CALIFORNIA FIRE 'STARTED BY BOY' !

The boy was questioned a day after the fire started. A young boy has confessed to starting a devastating wildfire in California by playing with matches, officials say.
The unidentified child was questioned by police about a fire that destroyed 63 buildings north of Los Angeles.
Wildfires forced 640,000 people from their homes last week in the biggest evacuation in California's history.
Officials said the boy was sent home after confessing, and the district attorney's office is said to be considering whether to press charges.
The boy was questioned in relation to the Buckweed fire, which started on 21 October, and burned 59 sq miles (153 sq km) in the Santa Clarita area.
Three civilians and one firefighter were injured, and state officials estimate the cost of the blaze at $7.4m (£3.6m).
It was initially believed that downed power lines had started the fire.

The Buckweed fire was one of more than a dozen blazes.
Arson is also blamed for a blaze that destroyed 15 homes in Orange County, south of Los Angeles.
A reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
In total, at least 1,800 homes and other buildings were destroyed by last week's fires, and at least 14 people died as a result.
Damage in San Diego county alone is estimated at about $1bn (£487m), with nearly 800 sq miles (2,072 sq km) of land scorched.
A handful of fires are still burning, but they are mostly contained.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MADRID TRAIN BOMBS VERDICT BEGINS !

The judges are ruling on a total of 28 defendants. Security forces are on alert in Spain as a court began delivering its verdict on the March 2004 Madrid train bombs, the country's largest terror trial. A three-judge panel began its summary at 1130 (1030 GMT) on Wednesday, to be followed by verdicts and sentences.

Twenty-eight people faced trial over the devastating nail-bomb blasts that hit four commuter trains, killing 191 people and injuring more than 1,800. All the accused pleaded innocent during the four-month trial. Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez is reading the summary, which is expected to take about 45 minutes. There are 28 defendants, 27 men and one woman, 19 mostly Moroccan Arabs and nine Spaniards, who faced charges including murder, forgery and conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack over the 11 March 2004 blasts.

MADRID TRAIN BOMBINGS

Bombs killed 191 people, injured 1,841
Ten backpacks filled with dynamite and nails blew up on four packed commuter trains
Twenty-eight on trial - 19 Arabs, mostly Moroccans, and nine Spaniards
Seven top suspects blew themselves up during police raid in April 2004
Prosecutors believe bombings were an Islamist plot
All defendants pleaded innocent

The defendants

The top eight defendants each face nearly 39,000 years in jail if found guilty on all charges, but under Spanish law the maximum sentence for terrorism is 40 years. Spanish investigators say the accused were part of a local Islamist militant group inspired by al-Qaeda, but had no direct links to the terror organisation. Fourteen of the accused went on hunger strike during the trial, in protest against what they called unjust accusations against them. Seven suspected ringleaders died in a suicide blast in a Madrid apartment three weeks after the attacks.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero says he hopes the ruling will "give a definitive answer to those who have put forth absurd and despicable doubts about 11 March". Many Spaniards still have serious doubts about who was behind the attacks, says the BBC's Danny Wood in Madrid. Some theories - supported by a number of victims - suggest they were part of a coup d'etat involving Spain's secret services. But many others believe the verdict will clear up such doubts, and regard it as a key step towards recovery, our correspondent says.

Memorial services are planned for a week after the verdict.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SAUDI KING SHARP-MINDED AS EVER!

By John Simpson World affairs editor, BBC News

Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz became king of Saudi Arabia in 2005.

Saudi king interview

Interviewing the leader of a country for TV is rarely easy.
Some try to get you to tell them the questions in advance. Others insist that you must leave your equipment with them for 24 hours beforehand, or search you rigorously.
When you saw Saddam Hussein you had to wash your hands in a special solution first, in case you might infect him.
But when I went to interview King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, a couple of days before his state visit to Britain, we did not even have to put our gear through an X-ray machine nor go through a metal detector.
I thought it was going to be easy.
King Abdullah's palace is tasteful, modern and charming. The white marble is cool and pleasant after the heat outside. The offices are wood-panelled, and there are some attractive paintings.
I was just running through my questions in my head when the difficult part began.
A few minutes before we thought the interview was going to begin, someone came to speak to us.

King chides UK on terrorism
Who's who: Senior Saudis

The king would not, it seemed, be prepared to talk about Iraq, or the possibility that the Americans might bomb Iran.
Nor would he speak about the BAE arms contract between the UK and Saudi Arabia, with its attendant allegations of corrupt payments.
The Saudis knew I wanted to talk about these subjects because although I had refused to hand over the questions in advance, I thought it was not unreasonable to tell them the general areas I wanted to cover.
I have never been told so close to an interview that some of the main questions are off limits.
And so I heard myself saying that, unfortunately, it looked as though we would not be having an interview after all.
But I did not quite walk out. That would have been rude, and the Saudis had treated us with kindness and courtesy.

The minister said he would call the Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, and ask him to give us an interview about the subjects the king did not want to speak about
Instead, we had a polite but firm argument. There were two ministers and an ambassador on the Saudi side, and I called in our producer, Oggy Boytchev, to back me up.
Cups of tea came in, and little sweets, and glasses of water. Two hours passed.
Then the minister who had been leading the discussion spoke to the other minister, and made a new suggestion.
He would, he said, call the Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, and ask him to give us an interview about the subjects the king did not want to speak about.
I have interviewed Prince Saud before. In fact, he gave me one of the best exclusives I have had, shortly before the US-led invasion of Iraq, when he showed how bitterly opposed the Saudis were to it.
In his quiet way, Prince Saud can be ferocious.

Something else had become clear to me by now. The king was not refusing to talk about Iran and Iraq because he was not interested in them.
On the contrary, I now realised he felt so strongly about what the US had done in Iraq, and the thought that they might soon bomb Iran, that he felt he might upset his relations with Washington if he spoke openly to me.
So I agreed.
Within five minutes of agreeing to the deal, I was sitting opposite the king. He was shrewd and pleasant and surprisingly frank, and at 82 still as sharp-minded as ever.
He said enough things to me about terrorism and the failure of other countries, including the UK, to act against terrorist activities, to get headlines around the world.
At the end, he said he wanted to say something personally to me.
"I have not spoken about some subjects," he said, "Because I did not want either to be dishonest or evasive with you."
Maybe he wanted to demonstrate how independent-minded Saudi Arabia has become during his rule.
But it was certainly one of the most complicated and interesting interviews I have ever done.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAQI DAM 'AT RISK OF COLLAPSE' !

Mosul Dam has been a problem for engineers since it was built in 1984. The largest dam in Iraq is at risk of an imminent collapse that could unleash a 20m (65ft) wave of water on Mosul, a city of 1.7m people, the US has warned.
In May, the US told Iraqi authorities to make Mosul Dam a national priority, as a catastrophic failure would result in a "significant loss of life".
However, a $27m (£13m) US-funded reconstruction project to help shore up the dam has made little or no progress.
Iraq says it is reducing the risk and insists there is no cause for alarm.

An aerial view of the Mosul dam and its flood plain.
Enlarge Image

However, a US watchdog said reconstruction of the dam had been plagued by mismanagement and potential fraud.
In a report published on Tuesday, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said US-funded "short-term solutions" had yet to significantly solve the dam's problems.
SIGIR found multiple failures in several of the 21 contracts awarded to repair the dam.
Among the faults were faulty construction and delivery of improper parts, as well as projects which were not completed despite full payments having been made.
The dam has been a problem for Iraqi engineers since it was constructed in 1984.
It was built on water-soluble gypsum, which caused seepage within months of its completion and led investigators to describe the site as "fundamentally flawed".

In September 2006, the US Army Corps of Engineers determined that the dam, 45 miles upstream of Mosul on the River Tigris, presented an unacceptable risk.
"In terms of internal erosion potential of the foundation, Mosul Dam is the most dangerous dam in the world," the corps warned, according to the SIGIR report. "If a small problem [at] Mosul Dam occurs, failure is likely."
A catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam would result in flooding along the Tigris River all the way to Baghdad - US letter to Iraqi government.
The corps later told US commanders to move their equipment away from the Tigris flood plain near Mosul because of the dam's instability.
The top US military commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, and US ambassador Ryan Crocker then wrote to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki urging him to make fixing the dam a "national priority".
"A catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam would result in flooding along the Tigris River all the way to Baghdad" the letter on 3 May warned.
"Assuming a worst-case scenario, an instantaneous failure of Mosul Dam filled to its maximum operating level could result in a flood wave 20m deep at the city of Mosul, which would result in a significant loss of life and property."
If that were to happen some have predicted that as many as 500,000 people could be killed.

Iraqi authorities, however, say they are taking steps to reduce the risk and they do not believe there is cause for alarm.
The Iraqi Minister for Water Resources, Latif Rashid, told the BBC that a number of steps were being taken to tackle the problem, including a reduction in water levels in the reservoir and a round-the-clock operation to pump grouting into the dam's foundations.
Work would also begin next year on a longer-term plan to make the foundations safe by encasing them in a concrete curtain, he added.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says the debate over the dam has gone on largely behind the scenes so as not to cause public panic or attract the interest of insurgents.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UGANDA REBELS AGREE KAMPALA TALKS !

Uganda's northern rebel group says it will hold unprecedented talks with the president in the capital on Thursday.
The visit by senior Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) figures will be the first to Kampala since the start of the 21-year bloody insurgency in the north.
The meeting is due after President Yoweri Museveni returns from the US, where he is due to talk to President George Bush about the peace process.
Last year, LRA leaders signed a truce with the government at talks in Sudan.
Be reassured that there is no split within the Lord's Resistance Army hierarchy -LRA statement.

LRA leader Joseph Kony remains at a rebel camp across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He has refused to take part in long-running but stalled peace talks in south Sudan unless the International Criminal Court lifts an arrest warrant against him.
Some two million people have been displaced and thousands killed during the conflict in northern Uganda.
Ahead of Mr Museveni's trip to the US, Ugandans petitioned Mr Bush to re-affirm his support for the ongoing peace process by urging the Ugandan leader not to seek a military option to end the rebellion.
Thursday's talks - to be attended by the rebels' chief negotiator Martin Ojul - are to pave the way for the LRA to hold nationwide consultations aimed at finding a lasting peace.

Peace talks bring change

An advance party of LRA security representatives have been in Kampala since Monday.
"The LRA peace team led by Mr Ojul will meet President Museveni before embarking on its mission covering West Nile, northern and eastern, central and western Uganda," LRA spokesman George Ayoo said at a press conference in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.
He said that Mr Ojul, who was present at the media briefing, will be accompanied by South Sudan Information Minister Samson Kwaje and representatives from South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique during the consultation exercise.
Earlier, Uganda's Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, who heads the government mediation team, said the new development will cement the achievements made in Juba, south Sudan's capital.
"We think that confidence has been built within both sides and we do not expect the walk outs that have been experienced in the past," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
The LRA has once again dismissed reports of fighting between Mr Kony and his deputy, leading to mass desertions.
"To you people of Uganda be reassured that there is no split within the Lord's Resistance Army hierarchy," said an LRA statement issued at the press conference.
"There is superb and warm relationship between General Joseph Kony and Lt Gen Vincent Otti."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DIARY OF A SOUTH AFRICAN ROADTRIP!

The BBC's Peter Biles is keeping a diary of his travels across South Africa examining issues facing the governing African National Congress (ANC) ahead of its major leadership contest and national conference in December:

TUESDAY 30 OCTOBER
Free State

It is always a liberating experience to get out of Johannesburg and explore the vast open space of South Africa's "platteland" (countryside).
My first stop on this two week journey is the town of Smithfield where I meet Carmel Rickard, a writer and social commentator.
She left Durban six years ago seeking a better quality of life in the southern Free State.
Smithfield is a rather quaint little place, founded in 1848, but Carmel tells me it is typical of so many small towns across the country.
"This is a poor community with few resources, and people are struggling," she says.
"The infrastructure is hopelessly inadequate and the local council cannot provide essential services."
She adds that there is also corruption and maladministration.

The N6 highway (known as "The Friendly Route" - for a reason that escapes me) leads across the Free State border into the mountains of the Eastern Cape.
The Udaba Band expresses concern about political and social issues
Here the towns bear British imperial names: Queenstown, Jamestown and King William's Town.
They conjure up images of the 19th century frontier wars.
At the foot of the Amatola Hills, I reach the tranquil surroundings of Fort Hare University.
This is the oldest black university in southern Africa, and can boast having produced four African presidents and three prime ministers.
Some of the university's rebellious luminaries, notably Nelson Mandela, were expelled before completing their degrees, but all that is forgotten nearly 70 years on.
Under the trees in Freedom Square, I meet a handful of today's students: Lisa, Phozisa, Dumisani, Pumelele and Baxolisa.
I want to know if they are as politically engaged as their parents' generation which rallied behind the fight against apartheid.
The youngsters acknowledge the ANC's considerable achievements in moving South Africa forward since 1994.
Lisa says she is worried about the personality-driven politics that herald the start of the party's leadership race .
"It's quite confusing for me at this stage. You ask yourself which ANC: The Jacob Zuma ANC, the Thabo Mbeki ANC or the Tokyo Sexwale ANC?"
They are also anxious about the growing gap between rich and poor in South Africa.
"Who are these black leaders who know the interests of the people? The rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer and it leaves us with a question mark. We feel like we are isolated," says Dumusani, a third-year politics student.
Phumelele introduces his Udaba Band - a trio of performers with traditional instruments - who produce a haunting, melodic sound.
The Xhosa lyrics express concern about political, economic and social issues of the day.
The ANC could do well to listen.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

OIL PRICES BREAK THROUGH $93 MARK!

Mexico had to halt one-fifth of its production because of storm fears. Oil prices have risen to fresh highs due to a combination of the weak dollar, supply concerns in Mexico and continued tensions in northern Iraq. In early Asian trading, US light crude passed $93 a barrel for the first time, hitting $93.20 before easing back to $92.88 by early afternoon in Europe. London's Brent also hit a fresh high of $90 before pulling back to $89.58. Some analysts believe oil prices will hit $100 a barrel before the end of 2007 if current pressures persist.

An array of factors has forced prices up, analysts said. In past months there also have been concerns about the stop-start violence in Nigeria's main oil producing region, the international community's unresolved nuclear dispute with Iran, and concerns over heating supplies for the us Winter.

What is driving prices so high?

At the same time, the US currency has fallen to a fresh low against the euro, making oil - which is priced in dollars - attractive to buy, analysts said. Suggestions that the US Federal Reserve may cut interest rates further when it meets later this week has further hit confidence in the dollar and pushed money towards oil. "It looks like everyone wants to sell the dollar and buy other assets, whatever assets whether they be equities or commodities," said Christoph Eibl, head of trading at Tiberius Asset Management.

In recent days, prices have spiked further on worries about disruption to a fifth of Mexican oil output following a tropical storm in the Caribbean. Worries over Mexican output have also pushed prices up. Earlier in the month, prices were driven by fears that Turkey may carry out an extensive ground assault against Kurdish rebels in Iraq. US light crude broke through the $92 a barrel price for the first time on Friday and prices have now risen 30% since the start of August.

Efforts by producers' group Opec to restrain prices by agreeing to lift production from 1 November have so far failed to calm the market. Taking inflation into account, prices are still below the peak of $101 a barrel seen in 1980. But analysts are now bracing themselves for oil to approach the nominal $100 mark in the next few weeks should current conditions continue. "I personally don't believe we will see prices at $100 a barrel but it is not impossible given the situation," said David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PRISON 'LIKELY' IN CHAD CHILD ROW!

Chad's interior minister has said six French aid workers are likely to go to prison after attempting to fly more than 100 children out of eastern Chad. Ahmat Mahamat Bachir told the BBC that a judge was expected to lay charges of child abduction against the workers. Ten other people have been detained, including seven Spanish crew of the plane that was to be used by the charity, known as Zoe's Ark. The charity has denied it planned to sell the children for adoption.It has said the 103 children are orphans from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.

Children's trauma
Profile: Zoe's Ark

However staff from the UN children's agency Unicef say many of the children, now being kept in an orphanage in Abeche, cry at night for their parents and say they are from villages in Chad. Mr Bachir said the case would go before a judge on Monday. "They made fake visas, which means they forged the documents. For us, abduction is more than a crime. They could be put in jail for several years. "They committed the offence in Chad, so they would be imprisoned in Chad of course, it's very probable," he said.

The French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, Rama Yade, said the planned operation by the charity was "irresponsible" but that France would offer its citizens "maximum consular assistance". The children are not being treated for any serious illnesses or injuries."France is a good mother, we will be with these French nationals to protect them as far as we can, to guarantee their rights and we will never leave them," she told Europe 1 radio. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said the charity workers' actions were illegal and unacceptable.

Chad's President Idriss Deby has promised "severe punishment" for what he has described as a "kidnapping" or "child-trafficking" operation. Denying it planned to sell the children for adoption, Zoe's Ark says it was given statements from tribal leaders that all the children were Darfur orphans with no known relatives. The charity insists it was trying in good faith to take endangered children abroad for medical treatment. However, a BBC reporter says the children appear to be in good health.

The BBC's Stephanie Hancock was among a group of reporters taken by Chadian authorities to the airport at Abeche, a town close to the Sudanese border, and shown the private charter plane still sitting on the runway where it was abandoned three days ago. The reporters were later taken to the local police headquarters to see the 16 detained Westerners - six French charity-workers, three French journalists and a seven-strong Spanish crew.

They are not being held in prison cells but in a large room and are showing no signs of mistreatment, our correspondent says. The seven Spaniards among the group are the plane's two pilots and five air stewards. Spanish media have reported they are employees of the Barcelona-based charter company, Girjet. The company said it had provided transport for the charity but was not otherwise involved in the plan, reports said.

The reporters were also taken to the orphanage where the children are being cared for by aid workers and UN staff. Aid workers confirmed they were not treating any of the children for any serious illnesses or injuries. The vast majority of the children are believed to be between three and five years old, with the oldest about eight or nine, and several babies no more than one and a half, our correspondent says.

The president of the French national committee for Unicef said 48 of the children questioned so far appeared to be Chadian, not Sudanese. "Our impression is that the majority aren't orphans, but at this stage it's just an impression," Jacques Hintzy told Radio Television Luxembourg. A Paris court began investigating the charity last Tuesday after receiving a report about the unauthorised action.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RAMAPHOSA PUT FORWARD FOR CONTEST!

Mpho Lakaje BBC News, Johannesburg

With less than two months to go before the African National Congress elects a new leader, businessman Cyril Ramaphosa is emerging as a compromise contender. Mr Ramaphosa's name has been put forward by a Cape Town branch of the ANC to challenge for the top job. Jacob Zuma and Tokyo Sexwale are expected to stand as may President Thabo Mbeki even though he cannot serve a third term as South Africa's leader.

The ANC leader would be expected to become the next president in 2009. The nomination of Mr Ramaphosa, by the Rondebosch branch in the city of Cape Town, comes in spite of the former unionist's insistence that he has retired from political life. The 55-year-old former trade union leader was Nelson Mandela's choice as his successor at the head of the ANC.

He was outmanoeuvred by current president Thabo Mbeki and left active politics to concentrate on his investment company Shanduka. But Mr Ramaphosa remained a member of the ANC executive committee, the party's decision-making body. He first made headlines when he led mineworkers to one of the country's biggest marches in the 1980s.

Media reports suggest that Mr Ramaphosa was lobbied last week by influential ANC cadres including former Education Minister Kader Asmal. However he will find himself tussling with his comrade Jacob Zuma for the backing of his former comrades at the Union of Mine Workers. The union has already announced that it will support Zuma for the hot seat.

Profile: Cyril Ramphosa

Up until now the political battle within the ANC has been dominated by Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. Analysts say that could make Mr Ramaphosa an attractive compromise as an alternative candidate. It is believed that Gauteng Province, which has been divided on a candidate, could come out and back Mr Ramaphosa.

Mr Mbeki has the support of the powerful Eastern Cape while Mr Zuma is backed by the province of KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC Youth League and the Congress of South African Trade Unions. Some ANC members have urged both men to withdraw from the race because victory for either will sharply divide the ruling party.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"HE THAT IS GOOD FOR MAKING EXCUSES

IS SELDOM GOOD FOR ANYTHING ELSE" !

SAUDI KING CHIDES UK ON TERRORISM!

King Abdullah says Britain is not doing enough to fight terrorism
Saudi king interview

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has accused Britain of not doing enough to fight international terrorism, which he says could take 20 or 30 years to beat.
He was speaking in a BBC interview ahead of a state visit to the UK - the first by a Saudi monarch for 20 years.
He also said Britain failed to act on information passed by the Saudis which might have averted terrorist attacks.
King Abdullah is expected to arrive in the UK on Monday afternoon; his visit begins formally on Tuesday,
In the BBC interview he said the fight against terrorism needed much more effort by countries such as Britain and that al-Qaeda continued to be a big problem for his country.
BBC world affairs correspondent John Simpson says King Abdullah is annoyed that the rest of the world has largely failed to act on his proposal for a UN clearing house for information about terrorism.

Speaking through an interpreter, the Saudi monarch said he believed most countries were not taking the issue seriously, "including, unfortunately, Great Britain".
"We have sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attacks in Britain but unfortunately no action was taken. And it may have been able to maybe avert the tragedy."
The Saudi leadership maintains that it passed the UK information that might have averted the London bombings of 2005 if it had been acted on.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says Whitehall officials have strenuously denied this, and a subsequent investigation by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) found no evidence of any intelligence passed on by the Saudis that could have prevented the 7 July 2005 bombings.
The king's visit has provoked controversy over Britain's relationship with Saudi Arabia.
A demonstration is planned outside the Saudi embassy in London later in the week in protest at the country's human rights record.
And acting Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable has announced he is boycotting the visit, citing the corruption scandal over Al Yamamah arms deal, and the Saudis' human rights record.

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 29 OCTOBER
LOOK OUT FOR

BBC correspondent Alan Johnston answering readers' questions on his experience as a Gaza hostage
'My kidnap ordeal'

Drug trial: A court in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, is to host the latest hearing in criminal proceedings against pharmaceutical multinational, Pfizer stemming from 1996 trials of an anti-meningitis drug.
Q&A: Nigeria sues Pfizer

Technology Central: The Indian city of Bangalore hosts what is billed as Asia's largest information technology and telecoms event.
Here is the news from Bangalore

Power struggle: Six men accused of plotting to overthrow Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe are due to appear in court in Harare.
Q&A: Mugabe's Zimbabwe

Royal visit: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah is due to visit the United Kingdom on a state visit.
A very British solution to a Saudi problem

TUESDAY 30 OCTOBER
Football festa: Brazil is set to be confirmed as the host nation for the 2014 Football World Cup. Expect celebrations on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
In pictures: World Cup kitsch

Spirited away: Pakistan's interior minister and the director of the country's secret service are due to appear at the Supreme Court to explain why exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was deported, hours after his return.
In pictures: Sharif's short return

WEDNESDAY 31 OCTOBER
Judgement day: A court in Spain is to announce the verdict and sentences for 29 people accused of involvement in the deadly Madrid training bombings of 2004.
In depth: Madrid train attacks

Feeling flush: The seventh world toilet summit takes place in New Delhi. Attended by sanitation experts, its aim is provide toilets for all by 2025.
Sanitation 'best medical advance'

THURSDAY 1 NOVEMBER

Altars are draped in flowers and decorated with offerings.
Dia de los muertos: Mexico marks its Day of the Dead festival, a joyous and colourful celebration of souls who have passed away.
Profile: Mexico

Booming market: US drinks giants Starbucks and Pepsi launch new ready drinks aimed at Chinese consumers.
Forbidden City Starbucks replaced

You've got mail: Chinese dissidents begin their case against Yahoo for aiding torture, filed in the US. The company, which says it has to comply with local laws, is being sued by the World Organization for Human Rights for sharing information about its users with the Chinese government.
Yahoo plea over China rights case

FRIDAY 2 NOVEMBER
Crossing borders: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to attend a conference of countries neighbouring Iraq to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkey wins Iraq backing on PKK

SATURDAY 3 NOVEMBER
Robot racing: Saturday marks the final day of the Urban Challenge Robot Car Race. The competition, between cars designed to drive themselves, is organised by the US government's military research arm.
Robot rally cars face tough race

SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER
To the polls: Guatemalans vote in the second round run-off of presidential elections after none of the candidates secured the 50% of votes needed to win in the first round.
Profile: Guatemala

Running Athens: The 25th Athens classic marathon race takes place. Contestants run a 25-mile (40km) route across the city remembering Athenian courier, Pheidippides, who in 490BC ran back to the city to announce the victory of Greece over Persia.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

VIRGIN CO-PILOT IN ALCOHOL ARREST!

A Virgin Atlantic co-pilot has been arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of being over the legal alcohol limit, police have said.
The 42-year-old first officer was held after police boarded the passenger jet on Sunday morning, as final checks were being carried out before take-off.
The 266 passengers on the Miami-bound flight were delayed while a replacement flight deck crew was found.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said the man was later freed on bail.
"At 11.16am officers arrested a 42-year-old crew member on board a Virgin Atlantic flight to Miami. He was arrested under section 94 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003," he said.

It is understood the arrested man was acting as relief first officer on the flight, providing cover for the captain and his co-pilot in the event of both becoming unable to fly the plane.
A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said the crew member has been suspended from duty pending a police investigation.
She said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that one of its first officers has been released on police bail in connection with an allegation made this morning.
"Virgin Atlantic would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused and would like to reassure passengers that the airline will be investigating this matter thoroughly in accordance with its strict company policies in relation to operational staff.
"The safety and security of its passengers and crew is Virgin Atlantic's top priority."
Following the airline's policy, all members of the three-man flight deck were replaced following the arrest, causing the flight's delay.
Airline regulations recommend flight crews do not drink alcohol less than eight hours before flying.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

RAIN DAMPENS BOK'S SOWETO PARADE !

Nelson Mandela met the team, including wing star Bryan Habana.
Mandela's speech

South Africa's World Cup-winning rugby team has paraded through Soweto and met Nelson Mandela after reversing an earlier decision not to visit the area. However, steady rain and cold weather, plus short notice of the visit, meant few fans turned out to greet the team. The tour was organised after complaints from the black township that it was left out of the celebration plans.

Rugby authorities have come under pressure to select more black players in what is traditionally a white sport. Among the Springboks' first XV, only two players - wingers Bryan Habana (recently declared World Player of 2007) and JP Pietersen - are not white.
The BBC's Peter Greste, in Soweto, says the Springboks' arrival was heralded by an escort of police motorbikes.

Rain and cold meant few people lined the parade route. But with the weather cold, wet and miserable, the organisers had everything against them, our correspondent adds.
Just a handful of people lined the streets of the sprawling township to cheer the team through.
Shortly afterwards the team visited former President Nelson Mandela, 89.
"You have put us on the map," Mr Mandela told the team. "I doubt if there is anybody who doesn't know of the resistance of South Africa."

The Springboks decided to tour Soweto following an outcry when officials left the area out of the original victory tour itinerary, blaming "logistics".
"We've been worshipping them, supporting them throughout the World Cup and at this stage we should be taking the game to the people," Johannes Mhlongo - captain of the Soweto Rugby Club (the township's only rugby club) told the BBC.
The row surrounding the team's visit to Soweto has soured that sense of unity, our correspondent says.
But the organisers are planning many more parades in towns and cities across the country over the coming week.
They plan to stretch any lingering sense of pride and goodwill for as long as possible.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

Dignity and Freedom
Sunday 28th October 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

The first real rain of the new season fell this week and it came with a bang. In the distance the rolling rumble of thunder got louder as the storm drew closer. The sky grew darker, the clouds dropped lower and then the birds went quiet - a sure sign that it was about to start. The noise soon built to tremendous levels and the flashes of lightning were instantly followed by cracks of explosive, roaring thunder - the storm was directly overhead. A strange orange, yellow cloud formed in the sky - a warning of ice for sure. Two shirtless men who had been toiling for most of the day down in the riverbed ran up to the road and raced for cover, using their buckets as umbrellas. The pair have become a feature of the neighbourhood this summer. They collect water from a pool they have dug in the almost dry riverbed that runs through a nearby vlei. The water is murky and the buckets are edged with mud but there is a continuous demand from urban neighbourhoods where water is usually only available for a couple of hours a day, and somedays not at all. The men fill buckets, decant them into twenty litre containers, load them onto a hand cart and then sell them in the neighbourhoods to those most desperate.

Moments after the water gatherers had taken cover the rain began, coming in thin slanting sheets at first but then overtaken by a rush of hail stones. The pea sized white balls skipped off the roof and lay on the ground giving a temporary white landscape which soon melted. When the hail slowed the torrents of rain moved in - big drops pelting down, bringing relief to the land and giving hope that always comes with a new season. Two inches (50ml) of rain fell in the first hour, accompanied by brilliant streaks of white fork lightning coursing through the sky, so close as to make your hair stand on end.

When it was over, seemingly from nowhere, came the summer regulars: Sausage flies, Dragon flies, Chongololos, Flying ants and the big black biting ants that give off a foul smell which we called Matabele Ants when we were kids. From unknown places a myriad crickets, cicadas and frogs have emerged to sing and screech and fill the air with the sound of Africa. The hard, baked ground has come back to life instantly and there is a new, soft spring underfoot. Almost overnight a flush of green has risen in the bush, on the roadsides and across our gardens. The barren, burnt landscape, ravaged by a devastating season of bush fires, can breathe again - you can almost feel the relief. The wild flowers that stood so starkly in the sand and ash have also taken on a new fullness and more mellow colour and are a picture: dwarf red Combretums, Yellow Heads, blue Thunbergia, exquisite orange Pimpernels and the Protea bushes are covered in creamy white flowers.

Zimbabwe came back to life again this week, you can see it and feel it and smell it. And now in our newly washed land we look to our leaders and politicians to finally put an end to this time of pain and suffering and turmoil. We are not a greedy, selfish and demanding nation, we want only food in the fields, products in the shops and space to walk, talk and act with dignity and freedom. We want our families that are living such hard and lonely lives in the diaspora to come home; we want to start rebuilding our communities and neighbourhoods and to have joy in our lives again. It is not too much to ask. Perhaps this new season can be the start, the change we all so desperately want.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
love cathy.

INDIA LANDLESS MARCH NEARS DELHI !

About 25,000 protesters are due to arrive in the Indian capital Delhi later on Sunday after marching 325km (202 miles) to demand land reform.
The protesters, mostly low-caste tenant farmers and landless indigenous people, say they have been left behind by India's economic boom.

The marchers set out on 2 October, the national holiday marking the birthday of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
The government has promised to set up a commission to examine land reform.
Demands for land redistribution have been a familiar part of India's political landscape for many years, but now the government seems ready to listen, says the BBC's Jatinder Sidhu in Delhi.
The protesters have already met Sonia Gandhi, president of the ruling Congress Party and they hope to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday.
The marchers are converging on Delhi on Sunday and on Monday they say they will bring the centre of the capital to a standstill.
They are calling for a national authority to oversee land reform and a system of fast track courts to deal with the long delays in resolving land disputes.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HUMANS FAILING ....

Humans failing the sustainability audit.
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website.

With its Geo-4 report, the United Nations tells us that most aspects of the Earth's natural environment are in decline; and that the decline will affect us, the planet's human inhabitants, in some pretty important ways.

Geo-4 provides a check-up on the health of the planet.
Feel like you have heard it before? Of course you have, not least from the UN.
So what, you might ask, is special about this report? Why is it worth any more than a cursory headline glance before returning to the party?
Well, first there is the sheer scale. Hundreds of researchers from a huge variety of disciplines have compiled, written and analysed its 572 pages; thousands more have reviewed the various chapters.
Second, Geo-4 covers the whole range of environmental issues, and the links between them.
In these climate-obsessed times, it is often forgotten that issues like forestry, fresh water supplies, agriculture, biodiversity, and the spread of desert land all connect to each other and to climate change.

READ THE REPORT IN FULL
UN's Global Environment Outlook [21.9MB]

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In the language of James Lovelock's Gaia theory, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that have punctuated 2007 allowed us to take the planet's temperature; Geo-4 shows us what is going on in the blood supply, the lymph system, the intestines and the immune defences.
Third, it explores the links between social trends and environmental decline in a way that is not often done. Which other body, for example, asks whether the divergence we are seeing in the wealth of the richest and the poorest is good or bad for the environment?
And fourth, it is a staging post on a journey which in principle the international community embarked upon 20 years ago; a chance to see how far society has come, and in which direction.
Sustainable commitment
1987 was perhaps the year when the international community, through the United Nations, began to sound as though it were serious about the environment.

Our Common Future contained fine words, and fine sentiments; Geo-4 suggests they have not been acted upon.

State of the Earth, in graphics

It was the year that the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by the then Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, delivered the gospel of sustainability.
When Mrs Brundtland presented the commission's conclusions to the UN General Assembly, in the form of a report entitled Our Common Future, they were well received.
The assembled governments declared they were "concerned about the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social development".
They agreed that sustainable development - by which they meant "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" - should become a central guiding principle of the UN itself, as well as its member governments.
They called upon governments - ie themselves - to "ensure that their policies, programmes and budgets encourage sustainable development".
Officially, it was now acknowledged that environmental protection and human development were inextricably linked; there could be no sustainable economic development without environmental protection, and no sustained environmental protection without equitable economic development.
The Brundtland Report set the scene for the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit five years later, which would deliver more specific global commitments on climate, biodiversity, desertification and forests, turning the commission's broad vision into narrower objectives, more measurable and so - perhaps - more achievable.
Our Common Future contained fine words, and fine sentiments; Geo-4 suggests they have not been acted upon.
Almost everywhere it looks, Geo-4 finds evidence of decline in the years since.
Rivers - the lifeblood for millions - continue to be polluted and exploited.
From over-fishing and pollution in the oceans to climate-changing emissions in the atmosphere, it concludes that pretty much everything is going downhill.
More greenhouse gases, more widespread pollution, declining availability of fresh water, deforestation, degradation of farmland, ocean acidification - it is hard to come up with a more comprehensive and, frankly, a more depressing list.
Yet humans are living longer; and in most parts of the world, living standards are higher. Unep calculates that per-capita GDP has gone up from close to $6,000 to just over $8,000 over the last 20 years.
So what, you might ask, is the problem?
Marine fish stocks provide perhaps the clearest example.
Three-quarters of marine fisheries are exploited up to, or beyond, their maximum capacity.
Today's industrial-scale fleets deploy giant nets which could fit a phalanx of jumbo jets through their mouths, they use sonar to find shoals of fish and GPS to locate fertile fishing grounds.
Yet they are finding less and less to catch, because there is less and less there; eventually, there may be nothing at all worth hunting.

Oceans may not be able to meet the needs of future generations.
There could be no clearer example of a society engaged in unsustainable development; a society that is "meeting the needs of the present", but in doing so is very definitely "compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
Humans might be living longer and richer lives now, this implies; but environmental degradation must at some point curb or even reverse the trend.
To use the jargon, the world's store of financial capital is rising at the expense of its natural capital, the bits of nature that humans rely on to provide food and water and to re-process our waste.
It finds that the unsustainable label sticks to everything examined by Mrs Brundtland's team: "There are no major issues raised in Our Common Future for which the foreseeable trends are favourable".
Growing concerns
Since Brundtland, the world's human population has increased by 34%; although the rate of growth is slowing, it is a long way from stabilisation.
A larger population needs more land to live on and grow food, hence causing more deforestation and more encroachment into areas previously left for nature. It means extracting more water for drinking, industry and agriculture; more energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Earth 'too crowded for Utopia'

Brundtland suggested developing policies that simultaneously aimed to restrain population growth while reducing both poverty and environmental destruction.
If that was ever feasible, politicians and their advisors now generally consider population growth such a sensitive issue that it has virtually disappeared off the sustainability radar.
By pointing out that global population growth is a significant environmental issue, Geo-4 might just encourage politicians to bring it back out of the closet, so that it can at least be discussed again.
Human salvation?
Sustainable development is not the easiest concept to catch up with; certainly it is much harder for a government to measure whether greenhouse gas emissions are rising, or whether economic growth is accelerating than to evaluate whether its overall policy portfolio is sustainable.

Why sustainable development matters

Jonathon Porritt has argued on this website that sustainable development is not just a "boring catch-phrase", but the key to a better future for humankind and the natural world.
As he also argued, there has never been more talk about it; in fact, if a tree were planted every time a modern European politician uttered the SD-phrase, loss of forest would probably be a thing of the past.
Geo-4 shows us that if 20 post-Brundtland years have upped the rhetoric, they have done little to change the reality; despite a plethora of good intentions, global society is less sustainable than ever.
Without major changes in direction, we had better hope that the people who believe that human ingenuity, technology and economic growth will always solve our future problems turn out to be right.

BBC NEWS REPORT.
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

IRAQI TROOPS TO TAKE OVER KARBALA !

US forces are to hand over control of security in the Shia province of Karbala to Iraqi troops early next week, US and Iraqi officials say. US troops will remain in reserve positions to assist if called upon.
The province, 80km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, has been relatively calm but has seen rivalry between Shia factions.
In August, at least 50 people were killed in clashes between security forces and Shia fighters during a religious festival in Karbala city.
Karbala will be the eighth of Iraq's 18 provinces to come under Iraqi control despite a January statement by US President George W Bush that the process would be complete by November.

Iraqi and US military officials have downplayed concerns over rivalries between Shia factions in the province.
"This place is about a struggle for power and influence and there are indeed inter-Shia rivalries where different groups are trying to be in charge and sometimes they revert to violence," said the US commander in the province, Maj Gen Rick Lynch.

US commanders say Shia rivalries are not a significant problem"But it's not at the magnitude that's got me concerned," he told Associated Press news agency.
He said that from Monday he would "revert from being in charge of the security situation to being in support of the security situation".
The province's governor, Akhil al-Khazali, said Iraqi forces were ready for the mission.
"In spite of all the challenges we faced during those clashes we are determined to take over the responsibility," he told AFP news agency.
The provincial capital, the city of Karbala, is the site of two important Shia shrines.
The Shabaniyah festival had to be cut short in August as fighting broke out when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims were in the city to mark the anniversary of the 12th Shia imam.
Gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles forced their way past security checkpoints and appeared to be trying to take control of the area around the shrines.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE FRUIT OF PEACE IS LOVE AND THE

FRUIT OF LOVE IS FORGIVENESS" !

10 THINGS !

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

1. An ai is a three-toed sloth from South America (and the word that clinched Paul Allan the title of national Scrabble champion).
More details

2. Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa originally had eyebrows and eyelashes
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3. Dumbledore is gay.
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4. A £500,000 note is not technically a counterfeit, because that word refers to legal tender - and the Bank of England has never issued £500,000 notes.
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5. But £1,000 notes were in circulation until being withdrawn in 1943.
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6. UN population projections go as far as 2300.
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7. Forty percent of household packaging can’t be recycled.
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8. Sheffield FC is the world’s oldest football club.
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9. One percent of organic food on sale in the UK is air-freighted in from abroad.
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10. Obesity rates in England were by 2005 the highest of the 15 member states who then formed the European Union.
More details
BBC MAGAZINE.

MIRACLE FUEL THAT MADE A MOCKERY OF MUGABE!

By Jan Raath in Harare.

When Nomatter Tagarira, a spirit medium, claimed that she could conjure refined diesel out of a rock by striking it with her staff, ministers in Robert Mugabe’s Government believed that they might have found the solution to Zimbabwe’s perennial fuel shortage.

After witnessing her apparently miraculous gift they gave her five billion Zimbabwean dollars in cash (worth £1.7 million at the start of the year but now worth one seven-hundredth of that) in return for the fuel. Ms Tagarira was also given a farm, said to have been seized from its white owner during Mr Mugabe’s lawless land grab, as well as food and services that included a round-the-clock armed guard on the rock in the district of Chinhoyi 60 miles (100km) from Harare, the capital.

More than a year later officials realised they had been duped. Ms Tagarira is now in custody, awaiting trial on charges of fraud or, alternatively, of being “a criminal nuisance”. Details from court papers published this week said that over 15 months, until July this year, Ms Tagarira convinced Cabinet ministers, ruling party heavy-weights and top army and police officers that by striking the rock with her staff she could produce enough fuel to supply the country for 100 years.

BIOFUELS 'CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY' !

By Grant Ferrett - BBC News, New York.

Food prices have risen as more land is used to produce biofuels. A United Nations expert has condemned the growing use of crops to produce biofuels as a replacement for petrol as a crime against humanity. The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said he feared biofuels would bring more hunger. The growth in the production of biofuels has helped to push the price of some crops to record levels.

Mr Ziegler's remarks, made at the UN headquarters in New York, are clearly designed to grab attention. He complained of an ill-conceived dash to convert foodstuffs such as maize and sugar into fuel, which created a recipe for disaster. It was, he said, a crime against humanity to divert arable land to the production of crops which are then burned for fuel. He called for a five-year ban on the practice. Within that time, according to Mr Ziegler, technological advances would enable the use of agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and banana leaves, rather than crops themselves to produce fuel.

The growth in the production of biofuels has been driven, in part, by the desire to find less environmentally-damaging alternatives to oil. The United States is also keen to reduce its reliance on oil imported from politically unstable regions. But the trend has contributed to a sharp rise in food prices as farmers, particularly in the US, switch production from wheat and soya to corn, which is then turned into ethanol. Mr Ziegler is not alone in warning of the problem.

The IMF last week voiced concern that the increasing global reliance on grain as a source of fuel could have serious implications for the world's poor.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN DEFIANT AT NEW US SANCTIONS!

The Revolutionary Guards are thought to control a third of Iran's economy. Iran has responded defiantly to new sanctions imposed by the US targeting Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and three state-owned banks.
The Iranian foreign ministry said the sanctions were doomed to failure.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the measures are to "confront the threatening behaviour of the Iranians". But both China and Russia criticised the sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin likened the US move to "mad people wielding razor blades". Earlier, US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns criticised Russia for selling weapons to Iran and China for investing in the country. He told the BBC: "It's very difficult for countries to say we're striking out on our own when they've got their own policies on the military side, aiding and abetting the Iranian government in strengthening its own military." Iran's foreign ministry condemned the sanctions.

REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS
Officially the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), or Pasdaran
Formed after 1979 revolution
Loyal to clerics and counter to regular military
Estimated 125,000 troops
Includes ground forces, navy, air force, intelligence and special forces
Also has political influence: dozens of ex-guard sit as MPs
Iran President Ahmadinejad is a former member
Source: Globalsecurity.org

US turns heat up on Iran
Timeline: US-Iran relations
Send us your comments

Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said: "The hostile American policies towards the respectable people of Iran and the country's legal institutions are contrary to international law, without value and, as in the past, doomed to failure." The head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jaafari, said the corps was ready to defend the ideals of the revolution more than ever before.

Correspondents in Tehran say the sanctions could be very damaging for Iran as the Revolutionary Guards are thought to control a third of the country's economy and foreign firms may now be deterred from dealing with them. Mr Putin's comment came ahead of an EU-Russia summit in Mafra, near the Portuguese capital Lisbon. BBC Europe editor, Mark Mardell, says that behind the president's colourful language, diplomatic sources say there is a real Russian irritation, a belief that new sanctions are the wrong approach and only make Iran less likely to give up its nuclear programme. Russia is helping Iran construct a nuclear reactor.

On Friday, China's foreign ministry said Beijing was "opposed to imposing sanctions too rashly in international relations", saying it "can only make the situation more complicated". Western nations suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons, although Tehran says its programme is purely peaceful.

Ms Rice tried to play down any rift with Russia, saying neither wanted a nuclear-armed Iran. "After all, Moscow is a lot closer to Iran than the United States," she said. She strongly defended the sanctions, saying: "The international community cannot just sit idly by... A nuclear weapon in the hands of the Iranian regime would be deeply destabilising in the world's most volatile region."

Mr Burns said that despite differences with both Russia and China the US still hoped that the UN Security Council would approve a third resolution imposing new sanctions this November. The US has repeatedly accused Iran of destabilising Iraq and Afghanistan, blaming the Revolutionary Guards for supplying and training insurgents.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says Condoleezza Rice continues to be committed to finding a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. However, he says Vice-President Dick Cheney is widely believed to be pressing for a military strike on Iran before the Bush administration's term is over, and if these sanctions have no effect, Ms Rice may well have to give way to his strategy.

BBC NEWS REPORT

KABILA SEEKS US HELP FOR DRC ARMY !

By Mark Doyle - BBC world affairs correspondent.

DR Congo's army is trying to contain a rebellion in the east. A possible role for US military trainers in the Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to discussed at a meeting in the White House on Friday. The military situation in DR Congo will be a key topic of discussion at talks between US President George W Bush and Congolese President Joseph Kabila. US officials said Mr Kabila is due in the US with a large delegation.

The Congolese president is also expected to visit the headquarters of a big US mining company in Arizona. The US sees DR Congo as an important ally in Africa. A senior US diplomat, William Swing, has headed the big United Nations peacekeeping force there for several years, and the US has made large financial contributions to the UN force. US officials said that at their White House meeting Presidents Bush and Kabila would discuss "security sector reform" in DR Congo.
This could mean, primarily, the progress of the war in the east of the country and the role the US might play there.

Forces loyal to President Kabila have recently deployed around the positions of the breakaway general Laurent Nkunda who has so far refused to integrate his most effective soldiers into a coalition national army. President Kabila has told loyal troops they have "a green light" to prepare for the disarming of General Nkunda's men, although the main attack has yet to be launched.

The senior US official on African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week that the US was considering direct military training for parts of the Congolese army to improve its capacity to deal with what she called "negative forces".

On his trip to the US, President Kabila will also be talking to US business leaders attracted by DR Congo's rich mineral resources. US officials said he would be travelling to the state of Arizona to talk to a copper mining company, Phelps Dodge. The company has what it describes as one of the largest, highest-grade undeveloped copper and cobalt concessions in the world in DR Congo's southern province of Katanga.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BOKS' CHANGE OF HEART ON SOWETO !

The South African rugby team are to include Soweto in their victory parade after winning the World Cup in France. The SA Rugby Federation (Sarfu) president announced this amid cheers as he presented the trophy to President Thabo Mbeki in the capital, Pretoria. This follows complaints from the black township that it had been left out of the Springboks' celebration plans.
Sarfu has been under pressure to bring more black players into the game, with the national side still mostly white. "We are going to Soweto early in the morning [on Saturday], Sarfu's President Oregan Hoskins said on Friday. "We made a promise to the nation that we will take rugby to the people," he said, speaking at the Union Buildings which house the South African presidency.

President Mbeki welcomed the move and said the World Cup victory should inspire children across the colour divide to rugby. Hundreds of fans gathered in the street outside the Union Buildings and thousands more lined the route the Springboks were to take through Pretoria, the BBC's Peter Greste reports from the city. Some fans and clubs in Soweto interpreted it as a snub when a Sarfu spokesman said on Thursday that Soweto had been left out of the victory tour itinerary for reasons of "logistics".

"We've been worshipping them, supporting them throughout the World Cup and at this stage we should be taking the game to the people," Johannes Mhlongo - captain of the Soweto Rugby Club (the township's only rugby club) told the BBC. He said the move would be a blow for recruiting new members. Among the Springbok's first XV, only two players - the two wingers Bryan Habana (recently declared World Player of 2007) and JP Pietersen - are not white.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LESSONS FROM BUSKING AROUND THE WORLD !

Violinist David Juritz has just returned from a round the world trip funded entirely from busking, and shares some valuable lessons. The concert violinist has performed in many of the world's greatest halls as a soloist, guest artist and concertmaster of London's Mozart Players.

Hear Juritz busking

But when he left his London home on 9 June he had an empty wallet and had to earn his fare into the city centre. Since then, he has made £35,000 in loose change and online donations - £11,000 to fund the trip and the rest for music education for some of the world's poorest children.

1. Put the hours in. To earn this sort of money, Juritz has worked from 6am until midnight almost daily from the day he left home until his return to London on Wednesday.

2. That's two million notes, played in 50 cities in 24 counties and on every continent but the Antarctic.

3. And earning an average of £83. Although only £7.71 in Berlin, which goes to show that the German capital can be tough.

4. It's possible to earn £2,500 busking in less than an hour in London, if your friends and neighbours come and support you. "Maybe they wanted to make sure I had enough money to go away for four-and-a-half months," he says.

5. Bach is much-loved outside Town Hall metro station in Sydney, which is a very busker-friendly city. Commuters not only stop to listen but know the composer.

6. Outside a concert hall is not a good place to busk, although Vienna is the exception. Railway stations are good - the grottier the surroundings, the better the busking prospects.

7. Busking can give you blisters on your feet, from walking, and on your hands, from lugging both your instrument and your luggage.

8. People in Rio live and breathe music. The rhythm and energy of their drum groups are very impressive.

9. All those coins will help Aids orphans in Uganda and the poor of Caracas rebuild their self-confidence through music lessons.

10. But they might boost the coffers of taxi drivers in Rome, who are keen to overcharge violin-toting buskers.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"IF YOU CAN COMMAND YOURSELF,

YOU CAN COMMAND THE WORLD" !

SYRIA 'AIR STRIKE SITE REMOVED' !

By Jonathan Marcus - BBC diplomatic correspondent.

Israel has admitted its jets attacked a Syrian target on 6 SeptemberNewly-released satellite images of the presumed site of an Israeli air raid on Syria last month show that a large building has been completely removed.
The independent US research group, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), obtained and analysed the photographs.
The industrial-style building may have been a nuclear reactor under construction, says the ISIS.
Syria says it never had any plans to build a nuclear reactor.
The images suggest that, for whatever reason, the Syrian authorities have gone to great length to remove any trace of the facility.
Image comparison
Just a few days ago the ISIS released satellite images of a facility in northern Syria that it believed was the target of an Israeli air strike on 6 September.
The images pre-dated the attack.
But they showed both a large industrial building and a pumping station near the Euphrates river that the organisation believed could well have been a nuclear reactor under construction.
The images, though, were far from conclusive.
Now the ISIS has come up with a more recent image of the same site taken on 24 October, more than six weeks after the alleged air attack.
The image shows that the suspected reactor building has been completely removed and the ground scraped clean.
In its report, the ISIS says that a comparison of the before and after images effectively confirms that this site was indeed the target of the Israel raid.
It argues that "dismantling and removing the building at such a rapid pace dramatically complicates any inspection of the facilities and suggests that Syria may be trying to hide what was there."
The ISIS report also raises the question as to whether Syria might be in breach of its safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Under that, it would have an obligation to notify the UN's nuclear watchdog of any plans to construct a new nuclear facility.

15 REASONS FACEBOOK WORTH $15BN!

Microsoft has invested $240m (£117m) in social networking site Facebook in exchange for a 1.6% share of the company. That puts a value of $15bn (£7.3bn) on a firm that has only been in existence three and a half years.

So why does Microsoft think Facebook is worth $15bn? Here are 15 possible reasons....

1. The network has gone viral in the last 12 months, with more than 50 million users worldwide and a user base that is growing faster than great rival MySpace. According to Facebook, it adds 200,000 new users each day.

2. The average user spends 3.5 hours a month on Facebook - more than the average user on rival MySpace - which is increasingly attractive to advertisers.

3. Facebook is the current Web 2.0 darling - popular with ordinary users and "tech heads" alike.
4. US research reveals that Facebook users come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college than MySpace users - increasing that attraction for advertisers.

5. Microsoft's investment makes them a serious player in the growing market of "social advertising". Social network profiles are full of personal data that users voluntarily hand over, which is very useful for targeting adverts.

6. Sixty percent of Facebook users are outside of the US - so Microsoft's investment buys access to a global audience quickly and simply.

7. Facebook is the new web: The decision to open up the network to outside developers turned Facebook into a destination for many uses, like messaging, photos and video. Of course, as Facebook is on the web it could never really be the new web.

8. Every major content firm with an online presence is either working on a Facebook application or has already launched one - from Google to the BBC.

9. According to a report, 233 million hours of work are lost each month in the UK due to staff looking at social networks. Advertisers can now target people when at their desks.

10. The openness of Facebook is attracting a wealth of talented developers who can launch their applications to millions of users quickly.

11. Facebook messaging is the new e-mail. Everyone feels stressed from a deluge of e-mail from unwanted people and companies. But Facebook messages are always from friends.

12. Facebook's "status updates" have become the easiest way to let friends know what you are doing and how you are feeling at any given moment.

13. Facebook thrives on playful applications such as Pirates, Zombies, Super Wall and Top Friends, which have made the network a place to play as well as communicate.

14. Facebook is the acceptable face of blogging - you can reflect your life and personality online without being seen as a "blogger", which often carries a geeky stigma.

15. Facebook is worth $15bn only because Microsoft says so. The value of Facebook is based on a 1.6% share of the firm being worth the $240m Microsoft paid for it. Microsoft and Google were in a bidding war for a slice of the firm and both companies have large pockets. This was not just business, this was personal, according to some analysts.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ELEPHANT STOMPS TO PHOTO VICTORY !

Elephant creation !
Enlarge Image

A picture of a large bull elephant kicking and spraying mud in a Botswana water-hole has won the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. Ben Osborne's image was captured during a three-week stake-out on location in the Chobe National Park. Speaking about his winning snap, Mr Osborne said: "I love the energy in this image. It has more to do with physics than biology."
The competition has become one of the most prestigious in world photography.

It is organised by BBC Wildlife Magazine and London's Natural History Museum, and sponsored by the oil giant Shell. Judges spent three months sifting through more than 32,000 entries from 78 countries. Commenting on the record number of entries in the event's 46-year history, competition manager Debbie Sage applauded the quality of the winning images. "This year's winners have gone to great lengths to capture such rare moments in nature," she said. "These images are the best in the world and give us all an insight into the beauty, drama and variety of the environment around us."

ELEPHANT CREATION

Mr Osborne, a freelance photographer based in the UK, has worked on all seven continents during his 25-year career.
He specialises in wildlife, landscape and environmental photography. His work has featured in major TV series, including the BBC's Planet Earth.
During his three-week stake-out of the waterhole, Mr Osborne used his vehicle as a hide.
When the winning moment of an large bull elephant arriving at the location, he used a slow shutter speed to capture the low morning light and the texture of the mud.
Describing why he thought his image was a physics pin-up, Mr Osborne said:
"The mix of light, texture, mass, stress, force, velocity and acceleration are all captured in a visually dramatic moment in time.
"And apart from anything else, it looks like pretty good fun too."
Elephants have become an iconic species for conservationists. In the 1980s, the numbers were halved as a result of the ivory trade. Since a global ban was introduced in 1989, their numbers have increased in southern Africa.
The success of conservationists' efforts has led to difficult questions being asked about how to balance the growing population, which is expanding its range and coming into conflict with local farmers and communities.

MONKEY MOMENT

Monkey moment
Enlarge Image

This year's prize for Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year has been won by 11-year-old Patrick Corning, also from the UK.
Taken during a family holiday to Costa Rica, it shows three squirrel monkeys who were regular visitors to a tree above Patrick's balcony.
"I think it is cute how one of the monkey's is pulling another one's ear," he says.
"I remember thinking to the monkeys, 'don't move!'," he said, recalling the moment he took the photo
The chairman of the judging panel, Mark Carwardine, said the image raised a smile every time he looked at it.
"Everything comes together in this perfect wildlife moment. It is transformed into something original and eye-catching by that simple gesture."

BREATH TAKING
Canadian Paul Nicklen's aerial photograph of a group of narwhals feeding won the Animals in Their Environment category.

Breath taking
Enlarge Image

He spotted them while he was flying 30 miles off the Admiralty Inlet ice edge of Northern Baffin Island.
Explaining his winning image, Mr Nicklen said: "As with most of my photography the environment is often as important as the subject.
"I am constantly trying to get viewers to care as much about the sea ice as the main subject in the photograph." One of the judges, Sophie Stafford, said the photo offered an unusual bird's eye view of the rare marine mammals.
"An ice-hole makes a pleasing frame for the narwhals, whose bodies are neatly aligned as they surface to breathe, their extraordinary tusks and camouflaged markings visible.
"This image transports the viewer to the frozen kingdom of the 'moon whale'."

BATTLING BLACKCOCKS

Battling blackcocks
Enlarge Image

The artistic composition of this photo by David Tipling of two black grouse was specially commended by the judging panel.
Mr Tipling spent six days lying in a hide in a frozen bog in Finland to capture this striking shot of blackcocks displaying.
He said his goal was to capture an image that portrayed the character of the bird in a new way.
"I got countless images of them displaying and fighting," he explained, "but this composition was my ultimate goal."
Usually secretive birds, male black grouse become highly visible in spring. At dawn they form a lek - where up to 30 males meet and display to impress the watching females.
BEAR GLARE
Winning the Animal Portraits category by getting up close and personal with a brown bear was a shock for Sergey Gorshkov in more ways than one.

Bear glare
Enlarge Image

The Russian was so absorbed in trying to photograph spawning salmon in the Ozernaya River, East Russia, that he did not spot the bear until he was fixed in its stare.
"It was a terrible shock to see this massive face glowering at me from just a metre away," Mr Gorshkov recalled.
Chairman of the judging panel Mark Carwardine said the resulting image captured the moment perfectly.
"The water and sky... give the bear a wonderful sense of place," he said.
"But it's that immediate question on everyone's lips that gives it the edge: how did the photographer do it?"

BBC NEWS REPORT.

A380 SUPERJUMBO LANDS IN SYDNEY !

Superjumbo takes off

The world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, has landed in Sydney on its first commercial flight, after a seven-hour journey from Singapore. Singapore Airlines took delivery of the huge plane, dubbed the Superjumbo, just over a week ago. Passengers bought seats in a charity online auction. It can carry some 850 passengers, but took about 450 to Sydney. The superjumbo's advent ends a reign of nearly four decades by the Boeing 747 as the world's biggest airliner.

The new aircraft suffered almost two years of delays because of a number of construction problems, but took off on time. One of the passengers on board, Laurence Watts, told the BBC during the flight that it was a "phenomenal" plane. "I'm actually sitting in the economy class on the lower deck of the plane," he said. "The most amazing thing is here you have two classes of economy, split over two decks, with stairs in between the two, which I think is a huge novelty for everyone. "The plane itself - the space is bigger than anything you can imagine. I can look out the window to my right at the moment and I can see a wing that looks bigger than most ordinary planes."

Hundreds of staff and passengers at Singapore's Changi Airport watched it lift into the sky, snapping the moment with pocket cameras and camera phones. Passengers paid between $560 and $100,380 to be on the inaugural flight. "I have never been in anything like this in the air before in my life," said a fellow passenger, Australian Tony Elwood, who travelled in a private first-class suite with his wife Julie. "It is going to make everything else after this simply awful."

Sydney Airport has had to make modifications to fit the giant plane, the BBC's Nick Bryant reports from the city. Two 20th-Century design icons - Sydney's Opera House and its Harbour Bridge - will form the backdrop for what the Airbus consortium hopes will become an emblem of the 21st. With the superjumbo's wing span almost the size of a football pitch, the airport has spent millions to accommodate the new plane. To cope with the two decks of seating, it has had to construct new aero bridges. It has also had to realign one of the taxi ways and strengthen a tunnel which runs underneath the main runway.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FIRE WINDS EASE OVER CALIFORNIA !

Estimated fire damage stands at more than $1bn.
Raging wildfires

Weather forecasts have raised hopes of some respite from the wildfires raging out of control across southern California for the last four days. Forecasters say the Santa Ana winds, which fuelled the spread of the flames and had reached hurricane strength, are just starting to die out. But correspondents say firefighters still face a huge task in controlling the fires, as no rain is expected. President George W Bush is due to fly to the area later. He has declared seven counties in the state as a major disaster area.

Satellite image shows the smoke from the California wildfires being blown out to sea.
Enlarge Image

About one million people have had to leave their homes, officials say.
Among the worst affected areas is around San Diego, where evacuation centres are struggling to provide shelter for more than 300,000 people.
Only one person has been killed as a direct result of the fire.
But the fires have destroyed more than 1,600 homes and the material damage is estimated to have risen to more than $1bn.
Police say at least one of the larger fires may have been started deliberately.
One arson suspect was shot dead by police after a pursuit and another was arrested, police said, although neither man has been connected with any major fire.
The fires have ravaged at least 674 sq miles (1,745 sq km) of land from Santa Barbara down to the Mexican border.

TACKLING THE FLAMES

8,000 firefighters - including a number of prison teams
1,500 national guards
50 helicopters
55 firefighting planes
Source: Office of Emergency Services

A fireman's account of 'hell'
Battling the inferno
Readers' experiences

In some areas, wind speeds on Wednesday were down to 21-36 mph (34-58km/h), from highs of 100mph earlier in the week. Helicopters and air tankers took advantage of the weather to drop 30 to 35 loads of water on two fires that have burned hundreds of homes in the San Bernardino Mountains, near Lake Arrowhead. Several major fires were contained in Los Angeles County. Maurice Luque, spokesman for the San Diego Fire Rescue Department, told the BBC that while the crisis was easing in urban San Diego, some rural areas were still under threat. "The weather has turned a little more calm, there's no winds, the humidity is up, the temperatures are down a little bit in some areas," he said.

Detailed maps of the fires
Paradise lost in California
Are you affected?

"However, in other areas... [the fires] keep spotting ahead of each other, and there's a number of fires that are burning now, and requiring evacuation, and there are homes that continue to burn, mostly in the outlying areas of San Diego, out in the more rural areas." There were also reports that power lines connecting San Diego to the national grid were under threat. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the "great co-ordination" and "immediate response" of federal, state and local government agencies to the fires. He also thanked President Bush for signing the disaster declaration, which will free federal funds to help governments, families and individuals recover from the devastation wrought by the blazes.

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (Fema), David Paulison, said the government had learnt lessons from the Hurricane Katrina disaster on the Gulf Coast two years ago.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WOOLMER MURDERED, EXPERT INSISTS!

There has been much speculation surrounding Woolmer's death. A Jamaican government pathologist who conducted Bob Woolmer's autopsy has maintained his view that the Pakistan cricket coach was murdered. Dr Ere Shesiah's findings prompted a global murder inquiry and speculation about corruption and match-fixing. But the inquiry was dropped after three independent experts said Mr Woolmer died of natural causes.

Mr Woolmer, 58, died after being found unconscious in his hotel room in March, after his team's early World Cup exit. Dr Shesiah was speaking on Wednesday at the former coach's inquest, which opened in Jamaica nine days ago. He is expected to give further evidence on Thursday. He said his conclusion was based on his own initial findings and the results of a toxicology report.
"I stand by my findings that Mr Woolmer was strangled and, based upon additional information which I received, he was also poisoned," he said.

The pathologist added that police had rushed him to make a final judgement before the report came back, and that he only received it in June - after the murder inquiry was dropped. He said the poison used was cypermethrin which caused "salivation, vomiting, diarrhoea and muscular incoordination" and that this may have explained the disarray in Woolmer's room when he was found. Three other pathologists, from South Africa, the UK and Canada, have testified Woolmer died of natural causes, probably related to heart disease.

They also criticised procedures used by Dr Shesiah. He says he used the correct methods to carry out the post mortem. Mr Woolmer was found dead in his hotel in Jamaica on 18 March after Pakistan were beaten in the cricket World Cup first round by Ireland. Days after the discovery of Mr Woolmer's body, Mark Shields - Jamaica's deputy police commissioner - announced at a news conference they were treating the death as murder.

There were suggestions he had been murdered by an angry fan or by an illegal betting syndicate. There was also speculation members of the Pakistan team may have been involved. Every member of the team was fingerprinted before returning home, but the investigation found no evidence of impropriety by players, match officials or management. In June, Jamaican police said they accepted the three pathologists' reports concluding that the original finding of death by manual asphyxiation was wrong.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KEY TALKS ON KURDISH CRISIS !

Turkey has been building up forces on its border with Iraq. A high-level Iraqi delegation is expected in Ankara for key talks aimed at stopping attacks by Kurdish fighters based in northern Iraq. In unusually blunt comments, the Turkish foreign minister has said the Iraqis must come up with concrete proposals for ending the crisis. The talks come amid intense diplomatic pressure for Ankara to show restraint.

The Turkish military has already been carrying out attacks against Kurdish rebels near its border with Iraq. It has threatened to mount a ground offensive across the border to flush out fighters from the banned PKK group if diplomatic efforts fail. Turkish officials have said Thursday's talks could be the last chance. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Turkey was "expecting them to come with concrete proposals and otherwise the visit will have no meaning". "We need more than words," Mr Babacan said. "We said that preventing the PKK from using Iraqi soil, an end to logistical support and all PKK activities inside Iraq and closing of its camps are needed. "We also said its leaders need to be arrested and extradited to Turkey."

THE PKK
Formed in late 1970s
Launched armed struggle in 1984
Dropped independence demands in 1990s
Wants greater autonomy for Turkey's Kurds
Leader Abdullah Ocalan arrested in 1999
Ended five-year ceasefire in 2004

In recent days, Turkey has been building up its military presence on the border with Iraq, while PKK rebels have stepped up their attacks against Turkish troops. On Wednesday, Turkey's semi-official Anatolia news agency said Turkish jets had bombed PKK rebel positions. The raids followed an attack by PKK rebels on Sunday in which 12 Turkish soldiers were killed. The Turkish military also says eight soldiers are missing. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on Tuesday he would work to limit the PKK's activities, and that the group's offices in Iraq would be closed. There are thought to be about 3,000 PKK rebels based in Iraq. They have been blamed for a number of cross-border raids. Turkey, the US, and the EU describe the PKK as a terrorist organisation. Turkish leaders have come under intense pressure from the public and the media to use force.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYA POLICE DENY SECT KILLINGS!

Police made hundreds of arrests of Mungiki members in June. Kenyan police have denied carrying out extra-judicial killings of alleged members of the outlawed Mungiki sect. Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe dismissed the allegation of police executions of suspects as "outrageous". The Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) had made the claim after investigating incidences of dead bodies being dumped around the capital. In June, the president ordered police to hunt down Mungiki sect members blamed for a series of grisly murders. "Even if you hide, we will find you and kill you," President Mwai Kibaki had said in a warning to members of the quasi-religious sect which was outlawed in 2002.

Mungiki followers have been demanding protection fees from public transport operators, slum dwellers and other businessmen in and around Nairobi. Those who refuse are often brutally murdered. Mr Kiraithe said KNHRC's allegations were a plot to discredit the government in the run-up to the December elections.

Rise of Kenya's vigilantes

Reuters news agency reports that more than a dozen bloodied bodies have been dumped in bush on the outskirts of Nairobi in the past week. The state-sponsored KNHRC has been investigating whether these and other killings were the victims of police executions. KNHRC commissioner Omar Hassan said the organisation had reports of "cars being driven to secret locations with suspects" followed by "gunshots, then dead bodies and food for the hyenas". Mr Hassan said some of the latest victims may have been innocent of any crime.

But Mr Kiraithe insisted that police officers followed the rule of law when dealing with suspects. After the president's directive, police raided the Nairobi slum of Mathare to arrest hundreds of suspected sect members. At least 30 people died in gun battles with police during that operation, leading the human rights organisation Amnesty International to call for an enquiry.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"IT IS NOT DEATH THAT A MAN SHOULD FEAR,

BUT HE SHOULD FEAR NEVER BEGINNING TO LIVE " !

GAMBIAN 'SPY' JOURNALIST MISSING !

Gambian journalist Yaya Dampha, briefly detained earlier this month with two Amnesty International researchers on suspicion of spying, is missing. He is believed to have gone into hiding but Amnesty says it is concerned about the safety of his family. Sources told the International Federation of Journalists that the authorities had searched the reporter's home and interrogated his wife.

The Gambia has come in for criticism for its harassment of journalists. Mr Dampha was detained with two Amnesty delegates on 6 October after they went to meet detained opposition leader Ousman Jatta. The three were arrested on suspicion of spying but were freed without charge. Mr Dampha is a journalist with the bi-weekly newspaper Foroyaa, described by the Media Foundation for West Africa as a "Banjul-based pro-opposition newspaper".

JOURNALISTS UNDER PRESSURE

Deyda Hydara: shot dead, Dec 2004
Lamin Fatty: detained 63 days, 2006
Malick Mboob: detained 139 days, 2006
Chief Ebrima Manney: goes missing, July 2006
Fatou Jaw Manneh: on trial for sedition, 2007
Momodou Lamin Jaiteh: goes into hiding after death threats, July 2007

Fears for missing reporter

"Amnesty has been in touch with Mr Dampha and according to our information he is safe," Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty International's Africa programme, told the BBC News website. "But we are concerned about the reported visits to his home and his wife and fear his family may be at risk," he said.

The International Federation of Journalists said it deplored "these acts of intimidation meted out to journalists in The Gambia by the state security agents". "Over the past few years there have been numerous arbitrary arrests and forced detentions of Gambian journalists, who continued to work under enormous pressure from the state," IFJ's Gabriel Baglo said in a statement.

Mr Dampha had accompanied Amnesty delegates Tania Bernath and Ayodele Ameen to meet Mr Jatta, who had been held for 387 days without trial before being sent home in September this year. The two Amnesty staffers were in Gambia with the knowledge of the government to research allegations of human rights violations and to hold workshops for rights workers and journalists.

After the three were released from detention, Amnesty had urged the Gambian government to ensure Mr Dampha would not be targeted because of his association with the human rights organisation. President Yahya Jammeh came to power through a coup 13 years ago but amid claims of plots to oust him, dozens of people have been arrested and unlawfully detained.
Eleven journalists were jailed for extended periods in 2006.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WORLDWIDE SUU KYI RALLIES BEGIN !

Ms Suu Kyi remains under house arrest in Rangoon.

Activists are marking the 12th year of detention for Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in a series of protests taking place in 12 cities.
Some are expected to happen at Chinese embassies, as campaigners say Beijing holds the key to Ms Suu Kyi's release.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been held by Burma's military junta, mostly under house arrest, since 1995.
Australia is the latest country to impose sanctions on Burma's generals, amid global condemnation of their rule.
Australian officials said the financial sanctions would target 418 individuals, including top military figures and cabinet ministers.
Pressure has been growing on the junta since its bloody suppression of pro-democracy protests last month.
The generals have agreed to another visit from the UN's special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who is currently in China lobbying for Beijing's backing for democratic reforms in Burma.
And they are also allowing the UN's human rights investigator, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, to visit the country for the first time in four years. He is due to speak in New York later.
Laureates' appeal
In the Thai capital, Bangkok, a small group of activists gathered outside the Chinese embassy dressed in chains and wearing masks of Ms Suu Kyi, chanting: "Free, free, Aung San Suu Kyi."

SUU KYI APPEAL

Open letter signed by Nobel peace laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire
Rallies in London, Paris, Berlin, Dublin, Vienna, Sydney, Washington, Toronto, New York, Brasilia, Bangkok and Cape Town
Rallies are due to be held at midday, local time, in 11 other cities, including Brasilia, New York, and Cape Town.
Six female Nobel peace laureates have jointly appealed to the UN, urging it to help Ms Suu Kyi regain her freedom.
"The detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is the most visible manifestation of the regime's brutality but it is only the tip of the iceberg," they wrote in an open letter published in UK newspaper The Guardian.
Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a convincing victory in a general election in 1990 but the junta refused to hand over power.

The protests coincide with the anniversary of the UN charter, and campaigners say they will be stepping up the pressure for UN action.
They blame China for blocking a UN resolution against Burma's generals.
Mr Gambari, who is expected to return to Burma next month, is meeting senior Chinese officials this week.
But he will not see any of the country's top leaders, the BBC's Daniel Griffiths reports from Beijing.
Although China, one of Burma's closest allies, has expressed concern about the situation there, it has always stressed that it will not interfere in its neighbour's internal affairs.
It is a sign that Beijing is unwilling to push Burma too hard, our correspondent says.
Burmese officials say 10 people died during the crackdown on protests in September, but diplomats believe the true figures are much higher. Hundreds of people are thought to be in detention.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CALIFORNIAN FIRES AFFECT TV SHOWS !

Fires near Irvine, California forced 24 to halt production. Filming of TV shows including 24 has reportedly been hit by the wild fires sweeping across southern California. Scenes featuring 24's lead star Kiefer Sutherland had to be halted at a military base near Irvine, Orange County, because of the smoke.
Other series were also hit, trade publication Hollywood Reporter said.
Fierce winds are fanning at least 16 fires that have razed land from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border, forcing 500,000 people out of their homes.
The blazes have left one person dead and destroyed at least 1,300 homes and businesses, officials say. They have led to the biggest US evacuation since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Kiefer Sutherland and crew had to switch to the show's stages. Producers of 24 had to cancel two days of filming at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro after cast and crew suffered blurry eyes and were having difficulty breathing.
Scenes were shot on the programme's dedicated stages instead.
"By 1 pm we're back here and had shot two other scenes," line producer Michael Klick told the Hollywood Reporter.
"When the dust settles, we probably lost five hours' worth of work, and we have to reschedule the two days we missed."

Other US TV series were also affected by the fires and bad weather. Police drama Cold Case, which airs on CBS, saw its sets in Simi Valley, north of Los Angeles, blown over by the strong winds.
ABC boardroom drama Big Shots had to scrap shooting in Malibu, while crime series NCIS - which uses stages so close to the fires that the smoke was visible from the set - carried on filming, but lost crew members who had to protect their homes.
The fires are putting homes at risk in seven counties where up to 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares) have been scorched.
Actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta spoke earlier this week about their fears over the fires.
One of the areas affected is the coastal region around Los Angeles, which is home to many celebrities, including actors Mel Gibson, Barbra Streisand, Richard Gere, Pierce Brosnan, Dick Van Dyke and Ted Danson.
Singers Sting and Olivia Newton-John, director James Cameron and music mogul David Geffen also live locally.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE BREAD 'SCARCE AS GOLD' !

Many shops have had empty shelves since the price freeze. Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change has said that "bread is as scarce as gold" in the country. "It is now clear that Zimbabwe's crisis has reached the tipping point," the MDC's spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, told the South African Press Association.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe says there has been a 30% rise in the cost of living for a family of six in the last month despite price freezes.
There have been acute food shortages since the policy was imposed in June.
Businesses were ordered to slash some products by at least 50% or freeze prices for items such as bread and milk.
Zimbabwe's annual inflation is nearly 8,000% - the highest in the world.
The latest CCZ inflation figures, published in Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper, also show a 222% rise in the cost of the staple maize meal.
Meanwhile, news reports on the ZimOnline website say the call by Central Bank governor Gideon Gono to stop farm invasions, blamed for Zimbabwe's economic downturn, continues to be ignored.
Much of Zimbabwe relies on food imports and handouts from international humanitarian groups because of the failure to maintain production on farms.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MAN, 24, LOSES 82 YEAR OLD WIFE !

Mr Waveqche began living with Ms Volpes when he was 15.

Wedding video

An 82-year-old Argentine woman who attracted media attention last month when she married a 24-year-old man has died as a result of heart problems. Adelfa Volpes was admitted to hospital soon after she and her new husband, Reinaldo Waveqche, returned from their honeymoon in Brazil. She died in a sanatorium in Santa Fe, the city where the couple were married.

Ms Volpes had rejected criticism over the age difference with the groom, who is the son of one of her best friends. "I don't want to resign myself to the idea that I lost her," a disconsolate Mr Waveqche told EFE news agency. The couple were married on 28 September in a civil service after several years of engagement, and later walked through a local church surrounded by reporters. Their love is said to have blossomed when Mr Waveqche went to live with his future bride after his mother's death, when he was 15.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LESSING SAYS 9/11 'NOT THAT BAD' !

Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing has said that the 11 September attacks were "not that terrible" compared to the IRA's terror campaign. "Some Americans will think I'm crazy... but it was neither as terrible or as extraordinary as they think," the writer told Spanish newspaper El Pais. The 88-year-old added that "people forget" the IRA bomb attack on Margaret Thatcher's government in 1984.

Lessing won the Nobel prize, worth £763,000, honouring her 57-year career. Five people died and 34 were injured when an IRA bomb exploded in a Brighton hotel where leading members of the Conservative party - including Mrs Thatcher - were staying for its annual conference.

The author conceded that "many people died and two prominent buildings fell" in the attacks on New York's World Trade Center in 2001. "They're a very naive people, or they pretend to be," she added of Americans.

Lessing, whose novels include The Golden Notebook and Memoirs of a Survivor, also branded President George W Bush "a world calamity". "Everyone is tired of this man. Either he is stupid or he is very clever, although you have to remember he is a member of a social class which has profited from wars." The writer also said that she "always hated Tony Blair from the beginning".

Lessing was awarded the Nobel Prize for her "fire and visionary power", and is due to collect her award at a ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S.AFRICA'S ZIMBABWE TIES 'STRONG' !

By Peter Biles BBC News Southern Africa correspondent, Johannesburg.

Despite economic woes, there is still money to be made in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's trade and investment ties with neighbouring South Africa remain very strong, a report has found. The study also says some South African businesses have been exploiting opportunities thrown up by the Zimbabwe economic crisis.

Zimbabwe is South Africa's main African trading partner, said Solidarity Peace Trust, a church-based organisation. It says South African firms believe Zimbabwe is a better place to do business than other African countries. And that these companies have found ways to negotiate Zimbabwe's largely dysfunctional economy.

As a result, the South African firms operating in Zimbabwe are making good profits, even if these are undermined by inflation, the report adds. It also found that there is a belief in South Africa that economic recovery in the post-Mugabe era will be swift. Yet big South African companies are said not to be panicking about the Zimbabwean government's indigenisation policy, which seeks to give Zimbabweans a majority shareholding in foreign-owned businesses.

The report concludes that South Africa has seized new opportunities from Zimbabwe's decline, and has also gained from the influx of Zimbabwean skills - doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers who've made a move to South Africa.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"SUSPENSE IS WORSE THAN DISAPPOINTMENT" !

ITALIAN MAFIA TURNOVER '$120bn' !

By David Willey BBC News, Rome

Retailers warn of growing Mafia influence in the south. Italy's retailers have denounced the growth of Mafia extortion rackets which they say now affect big companies as well as smaller ones. The Mafia has turned into one of Italy's biggest business enterprises with a turnover of more than $120bn (£60bn) a year, a new report says.

The report, prepared by Italy's leading retailer's association, warns of growing Mafia influence in the south. It estimates that 7% of Italy's output is filtered off by organised crime. The retailer's association says it is seriously concerned by the spread of Mafia extortion rackets from small to big businesses. Some of Italy's best known and largest construction companies are denounced by name in the report for allegedly turning a blind eye to organised crime.

Organised crime is present in all areas of the economy, from food manufacture to tourism, from real estate to finance and in the service industries, the report says. Big business also finds it easier to negotiate agreements with the Mafia rather than to denounce extortion rackets to the police, it adds. The study alleges that 20% of Italian shops pay regular hush money to criminals to carry on business undisturbed.

The proportion is much higher in southern Italy. In Sicily, eight out of 10 shops pay a regular monthly sum to the Mafia, the report says. Deputy Minister of the Interior Marco Minniti said the growth of Mafia business crime was alarming.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WEB CAMPAIGN FOR WISPA RETURN !

The Wispa bar was as popular in the 1980s as the Rubik's cube. Internet campaigners have prompted chocolate giant Cadbury to bring back its defunct Wispa bar. The brand vanished from UK shelves four years ago amid declining sales and was replaced with Dairy Milk Bubbles. But online petitions and campaigns on social networking websites have been calling for Cadbury to think again.

The firm, which has its main factory in Birmingham, has agreed to relaunch the Wispa for a limited period and 23m bars will be available from October. Cadbury spokesman Tony Bilsborough said: "We have noticed the web interest for some time and the consumer passion has undeniably swayed our opinion to relaunch Wispa. "This is the first time that the power of the internet played such an intrinsic role in the return of a Cadbury brand," he added.

The return of the Wispa, originally launched in 1981, is scheduled to be for a limited period, but Cadbury has suggested that if sales are high, the chocolate bar could remain on UK shelves.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

WILDFIRES BLAZE ACROSS CALIFORNIA !

Firefighters expect the wildfires to last a few more days.
Raging wildfire

At least one person has been killed and thousands evacuated as at least 12 wildfires rage across the US state of California, fanned by fierce winds.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in seven counties, with 35,000 acres (14,000 hectares) burnt from Santa Barbara to San Diego.
In Malibu, a large blaze forced stars including film director James Cameron and Olivia Newton-John to flee.
Officials say the ground is tinder dry after a record summer heatwave.
"The wildfires have caused the loss of human life and serious injuries," Mr Schwarzenegger's office said.

See map of Malibu blazes and nearby celebrity homes

And with forecasters predicting hurricane-force winds to continue until later in the week, thousands more homes could be at risk, says the BBC's David Willis in California.

In pictures: California fires

During a long heatwave in July, wildfires scorched thousands of acres across California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, South Dakota, Washington, New Mexico, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.
More than 1,500 firefighters are battling the blazes, including one in the town of Potrero, near San Diego.
That fire killed one person and injured four firefighters and at least 10 other people, said Matt Streck, a spokesman for California's Department of Forestry.
It burned more than 14,000 acres (5,700 hectares) just north of the Mexican border town of Tecate, Mr Streck said.

All 36,000 residents of Ramona, north-east of San Diego, were ordered to leave their homes as another blaze razed more than 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares), said San Diego sheriff's office spokesman Phillip Brust.
"I can't ever remember doing this," Mr Brust said. "This fire is crazy."
In seaside Malibu, several buildings were destroyed and thousands of local residents evacuated as flames swept across the hills overlooking the ocean.
Fanned by winds of up to 80mph (130km/h), the wildfire around Malibu had burnt about 1,250 acres (505 hectares) by mid-afternoon on Sunday (2200 GMT Sunday), officials said.
That fire is thought to have been caused by a power cable that ignited after being blown over in heavy wind.
Among the buildings destroyed in the town of 13,000 residents were the famous Castle Kashan and a Presbyterian church.
Thousands of students at nearby Pepperdine University were also evacuated.
The coastal area is home to many celebrities including Mel Gibson, Barbara Streisand, Richard Gere, Pierce Brosnan, Dick Van Dyke, Ted Danson and David Geffen.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MINISTER SEES RED !

Dye in the fountain

Italy's Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli wants a new anti-vandalism law after a man threw a bucket of red dye into the Trevi fountain in Rome.
The man, who fled the scene, left the baroque fountain spouting red water before technicians could shut off the water supply.
Leaflets left nearby denounced the cost of the RomeFilmFest, which has just opened in the Italian capital.
Officials said the fountain had not suffered permanent damage.
Engineers shut down the fountain to allow the red dye to drain away, before restoring a supply of clear water.
The Trevi, a baroque landmark dating from the18th Century, was popularised by films such as Federico Fellini's 1960 classic La Dolce Vita, in which Anita Ekberg frolics in its waters.
The protest leaflet was signed by an unknown group, ATM Azionefuturista 2007.
"You wanted just a red carpet - we want a city entirely in vermilion," it read, in an attack on the film festival's 15m-euro budget.
"We who are vulnerable, old, ill, students, workers, we come with vermilion to colour your greyness."
But Francesco Rutelli was unimpressed, calling the stunt "an unacceptable and irresponsible act of vandalism".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MO IBRAHIM PRIZE

Ex Mozambique leader wins prize.
Former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano has won the first Mo Ibrahim prize rewarding a retired African head of state for excellence in leadership.
Mr Chissano, who is credited with bringing peace to Mozambique, was a frontrunner for the prize.
The prize, announced by former UN head Kofi Annan, is worth $5m (£2.5m) over 10 years, and then $200,000 a year.
Mobile phone millionaire Mo Ibrahim is funding the project in the hope it will help improve governments' performance.

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 22 OCTOBER

LOOK OUT FOR -

On Thursday: BBC correspondent Alan Johnston remembers his experiences of being held hostage in Gaza
In depth: Alan Johnston

Kosovo calling: Representatives from the European Union, the US and Russia meet in the Austrian city of Vienna to discuss the future status of the breakaway Serb province of Kosovo.
Profile: Kosovo

Lady Laura: The US First Lady, Laura Bush, continues her tour of the Middle East to highlight the issue of breast cancer in the region.
Profile: Laura Bush

Dorothy Stang had devoted her life to saving the Amazon
Brazil retrial: The man who shot campaigning nun Dorothy Stang, who fought for the rights of the landless in Brazil's Amazon forest, is to stand trial again. The fresh trial is granted automatically due to the heavy sentence.
The nun who died for the Amazon

TUESDAY 23 OCTOBER

The superjumbo is the world's largest passenger jet
Flying machine: The vast Airbus A380 touches down in the Chinese capital, Beijing, at the start of a world tour.
In pictures: A380 arrives in US

Moscow to Tokyo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives in Japan at the start of a two-day visit to the country. The two countries are expected to discuss a territorial dispute over the Kuril islands.
Japan's island row with Russia

WEDNESDAY 24 OCTOBER
Kabul focus: Defence ministers from Nato hold talks in the Netherlands with their forces' deployment in Afghanistan at the top of the agenda.
Nato faces Afghanistan 'problems'

In absentia: In Milan, the trial resumes of 26 Americans and seven Italians accused of involvement in the rendition of a terror suspect flown to Egypt, where he alleges he was tortured.
Rendition and individual rights

THURSDAY 25 OCTOBER
Caracas calls: Venezuelan students plan to march through the streets of the capital to express their opposition to constitutional reforms which would end limits on presidential terms.
Venezuela head outlines changes

State of nature: The UN issues a huge five-yearly report on the state of the world's environment, the Global Environment Outlook.
Humans blamed for climate change

Out of the shadows: The Vatican is due to shed new light on the mysterious Knights Templar, a Christian military order dating back to Middle Ages. A book, based on a parchment discovered six years ago in the Vatican's Secret Archives, is to be published Thursday.
Vatican book on Knights Templars' demise

FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER
Waxing lyrical: UK rocker-poet Pete Doherty is to be sentenced for drug abuse in London. The singer has said he believes he is winning the battle against addiction.
Doherty 'at drugs turning point'

Peace pie: Norway's Supreme Court is to hear the appeal of a young man sentenced to a month in prison for hurling a pastry concoction at the prime minister in 2005.
Country profile: Norway

SATURDAY 27 OCTOBER
Next door neighbours: Peace talks aimed at ending conflict between the Sudanese government, pro-government Arab militias and rebel forces in the vast western region of Darfur begin in Tripoli, Libya.
Libya hosts Darfur crisis talks

Motor mad: One of the world's largest car shows, held in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, opens on Saturday.
Globalisation: the car industry

SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is described as 'strong-willed'Polling stations: Argentines are to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections. President Nestor Kirchner is standing aside to let his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, stand for presidency. She is expected to win.
Profile: Argentina's powerful First Lady

Exceptional access: Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, is to begin a groundbreaking visit to Cuba.
Cuba farms hint at future reform

Close call: It is 45 years to the day from the end of the Cuban missile crisis when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in the country.
On this day: Cuban crisis ends
BBCNEWS REPORT.

LUCKY DUBE - FIVE ARRESTS !

Lucky Dube had sung about his country's terrible crime problem. Police in South Africa hunting the killers of reggae star Lucky Dube say they have arrested five suspects.
Spokesman Eugene Opperman told a news agency they also seized two unlicensed guns and four cars, including one thought to have been used in the crime.
Dube, one of Africa's biggest selling artists, was shot dead on Thursday in a suspected botched car-jacking.
The death of the musician, who sang about his country's crime problem, prompted a torrent of grief among fans.
"I can confirm that five suspects were arrested this morning," Superintendent Opperman told the news agency AFP on Sunday.
"We also confiscated two unlicensed firearms, and four cars including the blue VW Polo that is believed to have been used on the night the crime was committed. The cars are believed to have been stolen," he added.

Dube, 43, was killed on Thursday night in a Johannesburg suburb as he dropped off his two teenage children at a relative's home.
Over his career he had devoted much of his musical attention to social problems.
His death was lamented by President Thabo Mbeki and by thousands of fans who emailed or texted their tributes to this website.
Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour said his murder posed "a big question which South African authorities must provide answers to", reported AFP.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IN GRIP OF MUGABE SYNDROME!

By RW Johnson -Johannesburg.

Why is President Thabo Mbeki clamping down on the press?

He is angry that no newspaper takes a simple African National Congress (ANC) view of life. Plans are afoot forcibly to change press ownership to make sure “other voices” (ie his) are heard. On top of that, he sees even mild or indirect criticism as the work of “enemies trying to destroy the ANC”.

Doesn’t he have a firm hold on power?

The ANC has a two-thirds majority in parliament and will hold power for a long time to come. But if anyone other than Mbeki is chosen as party president by the ANC congress in December, real power will quickly flow to that person. Mbeki will be a lame duck and might even be forced out of power before his presidential term ends in May 2009.

Surely he can take a bit of criticism?

His actions and writings have become increasingly wild and unbalanced in recent months and he has sacked as untrustworthy anyone who shows anything but slavish deference. It’s the Mugabe syndrome.

Is press freedom in danger?

Yes. If Mondli Makhanya is sacked or jailed, we are in uncharted territory. In addition the government is introducing laws to force editors of magazines to submit stories in advance to a government vetting body - ostensibly to prevent child pornography. But the South African press will not give in easily. Already there are anguished appeals to Nelson Mandela to speak out. Without doubt Mandela disapproves. If he speaks out, Mbeki is finished.

By the Sunday Times.

COPPOLA CRITICISES ACTING LEGENDS !

Film director Francis Ford Coppola has hit out at acting greats Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson, saying the trio lacked "passion".
The five-time Oscar-winner told GQ magazine they "all live off the fat of the land" and did not have ambition.
The 68-year-old maker of the Godfather trilogy said De Niro, one of his leading men, "never spends any money - he just puts it in his mattress".
He added Nicholson had a "mean streak" and was "a bit like Marlon Brando".
"He's intelligent, always wired with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios," said Coppola. "He was always kind of a joker."
De Niro was more likely to pursue an acting role that he was "hungry" for than Nicholson, whom the film director added had "money and influence and girls".

He's a little bit like Brando, except Brando went through some tough times - Francis Ford Coppola on Jack Nicholson
He claimed Pacino always harboured ambitions to act in theatrical classics and added the actor once said: "Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York and I'm never going to go to Los Angeles."
The actor was Oscar-nominated for his peformances in the first two parts of The Godfather triology.
The film-maker compared the trio to younger actors, saying that they lack the conviction to get really stuck into a role.
"I don't feel that kind of passion to do a role and be great coming from these guys, because if it was there, they would do it.
"I mean, they're all in a position to do it," Coppola added. "I don't know what any of them want any more."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"A HEART IN LOVE WITH BEAUTY NEVER GROWS OLD" !

CALL TO SEARCH MORE BLACK PEOPLE !

There have been a number of recent high-profile shootings. More people from black communities should be stopped and searched to help tackle knife and gun crime, a leading black police representative says.
Keith Jarrett, the outgoing president of the National Black Police Association (NBPA), said he would be pressing police for such an approach.
His call goes against the NBPA's stance but he said: "The black community is telling me we have to... look at this."
Some senior black police officers have distanced themselves from his remarks.

The NBPA's legal adviser, Ch Supt Ali Dizaei, told the BBC the comments were Mr Jarrett's personal views.
He said stop and search was "a very, very small part" of the fight against knife and gun crime and increasing its use would be "wrong".
"I think that will increase tension in the black community," Mr Dizaei said.
"Simply saying, 'Lets go out there and stop more black people' is ill conceived."
We have talked about disproportionate use of stop-and-search in the past, but what I am proposing is quite the reverse - Keith Jarrett, National Black Police Association.
Mr Jarrett will use a speech this week to ask Police Minister Tony McNulty and Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair to consider searching more black people.
The use of racial profiling in stop-and-search tactics has long been one of the most contentious issues in British policing.
Black people are six times more likely to be stopped than white people, according to Home Office figures.
This disparity has led to continued charges of police racism.
Mr Jarrett's stance, which is expected to be outlined in a speech at the NBPA's annual conference in Bristol on Wednesday, marks a sharp change of direction by the body, which represents thousands of officers from ethnic minorities.
The UK-wide body has previously questioned the high proportion of black people stopped and searched by police.

The Macpherson Report, published in February 1999 into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in London, strongly criticised the use of stop and search by police officers.
Its use is considered to have been a major factor in precipitating the inner-city race riots of the 1980s.
However, Mr Jarrett hopes the escalation of such tactics by police would reduce the number of nationwide shootings.
The black community is telling me that we have to have a look at this - Keith Jarrett.
A further two teenagers have been killed in the last week.
Mr Jarrett told The Observer: "From the return that I am getting from a lot of black people, they want to stop these killings, these knife crimes, and if it means their sons and daughters are going to be inconvenienced by being stopped by the police, so be it."
He said he was "hoping we go down that road" and he would be "pressing" for such an approach.
"It's not going to go down very well with my audience, many of whom are going to be black," he admitted.
"We have talked about disproportionate use of stop-and-search in the past, but what I am proposing is quite the reverse.
"The black community is telling me that we have to have a look at this."
He said he would not oppose a random use of stop-and-search in situations where officers had "reasonable suspicion" that an offence had been committed.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CARS BURNT AFTER AMSTERDAM DEATH!

Police in the Dutch city of Amsterdam say several cars have been set on fire in the sixth night of unrest after officers shot a Moroccan man dead. The 22-year old was killed after entering a police station where he stabbed two police officers.

Eleven cars have been set on fire this week in the Slotervaart district of Amsterdam, which is mainly populated by immigrants. Police said that a group of about 35 young people were behind the trouble. "There is a lot of police in the streets. This is the work of a few who take advantage of the situation," said a spokesman.

The dead Moroccan man, identified as Bilal B, had been receiving treatment for psychiatric problems. He had been questioned over contact with Islamic extremists who were linked to the murder of film maker Theo van Gogh in 2004.

About 1m of the Netherlands' 16m population are Muslims.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

STAR TREK FILM NAMES KIRK ACTOR !

Little-known actor Chris Pine has been chosen to play the young Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek movie.
Pine had to turn down a role opposite George Clooney in the film White Jazz in order to play Kirk because of a clash of filming schedules.
Lord of the Rings actor Karl Urban will play Leonard "Bones" McCoy, the Starship Enterprise's medical officer.
The film, which chronicles the early days of the Enterprise crew, will be released in the US on 25 December 2008.
The movie will show the crew meeting at the Starfleet Academy and embarking on their first mission.

NEW STAR TREK FILM CAST
Captain Kirk - Chris Pine
Older Mr Spock - Leonard Nimoy
Young Mr Spock - Zachary Quinto
Scotty - Simon Pegg
Nero - Eric Bana
Uhura - Zoe Saldana
Chekov - Anton Yelchin
Sulu - John Cho
Leonard 'Bones' McCoy - Karl Urban

The Paramount Pictures film is expected to begin shooting in November.
Urban's character Bones was responsible for several of Star Trek's famous phrases including: "He's dead, Jim."
New Zealand-born Urban played Eomer in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He also starred in The Bourne Supremacy.
The film, directed by Lost creator JJ Abrams, is Star Trek's 11th big screen outing.
The most recent Trek film, Star Trek: Nemesis, was released in 2003.

WORLD CUP FINAL 2007

By James Standley.

England (3) 6 Pens: Wilkinson 2
South Africa (9) 15Pens: Montgomery 4, Steyn

South Africa ended England's reign as world champions as they claimed the World Cup for the second time.
Three Percy Montgomery penalties to one from Jonny Wilkinson saw South Africa, who had hammered England in the group stages, lead 9-3 at the break in Paris.
England went desperately close to a try through Mark Cueto soon after half-time before a penalty apiece made it 12-6.
Francois Steyn extended the lead with a long-range penalty and South Africa held out to match their 1995 triumph.

Interview: England coach Brian Ashton
Interview: South Africa coach Jake White
Interview: England's Mark Cueto

It had been a remarkable run to the final for England, who went into the tournament woefully short of form.
They were humiliated in the group game against the Boks just over five weeks ago and although they finally found some form to reach the final, it was a bridge too far against a superior South Africa side.
The Springboks ruled the line-out through Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Juan Smith, stealing seven of England's throws, and their defence was all but impeccable throughout the 80 minutes.
After Wilkinson kicked off England enjoyed the early territorial advantage but they could not make it count as they struggled to win their own throw at the line-out.
South Africa's line-out operation had been praised to the skies going into the match and they made their mark immediately, stealing England's first two throws and preventing the champions from building an early head of steam.
When England did manage to win a line-out it was deep in their own half and led to them conceding the lead after Mathew Tait slipped as he tried to run from inside his own 22.
Montgomery, the tournament's leading points scorer, knocked over the easy kick to get the scoreboard ticking over.
England hit back after 13 minutes when South Africa failed to gather a hanging kick.
Massive second row Simon Shaw secured possession and although Bryan Habana halted a sweeping England attack with a thumping tackle on Paul Sackey, South Africa infringed at the ruck.
The penalty was wide out on the right but Wilkinson guided it between the posts to level the scores.
Both sides were not afraid to use the boot to try and get field position and when Butch James kicked ahead and chased, Lewis Moody, who has struggled at times with his discipline, could not resist tripping the South Africa fly-half.
Montgomery bisected the uprights to edge the Boks back into the lead.
England upped their game and the forwards battered away to create a platform for Wilkinson to drop at goal, but his effort drifted wide.
The champions enjoyed a good spell in the middle of the half but as the break approached South Africa started to assume the upper hand.
They could have extended their lead through a penalty from Steyn, but his long-range effort drifted wide.
The inside centre is only 20 but he did not let it affect his confidence and with five minutes to go to the break he stepped past Mike Catt and beat Wilkinson and Phil Vickery to take the Boks deep into England territory.
The champions managed to halt Springbok captain John Smit a yard from the line but the Boks kept the pressure on and when England desperately infringed Montgomery stepped up to make it 9-3 at the break.
It looked as though South Africa were set to pull away but two minutes after the re-start Tait picked up a bouncing pass from scrum-half Andy Gomarsall in midfield.
The Newcastle man stepped past the on-rushing South Africa midfield and raced deep into South Africa territory before being halted just short of the line.

Gomarsall fed the ball wide and Cueto dived over in the corner, but the television match official correctly ruled he had just put a foot in touch as Danie Rossouw got across to make the tackle.
Referee Alain Rolland had been playing advantage and Wilkinson, via the woodwork, brought the gap back to three points from the resulting penalty.
A fourth Montgomery penalty took South Africa back into a six-point lead and England's chances suffered a blow as veteran full-back Jason Robinson was forced off injured.
As the half progressed England, boosted by a host of replacements, looked like they might gain the upper hand but they fell further behind when they were penalised for obstruction as Cueto ran the ball out of defence.
Steyn drilled the ball between the posts from long range and suddenly South Africa led by more than a converted try.
England were never going to give up the fight and they attacked with increasing abandon, but their inability to control their own ball at the line-out and the breakdown ultimately cost them dear.
Every time a white shirt hurled itself at South Africa it was enveloped by a tide of green as the Springboks joined Australia as two-time world champions.

England: Robinson; Sackey, Tait, Catt, Cueto; Wilkinson, Gomarsall, Sheridan, Regan, Vickery, Shaw, Kay, Corry, Moody, Easter.Replacements: Chuter, Stevens, Dallaglio, Worsley, Richards, Flood, Hipkiss.
South Africa: Montgomery; Pietersen, Fourie, Steyn, Habana; James, Du Preez; Du Randt, Smit, Van der Linde, B Botha, Matfield, Burger, Smith, Rossouw.Replacements: B du Plessis, J du Plessis, Muller, Van Heerden, Pienaar, Pretorius, Olivier.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

BBC SPORTS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

Operation Sunset.

Saturday 20th October 2007
Dear Family and Friends,

It's been just over a year since three zeroes were removed from our currency. That move in August 2006 was called Operation Sunrise and turned a million into a thousand dollars and a thousand into a single dollar. Thirteen new notes were introduced. They weren't bank notes, still had expiry dates on them and were called Bearer Cheques. Now, just fourteen months later ten of those notes are as good as useless, two are useful for change but actually buy nothing and one new, bigger denomination note has been introduced.

Zimbabwe stumbled distressingly through the money change a year ago. Great armies of youths were disgorged onto our streets and they stood at roadblocks demanding to see how much money we had on us. Cars, buses, suitcases and handbags were searched and anyone found with more money than stipulated by the Reserve Bank, had their money seized. On a lower level, people with a million dollars in their bank or savings accounts, discovered that overnight the zeroes had been removed and a million became a thousand. Those lost zeroes are coming home to roost now as many investment centres are announcing new minimum balances of a million dollars - anything less and the accounts are being made dormant. Pensioners and others on fixed and minimum incomes are losing their precious savings again.

Fourteen months down the line since the zero slashing and Zimbabwe is back in that same ridiculous place again. The queues in the banks are huge, the piles of money we have to carry around have reached satchel size proportions, our regular bills are in millions and calculations run into billions very rapidly. We've stopped using paper clips to hold notes together and are back in rubber band land again. The prices of the few things still available to buy are so large they we're all back to peering at price stickers and counting the zeroes again. The money counting machines which temporarily went into the storerooms are back out on the counter tops and whirring their way through endless piles of almost worthless money.

Earlier in the week the official inflation rate was announced to be 7892%. With virtually no food to buy in the shops, it's impossible to try and understand just exactly how the food part of the inflation calculation is made. However it's done, is a world away from what's happening on the ground. When you've gone without a basic household product for three months or more, you grab it when you see it and just hope you've got enough money to pay for it. This week it was margarine. The last time this was openly on sale it had been 100 thousand dollars On Monday a friend said she'd seen margarine but it was 400 thousand dollars for a 500g pack. By Tuesday it was gone. On Wednesday it was back, same brand, same size but the price had gone up to 620 thousand dollars. By Friday there were only four or five packets left on the shelf and the price had gone up again, this time to 720 thousand dollars.

It's virtually impossible to live like this and everywhere, everyone longs for change. For most of us the politics, the secret talks, the quiet diplomacy and the rumours about succession have left the suffering of the ordinary people completely out of the equation. We are waiting, just waiting, for Operation Sunset.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
love cathy.

10 THINGS !

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

1. The brain responds to facial expressions at a speed of less than 40 milliseconds.
More details

2. Having sex daily can improve a man's sperm quality - increasing their partner's chance of getting pregnant.
More details

3. CO2 emissions from shipping are twice the level of aviation.
More details

4. George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan have had Bell's Palsy - a nerve condition that can result in paralysis on one side of the face.
More details

5. Middlesbrough's first professional football club, established in the late Victorian era, was called Middlesbrough Ironopolis.
More details

6. Four people died in France in the Great Storm of 1987.

7. Migrants earned on average £424 per week last year, compared with £395 for UK-born workers.

8. Discrimination against atheists is allowed in employment in Texas, according to the state's constitution.
More details

9. Leeches are used as treatment for cauliflower ears.
More details

10. Asterix was so-called so he would appear at the start of an encyclopaedia of comics.
More details

BBC Magazine

THE GAME WHICH UNITED A COUNTRY !

By Allan Little - BBC News.

For many years, South Africa was a divided nation, both racially and in the sport people watched. Then, in 1995, a World Cup competition helped change things.

Rugby in South Africa is no longer seen as being racially divisive. They were once the team that most South Africans loved to hate. The team that inspired protests across the world calling for international sporting boycotts. The team at the heart of South Africa's international sporting isolation. Nelson Mandela himself spoke of listening to Springbok games on the radio during his long incarceration on Robben Island and rooting for whoever they were playing. The all-white South African rugby team was one of the greatest symbols of apartheid. White supremacy at play.

Football was the game favoured by most blacks, a game that went unnoticed in the affluent white suburbs. A decade ago, one of South Africa's most talented and popular football players was a white man called Mark Fish. Two sporting cultures there were, each with its own pantheon of heroes and triumphs and tragedies He was recognised all over Africa. I remember a class of seven-year-olds in Sierra Leone chanting his name. But he said he could go into a restaurant in his own home town - Pretoria - and none of his white fellow diners would bat an eyelid.

Only when the black waiter came to take his order would the commotion begin, as catering staff were summoned en masse from the kitchen to shake his hand and ask for his autograph. Thus was sporting South Africa divided, the way that everything in the old days was divided. There were two sporting cultures, each with its own pantheon of heroes and triumphs and tragedies. It was the hated Springboks that turned all that around in three short magical weeks in 1995.

I went to watch one of the early games of the tournament with a good-humoured mixed race group of South African friends. The white people brought their biltong and boerewors and their chilled tins of Castle lager. Black South Africa fell in love with rugby and the hulking white men who dominated it The black ones for the most part, watched in bemused and slightly sullen curiosity. The rules of the game were a closed book to them. "Why do they keep passing the ball backwards?" one man asked me.

But as the tournament went on and it became clear that South Africa were going to do well, you felt the sullenness lift. Black South Africa fell in love with rugby and the hulking white men who dominated it. The nation's football team were known popularly as "bafana bafana" which means, simply "the boys the boys" in South Africa's Nguni languages. In the days before the final, in which South Africa would face the runaway favourites New Zealand, the influential Sowetan newspaper - the biggest selling daily in Black South Africa - held a vital editorial conference among its journalists: what stance should the paper take?

Mandela told the team he was proud of them... It is said to have moved Pienaar near to tears It decided to do far more than just back the team. It coined a new word to mirror "bafana bafana" that would enter the lexicon of the country's sporting affections: "amaBokaBoka" - "the boks, the boks" in the Nguni tongues. It was, suddenly and irresistibly, respectable to get behind the Springboks. The team would later attribute its victory in that historic final to the secret 16th player.

President Nelson Mandela turned up in the dressing room in the minutes before the match, wearing a Springbok shirt with the number of the captain, Francois Pienaar, on his back. Mandela told the team he was proud of them. It is said to have moved Pienaar near to tears. The camera reveals him so overcome that he was unable to sing the national anthem before the match began. Mandela took his place in the stand and something magical happened. South Africa, so recently in from the cold, became world champions.

But that was not the end of it. Black South Africa had not forgotten the slight it had suffered decades earlier when a well known South African golfer had won an international tournament. After sinking his winning putt, the golfer had been interviewed on live television. Referring to the sporting boycott, the interviewer had said "And of course this is a great day for South Africa too," to which the player had replied "Yes, it means a lot. "We are a small country of just five million people." By which, of course, he meant five million white people.

Seconds after the final whistle blew that day in Johannesburg, Francois Pienaar, still breathless, was on the touchline for his own post-victory live television interview. Pienaar collected the Rugby World Cup trophy from Nelson Mandela"You had great support from 65,000 South Africans here today, the interviewer said, referring to the capacity of the packed stadium. Without a moment's hesitation, Pienaar said: "No. We had the support of 43 million South Africans today."

Everybody understood the significance of the moment. South Africa, brave, inclusive, optimistic, had turned a corner, and could take pride again in its own identity. When South Africans celebrated that night they were celebrating so much more than a sporting triumph.

BBC NEWS REPORT.
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 20 October, 2007 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

CONGO REBEL LEADER DENIES LOSSES !

Democratic Republic of Congo rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has described as exaggerated a government claim that some 1,000 of his men had defected. Gen Nkunda told the BBC most of the rebel fighters who surrendered did so after his talks with the government. Correspondents speak of a worsening humanitarian crisis following weeks of clashes in the eastern Kivu region. Medical staff in Kichanga, Gen Nkunda's stronghold, say the authorities are blocking medical supplies. People here are very shocked about the fighting - Congolese NGO worker Leopold.

Voices in the violence

President Joseph Kabila has demanded that Gen Nkunda reintegrate all his forces into the national army. Gen Nkunda ignored Monday's deadline to begin disarming his troops. The deadline has since been extended to an unspecified date, and government troops have advanced on Kichanga in the past week. At the hospital in Kichanga, a doctor and 12 nurses are working in appalling conditions as they treat about 150 patients, some with gunshot wounds, and some malnourished children, the BBC's Karen Allen reports from the town.

KEY FORCES IN THE KIVUS

FLNK - new group made up mainly of Congolese Mai Mai with some Rwandan Hutus formerly in the FDLR
FDLR - Hutu militia made up of former Rwandan soldiers and others who fled into Congo after the 1994 genocide
Congolese army
Gen Laurent Nkunda, with an estimated 5,000 soldiers
Monuc - UN Mission in the DR Congo

Profile: Renegade general

The hospital staff told our correspondent the authorities in the provincial capital, Goma, were preventing medical supplies getting through and accusing the hospital of harbouring rebels. The UN estimates 6,000 Rwandan Hutu rebels - known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - are operating in the east. Gen Nkunda has previously accused the Congolese army of working with other local militia and the FDLR to attack him - an accusation the government denies. On Wednesday, the government announced a plan to begin disarming the Hutu rebels. More than 370,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in eastern DR Congo since the start of the year in a growing humanitarian crisis.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"TO A BRAVE MAN, GOOD AND BAD LUCK ARE LIKE

HIS RIGHT AND LEFT HAND, HE USES THEM BOTH" !

AIRMEN PUNISHED FOR NUCLEAR ERROR !

The US Air Force has relieved several officers of their commands after a B-52 bomber was mistakenly flown across the US loaded with nuclear-armed missiles.
Three colonels, a lieutenant colonel and 66 other personnel were punished following the incident at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, on 29 August.
Maj Gen Richard Newton said ground crews had failed to follow procedures.
The incident has been described as one of the worst known breaches of nuclear weapons procedures in decades.
Six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads were mounted on the bomber's wings before it was flown to Louisiana.
The missiles were supposed to have been taken to Barksdale Air Force Base, but the warheads should have been removed beforehand.
Announcing the results of his six-week investigation, Gen Newton said there had been an "erosion of adherence to weapons-handing standards".
They did not follow the formal scheduling processes that would have allowed them to do the proper maintenance and handling of those weapons - Maj Gen Richard Newton, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff.

US embarrassed at blunder

"In the countless times our dedicated airmen have transferred weapons in our nation's arsenal, nothing like this has ever occurred," the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations said.
Gen Newton said the "unprecedented string of procedural errors" had begun with a failure by airmen to conduct a required inspection of the missiles before they were loaded onto the wing of the B-52 at Minot.
The crew flying the plane were unaware it was carrying nuclear warheads, he said.
Experts have said that if the B-52 had crashed, there would not have been a nuclear explosion. However, there could have been a threat from plutonium leakage from the W80-1 warheads, which have a yield of five to 150 kilotons.

"This was an unacceptable mistake and a clear deviation from our exacting standards," Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said.
"We hold ourselves accountable to the American people and want to ensure proper corrective action has been taken."
Both Mr Wynne and Gen Newton insisted the case was an isolated incident and that the current procedures for handing nuclear weapons were sound.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SHOCK AT S.A. REGGAE STAR SHOOTING !

Lucky Dube on music

Fans across the world are mourning the South African reggae star, Lucky Dube, who has been shot dead. He was dropping his teenage son and daughter off in a Johannesburg suburb when he was attacked by car thieves.
Local radio stations have been flooded with tearful callers expressing outrage at the murder and renewing demands that the authorities act to curtail crime.
South Africa's leader paid tribute to him and called on people to "confront this terrible scourge of crime".
Alongside Bob Marley, Lucky Dube was thought of as one of the great reggae artists - singing about social problems.
He was also one of the apartheid regime's most outspoken critics.
Correspondents say the killing of the 43-year-old singer has shocked South Africans who are already accustomed to one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Your tributes
Crime fears after shooting

Music producer TK of TS records and a friend of Dube's told the BBC the killing was tragically ironic.
"The whole continent has lost a performer, musician, a guy that fought for freedom in his own way, in his own right, was just shot by some guy who wanted to take his car, you know, which is Mickey Mouse really," he said.
Opposition parties and the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress party have called on the government to take drastic measures against crime.
Callers to radio stations have urged the country's rugby team to show some form of respect when they take to the field in Saturday's World Cup final against England in Paris.
President Thabo Mbeki is attending the final and took time to pay tribute to the dreadlocked reggae star before he jetted off to France.
"It's indeed very very sad that this happens to an outstanding South African, an outstanding musician - world renowned," he said.
"We shall continue to act together as a people to confront this terrible scourge of crime, which has taken the lives of too many of our people - and does so every day."
The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says police are still hunting for three men thought to be behind the attack.
Police say Dube's son and daughter were already out of the car when three shots were fired through the car window killing their father on Thursday evening in Rosettenville.
Witnesses say the wounded singer tried to drive away, but lost control of his car and hit a tree.
"He was declared dead on the scene," Police inspector Lorrain Van Immareck told the BBC.
'Big blow'
The BBC has been inundated with thousands of text and email messages paying tribute to the 43-year-old singer.

Lucky Dube's Rastas Never Die album was banned under apartheid.
"I am a 27-year-old black South African girl. I have dreadlocks and I love reggae music so much and I am proud to be who I am, being black and African. I will miss Lucky Dube, you are an inspiration to many of us," Sbongile Diko in Durban wrote.
But the tributes have been worldwide - especially from Africa.
"Lucky filled up stadiums all over the continent. I would say he was far bigger outside South Africa then he was in South Africa," South African music journalist Peter Makurube told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
Dube began his career by singing mbaqanga (traditional Zulu) music and recorded his first album with the Super Soul band in 1982.
He later moved into reggae, producing Rastas Never Die which was banned by the apartheid government.
His albums Slave, Prisoner and Together As One saw him gain first national, and then global, recognition.
Three years ago his 1989 anti-apartheid hit Together as One, which calls for world peace and harmony, was voted one of Africa's top 10 songs by BBC readers and listeners.
Lucky Dube released his most recent album, Respect, in April

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"IT'S GOING TO BE ONE BIG PARTY "!

Thousands of rugby fans are heading for Paris ahead of the mouth-watering World Cup final between England and South Africa.
Here, some of those preparing to board the Eurostar at Waterloo Station in London describe their emotions ahead of the contest and give their predictions.

BETHANY WALTERS, 17, CHRISTIAN WALTERS, 16, AND OLLY LARKIN, 15
Bethany, of Bristol, said:
We're all really excited. The atmosphere should be electric. I've never been to Paris and can't wait to get there.
My parents bought tickets for the final a while ago and I think they felt a bit guilty when England got through and they were going and we weren't.
Bethany Walters said Jonny Wilkinson would by key.
So they bought us tickets too. We're staying in separate hotels and coming back on Sunday.
We're going to start partying as soon as we arrive.
We're missing the last day at school before the half-term break.
All my teachers said 'good on you'.
I don't know whether we are going to win or not. Bryan Habana is pretty good, but I think Jonny Wilkinson will do the business.

NICO MARAIS, 36, JOHANNESBURG.
I think South Africa will win. It's a long way to come to see them lose. So I hope they do it.
Nico Marais said he was expecting a great show.
We've a factory in France and I got the tickets from people working there two days ago. They were French fans who couldn't bear to go to the final.
They were gutted, but it worked out well for me. It's a huge vibe in South Africa. I really believe we have a good chance tomorrow.
The whole thing is a great show and I can't wait to get into Paris. There's already a buzz and we're not even there yet.

TRACEY MILLER, 40, ALDBOROUGH, NORFOLK
I think the Springboks are going to win. Maybe score a few tries. I'm expecting some good action from us.
Tracy Miller said she was hoping for a wonderful atmosphere.
I'm originally from South Africa and everyone back home is excited. They'll be having parties and barbecues before watching the game.
It's a really important sport over there. It would be good to get one over on the English. Everyone likes to win, don't they?
My son is flying in to watch the game on the big outdoor screen in Paris. The atmosphere will be wonderful.

TERRY FARR, 52, ROSS-ON-WYE, HEREFORDSHIRE
I'm really quite excited. I think we are going to win. I managed to get a ticket about three months ago to the semi-final.
Terry Farr had a bet on England and could win £250.
When I was at the game I bought my tickets off some All Blacks fans. They were gutted. They were saying how poor our level of rugby was.
I just pointed out how far they had got. I personally had a bet of £10 on England to win the World Cup at 25-1.
I haven't been surprised by England's success at all. It was a matter of the team slotting in place. It's all about having belief.

STEVE POWNALL, 39, AUCKLAND
I'm a New Zealand supporter, but I'm just a rugby fan really and I can't wait for the final.
Steve Pownall is an All Blacks fan hoping for a good game.
It should be a really good game. I think South Africa will win by 10 points. I bought my ticket about three months ago.
I wasn't absolutely certain New Zealand would get to the final, but I certainly thought they'd get to the semis.
I arrived in Europe about four weeks ago and I've been to just about every All Blacks game. I took a month off from work after planning it for ages.
It's been a great experience.

ANDY HARRIS, 64, JOHANNESBURG
We've got to win. I think England are a one-man side. Without Wilkinson they wouldn't stand a chance.
Andy Harris said it would be a memorable occasion.
I'm not worried yet. I spent all that money to get here and I'm just going to enjoy it.
I got my ticket about 10 days ago. It was no gamble at all, I knew South Africa would get to the final.
In South Africa they are saying it's going to be a tight game. I think it's going to be electrifying.
It's going to be one of the most fantastic moments in my life.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BUFFETT SELLS PETROCHINA SHARES!

'Warren Buffett's investment company Berkshire Hathaway has made a $3.5bn (£1.7bn) profit though the sale of its shares in Chinese oil firm PetroChina.
Mr Buffett said the sale was based solely on price, rebuffing suggestions he was reacting to criticism of PetroChina's links with Sudan.
Earlier this year some shareholders had urged Berkshire to sell its PetroChina stake because of the Sudan issue.
Berkshire bought 11% of PetroChina's public shares in 2006 for $500m.

In May, at Berkshire's annual general meeting rebel shareholders argued that PetroChina - through its government-owned parent China National Petroleum - was too closely linked with the Sudanese government.
Sudan's government continues to be criticised by Western governments for atrocities in the troubled Darfur region.
The rebel proposal to sell the PetroChina stake, which Mr Buffett opposed, was successfully defeated.
at the time, Mr Buffett said that while conditions in Darfur were deplorable, selling the PetroChina investment would not improve them.
Separately, the 67-year-old denied this week that he was interested in buying troubled US lender Bear Stearns.
The bank has been badly hit by bad investments in the US sub-prime mortgage sector, which has seen record loan defaults this year.
Nicknamed the "sage of Omaha" because of his success with investments, Mr Buffett is worth an estimated $52.4bn.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BOYS SENTENCED FOR STONING DEATH !

Five boys have been sentenced to two years' detention for killing a father who collapsed with a heart attack after being pelted with stones and rocks.
Ernest Norton, 67, was playing cricket with his son at a leisure centre in Erith, south-east London, when he was targeted in February 2006.
The pair came under a hail of missiles and two stones hit Mr Norton's head.
The boys, now aged between 12 and 14, were convicted of manslaughter and violent disorder in August.
Passing the sentence at the Old Bailey, Judge Warwick McKinnon said: "The conduct of all of you as a group was utterly disgraceful and criminally irresponsible."
A victim impact statement by the victim's wife Linda Norton, read out in court by prosecution counsel Anthony Orchard, said: "Ernie's death has affected our lives in so many ways, we are still trying to be normal and enjoy ourselves again but I don't think I ever will."
The statement said Mr Norton's death had a "dramatic effect" on his daughter and son.
Following the sentence, Det Insp Clive Hayes said he hoped the "tough sentence" will "act as a deterrent" to other youths tempted to get involved in anti-social behaviour.
He added that Mr Norton's family was "satisfied" and felt "justice has been done".

Widow 'lost' without husband
Wife and son watched him die
Parents told to control boys

The boys wept and hugged their parents following sentencing.
Judge McKinnon said: "This was a vicious, entirely unprovoked and sustained group attack involving a barrage of missiles.
He added the boys "hyped" themselves up by "earlier rowdy mischief and misbehaviour" before attacking Mr Norton.
A jury heard Mr Norton was hit on the head at least twice.
"A child would realise your actions were dangerous, running the risk that injury would result. I am satisfied that each one of you were aware of that danger," the judge said.

The father and son were playing cricket in the tennis court. Mr Norton had set up stumps with his 17-year-old son James in a tennis court to practise bowling.
But they were approached by up to 20 youths who began shouting abuse including "rubbish bowler" and "go back to the old people's home".
Mr Norton tried to scare them off but they threw stones, rocks and pieces of wood at him and he collapsed, bleeding heavily.
"We were just keeping ourselves to ourselves," James Norton had told the court.
"It just seemed they wanted to pick on someone."
James and his mother Linda watched as an off-duty police officer tried in vain to resuscitate Mr Norton.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THAIS ARREST PAEDOPHILE SUSPECT !

A Canadian paedophile suspect who was the subject of a global manhunt has been arrested in Thailand. Police tracked down 32-year-old teacher Christopher Paul Neil in north-east Thailand. They suspect him of appearing in 200 online images of child abuse. Mr Neil, who faces 20 years in jail if convicted, was brought to a news briefing, but did not answer questions. Interpol had appealed for help after experts unscrambled digitally-distorted photos of the suspect. The international police agency sparked a worldwide manhunt when it launched its first global appeal to the public for information on the suspected paedophile.

UNFOLDING INVESTIGATION
Dec 2004: Abuse photos, some date-stamped 2002 or 2003, found on internet
8 Oct 2007: Interpol's global appeal for information
9 Oct: Interpol says more than 200 responses received
11 Oct: Suspect flies into Bangkok on one-way ticket
19 Oct: Suspect arrested in north-east Thailand

The Thai courts issued an arrest warrant on Thursday after a 17-year-old Thai youth told the authorities the suspect had sexually molested him several years ago. Mr Neil was picked up by officers on Friday morning in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima, 250 km (150 miles) north-east of the capital, Bangkok. He was driven to the Thai capital where he was paraded him in handcuffs in front of gathered journalists at a police station.

The BBC's Chris Hogg, in Bangkok, said there were chaotic scenes as Mr Neil was led into the building, with police having to fend off a scrum of reporters and photographers. Police chiefs said he was suspected of abusing at least 12 youngsters - at least one said to be under 10 years old. The arrest follows lengthy efforts to identify a man seen in more than 200 online images of alleged sexual abuse involving young boys. The man's face had been digitally scrambled, but Interpol used software to create a usable image of the suspect.

On 11 October, footage from a security camera at Bangkok airport recorded Mr Neil's entry into Thailand from South Korea, where he had been working as an English teacher. After hundreds of responses to its appeal for help, Interpol named him as a suspect earlier this week. "The fact that we went to the public was the breakthrough," Interpol detective Mick Moran told AFP news agency. "We are absolutely delighted that this guy has been arrested."

Officers now believe the Canadian might have abused boys in Thailand as well as in Vietnam and Cambodia - and he could face charges in any of those countries. He could also be charged in Canada, which has laws allowing for the prosecution of its nationals for child-sex crimes committed abroad. Thai police have appealed for more victims to come forward and indicated he would be charged in Thailand, but they did not rule out the possibility of extradition. Mr Neil, from British Columbia, has been teaching at schools in Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam since 2000.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"IF YOU TELL THE TRUTH,

YOU DON'T HAVE TO REMEMBER ANYTHING" !

HAMILTON READY FOR TITLE DECIDER !

Lewis Hamilton's attempt to become the first driver to win the Formula One title in his debut season begins at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday. The Englishman, 22, has to see off the challenge of his McLaren team-mate, and reigning champion, Fernando Alonso as well as Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

The three men get their bid under way when practice starts at 1300 BST at the Interlagos track in Sao Paulo. Hamilton leads Alonso by four points, with Raikkonen three further back. If Hamilton wins or comes second, the title is his, but after that there are a number of possible eventualities - and the fact that Alonso will be champion if the Spaniard wins and Hamilton is third or lower emphasises how close it is. But if Alonso finishes outside the top four his hopes disappear, while Raikkonen has to come first or second to keep his slim chances alive.

Hamilton insists he will start the weekend with a renewed confidence after the disappointment of spinning out in China two weeks ago with the championship in his grasp. "I thought China would knock my confidence, but I've come out of it stronger for whatever reason," he said. "There was a lot of pressure building up to the race and it was not a great weekend, but I feel totally relaxed and fully confident in the team's ability to challenge for the title." However, Hamilton said he was aware that he may have to excercise some caution, particularly at the first corner. "I'm approaching it the same as every race, I just want to finish," he continued. "I have to enter the first corner with a clear mind - either to take the lead or gain a place. But I don't want to take too many risks."

Alonso clinched his two consecutive world titles at this same South American track with a third-place finish in 2005 and second place last year, but he too knows that he cannot afford to be reckless. "It is a lucky circuit because I have won two championships here," the Spaniard said. "I have great memories and hopefully this year can continue - I know all the combinations I need to win the title but not one of those is retirement. The main thing is to finish the race."

Raikkonen was in philosophical mood over his chances of winning a first title despite having a good record at Interlagos with three second places. "It is not up to us any more but I will do the best I can and we will see what happens," the Finn said. Raikkonen's team-mate Felipe Massa won the race last year and hinted that his role may change throughout the weekend. "I would be happy to see my team win the title, but it (Massa's role) depends on Kimi's chances to win the championship," the Brazilian said. "But my heart is to try and win the race."

Hamilton could complete a memorable double for English sport on Sunday if he wins the title, with the rugby union team taking on South Africa in the World Cup final in Paris on Saturday evening, just hours after qualifying ends in Brazil. "'I'm just proud and pleased to be in the sort of position where I can do something, and I really, really hope England win," said Hamilton. "It would be one of the best times for our country."

Hamilton said he was already finding it an emotional experience to be in the home city and final resting place of one of his idols, the late Ayrton Senna. "All the years I've been watching Formula One, literally from the beginning of my karting career, I've had books and videos on Senna," said Hamilton. "To watch them and see him in his home country, see how people view him over here, and then to finally come to this country, his home turf and where his resting place is, it's quite touching. "Knowing my hotel is only a couple of miles from where he is - and that is the closest I've ever been to him - it's quite an unusual experience for me." And he said he may now cancel his plans to visit Senna's grave in the Morumbi cemetery after the race is over. "I've not been there and it's not really crossed my mind to be honest," he said. "I doubt very much I'll go now because I know I'll be followed. So I'll have to do it on another trip."

BBC SPORTS REPORT

WHY WOMEN STILL DIE TO GIVE BIRTH !

By Stephanie Holmes - BBC News.

Giving birth can be fatal for women in many countries of the world. Around half a million women die annually before, during or shortly after giving birth - and almost all of these deaths occur in developing countries.

Women in Africa face the highest risk during childbirth.Campaigners argue that these deaths are both preventable and have repercussions that echo far beyond the woman's immediate family and community. "We know exactly what needs to be done to save women's lives," the chief of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Thoraya Obaid told the BBC News website.

And yet, since 1990, the level of maternal mortality has decreased by less than 1% per year, far from enough to reach an internationally agreed goal of a 75% reduction by 2015. The leading killers during pregnancy or childbirth include massive blood loss, high blood pressure, an unsafe abortion, an untreated infection and obstructed labour - where the woman's body is too small for the baby to pass through the birth canal.

But the reasons why these issues have not been tackled are political, rather than medical. "The first and most important reason is a social issue: the low status of women. Leaders do not see the lives and health of women as a political priority, they invest in other sectors," Mrs Obaid said. Women most at risk are often the most marginalised and vulnerable, living in countries with undeveloped health systems or in conflict situations, she added.

MATERNAL MORTALITY

The number of women dying in childbirth varies dramatically worldwide from one in eight in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone to one in 47,000 in IrelandMaternal health is strongly linked to access to safe abortion, contraception and emergency obstetric careIf a mother is ill or dies, the baby is less likely to survive and her other children less likely to be healthy and educated.

In pictures: Fighting maternal mortality

Half of all maternal deaths - some 270,000 in 2005 - occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where one in two women lacks access to a trained midwife. "The three basic interventions are: family planning to begin with, a qualified birth attendant present at the birth and access to obstetric care if there are complications during birth," she said. While many countries have made little progress, a few have scored startling successes.

Sri Lanka, for example, has managed to halve its maternal death rates every 12 years andSouth Africa reduced its level by 92% in a decade, according to non-governmental organisation Population Action International (PAI). Yet, in most cases, reproductive health has slipped into the shadows, eclipsed by the more perplexing and dramatic threat of HIV/Aids. "There are competing demands on donors' money and the rise of HIV/Aids has taken a great deal away," Mrs Obaid said. "Despite the fact that HIV is a sexually transmitted virus there was a divorce between HIV and reproductive health," she said, adding that approaches tackled one issue or the other, rather than seeing them as linked. Another obstacle to reducing levels of maternal mortality has, arguably, been the increasing influence of ideology and faith on health policy, particularly in the US.

Some 70,000 women die from unsafe abortions each year. Since 2002, the US has withheld funding from the UNFPA, accusing it of actively promoting abortion or sterilisation. "The words 'sexual' and 'reproductive' are seen by one of our major donors - the US - as being a euphemism for backing abortion," Mrs Obaid said. She said the UNFPA neither supported or opposed abortion, but brushed off the impact of the loss of funding, saying the shortfall had been more than compensated for by increased contributions from Europe.

But others argue that the US position has nonetheless been damaging. "It's outrageous," Amy Coen, the head of PAI told the BBC News website. "I think the US's restrictive policies have absolutely been one of the reasons that there has not been as much progress as there could be in developing countries." The White House argues that the funds diverted from the UNFPA have gone to support other reproductive rights projects, run by organisations that steer clear of abortion. And Concerned Women for America - one of the organisations which successfully lobbied against US funding for UNFPA - said that to support the body would be a violation of US law. "Our cash dollars cannot go to organisations that advocate coercive or forced abortions," the group's president, Wendy Wright, told the BBC news website, linking the UNFPA to the practice of forced abortion in China. She said the UNFPA provided resources to Chinese government family planning agencies, even if it was not directly involved. "One reason why there's not been a big drop in maternal deaths is that there has been too much of a focus on abortion rather than what works," she said.

Some 70,000 women die from unsafe abortion each year. But making abortion more easily available, Mrs Wright argues, will not reduce maternal deaths in developing countries. "The worse thing for countries that don't have basic healthcare is to allow abortion because they also lack penicillin and clean water. Making it legal won't make it safe," Mrs Wright said. Yet, according to a recent report by Population Action International, 18 of the 26 countries with the highest risk of maternal mortality also have highly restrictive abortion laws.

"Women's lives are saved when abortion is legal," Ms Coen said. "And saving women's lives strengthens the family, makes societies healthier, economies grow faster and countries stronger.It's a win-win story."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ATTACK ON BHUTTO CONVOY KILLS 130 !

At least 130 people were killed when two bombs exploded among crowds in Karachi celebrating the return of the former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto. Ms Bhutto, who was travelling from the city's airport to a rally marking her homecoming after eight years in self-imposed exile, was not hurt. The truck carrying her had its windows shattered and a door blown off. The attacks on the motorcade happened despite a heavy security presence following threats from militant groups.

Witnesses described horrific scenes, with bodies and body parts littering the area. Children were among the dead. Several Islamist groups, including pro-Taleban militants, had said they would attack Ms Bhutto on her return, after she promised to confront those operating in the northern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, said members of the government and intelligence agencies who were going to lose power were behind the attack. Ms Bhutto had earlier warned that if targeted, she would hold what she described as hidden authorities within the government as partly responsible.

In quotes: Blast reaction
From joy to horror

Ms Bhutto heads the country's largest political force, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). She wants to contest parliamentary elections due to be held in January and she has been negotiating with President Pervez Musharraf over a possible power-sharing agreement. The US has backed such a deal, amid concerns about the military's inability to defeat Islamist militants and Gen Musharraf's rising unpopularity. Ms Bhutto has been prime minister twice. On both occasions, her government was prematurely dismissed by the president of the day under special powers. She left Pakistan in April 1999, shortly before Gen Musharraf seized power in a coup - and two years after her husband was jailed and a series of corruption charges were brought against her. She denies the charges.

Gen Musharraf said the attack on Ms Bhutto's convoy was a "conspiracy against democracy". "The president appealed to the nation and especially the people of Karachi to exercise patience and calm in this hour," said a statement by his office. The United States also condemned the blasts. "Extremists will not be allowed to stop Pakistanis from selecting their representatives through an open and democratic process," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Victoria Schofield, a friend of Ms Bhutto who was also on the bus, said the former prime minister had been standing on top of the bus for six hours, but had just gone downstairs to work on a speech when the first bomb exploded. "We were sitting up on the top and suddenly there was this absolute flash of light and a blast," she told the BBC.

On board Bhutto's flight
In pictures: Blast scene

"I felt lots of really hot air coming and we all - there were about 15 of us on the top of the bus - we all literally went to the ground." Ms Schofield said the first blast was relatively small but that it had had left people sitting on the left-hand side of the bus covered with blood. She said the first explosion had come from a parked car which police had begun to investigate. Ms Schofield said a second, much larger explosion occurred two minutes later. "There was blood all around and it was chaos - and we couldn't understand what was happening - we didn't know where to go, what to do," said Farzana Raja, a spokeswoman for the PPP.

Most of the dead were members of the PPP, although police vehicles took the main force of the blasts and more than 20 police officers are thought to have died. A cameraman for a local TV station was also killed.

KEY DATES
06 Oct: Presidential polls held
17 Oct: Supreme Court resumes hearing challenges to Musharraf candidacy
18 Oct: Benazir Bhutto's homecoming
15 Nov: Parliamentary term ends and general election must be held by mid-January

Flying into uncertainty

The chief of police in Karachi, Azhar Farooqi, said a preliminary investigation suggested the second blast had been caused by a suicide bomber. "The first blast was probably a hand grenade and it did not cause much damage," he told the BBC. After the blasts, a dazed Ms Bhutto was immediately rushed from the scene to her Karachi home. Ms Bhutto flew in from Dubai earlier on Thursday, accompanied by about 100 PPP members. At least 200,000 people turned out to greet her in what correspondents described as a carnival atmosphere, but the crowds slowed the progress of her convoy. Ms Bhutto had been planning to make a speech at the tomb of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOME UGANDA FLOOD VICTIMS CUT OFF !

Sarah Grainger BBC News, Kampala

Some 150,000 are yet to receive food or medical assistance. Aid agencies in Uganda are struggling to reach tens of thousands of people in the east and north of the country, two months after rains inundated the area.
Around 300,000 people lost their homes or crops after Uganda's heaviest rainfall in a generation.
The United Nations says some may not get help before December.
The UN World Food Programme's country director, Tesema Negash, told the BBC a conscious effort had been made to reach those most severely affected.
Nevertheless, almost 150,000 people had still received no food or medical assistance following the floods.
The WFP is using two helicopters and an aeroplane to drop food to communities cut off by flooding.
Mr Negash said access had improved in the last week and the agency was now able to distribute more food by road, but it might still take another month before some people received help.
The government has sent engineers to reopen flooded roads and rebuild bridges that have been washed away.
The UN launched an appeal last month for $43m (£21m) to assist flood victims in the first six months.
They have so far received around a third of that amount but have warned that more assistance will be needed to deal with the long-term effects of the flooding.
Of particular concern is the potential for the spread of diseases as the flood waters recede. Many of those who have lost homes or property were until recently living in camps for the internally displaced.
They had fled fighting in northern Uganda between the Lord's Resistance Army rebels and the Ugandan army but had begun to move back to their villages as peace talks had brought greater security to the area.
The effect of the floods has been particularly devastating for them.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA'S VOICES OF DISSENT !

Although China's Communist Party exerts huge power and influence over the everyday lives of its citizens, there are several activists who continue to pose major problems for the authorities.

CHEN GUANGCHENG - Lawyer for abused women, in jail.

Mr Chen, a blind activist known as the "barefoot lawyer", has clashed with the authorities over the enforcement of China's one-child policy.
The 36-year-old has defended women whom he said were being forced into late-term abortions and being sterilised by over-zealous health officials in Linyi city, Shandong Province.
He was sentenced to four years and three months in prison in August last year, after being convicted of damaging property and disrupting traffic.
The sentence drew international criticism, with campaigners and supporters claiming that the prosecution was politically motivated.
Mr Chen, who remains in jail, has won several international awards for his work.

REBIYA KADEER - Minority rights campaigner, lives in US.

Mrs Kadeer is a well-known campaigner for the rights of China's Uighur community - a Muslim minority group in the restive north-western Xinjiang province.
She was a successful businesswoman and philanthropist until her arrest in 1999 for allegedly endangering national security.
Her crime was to send local newspaper reports about the Uighurs to her US-based husband.
That these reports were freely available did not prevent her from being jailed. She was freed in 2005 and allowed to leave China.
Mrs Kadeer, twice-married and the mother of at least 11 children, continues to criticise the communist rulers from her home in the US.
She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

GEDHUN CHOEKYI NYIMA - Tibetan religious leader, uncertain whereabouts.

In 1995, six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was selected by the Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
He was seen as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama - the second-most important figure in Tibetan religion, culture and politics after the Dalai Lama himself.
Three days later he was detained by the authorities - the last time his supporters saw him.
Mystery surrounds his fate, although officials in Tibet told the BBC recently that the boy, now aged 18, was living a quiet life in the capital, Lhasa.
Beijing installed their own boy, Gyaincain Norbu, as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama - although most Tibetans are thought to remain faithful to the Dalai Lama's choice.

BAO TONG - Former mandarin, under house arrest.

Bao Tong was an adviser to the Communist Party's general secretary Zhao Ziyang at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
Both men had opposed the brutal crackdown on the protesting students, and both suffered for their stance.
Mr Zhao was replaced as party boss by Jiang Zemin, and Mr Bao was handed a seven-year jail term.
Since his release, he has lived under house arrest, managing to smuggle out occasional essays criticising China's one-party rule.
In a letter released at the time of his former boss's death in 2005, Mr Bao wrote that the authorities were "constantly worried about Mr Zhao and determined to erase his name from the hearts and minds of the people".
His letter went on: "Their purpose is none other than to prevent 1.4 billion people from advancing toward a society of modernity, democracy and law."

SHI TAO - Journalist, in jail

Shi Tao, who worked for the Contemporary Business News in China, was jailed for 10 years in 2005 for "divulging state secrets".
It is thought he sent an e-mail describing the efforts made by the Communist Party to censor reporting in the run-up to the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
His case has become a cause celebre for free speech campaigners - not least because internet firm Yahoo has been accused of informing on him.
The US-based web giant was said to have passed on details of his whereabouts to the authorities.
Mr Shi - a writer and a poet - was awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom from the World Association of Newspapers earlier this year.

GAO YAOJIE - HIV/Aids activist, lives in Henan province

Dr Gao is famous for exposing China's worst HIV scandal.
Her work helped to reveal how corrupt blood-selling deals infected thousands of people with the virus in the 1990s.
Companies known as "bloodheads" offered money to peasants in return for donations.
The firms - run by officials and businessmen - would take the blood, remove the plasma and inject the remaining blood back into the peasants - often using dirty needles or infected blood pools.
Dr Gao overcame a climate of secrecy to end the practice and draw attention to the scandal.
The authorities were initially lenient with her, but Beijing grew uncomfortable with her criticism of provincial Communist leaders.
She has been stopped from going abroad twice since 2001 to receive prizes, and is said to have undergone several periods of house arrest.
Earlier this year she was allowed to visit the US to collect a prize from Vital Voices, a non-profit group supported by Senator Hillary Clinton.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

SUPER-PRISE TURNS AFRICAN HEADS !

As former African leaders wait to see who has won the Mo Ibrahim prize for good governance, BBC world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle finds Mozambique ex-President Joaquim Chissano's shock and amusement at the value of the prize endearing.
"It's worth how much? Five MILLION dollars?"

Mr Chissano is one of the few African leaders to give up power. Former President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique was in shock.
I was standing with Mr Chissano in Maputo's Independence Square.
The evening was drawing in.
The sounds of birds in the trees and children playing soccer were blending nicely with the radio interview I was conducting with him.
But the most revealing sound I recorded that day was the sharp intake of breath from the former president when I told him the value of the cash prize being awarded for the best former African president.
"Yes, it's five million US dollars," I explained again.
Mr Chissano repeated the number: "You're sure it's five MILLION?"
"Yes, sir".

The winner of the Mo Ibrahim prize for African governance is to be announced on 22 October at a ceremony in London hosted by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim is sponsoring the prize.
The financial backer of the prize, the Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim - the man behind Africa's successful CelTel mobile phone networks - is awarding $500,000 (£245,000) per year for 10 years, and $200,000 (£98,000) per year thereafter, for life... so the prize is actually more than the $5m (£2.45m) that made Joaquim Chissano gasp.
The idea is to encourage democracy, transparency and decency.
All 11 former presidents who left office in Africa in 2004, 2005 or 2006 are automatically eligible for consideration.

A spokesman for Mo Ibrahim said the "long list" of candidates (i.e. the list of eligibles who have not been selected in any way by the judges) was, in no particular order:

Mathieu Kerekou (Benin)
Azali Assoumani (Comoros)
Domitien Ndayizeye (Burundi)
Henrique Rosa (Guinea Bissau)
Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya (Mauritania)
Joaquim Chissano (Mozambique)
Sam Nujoma (Namibia)
Benjamin Mkapa (Tanzania)
Abass Bonfoh (Togo)
Gnassingbe Eyadema (Togo)
Bakili Muluzi (Malawi)
France-Albert Rene (Seychelles)
Abdiqassim Salad Hassan (Somalia)


I decided to travel to Mozambique to meet former President Chissano because he seems like a possible winner.
He helped negotiate peace in his country and was a key ally of Nelson Mandela in his struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
Today, in his retirement, he cuts an "elder statesman" image and is often called upon by bodies like the United Nations to be an envoy or negotiator.
But none of that lofty stuff stopped Joaquim Chissano from being shocked, then amused, about the size of the prize.
"So what would you do with the money", I asked, "if you won?"
"Well", he smiled, "I would live better, of course ... I would not be shy!"
Then he burst into laughter.
It is fairly rare to catch a VIP off-guard like this, and I found Mr Chissano's honest reaction rather endearing.
The moment also reflected the former president's relative openness and his relaxed style.
He was chuckling away while the small boys continued to kick their football and the traffic flowed around us.
There were a few bodyguards nearby, admittedly, but if they were armed they were very discreet about it.
I asked him about the peace agreement he forged for Mozambique in the early 1990s and he recalled the first time he had met the former Mozambican rebel (now opposition leader) Afonso Dhlakama.

Alfonso Dhlakama would not resent Mr Chissano getting the prize.
Mr Dhlakama led the apartheid-era South African-backed Renamo movement.
The peace meeting had been brokered by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
"Before saying hello, I said to Mr Dhlakama 'Do you want peace?', and I prepared to hold out my hand," Mr Chissano explained.
"He replied that he did want peace, so I extended my hand and he shook it. That handshake was the start of peace."
Of course, in reality, it was all a bit more complicated than that.
Mozambique was able to move towards peace in no small measure because the anti-apartheid struggle was nearing victory.
The various southern African rebel groups, including Renamo, that white South Africa had nurtured to destabilise countries that helped Mr Mandela, were losing steam.
And Mr Mandela was about to make Mozambique one of Pretoria's best friends, no longer an enemy.
Nevertheless, well-placed diplomats credit Mr Chissano with being a major player in the search for peace in southern Africa and beyond.
They say his ability to compromise and negotiate is a great strength which has helped Mozambique become a stable, modernising, democratic country.
I later asked Mr Dhlakama about the ground-breaking peace negotiation he had had with Mr Chissano. He recalled the event rather differently.

Mozambique is more democratic, but poverty is still widespread
"I went into the room and I said 'how are you?' in English. Our common language is of course Portuguese but we had to speak in English because Mr Mugabe was our host."
"Mr Chissano replied 'Fine, thank you and how are you?'. Then we sat down to talk."
But so much for the serious history of Mozambique and the anti-apartheid struggle. As with Mr Chissano, the subject that was really concentrating Mr Dhlakama's mind when I spoke to him in Maputo was the $5m prize.
"Five MILLION dollars?". Mr Dhlakama was shocked too.
But he recovered enough to ask me what Mr Chissano would have to do with the money.
"Whatever he wants," I replied.
Mr Dhlakama said he would be pleased for Mozambique if Mr Chissano won the prize.
He had his political differences with him, he stressed, but he would be pleased if the good image of Mozambique were to be honoured in this way.
But then Mr Dhlakama thought about it and his face broke into a grin.
If Mr Chissano wins the money, he said, he should share it with others who helped make peace.
And then the clincher, to peels of laughter from Mr Dhlakama and his aides:
"He would have to share it with me!"
BBC NEWS REPORT.

DR CONGO 'TO DISARM HUTU REBELS'

An estimated 6,000 Hutu militias are in east DR CongoThe president of the Democratic Republic of Congo says he has drawn up a plan to disarm Hutu militias in a bid to end the crisis in the east.
Joseph Kabila also said he has given the go ahead to the army to prepare for the forced disarmament of renegade General Laurent Nkunda's fighters.
Gen Nkunda says he is fighting to protect the Tutsi minority from Hutu rebels who he says side with the army.
Many Hutu militiamen fled to DR Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
A deadline for Gen Nkunda to disarm and integrate his forces with the national army was extended from Monday - a new date was not specified.
People here are very shocked about the fighting - Congolese NGO worker Leopold.

Voices in the violence

The UN estimates 6,000 Rwandan Hutu rebels - known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - are operating in the east.
Gen Nkunda has previously accused the Congolese army of working with other local militia and the FDLR to attack him.
More than 370,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since the start of the year in a growing humanitarian crisis.
'Waiting'
President Kabila made his announcement about the Hutu disarmament in the eastern city of Goma where many people caught up in the violence have fled.

KEY FORCES IN THE KIVUS

FLNK - new group made up mainly of Congolese Mai Mai with some Rwandan Hutus formerly in the FDLR
FDLR - Hutu militia made up of former Rwandan soldiers and others who fled into Congo after the 1994 genocide
Congolese army
Gen Laurent Nkunda, with an estimated 5,000 soldiers
Monuc - UN Mission in the DR Congo

Profile: Renegade general

"The armed forces... have received the green light to begin or rather to prepare the forced disarmament of Mr Nkunda and those who remain with him," he told a news conference.
"I won't give you the date for these operations to start but the army has already been given its mission to disarm these people," he said.
Defence Minister Chikez Diemu told the BBC that the plan to disarm the FDLR had been given to Rwanda and the UN to consider.
He said the government was awaiting their response.
This week's deadline extension followed intense talks with foreign diplomats and the head of the UN peacekeeping mission, William Swing.
A five-year war in DR Congo ended in 2003, but the 17,600 UN peacekeepers in the country (4,300 of them in North Kivu alone) have struggled to keep a lid on instability since then.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOMALI AID STOPPED AFTER KIDNAP !

Many people displaced by this year's fighting depend on food aid. The UN says it has stopped distributing food in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, after government troops abducted the local head of the World Food Programme.
The WFP says about 60 soldiers stormed the UN compound and no explanation has been given for Idris Osman's detention.
On Monday, the WFP started distributing food in Mogadishu through mosques, with the agreement of the regional governor.
Correspondents say the arrest may be linked to the power struggle between the president and his prime minister.
WFP has not received any explanation for this action, which violates international law -
WFP statement

Political swords are drawn

The mayor of Mogadishu, who gave the WFP permission to distribute food, is close to Prime Minster Ali Mohammed Ghedi.
The security services that arrested Mr Osman are the president's men.
Unrest since the ousting of Islamists by Ethiopian-backed troops in December has displaced thousands of people in and around the capital.
The BBC's Africa editor Martin Plaut says since control of food aid is a key weapon in winning popular support, whoever was seen to control the aid was in a powerful position.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia has summoned Mr Ghedi to Addis Ababa in what is believed to be an attempt to end the stalemate that is paralysing the Somali government.
Tension
"Mr Osman is being held in a cell at National Security Service (NSS) headquarters near the presidential palace. WFP has not received any explanation for this action, which violates international law," the WFP said in a statement.

The kidnapping comes two days after the UN started providing food assistance to more than 75,000 people in the capital through mosques identified by the local governor, the agency said.
Correspondents say there is a history of tension between the interim government and the WFP, which is the biggest UN agency operating in the country - providing emergency food relief to more than two million Somalis.
It had resumed the distributions in Mogadishu after it was forced by violence to suspend them in June.
"In the light of Mr Osman's detention and in view of WFP's duty to safeguard its staff, WFP is forced immediately to suspend these distributions and the loading of WFP food from our warehouses in the Somali capital," it said.
On Tuesday, Mogadishu witnessed some of the worst fighting since the Union of Islamic Courts, who ruled much of Somalia for six months last year, were driven from power.
Debate halted
Meanwhile in Baidoa, where parliament sits, the speaker has halted a debate where MPs were considering the future of the government.
President Abdullahi Yusuf wants parliament to sack Prime Minister Ghedi as he says his term has expired according to the federal charter.
But the speaker of parliament told MPs that the African Union and Ethiopia have asked for the debate to be stopped as Mr Ghedi has been called to Addis Ababa to try and resolve the rift with President Yusuf.
Both Mr Ghedi and Mr Yusuf ascended to power with the backing of Ethiopia but have fallen out over reports that they favoured rival concerns interested in oil exploration contracts.
Despite having international support, diplomats argue that the transitional government has failed to set up institutions to reconstruct the country.
The UN's special envoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, has warned that a vote of no confidence may derail the peace process.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"IF YOU CHASE TWO HARES AT THE SAME TIME,

YOU WILL CATCH NEITHER OF THEM" !

WEB DISSENT RISING IN CHINA !

By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing.

Zeng Jinyan does not look like a dissident. She is small, heavily pregnant and has a liking for colourful dresses.

Zeng Jinyan came to prominence after her husband was detained.
Zeng Jinyan

But the Chinese security operatives who permanently watch the apartment she shares with her husband are an indicator of just how influential she has become.
The 24-year-old uses the internet to pass on information to the outside world about protests, injustices and underground campaigns in China.
She is just one of tens of thousands of ordinary Chinese people who are now using the internet to express themselves in ways that were previously impossible.
Ms Zeng, who is due to give birth next month, has been detailing her daily life on a blog for several years.
She came to prominence when her husband, Hu Jia, was arrested in 2005.
Mr Hu, also a rights campaigner, was detained by police for 41 days - although at the time his wife did not know where he was.
As word of her blog spread, other people started contacting Ms Zeng to tell her about their own stories, which she then retold on the internet.
"I want people to know that not only me, and not only my husband, face such a situation," she says.
"Actually, in China many people are under house arrest or are illegally detained or are under surveillance for the whole year."
Her activities - predictably - attracted the attention of China's security services.
Ms Zeng's blog is now blocked in China and secret police keep constant watch outside her suburban Beijing home.
Her internet connection is often cut, but she keeps sending out e-mails and updating her blog for those abroad who can still access it.
The campaigner is not the only Chinese person using the internet to express themselves.

Some internet jokers have dared to poke fun at President Hu Jintao Those using the internet in China cut across the social divide, and use it for a variety of reasons.
Internet chatrooms are important gathering places, where people can express themselves more openly, even if it is just to share jokes.
And political humour directed at those in power - almost impossible to find in the state-run Chinese media - exists on the internet.
Recently, a photograph of a river crab with three wrist watches on its pincers and body was passed around by internet users.
In Chinese the phrase "river crab" sounds like harmony, a watchword of current Chinese President Hu Jintao. A crab can also be taken as a symbol of bullying.
And in Chinese the words for three watches can be rearranged to sound like "the three represents" - a political theory developed by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
Some internet users suggest the symbol should be used as the mascot for the Chinese Communist Party's 17th congress.

Ahead of the congress - China's most important public, political event - some party officials used the web to publicise their hopes for the gathering.
The internet is also being used as a tool to organise.
When prices went up at a university canteen recently, in the southern city of Guangzhou, hard-up students decided to stage a boycott.
Word of the boycott was apparently spread using online messaging services, with reports that two-thirds of students joined the protest.
And parents who believe their missing children have been kidnapped to work as virtual slaves in brick kilns use the internet to drum up support for their case.
Of course, the Chinese authorities try to crackdown on what they see as subversive material on the internet, as elsewhere.
Unwelcome foreign websites are blocked in China, censors edit news sites and ordinary users have to show their ID cards to enter a web cafe.
But the internet is hard to police and, with few other avenues for open debate available to ordinary people, its influence is set to grow.
This article is part of a week of special coverage on how China is ruled.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOUTH AFRICA 'LOSING AIDS BATTLE' !

By Imogen Foulkes BBC News, Geneva

South Africa has an estimated 1.5 million Aids orphans. South Africa is in danger of losing the battle against HIV/Aids, the United Nations children's agency has warned. Unicef's South Africa representative Macharia Kamau said that infection and death rates in the country are outpacing treatment.
This was having a devastating effect on children whose parents die of Aids and sent out a dire message for the future.
Mr Kamau said if present trends continued there could be five million orphans in South Africa by 2015.

South Africa is one of just nine countries worldwide where infant mortality is rising - from 60 deaths per 1,000 births in 1990, to 95 deaths today.
The main reason, Unicef says, is HIV/Aids.
The average infection rate is almost 30% of the population - in some regions it is closer to 50%.
Speaking in Geneva, Mr Kamau, Unicef's representative in South Africa, said the effect on children was devastating - infants whose mother's die of Aids are at huge risk of dying themselves.
And older children who have lost one or more parents face a struggle to survive and to go to school.
In South Africa today there are 1.5 million Aids orphans - if the trend of 400,000 deaths from Aids per year continues, by 2015, the number of orphans will have reached five million.
Mr Kamau said that the numbers of people in South Africa being treated for Aids were constantly being outstripped by the numbers becoming infected and dying.
He described this as a dire message for the future because although 380,000 South African Aids patients are receiving anti-retroviral drugs - that is the largest cohort in the world - 1.2 million are not receiving treatment.
As long infection and death rates continued to outpace treatment, South Africa would lose the battle against Aids, he said.
Unicef says an aggressive expansion of treatment is needed immediately - so too is a much more open Aids prevention campaign from the government, to challenge the stigma which still surrounds the disease in South Africa.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS BLOG CENSHORSHIP !

Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Soliman was jailed for four years. Bloggers are now finding themselves prey to censorship from repressive governments as much as journalists in traditional media, a report says.
Reporters Without Borders' annual study of press freedom says China is one of the worst offenders, having imprisoned 50 people for postings on the internet.
The report says governments realise the internet is now a key tool in promoting democracy and are moving to curb it.
Eritrea was ranked bottom on overall press freedom by the pressure group.
The African nation took the 169th slot on the sixth annual worldwide press freedom index, behind North Korea at 168th and Turkmenistan at 167th.
With less than a year to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the reforms and the releases of imprisoned journalists so often promised by the authorities seem to be a vain hope
Reporters Without Borders"There is nothing surprising about this," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.
"Even if we are not aware of all the press freedom violations in North Korea and Turkmenistan, which are second and third from last, Eritrea deserves to be at the bottom.
"The privately-owned press has been banished by the authoritarian President Issaias Afeworki and the few journalists who dare to criticise the regime are thrown in prison. We know that four of them have died in detention and we have every reason to fear that others will suffer the same fate."
The annual index includes 169 countries and was compiled by questioning journalists, researchers and jurists around the world, along with freedom of expression and human rights groups.
A number of countries slipped down the index because "of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information," Reporters Without Borders said.
According to the group at least 64 people are currently imprisoned worldwide because of postings on the web, eight of them in Vietnam.
The military junta's crackdown on demonstrations bodes ill for the future of basic freedoms in this country
Reporters Without Borders on Burma. They flagged up the case of Abdel Kareem Soliman, an Egyptian blogger jailed for four years after he used his web log to criticise the country's top Islamic institution, al-Azhar university, and President Hosni Mubarak, whom he called a dictator.
"The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media," the group said in its statement.
"We also regret that China (164th) stagnates near the bottom of the index. With less than a year to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the reforms and the releases of imprisoned journalists so often promised by the authorities seem to be a vain hope," it added.

The group said it was "particularly disturbed" by the recent government suppression of Burma's pro-democracy movement.
"The military junta's crackdown on demonstrations bodes ill for the future of basic freedoms in this country. Journalists continue to work under the yoke of harsh censorship from which nothing escapes, not even small ads," it said.
The highest ranking on the index went to Iceland, followed by Norway and Estonia.
Overall Europe performed best, though Russia, which was ranked 114th on the list, is not progressing, the report said.
The murder of outspoken Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya and the failure to bring her killer to justice weighed heavily, as did a lack of media diversity, Reporters Without Borders added.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IVORY COAST'S REGGAE WARS RECEDE !

By James Copnall - BBC News, Abidjan.

Alpha Blondy is frank about Ivory Coast's problems. Ivorians believe their main city Abidjan is one of the reggae capitals of the world.
The music genre, more commonly thought of as Caribbean, is extremely popular in Ivory Coast, as the number of reggae bars can confirm.
At bars like Parkers Place, Kingston and Jamaica City, reggae groups play covers of Jamaican legend Bob Marley but also of Ivorian artists like Alpha Blondy.
"Ivory Coast is one of the first countries in Africa known for its reggae," explains the singer Kajim.
"In other parts of the world, when the military take power, you hear other sorts of music on the radio."
"But here when the military took power they played reggae, because in our country reggae is known as the music of change, the music of combat!"
"Here our music is a weapon, and it is not the same thing in other countries."
So how did reggae become the cutting edge in Abidjan, and indeed throughout the country?
Bob Marley brought it to the world, but it took Alpha Blondy to make it Ivorian - as the producer and music specialist Francois Konian explains.

"In the 1980s Alpha Blondy turns up, who is a sort of Bob Marley, but ours!" he says.
"He sings our problems, but in a language we understand."
"He sings in French, in the language of the street, Nouchi, he sings in local languages like Dioula and Baoule, and he sings in English, which makes him even more authentic."
"And he sings things which are so very true - but which are said very rarely."
As soon as Alpha Blondy started to express himself in this way, others rushed to follow his path, and the reggae movement had got under way."
After Alpha Blondy's success - and he achieved popularity and record sales around the world - a number of Ivorians turned to reggae.
In the reggae bar Parker Place, there is an evident sense of harmony - "peace and love" the tribute singer croons, in English, and the multi-racial and very relaxed crowd shouts its approval.
But this spirit has not been shared by Ivorian reggae as a whole in recent times.
In fact, there has been a minor reggae war - a pale imitation of the civil conflict that has devastated Ivory Coast these last five years.

Serges Kassy sings in praise of Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.
One reggaeman, Serges Kassi, is a fervent supporter of President Laurent Gbagbo - in fact he is one of the leaders of his militant supporters, the Young Patriots, who in the past have been accused of being a militia.
Another musician, Tiken Jah Fakoly, who is perhaps Ivory Coast's biggest reggae star after Alpha Blondy, is firmly in the other camp.
He has created songs that criticize President Gbagbo heavily, calling him "badly elected" and a "thug President".
His songs have been broadly favourable to the New Forces rebels who control the north of the country.
Tiken Jah lives in exile in Mali, saying it would be too dangerous for him to return to Abidjan.
"You are thinking more about your career than your people - that is my reproach to Tiken Jah," says Kassi.
The division has not been good for Ivorian reggae, believes the reggae fanatic Des Parker, who is the owner of Parkers Place.
"I think they are both wrong, they are both totally wrong!"
"I do not consider them leaders of reggae in Ivory Coast, I think they should work for the people, and not for the President or the others."
Perhaps mirroring the improvements in the political situation in Ivory Coast, Tiken Jah at least seems to have mellowed.

Tiken Jah's anti-Gbagbo lyrics made it safer for him to live in Mali.
He recently released a new album, L'Africain.
In it he sings a duet with a singer, Beta Simon, called Ma Cote d'Ivoire - my Ivory Coast.
The song expresses the hope that no-one will take up arms in Ivory Coast again.
Beta Simon was chosen, according to Tiken Jah, because he comes from President Gbagbo's ethnic group, to show that everyone in the country can be friends.
In the same spirit, Serges Kassi says he is trying to persuade Tiken Jah to return to Abidjan for a concert.
Perhaps the reggae war is coming to an end.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BOOKER SHORTLIST 2007 !

At-a-glance: Booker shortlist 2007

Judges including Last King of Scotland novelist Giles Foden and actress Imogen Stubbs selected the shortlist for this year's Booker Prize for Fiction, which is being awarded on Tuesday evening.
Here is a quick guide to the six authors who have made it onto the list this year, and the books for which they have been nominated.

Nicola Barker - Darkmans

Nicola Barker British-born Barker spent her childhood in South Africa, returning to the UK at the age of 14. She was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2004, for Clear: A Transparent Novel.
Darkmans sees a dysfunctional family in Ashford, Kent, haunted by John Scogin, Edward IV's court jester.

Anne Enright - The Gathering

Anne Enright
The Irish author has published three previous novels including the Whitbread-nominated What Are You Like? in 2000. She has also released Making Babies, her light-hearted diaries of motherhood.
The Gathering is about an Irish woman who is prompted by her brother's suicide to revisit three generations of bleak history of her large, dysfunctional family.

Mohsin Hamid - The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Mohsin Hamid
Hailing from Pakistan, Hamid studied at Princeton and Harvard in the US before working as a management consultant in New York.
In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, his second novel, a Pakistani Princeton graduate becomes a high-flyer in Manhattan. But he discovers a different side to his adopted home and his own beliefs after the 11 September attacks.

Lloyd Jones - Mister Pip

Lloyd Jones
New Zealander Lloyd Jones has been gathering attention and acclaim since his first novel was published 22 years ago.
Mister Pip, about a girl on a war-torn South Pacific island who becomes enthralled by Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall Best Book Award 2007.

Ian McEwan - On Chesil Beach

Ian McEwan
A Booker favourite, McEwan has been shortlisted for the award three times, winning in 1998 for Amsterdam. Many of his novels have been adapted for the big screen, with Atonement, starring Keira Knightley, in the cinemas at the moment.
Set in 1960s England, On Chesil Beach tells the story of Edward and Florence, a young couple anticipating the first night of their honeymoon - and the impact it has on the rest of their married lives. It is the bookmakers' favourite for the prize.

Indra Sinha - Animal's People

Indra Sinha
Sinha was born in India and educated in the UK, where he went on to become an advertising copywriter and published a translation of the Kama Sutra.
The 1984 industrial disaster in Bhopal forms the setting for the story, about a man who was left with mental and physical defects after such a catastrophe. It is partly based on the life of Sunil Kumar, who committed suicide aged 34 last year.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE DISMISSES BOYCOTT THREAT !

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is "not qualified" to talk about human rights, Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu has said.
Mr Ndlovu also insisted Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe would attend an EU-Africa summit in December that Mr Brown has threatened to boycott.
In an interview with Portuguese radio, he encouraged EU countries to oppose Mr Brown's position.
Portugal will host the first EU-Africa summit in seven years.
As holder of the rotating EU presidency, it has indicated that it will invite Mr Mugabe to the summit.
In his comments on Monday, Mr Ndlovu said Mr Brown had no right to lecture Zimbabwe when he himself was "running away" with power by taking over from Tony Blair without an election.
"Other EU countries should tell Gordon Brown to shut up," Mr Ndlovu said in a telephone interview with Portugal's Renascenca radio station.
"Gordon Brown is not even qualified to talk to us on human rights and as you can see he failed his own country's internal democracy in Britain," he said.
Mr Ndlovu also said Europe had no right to accuse Zimbabwe of human rights abuses.
"European countries are not clean, they are not clean at all," he said.
Mr Ndlovu complained that when Zimbabwe won its independence from Britain, people were imprisoned and land was taken away.
"Where were all these countries (then) who are in the EU, who are clamouring for human rights?" he said.
He reiterated that Mr Mugabe plans to attend the summit.
"Our president will be at the summit," Mr Ndlovu said.
"No one can stand between Portugal and inviting heads of state from the African Union and European Union," he said.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told European politicians visiting Lisbon on Monday that the summit would deal with human rights and governance.
Critics charge 83-year-old Mr Mugabe of bringing his country's economy to the brink of collapse and committing human rights abuses.
He faces a travel ban in Europe and his regime is subject to EU sanctions.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

OSCAR WILDE 'UK'S GREATEST WIT' !

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. Playwright Oscar Wilde has been named Britain's greatest wit in a survey - ahead of Stephen Fry, who played him on screen, and Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson.
His aphorisms include: "I can resist everything except temptation" and "work is the curse of the drinking classes".
Late comedian Spike Milligan came second in the poll of 3,000 people, with Fry and Clarkson third and fourth.
Noel Coward and Sir Winston Churchill also feature among the 10 British wits cited by digital TV channel Dave.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars -Oscar Wilde.
Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854, when Ireland was part of the United Kingdom.
He died in Paris in 1900, with the reported final words: "Either those curtains go or I do."
Fry once quoted Wilde as he passed through airport security, announcing: "I have nothing to declare but my genius."
He played the writer in the 1997 film Wilde, landing a Golden Globe nomination in the process.
Fellow wit Stephen Fry played Wilde in a 1997 film.
Fry's own witticisms include "It is a cliche that most cliches are true, but then like most cliches, that cliche is untrue."
Milligan, whose headstone contains the immortal line "I told you I was ill", once joked that all he wanted was "the chance to prove that money can't make me happy".
Top Gear host Clarkson, meanwhile, once compared driving an Alfa Romeo to "having really great sex that leaves you with an embarrassing itch."
William Shakespeare came in eighth place. Former PM Margaret Thatcher was the highest ranked woman, coming in at 12.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"EVERYONE IS KNEADED OUT OF THE SAME DOUGH,

BUT NOT BAKED IN THE SAME OVEN" !

US TRIES TO SAVE MIDDLE EAST PLAN !

The US secretary of state is in the West Bank for talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to salvage a planned peace conference.
Condoleezza Rice has conceded her latest trip is unlikely to produce a breakthrough on an agreed text for the US-sponsored conference next month.
The Palestinians have renewed a warning that without a tightly-worded document, they will not attend the conference.
The Israelis say they do not believe an agreed text is necessary.
After a first round of talks with Israeli leaders on Sunday, Ms Rice's aides indicated the conference might have to be postponed unless an agreement is reached regarding the statement.
Ms Rice's motorcade was delayed for a quarter of an hour by a security alert during which her vehicle took cover in an Israeli fire station.
Earlier, the UN human rights envoy to the Occupied Territories strongly criticised the Quartet group trying to promote an Israeli-Palestinian peace process, saying it is not doing enough to challenge Israel's restrictions on the movement of Palestinians.

Quartet's 'deaf ears'

Speaking to the BBC, John Dugard said he thought the UN might soon need to withdraw from the Quartet - made up of the UN, the US, the EU and Russia - because it was "failing in its duty to the Palestinian people".
The BBC correspondent in Jerusalem says it is unusual for such criticisms to be voiced publicly.
A UN source in Jerusalem dismissed Mr Dugard's comments, saying his views were well known and went well beyond his brief.
"Membership of the Quartet does not stop the secretary general or the UN from speaking out on human rights.
"But it does give it a changes to have influence in reaching a two-state solution to the conflict," the UN source told the BBC.
In his role as a UN special rapporteur, Mr Dugard has been visiting the West Bank and Gaza for the past seven years.
Special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the UN secretary general to present reports on human rights to the organisation. They are advisers and do not decide UN policy.
"Every time I visit, the situation seems to have worsened," he said in a BBC interview.
"This time, I was very struck by the sense of hopelessness among the Palestinian people."
Mr Dugard attributed this to "the crushing effect of human rights violations", and in particular Israeli restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement. He said that although Israel did have a threat to its security, "its response is very disproportionate".
He said the purpose of some of the checkpoints in the middle of the West Bank was to break it up "into a number of cantons and make the life of Palestinians as miserable as possible".

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 15 OCTOBER

LOOK OUT FOR -

China Week: A special series of features and reports as the Communist Party Congress begins including:
Guide to how the country is ruled
Day in the life of a party official
A report from villages emptied by urbanisation
In depth: China Week

In the dock: The trial of associates of the first European suicide bomber in Iraq - Belgian Muriel Degauque - opens in Brussels.
Journey of a bomber

Meeting of minds: European foreign ministers gather in Luxembourg to discuss key issues facing the 27-country bloc.
Mark Mardell's Euroblog

The Communist Party holds its Congress once every five years
Expensive business: US presidential candidates release their campaign funding figures for the last quarter of 2007.
Big money's sway
Central Committee: The 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress opens in the city of Beijing with more than 2,000 delegates expected to attend.
Q&A: China Communist Congress

TUESDAY 16 OCTOBER
Page turner: The winner of the Man Booker Prize for literature is announced in London. Hot contenders include Ian McEwan, Nicola Barker and Mohsin Hamid.
McEwan battles Booker newcomers

Cold front: Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend a summit of leaders of Caspian Sea states, held in the Iranian capital, Tehran. He will be the first Russian or Soviet leader to visit the country since Stalin.
Bush and Putin 'united' on Iran

WEDNESDAY 17 OCTOBER

Musharraf: president, prime minister and head of the army After the event: Pakistan's Supreme Court resumes hearing challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's right to become president, despite his recent election win.
Has an election win outfoxed the foes?

Smoke screen: The London Film Festival, a celebration of the medium showcasing the best international films begins.
The 51st London Film Festival

Common good: Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan launches a new world humanitarian forum in Geneva, Switzerland. The forum will be similar to Davos for the international aid and development community.
African wars wipe out aid gains

THURSDAY 18 OCTOBER
Long journey home: Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto is expected to return home after eight years of self-imposed exile.
Benazir Bhutto's extraordinary career

Encore une fois: It is the first day of a series of French transport strikes called by trade unions.
Will the French buy Sarkozy reforms?

Electric life: Fans of virtual competition are meeting in Los Angeles for a world video games summit.
Game worlds show their human side

FRIDAY 19 OCTOBER
Harry in the Big Apple: Children's author JK Rowling, the writer behind the Harry Potter series, hosts a reading at New York's Carnegie Hall.
In depth: Harry Potter

Trading places: The World Bank releases it annual report on global development, looking at economic growth, employment and opportunity.
World Bank urges boost for young

SATURDAY 20 OCTOBER

Meetings of the World Bank and IMF are often controversial
Talking money: The World Bank and its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund hold talks on the world's purse strings in Washington. Finance ministers from the world's most powerful G7 nations will also attend.
Profile: World Bank and IMF

Mounting anger: Protests are planned in the Czech Republic where the US is planning to situate a missile defence radar.
Czech fears over missile defence radar

Pushing for peace: The government of Chad is expected to sign an accord with rebel forces following talks in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Behind Chad's rebel alliance

SUNDAY 21 OCTOBER
Seventh debate: Republican candidates face each other in a televised debate to be held in the Florida city of Orlando while their Democrat counterparts discuss policy in New Hampshire.
Watching the debate from Iowa

Black sheep: The Swiss begin voting in parliamentary elections. Immigration has been a hot topic in this poll with the Swiss nationalist party's campaign posters stirring controversy.
Swiss row over election poster

Working hard for votes: Voting kicks off in Poland's parliamentary elections. The UK's large Polish community means the country has become a key election battleground and candidates have been flying over to campaign with ex-pats.
Polish election fever grips Britain

This guide to the week ahead is not intended as an exhaustive list, and the events noted may be cancelled or postponed.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

FRENCH MERCENARY BOB DENARD DIES !

Denard was twice convicted, but avoided jail. The French mercenary, Bob Denard, has died, his family says. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
"I confirm that he has died," his sister Georgette Garnier told Reuters.
Denard, 78, was notorious for leading coups in Africa, including four in the Comoros Islands - the most recent of which was in 1995.
He was convicted in French courts for his efforts to overthrow governments in Benin in 1977 and the Comoros, but both jail sentences were suspended.
His trial last year in connection with the 1995 Comoros coup attempt took place with him in absentia as a result of his illness.
Convicted of "belonging to a gang who conspired to commit a crime", Denard received a five-year suspended jail sentence.
Colourful life
Denard was born Gilbert Bourgeaud in Bordeaux in 1929.
The French certainly didn't disapprove of what he was doing early on -Adam Roberts, Writer on Africa

Profile: Bob Denard

After serving in the French navy in Indochina, he joined the police in colonial Morocco where he was convicted of an assassination plot against French Prime Minister Pierre Mendes-France.
Despite this incident, Denard claimed he was acting in the interests of France or other European powers, and once described himself as "a soldier never an assassin".
His life story is filled with colourful anecdotes.
In 1968 Denard and several hundred fighters tried to invade Katanga, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, by bicycle.
His 1995 coup attempt in the Comoros involved arriving with 30 men in inflatable boats.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AUSTRALIAN PM ANNOUNCES ELECTION !

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced parliamentary elections for 24 November. The PM earlier visited Governor-General Michael Jeffery, the representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth, to ask for the dissolution of parliament. The veteran PM is seeking a fifth term in office but analysts predict a heavy defeat after 11 years in office. Mr Howard, 68, is badly trailing his Labor opponent Kevin Rudd, 50, after nine months of dismal polls. The BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney says the PM now hopes to persuade the electorate that voting for Labor would be a gamble with prosperity.

Time for change in Australia?

Mr Rudd has promised to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq and sign the Kyoto climate pact. He has also pledged sweeping reforms to health, education and controversial labour laws introduced by the PM. Younger voters are said to be angry with Mr Howard for introducing legislation that makes it easier to hire and fire workers. But Mr Howard will point to the enduring strength of the economy. The Australian stock market is hitting record highs, while unemployment is at a 33-year low. "Love me or loathe me, the Australian people know where I stand on all the important issues of their future," Mr Howard told a press conference after announcing the election. He added: "This country does not need new leadership, it does not need old leadership, it needs the right leadership."

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION
More than 13.5m of Australia's roughly 21m people are registered to vote
Electors will choose candidates for all 150 seats in the lower House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the upper house, the Senate
PM John Howard has led the conservative Liberal-National party coalition to four election wins since 1996 and is seeking a final term
Kevin Rudd is taking the centre-left Labor Party to the polls for the first time as leader
Election issues to be the economy, environment and war in Iraq.

Profile: John Howard
Profile: Kevin Rudd

Mr Rudd rallied his supporters with a warning that victory was far from a foregone conclusion. "To win this election we have to make history," he said. "We have only won twice from opposition since World War II. "I believe this is going to be the fight of our lives." Mr Howard's unflinching support for US President George W Bush has proven unpopular with many Australian voters, our correspondent says. The war and the refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change have found the Liberal Party leader on the wrong side of public opinion, he says. The PM is even behind in opinion polls in his own Sydney constituency of Bennelong, which he has represented since 1974.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SUICIDE WEBSITE MAN HELD IN JAPAN !

A man who ran a website offering to help people commit suicide has been arrested on suspicion of killing a woman, Japanese officials say.
Sayaka Nishizawa, 21, posted a message to Kazunari Saito saying she wanted to die, local media reported.
Mr Saito is accused of giving sleeping pills to the woman and then suffocating her after she paid him 200,000 yen (£850), police say.
Ms Nishizawa, from Kawasaki near Tokyo, was found in her apartment on 16 April.
Detectives reportedly became suspicious because her house keys and mobile phone were missing.
Correspondents say websites giving tips on suicide are becoming increasingly common in Japan - a country already blighted by one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RICE ENCOURAGES RUSSIAN ACTIVISTS !

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pledged support for human rights activists in Moscow, during a Russian visit that has been coolly received.
Ms Rice said she wanted to hear from local activists about the state of human rights and democracy in Russia.
She emphasised, however, that she had no wish to interfere in Russia's internal affairs.
The US has accused President Vladimir Putin of rolling back democracy and trampling rights, charges he denies.
One of the activists who met Ms Rice told the BBC she wanted the United States to condemn what she called the Kremlin's stifling of democratic society.
The activist said she would tell the secretary of state that Russia is sliding towards an authoritarian regime, where constitutional and human rights are constantly violated.
Ms Rice told the activists she wanted to support them, but was also very careful to point out that the US is not interfering in Russian domestic politics but supporting organisations that are entirely indigenous to Russia, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Moscow.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who is travelling with Ms Rice, was expected to address military students at the Academy of Russia's General Staff on Saturday.
On Friday, talks about US plans to base a missile shield in Eastern Europe ended acrimoniously.
The secretary of state was due to have dinner later with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, while the defence secretary will meet Viktor Zubkov, the prime minister.

Their trip comes as Russia prepares for parliamentary and presidential elections over the next five months.
Mr Putin must step down in March after two terms in office.
But he has already hinted he may become prime minister and return as president in 2012, as the constitution allows.
Analysts say Ms Rice's visit to Russian non-governmental organisations could make the Kremlin wary.
The Russian Itar-Tass news agency said Mr Putin this week sounded a note of caution about NGOs in comments to visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

How US missile shield works
Q&A: US missile defences

"It gets really bad, when such organisations start to be used by some states against other states as a tool in pursuit of their foreign policy aims," the agency quoted Mr Putin as saying.
Russia is furious at US plans to base an anti-missile system in its geographical backyard, in Poland and the Czech Republic.
But the White House team rejected Russian appeals at Friday's meetings in Moscow to halt the scheme.
Mr Putin was not convinced by US assurances that the system would be to counteract "rogue" states such as North Korea and Iran.
He threatened to abandon a key nuclear missile reduction treaty if Washington forged ahead with the plans.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

10 THINGS !

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

1. A bdelloid rotifer is a pond-dwelling organism that has survived 80 million years without sex.
More details

2. Pregnant moose seek out human company to avoid the threat of bears.
More details

3. Woodwork lessons are known as "resistant materials" in schools.
More details

4. Housework causes asthma.
More details

5. There were 61 billion web searches made in August.
More details

6. Hitler received 1,000 letters a month of fan mail.

7. Bees frighten elephants.
More details

8. Dormouse stew is a delicacy in Italy.

9. Chancellor Alistair Darling has a mortgage with Northern Rock.

10. Children in Cuba say "I want to be like Che" every day at school.
BBC MAGAZINE

MILLIONS FORCED OUT BY CHINA DAM !

The dam is meant to alleviate flooding and provide power. At least four million people are to be moved from the area around China's Three Gorges Dam amid warnings of an "environmental catastrophe".

The announcement by state media follows reports that the dam could cause landslides, soil erosion and pollution.
Critics have long warned the dam, the world's largest hydro-electric project, could cause huge environmental damage.
Millions of people are now set to be relocated to the sprawling city of Chongqing at the reservoir's west end.
The vice-mayor of the city, Yu Yuanmu, was quoted as saying the relocations were necessary to "protect the ecology of the reservoir area", which "has a vulnerable environment".

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.
Two weeks ago the dam's head of construction, Wang Xiaofeng, said the ecological effects of the dam could not be ignored.
The problems included landslides caused by erosion on the steep hills around the dam, conflicts over land shortages, deteriorating quality of drinking water and pollution seeping from submerged industrial sites.
Landslides crashing into the reservoir have then produced huge waves that have damaged the shoreline.
Many of those destined to be shunted to Chongqing over the next 10-15 years have already been moved once.

Some of those relocated have not been given new homes.
Some were fishermen and farmers who left their age-old villages, before they were flooded, to set up home higher up the valley.
"In the best situation, many people have put all their life savings into new homes that they built," says Grainne Ryder, of the Canadian monitoring group Probe International.
"To be told now that they have to start over, you know is not only tragic but may indeed lead to more protests, followed by more state brutality."
She said previous attempts to relocate peasants to the cities had had drastic consequences too.
"They're now homeless labourers, many people were not provided the land they were promised, or compensation they were promised, so they're destitute," she says.
Critics of the Three Gorges Dam warned of all the problems now emerging years ago, says the BBC's correspondent Chris Xia.
But the project was backed by powerful figures, like former Prime Minister Li Peng and former President Jiang Zemin, so opposition was quashed.
Official recognition of the problems, he says, seems to indicate an attempt by the current leadership to distance itself from the dam's toxic legacy.

THE THREE GORGES DAM

Type: Concrete Gravity Dam

Cost: Official cost $25bn - actual cost believed to be much higher.

Work began: 1993 Due for completion: 2009

Power generation: 26 turbines on left and right sides of dam. Six underground turbines planned for 2010

Power capacity: 18,000 megawatts Reservoir: 660km long, submerging 632 sq km of land. When fully flooded, water will be 175m above sea level.

Navigation: Two-way lock system became operational in 2004. One-step ship elevator due to open in 2009.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

Purple.
Saturday 13th October 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

I don't know what the colour of sadness is, but this October 2007 I think it must be purple. The streets in our suburbs, towns and cities are lined with Jacaranda trees and they are in full blossom, carpeting the roadsides with soft purple flowers. The Bougainvilleas are covered in flowers too - mauve, lilac and bright purple. It's hard to believe that with such tropical brilliance all around us this hot October, there is such sadness too. For three months or more everyone's been talking about the fact that there's no food in the shops because the government ordered prices to be cut to below production costs. Most of us have been so busy trying to find enough food to survive and support our families that we haven't really been looking at how other businesses are coping with absurdly low controlled prices. Well, to put it simply, they're not.

I took a walk around my home town this week and was shocked at what I found. Two big clothes department stores have closed down in the last month. These weren't little family shops but big outlets stocking clothes, shoes and accessories for men, women and children. Their huge glass display windows stretching for more than half a block along the pavement are completely empty. Peering in, you can see nothing except vast expanses of grey concrete floor. Carpets have been removed, naked wires hang from ceilings, light fittings have gone, clothes racks are cleared, shelving has been taken off the walls and the employees are all gone. Where are they now, I wondered and how are they surviving. A great sadness welled up inside me; home is dying a slow and tortuous death.

I wandered into a bookshop which is all but empty and into two clothes shops which have almost nothing left to sell. All tell the same story: they cannot sell goods for less than they have paid for them. Shop owners look gaunt, exhausted and desperate, they say they cannot sleep at night and that their stomachs are in tight knots: they are watching their work and investments of a life time just ebb away. I went into another shop which has been in the town since the 1960's. Their doors are still open but its as good as pointless. Three smartly dressed salesmen wearing name tags stood against the wall talking to each other. There are perhaps fifty items left to sell in this branch of a shop which has outlets all over the country. The teller sat counting wads of dirty almost useless money - bank notes which have expiry dates on them and which we've been warned may be changed at any time in the next few days or weeks. I asked the teller if the shop was closing down. 'No,' he replied, 'if we do then they (the government) will just take us over.' I asked him how they could stay open and he just shook his head sadly. 'We are broken,' he said; 'we are just waiting for whenever the last day comes.' I didn't know what to say but then the man looked around to see if anyone was listening before he said : 'It's political you know.'

That little phrase slammed me back in time instantly to the day when the war veterans were shouting at me through the farm gate. Threatening to shoot me, armed with a pistol, one had bragged that he could "drop me at ten, twenty, even forty meters." This is my farm he had screamed at me, my house, my fields, my cattle and then later, when the Police finally came, they said they could do nothing because :"it was political."

I stared at the teller with his empty shop and filthy money and his eyes were filled with despair. 'Where will I go,' he said; 'what will I do?' I had no answers and could just say: I am so sorry, so very sorry. As I left and the trees dripped their purple flowers at my feet the tears were in my eyes. We are a nation traumatized, regardless of our age or sex, the colour of our skin or our profession and yes, it is all political.

Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.

DR CONGO ARMY MOVES ON REBEL HQ

Ahead of Monday's deadline for rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to disarm, government forces are within 1km of the stronghold of Mushaki.
The government has given renegade General Laurent Nkunda and his fighters until 15 October to cease hostilities and join the army or face tough action.
A BBC correspondent says the once-bustling town of Mushaki, 50km west of Goma, is practically deserted.
Both the army and Gen Nkunda accuse the other of breaking a recent ceasefire.
The fighting in North Kivu province has raised concern for the thousands of displaced people who have been forced out of their homes.

Aid workers say people are heading further north into rebel-held territory, where they are now unable to reach them.
Gen Nkunda says he is fighting to protect DR Congo's Tutsi minority and accuses the government of supporting Rwandan Hutu rebels - the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - who fled to DR Congo after the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
The army scored their first real victory against Gen Nkunda's forces when they captured Karuba earlier this week.
Refuge
The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman, who visited Mushaki on Friday, says government soldiers have taken up positions on the road south of the town and on the surrounding mountains.

Profile: Renegade general

There are also rebel fighters in the mountains and in the town and sporadic mortar explosions could be heard.
The thousands of ethnic Tutsis displaced in recent fighting who had sought refuge in the town - setting up spontaneous tent camps - have disappeared, he says.
The majority of them have moved further north into Gen Nkunda's territory instead of going south towards Goma where the aid workers are able to bring them support.
Our correspondent says he met some displaced people who had managed to slip away without the rebels noticing.
They said the rebels had wanted to keep civilians nearby - perhaps in case of an intensification of government attacks.

KEY FORCES IN THE KIVUS
FLNK - new group made up mainly of Congolese Mai Mai with some Rwandan Hutus formerly in the FDLR
FDLR - Hutu militia made up of former Rwandan soldiers and others who fled into Congo after the 1994 genocide
Congolese army
Gen Laurent Nkunda, with an estimated 5,000 soldiers
Monuc - UN Mission in the DR Congo

Another reason why people may be moving north, deeper into the Masisi Mountains, instead of south, is that the mountains offers better grazing areas for their cattle on which their livelihoods depend.
Our reporter says there is also some anti-Tutsi feeling among other groups in eastern DR Congo and they may feel safer under the protection of Gen Nkunda's men.
On Friday afternoon, rebels around Mushaki could be seen rounding up cattle - one cow is worth more than $300 - in preparedness to flee if necessary, he says.
According to the UN, the renewed fighting has made it hard to reach more than 300,000 people who rely on food aid, while 150,000 remain out of reach.
A five-year war in DR Congo ended in 2003, but the 17,600 UN peacekeepers in the country (4,300 of them in North Kivu alone) have struggled to keep a lid on instability since then.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RESTRAINT URGED AFTER SUDAN SPLIT !

The south has become frustrated that oil wealth is undecided. The US has called on the ruling parties of north and south Sudan to exercise restraint after the ex southern rebels withdrew from the unity government. Diplomats fear the move could jeopardise the 2005 deal that ended the 21-year north-south civil war.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) wants the pact to be honoured before returning to government.
Some officials of the northern National Congress Party (NCP) have described the SPLM's actions as incomprehensible.
Others, like Abd-al-Raheem Ali, chairman of the Consultative Council of the NCP, told the BBC the walkout was a negotiating tactic.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in the capital, Khartoum, says the Comprehensive Peace Deal (CPA) signed two years ago has been looking increasingly fragile over the last few weeks as important deadlines have been missed.
The SPLM wants boundary demarcations, the redeployment of northern troops from the south to be implemented and the chance to reshuffle its minister in the unity administration.
Some 1.5 million people died in the conflict - Africa's longest civil war - which pitted the mainly Muslim north against the Animist and Christian south before the CPA was agreed. In Washington, the US state department has called for all elements of the CPA to be implemented.

But Mr Ali said some of the southerners' demands were "difficult to respond to".
"So, it should be subject to further dialogue in order to reach satisfactory and practical solutions," he said.
The African Union's envoy has voiced concerned that peace in Sudan could begin to unravel.
"I think we should be worried. I think this is an unfortunate development, and I hope everything possible will be done to deal with the issues concerned, so that the SPLM can resume co-operation with the government of Sudan," Salim Ahmed Salim told the BBC.
He pointed to a breakdown of trust which he said had led to the rift.
Some southerners, however, have been critical of SPLM leader Salva Kiir's actions, saying that grievances should have first been referred to African mediators of the CPA before putting the pact in jeopardy.

Starting from scratch

But Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, an SPLM diplomat based in the US, said the south wanted the world to "intervene in rescuing the CPA" but did not want any violence.
"The SPLM is not for war. We are not advocating war, we are for peace, and we want this agreement to be implemented.
"You don't want to have two Darfurs in Sudan," he said, referring to the crisis in the country's western region.
"If we are going to have to go back to war, which we are not wishing, between the south and north, then definitely Sudan will be in chaos."
The power and wealth-sharing deal is intended to pave the way for elections by 2009 and to give the south the right to decide whether to split from the north by 2011.
There is not yet an agreement on the final border between north and south which means the division of oil wealth cannot be completed.
According to an SPLM statement, the party is also unhappy that its request to reshuffle its ministers in the coalition government has been ignored.
Currently there are 10,000 UN peacekeepers in southern Sudan.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BUSH PLEDGES DALAI LAMA MEETING !

By James Coomarasamy - BBC News, Washington.

The Dalai Lama is someone who wants peace, Mr Bush says. US President George W Bush has said he will meet the Dalai Lama next week in a move certain to further anger China. The meeting will be in Washington on Tuesday, a day before the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader is due to receive the Congressional Medal.
China has already objected to honouring a man it regards as a leader of a separatist state. China now governs Tibet, which the Dalai Lama fled in 1959 following a failed uprising.
While the White House is playing down the significance of the Dalai Lama's latest private meeting with President Bush, the timing is likely to add fuel to the diplomatic flames.
A spokesman for the Chinese government said that the Beijing authorities resolutely opposed what he referred to as a Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama.
The spokesman said China was opposed to any country or person using the Dalai Lama issue to interfere in China's internal affairs.
The Bush administration has already announced that the president and his wife, Laura, will attend Wednesday's Capitol Hill ceremony, in which the Dalai Lama will be honoured with the highest civilian Congressional award.
It is thought this will be the first time that a sitting US president has appeared with the Dalai Lama at a public event.
The White House press secretary said that Mr Bush understood the Chinese would have concerns, but that he hoped the Chinese leaders would get to know that the Dalai Lama was someone who wants peace.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"A STUMBLE MAY PREVENT A FALL" !

S.A. SEWAGE SPILL AFTER POWER CUTS !

By Peter Greste BBC News, Johannesburg.

More than 200m litres of raw sewage has been dumped into three rivers in South Africa because of power shortages. The national electricity firm, Eskom, has introduced widespread load-shedding to cope with an unexpected surge in demand that it blames on bad weather. The spillage happened when a cut unexpectedly shut down several sewage treatment works in South Africa's most densely populated province, Gauteng.

The local water firm says most of it is flowing into a popular recreation dam. The estimated 200m litres of raw sewage poured into the Apies, Hennops and Pienaars rivers around Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Rand Water says they flow towards the Hartebeespoort Dam, popular as a weekend recreational spot. Engineers at the Tshwane Metropolitan Council said it could take up to three weeks to correct the system. The spillage is one of the most dramatic effects of a recent wave of power outages across the country.

Eskom has blamed it on a coincidence of headaches: unseasonably cold and rainy weather wetting its coal supplies and raising demand just as the company had begun its summer maintenance schedule. And this on top of a generating system already at breaking point. Another of South Africa's biggest minerals companies, Anglo Platinum, said two of its smelters had been badly affected by the outages.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MCCARTNEY DIVORCE BACK IN COURT !

Sir Paul arrived at the High Court wearing a dark suit
The Beatle and the model

Sir Paul and Heather Mills McCartney have been at the High Court in London to try to reach a divorce settlement. There was no news on any agreement at the end of proceedings. Reports suggested the key issue was likely to be the size of the settlement.

Sir Paul left court at about 1840 BST, giving his familar "V" sign as he went past photographers.
Lady McCartney, who had arrived in the morning with a blanket over her head, shielded her face as she left later.

Both had used judges' entrances to enter court on Thursday morning, avoiding contact with the media. As the time approached for the beginning of the hearing, officials barricaded the entrance to court 16 with four office chairs. Even the small spy hole in the door of the court had been covered to stop prying eyes.

Sir Paul and Lady McCartney, who have a three-year-old daughter named Beatrice, announced in May 2006 that they were ending their four-year marriage. With the former Beatle's fortune estimated at £825m, it has the potential to be the most costly divorce in British legal history. Press speculation has suggested the settlement could reach £60m, exceeding the record £48m businessman John Charman was told to pay his former wife in May this year.

In January, Lady McCartney's lawyers denied she had agreed to a financial settlement worth £32m. The couple were last at the High Court in March for a preliminary hearing.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DISEASE AFFECTING AFFLUENT KENYANS !

By Adam Mynott - BBC News, Naivasha.

Many people are unaware that they have diabetes. It is called the "silent killer". In Kenya the official rate for people suffering from the disease, diabetes is 3.5%, but even the experts at the Ministry of Health in Nairobi know this is a ludicrous underestimate. The real rate of diabetes in Kenya is more like 10%, and some say it could be higher.

Of all the serious non-communicable diseases, diabetes has the distinction of being the least diagnosed. The World Diabetes Foundation, which is issuing grave warnings that diabetes is turning into a pandemic, estimates that in the developing world a quarter of people who have diabetes don't realise it. The symptoms of thirst, aching joints, failing eyesight and loss of balance are put down to old age or a persistent cold or a virus. It is also a disease that preys on people who are relatively affluent, so in the developing world, where the increase is most dramatic, it is catching many by surprise.

Most people don't visit the hospital until the symptoms get quite severe. For months people can be walking around with elevated sugar levels -Dr Osborn Tembu, Naivasha.
Naivasha town sits alongside the eponymous lake in the Rift Valley about an hour's drive from Kenya's capital, Nairobi. It is a scruffy conurbation that doesn't, at first sight, betray relative affluence.
A third of the cut flowers sold in Europe are grown in greenhouses clustered around the southern margin of Lake Naivasha and, while it hasn't made the town wealthy, the flower business has provided thousands of jobs and injected money into Naivasha. It is this money that is indirectly pushing up the rate of diabetes locally.
The town's District Hospital held an open day recently and the 700 or so people who dropped in were tested for diabetes. These weren't people who were ill. They were just visitors, but doctors found that more than 5% of them had diabetes.
Dr Osborn Tembu, who runs a clinic for diabetes sufferers every Thursday, was not surprised. He said "Most people don't visit the hospital until the symptoms get quite severe. For months people can be walking around with elevated sugar levels, which can be very harmful." He said the other problem in diagnosing diabetes is that, "the vast majority of people in the villages don't know about diabetes. They are aware of the infectious diseases but diabetes, no." Recently retired Naivasha businessman Amos Kit Kiranje knew about diabetes, but it was a while before he realised that something was wrong. "I had thirst," he said, "excessive thirst, a lot or urination, blurred vision. I was actually seeing double. I suffered from, palpitations. I could not talk properly and in the mornings, I got up and immediately felt dizzy." Mr Kiranje and at least 85% of people suffering from diabetes have Type II which is linked directly to a poor diet and a lack of exercise. Type II diabetes is linked directly to a poor diet and a lack of exercise. By his own admission, Amos is carrying a bit too much weight and now he's retired, he's not as active as he used to be, like many others in Naivasha. At the clinic at Naivasha District Hospital every Thursday he is told to cut down on starchy foods, to avoid sugary drinks and to take more exercise. "I know now how to control my diabetes," he said, "but it's not easy."
Type II diabetes is hitting the developing world.
It is being contracted in places which are more used to hunger, malnutrition and poverty.
Type II diabetes is a disease of affluence and in communities in Kenya and the whole of the developing world it's effects are increasingly severe because there is no natural resistance to it.
It's a big problem for me... It's a lot of money -Amos Kiranje, Retired businessman, Naivasha.
In the West, where diabetes is also a bad problem, there is a level of tolerance to it, which mitigates its prevalence.

In Africa, India, parts of the Far East and South America there is not. Dr William Maina, the head of the non-communicable diseases unit at Kenya's Ministry of Health, is worried about changing lifestyles. "Today we are seeing more people consuming unhealthy foods; foods that are high in carbohydrates, high in sugars, high in salts, high in fats. At the same time we are seeing people lead more sedentary lifestyles. This is exposing them to risks," he said, "Diabetes is very serious. It's a killer." Diabetes is already responsible for as many deaths as HIV/Aids, around 300m worldwide every year, but it gets nothing like the attention and publicity.
Kenya is launching a public health drive to inform and warn about diabetes.

Drinking milk helps ward off a condition linked to diabetes.While exercise and the right food can avert diabetes, restoring the correct sugar concentration in the blood in some patients, can only be achieved with prescribed insulin. This is the other critical issue in the developing world. Insulin is an expensive drug and in Kenya where the per capita income is put at $1,200 a year it is beyond the reach of many.

Amos Kiranje says it's a struggle for him to meet the costs, and compared to many he is not poor. "I have to buy drugs for blood pressure as well and other things so I spend around 2,000 or 2,500 shillings ($38) every month. "It's a lot of money."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RED TAPE DELAYING UN FORCE !

The United Nations has criticised the Sudanese government's use of red tape to delay the deployment of the hybrid UN-African Union force to Darfur. In a highly critical report, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused Khartoum of failing to approve a list of troop-contributing countries. He also said the UN was being prevented from obtaining land for offices and accommodation in Darfur. Mr Ban said there was an unacceptable upsurge of violence in Darfur.

Some two million have been displaced and at least 200,000 have died during the four-year conflict and there is growing pessimism about the prospects for peace talks later this month. "The ongoing loss of life and displacement of civilians is unacceptable and is not contributing to an atmosphere conducive for the peace talks in Libya," he said. He adds that it is of critical importance that the Sudanese government extend the support and co-operation necessary to resolve issues pertaining to land, landing rights for UN aircraft and finalises the list of countries contributing troops.

Earlier this week, the UN issued a list of 15 nations, most of them African, as proposed troop contributors to the proposed 26,000-strong peacekeeping force. But the UN is finding it difficult to obtain Khartoum's consent. The timetable for getting the force up and running by the end of this year appears to be slipping, and the full force will not be in operation until well into 2008, observers say. Meanwhile, the UN said dozens of people were killed in Monday's attack on the town of Muhajiriya in south Darfur.

In a statement, the UN said a large number of houses in the town were burnt to the ground, as were shops in the market. The former rebels who signed last year's Darfur peace agreement accused the government of being behind the incident. The government denies this. An estimated 6,000 villagers fled to the north while thousands more have dispersed to other nearby areas.

Reports from the town said dead bodies were strewn across the streets. The attack came just days after armed men attacked the African Union base in nearby Haskanita - killing 10 AU soldiers

BBC NEW REPORT

AUTHOR LESSING WINS NOBEL HONOUR!

Lessing has been nominated for the Booker Prize three times.
Profile: Doris Lessing

British author Doris Lessing has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize for Literature. The 87-year-old has been honoured with the 10m kronor (£763,000) award for her life's work over a 57-year career.
Her best-known works include The Golden Notebook, Memoirs of a Survivor and The Summer Before the Dark. Lessing said she was "very glad" about the honour - particularly as she was told 40 years ago that the Nobel hierarchy did not like her. She told BBC Radio 4: "I've won it. I'm very pleased and now we're going to have a lot of speeches and flowers and it will be very nice."
They can't give a Nobel to someone who's dead so I think they were probably thinking they had better give it to me now - Doris Lessing.

She recalled that, in the 1960s, "they sent one of their minions especially to tell me they didn't like me at the Nobel Prize and I would never get it". "So now they've decided they're going to give it to me. So why? I mean, why do they like me any better now than they did then?"
The author, who turns 88 on 22 October, said she thought she had become more respectable with age.
"They can't give a Nobel to someone who's dead so I think they were probably thinking they had better give it to me now before I popped off," she said.

Lessing was told the news by reporters after returning from shops. Lessing is only the 11th woman to win the prize, considered by many to be the world's highest accolade for writers, since it started in 1901. And she is the second British writer to win in three years, after Harold Pinter was honoured in 2005. Turkish author Orhan Pamuk won last year.
The Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, described Lessing as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny".
"Oh good, did they say that about me?" she replied. "Oh goodness, well obviously they like me better now than they used to."
Lessing was out shopping when the announcement was made and said she thought a TV show was being filmed on her street when she returned to find TV crews outside her house.
Lessing was born in what is now Iran and moved to Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe - as a child before settling in England in 1949.
Her debut novel The Grass is Singing was published the following year and she made her breakthrough with The Golden Notebook in 1962.
"The burgeoning feminist movement saw it as a pioneering work and it belongs to the handful of books that informed the 20th Century view of the male-female relationship," the Swedish Academy said.
But Lessing herself has distanced herself from the feminist movement.
The content of her other novels ranges from semi-autobiographical African experiences to social and political struggle, psychological thrillers and science fiction.
She has been nominated for the Booker Prize three times - for Briefing for a Descent into Hell in 1971, The Sirian Experiments in 1981 and The Good Terrorist in 1985 - but has never won. In addition to the Nobel cash prize, Lessing will receive a gold medal and an invitation to give a lecture at the academy's headquarters in Stockholm. She can also expect to see a rise in sales.
US author Philip Roth had been the bookmakers' favourite for the award. His name has been mentioned in connection with the prize for many years, but he has always been overlooked.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

South African Poster Advert !

This photograph certainly hits home to me what it must be like for decent Zimbabweans.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GROWING AFRICA GETS SHARE INDEX !

The index will help investors assess potential profits, says its creator. A financial index has been launched for sub-Saharan Africa, allowing investors to track the fortunes of the top companies in the region.
The index is the creation of investment bank Renaissance Capital.
The world's major economies all have financial indices - such as the UK's FTSE, the US Dow Jones and Hong Kong's Hang Seng.
Correspondents say it is a sign that Africa is beginning to provide more attractive investment opportunities.
The Renaissance Capital Index will highlight the financial ups and downs of the top 50 companies in 21 countries across the continent, from Senegal to Mozambique.
It will not include South Africa, which already has its own index.
What we have is a huge, untapped, but not very well understood, investment opportunity
John Bates Renaissance Capital
Despite headlines which often focus on the continent's problems, Africa's economies are growing, thanks to investment from China and the expansion of sectors such as tourism and telecommunications.
The index will provide potential investors with corporate growth benchmarks, allowing them to assess potential profits, explained John Bates from Renaissance Capital.
"Sub-Saharan Africa is a particularly strong growth market," he told the BBC.
"You're talking about a region that has 15% of the world's population, 20% of the world's land mass, but only produces 2% of global output at this stage. Against that backdrop sub-Saharan Africa is actually increasing its exports to China, whereas the rest of the world is doing quite the opposite.
"So what we have is a huge, untapped, but not very well understood, investment opportunity in all shapes and sizes," he said.
Unlike several other parts of the world, sub-Saharan Africa is showing high growth rates - with the banking sector, for example, growing by 90% over the past few years.
Analysts say, however, that the risks of investing in Africa are still high, because of factors like poor infrastructure and corruption - but they say that also means the rewards are potentially much higher.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

STUDENTS SHOT AT CLEVELAND SCHOOL !

At least three people have been hurt in gunfire at a high school in the US state of Ohio, local media say.
Police officers were reported to be looking for a 14-year-old boy said to have been unhappy at a suspension from the SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland.
It remains unclear what has happened to the gunman. The school was evacuated.
Ronnell Jackson, 15, said he saw the shooter running down a hallway. "He was aiming at me, I got out just in time," AP news agency quotes him as saying.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

WHAT BURMA WANTS FROM THE WEST !

The BBC News website's Kate McGeown has just returned from visiting Burma. Here she assesses what the Burmese people want from the international community.

Signs of poverty are everywhere on the streets of Rangoon.
In the wake of the military crackdown on unarmed monks in Burma, the world's leaders are once again discussing how to deal with the country's repressive regime.
After meeting the senior generals in their new capital, Naypyidaw, UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari warned that there could be "serious international repercussions" as a result of the recent bloodshed.
The US has already toughened its sanctions against Burma, and the EU is set to follow suit.
But far away from the world's debating chambers and boardrooms where their future is being discussed, the people of Burma have slightly different priorities.
"We would like to have democracy, but the most important thing for us is to have peace, and enough food on our plates," one woman said.

Burma is a country that is desperately poor. According to recent international estimates, 32% of the population live below the poverty line and, excluding a small rich elite, the rest are only just above it.
The international community did nothing to stop a three-day killing spree... That was when I realised we were on our own -Rangoon resident.
I saw signs of poverty everywhere in Rangoon - children with distended stomachs, people scavenging through rubbish and families buying coal to cook on open fires, owing to the intermittent and expensive electricity supply.
Outside the major cities, the situation is far worse.
Foreigners are rarely allowed into the northern and eastern states, but reports from refugees who have left these areas suggest conditions are on a par with the worst parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Unsurprisingly, the main thing most Burmese people want is an improvement in their standard of living.
As a result, many Burmese are sceptical of sanctions, saying they have already made the country poor and will only make the situation worse if they are tightened further.
"Sanctions don't work - they're not the solution," one elderly man said to me in a Rangoon teashop, as we discussed Burma's future.
Walking around the city, watching the Japanese and Chinese cars go by, and looking at the plethora of Chinese and Indian goods on sale, it is easy to see how he has drawn this conclusion.
The US and EU sanctions that are already in place have undoubtedly affected Burma's overall economy, but they do not seem to have done much harm to the rich military generals, who are busy making deals with the rest of Asia.

While they might not favour sanctions, the people of Burma definitely want the international community's help in other ways.
Burma's reclusive leaders enjoy opulent lifestyles.
Many of those who telephoned the UN during the crackdown asked why no-one was sending a peacekeeping force.
I was faced with a similar question when I was in Burma last year. "Why have the US and the UK invaded Iraq, and not done the same here?" one man asked me at the time.
After the events of recent weeks, some Burmese people feel let down by the outside world.
"The international community did nothing to stop a three-day killing spree," one woman said. "That was when I realised we were on our own."
Of course, there are many people around the world who want to stand by the Burmese people to prove they are not alone.
Millions have attended marches to protest against the military crackdown and signed petitions to pressurise international leaders for change.
The language used to condemn the Burmese military leaders has become far more accusatory in the aftermath of the crackdown, with US President George W Bush calling the junta a "brutal regime... that has ruled Burma for too long".
After days without any response, it appears that all this pressure is finally having some effect on Burma's leaders.
Late last week, Senior General Than Shwe offered to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi - who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years - as long as she agrees to certain conditions, such as ending her call for sanctions.
He has even appointed a minister to liaise with her about the details.
It is the first time he has agreed to meet Ms Suu Kyi, and considering he is reported to hate her so much he does not even allow people to mention her name, it is a welcome step forward.
But Burmese people I spoke to are not very optimistic that this meeting will answer their problems.
Even if Ms Suu Kyi agrees to the conditions set by the military, both sides have had such contrasting views for so long, it is difficult to see how they can find common ground.
And to the people inside Burma, it appears the government has no intention of instigating change at all.
In fact the generals seem to be trying to convince people they are still firmly in control and that everything is back to normal - playing down the scale of the protests and filling state media with images of huge pro-government rallies around the country.
But the people have shown by their protests that they want change.
Their demonstrations might have been quashed, but their plight has caught the attention of the international community and become a cry for help.
The pressure is now on world leaders to put their strong words of condemnation into action, and answer that call.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

A BEAUTIFUL MIND !

Stuart Baker-Brown, 43, a photographer and writer based in Dorset, was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1996. On World Mental Health Day, he delivers a unique personal insight into how his condition has nurtured his artistic expression.

In the past, schizophrenia has broken my life and taken away many of life's opportunities, such as work and the ability to interact with society and family or even myself. The symptoms have been very disabling and destructive and have included psychosis (delusion and hallucinations) which is understood to be a disturbance of sensory perception and creates the inability to recognise reality from the unreal.

Many people with schizophrenia are naturally creative and turn to the arts to release their inner thoughts and emotions -Stuart Baker-Brown, Other daily symptoms, such as depression, suicidal thoughts, the feeling of being controlled by outside forces, paranoia and fear of persecution, have made life very difficult to cope with. There is also the stigma and discrimination attached to the condition, especially the perceived link to violence - less than 1% of those diagnosed are violent towards others.

I believe the condition is very misunderstood, especially the link with creativity. The Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky; Nobel prize winner in economics, John Nash (A Beautiful Mind); novelist, poet and writer, Jack Kerouac; and musicians such as Peter Green, Syd Barrett and James Beck Gordon have all either experienced, or are believed to have experienced, schizophrenia in some form. The condition has also been linked to the family of Tennessee Williams and Albert Einstein. Psychologists believe that schizophrenia personality is also associated to the likes of Vincent Van Gogh, Emily Dickinson and Isaac Newton. Many people with schizophrenia are naturally creative and turn to the arts to release their inner thoughts and emotions and to express the meaning of their symptoms. In my experience, schizophrenia is potentially a very creative tool which, as yet, has not been understood or recognised and is mistreated and so its powerful symptoms manifest as confusion and destruction.

SCHIZOPHRENIA
About 1% of people develop schizophrenia
Genetics probably play a part
Ten to 15 per cent of people with a close relation with schizophrenia develop it.

Treatments include psychological therapies or medications.

If this potential creativity was nurtured and encouraged, I believe we could find something quite unique, rather than the devastation we recognise. I am now in a very fortunate position and my creativity is beginning to be achieved. My symptoms have eased greatly, due to my own personal belief and will to survive and finding a medication, Seroquel, that truly works with me.
Like other artists, such as Philippa King and Aidan Shingler, who share my condition, I am harnessing my creative side and now using my symptoms to work for me rather than against. This works for me in both writing and other art forms.

The symptoms feed me the tools to become creative. I seem to be thinking all the time and the psychosis is not necessarily destructive. The experience of a hallucination can often be recalled in the creation of artwork or poetry, for example. Much of my writing captures my life with schizophrenia, my past symptoms and experiences. I turn these into short stories or my novel, The Man Who Can, which is a story based on my life and my journey from the spiralling tunnel of darkness towards the bright sky of light.

I also have many sketches of images that have appeared in my thoughts or have appeared in front of me when I have laid relaxing in my bed or even walking along the street. The subjects of my photography are given added meaning, such as Mount Everest, which represents "Mount Schizophrenia" and my struggles in life. Sometimes it feels that the symptoms of my condition are very naturally creative and often without any prompting my imagination comes alive. My mind, as others with the condition, is often very stimulated, as if on a more heightened awareness than people without it.

Stuart takes pictures in Nepal where he says there is no stigma. But the problem is expressing what I see or hear because strong cognitive difficulties - such as memory loss, disorganized thoughts, difficulty concentrating and completing tasks - impair my ability to enhance and capture my true creative potential. Unfortunately psychiatry leans far more towards controlling schizophrenia, rather than showing understanding towards a patient's true needs and potential capabilities.

There needs to be far more emphasis on working with the symptoms. A far greater holistic approach needs to be adopted. The link with creativity and schizophrenia has always been evident. Yet research into the understanding of these links has been very limited. Thankfully, East Carolina University, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the National Institutes of Health in Britain are starting to research the links between schizophrenia and aspects of human creativity and cognition.

I personally believe that we are at the very beginning of having a true understanding of schizophrenia and its symptoms. Let's hope that after so much misunderstanding, this new research will open much-needed and refreshing doors to the truth.

BBC MAGAZINE.

US JUDGE BLOCKS GUANTANAMO BAY MOVE!

There are still about 340 detainees at Guantanamo. A US federal judge has blocked the US military from sending a Guantanamo Bay detainee to Tunisia because of allegations he would be tortured.
It would be a "profound miscarriage of justice" to transfer Mohammed Abdul Rahman ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on detainee rights, the judge said.
Human rights groups say the ruling is unprecedented, and the first direct intervention by a judge in such a case.
Tunisia has denied Mr Abdul Rahman's claims that it practises torture.
However, a report by the US state department published earlier this year said the Tunisian government continued "to commit serious human rights abuses".
Citing human rights groups, the report said the Tunisian security forces used sleep deprivation, electric shocks, submersion of the head in water, beatings and cigarette burns.
In her ruling made earlier this month but only just unsealed, Washington DC District Judge Gladys Kessler said that Mr Abdul Rahman could not be transferred because he might suffer "devastating and irreparable harm".
The executive has now been told it cannot bury its Guantanamo mistakes in third world prisons
Joshua DenbeauxMohammed Abdul Rahman's lawyer
"In view of the grave harm Rahman has alleged he will face if transferred, it would be a profound miscarriage of justice if this court denied the motion," the judge said.
Mr Abdul Rahman has a heart condition and he argued that the 20-year prison sentence awaiting him in Tunisia could amount to a death sentence.
His lawyer praised the ruling, which he said was the first time the courts had acted to control the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
"The executive has now been told it cannot bury its Guantanamo mistakes in third world prisons," Joshua Denbeaux told the Associated Press.
Mr Abdul Rahman was captured in Pakistan and allegedly handed over for a bounty. He was cleared for transfer after a military panel heard his case in 2005.
Repatriation
A US justice department spokesman, Erik Ablin, said the government had argued that the district court did not have jurisdiction over the case.

Quick guide: Guantanamo

The government was now considering its options, he said.
The US Supreme Court is due to rule on whether inmates can mount challenge in civilian courts. There are about 340 detainees still being held at Guantanamo, according to the Pentagon. It has transferred or released approximately 445 detainees to other countries.
A Pentagon spokeswoman said it tried to ensure detainees were not abused when they were returned to their home states.
"Detainees are not repatriated to countries where it is more likely than not that they will be tortured," spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.