AN ETHIOPIAN OBSESSION THAT RUNS DEEP!

By Alex Capstick - BBC News, Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia has a deep well of distance running talent.
Ethiopia is staging its first major international athletics event - the African Athletics Championships - giving sports fans a rare chance to see close up the athletes carrying the country's hopes for glory at the Beijing Olympics. The BBC's Alex Capstick went to Addis Ababa to investigate why running is Ethiopia's national obsession.
It's 0630 as runners gather in the forests overlooking Addis Ababa. There's not a breath of wind, and at an altitude of more than 3,000 metres the air is thin.
These are considered perfect training conditions for endurance runners, and virtually every day of the year thousands of them pitch up here and spend an hour or two pounding the rutted dirt tracks.
Getaneh Tessema is in charge of the group I'm with and says he chooses the area because "it is very quiet, it is not so hilly, flat, and you know running in the forest is fantastic, we like it".
Every morning in the heart of Addis Ababa knots of runners are strung out over the cracked steps of Meskel Square
He has spent the last decade on the lookout for future champions and his current group includes members of the Ethiopian marathon team.
"The runners are mostly from the countryside, and in the countryside most children they go to school on foot - like every day five, 10 kilometres, and you know, nobody knows that, but that's training.
"Ethiopians are light and are also hard-working and they like to fight - and I think that's the reason why they are so good."
Ethiopia's obsession with running can be traced back to 1960, when the barefooted Abebe Bikili was a surprise winner of the Olympic marathon in Rome.

Haile Gebrselassie is idolised in Ethiopia.
The success of Ethiopian athletes continued. Haile Gebrselassie remembers listening on his father's radio to events at the Moscow games in 1980, when Miruts Yifter won two gold medals.
"I was seven, I had a chance you know to follow his winning. I wanted to be like a Miruts Yifter and my dream was to be like him."
Haile Gebrselassie is now considered the finest distance runner of all time.
His collection of honours includes two Olympic 10,000 metre titles and multiple world records. He's idolised in Ethiopia, the busy road I'm standing on is named after him. And everybody wants to be like Haile.
"It's amazing when they follow the good steps of Haile Gebrselassie. Let them follow my good things the next generation has to improve"

The Entoto Mariam church is located in the hills above the capital. It is in another area frequented by groups of runners, and world and Olympic medals have been deposited in the church museum.
For a woman in Ethiopia, running is very difficult... she only work in house or is going to the school - everything is for men
Meseret DefarOlympic 5,000m champion
My guide tells me Ethiopia's deeply religious athletes promise to leave them here, or in other places of worship, on display for everyone to see. Among them is one won by Derartu Tulu.
She became the first black African woman to claim an Olympic title when she was first in the 10,000 metres at the Barcelona Games in 1992. Her performance proved to be an inspiration to other women in Ethiopia.
They include the reigning Olympic 5,000 metre champion Meseret Defar who I went to meet at her villa in Addis Ababa.
Like Derartu Tulu, she's been a role model to young women seeking a life outside the traditional confines of the home, although the effect hasn't been the same across the country.
"The women stay in the house," she says. "For a woman in Ethiopia, running is very difficult. In Addis Ababa, no problem, it is very good but outside, the woman only works in [the] house or is going to the school - everything is for men."
Every morning in the heart of Addis Ababa knots of runners are strung out over the cracked steps of Meskel Square.
Most of them dream of progressing to the national stadium, just a short distance away.
But first they must grab the attention of one of the top coaches.
Competition is fierce, and the deep well of running talent in Ethiopia shows no sign of drying up.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CELLAR FATHER REFUSES TO EXPLAIN !

Mr Fritzl will undergo a series of psychiatric and psychological tests.
Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who is accused of keeping his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years, refuses to answer further questions, police say.
They said he had signed a statement admitting imprisoning and raping his daughter and fathering her seven children, but refuses to explain.
The daughter, Elisabeth, has told police she was sexually abused even before being incarcerated.
The case of the 73-year-old Josef Fritzl has drawn world media attention.
Describing the "abominable events" as linked to one individual case, Austria's Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said he planned to launch an image campaign to restore the country's reputation abroad.

Franz Prucher, head of police in Lower Austria, said police would be investigating whether Mr Fritzl had committed any further crimes.
"We have to bring light to every aspect of the suspect's life. It is our duty to investigate the concurrent circumstances that made it possible that such crime, which shocked all of us deeply, could happen," he told a press conference in Amstetten.
Mr Fritzl faces up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted of raping his daughter, among other offences.

Physical toll of Austrian captivity
Austria examines its conscience

Officials are also considering charges of "murder through failure to act" which carries a longer sentence, in connection with the death of one of the seven children he fathered with Elisabeth.
Mr Fritzl has admitted to disposing of the body of the newborn in an incinerator shortly after the birth.
His lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, has told the BBC his client will undergo a series of psychiatric and psychological tests.
He says the tests will be crucial in determining the extent of Mr Fritzl's guilt and his penalty.
"This case certainly requires a thorough psychiatric and psychological examination. We need to establish if he can be considered responsible for his actions," Mr Mayer told BBC News.

Elisabeth and three of the children were held captive in a windowless cellar under the family home.
Mr Fritzl's alleged crimes came to light when Elisabeth's eldest daughter Kerstin, 19, became seriously ill.
Lower Austria police chief Franz Polzer describes the cellar.
She was allowed out of the cellar and admitted to hospital in Amstetten.
Police then issued an appeal to Elisabeth Fritzl to contact them about her daughter, and later picked up Mr Fritzl and Elisabeth near the hospital.
Kerstin remains in a coma, and doctors describe her condition as serious but stable.
The other children who were not confined to the cellar lived an apparently normal life with Mr Fritzl as his "grandchildren" in the upper sections of the same house.
Officials said Elisabeth, now 42, and two of the three children who had lived with her in the cellar - the 18- and five-year-old brothers - had an "astonishing" reunion with her other children on Tuesday.
They are now being cared for in a psychiatric clinic in Amstetten-Mauer. Berthold Kepplinger, the director of the clinic, said their psychological state had stabilised:
"The young people can play, they can run around, they have their personal toys, they have everything that they are used to, and a number of our team are looking after them and are caring for them."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BLAINE SETS BREATHTAKING RECORD !

Blaine failed in an earlier breath-holding record attempt in New York.
Magician David Blaine has set a world record by holding his breath for 17 minutes and four seconds on Oprah Winfrey's US TV show in Chicago.
The star was pulled from a water-filled sphere, and then said he had begun to doubt if he would achieve his goal as he considered his heart rate too high.
The previous record, which was 32 seconds shorter, was set in February.
Blaine, once buried for a week in a coffin, inhaled pure oxygen beforehand to flush carbon dioxide from his blood.
Setting the record was "a lifelong dream", he told Winfrey, which he said had been achieved by being in a meditative state throughout.
She asked him what he was thinking about during his time in the water, to which he replied: "You."

Beforehand Blaine said he was more excited than nervous about the task ahead.
The 35-year-old had been wearing a silver wetsuit when he went into the sphere, which was filled with about 8,200 litres (1,800 gallons) of water.
Two years ago he failed in an attempt to break the record for breath-holding under water, while simultaneously escaping from heavy chains.
He had started to struggle two minutes before his nine-minute goal, at the end of a seven-day stint under water in New York.
Blaine has also balanced on top of a 100ft (30m) pole, was encased in ice for two-and-a-half days, and fasted for 44 days in a box.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE IDEAL OF CALM EXISTS IN A SITTING CAT" !

______

WASHINGTON DIARY : PASTOR TROUBLE !

By Matt Frei BBC News, Washington.

Dear Obama supporters - look on the bright side!

Mr Obama said Reverend Wright's comments were offensive
Gary Hart was sunk by Monkey Business.
Bill Clinton's candidacy was almost killed off by Gennifer Flowers and his presidency derailed by Monica Lewinsky.
Barack Obama's problem is not sexual infidelity, it is spiritual fidelity towards a nutty pastor - the Democratic Party has clearly evolved...
But then so has America.

In a country where the average citizen changes his or her religious denomination at least twice, your choice of pastor says perhaps even more about you than your choice of mistress.
And for an aspiring presidential candidate at a time when America is at war and when some people quibble about patriotic flag-pins, Obama seems to have chosen disastrously.
Watching Jeremiah Wright's cross between stand up comedy, loony lefty diatribe and hellfire sermon at the National Press Club in Washington DC had the same effect as witnessing one of those really embarrassing best man's speeches at a wedding.
It leaves the guests choking on their salmon, thinking: "... and this guy is your best friend?"
The pastor's first clips about Israel and 9/11 were the old wedding video.
Barack is trying to explain why he prayed with a pastor before he prayed against him
This week the performance was revived with fresh blood - Reverend Wright, the Remake, the Director's cut.
Instead he should have gone away to a spiritual retreat in Switzerland for a year.
But of course there is no way that the man who first coined the phrase "the audacity of hope" - which Barack Obama then borrowed for the title of his second bestselling book - would have done anything as un-audacious as slip away into obscurity while his friend soldiered towards the White House.
The reverend will not be silenced.
In fact, he is probably quite irked that his Chicago Church has become better known for the young "member", as he called Obama disparagingly on Monday, than for its founding father.
Even pastors can get jealous.

Two months ago, Obama was able to rise above the fray elegantly.
He gave the man who married him to his wife Michelle and christened his two daughters the benefit of the doubt.
He described him as an eccentric, errant uncle with a loose tongue and a sound heart.
And he was able to used it as a peg to talk about his complex but poignant vision of race.
At that stage, Obama still walked on rhetorical water.
This week, he was drowning.
How ironic that the object of his fury should have been the erstwhile healer of his soul.

Barack Obama hits back after controversial comments by his former pastor
He cut the reverend loose like one of those giant octopuses that have attached themselves to your leg and threaten to drag you under.
He called the comments the pastor made in Washington on Monday - to the effect that Obama was just another dishonest politician and that successive administrations were responsible for the spread of Aids - deeply misguided, damaging and offensive.
Most tellingly he said: "His comments have shown disrespect to me."
Respect, Obama! Everyone wants it and you, it turns out, demand it.

Every campaign, however scripted, has its moments of unalloyed honesty when the candidate is stripped bare, when the veneer has gone and when all you see is raw Mensch.
That is what we got on Tuesday.
Barack Obama stopped sermonising, energising and eulogising.
Instead, he was fuming with anger.
You could almost see the steam seeping out of his tired eyes.
The public divorce from the reverend must have been painful, but it was unavoidable.
What should worry Obama supporters far more was the faltering, brittle performance in the press conference afterwards.
He stumbled, he stuttered, he stalled and he groped for the right words while Hillary was at an Indiana gas station doing shots of diesel with truck drivers.
Wielding her imaginary tankard of frothing beer, she talked about cutting the gas tax in front of a chorus of nodding white men with bulging necks.
Hang on - aren't they supposed to be the people who loathe Hillary?
But here too America is evolving.
The economy is hurting, Hillary is feeling your pain, her family name conjures up the comfortable 1990s and Barack is trying to explain why he prayed with a pastor before he prayed against him.
Indiana and North Carolina vote on Tuesday.
Barack Obama has six days left to find his old voice and reboot the magic or he will become the best nominee the Democrats never had.
And if the super-delegates freeze him out, I would not be surprised to see young people and African Americans - the voters Obama has managed to energise - stay away from the polls in droves.
This is the stuff of political tragedies.

Matt Frei is the presenter of BBC World News America which airs every weekday at 0030 BST on BBC News and at 0000 BST (1900 ET / 1600 PT) on BBC World News and BBC America (for viewers outside the UK only).

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BELARUS ORDERS OUT US DIPLOMATS!

The president of Belarus has shown defiance in the face of US pressure.
Belarus has ordered a number of US diplomats to leave the country.
The ex-Soviet republic's latest move comes amid a row over human rights violations and follows the expulsion of the US ambassador in March.
The foreign ministry summoned the most senior US diplomat, presenting him with a list of officials "declared personae non gratae and required to leave".
Jonathan Moore said he had been given a list of 10 US diplomats who had been ordered to leave within 72 hours.
"We will do everything possible so that the US diplomats leave the country within the required time limit," Mr Moore said.
The US embassy says it now has 15 diplomats in Minsk.

The diplomatic expulsions were initially ordered after Washington imposed sanctions on the country's state-controlled oil-processing and chemicals company, Belneftekhim.
The firm accounts for about a third of the country's foreign currency earnings.
Belarus said its embassy staff in Washington had been cut to six, but that the US had not cut staff enough.
The US - along with the European Union - has also restricted the travel of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and members of his inner circle.
In his annual address to the nation on Tuesday, Mr Lukashenko expressed defiance over pressure from the US and EU to free political prisoners in order to improve ties.
"If the Americans introduce new sanctions and think we will collapse, that's rubbish," he said, adding that no political prisoners would be released.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TOURISM CRASH THREATENS BIG CATS !

Big cats living in Kenya's Maasai Mara game reserve are being threatened by a collapse in revenues from wildlife tourism, it has been claimed.
The Mara Conservancy says tourists have stayed away since the violence which followed last year's disputed election.
The group, which manages a 510 sq km area called the Mara Triangle, can no longer pay pastoralists compensation for cattle killed by lions or leopards.
This could force local people to kill the cats in order to protect livestock.
It may be only a matter of time until rangers won't be so lucky in stopping cattle owners from taking their own measures to protect cattle - William Deed, Mara Conservancy.

William Deed, from the Mara Conservancy, told the BBC that it was facing a shortfall of $50,000 (£25,000) per month.
The non-profit organisation relies on a percentage of park entrance fees paid by tourists.
Since it was founded in 2001, and the compensation scheme established, the number of lions in the reserve has doubled to 80.
But now the fund has been suspended, some Maasai have threatened to resume hunting the lions and leopards which kill their cows, goats and sheep.
"We have now had several close calls with locals hunting lions and leopards in return for the cattle that have been killed by these predators," said Mr Deed.
"Previously, the cattle compensation scheme we had in place would help placate such situations, however with no funding to pay for such a scheme the local communities are no longer seeing the benefits of living so closely with the wildlife."
He said the current situation was leading to strained relations with local communities.
The Mara Conservancy has met with local elders, but each time one of their animals is killed with no money for compensation, the "tension mounts", Mr Deed explained.
"It may be only a matter of time until rangers won't be so lucky in stopping cattle owners from taking their own measures to protect cattle," he added.
Slow recovery
Cuts in electricity are also making the job of rangers increasingly dangerous. Part of their job involves catching armed cattle rustlers who often make their escape through the Mara Triangle.
But the area now lacks power for 11 hours out of every 24, meaning that communications are often down between the main station and patrol teams.
The dire funding situation has also forced the organisation to stop night patrols.
Poachers were already profiting from the situation, said Mr Deed: groups of men had been seen using torches to hunt Thomson Gazelles at night.
Last month, the rangers have caught five poachers, including three men who killed a hippo for its meat.
Even though the worst of the violence in Kenya has subsided, Mr Deed said it would take time for the tourist trade to pick up again.
For now, he explained, the organisation was operating only on small donations from individuals across the world.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE RIVAL 'CLEAR VICTOR' - U.S.

Morgan Tsvangirai has left Zimbabwe amid fears for his safety.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was the "clear victor" of last month's poll, a top US envoy says.
Jendayi Frazer was speaking in South Africa, at the start of a tour to lobby Zimbabwe's neighbours to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe.
The results of the presidential election have not been released.
Mr Tsvangirai says he won outright but the ruling party has said no candidate gained 50% of the vote, so a run-off will be needed.
The opposition says its supporters are being attacked ahead of a possible run-off - claims denied by the government.
Mugabe is living on borrowed time - John SentamuArchbishop of York.

Profile: Jendayi Frazer

Earlier, the leaders of the Anglican church called for international action to prevent violence in Zimbabwe reaching "horrific levels".
Meanwhile, a Chinese foreign ministry official said a ship carrying weapons to Zimbabwe might return to China.

Independent Zimbabwean monitors say Mr Tsvangirai gained 49% of the vote - just short of the threshold for outright victory - but more than President Mugabe.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says its leader gained 50.3% and so should be declared the winner.

ZIMBABWE'S NEIGHBOURS

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has been under fire over March's disputed elections. His neighbours have been supportive but regional differences are now emerging.

South Africa's President Mbeki is the key Zimbabwe mediator. He has refused to criticise Robert Mugabe but the ruling ANC, and trade unions have urged him to take a stronger line.

Zambian President Mwanawasa has taken the region's strongest line on Zimbabwe. His call for Africa not to let a ship carrying weapons to Zimbabwe dock will outrage President Mugabe.

Angola's government has close ties to Zimbabwe's ruling party - both came to power after fighting colonial rule in the 1970s.

Botswana is not seen as an ally of Robert Mugabe. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai fled here after polls.

Namibia is a close ally of Zimbabwe - it too is planning to redistribute white-owned farms to black villagers.

Mozambique has hosted some white farmers forced from Zimbabwe and is seen as relatively sympathetic to Zimbabwe's opposition.

Tanzania's ruling party has a long history of close ties to Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and is unlikely to criticise him.

DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila is an ally of Robert Mugabe, who sent troops to help his father, Laurent Kabila, fight rebels.

Malawi is seen as neutral. But some 3m people of Malawian origin are in Zimbabwe, mostly farmworkers who have lost their jobs and were sometimes assaulted during farm invasions.

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There have been some suggestions that a government of national unity would be the best way of solving the impasse.
"We think in this situation we have a clear victor," said Ms Frazer, the senior US envoy to Africa.
"Morgan Tsvangirai won and perhaps outright, at which point you don't need a government of national unity. You have to accept the result."
But she said that any results released would not have any credibility and added that: "There may need to be a political solution, a negotiated solution."
This was a suggestion backed by Jacob Zuma, leader of South Africa's ANC.
"The two parties must be made to talk," he told the BBC.
Mr Tsvangirai has been in Mozambique, on the latest leg of his tour of African countries, trying to increase pressure on Mr Mugabe.
He is staying out of Zimbabwe, amid fears for his safety.
Archbishop of York John Sentamu said President Mugabe "is living on borrowed time".
Archbishop Sentamu, who is originally from Uganda, also urged police and soldiers not to be used for political ends - some reports suggest the security forces have led attacks on opposition supporters.
"I am saying to the police officers and the army people... you are not there to prop up a government, you are not there to be used as an arm of repression."
Ship 'recalled'
The opposition said the weapons on board the Chinese ship would be used against its supporters and that 10 had been killed so far.
This was denied by Zanu-PF spokesman Patrick Chinamasa. He said every country had the right to buy weapons.

This man says he was locked in a burning hut by ruling party militants
The US has urged China to recall the ship - the An Yue Jiang, which was not allowed to unload in South Africa - before the cargo could be transported to landlocked Zimbabwe.
The British government has also called for an international arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
Zambia's president urged African countries not to let the arms, which reportedly include three million rounds of ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and 2,500 mortar rounds, pass through their territories.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu condemned the US intervention but said she thought the ship would return, as it has not been able to dock.
"To my knowledge, the Chinese company has decided to recall the ship," she said.
However, the shipping company said it could not confirm this.
It had been reported that the ship was headed for Angola, which is a close ally of President Robert Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission says it cannot release the presidential results until a recount of 23 parliamentary results is completed.
The parliamentary results show that the ruling Zanu-PF party lost its majority for the first time since independence in 1980.
But this could change if the recount reverses the initial results.
So far, two recounts have been finished - both have confirmed the original results.
Much of the reported violence has been in rural areas which Zanu-PF has lost to the MDC in this election. The campaign for the 29 March election was relatively peaceful.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AUSTRIAN POLICE QUIZ 'SEX CAPTOR' !

Elisabeth was kept in a locked cellar with no windows for 24 years.
Austrian police are continuing to question an elderly man who admitted holding his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children.
Police said Josef Fritzl also admitted burning the body of a baby who died at the house in Amstetten, Lower Austria.
Mr Fritzl, 73, remains in custody. His daughter, now 42, and her six surviving children have been taken into care.
A lawyer for the victims said the case showed no sign of institutional failure on behalf of the Austrian authorities.
"Up until now there is no sign that there was any mistake by officials," the lawyer, Christoph Herbst, was quoted as saying by the Austrian Press Agency (APA).

Pictures of Josef Fritzl's house and cellar

"If there had been such a mistake we would obviously have to talk about it."
However, Austrian media are questioning how such grave crimes went undetected for so long.
Lured into cellar
Photos of Mr Fritzl's basement show a concealed network of tiny windowless chambers which were soundproofed.
Prosecutors say Mr Fritzl is expected to be taken into protective custody after appearing before a magistrate.
His daughter, Elisabeth, disappeared aged 18 on 28 August 1984 when, according to her testimony to police, her father lured her into the cellar, drugging and handcuffing her before locking her up.
She is reported to have been made to write a letter which made it look as if she had run away from Amstetten, a small town about 130km (80 miles) west of Vienna.
The head of the criminal affairs bureau in Lower Austria, Franz Polzer, said Mr Fritzl had admitted sexually abusing his daughter repeatedly during the time he imprisoned her.
Mr Polzer said Mr Fritzl told investigators Elisabeth had given birth to seven children, including twins in 1996, but one died shortly after being born and that he had thrown the body into an incinerator in the building.
The surviving children are now aged between five and 19 years.
The cellar rooms, covering an area of approximately 60 sq m (650 sq ft), were equipped for sleeping and cooking, and with sanitary facilities.

Questions have been asked as to how Mr Fritzl could keep the cellar a secret.
A reinforced concrete door was built into the wall that separated the "dungeon" from the house and electronically locked - the code known only to the suspect, who provided his captives with food and necessities, police said.
Three of the children were kept in the cellar with their mother and had never seen daylight, police told a news conference.
The other three children were adopted or fostered by the suspect, after he forced Elisabeth to write a letter saying she could not look after the baby, according to police.
His wife, Rosemarie, with whom he had seven of their own children, appears to have been unaware of the alleged crimes, police said.

KEY FACTS IN CASE

Elisabeth reappeared at home after disappearing 24 years ago
Six children she says are hers have been found and placed in care
One of the children, aged 19, is seriously ill in hospital
Elisabeth's father Josef Fritzl, 73, has been arrested on suspicion of incest and abduction
Police say Mr Fritzl confesses to imprisoning Elisabeth and fathering her seven children

Profile: Josef Fritzl
In pictures: Abuse scandal
Q&A: Austrian abuse case

The security chief for Lower Austria, Franz Prucher, said he had been down into the cellar where it was easy to understand how the abuse was not discovered.
"The cellar is very deep," he said. "There you can cry and nobody will hear, nobody. There you can cry as loud as you can, you can hear nothing."
The alleged abuse and Mr Fritzl's apparent double life came to light when the eldest of the children in the cellar, 19-year-old Kerstin, became seriously ill earlier this month and had to be taken to hospital.
Kerstin is said to be in a coma in hospital.
The media were told the other children who had been kept in the cellar were in surprising physical health, but very pale.
The BBC's Bethany Bell says the case is reminiscent of that of Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian teenager held captive in a cellar in a house in a Vienna suburb for eight years, who ran to freedom in 2006.
Our correspondent says the people of Amstetten are in a state of shock over the events in their town, compounded by the sudden worldwide media interest.

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BBC NEWS REPORT.

TARIQ AZIZ DUE ON TRIAL IN IRAQ!

Tariq Aziz was the international face of Saddam's government for years.
Iraq's former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz is due on trial over the deaths of a group of merchants in 1992.
Mr Aziz, along with seven other former members of Saddam Hussein's regime, are accused of involvement in the execution of about 40 merchants in Baghdad.
The merchants were accused of hiking food prices at a time when Iraq was under international sanctions. They were executed after a speedy trial.
Mr Aziz's son, Ziad, has said that his father is innocent.

Profile: Tariq Aziz
Send us your comments

"My father told me personally that he had nothing to do with this case. At the time, my father was on an official assignment outside of Iraq," Ziad Aziz told the AFP news agency.
"None of the families of these merchants filed suits against my father," he said.
The trial will be conducted by the Iraqi High Tribunal which was set up to try former members of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Saddam Hussein himself was executed in December 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity, over the killing of 148 Shia men and boys after a 1982 assassination attempt against him.
Judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman, an Iraqi Kurd, will preside at the trial. He is the same judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RACISM ALIVE IN SOUTH AFRICA!

The BBC's Mohammed Allie in Cape Town looks at whether racism is still thriving in South Africa, 14 years after the end of apartheid, as President Thabo Mbeki suggested in a speech to mark Freedom Day.

Earlier this month, the owner of a South African tourist resort refused to allow a film crew to shoot on his property because of a "whites only" policy.
This came shortly after a racist video made by students at the Free State University and the alleged killing of four black people in an informal settlement by an 18 year old white man.
All of this seems to show that racism is still alive and well in South Africa.
Albertus Pretorious, who owns the Broedestroom Vakansie-Oord resort in North West Province, stood by his whites-only admission policy.
His action comes despite being fined R10 000 ($1,500) and ordered to change his policy three years ago by the Human Rights Commission.
He was fined then for evicting a white family who had brought two black children along with them to the resort.
The producers of Mr Bones 2, a sequel to South Africa's highest grossing movie, have since decided to move the location of their film shoot away from the venue, because of the owner's unrepentant attitude.
Mr Pretorious was defiant when a local newspaper enquired whether the whites-only policy was still in operation.
"Yes, it is," he answered, "I don't allow black people onto my property. I don't trust them and it's my own property, so I can decide myself who I allow."

When South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994 to officially mark the passing of the Apartheid era, many felt it also spelt the beginning of the end of discrimination in a country where classification by skin colour was still crucial to determining an individual's future.
Jody Kollapen, Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, describes South Africa's transition to democracy as "amazing" but says the reconciliation part of the process was emphasised at the expense of transformation.
Kollapen believes while the Truth and Reconciliation Commission exposed the excesses of Apartheid, very little was asked of whites during the reconciliation and transformation processes.
Christi van der Westhuizen, author of "White Power and the Rise and Fall of the National Party," agrees that a refusal by whites to acknowledge the impact of Apartheid on black South Africans is largely responsible for the current racial tensions.
"White denial is for me the real problem because they refuse to acknowledge the effect of Apartheid and colonialism in denying black people opportunities," she says.
"Whites should look at how to use their resources and skills so they can address the imbalances of the past."
Van der Westhuizen says government policies like affirmative action and black economic empowerment (BEE), which she believes are necessary to redress the years of oppression of blacks, have further hardened white attitudes.
"You must bear in mind that white identity post-1994 has also taken on some notion of victimhood, because they feel they suffer under BEE and affirmative action.

"There is a definite resentment among some members of the white community about having lost power. The Free State video and the shooting incident are just extreme manifestations of a continuing problem in our country," says van der Westhuizen.
Khanya Gwaza, a black first year student at the University of Cape Town believes racism is not a problem at the institution.
"We get along perfectly across the racial lines," he says, "one of my best mates is a white person so we do not really see colour as an issue."
But Simeon Linstein, a second year student, says he sees incidents of racism almost every day.
"I know for example that some white students mock black lecturers for their accent - they presume everyone should speak the way they do."
The apparent recent increase of incidents of racism is of huge concern to the Rainbow Nation.
But given that racial discrimination started in South Africa with the arrival of the first Dutch settlers in 1652, it is unrealistic to expect it to disappear just 14 years into the new democratic dawn.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHOCOLATE 'MAY CUT DIABETES RISK' !

The key ingredient is flavonoids.
Scientists are to investigate whether eating chocolate can reduce the risk of heart disease in women with diabetes.
Volunteers - postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes - will be asked to eat a bar of chocolate a day for a year.
Cocoa is rich in compounds called flavonoids, which are thought to benefit the heart.
The University of East Anglia is using a specially formulated form of chocolate which contains more flavonoids than usual.
This compensates for the fact that many flavonoids are destroyed in the process of turning cocoa into chocolate.
Soy - another source of flavonoids - has also been added to the special bars.
The scientists are testing the theory that adding flavonoids to the diet may give added protection against heart disease on top of that provided by prescription drugs.
Deaths due to heart disease among women increase rapidly after the menopause and having type 2 diabetes increases this risk by a further three-and-a-half times.
If the trial confirms the hypothesis then it could have a far-reaching impact on the advice given to at-risk women.

Lead researcher Professor Aedin Cassidy said: "Despite postmenopausal women being at a similar risk to men for developing cardiovascular disease, to date they are under-represented in clinical trials.
"We hope to show that adding flavonoids to their diets will provide additional protection from heart disease and give women the opportunity to take more control over reducing their risk of heart disease in the future."
The researchers aim to recruit 150 women under the age of 70 with type 2 diabetes who have not had a period for at least a year, and who have been taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs for at least 12 months.
Dr Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK, said: "We certainly don't advise people to start eating a lot of chocolate as it is very high in sugar and fat.
"We would always recommend that people with diabetes eat a diet low in fat, salt and sugar with plenty of fruit and vegetables."
"However, there are compounds found in chocolate, called flavonoids, that are thought to provide some protection from heart disease.
"A successful outcome of this research would hopefully mean being able to offer people at high risk better protection over and above that provided by conventional drugs."

For details of the trial contact Andrea Brown or Dr Peter Curtis at FLAVO@uea.ac.uk.
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BBC NEWS REPORT..

ZIMBABWE PARTIES TO CHECK RESULTS !

Representatives of Zimbabwe's presidential candidates are set to meet the electoral commission to review the results of the disputed election.
Officials say the results, which have still not been published more than four weeks after the vote, will be announced once they agree on the final figures.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he beat President Robert Mugabe outright.
The MDC says 15 of its supporters have been killed in post-election violence.
About 200 of its supporters were arrested during a police raid in Harare on Friday.

On Sunday, a senior UN official urged both to renounce the use of violence.
Human rights commissioner Louise Arbour said she was very concerned by reports of political violence and intimidation in the aftermath of last month's elections, particularly by rural supporters of the governing Zanu-PF party.

The top US envoy to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has said Washington is willing to seek UN sanctions against Zimbabwe if the post-election crisis continued.
Ms Frazer also urged African leaders to speak "very loudly" against the political violence which opposition and human rights groups have accused the government of instigating.
She said the US embassy had received documented evidence of more than 450 beatings, one death and about 1,000 people who had been displaced.
Ms Frazer's comments came a day after the electoral commission announced Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF had failed to regain its parliamentary majority after a partial recount of votes.
The results were unchanged in 18 of 23 seats where recounts had taken place, it said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"A LOVING HEART IS THE TRUEST WISDOM" !

______

AUSTRIAN 'HID DAUGHTER IN CELLAR' !

A 73-year-old Austrian is under arrest on suspicion of hiding his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children with her, police say.
The existence of the woman, believed missing since 1984 and now 42, emerged after a teenage child fell ill and had to be taken to hospital.
Both the woman and teenage girl are receiving medical treatment and the other children are in care.
A police investigation in Amstetten, Lower Austria Province, is continuing.
The suspect, named only as Josef F, was arrested on suspicion of incest and keeping his daughter in captivity. He has not responded to the charges against him, police say.
One of the children the man allegedly fathered died in infancy, police believe.
Three children, including the 19-year-old, were allegedly kept in the cellar with their mother while the other three reportedly grew up with their grandparents.
DNA tests will be taken to establish whether Josef F was indeed their father.
The alleged crimes came to light after the teenager, named as Kerstin F, was dropped off at the Amstetten hospital last weekend.

Police are searching the house.
Finding Kerstin seriously ill, doctors appealed for her mother, who at that time was assumed to be missing, to come forward to provide more details about her medical history.
Josef F allegedly then released the mother and two other children from the cellar, telling his wife Rosemarie that she had chosen to return home, police say.
It was not immediately clear how police were alerted.
The mother, named as Elisabeth F, has been receiving medical and psychological treatment since being discovered.
She appeared "greatly disturbed" psychologically during questioning and agreed to talk only after authorities assured her that she would no longer have to have contact with her father, and that her children would be taken care of, police added.
The six children are three boys and three girls aged between five and 20.
Police spokesman Franz Polzer told reporters they had been taken to a safe location.
"They are all in psychological care in a secure institution in a clinic here in this area," he said.
"They are being cared for individually - those between 12 and 16 years of age who grew up with their grandparents, and two boys who, when they came out yesterday with their mother, saw the daylight for the first time in their lives."
The police issued a statement giving details of the alleged abuses Elisabeth recounted to them.
She said she had been sexually abused by her father since the age of 11.

Josef allegedly lured her into the cellar of their house in Amstetten on 28 August 1984, drugging and handcuffing her before locking her up.
It was assumed she had disappeared voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her asking them not to search for her.
"Abused continuously during the 24-year-long imprisonment", Elisabeth bore six children while a seventh, one of a set of twins, died soon after birth.
The dead baby was allegedly taken out of the cellar and burnt by Josef.
Elisabeth said Josef had provided her and three of her children, who were locked up along with her, with clothing and food.
His wife Rosemarie had allegedly not been aware of what was going on.
The discovery of another Austrian woman, who was held captive in a cellar by an abductor for more than eight years, gripped the country in 2006.
Natascha Kampusch finally escaped from her kidnapper, 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil, who killed himself shortly afterwards.
Ms Kampusch was abducted at the age of 10 in 1998 and held in a small, windowless cellar beneath Priklopil's garage in the commuter town of Strasshof, 25km (15 miles) outside Vienna.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

Hold on. Do not be afraid. Change is coming. !

Saturday 27th April 2008,

Dear Family and Friends,

I am sitting in the shade of a big old Msasa tree writing this letter by hand because yet again the electricity is off. It is a magnificent day so typical of early winter in Zimbabwe: a wide blue sky, comforting warm sun and a refreshing gentle breeze. It's hard to concentrate on telling this tragic story of events here when so many jewels are on display just a few feet away: a blue headed lizard nodding on a lichen covered branch; lines of red soil left by white ants climbing ever higher into the tree; bright orange crane flowers and an exquisite red firefinch collecting feathers and fluff for his nest. Its a deceptive paradise where violence rages just out of sight and final election results have still not been released four weeks after people voted. Its a paradise which can only momentarily take our minds off the nightmare that has become Zimbabwe.

What a disgraceful insult these 2008 elections have become to the people of Zimbabwe who have suffered so much, lost so much and yet have remained peaceful and turned the other cheek despite the most extreme provocation and deprivation. As we stand now without a parliament, with no sworn in MP's and still not knowing who the newly elected President of Zimbabwe is, we find ourselves stuck in a frightening and barbaric No Man's Land.

Every day the reports of horror continue to emerge. Youngsters in uniform going door to door in villages at night; men with guns; beatings, house burnings and torture. People having burning, molten plastic dripped onto their backs and doctors treating patients who have been whipped with bicycle chains. The MDC reports that 10 of their supporters have been murdered, 3000 displaced from their homes and 500 hospitalized since the elections. Listed amongst the people murdered is a five year old boy, Brighton Mbwera from Manyika Village. This little boy, too young to read or write and a complete innocent in this month of hell, burnt to death in a house set on fire during the rampage of political vengeance that is tearing our country apart.

As each day has passed since the elections, Zimbabwe has drawn quieter and quieter - silenced by fear. No one knows who to trust, who they can talk to or who might be listening. One man described how he and his family eat a small plate of sadza at dusk and then go indoors and sit in silence in the dark just listening to the noises in the village. The slightest change, an unfamiliar sound, the alarming of a night bird, an unknown voice and the family immediately get outside and hide in the bush. People are living in constant fear of burnings and beatings and are ready, always, to take flight at a moments notice. This week even our own church leaders warned of genocide being a real possibility if these events are not stopped immediately.

While the voices of Zimbabweans have been silenced, the calls from outside continue to rise and for this we are deeply grateful. Ordinary men and women in South Africa, civic society leaders, churches, political leaders - a great roar of disapproval over events in Zimbabwe is reaching a crescendo. Most touching in the last few days was the voice of the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, speaking on BBC radio. Asked if he had a message for the ordinary people of Zimbabwe, Archbishop Sentamu said: "Hold on. Do Not be afraid. Change is coming."

Until next week, thanks for reading,

love cathy.

PLAYBOY CUSHION ROBBERY IN FRANCE !

A goods train in southern France has been attacked by robbers who made off with cushions bearing the Playboy logo.
The attack happened in the northern suburbs of Marseille, the regional newspaper La Provence reports.
It says the thieves blocked the track with sleepers, causing the 700m (760-yard) train to screech to a halt, and forced open a number of containers.
Apart from the Playboy cushions, police said it was not clear what else was taken. The train driver was not harmed.
The car used in the robbery was later found burnt.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MEXICO DRUG GANG CLASHES KILL 15 !

Gun battles between rival factions of a Mexican drugs cartel have left at least 15 people dead in the city of Tijuana, near the border with the US.
Police said all the dead were from the Arellano Felix cartel, which has come under pressure from a rival gang.
Two were wearing police uniforms or equipment, but are thought to have been gang members, police say.
Drug-related violence is a serious issue across Mexico. Nearly 200 people have been killed in Tijuana this year.
Investigators believe two of the dead were senior hitmen for the Arellano Felix cartel and were identified by large gold rings on their fingers.
'Saint Death'
The rings carried the icon of Saint Death, a grim reaper figure that gangsters believe protects them, police said.
Since taking office in late 2006, President Felipe Calderon has sent some 25,000 soldiers and federal police to fight the drugs cartels.
But the violence continues between drug gangs fighting to control lucrative trafficking routes.
The Arellano Felix cartel rose to prominence in Tijuana in the 1980s. Much of its activities centre on smuggling Colombian cocaine through Mexico to California.
It paid millions of dollars in bribes to local law enforcement officers and was blamed for increasing violence, including the murder of informants and rival traffickers.
The gang has been weakened by the arrest or killing of many of its top leaders, police say.
It has recently come under pressure from a rival gang from the west coast state of Sinaloa, led by Mexico's most wanted criminal, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BUSH POKES FUN AT HIS SUCCESSORS !

Mr Bush made a few jokes before conducting the US Marine band.
US President George W Bush poked fun at his potential successors during his last White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
The president said he was surprised they were not in the audience before making jokes at their expense.
Referring to Republican candidate John McCain's absence, he said: "He probably wanted to distance himself from me."
The annual dinner dates back to 1924 and is attended by media personalities, celebrities and politicians.
President Bush also put forward mock excuses on behalf of the Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Taking a jibe at controversies which have dogged their campaigns, he said: "Hillary Clinton couldn't get in because of sniper fire and Senator Obama's at church."
He was referring to Mrs Clinton's "mis-speak" when she erroneously claimed she faced sniper fire on a trip to Bosnia in the 1990s; and Mr Obama's pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who criticised America in fiery sermons.
The president admitted to being a "little wistful" at his final dinner, and video clips of his previous performances were broadcast.
He finished by conducting the US Marine band in a medley of patriotic marches.

Mr Bush was followed by Craig Ferguson, host of US television's the Late Late Show.
Scottish-born Mr Ferguson asked Mr Bush what he was planning to do after leaving office, suggesting: "You could look for a job with more vacation time."
The president has been criticised for the amount of time he has spent away from the White House during his presidency.
Vice-President Dick Cheney, Mr Ferguson said, "is already moving out of his residence. It takes longer than you think to pack up an entire dungeon".
The White House Correspondents' Association presented its annual awards during the dinner on Saturday in front of a crowd of VIPs, including author Salman Rushdie, singer Ashlee Simpson and actors Ben Affleck and Pamela Anderson.
Mr Bush's appearance at the event continues a tradition begun by US President Calvin Coolidge in 1924.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BROWN DEMANDS OUTCRY ON ZIMBABWE!

Mr Brown backed a moratorium on the supply of arms to Zimbabwe.
The prime minister has called on the international community to speak up against the "climate of fear" in Zimbabwe following disputed elections.
Gordon Brown condemned attacks against opposition activists and said he would press for a UN investigation into violence and human rights abuses.
Mr Brown spoke as Zimbabwe's electoral commission released more results from the recount of the parliamentary poll.
They confirmed seven seats had been retained by opposition parties.
In a statement, Mr Brown said the coming days would be "critical" to resolving the situation in Zimbabwe.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says its activists have been abducted, tortured and assaulted around the country - and at least 10 killed - since the elections.
But the police and governing Zanu-PF party deny that anyone has died in political violence.
Mr Brown said: "I am concerned by the worsening violence in Zimbabwe and the arrest of over 200 opposition figures.
"I condemn the violence against those who voted for change. Their voices must be heard.

Morgan Tsvangirai says his party won the election outright.
"The whole international community must speak up against the climate of fear in Zimbabwe."
The prime minister said he would use a United Nations Security Council meeting on Tuesday to press for a dedicated mission to investigate the treatment of President Robert Mugabe's opponents.

Mr Brown said Britain was backing a moratorium on the supply of arms to Zimbabwe until a democratic government is in place.
And, if a fresh vote was to be held, he vowed that the international community would insist on international monitors being present.
The MDC says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the election outright, but Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF says there is likely to be a run-off as no candidate gained more than 50% of the vote.
Mr Brown said. "We, and others, stand ready to help rebuild Zimbabwe once democracy returns. I pledge that Britain will be in the vanguard of this effort."
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have written to Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell calling for Mr Mugabe to be stripped of the honorary knighthood he was given in 1994.
Foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said: "We must revoke this honour, not only for the integrity of our own honours system, but also to send the message that the British people will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Zimbabwean people."
A cross-party group of 19 MPs have also signed a Commons motion calling for the removal of the knighthood.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ANGOLA ALLOWS ARMS SHIP TO DOCK !

Reports say the ship is carrying millions of rounds of ammunition.
Angola's government has authorised a Chinese ship carrying arms destined for Zimbabwe to dock, although it says it will not be allowed to unload weapons.
In a statement, the government said the vessel would only be allowed to deliver goods intended for Angola.
On Thursday, the Chinese authorities said they would recall the ship to China after port workers in South Africa refused to unload the weapons.
Other southern African countries had also refused to allow the ship to dock.
Leaders in the region had expressed concern that the weapons could heighten tensions in Zimbabwe.
The results of presidential elections held there nearly a month ago have still not been released.
The state news agency, Angop, said the ship, the An Yue Jiang, had been authorised to dock in the capital Luanda.

But it can only unload "merchandise destined for Angola", a government statement said.
Angola is a close ally of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
On Thursday, a Chinese foreign ministry official said the ship, which reportedly contains three million rounds of ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and 2,500 mortar rounds, might return to China.
The US had urged China to recall the An Yue Jiang, while the UK called for an international arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
Zambia's president urged African countries not to let the arms in.
But Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper condemned the country's neighbours as "myopic stooges" for refusing to let the cargo dock.
"Zimbabwe is... under attack from the former coloniser and its allies. As such, Zimbabwe probably needs to arm itself more than any other country in Africa today," the paper said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

INDIA WARNS CRICKET CHEERLEADERS !

Indian police say the organisers of the new tournament transforming world cricket could be fined if cheerleaders are deemed to be dressed indecently.
The cheerleaders have been introduced into the Indian Premier League as part of moves to add glamour and entertainment to the game.
Some politicians say the cheerleaders are "vulgar and obscene".
Mumbai police say they will be checking that the cheerleaders' performances do not violate entertainment licences.
The cheerleading girls, wearing short skirts and low-cut tops, have been hired from around the world to perform during the matches which are also being heavily endorsed by leading Bollywood stars.
They include cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins.
Ram Rao Vagh, the police commissioner for New Mumbai, a suburb of Mumbai, where the home team is hosting five matches starting on Sunday, told the BBC that they were not considering any action against the cheerleaders themselves.

What's wrong with cheerleaders? I am also a family person, I do not see anything negative in it
Shah Rukh Khan
"It is difficult to enforce moral policing, we cannot define vulgarity always. It is difficult to ascertain what is vulgar and obscene," Mr Vagh said.
But he said the organisers could be fined for violating the norms of the entertainment licence they had secured for allowing performances in the stadium.
Senior officers would decide whether the cheerleaders had crossed the "lines of decency".
A spokesman for the local team, the Mumbai Indians, said they were not worried.
"Our cheerleaders are properly dressed. They are within limits of what our culture permits. So we have no problems," Javed Akhtar told the BBC.
However, the junior interior minister of western Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, said the performances of cheerleading girls at the Indian Premier League matches were "absolutely obscene".

Cheerleaders have complained of sections of the crowd jeering at them Pic: Sandipan Chatterjee/Indian Express
"We live in India where womanhood is worshipped. How can anything obscene like this be allowed?," Siddharam Mehetre told the Press Trust of India news agency.
"This thing is meant for foreigners and not for us. Mothers and daughters watch these matches on television. It does not look nice."
Many others find the indignation misplaced, coming from a city, which is home to a thriving industry of Bollywood films where dance sequences featuring women in skimpy dresses are routine.
Bollywood actor, Shah Rukh Khan, who also owns one of the teams in the competition, is one of them.
"What's wrong with cheerleaders? I am also a family person, I do not see anything negative in it," he said.
The head of India's National Commission for Women said there was nothing wrong with the cheerleaders if it "just for adding entertainment to the game".
"It has to be presented in the right manner keeping Indian values intact," said Girija Vyas.
A former Bollywood actor and a politician belonging to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shatrughan Sinha said the cheerleaders were making a "mockery" of the game.
There have been reports in the Indian newspapers of cheerleaders complaining of sections of the crowd jeering at them and making lewd comments.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BEIJING 'TO TALK TO DALAI AIDES' !

Global leaders have put pressure on China over Tibet.

Chinese officials will hold talks with the Dalai Lama's representatives, state media say, in the first meeting since rioting broke out in Tibet last month.
Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying a meeting would take place "in coming days".
A spokesman for the Tibetan spiritual leader welcomed the offer of talks.
Beijing has consistently blamed what it termed a "Dalai clique" for fomenting unrest in Tibetan areas of China - an allegation he has strenuously denied.
The Dalai Lama insists he has no political role and played no part in the protests.
Olympics demand
Xinhua quoted an unnamed official as saying the government had taken into account "requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks".
"The relevant department of the central government will have contact and consultation with Dalai's private representative in the coming days," the official said.

Pro-Tibet protests blight the Olympic torch relay.
But the official added that the Dalai Lama would need to "take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China".
This included putting a stop to "plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games so as to create conditions for talks".
The Dalai Lama's spokesman, Tenzin Takla, told the BBC he had received no official notification from the Chinese government of its desire to meet.
China has held talks with the Dali Lama's representatives before, though meetings have rarely resulted in any progress.
According to Mr Takla, the last round was held in June and July last year in Beijing.
He added that the Dalai Lama had been "making efforts to reach out to the Chinese people and the Chinese leadership" since last month's protests.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country has been targeted by nationalist Chinese protesters angered by pro-Tibet rallies in Paris, welcomed the prospect of talks.

TIBET DIVIDE
China says Tibet was always part of its territory
Tibet enjoyed long periods of autonomy before 20th century
1950: China launched a military assault
Opposition to Chinese rule led to a bloody uprising in 1959
Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled to India

Q&A: Tibet and China
Key events in Tibet unrest

"The resumption of dialogue carries some real hope," he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Beijing hailed the announcement as a "very positive development".
And EU commissioner Jose Manuel Barroso, who earlier discussed Tibet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, said he was "very happy".
"If the concern of the Dalai Lama is... respect of cultural identity, religious identity and autonomy inside China, I believe there's real room for a dialogue," he said.
Rallies began in the main Tibetan city of Lhasa on 10 March, led by Buddhist monks.
Over the following week protests spread and became violent - particularly in Lhasa where ethnic Chinese were targeted and shops were burnt down.
Beijing cracked down on the protesters with force, sending in hundreds of troops to regain control of the restive areas.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE OPPOSITION RETAINS GAINS !

Mr Tsvangirai says he won presidential and parliamentary polls.
Zimbabwe's electoral commission has released seven more results from a partial recount of last month's parliamentary elections.
None of the original results were overturned, making it difficult for the ruling Zanu-PF party to overturn an opposition majority in the lower house.
Ten remain to be declared - all in opposition-held seats - and Zanu-PF now needs to win nine to regain control.
Results have still not been released from the parallel presidential poll.
The failure to do so, four weeks on from the vote, is causing mounting concern internationally.
US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said the level of government intimidation in Zimbabwe was now so high that a fair run-off would not be possible.
She said the only solution was a inclusive government, led by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Recount unfinished
The state-run Zimbabwe Herald newspaper said Zanu-PF had retained two seats and the opposition MDC four seats, while a breakaway MDC group held the seventh.
Another six have already been declared, but in 10 the recount is still unfinished a week after it was announced.

The police say they were looking for those behind political violence
The BBC's Peter Biles, in Johannesburg, says there is still no word on the presidential election, although it is possible results will be released when the parliamentary recount ends.
The MDC says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the election outright, while independent monitors say he fell just short of the 50% threshold to avoid a run-off.
Zanu-PF also says there is likely to be a run-off, as no candidate gained more than 50% of the vote.
The results come a day after the MDC's main Harare office and the headquarters of an independent monitoring network were raided by police.
Computers and documents were seized, and more than 100 opposition activists taking refuge from the authorities at the MDC offices were arrested.
The MDC says its activists have been attacked around the country - with at least 10 killed - since the elections.
But the police and Zanu-PF say that no-one has died in political violence.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has fled Zimbabwe, fearing for his safety and is touring African countries, trying to persuade them to press President Robert Mugabe to step down.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NEW FIGHTING STOPS DR CONGO AID !

Renewed fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has forced the United Nations refugee agency to suspend aid to displaced people.
The UNHCR said hundreds more people have fled their homes because of the latest clashes in North Kivu province.
A week of clashes between the army and fighters from the FDLR of Rwandan Hutu rebels has killed 20 people after three months of relative calm, the UN says.
The army says it is planning a major offensive against the FDLR.
The UNHCR says violence in Kivu has now displaced almost 900,000 people.
The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa says FDLR fighters attacked a camp where 1,500 people were sheltering on Thursday, forcing them to scatter.
They had earlier briefly abducted three policemen guarding the camp.

EASTERN CONGO ARMED GROUPS

The army
FDLR - Rwandan Hutus
CNDP - Gen Nkunda's

UNHCR officials said most of the displaced people are women and children who are sheltering in public buildings.

Some said their homes had been destroyed and their possessions looted, while some parents said they had lost touch with their children.
The FDLR includes some of those Hutus involved in the 1994 genocide, who fled to DR Congo after Tutsis took power in Rwanda.
Rwanda has long demanded that the FDLR be disarmed, saying they are the cause of the instability in the region.
The displacement in the Rutshuru area, some 70km north of the provincial capital, Goma, comes three months after the signing of an accord in Goma between the government and a different armed group, led by renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda.
Gen Nkunda had also demanded that the FDLR be disarmed - he took up arms, saying he was protecting Congolese Tutsis from Hutu attacks.
A peace agreement in 2003 formally brought years of war to a close, but fighting flared up again in North Kivu that same year.
The UNHCR says there are about 1.3 m displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, while 350,000 Congolese have fled to other countries.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"WE WILL ONLY UNDERSTAND

THE MIRACLE OF LIFE

FULLY

WHEN WE ALLOW THE UNEXPECTED TO HAPPEN" !

_______

FACEBOOK TO TRACK DARFUR SUSPECTS !

A group hunting war crime suspects has turned to the social networking site Facebook to try to find two Sudanese men sought for crimes in Darfur.
The War Crimes Watch List is asking Facebook users to report sightings of Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman.
The International Criminal Court indicted both men a year ago on 51 counts of crimes against humanity.
The group has also used Google Earth to pinpoint their last known whereabouts.
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman is also known as Ali Kushayb, while Mr Haroun is Sudan's Humanitarian Affairs Minister and was previously minister in charge of Darfur.
The ICC says he helped organise the Janjaweed militia accused of widespread atrocities against the region's black African population.
Mr Haroun says he "did not feel guilty".

The conflict in Darfur has led to a humanitarian crisis.
Sudan's government has denied charges it armed the Janjaweed.
The two men are on the only indictments issued by the ICC in relation to the estimated 200,000 deaths that have occurred in Darfur over the past five years.
The conflict has also led to more than 2.5 million people being displaced from their homes.
"It's a new way to send an old message," said Nick Donovan of the Aegis Trust, the organisation behind the "Wanted for War Crimes" list.
"Wanted posters can only be seen by a few hundred people at most - the internet is used by billions."
The Sudanese government has rejected the international court's jurisdiction.
James Smith, chief executive of the Aegis Trust, said: "Someone, somewhere, knows where they are. They shouldn't be allowed to live out their last days in luxury. Their future lies in a courtroom. That's what their victims deserve."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE POLICE IN ELECTION RAIDS !

The police say they were looking for those behind political violence.
Riot police in Zimbabwe have carried out raids on headquarters of independent poll monitors and the opposition MDC in the capital, Harare.
Witnesses say vote-counting material was taken from the MDC office and activists hiding there were arrested.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network chairman told the BBC that documents and computers had been seized.
The observer group says MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai gained the most votes in last month's presidential election.
Officials results have not yet been released.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says Mr Tsvangirai won the election outright, while the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) says he fell just short of the 50% threshold to avoid a run-off.
The ruling Zanu-PF party also says there is likely to be a run-off, as no candidate gained more than 50% of the vote.
'They took everyone'
Witnesses at the MDC raid said at least 100 opposition supporters who had been taking refuge from the authorities in its Harvest House headquarters had been arrested.
Computers and documents were also seized, they said.
They are trying to destroy evidence of their brutality.
Nelson Chamisa, MDCMDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the activists had fled political violence.
"They took everyone in the building, including those who had come just to seek medical care. They are trying to destroy evidence of their brutality," Mr Chamisa said.
But police said the aim of the raid was to find those responsible for arson attacks east of Harare.
Spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said police were screening those detained and anyone who had not committed any crimes would be freed.
ZESN chairman Noel Kututwa told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the police had a search warrant to look for "subversive information likely to overthrow a constitutionally elected government".
He said that no-one had been arrested but the body's programme manager had been asked to go the police station to explain the role of the network.
ZESN was the largest observer group at the 29 March election and is considered the only reliable source of information about the polls, correspondents say.
'Myopic stooges'
The MDC says its activists have been attacked around the country - with at least 10 killed - since the elections.
Many have fled to Harare and other towns, seeking medical treatment.

ZIMBABWE'S NEIGHBOURS

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has been under fire over March's disputed elections. His neighbours have been supportive but regional differences are now emerging.

South Africa's President Mbeki is the key Zimbabwe mediator. He has refused to criticise Robert Mugabe but the ruling ANC, and trade unions have urged him to take a stronger line.

Zambian President Mwanawasa has taken the region's strongest line on Zimbabwe. His call for Africa not to let a ship carrying weapons to Zimbabwe dock will outrage President Mugabe.

Angola's government has close ties to Zimbabwe's ruling party - both came to power after fighting colonial rule in the 1970s.

Botswana is not seen as an ally of Robert Mugabe. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai fled here after polls.

Namibia is a close ally of Zimbabwe - it too is planning to redistribute white-owned farms to black villagers.

Mozambique has hosted some white farmers forced from Zimbabwe and is seen as relatively sympathetic to Zimbabwe's opposition.

Tanzania's ruling party has a long history of close ties to Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and is unlikely to criticise him.

DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila is an ally of Robert Mugabe, who sent troops to help his father, Laurent Kabila, fight rebels.

Malawi is seen as neutral. But some 3m people of Malawian origin are in Zimbabwe, mostly farmworkers who have lost their jobs and were sometimes assaulted during farm invasions.
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But the police and Zanu-PF say that no-one has died in political violence.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has fled Zimbabwe, fearing for his safety and is touring African countries, trying to persuade them to press President Robert Mugabe to step down.
The electoral commission says it cannot release the presidential results until it completes a recount in 23 of the 210 constituencies.
Three recounts of the parliamentary results have been completed - all confirmed the original results.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party lost control of parliament for the first time since independence in 1980.
But if many of the results are overturned in the recount, this could change.
Meanwhile, the Herald newspaper has condemned Zimbabwe's neighbours as "myopic stooges" for refusing to let a cargo of Chinese weapons cross their territory to landlocked Zimbabwe.
"Zimbabwe is... under attack from the former coloniser and its allies. As such, Zimbabwe probably needs to arm itself more than any other country in Africa today for the simple reason that it has been targeted for destabilisation by the traditional Western rabble rousers," the Herald said.
China's foreign ministry says the ship will now return as it cannot deliver its cargo to Zimbabwe.
But the state-owned shipping company has not confirmed this.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SARKOZY TRIES TO ASSERT AUTHORITY !

By Alasdair Sandford - BBC News, Paris.

The president admitted several times that he had made errors.
Nicolas Sarkozy's television appearance was a major chance for him to reassert his authority and to assure the French people that the government's reforms were on the right track.
It was billed less as a presidential address to the nation, than as a disgraced pupil being dragged before the rest of the school to explain his misdemeanours - and challenged as to how he intended to perform better in the future.
By the end, he had not exactly turned the tables and become head teacher, but there were moments when he made the most of his naturally combative style.
At times it was like a flashback to his victorious election campaign as he battered out his favourite themes - France does not work hard enough; the country has been living beyond its means; responsibilities as well as rights; immigration has to be controlled.
The problem was, people were looking for more than a definition of what has been wrong - this time they were looking for proof that it was being put right.
After the president's first year in office, they have been far from convinced.
He admitted - more than once - that he had made errors.

The jet set image of the president and his wife has grated with the French
He was not asked whether this included the saga of his divorce, and marriage to Carla Bruni, played out before the cameras at a time when most French people were more preoccupied with trying to make ends meet.
Indeed, the delicate question of the president's private life only came up at the end of the interview, after an hour and a half.
In recent months, the "bling-bling president" has shed his Rolex watches and jewellery since it became clear that the jet set image grated somewhat with ordinary French people.
Even so, one poll this past week suggested a majority still disapproved of Mr Sarkozy's personal style.
Manual workers and elderly people in particular have swung against him.
Above all the president was under pressure to deliver concrete answers on the number one problem cited by French people - the high cost of living.
Rising prices have been turning more and more people away from supermarkets and into discount stores.
Mr Sarkozy came to power vowing to become the "president of people's buying power", to go in search of economic growth "with his teeth", to enable people to "work more to earn more".
"Together everything is possible", ran his election slogan.
By the New Year the magician had surrendered his wand.
"What do you expect of me?" he demanded of a television interviewer. "That I empty the till when the till's already empty?"
This time he was careful not to appear powerless.
Extra hours
Mr Sarkozy gave a staunch defence of one of his flagship reforms - tax breaks on overtime to put more money in people's pockets.

Some economic reforms have been met with demonstrations
Five million workers, he said, were now able to benefit from putting in extra hours.
More competition would reduce prices, and other measures were aimed at reducing the poverty gap and getting more people into jobs, he said.
Naturally he highlighted the difficult international context, with the soaring cost of petrol, the subprime crisis, and the unfavourable exchange rate between the euro and the dollar.
Domestically, too, all problems could not be laid at Mr Sarkozy's door.
France, he said, had not balanced its books since 1974. He could not put everything right in a few months!
The television interviews given by Mr Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac were more placid, deferential affairs.
The head of state would rarely be interrupted as he poured forth his wisdom.
This time, the setting for the interview was like a metaphor for the Sarkozy presidency so far - a glitzy TV studio transplanted into the splendour of the Elysee.
Also, the questioning from five journalists provided just the right environment for a politician who needs a sparring partner to be at his best.
'Omnipresent president'
One of Mr Sarkozy's problems during his first year has been that he became so personally entwined with each reform.
The "omnipresent president" would bound around the country to sell his message as if he was still on the campaign trail.
One morning he flew to Brittany to defuse a fishermen's dispute.
Mission accomplished - apart from a brief verbal brawl with a heckler. He was off in the afternoon to Washington.
As if to add to a sense of incoherence, another word has entered the political vocabulary to describe the government's performance - "couacs", or "false notes".
In-fighting and u-turns have become commonplace.
"Stupidity", "a cacophony", and "a mess" were just three of the comments - and they came from the government's own MPs.
"Everything is back in order", said Mr Sarkozy as the interview drew to a close. He was referring to his private life.
The French people may still need some convincing that the same applies to his presidency.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.S. NEW HOME SALES AT 15YEAR-LOW !

House prices are slumping after a five year boom.
Sales of new homes in the US fell more than expected in March to their lowest level since late-1991.
Sales fell 8.5% from February to a seasonally adjusted 526,000 homes, according to the Commerce Department.
The median price of a home was down 13.3% from March 2007, which is the biggest fall since July 1970.
Sales were down in all regions of the country, with the biggest falls coming in the north-east of the country, where sales declined by 19.4%.
In other economic news, the Commerce Department said that orders for manufactured items such as fridges and washing machines from US factories fell 0.3% in March.
It means that so-called durable goods orders have fallen for three months in a row, which has not happened since 2001.
But there was some better news, with the Labor Department announcing that the number of newly laid-off workers claiming unemployment benefit fell 33,000 last week to 342,000.
The figure had been expected to rise.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

N.KOREA 'LINKED TO SYRIA REACTOR' !

Officials say the site was the target of an Israeli attack last year.
North Korea was helping Syria build a nuclear reactor, US officials are to tell lawmakers in a closed session.
Unnamed officials told a number of US newspapers that the US had video footage of the Syrian facility with North Koreans inside.
Syria has repeated denials that it has any nuclear weapons programme, or any such agreement with North Korea.
The claims follows an unexplained air strike by Israel last September on a target inside Syria.
According to the Washington Post, the alleged nuclear facility was the target of the bombing.
Also on Thursday, US and North Korean officials said progress was made towards resolving an impasse over Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament deal.

The video footage - said to have been obtained by Israel - also showed striking similarities between the Syrian facility and the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, reports said.
However, the facility was not yet operational and there was no fuel for the reactor, officials said.
The White House has not commented on the reports, but Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said information on the issue could be made public "soon".
There was no Syria-North Korea co-operation whatsoever in Syria - Bashar Jaafari Syrian ambassador to UN.

Syria 'has some explaining to do'

Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, denied the links.
"There was no Syria-North Korea co-operation whatsoever in Syria. We deny these rumours," he said.
North Korea has previously denied transferring nuclear technology to Syria.
It comes at the end of a two-day meeting between US and North Korean officials on Pyongyang's overdue declaration of its nuclear activities.
Reports suggest an agreement may be imminent, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul.
In a landmark deal reached in February last year, Pyongyang agreed to close its main reactor and divulge the full extent of its nuclear programme by December.
However, it missed the deadline, and while it is taking steps to close its Yongbyon reactor, it has yet to produce a declaration of nuclear activities to the international community's satisfaction.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE RIVAL 'CLEAR' WINNER - U.S.

Morgan Tsvangirai has left Zimbabwe amid fears for his safety.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was the "clear" victor of last month's poll, a top US envoy says.
Jendayi Frazer was speaking in South Africa, at the start of a tour to lobby Zimbabwe's neighbours to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe.
The results of the presidential election have not been released.
Mr Tsvangirai says he won outright but the ruling party has said no candidate gained 50% of the vote, so a run-off will be needed.
The opposition says its supporters are being attacked ahead of the run-off - claims denied by the government.
Earlier, the leaders of the Anglican church called for international action to prevent violence in Zimbabwe reaching "horrific levels".
Meanwhile, a Chinese foreign ministry official said a ship carrying weapons to Zimbabwe might return to China.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ALITALIA LOAN STIRS RESCUE HOPES!

Italy's next Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said that an emergency loan to Alitalia makes it more likely that the problem airline will be saved.
Mr Berlusconi, who is due to take office in about a month, said a group of firms and banks were now expected to put together a rescue package.
However, Mr Berlusconi failed to give any details of the firms involved.
Alitalia is on the verge of collapse and needed a loan of 300m euros ($475m) on Tuesday in order to keep operating.
The funds will keep Alitalia going for a couple of months while Mr Berlusconi examines options for its future.
He said that the extra time would allow a group of Italian entrepreneurs, aided by banks, professionals and airlines, to study Alitalia's accounts.
"After due diligence of three, four or five weeks, this new group will present a binding offer and take over the running of Alitalia, which will involve a painful reduction in personnel," he explained.

The latest round of problems at Alitalia were prompted by Air France KLM's decision to drop a takeover bid for the firm after opposition from unions.
Alitalia is haemorrhaging cash and it was feared that Air France's withdrawal would force the firm to seek bankruptcy protection.
Mr Prodi announced the 300m-euro financial support following a cabinet meeting.
"Silvio Berlusconi asked me to provide a more considerable bridge loan than the one we had foreseen in order to have time to put together and organise possible alternative solutions to this problem," Mr Prodi said.
The loan is likely to be investigated by the European Commission, which has been cracking down on state subsidies for the aviation industry.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RICE AT FRESH PEAK ON SUPPLY FEAR !

Rice importing countries are being hit by export bans in key producers.
Rice prices have scaled fresh heights in Asian trade amid concern that export bans by key producers will hit supply.
Rough rice for July delivery touched $24.745 per 100lb for the first time, before falling slightly.
Curbs are in place in India and Vietnam to protect domestic supply and there are fears that Thailand, the world's largest producer, could follow suit.
The global food crisis is a "silent tsunami" with an extra 100 million people facing poverty, the UN said.
"This is the new face of hunger - the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago, but now are," said the head of the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP), Josette Sheeran.

The international price of rice - a staple food for half the world - has risen about 68% since the beginning of the year.
The prices of soybeans, corn and wheat have also been marching higher and are currently near their all-time peaks.
A combination of high fuel costs, bad weather and land allocated to biofuels is constraining food supply. At the same time, producer countries are seeking to conserve food for their own people by curtailing exports.
But Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Thailand would continue to be known as the "world's kitchen", as the government considers using abandoned government land to increase agricultural output.
Thailand's Office of Agriculture Economics projected that rice production after milling would be 20.4 million tonnes from this year's crop, with 55% for domestic consumption and the remainder for export.

Thailand produced 19.6 million tonnes last year.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

THREATS CLOSE EMBASSIES IN KABUL !

Protesters have accused Denmark and the Netherlands of insulting Islam.
The Dutch and Danish governments have evacuated their embassies in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in response to threats.
The decision followed protests against a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad reprinted by Danish newspapers and a film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders.
Danish intelligence officials warned of an "aggravated" terrorist threat but a spokesman in The Hague gave no details.
Staff from the Danish embassy in Algeria and the Dutch mission in Pakistan were moved some days ago.

Dutch foreign ministry spokesman Bart Rijs told the BBC News website that the 15 Dutch and 35 Afghan employees had been moved to an undisclosed place in Kabul but were still working.
"It cannot be excluded that this has some relation with the film of Mr Wilders," he said.
The Dutch MP's film was released on the internet in March, prompting formal complaints and protests in some Muslim countries which linked the film to the reprinting of a Danish cartoon of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.
Danish newspaper editors decided to reprint the cartoon, first published in 2006, after intelligence officials said they had uncovered a plot to kill one of the cartoonists behind the original 12 images.
The Danish foreign ministry said that the threat was serious and that its employees had been moved to safe locations in Kabul and Algiers.
"We have new information and we have to take that into serious consideration. We decided it would be better to move our staff, although the embassies are up and running," said spokesman Erik Laursen.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service is said to have highlighted risks in Northern Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Afghan embassy employs five Danish citizens and a number of local people. The building in Algiers has a total staff of seven.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"WE'VE SURVIVED BY BELIEVING

OUR LIFE

IS GOING TO GET BETTER" !

_______

FIRST RESULTS IN ZIMBABWE RECOUNT !

The results of the first recounts in Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections are in, with the ruling and opposition parties retaining one seat each.
The ruling Zanu-PF party held its seat in Goromonzi West, while the opposition MDC held on to Zaka West, the Zimbabwe Election Commission said.
The MDC says the recounts are an attempt to rig the election and overturn its parliamentary majority.
Meanwhile, the UK says it will press for an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would propose the international embargo to prevent a shipment of weapons from reaching the country.
Seats retained
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said the recounts in two of 23 disputed constituencies had confirmed the initial results.
There is no clear winner. No-one has got 51%. Therefore we should gear ourselves for a re-run -
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga
Is it war across Zimbabwe?
Zuma refuses to criticise Mugabe
UK 'would back Zimbabwe embargo'
The ZEC says it cannot publish the official presidential result until it completes the recount of presidential and parliamentary votes.
Zanu-PF needs to overturn nine seats to reclaim its parliamentary majority.
Goromonzi West was one of only two constituencies where the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) requested a recount and, according to the commission, Zanu-PF actually picked up just one extra vote following the recount to be confirmed as the winning party.
In Zaka West, where the recount was initiated by Zanu-PF, the results of the election did not change, with all the contesting political parties saying they were satisfied with the recounting process.
"We are happy to retain the seat and we believe the same will happen in all the constituencies where recounting is taking place," Wilstaff Stemele, MDC Masvingo provincial chairman, said on Tuesday when the results were announced.
Denial?
Meanwhile, Zanu-PF has distanced itself from an article in a Zimbabwean state-owned newspaper calling for a power-sharing government.
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told the BBC that Zanu-PF was preparing for a second round in the presidential election.
The MDC says its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, won March's presidential vote outright and has also rejected the idea of a unity government.
The opinion piece in The Herald says other southern African countries should act as mediators between the government and opposition, to form a unity government under President Robert Mugabe which could organise new elections and write a new constitution.
It says political tensions following last month's presidential election make it impossible to hold a free and fair run-off in the near future. It also says the West must lift economic sanctions.

ZIMBABWE'S NEIGHBOURS

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has been under fire over March's disputed elections. His neighbours have been supportive but regional differences are now emerging.

South Africa's President Mbeki is the key Zimbabwe mediator. He has refused to criticise Robert Mugabe but the ruling ANC, and trade unions have urged him to take a stronger line.

Zambian President Mwanawasa has taken the region's strongest line on Zimbabwe. His call for Africa not to let a ship carrying weapons to Zimbabwe dock will outrage President Mugabe.

Angola's government has close ties to Zimbabwe's ruling party - both came to power after fighting colonial rule in the 1970s.

Botswana is not seen as an ally of Robert Mugabe. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai fled here after polls.

Namibia is a close ally of Zimbabwe - it too is planning to redistribute white-owned farms to black villagers.

Mozambique has hosted some white farmers forced from Zimbabwe and is seen as relatively sympathetic to Zimbabwe's opposition.

Tanzania's ruling party has a long history of close ties to Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and is unlikely to criticise him.

DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila is an ally of Robert Mugabe, who sent troops to help his father, Laurent Kabila, fight rebels.

Malawi is seen as neutral. But some 3m people of Malawian origin are in Zimbabwe, mostly farmworkers who have lost their jobs and were sometimes assaulted during farm invasions.

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The BBC's Peter Greste in South Africa says the paper is regarded as a mouthpiece for Zanu-PF, so articles like this can be important indicators of the way the party is thinking.
But Mr Matonga denied the article was sanctioned by the government of Zimbabwe.
"The politburo said there is not going to be a government of national unity as proposed by Morgan Tsvangirai. That was thrown out," he told the BBC.
"We are waiting for the official announcement of results to say, we're waiting for a re-run, that's a fact. MDC knows that, Zanu-PF knows that, that there is no clear winner. No-one has got 51%.
Mr Tsvangirai's MDC says a violent campaign of intimidation by Zanu-PF supporters have left 10 dead and thousands displaced - but Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa denies anyone has been killed.
Meanwhile, the leader of the governing ANC in South Africa, Jacob Zuma, is refusing to blame Mr Mugabe for the violence.
Speaking to the BBC during a visit to London, Mr Zuma said the violence in Zimbabwe was unacceptable, but he was not prepared to judge individuals.
He also refused to criticise President Thabo Mbeki's "softly softly" approach as mediator.
"We are doing something more than anybody else in reality... other people are doing absolutely nothing."
Prime Minister Brown's call for an international arms embargo on Zimbabwe comes after a Chinese ship tried to dock at several African ports to unload a cargo of arms destined for Zimbabwe.
The ship, the An Yue Jiang, has disappeared once again, but is thought to be heading up the west coast of Africa from the Cape of Good Hope.

Reports say the ship is carrying millions of rounds of ammunition.
It has been refused permission to dock in South Africa and Mozambique, and Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has urged other African leaders not to allow it to enter their territorial waters.
The Lloyds Marine Intelligence Unit (MIU) in London, which plots the location of ships around the world, says it is no longer possible to accurately establish exactly where the vessel is because readings are no longer being taken from its AIS (Automatic Identification System).
The AIS is a location beacon which every ship carries, with a range of 40-50 nautical miles.
It is possible that the An Yue Jiang is more than 50 nautical miles from the coast and is therefore not being picked up, or that the AIS has been switched off.
The Lloyds MIU says that plotting points taken of the Chinese ship on Tuesday show that it was steaming north-west up the African coast at a speed of about 250 nautical miles a day.
The US is reported to be pressuring port authorities in Angola and Namibia - staunch allies of Zimbabwe's leader - not to allow the ship to dock.
BBC NEWS REPORT.