RARE CACTUS PLANT FLOWERS AT EDEN !

Kalahari bushmen have eaten Hoodia plants for centuries. A rare cactus which researchers believe could help combat obesity has flowered at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
It is thought to be the first time that the Hoodia plant, which was grown by horticulturalists at Eden's nursery, has flowered in the UK.
The Hoodia has been eaten for centuries by San bushmen of the Kalahari to suppress their appetite while hunting.
Research is being undertaken into the possibility of the plant being used in the production of anti-obesity drugs.

Hoodia facts

Grows in the Kalahari desert
Eaten by the San Bushmen to stave off hunger
Has a pungent odour
Protected by conservation laws

Sampling the Kalahari Hoodia diet

Because it is from an arid region, the plant will not appear in Eden's Rainforest or Mediterranean Biomes but will be used in an educational exhibit.
It will also form part of the project's horticulture team's preparations for Eden's next phase, the Edge.
Eden horticulturalist Jann Coles said: "We are delighted that the Hoodia has flowered for what may be the first time in the UK here at Eden.
"It's a privilege to be looking after such a rare and beautiful plant, especially one with such interesting scientific potential."
The plant, which has a pungent smell, is protected by conservation laws and can only be collected or grown with a permit.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HUNGER LURKS AS AFRICAN FLOODS RECEDE!

By Will Ross - BBC News, Accra.

In some places in northern Ghana boats are the only means of travel. The past few weeks have seen some of the worst floods in living memory across a large area of Africa.
From Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, hundreds of thousands have been displaced and many communities have been cut off.
I visited the worst-hit areas in the north of Ghana and neighbouring Togo, which are more used to battling drought than floods.
Finding out what I could by telephone, my first report on the floods was from hundreds of miles away in Accra but I soon saw the benefit of getting a little closer to the action.
My report had mentioned that the Ghanaian navy had dispatched two boats to the north of the country to help out.
Once in northern Ghana I was a little surprised to find that they were not much bigger than the rowing boats I used to spin around in, avoiding the ducks in a pond in London's Regent's Park.
But with a small outboard engine they were just what were needed to bring help to the cut-off communities near the village of Daboya.

We were a long way from the Ghanaian navy's normal location - battling the waves on the Atlantic Ocean - and there were endless shouts of port and starboard as we slalomed our way between the submerged trees, passing clusters of thatched huts which had just become small islands and were now lying abandoned.

After about an hour we arrived at Dissa Village where found a young man, Bawa, who had just paddled his family to safety in the middle of the night in a wooden dug-out canoe.
But all was not well in Dissa village where Bawa had taken his family.
An old friend, Sababu, had offered food and shelter but having just lost his crops to the floods, he too was in a precarious situation.
We walked to, and then waded into, what was left of his field of maize.
Sodden stalks lay flat on the ground.
"We were just about to harvest next month," he told me.
"I'm having sleepless nights worrying about the food."
For those of us used to buying our food in shops and supermarkets, it is hard to imagine the scale of the problem Sababu faces.
Like most people in the area, he is a subsistence farmer and with just one cereal crop a year these floods are going to produce a long-term food problem.
A few helicopter drops from the UN will not fix it.
The worst hit areas will need food assistance for the best part of a year.

Ghana's eastern neighbour, Togo, was to be our next destination. On a map it was just a tantalizing couple of inches from the flooded areas in the north.
Unfortunately we needed visas in Accra and so had to travel the entire length of both countries.
We hired a driver, Louis - a huge man from a family of Ghanaian champion boxers.
Despite a few military roadblocks on the way, I felt we were in safe hands - and by the look of him we could have thrown away the car-jack too.
Now, if Togo were the same shape as Louis, reaching the north would have been a modest trip.
Sadly, Togo is more like me - tall and thin - and so we were in for a long haul.
We were occasionally cheered up when Louis, gripping the steering wheel firmly, burst into song: "I see trees of green, red roses too..."
Yes, there were a few duets with his namesake Louis Armstrong on the car stereo.
Reaching the flooded villages we were rapidly exhausting all possible modes of transport; helicopter, motorboat, car, motorbike and bicycle.
When we approached Nagbeni village with a team of Red Cross workers, we came to an abrupt stop as the floods had washed away the bridge.

My colleague made a brief attempt to add "donkey" to the growing transport list, but the four-legged friend was not keen and bolted.
After more wading, we found Noumpo Natchaba queuing up for help, with the youngest of her six children strapped to her back.
We headed to her home with water purification kits from the Red Cross.
Half of the mud huts in Noumpo's compound had collapsed, and with her fields flooded she says she only has enough maize for a week.
The water in the north of Togo is receding but in the noisy paediatric wards of the region's main hospital we saw nurses struggling with an alarming crisis which is likely now to get worse.
Every day babies and young children are brought in with malnutrition.
Even before the floods the UN estimated that one third of children in the north of Togo were malnourished.
We saw 18-month-old Mamadou who had reached the hospital just in time, weighing half what he should have.
Mamadou's mother died a few months ago following relentless diarrhoea and his aunt was struggling to look after him.
He was gradually putting on weight but the fear is that with many families having lost their crops, the amount of malnutrition in the region is set to rise even more.
Perhaps the full impact of these floods will not be known for months.
But by then the water will have gone and the humanitarian agencies may well have moved on just when these areas need their help the most.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GEORGIA PRESIDENT SCORNS ACCUSERS !

President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia has for the first time spoken about allegations levelled at him by his former defence minister.
Irakli Okruashvili accused Mr Saakashvili of leading a corrupt government and ordering the murder of political opponents.
Mr Saakashvili branded the allegations as "unpardonable lies".
He came to power in 2004 with promises to fight corruption and develop genuine democracy in Georgia.
Mr Saakashvili returned from New York, where he had delivered at speech at the United Nations, to confront the allegations levelled at him by Mr Okruashvili.
"Okruashvili and everybody else knows that all the things he said about me and about the country's leadership are unpardonable lies," Mr Saakashvili said.
He insisted that one of the main principles of his life was the fight against corruption.
Opposition protests
After the former defence minister made his accusations he was arrested on charges of corruption.

Toughest challenge for Georgian leader

Mr Saakashvili defended the move, saying anyone who broke the law would get what they deserved.
But the former minister's allies insist his arrest was intended to silence a powerful opponent.
On Friday, several thousand people protested against the arrest, and against President Saakashvili's government.
On Saturday a number of leading opposition parties have united on Saturday to form a movement called the Salvation Front.
It is aimed at creating what they describe as an electoral revolution in Georgia to oust Mr Saakashvili, who they accuse of being authoritarian.
But the Georgian authorities insist this is not a threat because peaceful protests are normal in any democratic country.
Mr Saakashvili was swept to power after the "Rose revolution" - the massive street demonstrations which led to the collapse of President's Eduard Shevardnadze's regime in 2003.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DRUG IS A PROBLEM, MICHAEL ADMITS !

Pop singer George Michael has admitted his marijuana use can be "a problem" and said he is "constantly trying" to smoke less of the drug.
"Absolutely I would like to take less, no question," he said. "To that degree, it's a problem."
But he added he did not think his habit was "getting in the way of my life in any way".
"I'm a happy man and I can afford my marijuana so that's not a problem," he told BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.
Michael has previously said the world would be an "easier place to live with" if cannabis was legal.
In the Radio 4 interview, he also urged listeners to support troubled singer Amy Winehouse, who he called "the best female vocalist" he had ever heard.
He chose a track by Winehouse - who has reportedly had her own drug problems - as one of his castaway discs, saying she was also "one of the best writers" he had come across.
"All I can say is, please, please understand how brilliant you are."
Empathising through his own relationship with the press, the ex-Wham! star added: "I wish her every success in the future.
"I know she can get past the media. I don't know if she can get past other things, but she's a fantastic talent and we should support her."

Michael touched on a wide variety of subjects during his interview with presenter Kirsty Young.
Talking about his 25th anniversary tour, he said it had been "a very bizarre year".
"You can't imagine what it's like playing to people who have been loyal to you for 25 years and haven't seen you for 15.
"That's been the most life-affirming thing I could have done. I'm so glad I did it."
He described his childhood, revealing he believes he only became a pop star because he suffered a bang on the head.

"At the age of about eight I had a head injury and I know it sounds bizarre and unlikely, but it was quite a bad bang," he said.
"I had it stitched up and stuff, but all my interests changed, everything changed in six months.
"I had been obsessed with insects and creepy crawlies, I used to get up at five o'clock in the morning and go out into this field behind our garden and collect insects before everyone else got up.
"Suddenly, all I wanted to know about was music, it just seemed a very, very strange thing.
"And I have a theory that maybe it was something to do with this accident, this whole left-brain right-brain thing.
"Nobody in my family seemed to notice but I became absolutely obsessed with music and everything changed after that."
The interview will be broadcast on Desert Island Discs, Radio 4, at 1115 BST and repeated on Friday at 0902.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HUGE JAPAN PROTEST OVER TEXTBOOK!

More than 100,000 people in Japan have taken part in a rally against changes to school textbook accounts of a controversial wartime episode.
The Okinawa protest was over education ministry moves to change passages in new history books about mass suicides on the island during World War II.
The books suggested Japanese soldiers forced civilians to kill themselves, a claim supported by many Okinawans.
Demonstrators accused the government of trying to rewrite history.
The Okinawa assembly has urged ministers to think again about its order to publishers to make revisions and submit them for approval.
Saturday's rally was the biggest staged on the southern island since it was returned to Japan by the United States in 1972, according to the Kyodo News agency.
When US soldiers invaded Okinawa at the end of World War II, more than 200,000 people died.
Hundreds of them were Japanese civilians who killed themselves.
The textbooks, intended for use in high schools next year, said that as the Americans prepared to invade, the Japanese army handed out grenades to Okinawa residents and ordered them to kill themselves.
Many survivors insist the military told people to commit suicide, partly due to fears over what they might tell the invaders and because being taken prisoner was considered shameful.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE SAINTS ARE THE SINNERS WHO KEEP GOING" !

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

What a way to live.
Saturday 29th September 2007.

Dear Family and Friends,

Standing outside over yet another smoky fire late one afternoon this week, a Go-Away bird chastised me from a nearby tree. I'm sure this Grey Lourie is as fed up of me intruding into its territory as I am of being there - trying to get a hot meal for supper. For five of the last six days the electricity has gone off before 5 in the morning and only come back 16 or 17 hours later a little before midnight. "Go Away! Go Away!" the Grey Lourie called out repeatedly as my eyes streamed from the smoke and I stirred my little pot. My hair and clothes stink of smoke, fingers are yellow and sooty but this is what we've all been reduced to in Zimbabwe. Our government don't talk about the power cuts anymore and don't even try and feed us with lame excuses about how the power is being used to irrigate non-existent crops. We all know it's not true and the proof is there in the empty fields for all to see.

Something else our government aren't talking about anymore is the nationwide non availability of bread and the empty shops in all our towns and cities. Everywhere you go people are struggling almost beyond description to try and survive and yet the country's MP's, both from the ruling party and the opposition, do nothing to put an end to this time of horror. I have lost count of how many weeks this has been going on for but it must be around three months. None of the basics needed for daily survival are available to buy. There is no flour to bake with, no pasta, rice, lentils, dried beans or canned goods. People everywhere are hungry, not for luxuries like biscuits or snack food but for the staples that fill your stomach. When you ask people nowadays how they are coping, mostly they say that they are not, they say they are hungry, tired and have little energy. This is a national crisis almost beyond description and people say they are alive only because of " the hand of God."

This week as Monks and then ordinary people in Burma took to the streets in their thousands calling out 'Democracy, Democracy' in the face of the police and soldiers, we can't help but wonder why something similar does not happen here. The chant could be shorter and even simpler than in Burma and it could just be: 'Food, food,' but without leadership it seems as elusive as ever.

I end with a story about a man who is epileptic and visited the local government hospital for his regular check-up this week. It took four hours before he was seen by a nurse who scribbled in his book that this was a known case and that the hospital pharmacy should dispense his prescription of 90 phenobarb tablets at no charge - as they usually do. This major provincial government hospital had no phenobarb however so the man went to the biggest and busiest pharmacy in the town. They said the phenobarb would cost 1.2 million dollars - this is ten times more than the man's government stipulated minimum monthly wage. I offered to help and took the prescription to another pharmacy. The exact same tablets cost 250 thousand dollars - nearly five times cheaper. When I gave them to the man, his eyes shone with tears and he thanked me - 'I thought I would have to die' he said. What a way to live, and to die.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
love cathy.

NEW PROTESTS ON RANGOON STREETS !

Several hundred people have gathered in Burma's main city of Rangoon, despite three days of a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
The demonstrators have been surrounded by security forces and pro-military vigilante groups, eyewitnesses said.
The protesters are chanting slogans and taunting police, but no shots have so far been fired.
The protest came as a United Nations special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, arrived in Rangoon.
He was due to fly immediately to the new Burmese capital, Naypyidaw, to hold key talks with the country's ruling generals.

Heading for the unknown
Junta tightens media screw
Where world players stand

Eyewitnesses said that after a quiet morning in Rangoon, protesters again gathered in the centre of the city.
Some eyewitnesses told the BBC that more than 1,000 people were demonstrating against the government.
There were isolated reports of new violence.
According to the French news agency AFP, security forces charged a group of around 100 protesters on the Pansoedan bridge in central Rangoon.
"They beat people so badly," one eyewitness told the agency. "I wonder how these people can bear it. I saw the security forces arrest about five people on the streets."
Correspondents say the new protests will be a setback for the military government, which earlier declared via state media that peace and stability had been restored.
Talks
Burma has now seen almost two weeks of sustained anti-government protests, and three days of tough crackdowns on the protesters by the military.
They don't want the UN envoy to see the truth of the demonstrations in Burma - Rangoon resident.

Accounts from Burma
Send us your comments
Global protests in pictures

Internet links, which the government cut to stem the flow of information about the protests, are reported to be working intermittently.
It is not clear whether the security forces have been directly targeting protesters or just shooting warning shots to disperse the crowds, but Burmese officials said nine people were killed on Thursday.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he believed the loss of life had been "far greater".
Monks, who were initially at the vanguard of the protests, have been arrested or confined to their monasteries.
"I don't think that we have any more hope to win," one young woman told the Associated Press, commenting on their arrest. "The monks are the ones who give us courage."
It is not clear which members of the government Mr Gambari will be allowed to meet, though the White House said he should be allowed to meet "anyone he wants", including opposition figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi.

Religious sites sealed off by troops in Rangoon
Enlarge Image

Singapore's Foreign Minister warned that Mr Gambari's visit could have inflammatory consequences.
"Because Gambari is going there, I believe that the Yangon [Rangoon] government will be restrained in what it does but then the demonstrators may come up in full force.
"Then there could be heightened tension as a result. So what is important here is the political process signalled by what Gambari does in Yangon... If he fails then the situation can become quite dreadful."
Many Burmese people are not just being affected by the violence, but by restricted access to food aid as a result of the military roadblocks, humanitarian groups said.
The World Food Programme said its deliveries of food aid to 500,000 needy people have been severely impeded.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FARC WOMAN STEALS PLANE TO DESERT !

An armed female member of Colombia's Farc rebel group hijacked a small plane to escape her "tortuous life" with the guerrillas, police have said.
The woman, who was identified only by her alias "Angelica," took over the plane at an airstrip in Puerto Principe, in eastern Colombia.
Carrying a rifle, machete, knife and 150 bullets, she forced the pilot to fly her to the city of Villavicencio.
Upon arrival she surrendered her gun and said she wished to desert Farc.
Colonel Pablo Gomez, head of police in the state of Meta, where the plane landed, told reporters her plan was clear.
"Her intention was to escape, to desert the subversives because she was tired of this tortuous life that she had in the mountains."
I didn't threaten the pilot. I simply asked him the favour of taking me and well, he was scared.
Angelica - Rebel deserter.
Colombia TV news broadcast images of medical professionals treating the woman, who was wearing camouflaged cargo trousers.
She said: "I didn't threaten the pilot. I simply asked him the favour of taking me and well, he was scared.
"I had my weapon but no, at no moment did I point it at him. Nor did I take out my machete nor my knife nor anything."
Police said the hijacker would not be charged with a crime and would be admitted to the government's rebel rehabilitation programme.
Amnesty laws apply to combatants who willingly disarm in Colombia's half-century civil conflict.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

10 THINGS !

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

1. Deep-voiced men have more children.
More details

2. Rangoon is now called Yangon - a renaming that dates from 1989, when Burma's rulers renamed the country Myanmar.
More details

3. Relocating crocodiles doesn't work - they come back.
More details

4. There is a monastery in every village in Burma.
More details

5. The going rate to emit a tonne of carbon is £11.36 according to the first auction to be held on a regulated exchange.
More details

6. Jack Straw has intervened in alleged crimes four times, apprehending a person on three occasions.
More details

7. On average a UK commuter travels the equivalent of two-and-a-half times around the globe over a full working career.
More details

8. Ants don’t die in a microwave - they find the cooler areas.

9. Tony Blair's first text message said "are" and his second said "This is amazing, you can do words and everything", according to Alastair Campbell.

10. A 23.8lb baby was born in the US in 1879, but it only survived 11 hours.
More details
BBC MAGAZINE

TOILETLESS MEN ARRESTED IN UGANDA !

By Abraham Odeke - BBC News, Tororo.

"Toilet defaulters" must promise to dig a latrine within seven days. Police in eastern Uganda have arrested more than 70 men because their homes do not have a pit latrine.
They were targeted as part of home-to-home sanitary inspections in Tororo district, intended to ensure that proper toilets are installed.
Tororo district authorities want to discourage people from the common practice of defecating in bushes.
They said "toilet defaulters" would be freed if they agreed to dig a pit latrine within seven days.
"It's lamentable that while the Americans and the Europeans are visiting the moon and are about to reach the sun, in this part of Africa I am busy hunting for people who claim they don't have the time and the technology for making simple pit latrines," Tororo District Chairman Emmanuel Osuna said.
The campaign has not been without its difficulties.
On Wednesday, 50 homes were found to have no toilets during a swoop on Osukuru.
The densely populated area is bordered on one side by River Malaba, which is a natural boundary with Kenya.
Forty of the Osukuru culprits evaded capture by either swimming across the river to Kenya or by climbing nearby high rocks.
The inspections are expected to continue for another month.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"EVERYONE CHASES AFTER HAPPINESS,

NOT NOTICING THAT HAPPINESS IS AT

THEIR HEELS"!

ROW OVER SA POLICE BOSS 'WARRANT'!

Police chief Jackie Selebi is the current head of Interpol. South African opposition parties are demanding clarification over reports that an prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for the commissioner of police. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has not commented on the reports in which media quoted unnamed sources.
Commissioner Jackie Selebi is also the current head of the international police body, Interpol.
Opposition parties say if reports of the warrant are true, he should be suspended from his post.
Previous press reports have linked Mr Selebi to Glenn Agliotti, who was arrested last year in connection with the murder of leading businessman Brett Kebble.
Has a warrant of arrest, or any warrant, at any stage, been applied for against Mr Selebi?
Velaphi Ndlovu, IFP spokesman
On Friday, reports suggested that President Thabo Mbeki's decision last week to suspend Chief Prosecutor Vusi Pikoli was linked to the investigation into Mr Selebi.
Helen Zille, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, said the latest reports needed to be either confirmed or denied as a matter of urgency, and called on President Mbeki to provide clarification.
'Serious questions'
"We are entering a phase in our democracy where the most serious questions, with profound constitutional implications, are being asked about the conduct of the president and the national police commissioner," Ms Zille said.

Pikoli was suspended last week, reportedly while investigating Selebi.
"The president needs to take the nation into his confidence."
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) spokesman Velaphi Ndlovu issued a statement putting a question to Mr Mbeki: "Has a warrant of arrest, or any warrant, at any stage, been applied for against Mr Selebi?"
The African Christian Democratic Party called for Mr Selebi's suspension from his duties, while the Freedom Front Plus called for a judicial inquiry into the allegations around the commissioner of police.
The warrant for Mr Selebi's arrest was reportedly issued by the NPA, which operates independently from the South African Police Services, the regular police force headed by Mr Selebi.
Intense controversy
Reports say the NPA issued the warrant last week, before Mr Pikoli was suspended from his duties by President Mbeki.
The role of the NPA's Special Investigations Unit, known as the Scorpions, and its relationship with the police has been the subject of intense political controversy in South Africa over the past four years.
Mr Pikoli's suspension followed reports of disagreement with Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla over the role of the NPA and the Scorpions in the prosecution of former Deputy President Jacob Zuma on charges of corruption.
But Friday's Mail & Guardian newspaper suggested that Mr Pikoli's suspension resulted from his failure to inform his political superiors of moves to investigate Mr Selebi.
Political commentator Adam Habib said Mr Mbeki would have to deal decisively with the latest claims.
"If there's a link [between Mr Pikoli's suspension and investigations into Mr Selebi] this will have serious implications, because the constitution says the NPA must be free and independent of political interference," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

INDIGENISING ZIMBABWE :YOUR VIEWS !

A Zimbabwean CEO for a foreign-owned company in Harare tells the BBC News website what he thinks about the new law that parliament passed on Wednesday, giving the state controlling stakes in foreign-owned businesses, including banks and mines. He did not want his name published.
This morning when I got into the office, we - mostly middle management and above - were all talking about this new law and its implications.
To a certain extent I am worried about my job; you can never be so sure.
It is on all of our minds. Everyone is worried.
Regardless of this law though, some companies - including the foreign-owned one I work for - have been discussing whether they stay or go for some time now.
The economic situation here makes the notion of staying in business a great challenge. But we don't know when these changes have to be made by - the intricacies have not been spelt out yet. Or how it will be put into practice.
Maybe it is just an election gimmick? No-one knows yet.
Zimbabwe's government says the bill will empower the poor.
Another factor to consider is who the government sees as indigenous and who they don't... Business owners may think that if they hold a Zimbabwean passport then they are OK.
But the government has said before that those who make up Zimbabwe's coloured [mixed-race], Indian and white communities were at an advantage during colonial times.
So maybe the so-called colonialism benefiters will be forced to relinquish their shareholds.
But a person's ability to run a business successfully doesn't depend on their skin colour. What you need is the best person for the job.
It remains to be seen what will happen. You know, we have heard a lot of stories about their intentions but we are yet to see whether or not they have a strategic plan.
Major concern
I have serious fears for the foreign banks like Barclays and South Africa's Stanbic.

Basic foodstuffs like sugar, bread and cooking oil are scarce.
Zimbabwe's foreign credit lines must be kept open.
Most of the country's corporate companies have their accounts with Barclays and the like. Not with the indigenous banks.
And to keep going Zimbabwe needs to keep the little foreign investment it still has.
And now, who will be prepared to only accept a 49% ownership?
We saw exactly this happen in Zambia during the 1970s and early 1980s and it ruined the economy. All the companies went down and most of them that went down have never got back.
That's the major concern.
Another thing in the press are reports that the foreign companies doing business here support the opposition and their agenda is for regime change.
Maybe by passing this law the government thinks that stopping these foreign-owned companies from operating, will mean financial support for the opposition dries up.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ANGOLA ARMY GETS CONDOM LESSONS !

"Condom Commando" - educating troops in HIV prevention.

Angolans serving in the national army have been taking part in an unusual training drill, caught on film.
In between oiling their AK-47s, they have been using bananas as a model for what to do with a condom.
The doctor in charge, Major Andre Chimuco says "many had never seen a condom before, far less used one".
The major's work features in a new documentary called Condom Commando which has just been shown in London for World Condom Day.
According to Unicef, barely 3.9% of Angola's nine million population is HIV positive - but it has all the high risk factors associated with HIV prevalence.
Using a banana to practice putting on a condom is not what they are used to
Major Andre Chimuco, Angolan Army
There is just one hospital in the entire country where anti-retroviral treatment is available to people living with the virus.
Dr Chimuco told the BBC's Network Africa programme that he was nervous at first about how the troops were going to react to the lessons: "sitting with other men and using a banana to practice putting on a condom is not what they are used to".
Up to now Angola has not seen the rate of HIV prevalence common elsewhere in southern Africa.

ANGOLA'S HIV RISK FACTORS
70% are aged under 24 years
50% have no schooling
70% are mothers by the age of 20

Largely, it is thought, because the 27-year civil war kept it relatively shut off from the outside world.
However in the five years since the war ended, infection rates have been creeping up.
As soldiers fraternise more and more with the civilian population, it is hoped that enlisting the army in the fight against HIV/Aids will keep both young men and their partners safe.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EGYPT ANGRY AT US RIGHTS COMMENT !

By Ian Pannell - BBC News, Cairo.

Egypt has reacted angrily to criticism of its human rights record by the United States. The White House raised concerns about a number of court cases against the independent press and the closure of a human rights organisation.
Egypt's foreign minister rejected the comments as "unacceptable interference" in the country's internal affairs.
The pressure on independent and opposition forces in Egypt has been growing for many months now.
But in the past two weeks, there seems to have been a particular move against the independent press.

In the most prominent case, one journalist has been ordered to stand trial in a secretive emergency court for publishing rumours about the health of the president.
Elsewhere, a human rights group has been forced to shut down.
On Tuesday, the White House said these actions contradicted Egypt's stated commitment to democratic rights.
Even so, this is a relationship that is unlikely to turn sour anytime soon.
As Washington relies on Cairo to support its policies in the region, so Cairo relies on Washington for billions of dollars in aid.
But there was a time when the Bush administration hoped its plan for greater democracy in the region would be championed by its friends in Egypt.
These latest developments are further proof that this idea can be laid to rest.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HOW SPECTOR EVIDENCE STACKED UP!

The jury in the murder trial of legendary music producer Phil Spector has found it impossible to reach a unanimous verdict.
But why was it so difficult to reach a decision?
Actress Lana Clarkson was found dead from a gunshot wound to the mouth in Phil Spector's home in California in February 2003.
With no witnesses to the shooting except Mr Spector himself, who chose not to take to the stand, it was always going to be a difficult case. Prosecutors claimed he pulled the trigger, while defence lawyers said she shot herself.
In the end, some jurors decided the evidence was not sufficiently convincing.

THE CRIME SCENE
What happened in the two hours after Mr Spector and Ms Clarkson returned from a nightclub was the subject of heated claim and conjecture in court.
Jurors saw a photo of Ms Clarkson's legs, showing where the gun fellCandles were lit on the fireplace and an empty bottle of tequila and two glasses with the pair's fingerprints were found on the coffee table in the living room.
The jury was told Mr Spector's DNA was found on one of Ms Clarkson's breasts, but there was no sign of intercourse or assault.
In the foyer was a leather briefcase containing some over-the-counter medication and a packet holding one Viagra pill with empty spaces for two more.
There was also a bureau with a draw that was partially opened. In it was a holster that matched the snub-nosed Colt Cobra revolver that killed Ms Clarkson.
She was found sitting in a chair with her legs outstretched and a leopard-print handbag over her shoulder.
She had an "intra-oral" gunshot wound, according to the criminal terminology.

THE CHAUFFEUR
Mr Spector's Brazilian chauffeur Adriano De Souza, who called the emergency services on the night of the death, was a key witness.
Chauffeur Adriano De Souza claimed Mr Spector confessed. Mr De Souza was outside the producer's property when he said he heard a "pow" at about 5am.
His boss emerged from the house several minutes later and told him: "I think I killed somebody," the driver testified.
De Souza then asked: "What happened, sir?" The producer shrugged.
The driver told the 911 operator: "I think my boss killed somebody."
When the operator asked why, De Souza stammered: "Because, he, he have a lady on the, the floor and he have a gun, in, in his hand."
But the defence team questioned De Souza's version of events.
The jury was told that less than 24 hours after the shooting, De Souza was asked by police if he could recall Mr Spector's exact words. "I think so. I think, I'm not sure. It's my English," he said.
FORENSIC EVIDENCE
At the trial, one of the crucial questions was whether the forensic evidence proved Mr Spector was close enough to the victim to have been able to shoot her in the mouth.
Phil Spector's gun was shown in courtMr Spector's lawyer Linda Kenney-Baden told jurors the absence of gunshot residue and blood from his sleeves showed he could not have shot Ms Clarkson.
"Those sleeves by themselves prove Phillip is innocent," she said.
Moreover, more forensic experts said Mr Spector's DNA and fingerprints were not found on the gun.
Others told the court the evidence suggested no-one else was involved. "Ninety-nine percent, it's suicide," Dr Vincent DiMaio said.
Ms Kenney-Baden told jurors in her closing argument that "the scientific evidence clearly exonerates him".
But another forensic expert, Lynne Herold, told the court that the pattern of "mist-like" bloodstains on Mr Spector's white jacket suggested he was within two to three feet of the impact.
And Donna Brandelli, another expert, told the jury that fingerprints rarely adhered to the shiny metal surface of a gun.
"We only get fingerprints off guns eight to 10% of the time," she said.
Forensic specialist Steve Renteria said there could have been traces of cells from someone else on the gun but they would have been overwhelmed by the large amount of Ms Clarkson's blood.

GUN THREATS
During the trial, a string of women gave evidence to say Mr Spector also pointed guns at them over the years.
Melissa Grosvenor claimed Mr Spector threatened her in 1992Former employee and girlfriend Devra Robitaille told jurors he threatened her when she wanted to leave two parties in the 1970s and '80s.
In the second incident in 1986, she said he was "screaming, ranting and raving: 'You're not going. You're not leaving. I'm not opening the door... I'll blow you away. I'll shoot you.'"
Melissa Grosvenor described Mr Spector as a "very fun" companion - until he tried to stop her leaving his home in 1992.
"He walked right up to me and put the gun right up to my face and said: 'If you try to leave, I'm going to kill you,'" she said.
Stephanie Jennings said the producer held her hostage with a gun in a hotel room in 1995.
Another ex-girlfriend, Dorothy Melvin, said she was threatened with a pistol and shotgun after a night's drinking in 1993.
A fifth woman, Kathy Sullivan, recalled that Mr Spector once escorted her from his mansion carrying a gun for "protection". But she said she never felt threatened.

SUICIDAL?
Lana Clarkson died of a gunshot fired inside her mouth. Much of the trial was spent arguing over whether Lana Clarkson had given up on life after failing to make it as a movie star, and whether she could have been capable of suicide.
She sent letters to friends and a doctor in the months leading up to her death including the phrases "I'm at the end of my rope here" and "I was at the end of my tether".
She also wrote at one point: "This has been definitely the most difficult year of my life. My finances are a shambles and I am on the verge of losing everything."
But her mother told the court her daughter had bought seven pairs of shoes for a new job just hours before she was shot.
She also identified a series of photos the actress had taken to use to seek work about a month before her death.
And in an e-mail sent the day before she died, Ms Clarkson agreed to attend a birthday party for a friend's husband later that month. "Can't wait! Hugs & kisses, Lana," she wrote.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA DAM 'CATASTROPHE' WARNING !

China's Three Gorges Dam could trigger an environmental catastrophe unless emerging problems are treated urgently, senior officials have warned.
The dam's head of construction, Wang Xiaofeng, said ecological problems like soil erosion, landslides and water pollution could not be ignored.
In some areas ill-judged development was making things worse, he said.
Critics have long warned the dam, the world's largest hydro-electric project, could cause huge environmental damage.

See a graphic and more details about the Three Gorges Dam

The $25bn (£12.5bn) project, across the country's biggest river, the Yangtze, is due to be completed by the end of 2008.
More than one million people were relocated to make way for the dam, which China says is needed to control flooding and provide much-needed electricity.
Mr Wang told a conference that China had to address the environmental issues.

More than one million people were relocated because of the dam.
"We absolutely cannot relax our guard against ecological and environmental security problems sparked by the Three Gorges Project," he said.
"We cannot win passing economic prosperity at the cost of the environment," Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.
The problems included landslides caused by erosion on the steep hills around the dam, conflicts over land shortages and "ecological deterioration caused by irrational development", he said.
Senior engineer Huang Xuebin told the forum that landslides were a "severe threat to the lives of residents around the dam".
Some landslides had caused waves several metres high that further damaged surrounding shores, he said.
Other officials warned that the quality of drinking water for residents was being affected.
The BBC's Quentin Somerville, in Shanghai, says that the admission comes with China's government increasingly worried that environmental damage is leading to growing political unrest.
Earlier this summer, the head of the State Environmental Protection Agency warned that pollution worries had led to an increase in protests and riots across China.
However, there is hardly a river in the country that has not been dammed and many more projects are still progressing, our correspondent says.
Beijing recently increased its targets for renewable energy production, most of which will still come from hydro-electric projects.

THE THREE GORGES DAM

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

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NINE KILLED IN BURMESE CRACKDOWN !

Protests in Burma

Nine people have been killed during Thursday's crackdown on anti-government protesters in Burma's main city of Rangoon, state media say.
The dead included eight protesters and a Japanese man, identified as a video journalist working for APF News - with 11 demonstrators and 31 soldiers hurt.
The deaths came on the 10th day of protests, led by Buddhist monks.
World leaders have renewed calls for sanctions - and the US says it is beginning with 14 top officials.
President George W Bush has "made it clear that we will not stand by as the regime tries to silence the voices of the Burmese people through repression and intimidation," said Adam Szubin, director of the US treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The world should act, under the UN, forcefully and show the door to the dictatorship. China has to be told firmly to stop propping up the Burmese military - Ganapathy, Ottawa, Canada.

Accounts from Burma
Protests in pictures
Send us your comments

In other developments on Thursday:
Burma says it will issue a visa to UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who is being urgently sent to the country
the Association of South-East Asian Nations voices "revulsion" at the killings and urges Burma - one of its members - to exercise restraint
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour warns Burmese leaders that they could be prosecuted for their actions

Apart from sporadic gunfire, the streets of Rangoon are now said to be quiet after six hours of clashes. A curfew is back in force.
Thursday's violence followed reports of overnight raids on six monasteries.
Witnesses say soldiers smashed windows and doors and beat sleeping monks. Some escaped but hundreds were taken away in military trucks.

What next for the regime?
Burma rulers cut media flow

At about midday (0530 GMT), tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets in an apparently spontaneous show of defiance, singing nationalist songs and hurling abuse at soldiers driving by in trucks.
Troops began firing warning shots when protesters tried to take their weapons from them, state television reported.
Witnesses said it was unclear whether the bullets were fired into the crowd or above heads.
Japan's foreign ministry confirmed that a man found dead in Rangoon carrying a Japanese passport was Kenji Nagai, a video journalist who had been in Burma for Tokyo-based news agency APF News since Tuesday.
Japan would officially launch a protest with the Burmese government over Mr Nagai's death and demand an investigation into the incident, Japanese news agency Kyodo quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura as saying.
The official toll was nine dead, though this could not be confirmed.
In unrest on Wednesday state media said one person had died, though there were unconfirmed reports of several other deaths.
The scale and growing momentum of the protests appears to have taken Burma's military rulers by surprise, says the BBC's regional correspondent Charles Scanlon.

Key flashpoints in Rangoon
Enlarge Image

By ordering combat battalions into the streets, they are aiming to intimidate the population while rounding up the leaders of the protest movement, he adds.
With fewer monks on the streets on Thursday, the military may have had fewer qualms about firing on the civilians, correspondents say, as monks are held in high esteem in Buddhist Burma.
Analysts fear a repeat of the violence in 1988, when troops opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing thousands.
The current protests were triggered by the government's decision to double the price of fuel last month, hitting people hard in the impoverished nation.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UK TARGETS NIGERIA'S STOLEN LOOT !

Britain has returned to Nigeria some of the money seized by London police from the former governor of Plateau State and says more seized money will follow.
Joshua Dariye was arrested in London in 2004 but skipped bail to return home.
The Acting British High Commissioner to Nigeria, James Tansley, handed over two cheques totalling more than $250,000 (£126,000, 29.3m naira).
Successive Nigerian leaders have made tackling graft a top priority, but few senior officials have been convicted.
The Metropolitan Police say it is only a fraction of the fortune that Mr Dariye and other Nigerian officials had diverted to London.
A Metropolitan police spokeswoman, Helen Kennedy, told the BBC News website "the two cheques now returned to Nigeria are just the cash seized from Dariye on his arrest".
A further $2.8m of his assets have been frozen by court order and are awaiting repatriation to Nigeria.
In all, Mr Dariye faces charges of stealing some $128m from Plateau State during his tenure as governor from 1997-2007.
His official earnings were only $80,000 a year, yet police in London say he accumulated property and assets worth millions, much of it from state funds which were intended to provide drinking water to villages.
London's Metropolitan Police, working with Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have also been investigating other former Nigerian state governors, including James Ibori (Delta) and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (Bayelsa).

The police say they have secured court orders to freeze assets in excess of $70m proven to be the proceeds of crime.
Lawyers acting for Nigeria can recover the stolen monies through civil actions.
One cheque for $2m belonging to Mr Alamieyeseigha has already been returned to Nigeria.
The former Bayelsa governor pleaded guilty to corruption charges in Nigeria and was sentenced to two years in prison, but was released within hours because of time served.
An alleged credit card fraud in January 2004 sparked the UK investigation.
The trail led to Mr Dariye and police discovered that vast sums of government money had been diverted into several British bank accounts to purchase expensive property in London under false names.
His accomplice, Joyce Oyebanjo, who Mr Dariye made a guardian of his children, was convicted in April 2007 of using numerous accounts in her own name to launder large sums of money.
Ms Oyebanjo is currently serving a three-year prison sentence in the UK and has until June 2008 to refund to Nigeria a further $400,000 or her sentence will be extended by a further 2.5 years.
Hers was the first successful conviction achieved by a specialist unit known as the International Corruption Group, specifically created to investigate the laundering of criminal funds in London by corrupt overseas officials and part-funded by the Department of International Development.
At the time of Ms Oyebanjo's conviction, the UK's International Development Secretary Hilary Benn pledged, "This money has been seized and now should be returned to the Nigerian people."
All three former governors meanwhile remain wanted men in London where the criminal investigations are continuing.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"OLD AGE IS THE MOST UNEXPECTED OF ALL

THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO A MAN" !

MUGABE CONDEMNS WESTERN 'ATTACKS' !

The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has accused the United States and Britain of a relentless campaign to destabilise and vilify his country.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr Mugabe criticised George Bush's human rights record and policies on Iraq.
He called for sanctions against Zimbabwe to be lifted.
Earlier Zimbabwean MPs approved a bill which would end foreign ownership of companies operating in the country.
Mr Mugabe described the conflict in Iraq as the "misadventures" of President Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
He said Mr Bush had no right to lecture the world on human rights.
"His hands drip with the blood of many nationalities and today with the blood of Iraqis," he said.
"Mr Bush and Mr Brown have no role to play in our national affairs," Mr Mugabe told the General Assembly.
"They are outsiders and should therefore keep out."
Earlier Mr Bush told the assembly that Zimbabwe was suffering under a "tyrannical regime" and the UN should exert pressure on Mr Mugabe to allow greater freedoms.
Mr Mugabe reiterated that regime change in Zimbabwe would not be brought about by outside influence.
He was also critical of the United Nations Security Council, complaining that Africa did not hold a permanent seat or have the power of veto.
Empowerment bill
Meanwhile critics are saying that Zimbabwe's new Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill could hurt investor confidence in the country.
It aims to ensure at least a 51% shareholding by indigenous black people in the majority of businesses.
The governing Zanu-PF party says the move will empower the poor majority, but opposition politicians say it will only enrich a few powerful individuals.
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing the world's highest inflation and shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency.
Presidential and parliamentary elections are due to be held next year, following South-African-mediated talks between the government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TWELVE SHOT DEAD BY KENYAN POLICE !

Grisly murders carried out by the Mungiki have shocked Kenyans. Police in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have shot and killed what they describe as 12 criminals.
Police say that three of the men killed were members of a sect which has been responsible for a series of brutal killings in the past few months.
Police say they opened fire on criminal gangs in three incidents in Nairobi.
"Gangsters should surrender because their days are numbered. We will not relent on the war against crime," Nairobi's police chief told reporters.
At one point, police say they chased a car containing several armed men and shot and killed the occupants in the industrial area of the city.
Police also opened fire on a group of men robbing pedestrians on the outskirts of Nairobi and more shooting took place when officers confronted what they say were members of the Mungiki sect who were extorting money from garbage collectors.
The Mungiki, a quasi-religious criminal gang, has terrorised parts of Nairobi and central Kenya in the past few months.
Mungiki followers have been linked to the gruesome murders of more than 40 people - some of whom were beheaded.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BURMESE TROOPS RAID MONASTERIES !

Witnesses say security forces in Burma have launched raids on six monasteries and arrested hundreds of monks, as they try to stem a rising tide of protests.
About 200 Buddhist monks were reported to have been held when two monasteries in the east of the main city, Rangoon, were stormed overnight, witnesses said.
It comes a day after five people were reported killed when police broke up protests by monks and civilians.
The UN Security Council has called on Burma's military junta for restraint.

Key locations of Rangoon democracy protests
Enlarge Map
During the raids on the monasteries, witnesses said soldiers smashed windows and doors and beat the sleeping monks.
Some escaped, but hundreds of monks were taken away in military trucks.
Two members of the National League for Democracy, the party led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were also arrested.
There were also reports of raids in the north-east of the country.
Barricades
In Rangoon, security forces have been setting up barbed wire barricades around Shwedagon Pagoda and Rangoon city hall, two of the focal points for the demonstrations.

The junta are using dirty tactics - they don't fire guns but beat people with rifle butts
BBC News website reader
Accounts from Burma
Text: Burma confirms death
In quotes: Global reaction

The British ambassador in Rangoon, Mark Canning, said soldiers and police had stepped up their presence.
"There are truckloads of troops in a number of locations - more than there seemed to be yesterday," he told the BBC.
"There are fire trucks, water canons positioned in a number of places - there are about three of them outside city hall. There are a number of prison vans also to be seen in certain places."
More demonstrations are expected - leaflets have been circulated throughout Rangoon urging people to come out and show solidarity with the monks.
UN debate
There are no indications yet that the military government is ready to listen to the many calls for restraint being made around the world, says the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head.
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting in New York.
The US and European Union wanted the council to consider imposing sanctions - but that was rejected by China as not "helpful".

China's crucial role in crisis
How will the junta respond?
Burma's saffron army

Instead, council members "expressed their concern vis-a-vis the situation, and have urged restraint, especially from the government of Myanmar," said France's UN ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert.
They welcomed a plan to send UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to the region, and called on the Burmese authorities to receive him "as soon as possible".
China and Russia have argued the situation in Burma is a purely internal matter. Both vetoed a UN resolution critical of Burma's rulers in January.
Analysts fear a repeat of the violence in 1988, when troops opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing thousands.
The protests were triggered by the government's decision to double the price of fuel last month, hitting people hard in the impoverished nation.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GEORGIA CONDEMNS RUSSIAN 'TERROR'!

Mikhail Saakashvili accuses Russia of meddling in GeorgiaGeorgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili has accused Russia of leading "terror" missions on his country's territory.
In a speech to the United Nations, he said a man killed by Georgian forces in the breakaway Abkhazia region last week had turned out to be a Russian colonel.
Russia's UN ambassador retorted that the man and another killed at the same time were "anti-terrorist" instructors.
Georgia has accused Russia of trying to destabilise it and of backing Abkhazia's bid for independence.
Mr Saakashvili said on Wednesday: "One has to wonder - what was a lieutenant colonel of the Russian military doing in the Georgian forests, organising and leading a group of armed insurgents on a mission of terror?
"I want to ask our Russian friends - is there not enough territory in Russia? Are there not enough forests in Russia for Russian officers not to die in Georgian territory in Georgian forests?"
Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters immediately after the speech to the UN General Assembly that the men were instructors at an "anti-terrorist training centre", and were killed at close quarters with knives and gunshots to the head.
"This to us is another manifestation of the course of action which regrettably the Georgian authorities have taken lately... They have been doing everything to aggravate tensions," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROBE CONDEMNS NIGERIAN SPEAKER !

President Yar'Adua has vowed to crack down on corrupt politicians. MPs in Nigeria investigating a $5m spending spree by the new House of Representatives Speaker, Patricia Etteh, have said she broke the rules.
Her last appearance in the assembly prompted a fist fight and she was ushered away amid cries from MPs of "thief, thief" in her native language.
She was accused of buying 12 cars and carrying out lavish house renovations.
The report by nine MPs gave 10 reasons why "due process was not completely followed in awarding contracts".
Parliament is likely to vote on whether to impeach her in mid-October when it reconvenes, says the BBC's Chris Ewokor in the capital, Abuja.
Correspondents say the furore over the contracts has been an embarrassing start for the National Assembly, following elections in April.
President Umaru Yar'Adua took office in May pledging to crack down on corruption and is under scrutiny over whether he will deliver.
Mrs Etteh says she is being made a scapegoat by senior politicians angry that she overlooked them for key appointments.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE ORDERS 'WHITE FIRM GRAB' !

The Zimbabwean parliament has passed a bill to move majority control of foreign-owned companies operating in the country to black Zimbabweans.
The goal is to ensure at least a 51% shareholding by indigenous black people in the majority of businesses.
The bill completes a process that began with the controversial seizure of white-owned farms starting in 1999.
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing the world's highest inflation and shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency.
The bill still has to go to the upper house - the Senate - for final approval. It already has the support of President Robert Mugabe's government.
If passed in the Senate, the practical effect of the bill may, however, be severely limited, says the BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg.
Many foreign companies in Zimbabwe are already operating at a low level, with reduced turnover resulting from the seven-year economic crisis.
51% share
Critics have said the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill could hurt investor confidence in Zimbabwe.
It stipulates that no company restructuring, merger or acquisition can be approved unless 51% of the firm goes to indigenous Zimbabweans.

The empowerment bill defines "indigenous Zimbabwean" as anyone disadvantaged by unfair discrimination on race grounds before independence in 1980.
It also provides for the establishment of an empowerment fund which will offer assistance to the "financing of share acquisitions" from the public-owned firms or assist in "management buy-ins and buy-outs."
MPs from the governing Zanu-PF party supported the bill in parliament on Wednesday.
"If we do not dismantle the structure of colonialism that we inherited then we have not given back all the country's resources to its rightful owners, who are our people," Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Paul Mangwana said, quoted by Reuters news agency.
Members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) walked out of parliament in protest at the bill before voting began.
"We see it as a strategy to amass wealth by the ruling elite, and nothing to do with the empowerment of people," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told the BBC News website.
All government departments and statutory bodies will be asked to obtain 51% of their goods and services from businesses in which controlling interest is held by indigenous Zimbabweans.
Some firms dually listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and London Securities Exchange firms include Old Mutual, NMB bank and Hwange.
Multi-national firms that may be affected by the new policy include Barclays Bank, Bindura Nickel Corporation and miner Rio Zim.
Senior British officials say the Zimbabwean government will be disappointed if it thinks it will gain much of value from the move.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BURMA HITS NEW LOW IN CORRUPTION !

Burma and Somalia have been jointly ranked by Transparency International as the world's most corrupt countries. The index is based on perceptions of public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories. There is strong correlation between poverty and corruption, said Huguette Labelle, chair of the watchdog. At the bottom of the table, ahead of Somalia and Burma, were Iraq, Haiti, Uzbekistan and Tonga.

Denmark joined Finland and New Zealand at the head of the table, which was compiled by the Berlin-based watchdog. Forty per cent of the countries where corruption is perceived as rampant were classified by the World Bank as low income countries, Transparency International said. "Despite some gains, corruption remains an enormous drain on resources sorely needed for education, health and infrastructure," Ms Labelle said.

TEN MOST CORRUPT STATES
Somalia
Burma
Iraq
Haiti
Uzbekistan
Tonga
Sudan
Chad
Afghanistan
Laos

Last year, Haiti headed the rankings. Among those countries whose corruption score had worsened over the past year were Thailand, Austria and Jordan, Transparency International said. Scores were significantly higher in several African countries in the 2007 index, with Namibia, South African and Swaziland making progress in the fight against corruption. Gainers were also concentrated in Eastern Europe, with improvements in Croatia, Czech Republic and Romania testament to the impact of the European Union accession process on corruption.
Consistently corrupt
Burma, also known as Myanmar, has consistently ranked among the world's most corrupt countries. The southeast Asian country is ruled by a military junta which has suppressed almost all dissent. Tens of thousands of monks and civilians have staged anti-government protests in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Burmese police used batons and tear gas to beat back monks and other demonstrators in Rangoon as a new march began at the city's holiest shrine.

TEN LEAST CORRUPT STATES
Denmark
Finland
New Zealand
Singapore
Sweden
Iceland
Netherlands
Switzerland
Canada
Norway

Somalia has been without an effective central government since a military regime collapsed in 1991. Years of fighting between rival warlords combined with famine and disease have led to the deaths of up to one million people. Transparency International said that top scores enjoyed by wealthy countries in Europe, East Asia and North America, did not mean that these places could rest on their laurels.
Corruption often has an international dimension that implicates top scorers, the watchdog said. Global financial centres play a central role in allowing corrupt officials to hide their ill-gotten gains and bribe money often originates from multinationals based in rich countries. The UK ranked in joint 12th place with Luxembourg.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'GIRL IS NOT MADELEINE' !

A blonde girl photographed in Morocco is not missing Madeleine McCann, according to journalists who met her.
British and Spanish reporters claim to have traced the girl, pictured being carried on a Moroccan woman's back.
The London paper, the Evening Standard, says the girl is a five-year-old from the village of Zinat.
The McCanns' spokesman said the news, if true, was disappointing. Madeleine disappeared on 3 May from a holiday apartment in Portugal.
Experts were said to be examining the image, taken three weeks ago by a Spanish tourist, in the hope that the girl was the missing four-year-old from Rothley, Leicestershire.
But Spain's Telecinco channel and the Standard both claimed to have traced the family in the picture.
Rashid Razaq, the Standard reporter who flew to Morocco from London, said he saw the youngster.
"She has got a resemblance to Madeleine but when you see her properly, it is obvious it isn't her."
He said the girl in the picture was five-year-old Bushra Binhisa, daughter of an olive farmer.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell promised that the search for Madeleine would continue.

DEEP-VOICED MEN 'HAVE MORE KIDS'!

Men with deep voices tend to have more children than those who speak at a higher pitch, scientists say. Their finding is based on a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania known as the Hadza, who can be studied without bias because they use no birth control. Males who hit lower notes as they talked had about two more children on average than squeaky speakers. It fits with observations that women find masculine voices more attractive, the team reports in Biology Letters.
"There are a lot of reasons why lower pitch and reproductive success could be linked," said Coren Apicella, from the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, US.
Deep tones are suggestive of increased testosterone levels, which could lead females to perceive such men as better hunters and therefore better providers, she told the BBC.
"Or it could be that men with deeper voices simply start reproducing earlier. We really don't know what is behind this yet."

Apicella's group studied the Hadza because "they provide a window into our past" - they live their lives much as our ancestors did, and their behaviours could illustrate key facets of evolution that might otherwise be swamped by modern culture.
Hadza females gather berries and dig for tubers, while the males hunt animals and collect honey. Marriages are not arranged, so that men and women choose their own spouses.
The Hadza are monogamous, but extra-marital affairs are common, and the divorce rate is high.
For the study, voice recordings were collected from 49 men and 52 women between the ages of 18 and 55.
"The experiment was really simple," said Ms Apicella. "I went to nine different camps and I'd just get them to come into my Land Rover and record them saying the word 'Hujambo', which means 'hello', into a microphone.
"I then analysed the voice and pitch, and compared it with the person's reproductive history - how many children they had had and how many were still surviving."
The results indicated the deeper the man's voice, the more likely he was to have fathered more children, she said. She added that voice pitch was not linked to child mortality.
"We found that for women, the voice pitch was not connected to reproduction."

Because of the similarity which their hunter-gatherer lifestyle bears to that of our ancestors, the reproductive success of the Hadza could be indicative of the way that human beings evolved.
If females are drawn to deeper voices, this would drive selection in the population towards that trait. In other words, lower-pitched male speakers would become dominant over time.
"It's possible that vocal dimorphism has evolved over thousands of years, partly due to mate selection," explained Ms Apicella. "Perhaps at one time, men and women's voices were closer in pitch than they are today."
Her group has plans to extend its study. It is analysing data gathered from an experiment designed to test whether lower voice pitch in Hadza men really is any kind of indicator of performance. "I set up the 'Hadza Olympics'," she said. "The tribesmen participated in lots of activities, like archery competitions, racing, hunting, etc. "I'm going to look now at these to see if there is a link between hunting success, reproductive performance and voice pitch."
The research was undertaken with David Feinberg of McMaster University and Frank Marlowe of Florida State University.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UGANDANS BATTLE THE FLOOD WATERS !

By Orla Guerin BBC News, Teso.

They brave the water in small groups, moving forward slowly and carefully, sometimes holding hands.
This is what it takes to get in or out of Katakwi district in eastern Uganda, where more than 140,000 have been cut off by the floods.
The main highway into the area - usually packed with cars and trucks - is now hidden beneath a fast-moving torrent.
Crossing the road means battling the waves.
In the time we spent at the waters edge, three men were almost carried away by the current.
Others followed, undeterred, taking their lives in their hands - struggling to carry boxes of essential supplies, bicycles, laptops, and in some cases, their children.

Aid workers are struggling to reach Uganda's flood-affected.
Enlarge Image
One father waded through with his young daughter perched precariously on his shoulders. The water had risen to his chest before he reached the other side.
Hirali Isabirye, a businessman headed for Kampala, carried his black attachee case shoulder-high.
"I crossed by God's mercy," he said.
"But there is no way to take my goods. I doubt whether I will come back safely."
Hirali explained the pact made by those about to enter the water.
Uganda's eastern region of Teso is the worst affected.
"We just combine efforts, moving three or four people, holding ourselves together," he said.
"We tell everybody that if I fall down please don't let me go and if you go down I will not let you go. We just swear by each other that I will not let your life go. The water is so strong it can easily carry you away."
He begged the government to help, suggesting they bring speedboats.
"This situation is quite alarming," he said, "so we are requesting the government please to so something - to rescue the situation, at least to rescue the lives of the people. We just feel we have been ignored."
Embarrassment
Uganda's Minister for Disaster Relief, Francis Musa Ecweru, says that initially the government here did not anticipate the magnitude of the damage, but neither did the international community.
YOUR EXPERIENCES
The water kept rising. We lost everything - plates, clothing, bedding, my bicycle, even our sorghum and cassava crops
Innocent Okia, 18Mbale, Uganda
'Washed away': Your stories
Have Your Say
Satellite images of floods

He is pleading for foreign help - before it is too late.
Standing in the flood waters, he urged the international community to intervene now rather than wait for a humanitarian catastrophe.
"We should not wait for dead bodies to start appearing," he said.
"We must act now to avert the problem. If we don't then we are going to see a problem. People will start dying and they might die in such numbers that will embarrass the whole international community."
"About 400,000 people are in very dire need of international help," he said.
"They are trapped and can only be reached by air. They need to be reached with food, medicine and clothing."
Not a penny
The United Nations World Food Programme has made an urgent appeal for funds for Uganda, but says so far, it has not seen a penny.

WFP country director Tesama Negash calls the lack of response puzzling and very worrying.
He says that some donors are even claiming the scale of the problem is being exaggerated, but he responds with a a stark warning.
"If we don't get cash now," he says," we will be running out of time. At the moment we don't have any food for the flood-affected people."
In the village of Ajeleik, crowds gathered when a WFP helicopter landed with a few sacks of aid - just enough for a week.
Giver and taker
Like many of Uganda's flood victims, these people have been made homeless three times - by cattle thieves, by the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army, and now by nature.
YOUR EXPERIENCES

Your pics: Floods in Uganda

But life has never been this bad before, according to Pampas, a 76-year-old man, who remembers all the tough times of the past, including the devastating floods back in the 1960s.
"This one has destroyed the houses and crops so we don't know what to do," he says.
Minutes later, the heavens opened again, battering the sodden landscape.
It is feared the floods could bring dysentery and cholera.
Water - the giver of life - is now threatening to take it away.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BURMESE PROTESTORS DEFY WARNING!

Monks have called for political prisoners to be freed.
Enlarge Image

Tens of thousands of monks and civilians in Burma's main city Rangoon have defied military warnings and staged new anti-government protests.
Some chanted "we want dialogue". Others simply shouted "democracy, democracy".
Earlier, lorries with loudspeakers warned residents that the protests could be "dispersed by military force".
After the march finished, eyewitnesses told two news agencies they had seen several military trucks moving on Rangoon's streets.
LATEST PROTESTS

1. Shwedagon Pagoda. Tens of thousands of protesters, led by monks, gathered here at start of march2.Sule Pagoda. Students joined the protest, passing nearby city hall
Reuters reported that eight trucks of armed riot police and 11 trucks of troops had moved into the city's centre.
The security forces stayed in the vehicles while a few hundred people looked on, AFP said.
Tens of thousands of monks and supporters earlier marched from Shwedagon pagoda into the commercial centre of Rangoon, where they gathered around Sule pagoda and nearby city hall, witnesses told AFP.
Protesters addressed the crowd outside city hall.
"National reconciliation is very important for us... The monks are standing up for the people," proclaimed poet Aung Way.
One monk told the Associated Press: "People do not tolerate the military government any longer."
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says monks - who have been spearheading the protest campaign - have been handing out pictures of Burmese independence hero Aung San, the deceased father of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
They are also carrying flags, including some bearing the image of a fighting peacock used by students during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, witnesses told Reuters.
Students were also openly marching, says the BBC Burmese Service. In earlier marches they had simply formed a chain and clapped.

PROTESTS MOUNT
15 Aug: Junta doubles fuel prices, sparking protests
5 Sept: Troops injure several monks at a protest in Pakokku
17 Sept: The junta's failure to apologise for the injuries draws fresh protests by monks
18-21 Sept: Daily marches by monks in Burmese cities gradually gather in size
22 Sept: 1,000 monks march to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon
23 Sept: Up to 20,000 march in Rangoon
24 Sept: New Rangoon march draws at least 50,000 and 24 other towns join in

In pictures: Protests
Q&A: Protests in Burma
China's dilemma over Burma
Government's view

"Some students are in the middle of exams at this time," one of the students told the BBC. "But they have left their exam rooms and came out onto the streets, joining hands with the public, fighting for the country under the guidance of the monks."
The junta, which violently repressed the 1988 protests killing some 3,000 people, finally broke its silence over the mounting protests late on Monday, saying it was ready to "take action" against the monks.
It has repeated the warning in state media, ordering monks not to get involved in politics and accusing them of allowing themselves to be manipulated by the foreign media.
International reaction
At the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Burma's rulers to exercise restraint in the face of the growing protests.
US President George W Bush is to use his speech - due shortly - to announce further sanctions against Burma's ruling military junta, the White House has said.

The US is hoping it will encourage other nations to act and embolden the protesters on Burma's streets, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington.
Close neighbour China called for "stability", and the European Union has also urged the junta to show the "utmost restraint" and to take the opportunity to "launch a process of real political reform".
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has given his backing to the monks' call for freedom and democracy.
The protests were triggered by the government's decision to double the price of fuel last month, hitting people hard in the impoverished nation.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"NOBODY MAKES A GREATER MISTAKE

THAN HE WHO DOES NOTHING,

BECAUSE HE COULD ONLY DO A LITTLE" !

US MARKS 1957 INTEGRATION CRISIS !

Ex-US President Bill Clinton is in his home state of Arkansas to mark the 50th anniversary of the integration crisis at Little Rock Central High School.
The crisis saw a three week stand-off between a group of nine black students and an angry mob who wanted to stop them attending the all-white school.
The crisis was only ended when President Dwight D Eisenhower sent in troops to control the crowds.
The event became a seminal moment in the civil rights struggle in the US.
'Celebrate courage'
A series of events is being held in Little Rock to celebrate the integration of Central High School.
At a gala on Monday evening, Mr Clinton said Americans needed to continue to improve race relations.
"It is easy to celebrate the courage of others for what they did 50 years ago," he said.
It is another thing altogether to build the world our children would like to live in 50 years from now."
The US Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that segregated classrooms were unconstitutional.
But three years later, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus attempted to block the Little Rock Nine, as the group of students became known, from enrolling at Central High.
President Eisenhower eventually had to send in troops from the 101st Airborne division to escort the group to class, dealing opponents of the black civil rights movement a crushing blow.
The BBC's James Coomarasamy, in Little Rock, says the ceremony to mark one of the key events of the civil rights era takes place at a moment when America is examining the state of its race relations following last week's protest in the Louisiana town of Jena.
The case there of jailed black high school children, with its allegations of unequal racially-based justice, has for some brought back memories of those earlier, less enlightened times being remembered in Little Rock, our correspondent adds.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GLOBAL WARMING LEAVES RUSSIANS COLD!

By Artyom Liss - BBC News, Moscow.

Over half of Russians asked about global warming say they haven't heard much about it, according to a BBC World Service poll of 22,000 people in 21 countries.
It's not easy to grow tomatoes in northern Russia. The Russian media focus on what seem to be more pressing problems.
There are burning social issues, there's uncertainty about the security, there's a falling-out with the West, and, crucially, it is a very cold country.
A meteorologist in Arkhangelsk, in the north of Russia, once told me: "I know global warming is a problem, but I would welcome a bit of warmth up here. Then I could grow my own tomatoes."
We spoke as we stood on ice in the middle of the frozen Dvina river. The temperature was approaching -25C.
This meteorologist is by no means the only person in Russia to think this way. His view virtually mirrors the state's official position.

Poll: Man fuels climate change

"We are not panicking. Global warming is not as catastrophic for us as it might be for some other countries," Rinat Gizatullin, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Ministry, says.
"If anything, we'll be even better off: as the climate warms, more of Russia's territory will be freed up for agriculture and industry."

See which countries hear most about climate change

Alexey Kokorin of WWF in Russia says Russians who are aware of global warming tend to live in some of the worst affected areas, such as Siberia, with its melting permafrost, or the Caucasus, with its regular heatwaves.
The real problem, Mr Kokorin says, is not that people don't know what's going on, it is that they have some of the "weirdest ideas about what causes global warming, and they don't feel the need to change things".
The government says it is trying to educate people.
But, so far, most of the steps that have been taken have been aimed at businesses, not at ordinary Russians.
Russia has signed up to the Kyoto treaty, and the country is now expecting millions of dollars' worth of investment.
Moscow's hope is that Western polluters will be queuing up to buy its carbon emission quotas. The money will then go into improving infrastructure and energy efficiency.
This approach alone - focusing more on the economy than ecology - may not convince Russians that the whole world is heating up.
But at least it will give the issue more prominence.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

The survey was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (Pipa) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan co-ordinated fieldwork between 29 May and 26 July 2007.

IRAN PRESIDENT IN NY CAMPUS CLASH !

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has clashed with the head of New York's Columbia University while making his controversial appearance at the campus.
Columbia President Lee Bollinger described Mr Ahmadinejad as a "cruel dictator" who denied the Holocaust.
In response, Mr Ahmadinejad called the remarks "an insult", adding that more research was needed on the Holocaust.
He again defended Tehran's nuclear ambitions and said it had every right to pursue a peaceful programme.
Washington accuses Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb and arming insurgents in Iraq - Tehran rejects the charges.
Many Americans said the Iranian leader should not have been invited to speak at Columbia University.
But his appearance was popular - crowds flocked to a large screen set up on university grounds, and tickets to the actual event were quickly snapped up.
In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country
Mahmoud AhmadinejadMr Ahmadinejad's appearance sparked protests in New York, with demonstrators saying it provided a platform for hate.
Mr Ahmadinejad has been denied a visit to the site of the 11 September attacks in New York in 2001, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying that "it would have been a travesty".
"This is somebody who is the president of a country that is probably the greatest sponsor - state sponsor - of terrorism," Ms Rice told CNBC television.
Mr Ahmadinejad was invited to Columbia University to address its students at the university's World Leaders Forum.
He received a hostile welcome from Mr Bollinger, who described the Iranian leader as "a petty and cruel dictator".
"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Mr Bollinger told Mr Ahmadinejad, referring to his denial of the Holocaust.
In response, Mr Ahmadinejad said that Mr Bollinger's remarks were "an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience".
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in New York, said Mr Ahmadinejad was visibly annoyed. At one point he demanded to know why raising issues about the Holocaust or the existence of Israel was not compatible with freedom of speech, our correspondent says.
Mr Ahmadinejad has called in the past for an end to the Israeli state and described the Holocaust as a "myth".
Addressing the Holocaust issue, Mr Ahmadinejad said he simply wanted more research to be done.
He also said the issue was abused by Israel to justify what he said was its mistreatment of the Palestinians.
Asked about executions of homosexuals in Iran, Mr Ahmadinejad replied: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."
Reacting to laughter and jeers from the audience he added: "In Iran we don't have this phenomenon, I don't know who you told this."
The New York Daily News's front page headline on Monday read "The Evil Has Landed", while the New York Post described Mr Ahmadinejad as "Madman Iran Prez".
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the university on Sunday, but Mr Bollinger defended the university's invitation, saying it was a question of free speech and academic freedom.
The Iranian leader is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, where he is due to speak on Tuesday.
Our correspondent says Mr Ahmadinejad firmly believes he can convince global opinion and the American people of the rightness of his cause.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PARTS OF UK STRUCK BY TORNADOES !

Fire crews clear up damage in Farnborough, Hants.
Tornado aftermath
In pictures: Tornadoes hit UK

A series of tornadoes has struck communities across England, damaging homes and vehicles and uprooting trees.
The Met Office confirmed that a squall hit Northampton, where falling branches damaged an empty school bus.
It also said that a violent storm damaged gardens and homes in Luton. Part of a factory roof was blown off in Breaston, Derbyshire.
Also affected were Farnborough, Hants, and Nuneaton, Warks. There have been no immediate reports of injuries.

Nina Ridge from the BBC Weather Centre said that the winds reached 60mph.
In a statement, the Met Office said that the gusts were "conducive to tornadoes" and measured T2 or T3 on the TORRO scale (which ranges from 0 to 10), meaning they were "moderate to strong".
It added that in Luton a violent storm hit at 0700 BST, damaging gardens and ripping tiles off house roofs.
Ruth Spaull of Luton said that she saw "a funnel of wind" lift her daughter's trampoline 15ft (4.52m) into the air.

According to the fire service, 20 houses were hit in Farnborough, Hampshire, at 0800 BST, tearing away a garage roof and uprooting trees.
Terry Parrott, who lives in Farnborough, said he looked out of his window to see a "complete whirling mass".
He added: "Caravans have been upside down, trees uprooted, bus shelters destroyed. It's just complete devastation."

Tim Vile, incident commander for Hampshire Fire and Rescue, said the area looked "like a battle-zone".
Terrence Meaden, deputy head of tornado research group TORRO, said five reports were "looking certain" to be confirmed as tornadoes.
And he said further research could show another five cases of similar conditions, in places such as Northampton, Scunthorpe and Ollerton in Nottinghamshire, were tornadoes.
Dr Meaden said such a series was "infrequent enough" but not unprecedented.
Northampton resident Andy Summerville told BBC News 24 that the sky went "completely black" at around 0710 before tiles were blown onto parked cars.
'Frightening'
Winds damaged around 20 homes in Trafford Drive, Nuneaton, with tiles pulled from roofs, cars smashed and debris scattered across the streets, Warwickshire Police said.
The local borough council said 35 homes were damaged in the Mallard Avenue and Kingfisher Way area.

Animated guide: Tornadoes

Lollipop lady Beryl Warburton, 79, who lives on Trafford Drive, said the "frightening" storm struck at about 0615.
She said: "Some of the houses have had their roofs taken off completely, some have lost parts of their roofs."
Cambridgeshire Police said a motorist reported seeing a car blown across a road by a "tornado" in the village of Eye.
TORRO claims an average of 33 tornadoes are reported annually in the UK.
Dr Meaden added that the cold front which caused the tornadoes was over Exeter, Devon, at 0400 BST and travelled eastwards before passing out into the North Sea by around 0900 BST.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DOCTOR 'AIDED RWANDAN GENOCIDE' !

A doctor granted British citizenship was a key organiser in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, a court has heard. Dr Vincent Bajinya is considered a "category one offender" by Rwandan prosecutors, the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court was told. The 46-year-old Rwandan is one of four men facing extradition from Britain to Rwanda under a special diplomatic deal. All four deny personal involvement in the slaughter of the Tutsi ethnic group and are fighting extradition. Dr Bajinya, of Islington, north London, appeared alongside Charles Munyaneza, 49, a cleaner from Bedford, Celestin Ugirashebuja, 54, from Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, and Emmanuel Nteziryayo, 45, of Manchester.

Each faces a range of charges, including genocide, crimes against humanity and participation in acts of devastation, massacres and looting. District Judge Anthony Evans is presiding over the week-long extradition hearing in London. Rwanda waived the death penalty to enable extradition from the UK. James Lewis QC, representing the Rwandan government, opened the first full hearing of its kind to come before a British court. After outlining the allegations against all four in turn, he repeated the line: "As a result of his actions, on his own and in concert with others, thousands of Tutsis were killed."

An orgy of violence erupted in the African country in 1994 after the Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana's plane was shot down and ethnic Tutsis were blamed. As soon as his death was announced, killing squads began attacking Tutsis across the country. The court heard that Bajinya, who changed his name to Dr Vincent Brown by deed poll on becoming a British citizen last year, is accused of being a militia organiser in the capital Kigali at the time of the carnage. The other three were allegedly bourgmestres - or mayors - of local communes in the country and are accused of organising and leading the killing in their areas.

Mr Lewis told the court that before the genocide, Dr Bajinya had been part of President Habyarimana's inner circle - or "akazu" meaning "little house". He added that Dr Bajinya, a former member of the governing MRND party, was present at key "genocide meetings". Mr Lewis told the court that he became a leader in the Interahamwe militia, which was to spearhead the slaughter. Court papers allege he ordered the militia to cut a suspected Tutsi "into pieces so that he would not recover".

Dr Bajinya is also accused of personally interrogating a Tutsi woman about where her fellow "inyenzi" - or cockroaches - were before a militia man shot her dead.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

JAIL FOR 172mph PORSCHE MOTORIST !

Timothy Brady was disqualified from driving with immediate effect. The fastest driver ever caught in a routine speed check in the UK has been sentenced to 10 weeks in jail. Timothy Brady, 33, of Earls Crescent, Harrow, north-west London, pleaded guilty at Oxford Crown Court to dangerous driving. Brady was clocked at 172mph in a Porsche 911 Turbo in a 70mph zone on the A420 in Oxfordshire on 27 January. He was banned from driving for three years and will have to take an extended driving test to get another licence. He denied another charge of aggravated vehicle taking. The court heard Brady had taken the Porsche from luxury car hire firm Helphire, where he worked as a delivery driver.

Search for 176mph biker

He had nagged his boss to let him drive the sports car and had been repeatedly told no, but the court heard Brady took the car out the next day. Judge David Morton Jack said to Brady in court: "Your driving was criminally self-indulgent and utterly thoughtless of the danger you might be creating for the innocent." Police have criticised Brady for travelling at such high speed.

Insp Martin Percival, of Thames Valley Police, said: "All road users share a great responsibility to others and need to realise that high speed increases the chance of failing to react to an emergency, let alone take sufficient action to resolve it." Insp Percival said the 172mph speed equated to 77m per second. "To put that into context, the average duration of a single blink of the eye is 0.3 seconds, during which time the car would have travelled 23m (five car lengths)."

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) said: "This was an absolutely terrifying piece of driving. "Our roads are not race tracks or for breaking speed records. "It is fortunate the police were there to take action before he ended up killing himself or someone else. "Through his own selfishness, in what appears to be a lust for speed, he has completely disregarded the safety of others on the road."

Paul Smith of the Safe Speed Road Safety Campaign said: "Our official position is that we are worried that current speed enforcement policy based on cameras is ineffective, but this case is the exception that proves the rule. "This is someone who was driving dangerously and it is important to distinguish between those who are a few miles over the limit and those who are driving dangerously. "It is not the behaviour of a responsible motorist - dangerous driving is dangerous and should be punished," he said.

The previous highest speed recorded by a camera which resulted in a conviction was 156mph in 2003. It involved Aberdeen car dealer Jason McAllister, driving on the A90 between Aberdeen and Dundee.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROFILE: AUNG SAN SUU KYI !

Like the South African leader Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi has become an international symbol of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of oppression. For the Burmese people,Aung San Suu Kyi, 62, represents their best and perhaps sole hope that one day there will be an end to the country's military repression.

A life in pictures

As a pro-democracy campaigner and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy party ( NLD), she has spent more than 11 of the past 18 years in some form of detention under Burma's military regime. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to Burma. At the presentation, the Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Francis Sejested, called her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless". After a period of time overseas, Aung San Suu Kyi went back to Burma in 1988. Soon after she returned, she was put under house arrest in Rangoon for six years, until she was released in July 1995.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI

1989: Put under house arrest as Burma's leaders declare martial law
1990: National League for Democracy (NLD) wins general election; military does not recognise the result
1991: Wins Nobel Peace Prize
1995: Released from house arrest, but movements restricted
2000-02: Second period of house arrest
May 2003: Detained after clash between NLD and government forces
Sep 2003: Allowed home after medical treatment, but under effective house arrest
She was again put under house arrest in September 2000, when she tried to travel to the city of Mandalay in defiance of travel restrictions.
She was released unconditionally in May 2002, but just over a year later she was put in prison following a clash between her supporters and a government-backed mob.
Following a gynaecological operation in September 2003, she was allowed to return home - but again under effective house arrest.

During these periods of confinement, Aung San Suu Kyi has busied herself studying and exercising. She has meditated, worked on her French and Japanese language skills, and relaxed by playing Bach on the piano. In more recent years, she has also been able to meet other NLD officials, and selected visiting diplomats like the United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail. But during her early years of detention, Aung San Suu Kyi was often in solitary confinement - and was not even allowed to see her two sons or her husband, the British academic Michael Aris.

In March 1999 she suffered a major personal tragedy when her husband died of cancer. The military authorities offered to allow her to travel to the UK to see him on his deathbed, but she felt compelled to refuse for fear she would not be allowed back into the country. Aung San Suu Kyi has often said that detention has made her even more resolute to dedicate the rest of her life to represent the average Burmese citizen. The UN envoy Razali Ismail has said privately that she is one of the most impressive people he has ever met.

Much of Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal within Burma lies in the fact she is the daughter of the country's independence hero General Aung San. He was assassinated during the transition period in July 1947, just six months before independence. Aung San Suu Kyi was only two years old at the time. In 1960 she went to India with her mother Daw Khin Kyi, who had been appointed Burma's ambassador to Delhi. Four years later she went to Oxford University in the UK, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics. There she met her future husband. After stints of living and working in Japan and Bhutan, she settled down to be an English don's housewife and raise their two children, Alexander and Kim.

Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. But Burma was never far away from her thoughts. When she arrived back in Rangoon in 1988 - initially to look after her critically ill mother - Burma was in the midst of major political upheaval. Thousands of students, office workers and monks took to the streets demanding democratic reform. "I could not, as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on," she said in a speech in Rangoon on 26 August 1988.

Aung San Suu Kyi was soon propelled into leading the revolt against then-dictator General Ne Win. Inspired by the non-violent campaigns of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India's Mahatma Gandhi, she organised rallies and travelled around the country, calling for peaceful democratic reform and free elections. But the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the army, who seized power in a coup on 18 September 1988. The military government called national elections in May 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD convincingly won the polls, despite the fact that she herself was under house arrest and disqualified from standing. But the junta refused to hand over control, and has remained in power ever since.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BURMESE MILITARY THREATENS MONKS !

Buddhist monks march through Ahlone, a Rangoon suburb, on 24 September.
Enlarge Image

Burma's ruling military junta has warned it is ready to "take action" against Buddhist monks leading mounting protests, state media have reported. Brig Gen Thura Myint Maung, minister for religion, warned them not to break Buddhist "rules and regulations" as Rangoon saw the largest march yet. He blamed the protests on "destructive elements" opposed to peace in Burma. Monks are highly revered in Burma and any move by the junta to crush their demonstrations would spark an outcry.

Map of Rangoon showing locations in the democracy march

The military government has so far showed restraint against the protests but there are fears of a repeat of 1988, correspondents say, when the last democracy uprising was crushed by the military and some 3,000 people were killed.
Some monks' representatives had called for the entire country to join them in their campaign to overthrow the government, which began eight days ago. Monday saw marches in at least 25 towns and cities, including Mandalay, Sittwe and Pakokku. Turnout estimates in Rangoon, Burma's biggest city, range from 50,000 to 100,000. According to state media, the minister for religion spoke after meeting senior members of the Buddhist clergy, whom he warned to control the militant young monks who appear to be leading the current street protests.

PROTESTS MOUNT

15 Aug: Junta doubles fuel prices, sparking protests
5 Sept: Troops injure several monks at a protest in Pakokku
17 Sept: The junta's failure to apologise for the injuries draws fresh protests by monks
18-21 Sept: Daily marches by monks in Burmese cities gradually gather in size
22 Sept: 1,000 monks march to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon
23 Sept: Up to 20,000 march in Rangoon
24 Sept: New Rangoon march draws at least 50,000 and 24 other towns join in

In pictures: Protests
Q&A: Protests in Burma
Send us your comments

In the first public response by the junta to the mass protests, he said action would be taken against the monks' protest marches "according to the law if they cannot be stopped by religious teachings". No further details were forthcoming, but there was no hint of reconciliation in the government's message, BBC Asia correspondent Andrew Harding reports. State television said the demonstrations of the past week were being fomented by communists and exiled media and student groups.
Our correspondent says Monday's marches are a show of defiance unthinkable just a few weeks ago. Five columns of monks, one reportedly stretching for more than 1km (0.6 miles), entered the city centre to cheers and applause from thousands of bystanders. Civilians who joined in included officials from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
The authorities are likely to be under huge pressure from their close neighbour China to avoid bloodshed and instability, our correspondent notes. But if the demonstrations continue, he adds, the generals may see their authority ebb away and their options narrow.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has urged the military not to react with violence to the protests. In a statement from the Tibetan government-in-exile, in Dharamsala in India, he said he fully supported the monks' call for freedom and democracy. The White House has urged Burma's rulers to show restraint and seek dialogue with "those seeking freedom". UK Ambassador Mark Canning said Burma's leaders were now in uncharted territory and he expressed concern about a possible government counter-reaction. "That... would be a disaster, although in terms of probability it, I'm afraid, ranks quite high," he told the BBC.

A hard-core group of more than 1,000 of the maroon-robed monks and 400 sympathisers went to Aung San Suu Kyi's street at the end of Monday's march, the Associated Press reported. They chanted a prayer for peace in the face of the riot police blocking access to her home, where she is under house arrest, before dispersing peacefully. Monks have been urging Burmese people to hold 15-minute evening prayer vigils.

The organisation that has emerged to lead the protests, the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks, has vowed to continue marches until it has "wiped the military dictatorship from the land". The protests were triggered by the government's decision to double the price of fuel last month, hitting people hard in the impoverished nation.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"TO BE TRUSTED IS A GREATER COMPLIMENT

THAN TO BE LOVED" !

ZIMBABWE DIASPORA 'MAY GET VOTE'!

Zimbabwe's government and opposition have reportedly agreed ground-breaking changes for next year's elections. Sources at the talks mediated by South Africa say that everyone born in the country may be allowed to vote.
If confirmed, this would grant suffrage to the huge Zimbabwean diaspora - believed to be as many as four million.
The talks are also said to have agreed that the Electoral Commission (ZEC) in charge of next year's planned elections should be truly independent.
Sources within the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have also told the BBC that the notorious public order act - which has been used by President Mugabe's government to suppress the opposition - will be abolished.
But the BBC's Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says reports of a vote for the diaspora and an independent ZEC should be treated with caution given the news blackout applied by the South Africans to the entire process.
There has also been no public comment on the reported deal from the Zimbabwean government.
Last week, the MDC voted with the ruling Zanu-PF to pass an amendment to the constitution, because of the progress it said had been made at the talks.
Zimbabwe is in economic crisis, with unemployment estimated at 80% and shortages of many basic commodities.
Details of the agreement reached last week at the Pretoria talks have been largely confirmed by the London based newsletter, Africa Confidential.

The MDC surprised many by voting with Zanu-PF last week.
The newsletter says that South African President Thabo Mbeki himself told MDC faction leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara that Zanu-PF was prepared to amend radically the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).
The POSA amendment would permit all parties to hold public rallies without prior notification to the police and to canvass support without obstruction from the security forces.
However, South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad could not, or would not, confirm to journalists that President Mbeki had such a meeting with the MDC leaders.
The governing party is also said to be willing to work with the MDC to draw up a new electoral law, which would allow parliament instead of the president to nominate members to the Electoral Commission.
The constitutional amendment which was passed last week by MPs, the 18th Amendment, is said to increase the number of MPs in the Assembly from 150 to 210 seats, and in the Senate from 60 to 93 seats.

Zimbabwe's economy is in ruin, with severe shortages of food and fuel.
Additionally, it abolishes the president's power to appoint MPs who will all be elected under the new rules.
The president will retain the power to appoint provincial governors and influence over the appointment of chiefs to the Senate, but the Assembly will have the power to overrule the Senate.
According to Africa Confidential, under the 18th Amendment, the Delimitation Commission, which has redrawn constituency boundaries to the advantage of Zanu-PF, will be abolished and its work taken over by the independent electoral commission.
The changes will also allow parliament to choose the next president, should the incumbent die or be incapacitated.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA CATHOLICS THRONG TO CHURCH !

By Michael Bristow - BBC News, Beijing.

Worshippers go to state-controlled as well as underground churches. Beijing's Southern Cathedral has the kind of congregation many Catholic churches in Europe can only dream of attracting.
At Sunday morning Mass, the church is overflowing with worshippers. Those that cannot squeeze in sit on benches outside.
There are no official ties between China and the Vatican, despite attempts by both sides over recent months to overcome their differences.
But that does not seem to matter to the faithful at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to give the Beijing church its full name.
The solid-looking brick cathedral, founded in 1605 by Jesuit Matteo Ricci, is the base of newly-appointed Beijing Bishop Father Joseph Li Shan.
Father Joseph, whose appointment was approved by the Vatican, is in charge of one of China's main dioceses. It has a flock of at least 50,000 people.
Hundreds of these worship at the elegant Southern Cathedral. Inside, it is lit by chandeliers and sunlight filtered through stained glass windows.
From an office situated to one side of the cathedral, Sister Yu Shuqin told the BBC that the Catholic diocese had a vibrant congregation.
Religion for visas?
Although money now seems to be the new god in China, there are still those who seek spiritual salvation in the Catholic Church, she said, as the sound of singing drifted in through an open window.
"The more money some people make, the emptier they feel about their lives. They feel life has no meaning," said Sister Yu, who works in the cathedral's foreign affairs office.

The underground church is more traditional.
Zhu ZhijinTeacherThe diocese runs a total of 19 churches, a seminary, a convent, a clinic and a school. Its flock includes old and young, and is drawn from different social groups.
Sister Yu said worshippers came to the church for a variety of reasons. Some of these are particular to China.
"There are many Chinese people who are not Christians, but they go abroad and meet believers who they respect. When they return home they become Christians themselves," she said.
There are also those that become Catholics because they believe it will help them get visas to travel abroad, added Sister Yu.
She was reluctant to talk about the problems between China and the Vatican, which seem to centre on who has the authority to select bishops in China.
But members of the cathedral congregation were more open.
Zhu Zhijin, originally from Chengde in nearby Hebei Province, was at the Southern Cathedral with two friends for morning Mass.
The Chinese teacher said she also attends unofficial, underground Catholic churches in Beijing, often held in people's homes.

Joseph Li Shan has a large congregation to look after. Worshippers at these churches do not want to hear the word of God filtered through China's state-run churches, administered by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association since 1957.
"This kind of church is government-controlled and has no power," said Ms Zhu, pointing to the Southern Cathedral's towering facade. "The underground church is more traditional."
Still, the 24-year-old's views do not stop her attending Mass at state-run churches.
Other Chinese worshippers at the cathedral, such as graphic designer Zhao Xudong, also try to keep politics out of religion.
The 25-year-old, originally from Baotou in the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, said he knew about underground churches - some of his friends attended - but he did not go himself.
"I know there are problems between underground and official churches but, as far as I'm concerned, I just believe in God. It doesn't have anything to do with me."
With that, Mr Zhao walked off to join three friends who were preparing to join hundreds more worshippers for the next Mass.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN LEADER PLAYS DOWN 'US WAR' !

The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has said that Iran is not heading for armed conflict with the United States.
In an American television interview, he said Iran was not on a path of war with the US and that Iran had no need of nuclear weapons.
He is due to address the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
The US is leading moves to impose further sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear development programme.
"It's wrong to think that Iran and the US are walking towards war. Who says so? Why should we go to war? There is no war in the offing," the Iranian leader said in the interview with CBS television.
He also denied Iran had nuclear arms ambitions.
"You have to appreciate we don't need a nuclear bomb. We don't need that. What need do we have for a bomb?" Mr Ahmadinejad asked.
"In political relations right now, the nuclear bomb is of no use."
Mr Ahmadinejad's comments follow his warning on Saturday that anybody who attacked Iran would experience nothing but regret, although he said Iran's forces were just for defence.

Many Americans do not welcome Mr Ahmadinejad's visit.
His visit has caused controversy even before his arrival in the United States, the BBC's Ian MacWilliam says.
Mr Ahmadinejad has accepted an invitation to address students at New York's Columbia University, an invitation many Americans think should never have been made, our correspondent says.
The BBC's Kim Ghattas in New York says there were some protests on Sunday as Mr Ahmadinejad arrived and more are expected on Monday when the Iranian leader gives his Columbia University talk.
She says all week the tabloid press has given the visit extensive coverage, describing Mr Ahmadinejad as "a lunatic" and a "monster with hutspah".
The president had wanted to lay a wreath at Ground Zero, but the New York authorities refused that request on security grounds.
This will be Mr Ahmadinejad's third address to the General Assembly in as many years.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SIERRA LEONE : VOTERS' VIEWS

Ernest Bai Koroma has been sworn in as Sierra Leone's president, shortly after being declared the winner of a tense run-off election.
Mr Koroma, the opposition leader, won 54.6% of the final vote against Vice-President Solomon Berewa's 45.4%.
We asked four registered voters for their views on Mr Koroma's win. Click on the links below to read their opinions.

Ernest Gborie Unemployed graduate, 21 Bo, southern Sierra Leone
'I really want to commend all citizens for a job well done'

Odette Johnson Secretary, 26 Freetown, capital
'I think big of the man who is our new president'

Bernard Sisay Marketing director, 39 Freetown, capital
'Five years from now our country will be a better place'

Joseph Johnbull Pastor, 29 Kenema, eastern Sierra Leone
'I am not particularly worried about the minor skirmishes'

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE BISHOP 'VICTIM OF STATE'!

Archbishop Ncube says he will not speak out until the case is over. The Zimbabwean archbishop who resigned after allegations that he committed adultery has told the BBC that the charges were state orchestrated.
Pius Ncube says images allegedly showing him in bed with his married female secretary were being used to stop him speaking out on human rights.
But he did not deny the claims, saying he could not discuss the case as yet.
Bishop Ncube, is one of President Robert Mugabe's most outspoken critics, urging his removal by foreign powers.
The bishop resigned earlier this month as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo after photographs and video purporting to be of him and his secretary together in his bedroom surfaced in the media.
This was the evil plan of the government to isolate me and to cut me off from the human rights drive in the country
Bishop Pius NcubeSpeaking on the BBC's Reporting Religion programme, Bishop Ncube said his accusers had not proved the adultery and that the video they produced was illegal and unjustified.
"This was the evil plan of the government to isolate me and to cut me off from the human rights drive in the country, evil plans of trying to break me," Bishop Ncube said. "That has not succeeded."
The woman's husband is suing him for 20bn Zimbabwe dollars (about $160,000, or £80,000, on the black market exchange rate) over the alleged affair and Bishop Ncube says that this too is the work of the Mugabe government.
"This thing is state driven, it is not from the husband," he said.

However, despite repeated questioning the Bishop would not categorically deny the allegations against him as the case is sub judice, still under the judgement of a court.
He insists he will only speak out once the court proceedings are finished, but said that he expects the case to "fizzle out anyway" as "there is no case really".
Bishop Ncube said the government was just using the allegations against him to distract people's attention from the country's problems.
He said there was a disastrous situation where people were starving and very angry.
He said inflation had reached 15,000% and that there was no food, that electricity was being rationed and fuel was so expensive that very few cars were on the streets.
"The very essentials of our livelihood are not there, and because they are failing to provide them they must try to get people's attention diverted to non essentials," Bishop Ncube said.
The Bishop said he has received hundreds of messages of support by e-mail, letter, phone and from visitors and vowed that he would continue to speak out on human rights.
"I refuse to bow to their pressures in any way, because if you bow to that pressure then they have got you where they want you," he said.
"This is my country and I am free to speak and to criticise the evil things which they are doing against the people."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MARCEL MARCEAU HAS DIED !

Marceau was the world's best known mime artist. The French mime artist Marcel Marceau has died at the age of 84, the AFP news agency has reported.
The performer was known around the world for his silent portrayal of a white-faced clown with battered hat.
Born in Strasbourg in 1923, Marceau was inspired by silent era actors like Charlie Chaplin, and studied under mime master Etienne Decroux in Paris.
His character Bip, the white-faced clown in striped pullover and hat, made his first appearance in 1947.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MCCANNS GET MILLIONAIRE'S SUPPORT.

A millionaire businessman says he is giving Madeleine McCann's parents financial support to help them fight the "incredible accusations" they face.
Cheshire-based Brian Kennedy, who owns Sale Sharks rugby club, said he "felt compelled" to help the couple.
He said he was providing Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leics, with the support of his in-house lawyer and their new spokesman, Clarence Mitchell.
The McCanns are formal suspects in the inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance.
Madeleine was last seen in Praia da Luz, in Algarve, Portugal on 3 May - days before her fourth birthday.
Her parents insist she was abducted while they ate at a nearby tapas bar with friends.
'Relieving pressure'
In a statement, Mr Kennedy, who owns the Latium Group, said: "In light of the quite literally incredible accusations against Gerry and Kate McCann, which are clearly exacerbating their emotional torture, I felt compelled to offer... financial support and the full logistical support of the Latium team."

Madeleine has not been seen since 3 May.
He said the offer of help from his company's in-house lawyer, Ed Smethurst, would "relieve the McCanns of the daily pressure of co-ordinating the legal teams".
Mr Kennedy, who was born in Edinburgh, is estimated to be worth around £250m.
He made his money in double-glazing and home improvement ventures with companies including Weatherseal Holdings, Everest windows and Space Kitchens & Bedrooms.
His Latium Group business empire, which has an annual turnover of around £400m, includes firms dealing in plastics, conservatory-roofing, glass processing, and home improvement retailing.
He previously owned Stockport County Football Club before buying Sale Sharks in 1999.

Mr Kennedy is not the first tycoon to offer his support to the McCanns.
Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson confirmed earlier this month that he was giving £100,000 to a fund to assist with their legal bills.
Mr McCann, a consultant cardiologist, is on unpaid leave and his wife has confirmed she does not yet plan to return to work as a locum doctor.
The McCanns have said they will not use any of the £1m "Find Madeleine" fund to finance their legal costs.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MERKEL ANGERS CHINA ON DALAI LAMA

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Sunday in talks that have angered China.
Chinese officials have cancelled planned talks with German counterparts in Munich on legal and patent issues.
Germany says the meeting with the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising, is a private exchange.
But China, which governs Tibet, says the meeting is part of the Dalai Lama's agenda for Tibetan independence.
Sunday's meeting will be the first time the Dalai Lama has been received at the chancellery.
China has already summoned the German ambassador in Beijing to complain.
However, German deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg said: "The meeting will take place, the invitation stands, and the chancellor also extended the invitation very consciously."
The German justice ministry said the legal talks had been cancelled for "technical reasons".
The Dalai Lama told the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung that Beijing was showing the "arrogance of power".
"Wherever I go, China protests. The Chinese are simply testing how far they can go," the Nobel Peace Prize winner said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

MERCK ABANDONS HIV VACCINE TRAILS !

International drug company Merck has halted trials on an HIV vaccine that was regarded as one of the most promising in the fight against Aids.
Merck stopped testing the vaccine after it was judged to be ineffective.
In trials, the vaccine failed to prevent HIV infections among volunteers who were at risk of catching the virus, including gay men and sex workers.
Merck had previously expressed high hopes for the drug, which it spent 10 years developing.
Merck's international trial, called Step, began in 2004 and involved 3,000 HIV-negative volunteers from diverse backgrounds, between the ages of 18 and 45.
Merck said that 24 of 741 volunteers who got the vaccine became infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
Out of a group of 762 volunteers who were given a dummy version of the jab, 21 became infected with HIV.
An independent monitoring panel recommended discontinuing the vaccination of volunteers, saying the trial was headed for failure.
Most of the volunteers were at high risk of HIV infection.
They were repeatedly given advice about how to practise safe sex, according to Merck.
The vaccine contained a common cold virus loaded with copies of three HIV genes.
The hope was that exposure to the genes would prompt an immune response in the body so that cells containing HIV virus would be recognised and destroyed.
"Today is a very sad day for the industry because Merck's vaccine had shown an ability to turn on the immune system, which gave many people optimism it would work," said Sarah Alexander, from the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.
Doctors have said a preventative vaccine would be the best way to control the spread of HIV.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SUU KYI GREETS BURMA PROTESTORS !

Burma's rulers fear they may appear weak if protests continue.
Enlarge Image

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has greeted Buddhist monks protesting against the military junta. Apparently unable to hold her tears, Aung San Suu Kyi came out of the house she has been detained in since 2003 as the monks were let through a roadblock. At least 2,000 monks are staging a sixth day of protests through the streets of the main city of Rangoon. Up to 10,000 marched through Mandalay with protests also taking place in five townships across Burma. Ms Suu Kyi has spent 11 of the last 18 years in detention. In 1990 her party won national elections, but these were annulled by the army and she was never allowed to take office. Her latest period of house arrest began in May 2003.

The area around University Avenue where Ms Suu Kyi's house is located has been closed to traffic since the wave of protests began. But in what appears to be an unprecedented move, the guards allowed the monks to walk past the home. Witnesses said Ms Suu Kyi walked out with two other women and cried as she watched the monks and prayed with them but did not speak.

Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi

The leaders of the demonstrations have vowed to continue until the collapse of the military government. They want the Burmese people to pray in their doorways for 15 minutes at 2000 on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Before being allowed to go pass the jailed opposition leader's house in Rangoon, the monks converged on Burma's most revered temple, the Shwedagon Pagoda, watched by plain clothes security officials. In Mandalay, a monastic centre of Buddhist learning, they marched peacefully through the Payagyi district. There were also demonstrations on Saturday in the townships of Chauk, Shwebo, Mongwa, Taung Dwin Gyi and Ye Nan Chaung.
There were no reports of any violence.

BBC South Asia correspondent Jonathan Head says this is the most serious challenge yet to the Burmese military government. The problem for Burma's rulers is that they are reluctant to confront the publicly revered monks for fear of enraging the people, but the longer they allow the demonstrations to go on, the weaker they look, our correspondent says.

Profile: Shwedagon Pagoda

The protests began last month when the government doubled fuel prices. But they have taken on new momentum this week since the religious order became more widely involved. On Friday, the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks branded Burma's military rulers "the enemy of the people". The organisation pledged to continue their peaceful demonstrations until they had "wiped the military dictatorship from the land". The movement has turned into the largest public show of opposition to the Burmese authorities since the uprising of 1988.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

A bad deal?
Saturday 22nd September 2007.

Dear Family and Friends,

The eyes of the world have been on Zimbabwe for the past week and it is heartening to know that we are not alone and humbling to think that people care about our plight. In fact, everything about life in Zimbabwe is pretty humbling these days.

As the weeks pass and conditions deteriorate ever further, it is hard to understand how people are surviving and beyond belief that we have not erupted into food riots and violence. When you see schools still desperately struggling to maintain standards and continuing to educate our children and institutions scavenging for food for their residents, it is truly humbling. After three months of price controls the food situation in the country is perilous and even those who were able to stock their pantries and cupboards are now in trouble. In a main supermarket in my home town this week there was air freshener, window cleaner, some vegetables, Indonesian toothpaste and imported cornflakes from South Africa - one single packet costing more than half of a teachers monthly salary. There was also milk being sold from a bulk tank to people who bring their own bottles and the queue went through the empty shop, out the door and along the pavement. The line broke up suddenly before 10am when the milk ran out and the huge shop was suddenly completely empty - nothing left to sell, no more customers. This situation was a mirror image of conditions at three other major supermarkets in the town and so we look desperately into another week of struggle, praying for relief.

The voices of ruling party MP's have finally begun to be raised and although its taken far too long for them to speak out, perhaps their criticisms will lead to desperately needed change. An un-named Zanu PF MP was blunt in stating the obvious this week: "We are likely to lose next year's elections if they don't revise their policies," he said. "There is nothing on the shelves; people are going for days without bread, cooking oil, even sugar and soft drinks," he fumed. Other ruling party MPs who broke the silence over this government imposed starvation said: "they should go back to the drawing board; companies are closing down and people are losing jobs. This nonsense should stop and we are listening to what the people are saying."

While the nightmare of finding food, carrying water and cooking outside on open fires continues, there have been major political developments as the opposition and ruling parties voted together this week to amend our Constitution for the 18th time. The move has been met by many with scepticism, disbelief and suspicion. People are saying the opposition have betrayed their supporters and sold out. Others are waiting to see what this really means; hoping against hope that whatever concessions have been made now will have been in exchange for longer term gains.

Two things have stood out for me this week. One is the words of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu who said: "Africans must hang their heads in shame for having allowed such a desperate situation to continue almost without anybody doing anything to try and stop it." The second is a small quote I heard during the bombing of Lebanon last year, it seems particularly apt now: "A bad deal is better than war." Perhaps that is where we are now?

Until next week, thanks for reading,

love cathy.

SIGNS OF SHIFT IN IRAN STAND-OFF!

By Jonathan Marcus - BBC News diplomatic correspondent.

The five United Nations Security Council permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany - are due to debate new steps against Iran following its refusal to abandon the nuclear programme.

This issue has dogged the international agenda for several years but there are signs that this latest round of diplomacy will not simply be business as usual. Two things have happened that significantly affect the atmosphere surrounding the Iranian nuclear dossier.
On the one hand the pressure on Iran seems to have been relaxed somewhat by an agreement made between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Iranians setting out a "work plan", under which Tehran has given an undertaking to resolve many uncertainties about its past nuclear activities. This plan has especially angered the Americans, but the French, British and to an extent the German governments are far from enthusiastic either.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has openly criticised the IAEA's chief, Mohamed ElBaradei. The charge is that, in effect, he is muddying the waters and giving the Iranians a means of appearing to cooperate, while avoiding the central thrust of two UN Security Council resolutions that demand that the Tehran government immediately halt its uranium enrichment programme.

The second change looks to be working in the opposite direction. This is the arrival of a new French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who clearly wants to step-up the pressure on Iran and who clearly believes that action needs to go way beyond the lowest common denominator that the Security Council might accept. This has been the constant dilemma in pursuing the path of UN-backed economic sanctions against Tehran. The US is critical of IAEA's head, Mohamed El Baradei.

Consensus has inevitably been the name of the game with the essential need for the US and its allies to keep the Russians and the Chinese on board. Part of the purpose of the meeting of senior officials in Washington is to clarify exactly where the Russians and the Chinese stand. Western diplomats say that there are signs that both Moscow and Beijing are buying into the idea of Mr ElBaradei's "work plan". This, they fear, risks putting the brakes on action at the Security Council level.

That is why the French, backed by the Dutch and others, are seeking tougher additional sanctions, perhaps through the European Union. This idea is in its infancy. But it is bolstered by the assessment from Washington which argues that bilateral financial sanctions are indeed having an impact in Tehran. The problem of course is that they are not having the effect the Americans want.
Iranian nuclear policy is not changing. Their research programme moves slowly forward, with diplomatic efforts to stop them always lagging some steps behind. This is why the French in particular have sought to galvanise the debate by warning that the alternative to tougher sanctions may ultimately be military action.

The Iranians of course continue to insist that their programme is entirely peaceful in nature, aimed simply at generating electricity. President Ahmadinejad has strongly defended Iran's nuclear programme.Iran's failure, though, to satisfy the Security Council may continue to delay the initial shipment of nuclear fuel to its Russian-built reactor.

One of the difficulties in all of this is that, leaving aside Iran's past behaviour and the sometimes bellicose noises from its president, this is a debate about a potential problem. It is about Iran's capacity to master the nuclear fuel cycle, a process that would enable it to go down the weapons route if it so wished. The existing non-proliferation machinery is not good at dealing with this kind of problem. And the whole debate is further complicated by fears that more hawkish voices in Washington are using this issue to make the case for regime-change in Iran. The shadow of Iraq and its alleged weapons programmes falls heavily over the current discussions.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DOUBTS REMAIN OVER DARFUR FORCE !

Talks on Darfur at the UN have ended with disagreement over the deployment of peacekeepers in the troubled Sudanese region.
Sudan insists that there are more than enough African troops to deploy, but UN and African Union leaders said there were still unresolved technical issues.
Correspondents say not all African troops meet UN standards.
Meanwhile a senior US official hinted at sanctions for rebel leaders refusing to go to October's Libya peace talks.
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon co-chaired the meeting with the chairman of the African Union, Alpha Oumar Konare.
They also discussed increasing humanitarian assistance to Darfur.
Participants included the foreign ministers of Sudan, Congo, Egypt, Gabon, France, Ghana and Rwanda, as well as US, UK and EU officials and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
More than 26,000 AU and UN troops are due to be deployed to Darfur by early next year in an attempt to bring an end to the four-year conflict.
The Sudanese government agreed to this force on the condition that it would be predominantly African.
But the BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the UN says that although more than enough African countries have agreed to contribute troops, not all of them meet the UN standards.
Attempts to find non-African countries have run into objections from the Sudanese, and to some extent the AU.
The Sudanese Foreign Minister, Lam Akol, told reporters there were enough African troops to do the job.
The meeting was also set to prepare for peace talks on 27 October between the Sudanese government and rebel groups in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said measures could be taken against rebel leaders who refused to attend.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHARGES IN JOURNALIST MURDER CASE !

Prosecutors in Russia have charged a former Chechen politician with being an accomplice in the 2006 murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Lawyers for Shamil Burayev, who ran unsuccessfully for the Chechen presidency, say he will fight to clear his name.
In August 10 suspects in the case were arrested but two were later released.
Ms Politkovskaya won fame by exposing atrocities against Chechen civilians by Russian-backed security forces.
Mr Burayev, who was detained by police last week in Moscow, was charged with "complicity in murder as an accomplice" by Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, defence lawyer Pyotr Kazakov told the Associated Press news agency.
"Burayev said he has nothing to do with this crime. This is his clear position, and he is determined to prove it and to defend his honest name," Mr Kazakov told Interfax agency.
Mr Burayev is a former regional chief in Chechnya who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the southern Russian province in 2003 against Akhmad Kadyrov, father of the current incumbent.
Last month, chief prosecutor Yuri Chaika said 10 suspects - including serving and former security officers - had been arrested in the investigation.

The chief prosecutor was shown briefing President Putin on the case.
Their ringleader was a Chechen gang boss, he said.
At least two suspects have since been released.
But he said there were indications that the murder plot had been masterminded abroad, by people interested in destabilising Russia.
Ms Politkovskaya was a strong critic of President Vladimir Putin - especially his military campaign in Chechnya.
She was shot dead near her Moscow apartment last October.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

BEIJING DRIVERS IGNORE 'NO CAR DAY' !

Drivers in Beijing disregarded appeals to leave their cars at home. China is holding a No Car Day in more than 100 cities as it tries to reduce smog ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Cars have been banned on some central streets in Beijing and all drivers are being encouraged to leave their cars at home voluntarily.
But correspondents say that in the capital National No Car Day appears to be making little impact.
Millions of vehicles are on the roads every day in Beijing, causing massive air pollution.
The BBC's James Reynolds in Beijing says that cars are coming and going as normal, and most streets in Beijing are not adhering to No Car Day.
Environmental campaigners say China must overhaul its transport system, not just with a few ad hoc No Car Days but by putting in cycle lanes, reducing the price of public transport and making it much more difficult for people to buy private cars.
But China has a huge incentive - not just the health of its citizens, but the success of the Olympic Games in August next year.
The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has already warned that if the pollution is bad next summer, some endurance events - such as cycling or the marathon - may have to be postponed.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"WHO IS WISE?

ONE WHO LEARNS FROM ALL" !

BURMA MONKS ISSUE DEFIANT MESSAGE !

Leaders of protests by Buddhist monks in Burma say they intend to continue their peaceful demonstrations until the military government collapses. The statement by the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks came as 1,500 monks took to the streets of Rangoon in their biggest protest yet. This is the fifth straight day of marches by monks in protest at recent government attempts to silence critics.

Diplomats at the United Nations have expressed concern at the crisis. In a strongly-worded statement, seen by the BBC, the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks described the military government as "the enemy of the people". It said the monks would keep up their protests until they had "wiped the military dictatorship from the land of Burma". The group has asked people across the country to pray in their doorways at 2000 hours on Sunday for 15 minutes.

This is the first time the monks have explicitly challenged the government in this way, the BBC's Jonathan Head in neighbouring Thailand says. Although the statement falls short of calling for an all-out popular insurrection, it must be what the generals now fear, our correspondent adds. For a fifth day, hundreds of monks took to the streets in the former capital Rangoon. Braving heavy monsoon rains, they chanted prayers and sermons as they converged on the Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's most revered temple and focal point of the recent protests.

Profile: Shwedagon Pagoda

Their numbers swelled to more than 1,500 and they were clapped by onlookers as the march moved on through the city. Hundreds have been taking part in protests around the country since Tuesday, seeking a government apology for the violent break-up of an earlier demonstration. They have also been withholding religious duties from anyone connected to the military. The decision by monks to take to the streets has given fresh momentum to protests that began in mid-August over the government's sudden decision to double the price of fuel. Initial protests were led by activists, dozens of whom have now been arrested.

The movement has turned into the largest public show of opposition to the Burmese authorities since the uprising of 1988. If their past behaviour is any guide, it cannot be long before the military uses force to stop such opposition, our correspondent says. The situation in Burma was discussed at the United Nations on Thursday, with UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari calling for urgent efforts to address the growing unrest. Developments in Burma had "raised serious concerns in the international community and once again underscore the urgency to step up our efforts to find solutions to the challenges facing the country", Mr Gambari told the Security Council in a closed briefing, the UN said.

US and British officials also spoke on the issue after the briefing. US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the situation was a threat to regional stability and urged Burmese leaders to allow Mr Gambari into the country as soon as possible. "We certainly are appalled by the steps the regime has taken to silence peaceful protest and to clamp down on dissent," British ambassador John Sawyers was quoted as saying.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HUGE RALLY IN SMALL-TOWN LOUISIANA !

By Andy Gallacher - BBC News, Jena.

Thousands of activists marched to the local courthouse. The plight of the "Jena Six", a group of black teenagers who were initially charged with attempted murder after beating a white classmate, has provoked one of the biggest civil rights demonstrations in the US in recent years.
Protesters converged on the small Louisiana town of Jena to demonstrate against what they said was a double standard of prosecution for blacks and whites.
They came in their thousands, protesters from across the United States carrying banners and signs that declared "Free the Jena six" and "Enough is enough".
There were nowhere near the 60,000 people that some had predicted. Nonetheless, this small town was swamped by people eager to show their support and have their voices heard.
Monica Pearson made the relatively short journey from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"This is a worthy cause and, like my sign says, justice for justice," she said, holding a placard.
"It's a very peaceful march and it's about justice," she added.
That was a word on many of the protesters' lips in Jena.
They came, primarily, to show their support for Mychal Bell, who has been locked in a Louisiana prison since December.
He, along with five other black teenage boys, was initially charged with attempted murder after they allegedly attacked a white pupil at their school in Jena.
Racial tensions had been running high at the school after three nooses were found hanging from a tree in the school yard, the day after a black pupil had sat in its shade.
The three white pupils responsible for that act were not disciplined, and that was at the heart of what the protest in Jena was all about.
"What do you call hangman's nooses but racism?" said the Reverend Al Sharpton, a prominent civil rights activist and one of the organisers of the rally.
He, along with many other high profile speakers and politicians, has been backing the six boys since the incident last September.
The charges against Mychal Bell were dropped from attempted murder to attempted battery.
While some of the speakers in Jena thought the six boys should face some kind of disciplinary action, this case for many is an example of a justice system skewed against African-Americans.
But some of the members of Jena's white community saw the day very differently.
One woman, who did not give her name, was typical of many.

Many protesters recalled the South's troubled past"I don't agree with all this, it's just a mess, it's ruining our town," she said.
"We live a simple life and I'm not racist. This is just blown completely out of proportion."
The case of the Jena six, as they have now become known, has now received worldwide attention.
Many of the protesters said that it was just one case among many that demonstrate a racist judicial system.
"All of these families are suffering," said Mr Sharpton, shortly after visiting Mychal Bell in jail.
"The people in Jena underestimated the kind of support they would get. We brought in these thousands of people. It's about these six kids walking out of this unfair situation together."
Other prominent speakers, including Martin Luther King III, also came to show their support.
Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have reportedly issued statements voicing their concerns about the case.
The six boys are still awaiting their fate but those who turned out in Jena have promised to continue supporting what is now one of America's most high profile cases.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHILE COURT EXTRADITES FUJIMORI !

Chile's Supreme Court has approved the extradition of Peru's former President Alberto Fujimori. He is to be sent back to Peru, where he faces charges of human rights abuse and corruption - which he denies. Mr Fujimori, 69, has been fighting extradition ever since he flew from Japan to Chile in 2005, and is currently under house arrest. He travelled there in a failed attempt to return to Peru to run in last year's presidential elections.

"We have awarded the extradition," Supreme Court judge Alberto Chaigneau told reporters on Friday. He added that the court's decision had been based on two charges of human rights violations and five of corruption. The ruling is final and no further appeals are allowed. It reverses an earlier decision by a judge, who said Peru had not presented enough evidence to support the charges. The court did not specify when Mr Fujimori would be deported.

Relatives of students killed in Lima in 1992 hailed the extraditionCorrespondents say he is unlikely to be sent to Peru immediately. A special prison facility must be prepared where he will stay pending trial, AP news agency reports. The human rights charges against the former Peruvian leader date back to the early 1990s, when his government was allegedly responsible for killing civilians in the fight against Shining Path Maoist guerrillas.

One of the alleged massacres was at a poor neighbourhood in Lima in 1991 in which 15 people died. The second at a dormitory at La Cantuna University in 1992 in which one teacher and nine students were abducted and killed. Mr Fujimori - the son of Japanese immigrants - led Peru from 1990 to 2000, and fled the country as his term in office drew to a close amid a corruption scandal.

He initially flew to Japan, where he holds dual nationality and is immune from extradition. He says the charges against him are politically motivated.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TRAFFICKING MISERY FOR ENSLAVED GIRLS !

by Alison Holt - Social affairs correspondent, BBC News.

Women are tricked into being trafficked into slavery. "Sarah" is giggling into her mobile - she could be any other 21-year-old trying to arrange where to meet her friends, but this sort of freedom is still new for her. At the age of 12 she was trafficked to the UK into a life of domestic slavery. "I was told I would have a better life," Sarah tells me quietly. We've changed her name to protect her identity. She describes how she was taken from school by a stranger and put on a plane from Nigeria to London. Once in the UK, she was sent to live with a Nigerian family, who expected her to look after their children, as well as cook and clean for them. For three-and-a-half years she was a virtual prisoner in the house.

Child smuggling support call

"It was more like slavery. I have to clean the house, look after the kids. "If there was any mistake, or I forgot to do something because I was looking after the baby, I got beaten. I got punished." Sarah ate different food from the family and slept on the floor in the children's room and only started going out of the house when the eldest child went to nursery. She was told if anyone speaks to you, just smile. At the age of 18 she managed to get away from the family, but she still worries they will find her.

Many women end up being domestic or sex slaves.A new report, by the children's charity Unicef and the anti-trafficking campaign group Ecpat (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), says there are many other children like Sarah who are forced into domestic slavery, the sex industry or who are used for benefit fraud once they are trafficked into the UK.

Most remain hidden, but government statistics show over an 18-month period 330 children were confirmed or suspected of having been trafficked into the country. Of those, 183 later disappeared from the care of social services, probably back into the hands of traffickers. The youngest child was nine months old, and no one knows what was planned for that baby. The head of Unicef UK, David Bull, points to its research which shows even when children are found, the protection they get is inconsistent and in some areas, absent. He says that is not good enough.

"I think the most devastating statistic is the 180-odd children who have gone missing from social services care. "We can't allow that to happen because we know what is happening to those children. They're being seriously exploited. "They're living in fear and suffering and pain and anguish, away from their families and any kind of protection." The report says there has been significant progress in tackling trafficking, but a lot more needs to be done.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker says they are determined to combat the problem. "It's a vile crime, trafficking children for sexual exploitation or for domestic purposes is simply horrific. We're determined to do more. We know we've got to do more, and we will do more." As for Sarah, she is currently fighting to stay in this country. After nine years she no longer knows where her family is in Nigeria and fears for her safety if she has to return.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PROSECUTOR DEMANDS SUDAN ARRESTS !

Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister is wanted by the ICC. Sudan must arrest two men charged with war crimes in Darfur, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has warned. Warrants for Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman were issued by the ICC in April. Sudan's government has said that it is not bound by the ICC's decisions. Mr Ocampo urged delegates to raise the issue with Khartoum at a major UN meeting on Darfur on Friday.

ICC charges
Ahmed Haroun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, are wanted by the ICC on 51 counts of crimes against humanity and war-crimes.
Ali Kushayb, a leader of the Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, is accused of ordering the murder, torture and mass rape of innocent civilians during attacks on villages near Kodoom, Bindisi Mukjar and Arawala in west Darfur.

SUSPECTS' PROFILES
Ahmed Haroun- In charge of Darfur in 2003 and 2004 as deputy interior minister- ICC says his work included recruiting, funding and personally arming Janjaweed militia- Quoted as saying that he had been given the authority to either kill or forgive in Darfur for the sake of peace and security- As humanitarian affairs minister he oversees Darfur's 2m refugees- Aid agencies accuse of him of hindering their efforts to access the displaced
Ali Kushayb- Known as "colonel of colonels"- Commanded thousands of Janjaweed in mid-2003- Allegedly promoted and witnessed rape and torture as part of the war strategy- The government say he has been in detention since November for Darfur attacks- But witnesses told AP that he has been travelling in Darfur under police protection.

Q&A: Sudan's Darfur conflict
Q&A: The ICC

Ahmed Haroun was a minister responsible for the Darfur portfolio in 2003 and 2004. According to the ICC he was responsible for organising and funding the Janjaweed. As minister of state for humanitarian affairs, Mr Haroun currently has authority over camps for people displaced by the conflict in Darfur and control over the flow of humanitarian aid, Mr Ocampo said. "Ahmad Haroun is not protecting the camps; he is controlling them. He forced millions into those camps; and he still controls them. He must be stopped; he must be arrested." There could be no solution to the crisis in Darfur while Mr Haroun remained free, Mr Ocampo said.

The arrest warrants are not on the agenda for the UN talks on Darfur, to be attended by 26 countries on Friday.
UN agenda
They are due to discuss political talks in Libya next month between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel groups, and how to speed up the deployment of peacekeepers to the region.
The UN needs the cooperation of the Khartoum government to start those talks and to deploy the 26,000-strong force.
Mr Ocampo said the meeting should be an opportunity to remind the Sudanese government of its responsibility to arrest those charged with war crimes. "I'm concerned that silence by most states and international organisations has been understood in Khartoum as a weakening of international resolve," he said.
Sudan's UN ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, said the prosecutor was trying to destroy the peace process. "We are very much concerned about the increasing politicisation of Mr Ocampo's office," Mr Mohamad said. "He came here to influence the meeting on Darfur tomorrow, to make a negative build-up on Sudan in order that our position on that meeting be affected, negatively."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE SHRUGS OFF BROWN BOYCOTT !

President Robert Mugabe will defy Prime Minister Gordon Brown's boycott threat if invited to attend an Europe-Africa summit, says Zimbabwe's UN Ambassador.
Boniface Chidyausiku said Mr Brown had "no right to dictate" who should be at the meeting in Portugal in December.
It follows Mr Brown's threat that he will not attend the summit of African and EU leaders if Mr Mugabe is there.
He claims Mr Mugabe's presence will "divert attention" from big issues such as poverty, climate change and health.
But Mr Chidyausiku accused Mr Brown of seeking to "multilateralise" an argument between the UK and Zimbabwe.
'Part of Africa'
In an interview with BBC2's Newsnight, Mr Chidyausiku said Mr Mugabe had a "sovereign right" to attend.
"Gordon Brown has no right to dictate who should come to Lisbon," he said.
"Definitely we are going if we are invited because we are part of Africa."
No invitation has yet been sent to Mr Mugabe, according to senior sources in the Portuguese government.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the BBC World Service that Mr Brown's view was the right one.
"An EU-Africa summit can only become a media circus if it's dominated by Robert Mugabe sitting next to Gordon Brown," he said.
"We don't think that it's right to be discussing good governance, human rights, economic development as if there isn't the tragedy unfolding in Zimbabwe that is unfolding at the moment, unfolding as a direct result of the policies being pursued by Mr Mugabe."
Further sanctions
EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel has also backed Mr Brown, demanding Mr Mugabe be banned from the summit.
In order to allow Mr Mugabe to attend the conference, EU member states would have to convene before the summit and agree to lift the travel ban currently imposed on him.
But the prime minister has indicated that Britain will call on the European Union "in the next few days" to extend travel and financial sanctions against Zimbabwe's ruling party.
"We are prepared to consider further sanctions," he told ITN. "The sanctions are an indication of the abhorrence of people in Europe about what's happening in Zimbabwe."
The BBC's Europe editor, Mark Mardell, said he understood diplomats were being "very active in trying to find a compromise".
This could involve inviting another Zimbabwean representative, such as a junior member of the government or a civil servant, so that Mr Brown could attend, our correspondent said.
Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency, is keen to invite every African leader to be at the summit on 8 and 9 December, but may let the African Union decide who should attend.

Mr Brown described the summit as a "serious opportunity" to forge stronger partnerships between Africa and the EU.
He said: "I applaud the prime minister of Portugal for what he is trying to do to build stronger relations between Europe and Africa. This is a summit that is necessary for Africa's sake.
"But of course it would be totally inappropriate for me to be there if President Mugabe [is]."
He went on: "Four million people have left the country. Four million people on food aid because of famine by Christmas, 80% unemployment, life expectancy at 37."
He said humanitarian aid was being stepped up and promised to press the UN Security Council for an envoy to "look and report on the situation".
BBC NEWS REPORT.

GEORGE MICHAEL CUTS HIV INTERVIEW !

Pop star George Michael has asked for an interview in which he discusses his fears of having HIV to be removed from a forthcoming BBC programme. The BBC has confirmed the interview will no longer feature in the documentary, Stephen Fry: HIV and Me. Michael's former partner, Anselmo Feleppa, died of an Aids-related illness in 1995. "On reflection, he felt it was too close and too personal a journey," said a spokesman for the singer, 44. He added: "It was too personal for Anselmo's family to revisit."

When the documentary was launched in July, the BBC revealed details of Michael's interview. "George says he does not believe in tests," said producer Ross Wilson. "He says he finds the wait for results too harrowing and that he hasn't had a test since at least 2004 due to his fears it might be positive."

The two-part programme will examine how HIV is spreading and show Fry taking an HIV test himself. Michael is still set to appear in this year's festive edition of Catherine Tate's BBC comedy programme. In June, he became the first singer to perform at the new Wembley Stadium, nearly seven years after the last concert at the London venue.

One day before the gig, he was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and banned from driving for two years after pleading guilty to driving while unfit. The star blamed "tiredness and prescribed drugs" for the offence.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SPAIN BEGINS ANTI-MIGRATION ADS !

Some 6,000 migrants died trying to reach the Canaries last year.

Clips from the adverts

The Spanish government has begun airing emotional television adverts across West Africa as part of its attempts to combat illegal immigration. The $1.4m media campaign is to run for six weeks and has begun in Senegal. The aim of the campaign is to discourage potential migrants from attempting the dangerous 12-day voyage by boat to the Canary Islands.
"My son left ... and we haven't heard from him in eight months," a distraught Senegalese woman says in one advert.
It then cuts to a boy lying face down on the rocks, apparently drowned.
"You already know how this story ends," continues Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour.
"Thousands of destroyed families. Don't risk your life for nothing. You are the future of Africa."

See the main routes taken by African migrants

In the past two years Spain has signed co-operation and repatriation agreements with Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Ghana.
Repatriation, together with tougher policing, including European naval patrols, have led to a sharp fall in arrivals in the Canary Islands this year.
Between January and August 6,659 Africans landed in the Canaries, a 66% decrease from the same period last year.
But 2006 was a record year for the immigrant boats, fishing canoes known as cayucos.
Officials list 31,678 people reaching the Canaries, against 4,767 in 2005.
An estimated 6,000 died of drowning, thirst or starvation - although no-one has any idea of exactly how many because no tally is kept of the numbers who set out.
This month, 10 people drowned off Gran Canaria when a boat struck rocks close to shore.
In July, about 50 people drowned when their boat capsized.
Spain's Socialist government has encouraged legal migration and foreigners now make up about a tenth of the overall population, but has ruled out any repetition of the 2005 amnesty which allowed some 600,000 illegals to stay.


BBC NEWS REPORT.

MURDER WITHOUT A BODY OF EVIDENCE!

By Debabani Majumdar BBC News, London.

Nine years after Surjit Athwal disappeared, her mother-in-law Bachan Athwal and husband Sukhdave Athwal have been jailed for life for her murder. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said its biggest challenge was proving she was murdered without a body. Securing evidence was very difficult and grew harder as the investigation was spread over four countries, Devi Kharran, senior crown prosecutor, said. She said the case sent a strong message that there was "no honour in murder".

Ms Kharran said: "It's been very difficult from the start to finish. The most difficult was to prove a murder without a body - the body was never found." Surjit, who was 27, accompanied Bachan to a family wedding in the Punjab, India, in December 1998, but she never returned. It subsequently emerged that Surjit, who wanted a divorce and to start a new life with her lover, was killed to save the "family honour".
Surjit, a customs officer at Heathrow airport, was married to Sukhdave Athwal at the age of 16 and had two children with him. As her marriage with Sukhdave was falling apart she fell in love with a work colleague. Before her visit to India, she told the family that the marriage was over and initiated divorce proceedings.

Ms Kharran said prior to the trip Bachan held a family meeting in her west London home where it was decided to "get rid" of Surjit. The court heard that at the wedding, a relative and another person strangled and then dumped her body into the River Ravi. The CPS said it was aware that in India a person was tried and acquitted of kidnap.
On returning from the trip the pair told Surjit's family and children she refused to return home.
The family then removed her name from the deeds to the family home in Hayes, north-west London, and got rid of all photos of her.
Ms Kharran said in so-called honour killing cases families were often tied up in the situation.
"Family members are frightened or unwilling to speak and don't want to jeopardise their position in the family structure." Sukhdave and Bachan were arrested in 2000 on suspicion of conspiracy to murder but were later bailed.
But in 2005 a daughter-in-law was coaxed into speaking by her father. Then Bachan's daughter, who was later declared a hostile witness, told the police about the family meeting where they decided to "get rid" of Surjit, Ms Kharran said.
Surjit's boyfriend also testified in court. "The daughter gave evidence from behind a screen as she was very frightened and apprehensive as she was giving evidence against her own mother." Those statements saw Bachan and Sukhdave charged with murder in 2005. Evidence gathering was challenging for police who had to visit India, Norway, Singapore and Canada.

Sukhdave married Surjit when she was 16.
Police spoke to Sukhdave's two ex-wives, in Norway and in Singapore.
Officers also visited Canada to see if Surjit had started a new life with her boyfriend there.
But it was India that caused investigators problems, Ms Kharran said.
"We submitted a letter of request (for officers to visit) in early 2006.
"It took nine to 10 months for India to allow our police to investigate... the 10-month delay jeopardised the initial date when the trial was scheduled begin."
As the "jigsaw pieces" started to fall into place, a well-thought out plan emerged.

Ms Kharran said: "We find no honour in a murder and the most important thing for us is to have sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and if satisfied we would prosecute anyone who commits these crimes in the name of honour." "This will send out the right message to the community... If you commit a crime in another jurisdiction or country and return, and if you are a British citizen the CPS can still prosecute you."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MOURINHO SHOCK CHELSEA EXIT !

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has stunned the world of football by leaving Stamford Bridge by mutual consent.
The decision comes after the club held a crisis meeting to discuss the indifferent start to the new season.
Mourinho, 44, joined Chelsea in June 2004 and led them to the Premiership title in each of his first two seasons.
But his relationship with Blues owner Roman Abramovich grew increasingly troubled and he quit despite having three years left on his contract.

Report: BBC football correspondent Jonathan Legard
Archive: Mourinho's first season with Chelsea

The BBC understands former Israel coach Avram Grant, recruited in the summer as director of football, will take over from Mourinho.
606: DEBATE

It is a move that will provoke widespread despair among Chelsea's fanbase
BBC's Phil McNulty

BBC Radio 5live football correspondent Jonathan Legard understands Mourinho texted senior players, including skipper John Terry, to tell them he was leaving.
Meanwhile, Peter Kenyon, the club's chief executive, Bruce Buck, the chairman, and Abramovich's key aide, Eugene Tenenbaum, were called to an emergency meeting at Stamford Bridge last night to discuss the emerging crisis.
A statement on the Chelsea website confirmed: "Chelsea Football Club and Jose Mourinho have agreed to part company today (Thursday) by mutual consent."

MOURINHO'S CHELSEA RECORD
2 June, 2004 - Appointed manager
27 February, 2005 - Wins Carling Cup 3-2 v Liverpool
30 April, 2005 - Beat Bolton 2-0 to win Premiership title
4 May, 2005 - Signs new five-year contract
29 April, 2006 - Beat Man Utd 3-0 to win Premiership again
27 February, 2007 - Beat Arsenal 2-1 to win Carling Cup
19 May, 2007 - Win FA Cup by beating Man Utd 1-0 at Wembley
19 September, 2007 - Leaves Stamford Bridge

Many of Chelsea's staff and players had been enjoying a relaxing evening at a Fulham Broadway cinema last night as they watched a screening of "Blue Revolution" - a new documentary about the Abramovich years.
But senior players such as Terry and Frank Lampard were absent and the remainder, except a reluctant England winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, refused to talk to the media.
Mourinho also attended the evening but ignored the waiting media and looked decidedly glum.
The Portuguese made a massive impact at Chelsea after joining them from Porto, whom he guided to Champions League glory in 2004.
Last season, the Blues finished runners-up to Manchester United but won both the FA Cup and Carling Cup, a trophy they had also collected in 2005.
Mourinho's achievements also saw him voted as Premiership manager of the year in 2005 and 2006.
He's a very individual man and he thinks he should be the power at the club -Pat Nevin on Mourinho.
However, the Champions League trophy eluded the club and this season's campaign started with Tuesday's shock 1-1 draw at home to Norwegian side Rosenborg in front of a crowd of just 24,973.
It was their third successive game without a win following a 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa and a goalless draw with Blackburn in the Premier League.
Those results have left Chelsea fifth in the table - two points behind leaders Arsenal and with a visit to Manchester United to come on Sunday.
The BBC understands the impasse between Mourinho and Abramovich came to a head after their 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa earlier this month.
Mourinho has been at loggerheads with the Russian since their disagreement over the lack of funds to sign players during last January's transfer window.
Mourinho's reluctance to play Ukraine international Andriy Shevchenko, brought in by Abramovich at a cost of £31m, and the Russian billionaire's desire to bring in Grant from Portsmouth to work with the misfiring striker only served to heighten the tension.

Abramovich wants his team to win trophies but also play with style.
Grant was recruited in the summer as director of football and Mourinho is understood to have simmered ever since.
Former Chelsea player Pat Nevin says that behind the scenes movements were key to Mourinho's departure.
"He's a very individual man and he thinks he should be the power at the club," Nevin told 5live.
"If you put someone of that ego, and I say that in a likeable way, in charge and then you tell him you're not quite in charge, then I think it was a recipe for disaster."
Radio 5live football correspondent Legard agreed Mourinho's relationship with Abramovich would break down at some point.
"It suited both parties that he went," said Legard. "They've had an uneasy relationship, to put it mildly.
"One: the board, Roman Abramovich and the directors were frustrated by the results this season and also the style of play. They wanted stylish football. They wanted football which appealed to the world and they weren't getting it.
"Two: Jose Mourinho was frustrated by the interference. He could not do the job how he wanted."
BBC sport editor Mihir Bose added: "It's clear this relationship has been breaking up for a long time."
Former England manager Graham Taylor believes the beginning of the end came when Michael Ballack and Shevchenko were brought in, reportedly against Mourinho's wishes.
Taylor told 5Live: "Once you take away the authority the manager has in signing players, you're on a slippery slope.
"What I would say about Mourinho is his record is with underachieving players and when Shevchenko and Ballack came in, it disturbed the balance.
"They've never looked as fluid and that's because the manager probably did not himself believe that is the way they should be playing."
Mourinho still had three years left on his contract, worth reputedly around £5m a year, after agreeing a new deal in May 2005.
Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one -Mourinho introduces himself to the English press in 2004.
At the time he signed that deal, he said: "My heart is with Chelsea and the fantastic group of players that I have but the vision of the owner and the board for the future of Chelsea is also one I want to be a part of.
"I cannot imagine another situation or another club where I could be happier. I am totally behind this project."
But the Chelsea board are thought to have become increasingly unhappy over the team's form at the beginning of the campaign.
Mourinho, who has reportedly been given a £10m pay-off by the Blues, will not be short of job offers.
Of the 185 games he was in charge of Chelsea, they won 124, drew 40 and lost 21, a record that includes a 60-match unbeaten run in Premier League matches at Stamford Bridge.
The statistics go some way towards justifying Mourinho's famous description of himself as "a special one", made during his first press conference as Chelsea boss.

BBC SPORTS REPORT.

OLDEST MAN MARKS 112TH BIRTHDAY !

Mr Tanabe says being teetotal and keeping a daily routine keep him young. The world's oldest man, who is celebrating his 112th birthday in south-western Japan, has said he wants to live "indefinitely".
Tomoji Tanabe, who was born in 1895, says avoiding alcohol is the secret of his longevity.
He drinks milk, does not smoke, keeps a diary and reads the newspaper daily.
He was declared the oldest man in January by Guinness World Records after the death of Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, of Puerto Rico, at 115.
Mr Tanabe received 100,000 yen ($900, £440) and flowers from the local mayor in the town of Miyakonojo.
"I want to live indefinitely. I don't want to die," he said as he marked his birthday, Kyodo News agency reported.
Japan is said to have the largest population of centenarians in the world, with some 30,000 citizens aged 100 and over.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"DO NOT ASK THE LORD TO GUIDE YOUR FOOTSTEPS,

IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO MOVE YOUR FEET" !

BROWN THREATENING MUGABE BOYCOTT !

Gordon Brown says it is 'him or me' at the EU-AU summit. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he will boycott a summit of European and African leaders if Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe attends the event.
Mr Brown says Mr Mugabe's presence at the conference in Portugal will "divert attention" from important issues such as poverty, climate change and health.
He tells the Independent newspaper that Mr Mugabe faces an EU travel ban for a reason - "the abuse of his own people".
The European Union-African Union summit will take place in Lisbon in December.
Mr Brown described the summit as a "serious opportunity" to forge stronger partnerships between Africa and the EU.
"I believe President Mugabe's presence would undermine the summit, divert attention from the important issues that need to be resolved," he said.
"In those circumstances, my attendance would not be appropriate."

He added that Britain had a responsibility to the people of Zimbabwe, who find themselves in an "appalling and tragic" situation.
The BBC's Robin Brant said Mr Brown would also be keen to avoid the embarrassment which befell Jack Straw who, as foreign secretary, was pictured shaking hands with the Zimbabwean leader at the UN in 2004.
There is widespread torture and mass intimidation of the political opposition - Gordon Brown.
But he added that the likelihood of Mr Mugabe attending the summit is "very small".
Mr Mugabe is currently subject to a travel ban meaning he is not allowed to enter the EU. The ban would have to be lifted by EU ministers.
However our correspondent said that if the Zimbabwean leader did express interest in the summit, it is likely some other African leaders who support him would stay away as well.
Disagreement over Mr Mugabe upset plans for a previous EU-AU meeting four years ago.
Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency, is keen to invite every African leader for the summit on 8-9 December.
In order to allow Mr Mugabe to attend, EU member states would have to convene before the summit and agree to lift the travel ban currently imposed on him.
But Mr Brown is urging EU leaders to keep it in place.
"There is no freedom in Zimbabwe: no freedom of association; no freedom of the press," he added.
"And there is widespread torture and mass intimidation of the political opposition."
In the past week, the BBC has reported from Zimbabwe on the vast inflation and claims of torture that are a blight on a country which was once one of Africa's richest.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

BURMESE MONKS PROTESTS ESCALATE !

Thousands of monks are protesting against the Burmese junta. Thousands of Buddhist monks have protested in several Burmese cities in escalating protests against the military government.
In the western port city of Sittwe, nearly 2,000 monks demanded the release of four monks arrested on Tuesday.
About 1,000 monks marched through Mandalay, and several hundred more in Rangoon, the former capital.
They want a government apology for the violent break-up of a recent rally, triggered by protests over price rises.
Correspondents say the monks' protests will be worrying for the government since monks were key players in mass protests staged in 1988. These were violently put down by the junta and remain the last time the country's rulers were seriously challenged.
The protest in Sittwe was one of the largest since monks first joined the inflation-related protests at the end of last month.
The protesting monks have urged thousands of bystanders not to join in, but authorities must be fearful that escalating protests may become difficult to contain, correspondents say.
The monks are calling for the release of four of their fellow monks arrested during Tuesday's protests.
These were violently dispersed by the security forces, who fired warning shots and tear gas.
Some of the monks were beaten and several arrested, eyewitnesses say.
A new group that draws on militant youth elements among the monks - the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks - appears to be co-ordinating the monks' protests.

Protests worry leaders

It has asked its followers across the country to refuse alms and offerings from anyone connected to the military.
The monks' actions are deeply embarrassing to Burma's military rulers, but present them with a difficult dilemma, according to the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head.
Monks are highly respected figures in Burmese society, and treating protesting monks in the same way they might treat dissidents and ordinary citizens risks provoking huge public anger, he adds.
The monks had given the government a deadline of Monday night to apologise for its actions during an earlier rally in the city of Pakokku, when soldiers and state-backed militia reportedly beat up several monks.
But the deadline passed with no apology, and so a series of protests went ahead on Tuesday in Rangoon and other locations.
Fuel price hike
The monks' demonstrations are the latest in a series of recent protests in Burma, originally sparked by the military junta's decision to double the price of petrol and diesel on 15 August.
The move was not announced ahead of time and the reasons behind it remain unclear, but it has hit people hard.
Demonstrations have continued despite the arrest of many of Burma's most prominent activists.
The protests are likely to put added heat on the government, which is already under intense international pressure to implement democratic change.
A spokesman for the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks told the BBC that the monks had learnt from their experiences in 1988 and 1990 when their protests were easily put down by the military.
This time, he said, their leaders would remain underground.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ISRAELIS DECLARE GAZA 'HOSTILE' !

Qassam rockets are frequently fired from Gaza into southern Israel. The Israeli government has declared the Gaza Strip a "hostile entity" in response to the continued rocket attacks by Palestinian militants there.
Israeli officials told the BBC fuel and electricity supplies could be targeted, but not water, food or medicine.
The militant group, Hamas, which controls Gaza, said such a move would be considered a declaration of war.
In Jerusalem, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said the US considered Hamas a "hostile entity".
But she added that the US "would not abandon the innocent Palestinians" of Gaza.
Ms Rice arrived in Jerusalem on Wednesday for talks about re-starting the Middle East peace process.
Israeli public pressure for retaliation has grown since a rocket fired from Gaza hit an army base last Tuesday, injuring 69 troops.
Palestinian militant groups say the rocket fire is a response to Israeli military action in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said his security cabinet had approved the "hostile entity" classification at a meeting on Wednesday morning.
It is a declaration of war and continues the criminal, terrorist Zionist actions against our people
Fawzi BarhoumHamas spokesman
"Additional restrictions will be imposed on the Hamas regime, limiting the transfer of goods to the Gaza Strip, cutting back fuel and electricity, and restricting the movement of people to and from the strip," a statement said.
The sanctions will be implemented "following a legal review" to examine the legal and humanitarian consequences, the statement added.
Israeli officials reportedly hope the new measures will put pressure on Hamas, which ousted its rivals Fatah to seize control of Gaza in June, to halt rocket attacks on southern Israel.
"The objective is to weaken Hamas," Defence Minister Ehud Barak said at the meeting, an Israeli official told the Associated Press news agency.

Gaza's rocket threat to Israel
Profile: Gaza Strip

A spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, condemned the decision.
"It is a declaration of war and continues the criminal, terrorist Zionist actions against our people," he said.
"They aim to starve our people and force them to accept humiliating formulas that could emerge from the so-called November peace conference," he added, referring to the US-sponsored talks expected later this year.
The Palestinian Information Minister, Riyad al-Malki, said the Palestinian Authority would ask the US to "pressure Israel to refrain from taking such action".
Correspondents say that by formally declaring Gaza "hostile", Israel could argue that it is no longer bound by international law governing the administration of occupied territory to supply utilities to its 1.5 million inhabitants.
But the current position is that, under international law, Israel remains legally responsible for the coastal strip, despite withdrawing two years ago, because it still controls Gaza's borders, air space and territorial waters.
The Israeli cabinet's move will only be seen by Palestinians as a form of collective punishment, the BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says.
He says it also risks consolidating support for Hamas amongst a population that is already struggling to maintain a basic economic standard of living.
Ms Rice is in the Middle East for talks ahead of the US-sponsored conference.

The US is supporting Mahmoud Abbas while isolating Hamas.
She is due to meet Mr Olmert and the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
With US encouragement, the two recently held a series of face-to-face meetings.
After their last meeting on 10 September, both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a two-state solution and agreed to set up negotiating teams to discuss some of the issues in dispute.
The US is also giving financial assistance to build up the Palestinian Authority's security forces and is backing former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's efforts to develop Palestinian political institutions and the economy.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AFRICA FLOOD ZONES FACE MORE RAIN !

Some African countries have endured months of flooding. A million Africans already suffering from severe flooding have been warned of further misery to come with heavy rain predicted from West to East.
The United Nations says 250 people have died and more than 600,000 people been made homeless across 17 countries.
The World Food Programme has urged governments to do all they can to help provide immediate relief.
WFP has launched an $60m appeal for food aid to Uganda alone, where it estimates 1.7 m people will go hungry.
North-eastern Uganda has lost most of its crops to flooding, after the heaviest rains in three decades.

See map of the worst-affected nations

"We anticipate that the situation will worsen," said Elizabeth Byrs from the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with a flood zone already stretching "from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea."
In Ethiopia, more than 4,000 people are stranded in the eastern Afar region after a dam collapsed.

'Washed away': Your stories

The UN relief co-ordinator in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, John Clarke, told the BBC more than 250,000 had been left homeless in that country alone.
Countries in East Africa regularly flood at this time of year, but West African nations are much less able to deal with the deluge, the World Food Programme says.
In northern Ghana, more than 30 people have died and flooding has ruined the supply of clean water.

The Ghanaian Navy, local and international agencies are coordinating their emergency response.

Deaths directly attributed to the floods include:

32 in Ghana
41 in Nigeria
33 in Burkina Faso
20 in Togo
12 in Niger
4 in Somalia
4 in Morocco
2 in Mauritania
64 in Sudan
21 in Uganda
18 in Rwanda
12 in Kenya
17 in Ethiopia.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TUTU CALLS FOR ACTION ON ZIMBABWE!

Tutu said diplomatic efforts on Zimbabwe had failed. The former Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, has called for tougher action to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
He told a British television station that South Africa's "softly-softly" diplomatic approach had failed and more forthright measures were needed.
His remarks came as Zimbabwe's main opposition reported progress at South African-mediated talks with President Mugabe's government, held in Pretoria.
In Harare a strike called in protest at living costs is being largely ignored.
"All of us Africans must hang our heads in shame for having allowed such a desperate situation to continue almost without anybody doing anything to try and stop it," Archbishop Tutu said in London.

Inflation and food shortages are commonplace in the cities.
The Pretoria talks appear to have led to a surprise deal on constitutional changes.
Both factions of the MDC agreed not to offer resistance to draft constitutional amendments put forward by the governing Zanu-PF, even though there was speculation the changes would strengthen President Mugabe's position and allow him to choose his own successor.
The constitutional amendments will pave the way for joint parliamentary and presidential elections in 2008.
Thokozani Khupe, deputy leader of the main MDC faction, said in parliament: "As a confidence-building measure we have made a bold decision not to stand in the way of the constitutional amendments."
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) called for a two-day general strike in protest at the escalating cost of living and a salary freeze decreed by the President.
But reports from the capital, Harare, suggest it was business as usual on Wednesday, with workers saying previous protests had not achieved anything and they could not afford to forfeit wages.
Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate at an estimated 7,000%, and four out of five Zimbabweans live below the poverty line.

TOP KHMER ROUGE LEADER ARRESTED !

Nuon Chea was "Brother Number Two" under the Khmer Rouge. Police in Cambodia have arrested the most senior surviving member of the notorious Khmer Rouge regime, as part of a UN-backed genocide investigation.
Nuon Chea was flown from his jungle home to the capital, Phnom Penh, to appear before Cambodian and foreign jurists in a special genocide tribunal.
The 82-year-old was second-in-command to Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.
More than a million people are thought to have died during the four years of Khmer Rouge rule between 1975-79.
Nuon Chea, who was also known as "Brother Number Two", has spent the past few decades living freely in Pailin, the movement's former jungle headquarters.
Police and court officials went to his home near the Thai border early on Wednesday to question him, and issue him with an arrest warrant on charges of crimes against humanity.
"He was shaking. His legs looked like they would collapse," neighbour Sok Sothera told the French news agency AFP.
Nuon Chea was then taken under police escort to a helicopter for the flight to Phnom Penh.
"An initial appearance will be held today, during which he will informed of the charges which have been brought against him," the UN-backed tribunal said in a statement.
Because he was second only to Pol Pot - the regime's "Brother Number One", who died in 1998 - Nuon Chea will be the most senior defendant to be tried by the tribunal.

WHO WERE THE KHMER ROUGE?
Maoist regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979
Founded and led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998
Abolished religion, schools and currency in a bid to create agrarian utopia
Brutal regime that did not tolerate dissent
More than a million people thought to have died from starvation, overwork or execution.

A Thai-trained lawyer, Nuon Chea rose quickly through the ranks of the Khmer Rouge, as it grew from a small Maoist rebel group to a force capable of taking over the country.
Analysts say he had an important decision-making role in the regime, which instituted radical policies aimed at creating an agrarian utopia, but in reality caused the deaths of more than a million people through hunger, illness, overwork and execution.
Nuon Chea himself has consistently denied any responsibility for the deaths, but earlier this year he indicated he was ready to face the tribunal.
After many long delays, the UN-backed trials are finally expected to begin next year.
KHMER ROUGE TRIBUNAL

Will try cases of genocide and crimes against humanity
Five judges (three Cambodian) sit in trial court
Cases decided by majority
Maximum penalty is life imprisonment
Budget of $56.3m

Key figures facing trial

Only one other suspect, Kang Kek Ieu - also known as Duch - has so far been detained.
Duch, who was arrested in July, was in charge of the notorious S21 jail in Phnom Penh, where more than 17,000 men, women and children are thought to have been imprisoned and brutally tortured.
Four other people are said to be under investigation.
Their names have not been revealed, but are thought to include former president Khieu Samphan - who has been living next door to Nong Chea in Pailin - and Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary.
Survivors have welcomed the charges against Nong Chea and Duch, but they have also expressed doubts about whether these elderly leaders will ever be brought to account for their deeds during the Khmer Rouge years.
It is already too late to try Pol Pot, and the regime's military commander and one of Pol Pot's most ruthless henchmen, Ta Mok, died last year.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RUSSIA AND CHINA 'SPYING ON US' !

Mr McConnell said extended surveillance powers were 'critical'. Russia and China are spying on US facilities at close to Cold War levels, the head of US intelligence has warned.
Both were aggressively collecting information on the US, head of National Intelligence Michael McConnell warned.
US agencies are battling traditional state foes as well as terror groups, Mr McConnell told a congressional hearing.
Mr McConnell was defending new legislation allowing the US government to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mails without a warrant.
"Foreign intelligence information concerning the plans, activities and intentions of foreign powers and their agents is critical to protect the nation and preserve our security," Mr McConnell told the House Judiciary Committee.
Defending powers
Wire tapping without a warrant has been a contentious issue since the US Congress passed new anti-terror laws in August.
China and Russia's foreign intelligence services are among the most aggressive in collecting against sensitive and protected US systems... Their efforts are approaching Cold War levels.
Michael McConnell US Director of National Intelligence
The Protect America Act allows the government to eavesdrop on foreign communications, even if the recipient is a person living in the US.
These powers are due to expire in January unless Congress extends them.
The White House wants them made permanent.
But opponents - including civil liberties groups - say an extension could erode privacy rights and give the government unrestricted power to spy on its own citizens.
Mr McConnell told Congress the powers were crucial to preserving national security.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZANZIBAR: A DRUG-FUELLED PARADISE?

By Daniel Dickinson BBC News, Zanzibar.

Just a few minutes walk from the winding picturesque alleyways of Zanzibar's historic and much-visited Stone Town is a sight that most tourists will not get to see.
Tourists come from Europe to sample cheap heroin and cocaine.
Crouching in small fishing boats and dugout canoes on the shore of Malindi, Stone Town's port are a number of young men injecting themselves with a cocktail of heroin and cocaine.
It is a scene at odds with Zanzibar's image of an exotic beach paradise for well-heeled tourists, but for a growing number of Zanzibaris this is the reality of life on an impoverished island off the coast of Tanzania.
Saluum Ibrahim Jiddawi started taking drugs when he was just 15 years old.
His reasons for doing so were probably no different from teenagers anywhere in the world; he thought it was cool, his friends were doing it, he was bored at school.
Wasted life
And his life unravelled along predictable lines.
He graduated from smoking cannabis to injecting heroin and over the 15 years of his addiction, lost all his friends, his self-respect, put his family under huge stress and took to stealing and lying to feed his $15-a-day habit, a heavy financial burden on an island where the average wage is less than $1-a-day.
Saluum managed to kick the habit two years ago and now runs an outboard motor repair shop on the Malindi shoreline where addicts remind him on a daily basis of the "biggest mistake" of his life.
"I wasted 15 years of my life, and I regret all the pain I put my family through," he said.
Saluum was lucky to get out of the drugs scene when he did as the temptation of drugs on the island is as strong as it has ever been.
"Drugs are more available now as Zanzibar is on the international drug routes, but the quality is deteriorating as cocaine and heroin are being mixed with flour."
Small packets of foil wrapped brown sugar, as heroin is called locally, is easy to pick up in Malindi for just $1, but because of the poor quality addicts are increasingly injecting rather than smoking it.
"Users prefer injecting as the drug goes straight into the blood stream and has a bigger effect," said Saluum.
And now addicts are adopting a new technique which is worrying drug abuse specialists.
Young men inject themselves with a cocktail of heroin and cocaine
It is called "flash blood".
A user injects heroin, then withdraws a syringe-full of blood which contains a smaller amount of heroin and which is passed to a second user who injects it.
The technique means that addicts who cannot afford to buy their own drugs can still get a fix, however diluted.
"Such sharing is terribly dangerous," says Dr Steven Nsimba of the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences.
"It could have devastating consequences for HIV/Aids. If the first person is infected the second person will get a direct transmission of the virus."
The prevalence of HIV is under 1% in Zanzibar, well below the 7% on mainland Tanzania, but Dr Nsimba believes that could change.
"The spread of HIV could be very fast depending on the number of people who are doing flash blood."
No-one knows just how many addicts are using the flash blood technique, although the health authorities in Zanzibar are now trying to gather reliable data.
Drug-fuelled paradise?
Mgeni Hassan from Zayedesa, a local NGO which offers support to addicts, paints a gloomy picture.
"We are seeing the effects of drug abuse, the increase in crime. Young people do not know what they are doing. We believe every household in the urban centres has one or two children affected."
And it seems that Zanzibar may be getting a reputation as a place for drug tourism.
One hotelier, who wants to remain anonymous, said he had met tourists who came from Europe to sample cheap heroin and cocaine.
One recent case involving a British tourist ended in tragedy. A 26-year-old man collapsed and died after taking drugs he had bought on the island.
Most tourists will, of course, enjoy drug free holidays in Zanzibar and will not be aware of the growing local addiction problem.
The authorities on the island are no doubt hoping that Zanzibar never picks up a reputation as a drug-fuelled paradise.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MASS EXODUS AS CHINA STORMS LOOMS !

Residents in vulnerable areas are moved to temporary shelters
Storm preparations

More than 1.6 million people have been evacuated from China's financial hub, Shanghai, and neighbouring areas as powerful Typhoon Wipha looms closer.
Experts said the storm, expected to make landfall by early Wednesday, could be the worst to hit China in a decade.
Heavy rains forced schools to shut and grounded flights, and flooding brought central Shanghai to a standstill.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange may close if "emergency measures" were necessary, state media reported.

Map of the typhoon's projected path

North Taiwan was earlier lashed by the edge of the typhoon. One man was reported killed and another seriously hurt when scaffolding collapsed at a building site in the capital, Taipei.
China's National Meteorological Centre has described the storm as a "super typhoon".
Experts said that Wipha - a woman's name in Thai - was gaining strength as it approached and could bring up to 200mm of rain and winds of more than 200km/h (120mph).

Typhoon animated guide
In pictures: Typhoon looms

By late on Tuesday, more than 1.6 million people had been moved from their homes in Shanghai and the nearby provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, Xinhua news agency reported.
"Wipha will hit our province head on and the areas affected would be the most economically developed and densely populated," Zhejiang provincial government said.
A meteorologist at the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, Ding Ruoyang, said that residents in vulnerable areas or structures were being relocated.
"The evacuation includes residents who live in old and dangerous houses, workers who live in temporary construction site structures, as well as workers living near the shore."
State TV showed waves of up to 10m (36ft) pounding eastern shores, and it reported that boats and ships had been ordered to return to port and ferry services suspended.
Flood control officials in Zhejiang province urged residents to be on alert for flash flooding and landslides, as rivers and reservoirs reached warning levels.
The deadliest storm to hit the coast of China in recent years was Typhoon Winnie in 1997, which killed 236 people.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE INFLATION UNDER 7,000% !

Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate slowed in August to 6,592.8% from July's record of 7,634.8%, according to the Central Statistical Office (CSO).
The slowdown came in the midst of a price-control programme imposed by President Robert Mugabe in June.
Businesses were ordered to cut or freeze prices for items such as bread and milk.
But critics say the measures have just deepened the chronic food shortages suffered by Zimbabweans.
At the end of August, President Mugabe introduced jail terms of up to six months for anyone caught trying to raise prices or wages.
The CSO said the decline in inflation was due to a slowdown in prices for food and non-alcoholic drinks.
Despite the fall, Zimbabwe's inflation remains by far the highest in the world.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE SYRIA-NORTH-KOREA 'CONNECTION' !

By Jonathan Marcus Diplomatic correspondent, BBC News.

Nearly two weeks on from Israel's incursion into Syrian airspace, the mystery surrounding the operation shows little sign of disappearing.
Israel has kept up a careful policy of silence over the accusations
Press reports suggest strongly that the Israeli jets destroyed a facility near Syria's border with Turkey.
All sorts of details of the operation have "leaked" out, but still the precise nature of the "target" remains unclear.
By far the strongest theory though suggests a North Korean nuclear connection - a linkage which the North Korean authorities have strenuously denied.
The story put about by largely unnamed US sources and backed up by the former US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, is that North Korea - under international pressure to scale down its own nuclear weapons programme - has recently transferred equipment or technology to Syria.
And it is this equipment - possibly at a fledgling research centre - that the Israelis hit.
All sorts of questions remain. Experts on North Korea's nuclear programme are highly sceptical about the alleged technology transfer.
Joseph Cirincione, director for nuclear policy at the Washington-based Center for American Progress, a liberal think-tank, has gone so far as to describe the story as "nonsense".
If this sounds like the run-up to the war with Iraq, then it should - Joseph Cirincione, Center for American Progress.
Selective leaks are being used to play up the Syria-North Korea connection, he writes on the online site of the journal Foreign Policy.
"This appears to be the work of a small group of officials leaking cherry-picked, unvetted 'intelligence' to key reporters in order to promote a pre-existing political agenda. If this sounds like the run-up to the war with Iraq, then it should," he writes.
Gary Samore of the Council on Foreign Relations, another leading North Korea nuclear expert, was less dismissive when I spoke to him, but equally sceptical.
"I know that the Israelis have been worried for some time that the Syrians were eager to get nuclear technology from North Korea," he said.
"The North Koreans are looking to liquidate at least part of their enrichment programme, and perhaps want to offload the centrifuges and so on that they obtained from Pakistan."

The alleged Israeli incursion happened near Tall al-Abyad.
So the Syrians might be "dabbling" with enrichment technology, but this would not represent "a near-term threat", Mr Samore says.
"There are North Koreans in Syria in connection with missile technology," he said, but on the nuclear front "we just don't know".
One thing he saw as strange, however, was the possible location of the "target" that the Israelis may have hit.
This seems to have been very close to the border with Turkey - an odd place for a potential nuclear research establishment.
Of course much of the controversy - given the fact that the Syrians and the Israelis have said very little (which is instructive in itself) - centres on the nature of the messengers, the shadowy leakers in Washington.
Only one of them, Andrew Semmel, a senior non-proliferation official, has gone on the record, and then there is the involvement of the controversial Mr Bolton.
Critics suggest that at least some of these people have a strong desire to derail the Bush administration's current negotiations with Pyongyang.
For whatever reason, the latest round of the six-party nuclear talks involving the two Koreas has been postponed at the last minute, apparently at the North Koreans' request.
But as Mr Samore pointed out: "Just because John Bolton is using this for political purposes doesn't mean that it is not true."
This episode once again highlights the problems for the media in dealing with this kind of story, problems that were exemplified - one has to admit in retrospect- by the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
Journalists need copy. But they also have to weigh up what they are told. Official sources cannot simply be discounted.
But on the other hand, a sufficient degree of scepticism needs to be deployed. And just sometimes, that mighty media machine has to admit that it just does not know.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

RWANDAN PORTRAIT ON ART SHORTLIST !

Jonathan Torgovnik photographed Joseline Ingabire.
The four shortlisted photos

A photograph of a Rwandan woman who was raped during the 1994 genocide has been nominated for the UK National Portrait Gallery's Photographic Portrait Prize.
The image by Jonathan Torgovnik is one of four pictures - all of women - in the running for the £12,000 award.
South African-born Michelle Sank is in the running for a picture of a girl at a German centre for troubled teenagers.
David Stewart and Julieta Sans complete the shortlist. The best 60 of the 6,900 entries will go on show next month.
Torgovnik, a former Israeli army photographer, travelled to Rwanda twice after covering a story about Africa's HIV epidemic for Newsweek magazine.

He photographed 20 women and children in all for a series called Intended Consequences: Mothers of Genocide, Children of Rape.
"It was the most horrific thing I'd ever heard," he said. "The trauma these women went through was beyond anything I could imagine."
The shortlisted photo is of Joseline Ingabire, who was two months pregnant when the massacre started.
She was repeatedly raped during and after her pregnancy and, after giving birth, became pregnant again as a result of one of the attacks.
Among the other nominees, Stewart, from Lancaster, is shortlisted for a portrait of his teenage daughter Alice.
And Argentina-born Sans, 28, will compete with a photo of her friend Lucila.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"LEARNING IS A TREASURE WHICH ACCOMPANIES ITS OWNER

EVERYWHERE" !

AFRICAN FLOODS : YOUR EXPERIENCES!

Africans hit by the recent floods tell the BBC News website what the situation is like where they are. More than a million people across a swathe of 17 African countries are suffering the effects of severe floods.

DR ANTHONY MANANYI, SABOBA, GHANA
The floods in northern Ghana, and other parts of Africa, only serve to make the economic situation of these countries much worse.
The main industries in the affected regions are typically agricultural.
I am a farmer myself in the Saboba-Chereponi district.
I haven't been able to sell most of my produce because of a lack of demand.

Some 260,000 people in Ghana have lost their homes to the floods
Yet, a lot of foreign imported maize is being shipped to most of the flood-affected areas, such as Wa district.
To think that local produce could not be procured for this emergency goes to show how dependent and therefore vulnerable we are to these shocks.
There is plenty of local foodstuffs (judging by my own experience) available but the authorities prefer to bring out the 'begging bowl'.
Floods are not exactly unusual in northern Ghana.
But it is quite clear that the authorities are lacking in policy measures to deal with such emergencies.
I have just lost 38.5 acres of my rice field.
Many more smallholders have lost significant proportions of their planted crops this year.
The consequences of these losses on food shortages for the coming year is not a pleasant thought to contemplate.

ADELEYE ADE ADEKUNLE, IKORODU, LAGOS, NIGERIA
Heavy rain downpours have been disturbing us for the past month.
Up to 2,000 people have been rendered homeless and one woman lost her two children to the floods.
Also, many farmlands have been destroyed by this rain.

MARK MONDAY ONESIMO, BANTIU, SOUTHERN SUDAN
Sudan has seen some of its worst floods in living memory
The floods have submerged the land which produces food for the entire state here.
Most of the roads connecting our area with other towns have been swept away.
The only roads that are open are the ones that link the oil wells.
About 40 to 50 people have died and many more are ruined and homeless.

DR JAMES ELIMA, MOROTO, UGANDA
Our district has been cut off.
Prices of food and basic commodities have gone up.
The Toyota land cruisers have become Toyota water cruisers, so help us God.

PAUL EJEM, SOROTI, UGANDA
Many people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the floods, most people are now resettling in the camps that had set up during the Lord's Resistance Army rebel invasion.
Most areas cannot be accessed and transport has come to a standstill in some parts of eastern and northern Uganda.
Eight people have so far died in the district of Soroti.

INNOCENT OKIA, 18, MBALE, UGANDA
I left Soroti in northern Uganda last month because of the flooding and came to Mbale in the south east.
The water kept coming up and up in our area.
I decided to leave so my family could be safe. My parents were killed by rebels and so I am the one now responsible for my three sisters (aged 15, eight and seven) and two brothers (aged six and four).
I was worried for their safety as they are still very young.
The water kept rising.
Everything was washed away.
We lost everything - plates, clothing, bedding, my bicycle, even our sorghum and cassava crops.
Everything was washed into Lake Kyoga [The Victoria Nile flows through Lake Kyoga on its way from Lake Victoria to Lake Albert].

Some African countries have endured months of flooding.
Flood scenes

We couldn't endure to stay so I paid some fishermen to take us in their boats to the other side.
Now, I can't go back because of the water but even if I could there's nothing left for us there.
I found a room to rent in a sort of slum area just outside Mbale town.
It is our new home.
I am an artist. I make wildlife figures out of banana leaf fibres. Luckily I am managing to sell some of my work in Mbale town.
The money I am making enables me to buy food for my family to eat and to pay our rent.
No-one here is helping those of us who have been affected by the floods - not the government and not aid workers.
My family and I have only myself to rely on.

ANGERET PAUL GODFREY, AMURIA, UGANDA
Since I was born in 1974, I have never experienced such floods.
Imagine a family with an average earning of $20 per month (£10), who entirely depend on subsistence farming and now all their crops are under water...
It takes God's hand to have a meal.
And the situation is worsening.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UNITY URGED OVER ZIMBABWE CRISIS !

By Peter Biles - BBC News, Johannesburg.

Zimbabwe is closer to complete collapse than ever, and the regional initiative to find a negotiated political solution must be fully supported, a report says.
The International Crisis Group, based in Brussels, says Southern African countries are the only ones with a chance of making a difference. South Africa's president is trying to mediate between Zimbabwe's governing Zanu-PF party and the opposition.
But the independent think tank says this regional initiative is fragile.
It points out that some Southern African leaders remain supporters of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and there is a risk they will accept cosmetic changes that further entrench the status quo.
But this new report says inflation in Zimbabwe is at least 7,500%, four out of five people live below the poverty line and a quarter of the country's population has fled.
The International Crisis Group says Western sanctions have proved to be largely symbolic, and British and American condemnation of Zimbabwe has been counter-productive.
It says all international actors should close ranks behind the mediation efforts of South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.
Southern African countries should also enlist a panel of retired African presidents to persuade Robert Mugabe to accept reforms and retire next year, the report says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOMALI CLAN UNITY DEAL REJECTED !

Somalia's transitional government says it has signed a reconciliation agreement aimed at stabilising the country and uniting Somali clans.
The agreement in Saudi Arabia was signed by the interim president and prime minister but was immediately rejected by the Islamist opposition.
The Jeddah talks followed last month's reconciliation conference in Mogadishu.
Mogadishu has seen rising violence since Ethiopian-backed government troops ousted Islamists last December.
Hundreds have since died in clashes between Islamist-backed insurgents and government-backed Ethiopian troops.
In the latest violence, at least two people were killed and four others, including two aid workers, were injured in a fierce gun battle between police and freelance militia in the southern Somali port town of Merca.
The Islamist opposition formed a common alliance last week in Asmara, the capital of Ethiopia's rival, Eritrea.
They agreed to fight the transitional government and force Ethiopian troops out of Somalia.
The head of the Islamic Courts organisation, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, told the BBC Arabic Service that the Mogadishu and Jeddah talks did not represent a serious effort to achieve Somali reconciliation.
He said: "There was no conference for reconciliation in Somalia. It was a conference of division."
And he added: "There is no legitimate government in Somalia. What is there is occupation."
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad added: "The Saudi brothers would have been expected to stand by their Somali brothers. But it seems that they wanted to promote this failed and wretched conference to destroy what is left of Somalia's unity."
Saudi role
A member of Saudi Arabia's Shura (Consultative) Council, Mohammad Al Zofa, defended the decision not to invite the Somali opposition to the Jeddah conference.

Just 1,700 Ugandan soldiers are on the ground in Somalia.
He said: " The opposition may be part of the Somali people, not necessarily the main part. Those who met in Jeddah make up the majority of the Somali people which is seeking a solution for its country's problems."
"The opposition, such as the Islamist oppositions everywhere, sadly do not even have any vision of solutions to the problems in hotspot areas in the Arab and Muslim world," added Mohamed Al Zofa.
He added that the agreement reached in Jeddah included a call by the Somali president for an Arab-African peacekeeping force to be sent to Somalia under United Nations leadership.
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes says the situation in Mogadishu is worsening, and that recent fighting has hampered the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The UN refugee agency says some 400,000 people have fled the fighting in the capital in the past four months.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN SCORNS FRENCH WARNING OF WAR !

Bernard Kouchner said a nuclear-armed Iran would be a grave threat. A warning by France's foreign minister that the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear programme has drawn a furious response in Iranian media.
France was aping the US and its new president had "taken on American skin", the official Iranian news agency said.
On Sunday Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said: "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war."
Iran's nuclear programme is to be debated in Vienna, Austria, at the UN nuclear watchdog's annual conference.
Iran denies it is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and says it only wants nuclear power to generate electricity for civilian purposes.
But it has repeatedly rejected UN demands to give up the enrichment of uranium, which the US and other Western states fear is being diverted to a nuclear weapons project.
Mr Kouchner said negotiations with Iran should continue "right to the end", but that an Iranian nuclear weapon would pose "a real danger for the whole world".
The occupants of the Elysee have become the executors of the will of the White House
Iranian news agency IRNA

New France gets tough
Profile: Bernard Kouchner

He said a number of large French companies had been asked not to tender for business in Iran.
Iranian official media responded with contempt.
"The occupants of the Elysee (the French presidential palace) have become the executors of the will of the White House and have adopted a tone that is even harder, even more inflammatory and more illogical than that of Washington," it said.
The accepted wisdom in Iran is that the US is too wrapped up in Iraq and Afghanistan to launch another war in the region, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in the capital, Tehran.
Mr Kouchner was visiting Russia on Monday, where he was expected to push for tighter UN sanctions to try to force Iran to give up enrichment.
Russia has a UN Security Council veto over any new sanctions, and its support is seen as vital for any new approach.
But Mr Kouchner said even in the absence of UN action, the European Union should prepare its own sanctions against Iran.
Iran has warned that any new punishments could push it to stop co-operating with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful.
The IAEA's members meet this week in Austria, with Iran likely to top the agenda.
The director of the organisation, Mohamed ElBaradei, has been criticised in the West over a new deal with Iran to clear up questions about its past nuclear activities.
The US and its allies believe the deal just gives Iran more time, during which they fear it will advance its nuclear programme.
The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says France has changed its approach to world affairs under its new President Nicolas Sarkozy, adopting a harder line on several issues, and seeking to improve relations with the US.
The United States has not ruled out a military attack against Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
However, a top general in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said any bombing raid on targets in Iran would provoke a tough response.
US positions in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan "are within our range", Gen Mohammad Hassan Koussechi told IRNA.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE WORLD THIS WEEK !

A look at what could be dominating the headlines around the world this week - and some key background on those events.
MONDAY 17 SEPTEMBER
LOOK OUT FOR

In a series of features the BBC's Michael Bristow examines China's one child policy and the abuses in the system
China's gender imbalance

Judgement day: The European Court of Justice delivers a verdict on the long-running dispute between Microsoft and the European Union in a case that could shape the rules of competition law in the EU for decades to come.
Decision looms in Microsoft-EU row

Petition time: Pakistan's Supreme Court hears a petition filed by opposition politicians and a lawyers' association, challenging President Pervez Musharraf's plans to pursue re-election.
Profile of President Pervez Musharraf

Human rights: An international conference in Bangkok examines the human rights situation in North Korea. The totalitarian state stands accused of systematic human rights abuses.
Ozone friendly: Some 191 governments meet in Montreal to seek ways to speed up the phasing out of ozone-depleting gases, widely used in fridges and air conditioners.

TUESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER
Cheaper credit? The US Federal Reserve Bank meets to decide on borrowing costs and is expected to cut a key interest rate for the first time in four years, to ease pressures on the financial sector as the global credit clench continues.
In-depth: Global credit crunch

Iraq security: Gen David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, briefs the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on security in Iraq, fresh from his gruelling week giving testimony to Congress about the troop "surge".
Succession bill: Zimbabwe's parliament debates the Constitutional Amendment that would give President Robert Mugabe room to choose a successor if he were to retire.

Reform plans: French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveils his pension reform plans. Mr Sarkozy was elected in June on a platform of economic reform and has been working to push through new legislation since then.
Profile: Nicolas Sarkozy

Monarchy under pressure: Nepal's Maoists are due to start street protests, demanding that the country be declared a republic before the constituent assembly elections on 22 November.
Nepal's attention turns to King

WEDNESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER
Nuclear deal: The Indian government holds talks with its communist allies over a controversial nuclear deal with the US which has threatened to split the ruling coalition.
Urban music: The Mobo Awards (Music of Black Origin) take place in London - seeking to raise awareness and importance of urban music in today's society.

THURSDAY 20 SEPTEMBER
Taking stock: G8 Foreign Ministers gather for their annual autumn meeting in New York which coincides with the UN General Assembly.
Fujimori verdict: The Chilean Supreme Court is expected to rule on the extradition case of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori who is accused of human rights abuses and corruption. The court will either confirm or reject a previous ruling blocking his extradition to Peru.
Profile: Alberto Fujimori

FRIDAY 21 SEPTEMBER

Iran denies accusations it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons Iran sanctions: The US hosts a meeting of major world powers to discuss plans for a new round of sanctions against Iran over its contentious nuclear programme. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, are meeting in Washington.
Quick guide: Iran nuclear stand-off

SATURDAY 22 SEPTEMBER
Car free: The Chinese capital Beijing and its financial hub, Shanghai, observe a "no car" day. People are encouraged to walk, bike, or use public transport.
Beer galore: Brewers and publicans march through Munich, Germany, to mark the opening of the Oktoberfest. Around 6.1 million litres of beer are expected to be consumed during the two-week festival.

SUNDAY 23 SEPTEMBER
Leadership contest: Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party holds a leadership poll to pick a successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Mr Abe's resignation surprised many and drew public and media criticism.
What led Shinzo Abe to resign?

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SIXTY HURT IN CHINA BALLOON BLAST !

More than 60 students were injured when hundreds of balloons exploded at a school in northwest China's Gansu province, state media reported.
The accident happened at the opening ceremony of a sports event at a school in the provincial capital, Lanzhou.
Over 1,500 small balloons filled with hydrogen caught fire and exploded, burning dozens of students.
Xinhua news agency said that at least 64 students were taken to two different hospitals in Lanzhou.
Most were suffering from burns to the face, hands and back, the agency said, citing doctors.
An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

EGYPTIAN JOURNALISTS LOSING TUG OF WAR!

By Magdi Abdelhadi - BBC Arab affairs analyst.

Journalists and human rights activists have expressed anger and dismay over the prison sentences handed down on Friday to four Egyptian newspaper editors for libelling President Hosni Mubarak and his ruling National Democratic Party.
The four men were sentenced to one year in jail with hard labour and also given hefty fines for publishing false information with the aim of undermining national security, according to court papers cited by the Egyptian press.
The Egyptian Press Syndicate has said it was a declaration of war on the press and demanded a repeal of all laws allowing journalists to be jailed.
Amnesty International has protested against the trial, describing it as part of a continuous series of attacks against free press in the country.
The editors - Ibrahim Issa of the al-Dustour, Adel Hammouda of al-Fagr, Wael al-Ebrashi of Sawt al-Umma and Abdul Halim Qandil of al-Karama - have said they will appeal against the verdict.

The trial of four of the most vocal critics of the ruling party and Mr Mubarak is the latest event in an ongoing tug of war between journalists and the state in Egypt.
There is a contradiction between the de-facto freedom that some journalists have won over the years... and a legal arsenal which is extremely repressive
Abdul Halim QandilEditor of al-Karama

Bloggers fear state curbs

Egyptian newspapers routinely publish provocative and sensationalist material, partly because they know it sells well, but also because they are determined to challenge the draconian laws that they say criminalise freedom of expression.
This has landed them in trouble before, and will do so again, unless the laws are changed.
One of the editors, Ibrahim Issa, narrowly escaped being sent to prison in February after an appeal court overturned a one year sentence against him for defaming the president.
He is to appear in court again next month for allegedly spreading rumours about the health of Mr Mubarak.
Mr Issa's newspaper, al-Dustour, is popular not only because of its sensationalism, but also because it displays a certain degree of irreverence towards the president and his entourage - something which is hard to find in the sycophantic state media.

Another of the editors, Abdul Halim Qandil, explained to the BBC Arabic Service the wider context of the trial.
Egyptian journalists have protested against changes to press laws.
"There is a contradiction between the de-facto freedom that some journalists have won over the years - those who made criticising the president part of the freedom of the press - and a legal arsenal which is extremely repressive and calls for the jailing of journalists in 25 instances in the penal code," he said.
"The conflict we are witnessing now is a result of this contradiction."
But the editors have also come in for some criticism.
They have been accused of failing to respect the crucial distinction between reporting facts and expressing opinion.
Some journalists have acknowledged the problem, but say that the best way forward is not to jail offending journalists but to enforce the existing professional code.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S LEONE OPPOSITION WIN !

With an ebullient character, Koroma stands tall with charisma. The 54-year-old insurance broker says he wants to run the country like a business concern.

APC's Ernest Bai Koroma

Opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma has won Sierra Leone's presidential election run-off, say national election commission officials.
He won 54.6% of the vote while his rival Vice-President Solomon Berewa of the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) obtained 45.4%.
At the weekend, the SLPP sought an injunction to try to stop publication of more presidential election results.
The party had expressed concern about reports of high voter turnouts.
Prior to a decade-long civil war, Sierra Leone had a series of rigged elections.
Mr Koroma is an insurance broker who says he wants to run the country like a business concern.
The 54-year-old leader of the All People's Congress party ran a slick campaign - calling for change.
But opponents say his party mismanaged the country for two decades leading up to the war.
His rival for the presidency, Solomon Ekuma Berewa, was a surprise choice - named as the SLPP candidate by the incumbent President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah at a time when he was not even a card-carrying member of the party.

Solomon Berewa has seven days to challenge the result.
As Attorney General, Mr Berewa helped negotiate an end to Sierra Leone's civil war and though a veteran 69 years old, his reputation as a workaholic convinced many he had the stamina for the top job.
But observers say high levels of corruption prevented the governing SLPP from delivering basic public services and this fatally damaged their campaign.
The national electoral commissioner, Christiana Thorpe has launched investigations into at least 14 cases of alleged electoral fraud.
The ex-nun running the polls has won respect.
Most, though not all, were reported in SLPP strongholds where an unlikely turnout of 100% or more was reported compared to a 68% national average.
Dr Thorpe said these flaws were not sufficient to affect the final result.
International observers praised the NEC's conduct of the election which was largely free, fair and peaceful - but that has not prevented some SLPP members from talking of a possible legal challenge.
Under Sierra Leone law, the official results can be challenged by petition to the Supreme Court within seven days of their announcement by electoral authorities.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYA PRESIDENT EYES RE-ELECTION !

Mr Kibaki cited in his speech the achievements of his five year term. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has announced he will stand for re-election in December as the candidate of a new political alliance.
In a live television address Mr Kibaki said the grouping would be called the Party of National Unity.
He won in 2002 as a candidate for the National Rainbow Alliance.
His re-election bid was boosted earlier this month when the official opposition leader announced he would not be challenging Mr Kibaki at the next poll.
Mr Kibaki, 75, announced his bid at a meeting of his new allies in the capital Nairobi, listing achievements in his first term as free primary education, health improvements, and road construction.
"Things are getting better but we are far from where we want to be," he said.
"I will therefore be seeking support of all Kenyans so as to continue making our country an even better and greater home."
Mr Kibaki said his new alliance would include the Kenya National African Union (KANU), Ford Kenya, Ford People, Narc Kenya and Shirikisho among others.

Uhuru Kenyatta said he did not think he would win an election.
Earlier this month, Kenya's official opposition leader Uhuru Kenyatta had said he would not contest December's presidential poll.
Mr Kenyatta said the former ruling Kanu party would instead seek an alliance with President Kibaki.
Mr Kenyatta, son of Kenya's first president Jomo Kenyatta, lost the 2002 election to Mr Kibaki.
Instead, Mr Kibaki is likely to face a challenge from a former ally, Raila Odinga, who heads the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
BBC NEWS REPORT.

'Merchant of Death' still on the Run !

By Mark Doyle BBC World Affairs Correspondent.

The name Victor Bout first came on my radar in the late 1990s when, in my job as a BBC reporter in Africa, I found myself spending an inordinate amount of time with soldiers.
The region had more than its share of wars and armed men.
I spent time with scruffy rebels in the Guinean bush and smart Indian UN peacekeepers; I sought out a United Nations commander at a golf club in Liberia one Sunday morning and met a Nigerian general later the same day in a hotel bar; I counted British majors, Nigerian colonels and South African mercenaries as my friends.
Almost all of them had heard about a (to me) mysterious man called Victor Bout, a Russian businessman who apparently traded in Africa and beyond.
To me it seemed rather odd that so many soldiers knew this Russian. Odd, that is, until 2003, when Mr Bout's name was included in a UN Security Council resolution travel ban list.
Victor Bout appeared on the list - along with the then Liberian President Charles Taylor and some of his ministers - as "Victor Anatoljevitch Bout alias Butt, Bont, Buttee, Boutov, Sergitov Vitali", and was described thus:
"Businessman, dealer and transporter of weapons and minerals. Arms dealer in contravention of UNSC resolution 1343. Supported former President Charles Taylor's regime in efforts to destabilise Sierra Leone and gain illicit access to diamonds."
A new book on Victor Bout by American journalists Doug Farah and Stephen Braun contains allegations that the Russian had a much wider remit than just Africa.

The UN says Mr Bout supported the then Liberian President Charles Taylor. The authors describe a hydra-headed network of companies which emerged from the ashes of the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s - all of them associated in some way, the book says, with Mr Bout.
The business allegedly started from the large number of former Soviet army and air force planes that were sitting on airfields more or less redundant. In the chaos of the collapsing state, these Antonovs and Illyushins - along with their crews - were up for sale.
More robust and easier to maintain than American aircraft, the former Soviet air fleet was perfect for delivering goods to bumpy wartime airstrips around the world.
The range of countries Mr Bout has allegedly dealt with is breathtaking. UN documents, many fed with information by a tenacious Belgian arms researcher, Johan Peleman, have named him in connection with wars in Angola, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The new book also details his activities in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. It explains how, at one point, the man had a palatial residence in South Africa - only to have it attacked in an apparent gangland fallout.
But the most extraordinary thing about Mr Bout is that he is still at large despite -

having been sought by senior officials in the former Clinton administration (the Bush administration appears to have taken its eye off the ball)
having an arrest warrant issued against him in Belgium
being named frequently by the UN in connection with illegal arms deals
being publicly condemned as a "Merchant of Death" by the British MP Peter Hain while he was a Foreign Office minister

The book explains Mr Bout's success by his undoubted vision and ambition as a businessman, but also by two broad strokes of luck. The first was that he emerged as a serious business player, with military connections, at a time when a lot of hardware was available for sale from the former Soviet bloc.
Washington now had different interests, given its greater emphasis on Iraq The second stroke of luck was that Mr Bout came to be best known to - and named by - UN investigators at a time when the only remaining superpower, the US, was concentrating on its own "war on terror" rather than on countering arms trails which terrorised Africans, Asians and others.
Indeed, one of the most surprising sections of the new book details how the US military used planes allegedly subcontracted to companies associated with Mr Bout to deliver supplies to the American war effort in Iraq.
By this time, the informal cell of US officials working on tracking Mr Bout, set up under the Clinton era, had lost clout.
It wasn't that the US overtly wanted to deal with Bout-associated companies but that Washington now had different interests, given its greater emphasis on Iraq.
His planes were available, at the right price, and his crews were ready to take the risks - like elsewhere in the world, in other eras. And maybe - given that he is still at large - like now.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"AN ANGRY MAN OPENS HIS MOUTH AND SHUTS HIS EYES" !

Brown in Darfur peacekeeping vow !

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants Darfur's proposed peacekeeping force to be in place by the end of the year, he has told the BBC.
Mr Brown pledged technical help for the UN-African Union force and warned of further sanctions if fighting in Sudan's strife-torn region continues.
Some 200,000 people have been killed and 2m displaced in Darfur since 2003.
Rights groups have declared Sunday a Global Day for Darfur with events planned in 30 nations around the world.
Campaigners from groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Save Darfur Coalition plan to wear blindfolds in an appeal to world leaders not to look away from the continuing violence in Darfur.
The government in Khartoum and Arab militias allied to it have been blamed for massacres of the Darfur's black African population since 2003 - charges the government denies.
In an interview with the BBC World Service, Mr Brown called the conflict "one of the great tragedies of our time".

MAJOR DARFUR RALLIES

London: March from Sudan embassy to Downing St
San Francisco: Film screening and interfaith prayer
New York: Rally and speeches outside UN HQ
Ottawa (Mon 17th): Blindfold wearing and human chain outside Canada's parliament
France: Events in at least 18 cities
Accra, Ghana: Blindfolds and people chain
Source: Globe for Darfur

Quick guide: Darfur

Analysts say Mr Brown's timetable for a peacekeeping force is ambitious, given that Sudan's Arab government has been reluctant to accept the involvement of non-African troops.
Government forces and their allies continue to fight local rebels, but Mr Brown said it would "disastrous" if the fighting did not stop.
"This is an attempt... to bring the [UN] resolution, the ceasefire, political settlement, all these things coming together," he said.
"If that were to happen, we'd be prepared to give economic assistance so that the people of Darfur were in a better position and we can start to rebuild.
"If it doesn't work and we find that the government of Sudan is not making the changes necessary, then we will have to move to further sanctions."
He said the government should agree a ceasefire with the rebels to allow the peacekeepers to deploy.
On a visit to Rome this week, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said he was willing to sign a peace deal with rebel groups.

Gordon Brown threatened a move to further sanctions on Sudan. Although the UK will not be contributing troops to the peacekeeping force, Mr Brown pledged to give "technical help", understood to mean airlifting African personnel into the region.
BBC world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle says the UK leader's comments reflect Western impatience with the Khartoum government.
The Arab administration, consistently hostile to the involvement of non-African troops, agreed to a hybrid peacekeeping force including some UN peacekeepers only after months of negotiations.
Commentators have accused Khartoum of deliberately blocking attempts to mediate the conflict.
The force will be made up of about 20,000 soldiers and 6,000 police officers.
Thousands of African Union peacekeepers are already in the region, the rest are due to begin arriving next month.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TACKLE ZIMBABWE, ARCHBISHOP URGES !

The Archbishop said the time for 'African solutions' alone was over. The Archbishop of York has launched a fierce attack on Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe and called for Britain to lead sanctions against his government.
Writing in the Observer, Dr John Sentamu likened Mr Mugabe to the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
"Mugabe is the worst kind of racist dictator," he wrote.
He said Britain needed to escape its "colonial guilt" and Gordon Brown must revise foreign policy towards Zimbabwe and lead an international response.
In his article, the archbishop highlighted a recent report from Zimbabwe for BBC Two's Newsnight which exposed drastic food shortages, infant mortality, average life expectancies in the mid-30s and poor living conditions in townships.
Orwellian vision
"The appalling poverty suffered by those who queue daily for bread in southern Harare is a world apart from the shops, boutiques and sprinkled lawns of northern Harare, where Mugabe's supporters live in palatial surroundings," he said.
"Having targeted the whites for their apparent riches, Mugabe has enacted an awful Orwellian vision, with the once oppressed taking on the role of the oppressor and glorying in their totalitarian abilities."
At worst, Mbeki is complicit in his failing to lead the charge against a neighbour who is systematically raping the country he leads
Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York
The archbishop also called for an end to current foreign policy introduced by Tony Blair, with its emphasis on the role of neighbouring governments such as South Africa.
"The time for 'African solutions' alone is now over," he said.
"Despite his best efforts, president Mbeki [of South Africa] has failed to help the people of Zimbabwe.
"At best he has been ineffective in his efforts to advise, cajole and persuade Robert Mugabe that it is time for him to reverse his unjust and brutal regime.
"At worst, Mbeki is complicit in his failing to lead the charge against a neighbour who is systematically raping the country he leads."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

Against all the odds.

Saturday 15th September 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Day after day Zimbabwe is on fire. Smoke rises in almost every direction, the wind carries trails of black debris and every evening the sky is smudged with ash. Night after night there is a great orange glow on the horizon and long after the moon and stars are overhead the fires continue to burn unchecked and out of control.

Out on an early morning errand this week I stopped as a Slender Mongoose ran out into the road. We stared at each other for a minute or two and it was a breathtaking sight. The dawn sun highlighted the depth of colour of his rich chestnut fur. The little mammal stood quite still on the tarmac, his black-tipped tail lifted slighted, ready to run. Then as suddenly as it had appeared, the mongoose was gone - running off into the only patch of unburnt vegetation still left in the nearby grassland. This little African mammal, once a common sight but now rarely seen, is surviving against all odds.

About two hundred metres along the road I passed two men who were carrying sickles and had catapults hanging round their necks. They were accompanied by a pack of hunting dogs who trotted all around them. The intention of their outing was obvious - the sickles to cut grass used to lay lines of fires, the catapults to kill birds, the dogs to catch mice and other small animals that flee from the flames. In an hour or two these men will destroy huge swathes of vegetation, remove essential habitat for birds and mammals and from the devastation will perhaps get enough meat for one meal. Their activities go unchecked and when they've had enough the men and their dogs head home leaving the fires to burn themselves out, sometimes many kilometres away.

Arriving at my destination I sat across the desk from a smartly dressed woman in her office. As I conducted my business we asked the questions all Zimbabweans are asking each other: have you got water today? Is your electricity on this morning? Have you managed to find bread? All the answers to all the questions were the same from both of us: no! We agreed that things were now 'very hard' in Zimbabwe but to an outsider this would undoubtedly be the understatement of all time. We have got up to find no water in the tap to drink, to bathe or to wash our clothes; we've got no electricity to cook food and no bread, cereal or milk to give to our families for breakfast. Despite it all and against all odds, Zimbabweans are still carrying on: clean, polite, hardworking, dedicated - a credit to a country so close to the edge.

At the end of three days of sixteen hour power cuts this week I finally heard the news that has given Zimbabwe such a lift. Against all the odds and with nothing in their favour, Zimbabwe beat Australia in the 20/20 cricket world cup. Patriotism burns strong, very strong, in our hearts and gives belief that against all odds, we will emerge from these darkest of days.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
love cathy.

BOUNTY SET OVER PROPHET CARTOON !

The purported head of al-Qaeda in Iraq has offered a reward for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist over his drawing depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The $100,000 (£49,310) reward would be raised by 50% if Lars Vilks was "slaughtered like a lamb" said the audio message aired on the internet.
The speaker, said to be Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, threatened a new offensive during the holy month of Ramadan.
Last month's cartoon showed Prophet Muhammad's head on a dog's body.
Several Muslim countries protested.
Last year there were riots over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, first published in September 2005 by the newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Muslims regard any visual representation of the Prophet as blasphemous. Many Muslims also regard the dog as an impure animal.
Economic targets
The latest cartoon was published by the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper on 18 August.
Last week, Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt met ambassadors from 22 Muslim countries in an effort to defuse the row.
But Saturday's taped message said the militants were announcing a "call to shed the blood of the Lars who dared to insult our Prophet".

Last month some 200 Muslim protesters demanded an apology.
"During this generous month we announce an award worth $100,000 to the person who kills this infidel criminal," the speaker said.
He also announced a $50,000 reward for the killing of the editor of the newspaper.
And he said the Swedish government ought to apologise - otherwise al-Qaeda in Iraq would target "their economy and giant companies such as Ericsson, Volvo, Ikea, Scania".
The cartoon's creator, Lars Vilks, insists the drawing is art and that the reaction has been out of proportion.
The speaker in the 30-minute tape also said he was "honoured to announce at the beginning of Ramadan an offensive in the name of... the martyr of the Islamic nation Abu Musab al-Zarqawi" who was killed in a US air strike last year.
And days after saying they had killed a well-known Sunni cleric opposed to them, the speaker accused the main Sunni party, the Islamic Party in Iraq of co-operating with US-led forces.

Abdul Sattar Abu Risha was one of al-Qaeda's top targets.
He also vowed to keep targeting members of the minority Yazidi community over their leaders' refusal to allow Yazidis to convert to Islam.
Meanwhile, in northern Iraq, a Sunni Arab tribal leader told the BBC that local groups had created a new alliance to fight al-Qaeda.
Fawwaz al-Jarba, who heads the Shammar tribe in the Mosul area, said local Sunni Arab tribes had joined Kurdish, Christian and Yazidi groups in a new front.
He said the new alliance would not work directly with the United States military, but only through the Iraqi government.
In July, the US announced that a top al-Qaeda militant arrested in Iraq had told interrogators that Iraq's supposed al-Qaeda kingpin, Omar al-Baghdadi, was only a front.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TAIWANESE MARCH TO BACK UN BID !

Tens of thousands of people have marched in Taiwan in support of a government plan to hold a referendum on joining the UN under the name Taiwan.
The UN has rejected previous bids from the island to join the body under its official name, Republic of China.
The bids anger Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province. China has vowed to use force if Taiwan took steps towards formal independence.
China's opposition means Taiwan's bids for a UN seat are certain to fail.

TAIWAN-CHINA RELATIONS
Ruled by separate governments since end of Chinese civil war in 1949
China considers the island part of its territory
China has offered a "one country, two systems" solution, like Hong Kong
Most people in Taiwan support status quo

Taiwan flashpoint

The march, in the southern city of Kaohsiung, attracted hundreds of thousands of people according to organisers, while police said 30,000 took part.
Switched recognition
Kaohsiung is a power base for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh.
The government intends to time the referendum with the presidential vote next March.
Analysts say the DPP hopes the referendum debate will shore up its support in the elections.
"Give Taiwan a chance to join the UN," Mr Hsieh told a crowd in Kaohsiung before the march.
Independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian said Taiwan had "every right to be a full UN member, standing on equal footing with other member states".
The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) also favours a referendum on joining the UN, but under the island's official name Republic of China.
The KMT held a separate rally for the central city of Taichung attended by its presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou. The UN switched it recognition from Taiwan to mainland China in 1971.
China's President Hu Jintao has warned that the plan could result in a "possibly dangerous period" for the region.
The United States has also warned that the move is unnecessarily provocative and could heighten tensions in the region.
Most UN members have diplomatic ties with China and would not want to anger Beijing by backing Taiwan's UN application

BBC NEWS REPORT.

US DEBATE - IRAQ TROOP NUMBERS !

By James Coomarasamy - BBC News, Washington.

It has been an intense, but strangely unsatisfactory few days in Washington. Gen Petraeus has become much more than a military man. After all the charts and testimony, the cross examinations and posturing, big questions remain: have we seen a change of momentum in US Iraq policy or just the impression of one?
Does the planned withdrawal of 5,700 US troops by Christmas, announced by President George W Bush, amount to anything more than a recognition of the limits of an overstretched military?
Or, is the first word of the week's new White House phrase, "return on success", a pointer to a wider draw-down dynamic?
And what of Mr Bush's apparently open-ended commitment to Iraq; a country whose government is, according to the latest White House report, only making satisfactory progress towards meeting half of the 18 benchmarks it has been set.
Broadly speaking, will an increasingly frustrated US public buy the call for more time and more patience?
How you answer these questions depends, to a certain extent, on your view of the man at the centre of the week's events - Gen David Petraeus.
Almost from the moment his September report to Congress was agreed upon, the top US commander in Iraq became much more than a military man.
His report was viewed as a make or break moment for the administration's troop surge strategy.
The ad, taken out in the New York times, by the left-wing group moveon.org, had the tag line: "General Petraeus or General Betray Us"
In the event, the most notable breakage was to a microphone, which the general was supposed to be using for his testimony in the House of Representatives.
It was a rather embarrassing start to proceedings - but one of the few moments of genuine surprise, after a public relations blitz, which had rather sucked the drama from the occasion.
We largely got what we were expecting: a sober, but generally positive assessment of the situation in Iraq, which concluded that modest security improvements - especially in Anbar province - would allow some US troops to return by Christmas, but that the US would need to retain a long term commitment to the region.
As has so often been the case, violent events on the ground would cast a shadow over Washington's calculations.
On Thursday, one of the most important Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province, Sheikh Adbul-Sattar Abu Risha was killed by a car bomb, just 10 days after he had shaken President Bush's hand.
He had been a central figure in the Sunni uprising against al-Qaeda in Iraq.
As Mr Bush prepared to address the nation on Thursday evening, the killing underscored the fragility of the security improvements, which he would cite as proof that the troop surge was working.

Mr Bush wants the troops' role to become more advisoryAnd, in a very Washington twist, the political debate about a costly and consequential war often dwelled less on the merits of the general's assessments than on a newspaper advert.
The ad, taken out in the New York times, by the left-wing group moveon.org, had the tag line: "General Petraeus or General Betray Us".
It was described as "despicable" by White House officials and used by Republicans as a chance to accuse Democrats, who failed to condemn it, of a lack of patriotism.
By the end of the week, Republican presidential hopeful, Rudy Giuliani, had taken out his own advert in the newspaper, accusing leading Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, of besmirching Gen Petraeus' character.
He linked her scepticism about the general's assessment to the moveon.org advertisement.
Amid the political posturing, the episode did point to a real problem for the Democrats, as they balance the demands of their anti-war base with the political reality of their slim Congressional majority.
It is too slim, in fact, to pass any meaningful legislation, in the view of another presidential hopeful, Barack Obama.
Unless, that is, enough Republicans can be persuaded to jump ship and join the Democrats as they attach amendments to the Defence Authorisation Bill, such as one that would guarantee troops serving in Iraq home leave as long as their tours of duty.
How many of them will switch sides remains an unknown at this stage.
Although some of the party's waverers - such as Sen Susan Collins of Maine - have clearly not been persuaded by the general's words.
Others are keeping their counsel, mulling over decisions that could have a bearing on their chances of re-election next year.
The battle is expected to resume in the Senate on Monday.
There may have been few surprises in the week that has passed, but the political script for the next few weeks has yet to be written.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA TIGHTENS GRIP AHEAD OF CONGRESS !

By Michael Bristow - BBC News, Beijing.

China has launched a crackdown on political dissidents and potential troublemakers ahead of the Communist Party's 17th congress, which begins next month.
The congress, held every five years, is the party's most important public political event.
At this year's gathering, which will be held mostly behind closed doors, Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to tighten his grip on power, and the authorities are keen that those with other ideas are kept well away.
Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang, a member of the party's politburo, identified a wide range of "hostile forces" that will be targeted.
"All police should...strike hard on overseas and domestic hostile forces, ethnic splittists, religious extremists, violent terrorists and the Falun Gong cult so as to safeguard national security and social stability," he said.
Falun Gong is a spiritual movement that was banned in China after staging a massive demonstration in central Beijing in 1999.
Mr Zhou also referred to political dissidents, campaigners and people who advocate independence for the western regions of Xinjiang and Tibet.

The crackdowns are to prevent disruption at the party congress.
He said efforts should also be made to step up control of the internet to create what he described as a "harmonious online environment".
China already tries to prevent ordinary citizens logging on to certain websites.
News outlets are also being targeted in the run-up to the congress, which will be attended by more than 2,000 party delegates.
One editor of a Chinese newspaper told the BBC that the party's central publicity department had issued two notices to editors telling them what stories they could and could not print.
The first notice was sent in July, and the second in mid-August.
"They told us there should be no negative reports before the party congress. We shouldn't report stories about things such as land rights, petitioners and major incidents, such as accidents," he said.
In what is perhaps an indication of just how worried newspaper editors are about making mistakes in the run-up to the congress, five of them recently managed to publish almost identical front pages.
There were striking similarities between the headlines, the placement of photographs and the articles selected for print.
The authorities are also trying to clear Beijing's streets of potential annoyances before the congress.
A settlement for petitioners - ordinary people who travel to Beijing to petition the central government about local injustices - could be demolished next week.
Up to 4,000 petitioners are believed to live in the "village", in the capital's Fengtai District. That number often increases when important political meetings are being held.

Control of the internet will be stepped up, ministers say.
"Petitioners are some of China's most vulnerable citizens, and they have the right to housing while they pursue their legal claims," says Sophie Richardson, of US-based Human Rights Watch.
Notices have gone up in the settlement that residents have to leave the area before noon on 19 September.
Although the authorities say the area needs to be cleared to make way for road construction, the rights group says the timing suggests it is also about cleaning up the city before the party congress.
There is also a month-long crackdown in Beijing on beauty parlours, which are often fronts for prostitutes or gambling dens.
And the state-run China Daily reported that property owners are being told not to lease their homes to people who have "irregular lifestyles".
The party congress is China's main set-piece political event that will endorse future policies and the next generation of leaders.
To ensure it goes off smoothly, party leaders are leaving as little as possible to chance.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"INEXPERIENCE IS WHAT MAKES A YOUNG MAN DO,

WHAT AN OLDER MAN SAYS IS IMPOSSIBLE."!

HEALTH FEARS AFTER GHANA FLOODS !

Flooding from torrential rain has devastated large areas of northern Ghana, and left thousands of people vulnerable to waterborne diseases.
At least 20 people have died in the floods, which have submerged land which produces food for the entire country.
Almost 400,000 people have lost their homes, a spokeswoman from the Ghana Red Cross told the BBC.
Parts of northern Togo have also been affected and 34,000 people have been displaced there, the government says.
At least 20 Togolese have also been killed, while 101 bridges and 46 schools have been destroyed.
The government says it is sending food aid to the region.

"The situation is dire," said Benonita Bismark, from Ghana's Red Cross Society
She said the situation had been made worse when a dam in neighbouring Burkina Faso was opened, releasing more water into the Volta River, which flows in Ghana.
There have already been some cases of cholera, she told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
She said that most of those affected had lived in mud buildings which had collapsed.
Some villages in Ghana can only be reached by canoe, making it difficult to deliver aid.
The Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions have been declared a disaster zone by the government.
Upper East region minister Alhassan Samar said malaria and cholera could take hold and mosquito nets were being handed out.
People are being urged to boil their drinking water.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WHAT FUTURE FOR ANGLICANISM ?

By Christopher Landau BBC News.

When the American branch of the Anglican church appointed an openly gay bishop in 2003, conservatives said it could lead to a split in the worldwide denomination. Now African churches are taking the matter into their own hands. The US church is unhappy at the appointment of the new bishops.
People in Mbarara, a town in south-western Uganda, had long been looking forward to the appointment of their new bishop.
Such an appointment would normally pass without comment.
But then the Archbishop of Uganda told them that the consecration ceremony would be for two new bishops, not one - and the second new bishop was a white, American priest.
John Guernsey is the vicar of a thriving parish church in Dale City, Virginia. His church is one of several in the United States that is opposed to the American church's liberal approach to homosexuality.
His parish recently voted to leave the Episcopal Church - the official branch of Anglicanism in the United States - and instead look to the Church of Uganda for ultimate leadership.
Such moves mean abandoning centuries of Anglican tradition, where national churches act only within their own boundaries, and bishops are responsible for defined geographical areas.
The ceremony
John Guernsey's appointment as a bishop took place at a five-hour long ceremony in the open air, because the cathedral in Mbarara was unable to accommodate the thousands of people in attendance.
The Ugandan prime minister was there and there was a blend of Ugandan and English music ranging from African hymns to Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.

Kenyan consecration deepens Anglican rift

The newly appointed bishop said his appointment was a "surprising call" and that he hoped the "fire of revival" would touch the church in America.
John Guernsey's appointment is a sign of the thriving nature of many of the African churches that form part of the Anglican Communion.
Africa represents the single largest group of worshippers within Anglicanism - and most of those follow traditional Christian teaching that outlaws homosexuality.
The Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi, said that the Ugandan church had "come of age" and was now able to expand its mission to the United States. He said it would be "immoral if we don't respond" to those Christians in the US who feel unable to stay within the mainstream American Church.
Back to America
So how has John Guernsey's appointment been received in America? I travelled with the new bishop back to his Virginia home and found a parish hugely excited by their rector's new appointment.
At a celebratory picnic, one parishioner said that John Guernsey's appointment was a sign that the "true church" would not allow liberalising policies on homosexuality.
But the Bishop of Virginia - until recently John Guernsey's boss - said that his former colleague had made a mistake in being ordained bishop by the Ugandan church.

Thousands of Ugandans attended the ceremony in Mbarara.
"We say the same creeds, we read the same scripture, we sing the same hymns, we say the same prayers and the only difference seems to be the place of gay and lesbian people in their common life," said Bishop Peter Lee.
The problem for Anglicans is that they cannot agree on how to interpret the Bible, and therefore they arrive at very different views on a number of moral issues.
For conservative Anglicans, the Bible is clearly opposed to homosexuality. Liberals say that Jesus was silent on the issue.
What is clear is that the debate over sexuality is not going to be over soon, but in the meantime African Anglicans are seizing the initiative and creating new branches of their churches inside the United States.
All of which means that the task facing the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams - the head of the denomination - is a massive one, not helped by the fact that all Anglican bishops are due to meet in Canterbury next summer for the 10-yearly Lambeth Conference.
Already some African churches are threatening not to attend if liberal American bishops play a full part.
The road to Anglican unity remains a rocky one.

BBC NEWS REPORT

POLITICS SINK KENYA'S WAR ON GRAFT !

By Adam Mynott BBC News, Nairobi.

Most Kenyans are deeply cynical about MPs' decision to stop investigating allegations of grand corruption before 2003.
But, as ever in politics, there is more going on beneath the surface.
Kenya is just three months away from a presidential and parliamentary elections, and politicians are jostling for position, deciding which political alliance to join and working out how best to ensure their re-election.
The move to approve the clauses in the Statute Law Bill, emasculating the Kenya's Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), is as much about political point-scoring as it is about the merits of the legislation.
It is also governed by deep self-interest.
There is great scepticism about KACC's role and how effective it has been, and this was behind the motives of some of the MPs who voted for the clauses.
KACC has received more than 3,700 reports of alleged corruption since it was established in 2003.

It has achieved about 20 successful convictions and crucially most of these are for corrupt acts committed by minnows in the graft game - village chiefs and policemen, clerks in local government and minor officials convicted of taking bribes.
None of the big fish have been caught.
Evidence against cabinet ministers has been dismissed.
Three very senior politicians were implicated in the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scandals which cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
In February last year, Education Minister Professor George Saitoti, resigned after being accused of involvement in Goldenberg.
He denied any guilt and five months later the High Court in Nairobi said he had no case to answer.
He is back behind his desk at the ministry of education, and is even being talked of as a future president of the country.
Ministers Kiraitu Murungi and David Mwiraria were implicated in the Anglo Leasing scam; both men were forced to resign under a huge public outcry.

The man who led the parliamentary action this week is Paul Muite, MP for Safina, a very able politician and a sharp lawyer, he has long been a critic of KACC and its powers to dig into the private financial affairs of people it wants to investigate.
Mr Muite represented former cabinet minister Chris Murungaru, who lost his job after allegations of involvement in Anglo Leasing.
Mr Murungaru refused to reveal his wealth and assets, and has protested his innocence.
He is currently fighting a ban imposed on him by the British government from travelling to the UK.
Paul Muite was accused in parliament by Justice Minister Martha Karua of "having a personal interest" in seeing the amendments to the bill.
"This amendment," she said, "is mischievous."
There have also been claims that it suits many politicians to have a firm black line drawn under Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing, so deep and wide were the tentacles of corruption.

Whatever the motives of the 38 MPs who voted the amendments through, the impression left is that Kenya's MPs are as unconcerned about corruption as those in government.
Kenya's National Commission for Human Rights head Maina Kiai said: "Parliament has simply formalised what the executive has been doing, and it does send the message to all of us - not just internationally, but also to us in Kenya - that the war on corruption is as good as lost."
The current government came to power five years ago promising to "rid the country of corruption".
President Mwai Kibaki, who made that hollow promise in 2002, is preparing to run again.
No-one will believe him or any of the other candidates in Kenya's presidential race if they try to claim they will tackle corruption.
The people of Kenya have had heard it all before and it simply does not wash any longer.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S LEONE OPPOSITION 'SET FOR WIN' !

Opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma is still ahead in the race to become Sierra Leone's next president. With three-quarters of the votes from Saturday's run-off counted, Mr Koroma has some 60%, while Vice-President Solomon Berewa has about 40%.

Foreign observers said the poll was generally calm and orderly, although some irregularities had been reported. The National Election Commission said some polling stations had recorded turnouts of 100% or more. And police were detaining about 20 people for voting offences, AFP news agency reported. Invalid results The NEC has been widely praised for the "fair and transparent" conduct of the election, where overall turnout was about 73%. But the BBC's West Africa correspondent Will Ross says the NEC has to double up as a detective agency.

Authorities have been praised for their running of the polls. International observers, including teams from the European Union and the National Democratic Institute, had asked the NEC to investigate some 14 polling stations with unusually high turnouts. Christiana Thorpe, head of the commission, confirmed there had been cases of polling stations with a turnout of 100% or more. "In cases of voter turnout exceeding 100%, the station results shall be automatically invalidated," she told AFP.

A local monitoring body, National Election Watch (NEW), reported some cases of ballot-stuffing and other incidents. And Ms Thorpe said the commission officials had been subjected to intimidation and threats. No further results from the country's 6,157 polling stations are expected until Monday, while the commission investigates claims of foul play. This was Sierra Leone's first election since the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers. A particularly brutal civil war ended in 2002.

Our correspondent says whoever the new president is, he will have the task of uniting a country which to some extent has been divided anew by such a closely-fought election.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE MAN WHO REMOVES A MOUNTAIN BEGINS

BY CARRYING AWAY SMALL STONES" !

FRESH EARTHQUAKES ROCK INDONESIA !

Hundreds of buildings were damaged by the tremors. Fresh earthquakes have hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra, a day after the world's strongest tremor so far this year caused extensive damage.
At least nine people are known to have died in the earthquakes. But the full scale of the impact has yet to emerge.
Tsunami warnings were repeatedly issued and lifted, as many people ran inland fearing a repeat of the 2004 tsunami.
The largest tremor, of magnitude 8.4, has been followed by one of 7.8 and another of 6.4.

See where the earthquakes hit

On Thursday, the authorities issued - and lifted - another tsunami warning following the 6.4-magnitude quake off the northern tip of the island of Sulawesi.
Buildings collapsed
The earlier magnitude-7.8 quake struck Sumatra at 0649 on Thursday (2349 GMT on Wednesday), about 10km (six miles) under the sea, some 185km (115 miles) south-east of the city of Padang, the US Geological Survey says.
It came some 12 hours after the main tremor, about 30km (18 miles) under the sea, 130km (80 miles) south-west of the city of Bengkulu.
At least 40 people have been injured and hundreds of buildings damaged, officials say.

In pictures: Quake fear

"Many buildings collapsed after this morning's [Thursday's] quake. We're still trying to find out about victims," Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar told a local radio station.
In one village in the North Benguku district, 85% of about 1,000 houses were damaged, some badly, the BBC's Lucy Williamson in the area reports.
But no-one appears to have been killed in the village, our correspondent says.
Casualties appear to be lower than first feared, but officials warn that bad communications may be masking the scale of the impact.
Health officials in the capital, Jakarta, say teams carrying food and medicine are travelling to the area, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered the army and police to assist.
The United Nations said its teams were also heading for Sumatra.
Wednesday's quake sparked warnings across the Indian Ocean, but only a small wave surge of about 1m (3ft) hit Sumatra, causing little damage.

Animated guide: Earthquakes
Deadly history of quakes

But about two hours after the quake, Indonesia's meteorology agency said the danger of a serious tsunami had passed. India and Sri Lanka also called off tsunami warnings.
Thousands of people were reported to have spent the night sleeping in the open air in the areas of Bengkulu and Padang after the previous quake left them terrified.
Wednesday's earthquake was one of the most powerful in Indonesia since the tremor that caused the Asian tsunami in 2004.
That measured 8.9 and struck under the sea near the northern Sumatran province of Aceh, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people around the rim of the Indian Ocean.
Indonesia, part of the seismically active Pacific "Ring of Fire", is frequently shaken by earth tremors.

WHERE THE EARTHQUAKES HIT

Two earthquakes in same area, south-east of Padang, Sumatra
First earthquake at 1810 (1110 GMT) on Wednesday, magnitude 8.4
Second earthquake at 0649 on Thursday (2349 GMT on Wednesday), magnitude 7.8
Third earthquake of magnitude 6.4 at 1748 (0948 GMT) on Thursday, off northern Sulawesi

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ISRAEL'S SYRIA 'RAID' REMAINS A MYSTERY !

By Jonathan Marcus Diplomatic correspondent, BBC News.

Israel has kept up a careful policy of silence over the accusations. During the early hours of last Thursday morning, a number of Israeli jets appear to have entered Syrian air-space from the Mediterranean Sea, possibly penetrating deep into the country.
Later unidentified drop tanks, which may have contained fuel for the planes, were found on Turkish soil near the Syrian border, indicating perhaps the Israeli jets' exit route.
The Syrian authorities are livid. They say that the aircraft were driven off but that they fired their weaponry into a deserted area.
The implication is that the planes effectively dumped their munitions so better to manoeuvre during their escape.
The Syrian government has briefed Western diplomats and complained to the United Nations.
But there have been no images of the empty countryside where the weapons are alleged to have landed.
Israeli sources are saying nothing.
Long-standing contacts are uncharacteristically silent, noting only that Israel's military censorship on this subject is as tight as they can ever remember.
Mood of satisfaction
From Washington has come some partial illumination of the shadows.
US officials indicate that at least one target in northern Syria was hit and despite the Israeli silence there does seem to be a perceptible mood of satisfaction in Israel; a sense that what they wanted to achieve was carried out.
So what actually went on during the early hours of Thursday morning? Why were Israeli jets over Syria at all?
And if they indeed released weapons, what were they firing at?
Initially experts suggested that this might simply have been an over-flight to trigger air defence radars and gather electronic intelligence.
Such a probe might be linked to new air defence missiles reportedly supplied to Syria by the Russians.
Other pundits wondered if a potential strike path to Iran was being tested out; though a southern route here into US-controlled Iraqi air-space would be more logical.
And neither option would explain why such aircraft might be armed with air to ground weapons.
North Korea link
As far as likely targets of any attack go there are two broad suggestions.
One, cited by the New York Times newspaper quoting a US source, suggests that the attack was in some way linked to North Korea.
The former US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, raised the possibility that Syria is sheltering technology or materials relating to North Korea's nuclear programme.
When I spoke to Mr Bolton in London just the other day he strongly defended this thesis though he would not be drawn on the reliability of his sources.
Another suggestion is that maybe a missile store or factory with weaponry heading to Hezbollah in Lebanon was hit.
Israel has long complained that the Damascus government is at the very least turning a blind eye to such weapons supplies coming from Iran.
Maybe Israel decided to send the Syrian government a message that it would understand.
Muted response
What is intriguing is that the response of both the Syrian and Israeli governments has been muted - in the Israeli case largely mute.
The Syrians, while angry, are clearly embarrassed that something may have occurred that they failed to prevent.

Israel and Syria remain technically at war.
Israel's deterrent capacity, weakened by the summer 2006 war in Lebanon, is partially restored.
But an explanation too is needed for Israel's silence.
Maybe it does not want to over-play its hand.
This apparent raid comes after a summer of tensions between the two countries which some feared might lead to open warfare.
During the past few weeks tensions have markedly declined.
Indeed prior to the bombing mission, if that is what it was, Israel reportedly sent messages to Syria via an intermediary, indicating that it was scaling down its forces on the Golan Heights.
Was this an effort to ensure that this "raid" was not interpreted by the Syrians as a prelude to a large-scale Israeli attack?
There are still more questions than answers in this affair. More information is slowly seeping out.
But in many ways it is remarkable that in an age of instant news and the worldwide web spreading information almost at the speed of light, there can still be episodes like this that remain shrouded in so many layers of mystery.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE STUN AUSSIES IN THRILLER !

By Paresh Soni.
ICC World Twenty20 Group B, Cape Town: Zimbabwe 139-5 (19.5 overs) bt Australia 138-9 (20 overs) by five wickets

Zimbabwe produced a magnificent display to stun favourites Australia by five wickets in the World Twenty20.
The 50-over world champions could only manage 138-9, with Elton Chigumbura (3-20) and Gary Brent (2-19) backed up by energetic fielding and good catches.
Vusi Sibanda (23) began the reply well but wickets slowed the scoring before rain forced a delay in Cape Town.
Brendan Taylor kept cool to hit 60 off 45 balls and the penultimate ball went for four leg-byes to seal a famous win.

News conference: Australia captain Ricky Ponting
Interview: Zimbabwe batsman Brendan Taylor

It provided an early and dramatic twist in Group B, which also features England, who can eliminate the world's best team by beating them on Friday.
Ricky Ponting's men will need to improve considerably after a substantially below-par performance which continued the rustiness they showed in the warm-up matches.
Ponting became the first skipper in the tournament so far to opt to bat and soon saw Matthew Hayden edge behind, while Adam Gilchrist mis-timed a pull to deep mid-wicket to give Chigumbura two early victims.

Chigumbura took three wickets as the Aussies struggled.
When Ponting heaved Brent down to third man, the Aussies were 19-3 and Sibanda struck another blow when he hit the target from point after Mike Hussey changed his mind over a quick single.
A slowish pitch and sluggish outfield made scoring boundaries difficult against Zimbabwe's medium-pacers and the first six arrived in the 14th over when Brad Hodge (35no) crashed Hamilton Masakadza over wide mid-on.
But two balls later Andrew Symonds (33) was stumped lunging forward to the medium-pacer.
Hodge, the leading run scorer in Twenty20 history, then launched Tawanda Mupariwa over the fence at deep mid-wicket for his second maximum and he remained their best hope of posting a challenging total.
606: DEBATE
This is a massive boost for Zimbabwe cricket

Zimbo Gunner

However, Brad Haddin was snaffled at long-on, while Brett Lee clobbered Tatenda Taibu through the off-side for a six and four before losing his off-stump.
Mitchell Johnson was sent packing by a stunning throw from keeper Taylor which hit the single stump he had to aim at and Nathan Bracken sliced Chigumbura to deep cover.
Sibanda pouched with aplomb and then launched a series of terrific drives, crashing Bracken and Lee through the covers before hammering Bracken down the ground.
Ponting cut a worried figure but he was relieved when Sibanda edged behind trying to flay the left-armer away.

Taylor and Chigumbura were two of the heroes for Zimbabwe.
Justice Chibhabha made a confident start but got carried away and mis-timed another booming drive off Stuart Clark straight up in the air, Gilchrist pouncing, while Taibu edged Johnson behind to no doubt create palpitations in the Zimbabwean dressing room.
The boundaries dried up as the seamers started pitching the ball shorter and Matsikenyeri should have been run out by Hodge at one end and by the fielder backing up at the other.
With the rain coming down hard, the sense of drama was heightened when Matsikenyeri skied a catch off Clark to keeper Gilchrist and the seamer ended with excellent figures of 2-22.
When the umpires called a halt not long after the Aussies were firmly back in the game but Taylor cracked two big straight sixes off Hodge to bring the game back to the boil.
He got to his fifty off 38 balls and 23 were needed off the last three overs but clever bowling from Johnson and Lee denied the batsmen the room to clear the field.
Masakadza (27) was lbw trying to do that against Lee and 12 were required off the final over.
Taylor got an inside edge of the first ball from Bracken which evaded the fielder at deep backward square-leg and when the fifth delivery was speared down the leg-side by Bracken, it flicked off his pads to spark scenes of unbridled jubilation.

BBC SPORTS REPORT.

NIGERIAN KIDNAPPERS FREE TWO MEN !

Niger Delta kidnappers have freed two of the 11 governing officials seized in Ondo State at the weekend in a row over payments for alleged vote-rigging.
The militants say the Ondo state governor, Dr Olusegun Agagu, reneged on an agreement to pay them for helping rig the April election.
The kidnappers are demanding a ransom of nearly $4m.
But a People's Democratic Party (PDP) official denied the polls were rigged, and said the gunmen would get nothing.
The release of two hostages came after the intervention of Kingsley Kuku, a former member of the Ondo State assembly and secretary of the peace and reconciliation committee.
The militants claim to be members of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), the group blamed for regular hostage-taking in the region as part of their campaign for a larger share of Nigeria's oil money to be allocated to the peoples of the Delta.

Delta militants have carried out a series of attacks and abductions.
More than 200 expatriate oil workers have been kidnapped since early 2006 but nearly all were released unharmed in exchange for a ransom.
In the past few months, two young children, an 11-year-old and a politician's mother have been among the Nigerians kidnapped.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IN MEMORY OF STEVE BIKO !

In memory of a South African martyr
By Mpho Lakaje BBC News, Johannesburg.

Young people spread Steve Biko's political ideology through fashion.
Thirty years after freedom fighter Steve Biko was beaten to death in a Pretoria prison cell, his image is still instantly recognisable across South Africa.
Like the South American revolutionary Che Guevara, T-shirts imprinted with Biko's distinctive face have become a must-have fashion accessory amongst young South Africans.
For some that is a sign that post-apartheid youth culture still embraces Biko's message of racial pride and African unity.
But graphic designer Mugabe Thugwana is not so sure: "I don't think young people know enough about Biko."
"We have American heroes from a tender age and consequently forget about our culture, our history and our identity," he adds.
"It's up to us to learn more about ourselves so that we can propel ourselves to a better Africa."
Legacy
Stephen Bantu Biko is one of the most important figures in recent South African history and some are concerned about the commercialisation of his image. But it is undeniably one of the ways in which his legacy is kept alive.

Read your Biko poems

Afro Pop musician Tonic still sings a lot about Steve Biko because he says he was committed to breaking the shackles of apartheid and to making sure black people took pride in themselves as well as their culture.
"I remember when I was still a boy, the firs