have been making lots of statements about cricket in Zimbabwe and expressing very strong opinions that England should not tour," he told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek programme.
"But they have fallen well short of giving a restriction or prohibition which is what we have been saying is required.
"We have said many times that it is not up to the cricket administrators to make political decisions.

606: DEBATE
Your comments on the decision

"What the UK government have said in the past is that believe they do not have the power to tell the cricket team not to tour.
"Maybe that is the case under British law but it does seem curious."
Australia were due to play three one-day internationals in Zimbabwe later this year but the games could now be played at a neutral venue.
And Speed added that he was not surprised by Mr Howard's decision.

The Australian squad understands its responsibility to spread the word of cricket - Australia captain Ricky Ponting.
"Talking to people in Australia over the last two weeks or so it became clear the Australian government has been heading for this decision," he added.
"From an ICC perspective we have an agreement between our member countries where they will tour unless there is acceptable non-compliance.
"One part of that is if a government or public authority imposes a restrictional prohibition and that's what's happened here.
"It seems, on the face of it, to fit within ICC policy. I'm neither pleased or displeased with the decision.
"It is unfortunate for Zimbabwe's cricketers and supporters, all of whom need exposure to top-quality cricket in order to develop as players and to encourage future generations to take up the sport."
Australia skipper Ricky Ponting said he respected the decision.
"As far as this situation is concerned, I'm comfortable that the Australian Government has taken the responsibility for making international affairs decisions on behalf of the country," he said.
"As captain of Australia I've never had a problem playing against international cricketers from Zimbabwe.
"As a playing group, the Australian squad understands its responsibility to spread the word of cricket throughout the world by playing against all member countries and, from time to time, in non-member countries as well."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA LAUNCHES NIGERIAN SATELLITE !

China is launching rockets for 30 countries. China has successfully launched a communications satellite for Nigeria.
The official Xinhua news agency says it is the first time that a foreign buyer has purchased both a Chinese satellite and its launching service.
The Nigerian Communication Satellite NIGCOMSAT-1 is expected to offer broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband internet services for Africa.
China beat 21 other bidders for the $311m contract to launch the satellite in 2004, Xinhua says.
The satellite, launched by a Long March 3-B rocket, is expected to reach its final position later this year and to remain in operation for 15 years.
This is the latest example of growing economic co-operation between China and Africa.
China is buying Africa raw materials and building infrastructure such as roads.
The launch represented "China's wish to cooperate with developing countries in the peaceful use of outer space and to promote a closer relationship between China and African countries," Xinhua says.
China is expanding its space programme and in 2003 became only the third country to launch a man into space.
This is one of 30 foreign satellites China has been commissioned to launch, Xinhua reports.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NIGERIA TRAFFIC CRASH 'KILLS 25' !

Reports from southern Nigeria say at least 25 people have been killed in a traffic accident involving three passenger buses.
One of the vehicles burst into flames after the crash in the city of Port Harcourt, said a police spokeswoman in Rivers State.
The spokeswoman, Irejua Barasua, said the vehicle may have been carrying cans of fuel as well as passengers.
Correspondents say Nigerian roads are poorly maintained and unlit at night.
Compounding the problem, many drivers are untrained, vehicles are often poorly maintained and buses are frequently tightly packed with passengers.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer but many of the country's 140 million people live in poverty.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Q & A : PORTUGUESE POLICE SYSTEM !

Portuguese police have given two press conferences. Police in Portugal investigating the abduction of three-year-old Madeleine McCann have been heavily criticised over their handling of the case.
In particular, British commentators have criticised their refusal to give out more information about any possible suspects.
The police say they are operating within the constraints of Portuguese law and cite differences in the Portuguese system compared to the British for the complaints.
BBC News looks at those differences.
What is the UK protocol when a child goes missing?
Police universally agree that the first few hours are crucial in the hunt for a missing child and, by and large, British police give out as much information quickly as they can to help find them.
In March last year, every British force signed up to the Child Rescue Alert (CRA) scheme.
This is a system to publicise suspected abductions of under-18s where there is a fear they could be at imminent risk of serious harm or death.
It gives urgent messages to television and radio stations, usually with descriptions, last known whereabouts and information on any suspects.
CRA is based on a US scheme called Amber Alert - after nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted, raped and murdered in Texas in 1996.
It issues missing alerts via traditional media as well as by e-mail, text message and on road traffic information signs.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) advises forces to treat every missing person case as a major crime investigation.
Its guidance reads: "It is always easier to rein back from the early stages of a major inquiry than it is to recover missed opportunities resulting from miscalculating in the early stages.
"In cases where the circumstances are suspicious or are unexplained, use the maxim: If in doubt, think murder."
Why don't Portuguese police release more information to the media and the public?
All criminal cases in Portugal - and elsewhere in much of Europe - are governed by the law of judicial secrecy.
This means that once a criminal investigation is under way, police cannot reveal anything about that investigation, including any details about potential suspects.
Any leaks could jeopardise a trial.
The BBC's Alison Roberts, in the Algarve, explains that normally this secrecy is not an issue because the Portuguese media are used to it and know not to bother asking questions.

Local people have joined police in searching for Madeleine
Problems can arise though, she says, as with information about Madeleine's clothing, when there is confusion about whether something is already in the public domain.
And if a detail has come from a different source - such as the family involved - can police then discuss it openly even if it falls under the secrecy law?
This grey area, our correspondent says, could help explain the second press conference held by police on Monday.
At the first media briefing on Saturday, the police may have felt they started to go down a road they shouldn't have - towards saying too much - Ms Roberts said.
Then in the second conference they tried to rein the situation back in, she added.
There has been surprise in some Portuguese quarters that police have even said as much as they have and there can be serious repercussions for breaking the secrecy law.
In a recent case of political corruption, police raided a newspaper and seized computers after reporters gained information about an ongoing investigation.

How is the police system structured in Portugal?
Like much of Europe, there are tiers of police in Portugal.
Firstly, there are two local branches run by the Interior Ministry. The PSP operate in urban areas like Lisbon and Faro, and the GNR cover more rural places like the Algarve.
The BBC's Alison Roberts says the GNR are the national guard and the equivalent of the French gendarmes.
They would have been the first port of call for Madeleine McCann's parents when they found her missing.
However the GNR do not get involved in criminal investigations - currently their role is to co-ordinate searches, man cordons, etc.
Once it is apparent that a case is criminal, the detective force, or policia judiciara, must be called in.
This force operates under a completely different government department, the Ministry of Justice.
Portugal also operates a system of investigating magistrates who carry out the later stages of a criminal investigation.
They interview suspects and witnesses, but only once police have gone through a formal process of naming someone as a suspect, then naming him as the accused, and so on.
The Portuguese police say they are working closely with Europol. What is the role of Europol?
The agency's role is to link up different countries to assist criminal investigations.
It only acts on request and can only become active when two or more member countries are involved - in this case Britain and Portugal.
But the Europol website states "there must be factual indications that an organised criminal network is involved".
One Portuguese newspaper, Publico, claims police suspect Madeleine's disappearance could be linked to a group selling children for international adoption.
Another paper, Correio da Manha, said an international paedophile ring, probably based in Britain, could be responsible.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.S. AND IRAN TO HOLD TALKS ON IRAQ !

Iran has called on the US to take responsibility for the crisis in Iraq. Iran and the United States say they are to hold joint talks in Baghdad in the coming weeks on the situation in Iraq. Iran said it agreed to meet to relieve the pain of the Iraqis, support their government and reinforce security.
The White House said the talks, involving US ambassador Ryan Crocker, were aimed at ensuring Iran's "productive" role in Iraq.
The announcement comes after the two countries attended a conference on Iraq's security in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Tehran has agreed to hold negotiations with Washington to relieve the pain and suffering of the Iraqi people - Mohammad Hosseini.

Timeline: US-Iran ties

At the summit of world and regional powers at the Egyptian resort, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki blamed the US presence in Iraq for the continuing sectarian violence.
Hopes of bilateral talks following the meeting appeared dashed after the two countries' respective foreign ministers refused to meet.
The US and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since Washington severed ties with Tehran after Iranian students occupied the US embassy there and took 52 Americans hostage in 1979.
'Strong enough'
"You could expect a meeting in the next few weeks with Ambassador Crocker and Iranians. The purpose is to try to make sure that the Iranians play a productive role in Iraq," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe was quoted by Reuters as saying.
"This is an ongoing process of trying to make sure that Iraq's neighbours, of which Iran is obviously a major one, play a constructive role," he said.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said his government had agreed to a meeting following consultations with Iraqi officials.
"Tehran has agreed to hold negotiations with Washington to relieve the pain and suffering of the Iraqi people, support and strengthen the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and stabilise security and peace in that country," he said.
"Iran has formally taken the issue [of negotiation] into consideration."
Mr Hosseini said the talks would be held in Iraq, but that the date and level of the negotiations had yet to be determined.
Iran's president recently declared Iran was now strong enough to talk to America - a reference to Teheran's progress in developing nuclear technology, the BBC's Frances Harrison, in Tehran, says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

10 THINGS !

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

1. The British eat a third of the world’s cod.

2. Squirrels can peel bananas.

3. Pre-schoolers will watch a favourite DVD or video for an average of 17 times before getting bored.

4. Astronauts wear adult nappies on spacewalks and during launch. But Nasa likes to call them "Maximum Absorbency Garments". More details

5. Seventy-thousand teenagers failed to turn up to take a GCSE exam last year.

6. Tony Blair smoked his last cigarette 15 minutes before he got married.More details

7. Widening the M1 will cost more than the annual economies of a third of the world’s nations.

8. Fewer than 3% of rewards offered for information about crimes are paid out each year in the UK.

9. Four ingredients have been added to bread by law since WW2 – niacin, thiamine, iron and calcium.

10. UK’s oldest working household appliance is a 50-year-old Prestcold Fridge in Norfolk.

Sources: 1, 5, 7, 9 - Observer, 2, 10 - Daily Mail, 7 May; 3 - Guardian, 11 May; 8 - Times, 11 May;
BBC MAGAZINE

'NEW PROOF' OF JAPAN SEX SLAVES !

'New proof' of Japan sex slaves
By Chris Hogg BBC News, Tokyo.

About 200,000 women worked as Japanese sex slaves in WWII. Reports from Japan say documents have been found that suggest the Japanese authorities forced women to work as sex slaves during World War II.
They come from the Dutch government archives and include the testimony of a 27-year-old Dutch woman from May 1946.
The Kyodo news agency says the documents show women were coerced into prostitution in occupied Indonesia.
PM Shinzo Abe had claimed there was no evidence of Japanese officials forcing women into prostitution.
The documents are reported to have been found by a Japanese journalist investigating Japan's wartime crimes in Asia.
'Comfort women'
The Dutch woman's testimony says she had her clothes ripped off her by Japanese military police.
She says she was taken to a brothel and forced to work as a prostitute, despite her efforts to resist.
That testimony, it is claimed, was submitted to the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal as evidence of forced mass prostitution in Magelang, in what is now Central Java, in 1944.
Other documents are said to include further allegations that the Japanese forced women into prostitution.
Earlier this year Prime Minister Abe said that investigations had failed to find any documentary evidence that the Japanese authorities in wartime had issued orders to soldiers to coerce women into sex slavery.
He said though that he stood by a Japanese government apology to the women, known in Japan as "comfort women".
The journalist who found these documents says they contradict the prime minister's denial that the authorities were directly involved in coercion.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry says it is aware of his claims but has not seen the documents so cannot comment on what they might contain.
It says the Japanese government has investigated its wartime activities in Indonesia thoroughly and acknowledges and apologises for the country's wartime use of sex slaves.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SURVIVING WAR : MILDRED AKELLO

Ugandan mother Mildred Akello, 53, recalls when she and her five children survived being burnt alive when their home in the camp of Abia in the war-torn north, was set on fire by rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army.

Mildred hates seeing herself and how she is now made up of scars It is the smell that I still cannot forget. The stench of burning flesh stays with me.
It was an hour before sunset - about 1700 hours local time - when we realised that the rebels had infiltrated us. They were dressed in new uniforms.
It happened so quick - the realisation that the rebels were among us.
But when we did, we took refuge in our homes, remembering the government soldiers' promise that if the camp was attacked, they would protect us.
They failed us that day. It was Wednesday 4 February 2004.
Shiny new gumboots
Gunshots filled my ears as I pushed my children under our bed and then lay, face down on the floor, looking through the thin gap under our door... a gun was pointed at us.

Someone poured water on me and my flesh slid down my arms -Mildred Akello, 53.

Right in front of my eyes were a pair of shiny new gumboots.
I heard voices shouting: "Hello! Hello! Today we are going to kill all you residents of Abia."
Peeping through the gap under our door, I saw a boy begin to sneak out of the next-door hut. He was shot and fell back inside the door.
Then the rebels started pulling out some of the thatching grass from our roofs and set it alight.
I think they didn't want us to escape.
Madness
Before long the heat and noise was so much. Our house was on fire, my children were screaming. All I could think was that we were all going to die.
COUNTING THE COST

What one village lost to war

But then I saw that the gumboots had moved away from our door.
There was fire everywhere and it was dropping onto us as I was scooping up my children and carrying them outside.
People were running. Madness had come. I remember hearing gunshots and screams and blowing whistles. There was also ululating and celebrating from the rebels. They shouted: "Today we have killed all the people of Abia."
But then I heard my daughter screeching, "Mama, mama, I'm burning," and it pulled me back into the flames.
Trapped
She had hid behind our bed and was now on fire.
Mildred's son was not burnt as badly as her youngest daughter.
She was trapped under the fallen roof poles and the flames were eating her, our clothes and our mattress.
My neighbours and a few soldiers came to help. But then some of the rebels returned. They were trying to push the door open but the soldiers kept holding it shut.
Somehow the rebels went and we got out.
I had been so worried about my children that it was only then that I realised that I was burning.
Someone poured water on me and my flesh slid down my arms.
I don't remember what came next.
Made up of scars
A military truck took me and the three of my children who had also been burnt to Lira Hospital where we stayed for four months. Mildred received special medical treatment for 13 months.Then a good samaritan took me to the capital, Kampala. They looked after me for nine months and paid for all my operations and special medicine.
I survived and so did my children. We are lucky because all our neighbours did not.
But I hate seeing myself. I am completely deformed. I am made up of scars.
I feel that I fail to convince my children to believe in themselves.
My husband has deserted me and our children. Since the attack he only stays with his other wife.
Medically I am not allowed to do any physical work but if I don't go and dig then my children will not be able to go to school.
I thank the World Food Programme for the food aid they give us. It really helps me.

Interview and photographs by Robyn Hunter and translation by Victor Ochen.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ROW OVER SCIENTOLOGY VIDEO !

Row over Scientology video
By John Sweeney BBC News.

Scientologists want 'the global obliteration' of psychiatrists. The battleground is YouTube and Scientology's weapon is a clip of me losing it in the "Mind Control" section of a gruesome exhibition.
Scientology has fought many battles to keep its secrets off the web, now they are using it to attack my investigation into them.
Scientology has prepared an attack video, and they have shown the Scientology v Sweeney shouting match to anyone who would watch it.
There is talk of 100,000 copies being released.
Family 'disconnects'
Scientology works. That is the message from celebs like John Travolta and Tom Cruise - who is, some say, keen on recruiting new Hollywood arrivals David and Victoria Beckham to what he calls his religion.
Others back the Church in various ways: Chief Superintendent Kevin Hurley of the City of London police helped open a new £20 million Scientology centre in London, and the authorities in the City of London have granted it cut-price rates.
If you are interested in becoming a TV journalist, it is a fine example of how not to do it. I look like an exploding tomato and shout like a jet engine ... it makes me cringe
But start asking questions and you see a different face of Scientology.
While making our BBC Panorama film "Scientology and Me" I have been shouted at, spied on, had my hotel invaded at midnight, denounced as a "bigot" by star Scientologists, brain-washed - that is how it felt to me - in a mock up of a Nazi-style torture chamber and chased round the streets of Los Angeles by sinister strangers.
Back in Britain strangers have called on my neighbours, my mother-in-law's house and someone spied on my wedding and fled the moment he was challenged.
I have met mothers who say they have suffered Scientology "disconnects" - meaning that their children have cut them completely out of their life so that they can spend more time with an organisation which a judge in 1984 characterised as "corrupt, sinister and dangerous".
Psychiatry battle
Scientology has two faces - nice and smiley, and sinister and dark. If you do not believe me, go and see their exhibition in Los Angeles, Psychiatry: Industry of Death. You enter through a door that is a mock-up of a torture chamber.

John Sweeney spent many weeks investigating Scientology. Scientologists want "the global obliteration" of psychiatrists, who they say were to blame for the rise of Nazi Germany.
To prove their point, they showed me hideous images of people having needles stuffed in their eyeballs, of patients undergoing electric shocks and having their brains operated on.
Sickening, nasty and wholly unconvincing - modern psychiatry, for all its faults, is not Nazi and to press the point in the way that Scientology does devalues the horror of the Holocaust.
I felt as though I was being brain-washed - and that if I did not fight it, they would have taken over my mind.
Ironically or not, it was in the "Mind Control" section of the exhibition that I lost it.
'Exploding tomato'
As often in life, I snapped over something completely different and quite trivial.
Top Scientologist Tommy "Don't mention the word cult" Davis had been goading me all week, and on the seventh day I fell into his elephant trap. He shouted at me and I shouted back, louder.

L Ron Hubbard wrote the founding texts of Scientology.
If you are interested in becoming a TV journalist, it is a fine example of how not to do it. I look like an exploding tomato and shout like a jet engine and every time I see it makes me cringe.
I apologised almost immediately, Tommy carried on as if nothing had happened but meanwhile Scientology had rushed off copies of me losing it to my boss, my boss's boss and my boss's boss's boss, the Director-General of the BBC.
I lost my voice, but not my mind.
This is the context Scientology will not tell you about. I have met too many good people who say Scientology was founded by a liar, L Ron Hubbard; that it attacks its critics without mercy; and the celebrities who endorse it have not the foggiest idea what it is really like.
Take "Rosemary", who is an ordinary mum and lives in England. She had two children and one died. Her surviving daughter was also her best friend. Then her daughter joined Scientology and her mother saw less and less of her.
Almost two years ago she received a "disconnect" - a letter cutting her mother out of her life totally.
Rosemary received no Christmas cards, no birthday cards, no Mother's Day cards.
Rosemary said Scientology was a cult. It was one of the most moving and shocking interviews I have ever done.
Out of the blue, three hours after we left, her daughter came round for the first time in almost two years seeking a reconciliation. The next day she begged her mum not to use the interview. So we won't.
Pay as you go
In Florida I met Mike Henderson, who with his wife Donna Shannon, spent $1m over three decades on Scientology's path to superhuman powers. When the couple left, they were disconnected from 20-odd family members left inside Scientology.
Mike's father - also disconnected - is dying, but five out of his six children will not speak to him because they are still inside Scientology.
After a long day with Mike and Donna we went back to our hotel at midnight, only to find Tommy Davis waiting in the lobby with his own black-clad Scientology cameraman.
He harangued me for talking to the heretics. I told him that Scientology had been spying on the BBC and that was creepy.
In LA, the moment our hire car left the airport we realised we were being followed by two cars.
In our hotel a weird stranger spent every breakfast listening to us. In all, we count 13 strangers - private investigators? - who were following us. Scientology denied sending PIs after the BBC.
Scientology is a pay-as-you-go religion - which is one of the reasons why the Charity Commission in Britain does not class it as a religion.
When you have paid as much as £100,000, you get to Operating Thetan Level Three and learn about "The Incident".
L Ron wrote that 75 million years ago an intergalactic space alien lord called Xenu kidnapped Thetans to earth, dumped them in volcanoes and blew them up with atomic bombs.
Ex-Scientologists have insisted to me that Xenu is part of Scientology. If so, it is a religion that requires its followers not to tell others about its core belief, which is very odd.
Critics say that if we all knew about Xenu, then Scientology could not charge people as much as £100,000 to find out about him.
Despite all the pressure - the letters from lawyers, the letters from MPs, the strangers knocking up my family and neighbours - if people from "disconnected" families tell me that Scientology is a cult, that will be reported.
Scientology And Me, Panorama, Monday, 8.30pm, BBC1.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GUINEA SOLDIERS RIOT OVER TALKS !

Soldiers say they were promised a pay rise after a 1996 army mutiny. Discontented soldiers have again rioted in the Guinean capital, Conakry.
They are angry that President Lansana Conte failed to turn up to a meeting to hear grievances over pay and housing.
A brief calm had returned to the capital, Conakry, after President Lansana Conte sacked the defence minister and army chief of staff.
The sackings followed days of rioting by soldiers seeking improved working conditions and the re-instatement of military leaders sacked after a coup.
Six people have been killed in two days of protests in Conakry and other towns.
Gunshots heard
Soldiers flooded the streets around Conakry's main army base and broke out in cheers when it was announced that Mr Conte had sacked Defence Minister Arafan Camara and army chief Gen Kerfalla Camara.
But the celebrations turned to anger when the president failed to turn up to a promised meeting to discuss the soldiers' other demands, which include better pay and housing.
Gunfire was heard throughout the capital, as soldiers shot into the air, says the BBC's Catherine Utley in Conakry.
It seems the soldiers are not yet in a mood to be pacified, our correspondent says.
Army mutiny
General Bailo Diallo, a retired former head of Guinea's ground forces, has been named as the new defence minister.
A total of five top army commanders have been replaced.
"Conte has responded to an important demand of the Guinean army," said Lt Ibrahima Bah, one of the soldiers involved in the mutiny, said as the sackings were announced.
"General Bailo is a high-ranking officer who is worthy of our respect. He has integrity and is responsible."
Rioting began 10 days ago when the soldiers alleged Mr Conte had gone back on his pledge to increase their wages after an army mutiny in 1996.
The army has supported Mr Conte's rule since he seized power in a bloodless coup in 1984 and keeping the military content is seen as key to his bid to stay in power.
Guinea was the scene of violent protests earlier this year as people called for the ailing president to step down.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE TO CHAIR MAJOR UN BODY !

Mr Chidyausiku says the row is a storm in a teacup. Zimbabwe has been elected to head the UN's commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) despite strong objections from Western diplomats.
They had said Zimbabwe was unsuitable because of its human rights record and economic problems. It is suffering food shortages and rampant inflation.
But Zimbabwe has dismissed such criticism, calling it an insult.
The country was chosen by other African nations. The CSD post rotates every year between the world's regions.
Travel ban
Zimbabwe was elected to lead the commission by a 26-21 secret ballot among CSD members at the UN headquarters in New York. There were also three abstentions.
There was a brief round of applause as the result was announced.
When they tell the African group to change, it's an insult to our intelligence
Boniface ChidyausikuZimbabwe's UN ambassador
Zimbabwe ambassador
Developing nations appear to have voted for Zimbabwe, the BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York says.
They respected the decision of the African group to nominate the country for the post in the first place, and they have shown they cannot be pushed around, our correspondent says.
Zimbabwe's Environment Minister Francis Nheme will now become chairman of the CSD.
Mr Nheme is the subject of European Union travel ban because he is a member of President Robert Mugabe's government.
That means he cannot travel to the EU to meet ministers on commission business.
Land issues
Zimbabwe's Ambassador to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku, said before the vote that his country was entitled to hold the chairmanship.
"It's our right. We're members of the United Nations and we're members of CSD, and the Africa group did make a decision and endorsed Zimbabwe," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"They're making a storm out of a teacup."
He said the real objection came down to Britain's criticism of Zimbabwe's controversial land reform programme.
Zimbabwe was once a prosperous food exporter, but production has plummeted since land reforms in 2000 that saw thousands of white-owned farms seized.
"We see it as a translation of a bilateral quarrel between London and Harare on the land reform programme," Mr Chidyausiku said.
He said the European countries should respect the decision of the African block.
"When they tell the African group to change, it's an insult to our intelligence - that we Africans can't think," he said.
Electricity woes
Meanwhile, Mozambique has threatened to cut electricity to its neighbour for failing to pay its debts.
Mozambique's Cahora Bassa dam supplies Zimbabwe with 500 megawatts of power.
The BBC's Jose Tembe in Maputo says Zimbabwe has accumulated debt to the tune of $9m.
A spokesman for Mozambique's electricity firm EDM said the government acknowledged Zimbabwe's current economic crisis but said that debt is debt and must be paid.
On Wednesday, it was announced that households in Zimbabwe were to be limited to four hours' electricity a day, between 1700 and 2100 local tiEconomic-crisis Debt me.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe !

Dear Family and Friends,

There is a cold wind blowing through Zimbabwe this week; the white poinsettias are in full flower and the birds that people call the Seven Sisters (The White Helmetshrikes) are back in our gardens and open bushland. All are a sure sign that winter is here and these seasonal milestones are now almost the only things that are normal or predictable for Zimbabweans stuck in the eighth year of turmoil.

Sitting in the dark of an electricity power cut one night this week, listening to battery powered short wave radio, it was with disbelief that I heard what had happened to lawyers in Harare. A group of 30 lawyers had gathered outside the Harare High Court and were intending to walk to the nearby Parliament buildings to present a petition to the Minister of Justice. The lawyers were protesting the arrest of two of their colleagues, both prominent human rights practitioners. As the protesting lawyers gathered outside the High Court, so did the numbers of armed police. Within minutes a peaceful gathering under a clear blue winter sky turned into obscenity and mayhem.

Four lawyers, two of them women, one who is 80 years old, ran into the doorway of the Ministry of Justice, thinking they would be safe there. One of the women described what happened next: "They dragged us out and threw us into the back of a truck."

The lawyers were taken to an open area next to a golf driving range and entertainment centre on a busy main road leading into Harare. There, on the grass and in broad daylight, the lawyers were assaulted by the police. Beatrice Mtetwa, one of the lawyers said: "They were beating us everywhere, on my back, my stomach, my arms, my buttocks. It was such a spectacle. Motorists on the road nearby stopped to watch. A police car with two officers stopped. They rebuked the police who were beating us. They said: ' Why are you doing this in public?' Then we were abandoned there. They said: 'Now you can go and demonstrate with your swollen bodies.'

"When the electricity came back on that evening, there did not seem to be a report on the main ZBC TV news bulletin of eminent lawyers being beaten on the main road. Instead there were reports of high school fees and of water shortages and of a senior government official giving blankets to an orphanage and telling the audience to vote for Zanu PF in March 2008. The day after the assault of the lawyers there still seemed to be no mention of the event on ZBC news because now the top story was of electricity cuts for domestic areas of 20 hours a day.

Three days after our country's most prominent human rights lawyers were physically beaten by police in full view of men, women and children on the roadside, the United Nations elected Zimbabwe to head the Commission on Sustainable Development. What sort of a prize is this for a country which cannot feed itself, cannot generate sufficient electricity despite nature's abundant blessings, and where life expectancy is the lowest in the world? What shame on the UN and on the men in their suits and ties who lobbied for Zimbabwe to be chosen.

Do any of you ever need the services of a lawyer? I know some good ones in Harare!
Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 12 May 2007https://webmail.plus.net/parse.pl?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fafricantears.netfirms.comMy books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available from:orders@africabookcentre.com

CCTV CHECKED IN MADELEINE SEARCH !

Madeleine has been missing for a week. Police in Portugal hunting for missing British girl Madeleine McCann are checking several CCTV images.
Chief Inspector Olegario de Sousa held a news conference to give more details of the search for the three-year-old.
He said the ground search was being scaled back as the results had been "zero", and no arrests had been made.
Items of clothing found locally did not belong to Madeleine, he said. A picture of the pyjamas she was wearing when she vanished has been released.
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, a week ago.

Map of resort

Mr Sousa said her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and several of their British friends had been interviewed again on Thursday, but there were "no suspicions on them".
On scaling back the ground search, he said police and volunteers had searched a 200sq-km (77sq-mile) area - and some locations more than once.

Madeleine was wearing pink Eeyore pyjamas when she disappeared.
Mr Sousa insisted he was doing everything he could to find the little girl, but so far from the ground search "the results are zero".
Local media have been reporting that police had examined footage taken at a petrol station, thought to be of two men and a woman driving a car with a British number plate, on the night of the Madeleine's disappearance.
And in the UK, Crimestoppers said it had passed on 35 "useful pieces of information" to Leicester police, who lead the UK side of the inquiry.
Police refused to confirm or deny reports about any possible leads, citing Portuguese law which prohibits them from releasing any information about an ongoing investigation.
But Mr Sousa did say "images of video surveillance" had been collected from several locations "in order to check possible leads that may have been recorded".
Investigators had asked locals if they recognised an image of a possible suspect, described by one shopkeeper as being very sketchy and looking only like "an egg with hair".
Prayer vigils
Madeleine's mother has attended a church service for her daughter in Praia da Luz.
Another service was held later on Merseyside, organised by friends of the family and led by Father Paul Seddon, who married the McCanns and baptised Madeleine.

Madeleine hunt in pictures
Show reconsiders kidnap plot
City vigil for Madeleine

On Friday, a vigil is planned in Glasgow, where Madeleine's father comes from.
And Celtic and Aberdeen footballers will show their support for the McCann family by wearing yellow armbands during their match on Saturday.
Earlier, photographs of Madeleine wearing an Everton FC shirt were released by the club.
Team captain Phil Neville said: "Everton has fans all over the world and I know that they, along with everyone connected with the football club, are hoping and praying for Madeleine's safe return."
'Entirely safe'
Madeleine's grandmother, Susan Healy, from Liverpool, said Portuguese police made mistakes at the start of their investigation, possibly because they were "inexperienced".
However, the British ambassador to Portugal, John Buck, said he had been assured by Portuguese authorities that "everything possible" was being done.

Meanwhile, Madeleine's uncle, John McCann, from Glasgow, countered criticism from those who say the couple were wrong to leave their children alone in their apartment while they ate dinner at a nearby restaurant.
"If you look at the layout of that place, it was entirely safe. The issue at stake here was, that the flat was broken into, and wee Madeleine was abducted," he told BBC Radio Five Live.
British child abduction experts have flown to Portugal to assist the investigation.
Superintendent Graham Hill of Surrey police, who investigated the disappearance and murder of Surrey schoolgirl, Milly Dowler, is among them.

The international number for Crimestoppers is +44 1883 731 336. People with information about Madeleine can call anonymously.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SYRIAN REFORMER 'JAILED 12 YEARS' !

Syrian police were awaiting Labwani's return from Washington. A Syrian court has reportedly sentenced a leading dissident to 12 years in jail for undermining national security after he visited the US.
Kamal Labwani was arrested in 2005 when he returned to Damascus after meeting US officials in Washington.
The White House and State Department have called on Syria to release Labwani and stop harassing reform advocates.
The verdict follows the jailing of human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni, signalling a continued crackdown.
Correspondents say Dr Labwani looked shocked for a few seconds as the judge pronounced the verdict, then gave a faint smile and raised his fist in the air, without speaking.
His wife Samar whispered: "It is too much.
Other stunned relatives in the courtroom murmured, "Allahu Akbar (God is great)."
"I think what we're seeing today is another symbol of the peaceful opposition to the Syria regime being punished for their views," said Nadim Houri, Syria researcher with Human Rights Watch.
Past detention
The judge reportedly told the court that the charges of contacting a foreign country, passing on messages and encouraging attack against Syria, could have carried a life sentence with hard labour.
The 50-year-old physician has been imprisoned by the authorities in the past for his activities as founder of the Democratic Liberal Gathering.
As usual, there is no confirmation of the sentence from the Syrian authorities, who do not comment on trials related to political or national security issues.
The verdict was announced as President Bashar al-Assad was addressing the Syrian parliament.
He said Damascus would not co-operate with a UN-backed tribunal to try suspects in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri if it would undermine Syrian sovereignty.
"The abandonment of sovereignty means that Syrian law no longer protects Syrian citizens," Mr Assad said in the televised address.
The Labwani verdict comes a week after a ground-breaking meeting between Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a summit in Egypt - the first time the two countries held such high-level talks since the death of Mr Hariri in 2005.
The previous week a court jailed Bunni for spreading hostile information and joining an illegal political group, in an ongoing crackdown on advocates of democratic reform in Syria.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S.A. OPPOSITION 'IS NOT TOO WHITE' !

The party has long been criticised for being too white and middle class. The newly elected leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance in South Africa, Helen Zille, has denied her party is too white and middle class.
Ms Zille, the mayor of Cape Town, told the BBC at least half of the delegates voting in the leadership election on Sunday were not white people.
She said the accusation that the DA was a white party was propaganda used by the ruling African National Congress.
The biggest challenge facing the party is to attract more black support.
She will succeed Tony Leon who is stepping down after 13 years.
"We are not a white party," she told the BBC's Network Africa.
"There are many opposition parties in South Africa who have black leaders and who have almost 100% black MPs and they've been going backwards election after election. We have more black voters than they do."
Ms Zille was both a journalist and an activist during the struggle against apartheid. In more recent years, as a Democratic Alliance MP, she worked in Khayelitsha, one of the most impoverished areas of Cape Town.
Since becoming mayor of the city last year, Helen Zille has had fierce political tussles with South Africa's governing party - the African National Congress.
She is determined to remain as Cape Town's mayor.
The DA has grown in size since the 1990s, but although it is the largest opposition party, it still only holds 12% of the seats in the National Assembly.
The BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says one of Ms Zille's priorities will be to draw in more black voters and break the concentration of power that lies with the ANC.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE POLICE ASSAULT LAWYERS !

Riot police were waiting for the lawyers. Police in Zimbabwe have broken up a march by lawyers in the capital, Harare, beating up several of them.
"They asked us to lie on our stomachs and then they started assaulting us," the law society's president, Beatrice Mtetwa, told the BBC.
The lawyers were protesting about what they said was police harassment after two lawyers were arrested last week.
The men - who were subsequently freed on Monday - are representing opposition activists accused of detonating bombs.
In March, a prayer meeting in Harare attended by opposition leaders and activists was broken up by police, leaving two people dead.
Scores of activists, including Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, were arrested and assaulted in police custody.
President Robert Mugabe has accused the opposition of "creating a state of anarchy".
Shouting
Ms Mtetwa said there was a large turnout in the town centre where many riot police had already assembled.

A lot more lawyers were beaten up outside the High Court itself
Beatrice Mtetwa
Feisty freedom fighter

"The [commanding] officer then arrived and told us that we must disperse: he'll count to three and if we don't disperse when he's finished three his officers were free to beat us up," she told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
Some of the lawyers then began walking towards the Ministry of Justice's offices, she said.
Lawyers could then be heard shouting as police bundled several of them into a truck.
"They physically forced us onto a truck drove about three or four kilometres and asked us to disembark... Four lawyers were assaulted," she said.
"A lot more lawyers were beaten up outside the High Court itself," she said.
Public demonstrations in Zimbabwe require police clearance and unauthorised gatherings are frequently broken up.
But Ms Mtetwa said that the march was legal.
"There is no law that says police must approve the march. It only says they have to be notified, and we have done that," she is quoted as saying before the demonstration.
Escalation
On Monday, the International Bar Association said the arrest of lawyers Andrew Makoni and Alec Muchadehama was "another example of the precarious situation in which human rights lawyers work in Zimbabwe".
Their detention was ruled illegal, but the police twice defied orders to free them - they are now out on bail.
"President Mugabe's government has escalated attacks on political dissenters in recent weeks," Mark Ellis of the International Bar Association said.
"And no effective international action is being taken to stop the flagrant violation of international law in that country."
Zimbabwe has the world's highest annual rate of inflation - 2,200% - and only one person in five is in full-time work.
Mr Mugabe blames the country's problems on a Western plot to remove him from power.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE AGREES TO EXTRADITE MANN !

Mann was due to be released on good behaviour this month. A Zimbabwe court has agreed to the extradition to Equatorial Guinea of the British leader of alleged mercenaries.
Simon Mann is accused of being the mastermind of a plot to overthrow Equatorial Guinea's president in 2004.
His lawyers have appealed, arguing he will not be given a fair trial and could face torture. Mann will remain in custody until an appeal verdict.
The former SAS officer was arrested and jailed in Zimbabwe for apparently trying to buy arms as part of the plot.
Unfair treatment
Mann, who has been serving a four-year prison term in Zimbabwe for buying weapons without a licence, was due for early release this month for good behaviour.
Correspondents say he was not at Wednesday's court hearing.
More than 60 men arrested with him - most of them South African citizens of Angolan origin - were released in 2005 after serving a year's sentence in Zimbabwe.
They flew to Zimbabwe from South Africa to pick up the weapons and were allegedly on their way to Equatorial Guinea to meet another group involved in the plot, when both groups were arrested.
Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former UK Prime Minister now Baroness Thatcher, was fined and received a suspended sentence in South Africa for his involvement in the affair.
The relatives of those being held in Equatorial Guinea have complained of abuse and unfair treatment.
One suspect, a German, died in prison after what Amnesty International said was torture.
Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema since he seized power from his uncle in a coup in 1979.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AFRICA FACING MAJOR CANCER BLIGHT !

Africa facing major cancer blight
By Neil Bowdler BBC Science Reporter.

The rise in cancer is a consequence of people living longer. A major conference is taking place in London to raise awareness about the cancer threat to Africa.
The meeting, which is being attended by health ministers from across the continent, will examine the need for cancer programmes across the region.
Cancer is often thought of as a disease of the western world but that is changing fast.
The World Health Organisation says that cancer kills more than HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
And the International Agency for Research on Cancer calculates annual new cases of cancer are expected to rise from 11m in 2000 to 16m in 2020, of which which some 70% will be in developing countries.
Increased incidence
Speaking before the conference began, the former British health minister Alan Milburn, who is chairing the conference, said the geography of cancer was indeed changing and that a new cancer epidemic was facing Africa.
"In Africa, literally every day, hundreds, possibly thousands of people die needlessly in pain from cancer for want of pain relief that could cost literally pennies rather than pounds.
"The basic infrastructure and resources to cope with the new health epidemic is basically not there and we have to do something about it. We know that there is a steam train that is coming down the track and we have a choice - we can wither, build some new track or we can wait for the train to hit us."
In some parts of Africa, the increased incidence of cancer is a consequence of economic development and populations that are living longer.
But in other parts, where HIV/Aids is slashing longevity, cancer rates may be rising directly as a result of the HIV/Aids epidemic with cancers such as Kaposi's sarcoma, tumours which appear under the surface of the skin or on mucous membranes, becoming increasingly common.
"HIV/Aids lowers the immunity of a patient and you know that throughout your lifetime the immunity keeps things in balance," Dr Mompati Malane, the head of clinical services in Botswana, told the BBC.
"You know you've got those bad cells that will go wrong and then they get eliminated by the immune system.
"But now with with HIV and immunity lowered, these cells are not killed that quickly and therefore it means that the the abnormal cells will multiply and cause cancer. We are seeing a lot of Karposi sarcomas which was not common in the past and this is mainly due to HIV/Aids."
Of course one of the main problems for Africa is funding for treatments.
For example, radiotherapy is only available in 21 of Africa's 53 countries.
But what the delegates were keen to stress as the conference began was that batting cancer is not just about expensive facilities.
Screening, early diagnosis and the uptake of inexpensive drugs were equally important, they said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE'S STARVING BORDER JUMPERS !

Zimbabwe's starving border jumpers.
By Orla Guerin BBC News Africa correspondent.

Many Zimbabweans feel driven to flee by poverty and hunger.
How far would you go to put food on the table?
Would you take your life in your hands - wading through crocodile-infested waters, and walking unprotected through land where leopards roam?
That is what Monica has just done, for the sake of her three-year-old daughter.
She has joined the exodus of Zimbabweans crossing illegally into South Africa - the so called "border jumpers".
They travel in the dead of night, guided by traffickers. The going rate is 200 rand (£14 or $28).
Even pregnant women or women with a baby on their backs are jumping a 2m high razor-wire fence - Taxi driver.

Q&A: Zimbabwe meltdown

We met Monica shortly after dawn, as she emerged from the bush about 6km (3.7 miles) inside South Africa.
She was on foot with four other women - their faces showing the strain.
Monica told us they had been travelling for four days with traffickers who abandoned them when their money ran out.
"They called us baboons," she said. "They told us if you have no money we will leave you here and call the police to come and arrest you.
"We have nowhere to go right now. We have no money and the police are all over. We don't know what to do."
Ordeal
Monica was driven out of her homeland by poverty, hunger, and concern for her little girl.

Local thugs often lie in wait to rob or rape the new arrivals, sometimes tipped off by the traffickers
"The situation is very bad," she said. "We will try by all means to get jobs. We can't go back. We are starving in Zimbabwe."
Mary, one of her travelling companions, is a mother of four. She also talked of starvation.
"We've got no jobs," she said. "We can't do anything in Zimbabwe. We are suffering."
After resting for a few moments the women picked up the few belongings they were carrying, and began walking towards the highway.
With no money and no place to go, their ordeal may be just beginning.
A short distance away a group of taxi drivers were waiting at a favourite rendezvous point - under a baobab tree.
They are part of a highly organised and lucrative trafficking network.
The taxi drivers have spotters with mobile phones, who warn if the police or army are near.
A ride to Johannesburg costs a fortune for a Zimbabwean - 1300 rand (£92 or $184).
No-one knows for sure how many border jumpers arrive every day, but the estimate from the taxi drivers is more than a thousand.

Most deported Zimbabweans cross the border again into South Africa.
"Even pregnant women or women with a baby on their backs are jumping a 2m high razor-wire fence," one driver said. "Some are carrying newborns. It's bad."
The taxis leave with their human cargo within three to five minutes.
"We phone the guy at the corner," he says. "If he says the place is safe, we take everyone. If not, we offload them quickly."
For some the journey involves jumping fences, or cutting holes in them to crawl underneath. But there are easier places to cross the border, if you know where to look.
We found an area protected by only a single fence. There is no need to cut a hole, because there is an unlocked gate.
Once through the gate, the Limpopo River is just ahead, and beyond it, Zimbabwe.
The Limpopo is low now, but border jumpers have drowned when the river is in flood.
Just downriver another group was making their crossing, holding their valuables above their heads.
Border jumpers must cross a crocodile-infested river.
They arrived safely on dry land, but there was a reception committee of local thugs.
They often lie in wait to rob or rape the new arrivals, sometimes tipped off by the traffickers.
The border jumpers spotted them in the distance. There was panic as they rushed to squeeze back through the fence, and return to the river.
They got away this time, but the thieves are a constant threat.
Zimbabwe is haemorrhaging some of its brightest and best.
In Johannesburg these days you find doctors, lawyers and head masters from Harare ready to work as cleaners.
Plenty of illegal migrants are arrested and sent home. So far this year, 57,600 have been deported to Zimbabwe, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
But many attempt the crossing again and again, unable to survive in a country with 80% unemployment and the world's highest inflation rate - now 2,200%.
The price of corn, the staple food in Zimbabwe, has just risen by a staggering 680%. That may drive many more desperate men and women into the arms of the traffickers.
Along the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa, a tragedy is unfolding - though its victims usually pass unseen.
They are women like Monica and Mary - mothers risking everything for a chance to feed their children.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ROW OVER AFRICA PEACEKEEPER MONEY !

African Union troops have still not deployed onto the streets. The African Union (AU) has defended its method of funding peacekeeping forces following complaints from the Ugandan peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
The Ugandan army, which arrived in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in March, says it has not received money promised to it by the AU since its deployment.
An AU spokesman told the BBC that peace troops had to sustain themselves, after which the AU would reimburse them.
Assnae Ba said the AU so far had pledges of $35m to fund the mission.
But some $200m was needed to fund a six month deployment of 8,000 troops to Somalia.
So far however, only some 1,700 Ugandan troops are in Mogadishu as the advance party.
Burundi, which is expected to provide 1,700 troops, says they are ready to leave, but there is no money to send them.

AU FORCE IN SOMALIA

Uganda: 1,700
Nigeria: 850
Burundi: 1,700
Ghana: unconfirmed

Q&A: Somali conflict

"Of course ther are some delays in the sense that we just signed an agreement with the European Union which have pledged 15m euros (about $20m) around 10 days ago," Mr Ba, spokesperson for the AU's department for peace and security, told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
He said Italy had pledged a further 10m euros ($13.5m), but he hoped for more money.
"We don't have all the troops on the ground so we can't talk of a shortfall," he said.
The African peacekeepers are intended to replace Ethiopian troops which helped the interim government oust Islamists in December.
The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) had ruled much of southern Somalia for six months last year.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FEARS FOR TOP U.N. ROLE FOR ZIMBABWE !

Zimbabwe's crisis has left many people desperate. Western countries are concerned about the expected appointment of Zimbabwe to head a key UN body, the Commission on Sustainable Development.
Western diplomats said Zimbabwe, which is in the midst of an economic and political crisis, was hardly a good example of development.
The position traditionally rotates through the regions of the world, with Africa next in line.
Zimbabwe's candidacy is reported to have broad support within Africa.
Zimbabwe's Environment Minister Francis Nheme is being tipped by UN diplomats to be elected to the post on Friday.
However Erik Solheim, Norway's international development minister, said some countries still hoped to block the move.
"We do not find Zimbabwe the right country to head the CSD for the next period," he said.
A US state department spokesman, Tom Casey, has said: "We don't think that Zimbabwe would be a particularly effective leader of this body."
He said development there had "been going in only one direction - and it's backwards".
Power cut back
Zimbabwe is enduring the world's highest inflation, at more than 2000%, mass unemployment, and there are widespread accusations of civil rights abuses.
On Wednesday it was announced that households in Zimbabwe were to be limited to four hours' electricity a day, between 1700 and 2100 local time.
The measure, to ensure that wheat farmers are guaranteed the power needed to irrigate their crops, will be in place for the next three months, the state power provider said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WAITING FOR CASTRO !

Waiting for Castro
By Stephen Gibbs BBC News, Cuba.

Would he or wouldn't he? Certainly the bosses of the big US TV networks were taking no chances. They sent their star anchor-persons to the Cuban capital, Havana, this week hoping the big May Day parade would see President Fidel Castro return to the public stage.

President Fidel Castro has attended the May Day parade for decades.
"We should be able to see him from here," said Craig, a Canadian computer technician as he arrived at Revolution Square on May Day morning.
The self-described "international activist" had found a prime spot, in the shadow of the monument to Cuban independence hero Jose Marti, overlooking the plaza.
In front of us, the vast square had been turned into a parade ground.
An orchestra was rehearsing opposite a grandstand framed with posters of Cuban revolutionary heroes.
To the left, you could glimpse the first row of a line of maybe half a million people, ready to start walking when the signal was given.
Just behind us was the VIP area.
Shrouded in mystery
But would Fidel Castro appear?
Would this day mark his return to power after a nine-month saga which, by all accounts, had brought him close to death?

Fidel Castro has been recovering from an intestinal ailment.
No-one knew. So we looked for clues.
Someone had noticed that the podium was in a slightly different position than usual.
Had it been re-designed so that Mr Castro did not have to walk down any steps?
A rumour was also going about that the president's white-haired head of security had been spotted.
Did that mean that the man he was protecting was close?
And then there were the American television networks.
They had sent their star reporters in and had even been authorised to use satellite broadcast equipment... permission that is rarely given in Cuba.
Would the Cubans have allowed that unless they were certain Fidel Castro was going to show up?
Soon we would know.

Cubans are not famed for their punctuality, but mass rallies are an exception. Raul Castro has been fulfilling many of his brother's duties.
At precisely 0800 local time, the most senior members of the government filed onto the podium.
Carlos Lage, a former doctor, now vice president, was there.
So was Ricardo Alarcon, the cigar-smoking head of Cuba's National Assembly.
Then Raul Castro, Fidel's younger brother, Cuban defence minister, and acting president appeared.
He waved to the crowd.
That, we assumed, meant Fidel was not coming.
We all phoned our editors.
"No, it is not Fidel, it is Raul Castro," shouted one Spanish journalist down the phone, trying to undo the confusion which can arise when two of the most powerful men in a country share the same surname.
'Millions of Fidels'
The march began.
The American TV executives looked a little downcast. As did the solidarity activists.

Fidel Castro, even unseen and unwell, remains an utterly dominant figure in this country.
But if the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who started to throng past were disappointed, they really did not show it. They had a job to do.
"Bush, fascist," shouted the smiling class of 2007 from Havana's Information Technology School.
"Homeland or Death," chanted a group of sportsmen.
Few of them seemed to be looking closely at ranks of the Cuban top brass to see who was there.
Fidel's illness, recuperation, and possible return to power, has become an obsession with Cuba watchers, but Cubans themselves seem almost nonchalant about the whole thing.
That might be partly because they feel that, for better or worse, nothing much is going to change in Cuba, with or without Fidel at the helm.
Certainly Cuban government officials appear to be getting bored of being asked how President Castro is, and whether, and when, and in what capacity he might return to power.
"I haven't the least idea," said a slightly cross Ricardo Alarcon when he was last asked whether Fidel would make a public appearance.
The government's view is that the president should be left in peace to recover as quickly as possible and that the Cuban revolution is about more than one man.
"Cuba has millions of Fidels," is a stock response to the question of what happens here after he is gone.
But not one of those millions is putting their hat in the ring yet, because the reality is that Fidel Castro, even unseen and unwell, remains an utterly dominant figure in this country.
Still in charge
On the eve of the Mayday march he wrote a lengthy article for the morning edition of Granma, the main daily newspaper.
In it he spelt out his views on the dangers of US initiatives to convert corn to ethanol, warning that the policy would turn a food crop for the poor into a fuel for the rich.
The piece was crammed full of statistics, right down to the number of flexing leg movements a sugar cane worker apparently needs to make to produce 12 tons of sugar cane. (The number, incidentally is 36,630).
On the lunchtime news that day, the Cuban presenter had the not unchallenging task of reading the article out in its entirety.
It was the first item and went on for 15 minutes, preceding all the other reports about Mayday.
It might appear that the absent Fidel Castro is only in the background of government here, but it is a government which still hangs on his every word.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 5 May, 2007 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

MASS GRAVES UNCOVERED IN COLOMBIA

Over 200 bodies have been found over the past 10 days. Colombian authorities have uncovered the mass graves of more than 100 people believed to have been killed during the country's long-running civil conflict.
Interior Minister Carlos Holguin said he was horrified by the discoveries near the town of La Hormiga, in the southern province of Putumayo.
The government was told of the graves after a peace deal with the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).
The right-wing paramilitary group has been blamed for many massacres.
Described by the UN as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, the conflict between state forces, including the AUC, and left-wing rebel groups, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), has left tens of thousands of Colombians dead.
'Horrified'
The 105 people discovered in 65 mass graves late on Friday near La Hormiga, the largest so far found, are believed to have been killed during the war.

Quick guide to the conflict

This small town near the border with Ecuador was an AUC stronghold dominating an area known for its coca crops, the raw material for cocaine, through which the group financed itself.
Colombia's attorney-general, Mario Iguran, told reporters that most of the victims had been local peasants killed by both the AUC and Farc.
Both sides have been accused of killing civilians they believe to be aiding their enemies.
"We are horrified at this cruelty driven by the insatiable lust for land," Interior Minister Carlos Holguin said.
Judicial authorities have now exhumed a total of 211 bodies near La Hormiga over the past 10 days.
A further 10,000 victims are believed to be buried across the country.
However, a lack of resources has hampered efforts to exhume mass graves and it may take years before the bodies are exhumed and the true number of victims is known.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRANIANS CYCLE FOR WORLD PEACE !

Jafar and his wife Naseem wave goodbye to well-wishers in Tehran. An Iranian couple have set off on a round-the-world cycle to promote peace and a positive image of their country.
Jafar and Naseem Edrisi are taking little more than their optimism on their 20,000km journey.
The expect to be away from home for two years, and have a budget of just $10 to $18 a day (£5 to £9).
"We have different objectives," explains Naseem. "One is to convey a message of peace and friendship to the countries we arrive in."
She went on: "Another is to plant saplings in different cities of the world. We want to make a 'green line' around the world, to help the environment."
The couple, who have both worked as tour guides, have also prepared CDs showing their favourite attractions of Iran.
"We want to fix the bad image that has been created of Iran around the world," says Jafar.

The couple will cycle through northern and southern Europe on the first leg of their journey.
After that, they will go on to either Africa, or North America, depending on what visas they get.
Japan, China, India and Pakistan will form the final, Asian part of their tour. "We cannot predict what will happen," explains Jafar. "It all depends on the political situation; we can only plan two months ahead."
Aside from maps, a tent, sleeping bags and cookware, they have also packed a Quran, a Bible and eight books of Iranian poetry into their panniers.
The easiest part of the journey will be the cycling
The couple are funding the trip themselves and have spent the last two years saving and training.
They have also built up a contacts book of friends and relatives in different countries in case they need help.
Despite this, Jafar concedes they still have worries.
"We are concerned about where to sleep at night, about safety and other issues. As one of our friends said, the easiest part of the journey will be the cycling," he said.
Naseem is confident they will enjoy the experience: "We used to travel around Iran in the past; but each time we returned home we were sad, because we didn't want our journey to end. We love to be travelling all the time."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA

Friday 4th May 2007
Dear Friends.

It is sometimes useful to stand back from the horror and chaos that characterises this last stage of Mugabe's rule and try to look at the situation objectively. Easier to do that I suppose if you're not there in the country suffering the total collapse with starvation and poverty all around you but I admit to bouts of fair-mindedness when I think I ought to try and be objective!

You all know how Mugabe constantly harps on about the west - and the UK in particular - and how they 'demonize' him and his party. 'You never tell them the good things that are happening under Mugabe's rule' the media is told and my response to that is 'What good things are there to talk about?' In my quieter moments I do wonder if perhaps we critics of the regime do not sometimes over-state the case but then I hear about babies being beaten, women being kept naked in the cells and just yesterday I read in The Zimbabwean details of the number of political prisoners being held and I go back to my angry question, 'What good things are there to talk about?'

An interesting article in the UK Guardian recently caught my eye. It was entitled 'How To Turn an Open Society Into A Dictatorship in Ten Easy Steps' and although it was not about Africa or even Zimbabwe the article exactly pinpointed what has happened in our country.

The article by a certain Naomi Wolf argues that there are ten steps that need to be taken by anyone taking over power. She gives the examples of Hitler and Pinochet but in Africa we have our own examples. The process is not a random one. All those seeking power have to do is follow a sort of historical blueprint to close down an open society and turn it into a fascist state - with varying degrees of bloodshed along the way. Wolf goes on to argue that creating and sustaining a democratic society is a long and arduous process but closing it down is much easier. Just follow the blueprint.If you are a Zimbabwean reading this you will be able to decide quite quickly whether the country passes the Dictatorship Test. I leave it to you to decide!

Step One: Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy. For Nazi Germany it was the Jews. In the west today it's Islamic terrorism. Step Two: Create a gulag - a place where all dissenters are sent for long periods. In America that's Guantanamo Bay. Step Three: Develop a 'thug' caste eg. the Nazi Blackshirts whose job was to go round brutalizing the population. Step Four: Set up an internal surveillance system. Step Five: Harass citizen groups and civic society. Step Six: Institute arbitrary arrest and detention. Step Seven: Target key individuals. Step Eight: Control the Press. Step Nine: Equate all forms of dissent with treason. Step Ten: Suspend the rule of law, subvert the judiciary and police.

There's one other point Naomi Wolf makes; once you put all the powers, legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands you have all the makings of a tyranny. Externally, on the surface everything looks normal. That's what the dictator wants you to see; look behind the external picture and you will see the full horror of torture, brutality and the infringing of basic human rights. And there you have it. By my reckoning Zimbabwe scores nine out of ten on this Richter scale of dictatorship. We don't yet have a gulag as far as I know but then you could argue that the whole country is nothing more than a gulag - for dissenters anyway.

So, in answer to the question, 'Why don't you tell us the good news coming out of Zimbabwe?' I repeat, 'What good news is there?' What good news can there be when the price of the staple food goes up by 700% condemning millions to near-starvation?

Ndini shamwari yenyu. PH

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe !

Dear Family and Friends,

On World Press Freedom Day the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists were denied permission by Police to hold processions in 10 provincial centres around the country. This did not come as a surprise. How could the government possibly sanction processions when in the last month alone there has been a shocking surge of repression and abuse against media workers in Zimbabwe.

Edward Chikomba, a 65 year old freelance cameraman was abducted from his home, beaten to death and dumped on a roadside.

Gift Phiri, a reporter for The Zimbabwean newspaper was seized in a supermarket, taken into police custody and beaten repeatedly over four days.

Tsvangirai Mukwazhi - a photographer - and Tendai Musiyazviriyo, a producer,were arrested while covering the March 11th arrests of opposition leaders. Both were beaten in custody.

Luke Tamborinyoka , an MDC press officer, has been in police custody for a month.

On World Press Freedom Day in Zimbabwe, the Minister of Information said :" the Americans are at work busy destroying Zimbabwe's national policies. On the ground, however, for the ordinary men, women and children of Zimbabwe, there is no sign of the Americans. If there was, perhaps they would do something about the ten hours of electricity cuts and seventeen hour water cuts we are having in my home town every day. Perhaps they could have stopped the 680 percent increase in the price of maize meal that was announced this week. Perhaps they could stand next to the mothers in the supermarkets who pick things up and put them back on the shelves because they cannot afford even life's most basic of goods.

Zimbabwe's Minister of Information did not mention any of these things as he spoke on World Press Freedom Day. He did not speak about the dead cameraman or the arrested journalists and said nothing about how people were being beaten whilst in police custody. Beaten by men who are paid with our taxes! The President of Zimbabwe's Union of Journalists made the most appropriate com