CHINA 'MAY REVAMP ONE-CHILD RULE' !

The policy was introduced in the 1970s to combat population growth. China is considering scrapping its controversial one-child policy after three decades, a senior official says.
Family planning chief Zhao Baige told reporters she wanted an "incremental" change in the policy.
But there are not yet any specific proposals or a timetable for change, and she said some form of population control would remain in place.
Families in China's cities are restricted to one child, and those in rural areas to two children.
But the BBC's Dan Griffiths in Beijing says many wealthy Chinese are having large families and choosing to pay the standard fines for having more than one child.
Ms Zhao said it was common practice for some families in cities to have two or even three children.
And she expressed concern that China faces a huge disparity in numbers of females to males, as families in rural provinces continue to favour boys over girls.
"[In Henan there are] nearly 100 million people, but strongly influenced by the classical way, they want a son, and they are already very fragile environmentally," Reuters quoted her as saying.
From time to time China has considered changes to its one child policy but has always backed off, fearing a massive spike in population growth.
Strict family-planning controls were introduced during the 1970s to combat China's spiralling population.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HARRY WITHDRAWN FROM AFGHANISTAN !

British media agreed not to report the prince's deployment. Prince Harry is to be withdrawn from Afghanistan after news of his secret deployment leaked out.
The 23-year-old royal, who has spent the last 10 weeks serving in Helmand Province, is to be flown back to the UK amid concerns for his safety.
The move follows the collapse of a news blackout deal over his tour of duty, which was broken by foreign media.
There had been fears the prince, who is third in line to the throne, could become a target for the Taleban.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defence described the reporting of Harry's deployment by foreign media as "regrettable" but said that contingency plans for such a leak were in place.
More recently he took part in a major operation to disrupt Taleban lines of communication
Brigadier Andrew Mackay
It added that while the prince should have returned "in a matter of weeks" with his Household Cavalry regiment battlegroup, the situation had now "clearly changed".
Brigadier Andrew Mackay, Commander of Task Force Helmand, said Harry had been "deployed in the field, conducting operations against the Taleban" at the time of the decision.
He continued: "He has seen service both in the south of Helmand and in the north. More recently he took part in a major operation to disrupt Taleban lines of communication."

Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, in consultation with head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, had taken the final decision to withdraw Harry immediately, the statement said.
"This decision has been taken primarily on the basis that the worldwide media coverage of Prince Harry in Afghanistan could impact on the security of those who are deployed there, as well as the risks to him as an individual soldier," it added.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to the prince and said Britain owed him a "debt of gratitude" for his service in Afghanistan, but he added that it was correct to bring Harry back to the UK.

"Security considerations come first. That has been the deciding factor which was made by our defence staff and I think that everybody will respect that is the right decision."
He thanked Harry, a second lieutenant, for the "professionalism and dedication he has shown", and said the decision to bring him home was a reminder of the "difficulties and challenges" the armed forces faced on active duty.
Conservative leader David Cameron agreed that it was "right" to withdraw the prince from Afghanistan, but said everyone in Britain should be "proud of what he has done".
"It's incredibly tough out there. He's obviously shown great courage and bravery as all our soldiers do out there.
"And what they do is really important, not just for the future of Afghanistan but for the safety of our country too."
A member of the Household Cavalry, Prince Harry was based in a former madrassa along with a Gurkha regiment.
Work involved calling up allied air cover in support of ground forces and going out on foot patrols.
Defence Secretary Des Browne also commended Harry, saying the prince was "an example of a generation of young people" who were "prepared to take on these very serious and dangerous tasks for our security".
The Queen, opening the Queen's Court Care Home in Windsor, said she believed he had done "a good job in a very difficult climate".

THE EDITORS' BLOG

A news black-out is unusual, but not unique
Jon Williams,World news editor, BBC News
Jon's comments in full

The prince's deployment was subject to a news blackout deal struck between the MoD and newspapers and broadcasters in the UK and abroad.
It is understood that the news was first leaked in an Australian publication in January but only after it appeared on the influential US website, The Drudge Report, did the deal break down.
In exchange for not reporting the prince's deployment, some media organisations were granted access to the prince in Afghanistan for interviews and filming.
The prince's withdrawal is the second major blow to his army career.
Last year, a planned tour to Iraq had to be cancelled at the last minute because of a security risk.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"IF YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR FATE,

CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE" !

HOLDING FIRE ON KENYA CELEBRATIONS !

By Wanyama wa Chebusiri - BBC, Eldoret.

For the woman whose husband was burnt alive in a church in the worst of Kenya's post-election violence, it is a little premature to celebrate Thursday's peace deal signed by the country's warring leaders.
These land skirmishes are not about power or politics; it's not ODM and PNU - it's tribal
Displaced farmer
"It's become a habit of saying 'peace, peace, peace' - and then after peace we see flames of fire," the mother of four says in a displacement camp on the outskirts of Eldoret in the Rift Valley Province.
"After peace we see spears; we see arrows; we see bows; we see pangas [machetes]."
The church where her husband died was set ablaze by armed youths in the first few days after President Mwai Kibaki was hastily sworn in as president on 30 December after disputed elections.
Those sheltering inside were from Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu community.
Now some 20,000 Kikuyus, Kisis and Luyhas targeted in the area have taken refugee at the showground where white tents stretch out as far as the eye can see.
A man who fled his farm agrees that violence has opened up wounds that the power-sharing agreement in Nairobi will not immediately heal.

Some 600,000 people were displaced by the violence/
A coalition is to be set up headed by President Kibaki of the Party of National Unity (PNU) with Raila Odinga - whose Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is the largest in parliament - set to take the newly created post of prime minister.
"The relationship won't help us," the farmer says.
"We'll still suffer more and more. Not unless people who fought with us talk to us and we come together with them and we forgive each other.
"You see these land skirmishes are not about power or politics; it's not ODM and PNU - it's tribal."
I don't imagine that I'm going to stay with a person who burned my house - it can't happen because he's still my enemy

In Eldoret town itself, where Kalenjins make up the majority of residents, the deal was greeted enthusiastically.
Many feel they will be able to put the clashes that rocked the town behind them.
But an unemployed youth at the show ground camp sees little hope of this.
"Kibaki and Raila have decided. For me I don't see that it is a deal.
"I don't imagine that I'm going to stay with a person who stole my cloth, who burned my house - it can't happen because he's still my enemy," he says, adding that he will not be returning to his home.

A recent school leaver wants assurances on the ground about the agreement.
I don't feel it's OK for me to be a refugee in my own country
Kikuyu widow
"For me to accept it, we need stern measures to be taken against the perpetrators so that these things will not recur in our country," he says.
"A lot of agony has taken place in our hearts.
"Families are dead and it is very late for us to say it's a power-sharing deal."
The church widow says she will not be returning to her farm any time soon and will see what happens with the coalition.
"I want to really to see [it work] as a Kenyan. I'll just take a step of faith and just watch them.
"I don't feel it's OK for me to be a refugee in my own country."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WHO OWNS TODAY?

By Steve Tomkins

It comes but once every four years and this 29 February some workers are being given the extra day as holiday. Employers won't like the idea, but we tend to look at additional time as a gift.
Imagine that to adjust our timekeeping, ten minutes had to be added to one day each year. You would expect them to be ten minutes of free time, yours to spend as you will. You'd be miffed if they were added to one of your working hours, getting ten minutes more work out of you for no extra money.
But is this what leap year does to us? If you're on an annual salary, you will get the same pay as normal this year, while working one extra day. Is 29 February just another working Friday, or a sneaky bonus for your employer? Who does 29 February belong to?

He gets the day offIf you're starting to feel like a holiday today, you might be interested to hear that the National Trust has granted its whole workforce the day off. Calling it the Great Green Leap Day, they are asking staff to use it for the environment. "We're giving them this opportunity to look at steps to green their own lives at home," explains Mike Holland of the Trust. "Anything from converting to greener energy to starting a compost heap."
Just how many will be converting, composting and otherwise greening and how many will be shopping is hard to say, but Holland hopes most of the workforce have caught the vision. He says it would be good to see other workplaces catch it, so if you can just wait till 2012 there might be one for you too.
The National Trust does not want anyone to feel short-changed by their own employer. But if you do feel that way, then according to Steve Taylor, the author of Making Time: Why Time Seems to Pass at Different Speeds and How to Control It, there may be something in it.
Time as a 'gift'
The book argues that the way we perceive time is more real than the way we measure it. How else does time pass, except in our consciousness - sometimes faster, sometimes slower? When it comes to the extra day, like the extra hour when the clocks go back, he says, "We look on that time as a gift - just as in other ways we try to subtract time, like when we're on a long journey and immerse attention in a book".

'LEAP YEARS' THAT WEREN'T
Every fourth year is a leap year, unless it is divisible by 100 and not by 400
So 2000 was a leap year, as was, for those who can't remember it, 1600
1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years

The next such non-leap year is 2100

Perhaps, he agrees, employers may be getting an extra unpaid day out of us. "But then in a sense," he adds, "they own us already. We give half our waking hours to them, voluntarily, and our time is our lives - we're literally giving ourselves away." A thought which makes you want to hold on to any disputed days tighter than ever.
Where did this extra day come from in the first place? We need the leap day because of the deplorable untidiness of our solar system. One of our earth years (a complete orbit around the sun) does not take an exact number of whole days (one complete spin of the earth on its axis). In fact, it takes 365.2422 days, give or take.
The leap year was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46BC, to make the calendar tidier. The extra day every fourth year made the average year 365.25 days long.

This was still about 12 minutes longer than the solar year, which you can get away with on the short term, but in 1267 a monk called Roger Bacon noticed that the calendar had slipped nine days in the 13 intervening centuries.

Gregory XIII: Said to have provoked protests after 'stealing' 10 days It then took the church until 1582 to accept that it was celebrating Easter on the wrong week. That year Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar, introducing the system we go by today: every fourth year is a leap year, unless it is divisible by 100 and not by 400. This makes the year 365.2425 days, which is still a little under 26 seconds too long, but nothing to fret about.
As a one off, Gregory's reform also skipped the 10 days they had gained since Caesar's time, jumping from 4 to 15 October 1582. It is said that this provoked demonstrations from people demanding their stolen days back.
So how about demos today, to reclaim the working day pinched from employees by their employers? Go for it, brothers and sisters, but the TUC will not be organising it.
A spokesperson says: "Salaried workers usually receive their annual salary in twelve monthly payments and know when they accept a job that some months are longer than others and that leap years come round once every so often. Indeed, leap years have been with us 1582, so the UK workforce has had a while to get used to the idea of an extra day every four years."
OK, off you go then, back to work.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KEY POINTS: KENYA POWER SHARING DEAL !

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have signed a power-sharing agreement which will see the creation of a prime minister post.
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who mediated the negotiations, said the deal would be known as the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, and "entrenched in the constitution".
He outlined the key points of the agreement as follows:

The post of prime minister will be created, with the holder having the authority to co-ordinate and supervise the execution of government functions.

The prime minister will be an elected member of parliament and the parliamentary leader of the largest party in the National Assembly, or of a coalition if the largest party does not command a majority in parliament.

Two deputy prime ministers to be appointed, one to be nominated by each member of the coalition.

The prime minister and deputy prime ministers can only be removed if the National Assembly passes a motion of no-confidence with a majority vote.

A cabinet to consist of a president, vice-president, prime minister, two deputy prime ministers and other ministers.

The removal of a minister of the coalition will be subject to consultation and agreement in writing by the leaders.

The composition of the coalition government will at all times take into account the principle of portfolio balance, and reflect the parties' relative parliamentary strengths.

The coalition will be dissolved if the current parliament is dissolved; or if the parties agree in writing; or if one coalition partner withdraws from the coalition.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SIX HELD IN NORDIC 'TERROR RAIDS' !

Swedish police did not say how the raid was linked to the Norway case. Swedish police say they have arrested three people in the capital, Stockholm, on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts and financing terror groups.
Earlier on Thursday, Norwegian police said they had arrested three people in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on suspicion of financing terrorism.
The arrests were part of a co-ordinated operation, Swedish police said.
It said the three held in Stockholm were Swedish citizens and that they were arrested at separate addresses.
The Norwegian police security service (PST) did not identify the suspects, saying only that one or more of them faced a detention hearing in court.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN 'TARGETING' WOMEN ACTIVISTS !

Iran's leaders say women are better off in Iran than anywhere. Amnesty International has called on Iran to stop persecuting people who campaign for women's rights.
The human rights group says activists involved in a big campaign to improve women's rights have been targeted.
In a new report, Amnesty says women activists have suffered an "acute" backlash since the campaign was launched in August 2006.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has insisted women in his country are treated better than anywhere else.
The so-called Campaign for Equality aims to collect a million signatures for a petition to push for an end to discrimination against women.
But Amnesty says those involved in it have suffered harassment, intimidation and imprisonment. Dozens of women have been arrested.
Untapped potential
Among those persecuted, according to the group, are Ronak Safarzadeh, jailed without charge since October after her arrest at a meeting to collect signatures.
Delaram Ali, 23, was sentenced to nearly three years in prison and 10 lashes for participation in an illegal gathering, says the Amnesty report, though the punishment was suspended while her case is re-examined.
"Instead of intimidating and imprisoning women's rights campaigners, Iran should be unlocking the potential of its female population," said Amnesty's Tim Hancock.
A women's magazine was closed down earlier this year, accused by the authorities of endangering the spiritual, mental and intellectual health of its readers.
Amnesty says this is part of a wider crackdown on dissent in Iran, although it concedes that women have benefited in some way since the Islamic revolution of 1979.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S. AFRICA VIDEO WAS 'PLAY ACTING' !

The alleged victims vomited after being made to eat fouled food.

Footage from video

A video showing white students bullying black staff members was "no more than play-acting" according to a lawyer's letter, South African media report.
The video shows white students at the University of Free State allegedly forcing black employees to eat food that had been urinated on.
It sparked widespread condemnation and students and staff held an anti-racism march at the campus in Bloemfontein.
Two students have been suspended from campus and could face criminal charges.
But according to Volksblad newspaper, lawyers for the two students deny that they committed any criminal actions.

The most controversial extract of the film shows a white male urinating on food, and then - shouting: "Take! Take!" in Afrikaans - apparently forcing the campus employees to eat the dirty food, and causing them to vomit.
He did not urinate in the food, but opened a bottle of water and poured that into the bowl
Pieter Odendaal, head studentThe video also shows the two students and two former students instructing five black workers to drink beer and perform athletic tasks.
The video has caused strong condemnation from the university and from human rights groups.
The South African Human Rights Commission is investigating the incident and other incidents of alleged racism at the university.
However, some students have reportedly said the student did not actually urinated on the food.

Staff and students held anti-racism protests at the campus"He did not urinate in the food, but opened a bottle of water and poured that into the bowl," said Pieter Odendaal, the head student at the university residence, quoted by The Pretoria News.
The university is known for having predominantly white students since the days of apartheid and in recent years it has encountered difficulties trying to integrate people from other racial groups, reports the BBC's Mpho Lakaje.
The video was reportedly recorded several months ago in protest at moves to integrate black and white students in the same residences.

The university rector, Frederick Fourie, told the BBC he was "extremely upset about the incident".
The black staff members have been given time off and have been offered counselling, the university said.
Siviwe Vamva, from the South African Students Congress, said the group was planning to call a national strike on 6 March to highlight its anti-racism campaign.
He said racism was also still a problem in other universities.
"We are saying that all these issues must be brought forward so that all the people of South Africa can see that racism is still a dominant feature in South African society," he said.
The South African Institute of Race Relations has also expressed concern and said this incident and several others over the past month could threaten improvements in race relations since the end of apartheid.
Frans Cronje, the deputy chief executive officer at the institute, referred to the shooting of four black people by a white youth in the north-west of the country.
The institute also condemned a recent decision by the Forum for Black Journalists to evict a white journalist from a meeting with Jacob Zuma, the newly elected president of the ruling African National Congress.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS"

"AS YOU ENTER POSITIONS OF TRUST AND POWER

DREAM A LITTLE BEFORE YOU THINK" !

SINGAPORE HUNTS ESCAPED SUSPECT !

Mas Selamat Kastari was first detained in 2003 in Indonesia. The suspected leader of the Islamist militant group Jemaah Islamiah in Singapore has escaped from jail there, the authorities say.
A huge manhunt is underway to find Mas Selamat Kastari, according to the home affairs ministry.
He's accused of planning attacks on official buildings and foreign targets in Singapore as well as Changi airport.
Kastari has been in detention since 2006 under Singapore's Internal Security Act.
Kastari was first arrested and imprisoned for immigration offences in Indonesia in 2003 after reportedly going on the run from the Singaporean authorities. He was extradited to Singapore three years later.

Police in Singapore accuse him of plotting to hijack and crash a plane into Changi International Airport in 2001 - a plan which was never carried out.
The American embassy in Singapore was among the buildings he's alleged to have targeted.
The home affairs ministry said in a statement: "Extensive police resources have been deployed to track him down." He was not known to be armed, said the ministry.
Police, Ghurkas and special forces are reported to be involved in the search for Kastari, who walks with a limp.
Jemaah Islamiah, which has links to al-Qaeda, is blamed for being behind the bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali in 2002, which left 200 people dead.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RUSSIA MAY SUPPORT IRAN SANCTIONS!

Russia has said that it may support a new set of UN sanctions against Iran if it does not stop work that may lead to the creation of nuclear weapons.
Western powers suspect Iran of developing weapons, and want it be subjected to sanctions in addition to those imposed in 2006 and 2007.
Correspondents say Russia has until recently been reluctant to impose further sanctions.
Iran denies it has a secret nuclear weapons programme.

Asked by journalists if Russia would support sanctions, Mr Churkin said: "Yes. If Iran in the next few days does not stop the enrichment activities of its heavy water project then yes, Russia... has taken upon itself certain commitments... to support the resolution that has been drafted in the past month.
"Russia is constantly insisting that the [UN] Security Council adopt certain sanctions against Iran," he added.

Q&A: Iran and the nuclear issue

Heavy water reactors produce plutonium, which can be an alternative route to a nuclear device, the other being highly-enriched uranium.
Last week, the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran was being more transparent, but had not given "credible assurances" that it was not building a bomb.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had granted access to sites but remained evasive on key issues.
Renewed sanctions?
The UN Security Council imposed two rounds of sanctions in December 2006 and March 2007.
The first prevented the "supply, sale or transfer" of all goods linked to Iran's nuclear work, while the second prevented dealings with the Iranian state bank Sepah and 28 named people and organisations, many connected to the elite Revolutionary Guard. Imports of arms from Iran are banned while loans are supposed to be limited to humanitarian and development purposes.
The third sanctions resolution - formally submitted by France and Britain - calls for asset freezes and mandatory travel bans for specific Iranian officials. It also expands the list of Iranian officials and companies targeted by the sanctions.
Russia's growing ties to Iran's energy industry have made it reluctant to impose more sanctions. Russia is helping to build a nuclear plant in Bushehr, Iran. It has also just finished delivering nuclear fuel to this plant under a $1bn (£501m) contract. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom is also working to develop Iranian gas fields.
Tehran refuses to stop enriching uranium. It says its nuclear work is aimed at generating electricity.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE MOST SPIED UPON PEOPLE IN EUROPE!

Germany's highest court has ruled that spying on personal computers violates privacy, but governments across Europe are under pressure to help their security services fight terrorism and organised crime.

Here, BBC reporters give a snapshot of the extent of surveillance across Europe.

"The threat of terrorism has forced the German government to take stricter measures"Paul Kirby on Germany

"Privacy campaigners say the UK has some of the world's leading surveillance systems"Dominic Casciani on the UK
"On the whole, the French are not big fans of surveillance equipment."Emma Jane Kirby on France
"Italians are among the most spied upon people in the world, says the Max Planck Institute"David Willey on Italy
"Greece has such strong constitutional protection against state sponsored spying"Malcolm Brabant on Greece
"CCTV monitoring, while extensive in other parts of Europe, is not widespread"Julian Isherwood on Denmark

GERMANY - PAUL KIRBY
Germans have an historic fear of state intrusion, dating back to the Stasi secret police in the East and the Nazi-era Gestapo. But the threat of terrorism has forced the German government to take stricter measures.
During the 1970s, the West German authorities tightened legislation after a series of attacks by the left-wing Red Army Faction. The German government went further following revelations about Mohammed Atta, the head of the Hamburg cell involved in the 9/11 attacks on New York.

Court limits cyber spying
The most controversial changes have come since 2006, when police found explosives in a pair of suitcases left on two passenger trains in Koblenz and Dortmund in western Germany.
The bombs did not go off and, after surveillance camera video was posted on the internet, arrests were made.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said the use of video surveillance was clearly important and rail operator Deutsche Bahn stepped up its use of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras.
When a laptop was found apparently containing plans, sketches and maps, the authorities then considered how to monitor suspects' computers so that plots could be prevented at an earlier stage.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) already had the ability to monitor suspects' emails and the websites and chat rooms they visited.
They could also tap phones with the consent of a judge.
Now they wanted to send emails that would infect a recipient's computer with spy software and relay information to police computers.
The threat was compounded by the discovery of 12 vats of hydrogen peroxide in September 2007 and an alleged plot to bomb US civil and military targets.
Three hundred police had been involved in a nine-month surveillance operation but had not been able to access the suspects' computers.
The Constitutional Court has now decided that the practice of cyber spying violates the right to privacy but would be acceptable in exceptional cases, under the auspices of a judge.
Faced with warnings from Germany's privacy commissioner of ever more sweeping surveillance - and protesters' T-shirts bearing the slogan "Stasi 2.0" - the government will have to tread carefully.
The police believe they will need to use spy software in perhaps 10 cases a year.
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UNITED KINGDOM - DOMINIC CASCIANI
There is a big-budget sci-fi thriller running on BBC TV at the moment called The Last Enemy.
The hero is advising ministers on plans for a crime-fighting database to link all databases. And, unwittingly, he becomes a victim of the computer's all-seeing eyes.
So is it silly drama or the shape of things to come?
Privacy campaigners say the UK has some of the world's leading surveillance systems - and they argue there is now a real failure of sufficient oversight.

ID cards face delay
Take the millions of CCTV cameras, for example. They were rolled out to deter city centre crime.
But thanks to the internet and new software that can read number plates, text and, in certain circumstances, isolate specific human behaviour, their importance is increasing ten-fold.
The question in the UK is what would happen if you took camera data and married it to other sources, such as information on the location of mobile phones, swipe cards for urban transport and static databases about you, your family and life history. That would be a pretty effective surveillance system, say critics.
Ministers say this is completely fanciful - for a start there are no plans for a supercomputer to gather this information.
Secondly they argue two important laws govern the use of personal information and how the security services can use surveillance technology.
But the reality is they are now struggling politically to make reassurances stick.
The two main opposition parties oppose plans for full biometric identity cards on grounds of cost, oversight and, increasingly, fears of incompetence. The cards are almost certain to become a big issue at the next general election.
A string of controversies have buffeted ministers including the loss of a laptop containing information on armed services personnel and the disappearance of CDs holding family records. There has also been a row over the bugging of an MP.
While none of these rows seamlessly fit together, the jigsaw pieces are enough to make some people nervous.
So while the police-led DNA database - the largest in the world - has clear crime-fighting successes under its belt, no political party will back the calls of one highly respected judge to place everyone on it.
The Roman satirist Juvenal famously asked "Who watches the watchmen?" and that question is very much alive in British politics today.
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FRANCE - EMMA JANE KIRBY
When you remember that the word "Liberty" is one of just three words enshrined in the French Republic's motto, you can guess that on the whole, the French are not big fans of surveillance equipment.
Too bad then that last year, the French Interior Minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, announced that the number of CCTV cameras in France would triple by 2009 in a bid to crack down on street crime and to fight terrorism.
Official estimates suggest there are already about 340,000 authorised surveillance cameras in France and this new move would see the number of cameras on Paris's public transport network hit 6,500 in the next two years - compared with a projected 9,000 on the London Underground in the same period.
Plans to deploy 4ft-long spy drones across French skies in an attempt to tackle the country's growing problem of gang violence were also unveiled.
The drones, with day-night vision, will be used to track suspects and should begin full operational testing this year. The plan has annoyed many local officials who doubt spy cameras are the answer - they would rather see neighbourhood police officers brought back.
The children who have this device will think of their parents as Big Brother - I think that scares me
Jean Claude GuillemardPsychologist
Surveillance cameras are not just kept for the streets. Last year a company which manufactures GPS systems for cars launched Kiditel, a child-tracking device.
The games console-sized device slips into a child's pocket and allows parents to keep track of their child's movements via satellite images sent to their computers.
Many parents welcomed a product they believed would help their children keep safe, but psychologists like Jean Claude Guillemard were not so welcoming:
"The children who have this device will think of their parents as Big Brother" he said. "I think that scares me. I think it's dangerous for their mental health."
Similarly a French childminder caused a row last year when she became the first nanny to install an internet webcam in her creche so that parents could still look in on their children - and see that she was taking good care of them - even though they were at work.
The parents loved it, but local authorities and the National Federation of Maternal Assistants denounced the idea as undermining the relationship of trust between the parents and the child minder.
The eye in the sky may be keeping an ever closer watch on France - but the French are determined to keep their liberty.
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ITALY - DAVID WILLEY
Italians are among the most spied upon people in the world. That's the conclusion of the authoritative German scientific think-tank, the Max Planck Institute, which reports that Italy leads the world with 76 intercepts per 100,000 people each year.
Although the Italian constitution guarantees privacy of information, and a national data protection authority was set up in 2003 with a communications ombudsman at its head, wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping are widely used not only by the secret services, but also by the judiciary, particularly in the fight against organised crime.

Telecom Italia was involved in an alleged wiretapping scandal
Prosecutors routinely order wiretaps as a result of police investigations, and the cost to the Italian state has become a heavy burden on the taxpayer.
Wiretaps are carried out with the help of the now privatised Italian Telecom, which has been frequently criticised in the media for working hand in glove with the secret services.
A former director of security at Telecom, Giuliano Tavaroli, who had close links with the secret services, was sent to prison together with his friend Marco Mancini, a former anti-terrorism chief, as a result of a wiretapping scandal.
Several recent high profile political scandals have revealed the extent to which the private conversations of politicians and public figures are being taped.
Although the bugging of MPs' phones is forbidden without the specific permission of parliament, prosecutors and judges routinely leak to journalists details of compromising conversations.
The former governor of the Bank of Italy, Antonio Fazio, was forced to resign as a result of a scandal which came to light in this way.
The outgoing government of Romano Prodi announced last year that it was going to introduce a law making it an offence punishable by up to three years imprisonment for journalists to publish information obtained through judicially authorised wiretapping leaks. But no such law was ever passed.
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GREECE - MALCOLM BRABANT
In the run-up to the 2004 Athens Olympics, I met a man who was furious about the appearance of 350 cameras in the capital as part of a $1.5bn security programme to protect athletes and spectators.
"If I choose to have an affair with a woman who is not my wife, that is my fundamental human right, and I should be protected from being caught on camera," he said.

Costas Karamanlis and other ministers were tapped
The man was walking in the suburb of Nikaia, where the local left-wing mayor, who disapproved of surveillance, had ordered workmen to daub black paint over the lenses.
That cameo encapsulates the desire of most Greeks to resist state attempts to spy on them and helps explain why Greece leads the European Union and the rest of the world in privacy protection for its citizens.
The other important contributory factor is the strength and moral independence of the nation's Data Protection Authority, which is resolute in its determination to uphold the following principles enshrined in the Greek constitution:
Every person's home is a sanctuary
The private and family life of the individual is inviolable
Secrecy of letters and all other forms of free correspondence or communication shall be absolutely inviolable
The authority has real teeth. In December 2006 it fined mobile phone company Vodafone 76m euros for bugging more than 100 top Greek officials, including Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, around the time of the Olympics.
Vodafone's network planning manager in Greece, Costas Tsalikides, was found hanged not long after he informed his superiors he had discovered that spying software had been secretly installed in the company's system.
Mr Tsalikides family has always suspected he was murdered.
So many years after the dictatorship, Greece is very sensitive in the area of freedoms
Panos GarganosGreek protester
Since January 18, 2008, the case has been officially closed. Vodafone Greece will appeal against the fine and has co-operated fully with all relevant authorities since the beginning of the case.
The Data Protection Authority has also frustrated the efforts of the Conservative government to extract some value from the Olympic security system.
When a left-wing group called Revolutionary Struggle fired a rocket into the office of the US ambassador in Athens, there was no video record because the security cameras were switched off.
The authority refused to allow the cameras to be used for anything other than traffic control.
In November 2007, a state prosecutor told the police that they would be allowed to use footage from the surveillance system to prosecute demonstrators who turned violent.
The new rules were first applied during the annual November 17th march to commemorate the dozens of students killed in 1973 when tanks of the right wing colonels' junta crushed an uprising at Athens Polytechnic.
"So many years after the dictatorship, Greece is very sensitive in the area of freedoms," said Panos Garganos, who was marching for the 33rd year in succession.
The use of the cameras to monitor the demonstration led to the resignation of the head of the Data Protection Authority.
Despite the fact that Greece has such strong constitutional protection against state sponsored spying, some of my contacts refuse to have sensitive conversations on either land lines or mobile phones, because they assume that someone is listening.
Click here to return

DENMARK - JULIAN ISHERWOOD
In keeping with other European countries, Denmark has also introduced anti-terrorist legislation that has provided the country's domestic security service PET with a raft of monitoring tools with which to carry out its counter-terrorism activities.
With the discovery over the past five years of terrorist cells, and particularly groups using Denmark as preparatory ground for activities elsewhere in Europe, Danish parliamentarians have been relatively unanimous in adopting monitoring counter-terrorism measures, with the broad support of the general public.
These have included the availability to the domestic security service of quite extensive monitoring measures, particularly in the areas of communication interception, data retention and the ability to monitor and geographically locate mobile and other telephone conversations.

Safeguards on CCTV monitoring in Denmark are strictInternet Service Providers are now by law required to keep all communication for at least one year. Access to all of these monitoring activities however, although simplified in the latest counter-terrorism legislation, is not automatic and still requires a court order.
While previous legislation required the security service to substantiate and obtain a court order for each telephone number it wished to monitor, the new law provides for application for a court order to monitor a person's full communication activities - telephones and cyber-communication - but only in connection with cases falling under counter-terrorism legislation.
CCTV monitoring, while extensive in other parts of Europe, is not widespread in Denmark, although there are currently plans, and a public demand, to introduce monitoring in some crime-prone urban areas following several murders and disturbances in defined areas at night.
However, safeguards against general CCTV monitoring are strict, preventing the installation of CCTV cameras in public areas that would allow the identification of individuals or groups.
A Copenhagen kindergarten that recently suggested it would like to install CCTV monitoring around its premises gave up the idea following a public outcry.
Similarly, workplace monitoring is under strict control, preventing camera surveillance of employees, although the installation of CCTV in public areas of shops in particular is permitted.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EU FINES MICROSOFT RECORD $1.4 bn !

What's the dispute about?

The European Commission has fined US computer giant Microsoft for defying sanctions imposed on it for anti-competitive behaviour.
Microsoft must now pay a record 899m euros ($1.4bn; £680.9m) after it failed to comply with a 2004 ruling that it abused its position.
The ruling said that Microsoft was guilty of not providing key code to rival software makers.
EU regulators said the firm was the first to break an EU anti-trust ruling.
The fines come on top of earlier fines of 280m euros imposed in July 2006, and of 497m euros in March 2004.
"Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the Commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an antitrust decision," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.
Future improvements?
An investigation concluded in 2004 that Microsoft was guilty of freezing out rivals in products such as media players, while unfairly linking its Explorer internet browser to its Windows operating system at the expense of rival servers.
The European Court of First Instance upheld this ruling last year, which ordered Microsoft to pay 497m euros for abusing its dominant market position.

DISPUTE TIMELINE

March 2004: EU fines Microsoft 497m euros and orders it to release key Windows code to rival software developers
September 2004: Microsoft tries to have the ruling temporarily suspended
April 2006: Microsoft appeals the ruling in the European Court of First Instance
September 2007: Microsoft loses its appeal

Last week, the firm announced that it would open up the technology of some of its leading software, including Windows, to make it easier to operate with rivals' products.
"As we demonstrated last week with our new interoperability principles and specific actions to increase the openness of our products, we are focusing on steps that will improve things for the future," Microsoft said.

But the firm is still being pursued by Brussels.
Last month, the European Commission launched two new anti-competition investigations against Microsoft into similar issues.
The first will look at whether there are still problems regarding Microsoft abusing its dominance of the PC market to grab market share of the internet.
The Commission will also investigate the continued interoperability of Microsoft software with rival products.

SPECIAL MID-EAST ANNIVERSARY LOOMS

By Jeremy Bowen - BBC Middle East editor.

A famous Israeli writer once said that Jerusalem is the only place where the dead are more important than the living.
That means that history is more alive in the Holy Land than anywhere else I can think of in the world. Any discussion about the Palestinians and the Israelis can, without being especially argumentative, rewind very fast back past Israel's independence 60 years ago, through the British, the Turks, the Muslim conquest, to the Romans and beyond.
For the last few weeks I have been looking into what was happening in the Middle East in 1948, the year of Israeli independence and of what Palestinians call their Nakba, or "catastrophe".
By local standards, 60 years is not very long ago at all. History matters in this part of the world, because it is so much part of everyone's lives.

The consequences of 1948, or some of them at least, were supposed to have been on the agenda at the meeting last week between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Messrs Olmert or Abbas face a very busy spring, summer and autumn. This winter can already be written off So far, their new peace process is sauntering along at a casual pace.
US President George W Bush, sponsoring the process, wants the two sides to reach an agreement ending a century of conflict by the end of the year.
It is not clear whether Messrs Olmert or Abbas regard that as a deadline, but if they do then they face a very busy spring, summer and autumn. Matters are moving so slowly that this winter can already be written off.
Back in February 1948, the British had another three months as the governing power in Palestine, although the power they had to govern was reducing by the day.
A civil war had begun between Palestine's Arabs and Jews (in those days they didn't call themselves Israelis; the new state of Israel did not declare itself independent until May).
The Arabs did not want a Jewish state to be created. The Jews had accepted a UN resolution splitting the land between Arabs and Jews the previous November, but expected to have to fight for their survival.
These days Messrs Olmert and Abbas have three particularly difficult problems to solve - the future of Jerusalem, the route of a border between Israel and a Palestinian state, and the future of the Palestinian refugees.

Palestinian refugee numbers have swelled to more than four million. All three issues were given another reshaping by Israel's victory in the 1967 Middle East war, but essentially they date back to 1948.
The issue of Jerusalem actually goes back much further than 1948. Sixty years ago neither side could imagine a future without a dominant role in the Holy City. Now the question is whether they can find a way to share it.
The starting point for the border is, for the Palestinians at least, the line set in the 1949 armistice that ended the fighting. It is often called the 1967 boundary because it stood until then.
Finally, no problem will be harder to solve than the future of Palestinian refugees. It started with the exodus of between 600,000 and 760,000 Palestinians in 1947-48, who fled for all the reasons civilians do in wars, away from an advancing enemy, to protect their children and to save themselves, and in some places because they were forced out at the point of a gun.
The survivors - and their children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren - now make up a refugee diaspora of more than 4.5 million people.
I haven't, by the way, ranked them in order of difficulty. They will all be difficult.
Israelis will celebrate their state's first 60 years with pride One important thing to remember about 1948 is that is the biggest single landmark in a tale of two narratives.
This year will be a time for big celebrations for Israelis. Their achievement in building a modern, hi-tech, regional military superpower has been stunning.
Palestinians believe it has been done at their expense, and this year will be another reminder for them of the destruction of their society and the wreck of their dreams.
Most important of all this year is the fact that a Palestinian leader and an Israeli leader are trying to settle the 60-year-old legacy of 1948.
Most depressing is the fact that it is hard to find anyone who believes they can.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MASS PROTESTS CALLED OFF IN KENYA !

Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga has called off Thursday's mass protests after meeting ex-UN head Kofi Annan.
Mr Annan is also meeting President Mwai Kibaki in a bid to salvage suspended talks on Tuesday after he said the negotiations had become acrimonious.
Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) had threatened to hold rallies if a deal to end the post-election crisis was not reached by then.
More than 1,000 people have died in political violence since the election.
"We... are committed to the talks. We have postponed until further notice any actions planned for tomorrow," Mr Odinga told reporters in the capital, Nairobi, after meeting Mr Annan, Reuters news agency reports.
Talks between the government and opposition on securing a power-sharing deal have stalled.
Mr Kibaki claimed victory in the 27 December poll, but Mr Odinga said it was rigged.
'Imposed deal'
Mr Annan, who has been in Kenya for more than a month trying to reach a settlement, is also expected to meet the African Union head, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who is also in the country to help save negotiations.

Q&A: Kenya poll violence
How talks halted

"The leaders have to assume their responsibilities and become directly engaged in these talks," Mr Annan said.
Both sides had agreed last week to create the post of prime minister, which would be taken by Mr Odinga, leading to hopes that a final deal was imminent.
However, they still needed to finalise which powers he would have.
The government now says the president should appoint the prime minister, which would not be an executive post.
As well as how to divide powers between a prime minister and a president, the rivals are also split on sharing cabinet positions and the possibility of a new election if the coalition collapses.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula has criticised comments by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said that bilateral relations between the US and Kenya could suffer unless progress was made in negotiations.
He said Kenya's international friends were welcome to support the dialogue process but not to impose solutions to the conflict.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AGENCIES TARGET FEMALE MUTILATION !

By Laura Trevelyan - BBC News, New York

Female genital mutilation is deeply rooted in many societies. A range of United Nations agencies are calling for the practice of female genital mutilation to be ended within the space of a generation.
An estimated three million girls a year are thought to be at risk from this practice, many of them in Africa.
The practice of cutting off the clitoris of a young girl - and often more - is deeply rooted in some cultures.
Ten UN agencies want a major reduction in the tradition by 2015.
The practice is seen in some countries as a way to ensure virginity and to make a woman marriageable.
Yet it also leads to bleeding, shock, infections and a higher rate of death for the women's new-born babies, say the UN groups.
Up to 140 million women are thought to have undergone this procedure in 28 countries in Africa, and a few in Asia and the Middle East.
It is also happening to girls and women who have left their original countries and settled in the West.
The UN agencies say traditions are often stronger than law and legal action by itself is not enough to tackle this.
Change must come from within communities, they say, citing the example of West Africa, where villages have joined together to make pledges to abandon this practice.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ANTI-DEPRESSANTS 'LITTLE EFFECT' !

Anti-depressant prescription rates have soared.
Study author

New generation anti-depressants have little clinical benefit for most patients, research suggests.
A University of Hull team concluded the drugs actively help only a small group of the most severely depressed.
Marjorie Wallace, head of the mental health charity Sane, said that if these results were confirmed they could be "very disturbing".
But the makers of Prozac and Seroxat, two of the commonest anti-depressants, said they disagreed with the findings.
A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Seroxat, said the study only looked at a "small subset of the total data available".
Reviewed data
And Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac, said that "extensive scientific and medical experience has demonstrated it is an effective anti-depressant".

Q&A: Anti-depressant study

Popularity of 'happy pills'

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, has announced that 3,600 therapists are to be trained during the next three years in England to increase patient access to talking therapies, which ministers see as a better alternative to drugs.
Patients are strongly advised not to stop taking their medication without first consulting a doctor.
The researchers accept many people believe the drugs do work for them, but argue that could be a placebo effect - people feel better simply because they are taking a medication which they think will help them.
In total, the Hull team, who published their findings in the journal PLoS Medicine, reviewed data on 47 clinical trials.
They reviewed published clinical trial data, and unpublished data secured under Freedom of Information legislation.
They focused on drugs which work by increasing levels of the mood controlling chemical serotonin in the brain.
These included fluoxetine (Prozac) and paroxetine (Seroxat), from the class known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), alongside another similar drug called venlafaxine (Efexor) - all commonly prescribed in the UK.
The number of prescriptions for anti-depressants hit a record high of more than 31 million in England in 2006 - even though official guidance stresses they should not be a first line treatment for mild depression.
There were 16.2m prescriptions for SSRIs alone.
The researchers found that the drugs did have a positive impact on people with mild depression - but the effect was no bigger than that achieved by giving patients a sugar-coated "dummy" pill.
People with severe symptoms appeared to gain more clear-cut benefit - but this might be more down to the fact that they were less likely to respond to the placebo pill, rather than to respond positively to the drugs.
Lead researcher Professor Irving Kirsch said: "The difference in improvement between patients taking placebos and patients taking anti-depressants is not very great.
"This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments.
"Given these results, there seems little reason to prescribe anti-depressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients, unless alternative treatments have failed to provide a benefit."
Professor Kirsch said the findings called into question the current system of reporting drug trials.
Reviewing guidance
Dr Tim Kendall, deputy director of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Research Unit, has published research concluding that drug companies tend only to publish research which shows their products in a good light.

Readers' experiences

He said the Hull findings undermined confidence in the ability to draw meaningful conclusions about the merit of drugs based on published data alone.
He called for drug companies to be forced to publish all their data.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is currently reviewing its guidance on the use of antidepressants.
Marjorie Wallace of Sane commented: "If these results were upheld in further studies, they would be very disturbing.
"The newer anti-depressants were the great hope for the future.... These findings could remove what has been seen as a vital choice for thousands in treating what can be a life-threatening condition."
Dr Andrew McCulloch, of the Mental Health Foundation, said: "We have become vastly over-reliant on antidepressants when there is a range of alternatives.
"Talking therapies, exercise referral and other treatments are effective for depression.
"It is a problem that needs a variety of approaches matched to the individual patient."
Dr Richard Tiner, of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said there was no doubt that there was a "considerable placebo effect" from anti-depressants when treating people with mild to moderate symptoms.
But he said no medicine would get a licence without demonstrating it was better than a placebo.
Dr Tiner said: "These medicines have been licensed by a number of regulatory authorities around the world, who looking at all the evidence, have determined that they do work better than placebo."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

POLICE TEAR GAS KOSOVO PROTESTORS !

Police have fired tear gas after being stoned by Bosnian Serb protesters trying to reach the US consulate in Banja Luka, Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Several people were injured and police made a number of arrests at the rally against Kosovo's recent declaration of independence from Serbia.
The demonstrators had chanted "Kosovo is Serbia" as they tried to get to the US mission, which was shut last week.
The US and a number of EU states have recognised Kosovo's independence.
Serbia, backed by Russia, says it will never do so. Serb protesters attacked the US embassy in Belgrade last week.


About 10,000 demonstrators took part in the largely peaceful rally.
"We will not give the Serbian soul to the devil," they chanted.
Some demanded independence for their Republika Srpska - one of two entities comprising Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Euroblog: Fired up by Kosovo
Balkan break-up fears

Addressing the rally, Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik said the gathering was "a democratic, human revolt".
"This badge that I have on reads 'Kosovo is Serbia' and I will always tell this to everyone," he said.
"As long as we live here, we will not recognise Kosovo as independent," Mr Dodik said.
Later a group split from the protest to head towards the US consulate, which was closed last week because of threats.
Protesters broke shop windows and threw stones at police who blocked the streets leading to the building with armoured vehicles.
Last week a man died after the US embassy in Belgrade, Serbia's capital, was attacked during a similar rally.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has recalled the nation's ambassador to the US over the matter.
Most Serbs regard Kosovo as their religious and cultural heartland.
Serbia, supported by Russia and China, says Kosovo's independence declaration - made on 17 February - violates international law.
A 2,000-strong European Union mission will be deployed to help Kosovo develop its police force and judiciary.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FREE SPEECH 'SHRINKING' IN RUSSIA !

Russian freedom of speech is "shrinking alarmingly" under President Vladimir Putin, says Amnesty International.
The murders of outspoken journalists go unsolved, independent media outlets have been shut and police have attacked opposition protesters, said the report.
It also said "arbitrary" laws were curbing the right to express opinion and silencing NGOs deemed to be a threat by the authorities.
The report comes ahead of Russian's presidential elections on 2 March.
The director of Amnesty International UK, Kate Allen, said: "The space for freedom of speech is shrinking alarmingly in Russia and it's now imperative that the Russian authorities reverse this trend."
She said dissent could be a matter of life or death in the case of outspoken journalists like Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in Moscow two years ago.
The 52-page Freedom Limited report warned any opposition demonstrations could suffer heavy clampdowns in the coming days, as Amnesty said had happened in the run-up to past elections.
First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, whom President Putin has named his favoured successor, is expected to be elected in this Sunday's poll.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TV'S TOP 25 PUT-DOWNS PUBLISHED !

Lord Blackadder spent most of his life devising witty 'put-downs. 'Insults by Captain Mainwaring and Lord Blackadder have been named among the top 25 put-downs in TV history, as chosen by the Radio Times magazine.
"Stupid Boy!" uttered by Dad's Army's Captain Mainwaring to Private Pike, is one of the lines in the list.
The selected Blackadder line was: "The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Percy?"

The list of put-downs covers the last 40 years from British and American TV.

Basil Fawlty - Fawlty Towers. To Sybil: "Oh dear, what happened? Did you get entangled in the eiderdown again? Not enough cream in your eclair? Hmm? Or did you have to talk to all your friends for so long that you didn't have time to perm your ears?"
Mrs Merton - The Mrs Merton Show. To Debbie McGee: "So what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?"
Edmund Blackadder - Blackadder II. To Lord Percy: "The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Percy?"
Roseanne Conner - Roseanne. To husband Dan: "Your idea of romance is popping the can away from my face."
Father Jack Hackett - Father Ted. "Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!"
Carla - Cheers. Cliff: "I'm ashamed God made me a man." Carla: "I don't think God's doing a lot of bragging about it either."
Patsy Stone - Absolutely Fabulous. "One more facelift on this one and she'll have a beard."
Jim Royle - The Royle Family. Nana: "Is this hat too far forward?" Jim: "No. We can still see your face."
Malcolm Tucker - The Thick Of It. To a junior minister: "All these hands all over the place! You were like a sweaty octopus trying to unhook a bra! It was like watching John Leslie at work!"
Statler and Waldorf - The Muppet Show. Statler: "Wake up, you old fool, you slept through the show." Waldorf: "Who's a fool? You watched it."
Inspector Monkfish - The Fast Show. To a bereaved woman: "I realise this must be a very difficult time for you, so put your knickers on and go and make me a cup of tea."
No Offence - The Fast Show. "I notice you're not wearing a wedding ring which, given your age, means you're divorced or a lesbian."
Rupert Rigsby - Rising Damp. To lodger Alan, who complains his room is too cold to study in: "The only thing you study is your navel. You even shave lying down."
Nan - The Catherine Tate Show. Describing an encounter with an overweight hospital volunteer: "She said to me last time, 'You look bored, Mrs Taylor. I've got three words for you: Barbara Taylor Bradford.' So I said, 'Yeah? I've got three words for you too: calorie controlled diet."'
The Professor - The Mary Whitehouse Experience. "I have here a copy of your book, Origins of the Crimean War. It smells of poo." "That's because it's been inside your mum's bra."
Alf Garnett - Till Death Us Do Part. "You Scouse git!"
Alexis Carrington - Dynasty. "I'm glad to see your father had your teeth fixed - if not your mouth."
JR Ewing - Dallas. "Ray never was comfortable eating with the family - we do use knives and forks."
Dr Perry Cox - Scrubs. Dr Elliot Reid: "I don't think you understand the severity of the situation here. I am dangerously close to giving up men altogether." Dr Cox: "Then on behalf of men everywhere - and I do mean everywhere, including the ones in little mud huts - let me be the first to say thanks and hallelujah."
Dr Gregory House - House. "You can think I'm wrong, but that's no reason to stop thinking."
Gary Strang - Men Behaving Badly. "Let's face it, Tony, the only way you're gonna be in there is if you're both marooned on a desert island and she eats a poisonous berry or a nut which makes her temporarily deaf, dumb, stupid, forgetful and desperate for sex."
Arnold Rimmer - Red Dwarf. "Look, we all have something to bring to this discussion. But I think from now on the thing you should bring is silence."
Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm. "Switzerland is a place where they don't like to fight, so they get people to do their fighting for them while they ski and eat chocolate."
Sam Tyler - Life On Mars. To Gene Hunt: "I think you've forgotten who you're talking to." Sam: "An overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline-alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding?"
Captain Mainwaring - Dad's Army. "You stupid boy!"
BBC NEWS REPORT..

FRAGILE PATH OF KENYA PEACEMAKING!

By Adam Mynott - BBC News, Nairobi.

Mr Annan and the Panel of Eminent Africans know that time is crucial. After the first few days of talks intended to find a solution to the Kenyan election crisis, the impressions emanating from the room where the Kenyan government and the opposition have been negotiating were generally quite favourable.
Officials from the government Party of National Unity (PNU) and the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) were saying that "progress was being made".
But agreement was being found on straightforward issues; the items at top of the agenda drawn up by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan were non-contentious.
It was almost as if he wanted to get the two sides into the habit of agreeing because he knows the difficult stuff lies ahead, and it will be best tackled by two sides who have at least been able to find common ground on something.
The agreement reached on Friday on an agenda for further talks - in conjunction with a programme to eliminate the appalling violence, which has killed 900 people and driven at least 250,000 from their homes - was billed as a breakthrough.
It was important, but "breakthrough" is probably pushing it a bit.
It did give the vital impression however that progress was being made, because Mr Annan and others in the Panel of Eminent Africans who are overseeing the mediation process realise that time cannot be allowed to drag.
This exercise has to be seen by the people of Kenya as a problem that is heading towards a solution. If not, violence and unrest will continue, or even get worse.

The agenda gave the negotiating parties about a fortnight from 29 January to come to agreement on sorting out the violence, finding a satisfactory humanitarian response for the tens of thousands living in misery and hunger, and tackling the "political issues". Thousands of people have been displaced by the violence. A fourth agenda item of agreement on deep-seated institutional problems in Kenya was put in a separate category and given a time frame of a year.
The first two on the agenda have been relatively easy to come together on.
The "political issues", number three, centre around the events from the close of the polls in the presidential election at 1800 (1500 GMT) on the 27 December to 1700 (1400 GMT) on the evening of the 30 December when it was announced that Mwai Kibaki had won.
The two sides remain very far apart on this.
Mr Kibaki made it clear when he visited Ethiopia for the African Union Summit that he believes he won the election fairly and all the trouble since the election has been stirred up by the opposition.
The fear is that another election would simply lead to more violence
Mr Odinga says he is in no doubt that he won the presidential poll and it was stolen from him by vote rigging.
The challenge for the negotiating team is in bringing the two men from these widely opposing positions to a point where they can agree on a way forward.
Both parties have said they are open to discussions but neither has indicated it is open to anything that the other might accept.
Of course, you do not go into a negotiating process putting all your cards on the table, but even allowing for a bit of flexibility it is very difficult to see a way out.
This has been the case in other intractable international crises as well, like Northern Ireland, and the very process of negotiation can lead to agreement.
But in the case of Kenya and its election it is hard to be optimistic.
I understand that Mr Annan and his team have rejected one possible solution; a re-run of the election, something that the opposition has said it might favour.

Mr Odinga would only be satisfied with a powerful executive position. The fear is that another election would simply lead to more violence, and there would be no guarantee that either side would accept the outcome of a second presidential poll.
The government says it is open to anything that "falls within the constitutional and legal framework of Kenya".
This is a very limiting set of conditions.
There is nothing contained in the existing constitution which would satisfy the opposition ODM, and the much repeated advice from government figures that "if ODM have a problem with the vote they should go to the courts" is equally unpalatable.
The opposition says that Kenya's judiciary has been filled with Kibaki-pliant men and women, and even if they were to get a fair hearing, the justice system in the country is so cumbersome and slow it would take an entire parliamentary term to get a decision.
So what remains as the only possible option is a form of power-sharing; and this is the area where Mr Annan and his team hope agreement might eventually be found.
At present, most executive power in Kenya is in the hands of the president.
Among other roles he appoints the cabinet, assembles and dissolves parliament, appoints all the parastatal heads and is the commander-in-chief of the military.
There is no prime minister in Kenya's constitutional make-up.
For Mr Odinga to agree on a "power-sharing deal" he must be given a powerful executive position.
He will not settle for anything else.
The government/PNU will only agree to give Mr Odinga a powerful post if they feel it will not undermine the authority of Mr Kibaki.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"REAL COURAGE IS WHEN YOU KNOW

YOU'RE LICKED BEFORE YOU BEGIN,

BUT YOU BEGIN ANYWAY,

AND SEE IT THROUGH NO MATTER WHAT" !

VISA FOR SALE AT RECORD PRICE-TAG !

Visa is owned by the banks that issue its cards. The world's biggest credit-card network Visa plans to raise a record amount of money by issuing shares and listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Visa hopes to raise more than $18bn (£9bn) from the listing, which would make it the largest Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the US to date.
The share offering would be the culmination of a restructuring process that began in October 2006.
It is currently owned by banks that issue cards carrying the Visa symbol.
Of the net proceeds, $10.2bn from the listing will be paid to the banks who own the network.
Meanwhile $3bn will be set aside to cover the costs of a variety of litigation that Visa is currently involved with.

That includes allegations of price-fixing from major retailers.
Last year, American Express accepted a payment of about $2.1bn from Visa, after claiming it had been illegally blocked from the US bank-issued card business.

VISA FIGURES
Payment on Visa cards for year to end June 2007 - $2.27 trillion
1.4 billion cards in circulation
Accepted by 27 million retailers
Source: Visa Inc

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Visa said it planned to sell 406 million Class A shares at a price between $37 and $42 per share.
It might sell an additional 40.6 million shares if there is sufficient demand, which would boost the potential size of the offering to $18.8bn.
The money raised would dwarf the listing of its rival Mastercard, which raised $2.4bn in May 2006.

But Mastercard's shares have risen sharply since they launched at $39 a share - they are currently trading at about $200.
The listing would also dwarf the $10.6bn raised by AT&T Wireless in 2000, which is the current record-holder.
There is some concern about the timing of the listing, coming at a time when many of Visa's customers are facing economic slowdowns.
"Our fear is that as credit deteriorates, consumer spending will go down and volumes will go down for the card networks," said John Augustine from Fifth Third Private Bank in Cincinnati.
"That would hurt revenue and profit."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RUSSIA PLEDGES SUPPORT TO SERBIA!

The man tipped to become the next Russian president has vowed his country will "stick to" its support for Serbia in opposing Kosovo's independence.
Deputy PM Dmitry Medvedev was in Belgrade for talks with Serb President Boris Tadic and PM Vojislav Kostunica.
Although its focus is mainly economic, the visit is seen as a sign of support for Serbia's view on Kosovo, the BBC's Bethany Bell in Belgrade says.
Kosovo's declaration of independence sparked protests in Serbia last week.
"We proceed from the assumption that Serbia is a united country, whose jurisdiction covers the whole of its territory, and we shall stick to this principled stand," Mr Medvedev said during his meeting with Mr Kostunica, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported.
Mr Medvedev's comments, and the timing of his visit, will be seen as evidence that Russia's foreign policy is unlikely to change once serving President Vladimir Putin steps down.

Mr Putin's term in office has seen a marked deterioration in relations with the West, most recently over the issues of Kosovo and Nato's ambitions in former eastern bloc states like Poland and the Czech Republic.
'Flagrant cynicism'
Mr Medvedev is the favourite to take over from Mr Putin after next Sunday's presidential election in Russia.
According to Itar-Tass, he said Kosovo's declaration of independence was "absolutely at variance with international law".
He said he and Mr Kostunica had "made a deal to coordinate together our efforts in order to get out of this complicated situation".

Serbs have turned against those who recognise the new Kosovo

Poll: Russia causes concerns
Russia weighs options

A deal between Russian gas giant Gazprom and Serbian state enterprise Serbiagas on a planned gas pipeline in Serbia was signed during the visit, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Our correspondent says Russia has emerged as Serbia's strongest ally in the country's opposition to Kosovo's independence.
On Sunday the Russian foreign ministry accused the United States of "flagrant cynicism" in recognising Kosovo's declaration of independence a week ago.
The statement followed a comment by US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who accused Russia of aggravating tensions over the Kosovo issue.
The US and most European countries have supported Kosovo's declaration of independence.
Border posts row
Also on Monday, Belgrade government ministers arrived in Kosovo, where they were scheduled to visit Serbian communities to press their message that Belgrade still regards Kosovo as its own.
Euroblog: Fired up by Kosovo
Profile: Dimitry Medvedev

Serbian Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic is leading the delegation.
There had been suggestions that Mr Samardzic might be denied entry until he apologised for comments seemingly condoning violence.
Mr Samardzic described the burning down of two border posts on 19 February by crowds of Kosovan Serbs as "legitimate" acts.
Two days later, Western embassies were attacked in Belgrade, acts Mr Samardzic blamed on the US for accepting Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February.
"The US is the major culprit for all troubles since 17 February," Mr Samardzic told the state news agency Tanjug.
"The root of violence is the violation of international law."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TALEBAN ISSUE MOBILE PHONE THREAT!

By Jon Brain BBC News, Kabul

Mobiles have grown hugely in popularity since 2001. The Taleban have threatened to blow up telephone masts across Afghanistan unless mobile phone companies agree to switch off their signals at night.
They say that US and other foreign troops are using the signals to track down insurgents.
The Taleban have warned the masts and offices of the mobile companies will be destroyed unless their demands are met. Mobiles were introduced after the Taleban fell in 2001 and are now the most popular way of communicating.
''If those companies do not stop their signal within three days, the Taleban will target their towers and their offices," Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed said.
The Taleban say that Afghanistan's four mobile phone companies should stop operating between 1700 local time and 0300 the following morning.
Militants have threatened the companies in the past, accusing them of colluding with the US and other forces.
But communication experts say the US military uses satellites to pick up mobile signals and does not need the help of the phone companies anyway.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SUDAN 'RENEWS DARFUR AIR STRIKES' !

The Sudanese military is said to have renewed its aerial bombing campaign in the west of the Darfur region.
The joint United Nations African Union mission in Sudan, Unamid, said it had received reports of aerial bombings in the Jebel Moun area of the region.
A Unamid spokesman said there was grave concern for the safety of thousands of civilians in the area.
The reports came as China's envoy for Darfur, Liu Guijin, began a five-day visit to the country to push for peace.
China has come under increasing pressure to use its influence with Sudan to end the fighting.
Mr Liu will travel to Darfur on Tuesday, the fifth anniversary of the start of the conflict which has left 200,000 people dead and 2.5m homeless.

In a joint news conference with the Sudanese Foreign Minister, Deng Alor, Mr Liu stressed the importance of Darfur to Beijing.
"My message to the media and to the world is that the Chinese government and people are ready to help Sudan and to help the international community to find the solution of the Darfur issue", he said.
The BBC's Amber Henshaw in Khartoum says Beijing is keen to show it is playing a positive role in the region - this week it will provide $11m (£5.6m) of humanitarian assistance.
China has long had strong trade and military links with Khartoum, which is accused of backing militias that have raped and murdered civilians in Darfur.
Activists have accused China of helping to arm pro-Khartoum militia against Darfur's rebel groups, but Mr Liu told the BBC on Friday that only 8% of weapons imported by Sudan came from China in 2006 and insisted it was not fuelling the conflict.
"There are seven countries selling arms to Sudan. So even if China stopped its sale, it still won't solve the problem of arms in Sudan," he said.
Mr Liu is also expected to push Sudan to co-operate on the deployment of more UN-African Union peacekeepers.
The force began deploying in January but it still lacks most of the 26,000 personnel planned for the mission.
The Chinese envoy's visit was announced just days after film director Steven Spielberg pulled out as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics, saying China was not doing enough to end the humanitarian crisis in the troubled Sudanese region.
Mr Spielberg said his conscience would not allow him to continue in the role.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN DEFIANT OVER SANCTION THREAT !

Iran's leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that no amount of UN sanctions will deter Tehran from its nuclear path.
"If they want to continue with that path of sanctions, we will not be harmed. They can issue resolutions for 100 years," he said in a TV interview.
His remarks came after a UN report said Iran was being more transparent - but had not given "credible assurances" that it was not building a bomb.
Tehran insists its programme is aimed purely at generating electricity.
Following the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there was a "very strong case" for a third round of sanctions over the disputed nuclear programme.

Iran's key nuclear sites

Ms Rice said that the report showed that Iran's efforts to halt its uranium enrichment programme were inadequate and that Washington would push for further UN action.
UN Security Council members the US, UK, China, France and Russia meet on Monday in Washington to consider their next step.
But Mr Ahmadinejad said the latest report by the UN nuclear watchdog represented an historic victory for Iran.
"I congratulate your eminence and the Iranian people on the historic victory of Iran in its greatest confrontation with the oppressive powers since the Islamic revolution" of 1979, Mr Ahmadinejad said in a message to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, quoted by state TV.

The IAEA report released on Friday did praise Iran for granting its inspectors access to previously off-limits sites.
However, it said Iran remained evasive on key issues and had evaded a proper response to claims it had made secret efforts to "weaponise" nuclear material.

The US wants a new resolution on Iran agreed 'with some dispatch'It had also ducked questions about alleged high explosives testing and design work on a missile warhead, the IAEA found, noting: "This is a matter of serious concern."
Iran was also still openly enriching uranium in defiance of UN resolutions and testing advanced centrifuges to speed up the process, said the inspectors.
As a result, the UN nuclear agency said it could offer "no credible assurances" that Iran was not building a bomb.

BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the IAEA findings are definitely not a clean bill of health.
On Thursday, Britain and France introduced a UN Security Council resolution - a draft of which was approved last month - with support from the US, Russia, China and Germany.
It seeks to expand the number of Iranian companies targeted by sanctions and impose travel bans on certain Iranian officials.
A declassified US intelligence report last December judged that the Iranians had put a nuclear weapons programme on hold in 2003.
But the US, Israel and others contend Iran's continued advances in the crucial centrifuge work will eventually give it a capability to build a bomb.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AIRLINE IN FIRST BIOFUEL FLIGHT !

Virgin has not revealed what the biofuel is. The first flight by a commercial airline to be powered partly by biofuel is to take off from Heathrow airport.
Billed as a green fuel breakthrough, the Virgin Atlantic flight to Amsterdam will not have any passengers on board.
Earlier this month, Airbus used the world's largest passenger jet, the A380 to flight test another alternative fuel - a synthetic mix of gas-to-liquid.
Many environmentalists argue that cultivating biofuel is not sustainable and will lead to reduced land for food.
Virgin's Boeing 747 will have one of its four engines connected to an independent tank filled with biofuel, which is derived from plants.
This reduces risk to the flight because there are three other engines which can power the plane using conventional fuel if there is a problem.
The three-hour Airbus flight from Filton near Bristol to Toulouse on 1 February was part of an ongoing research programme.

Virgin has so far refused to say what its biofuel is made from.
One problem with flying planes using biofuel is that it is more likely to freeze at high altitude.
The technology is still being manufactured by companies GE and Boeing, but Virgin believes within 10 years airlines could routinely be flying on plant power.
Kenneth Richter, of Friends of the Earth, said the flight was a "gimmick", distracting from real solutions to climate change.

BIOFUELS
They are any fuels made from living things
Commonly means fuel made from crops including corn
Pioneers such as Henry Ford designed cars to run on biofuels

Quick guide: Biofuels

"If you look at the latest scientific research it clearly shows biofuels do very little to reduce emissions. At the same time we are very concerned about the impact of the large scale increase in biofuel production on the environment and food prices worldwide," he said.
"What we need to do is stop this mad expansion of aviation at the moment it is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases in the UK and we need to stop subsidising the industry."
But Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson told BBC News 24 that using technology to develop greener fuel options will lower emissions and allow for other global warming issues to be tackled.
"It's not necessarily going to be the silver bullet for the long term future but it will prove that a fuel like this can fly at 30,000 feet," he said of the move which challenges the convention that biofuels freeze above 15,000 feet.
A spokesman said the airline will reveal the specific biofuel after the flight but stressed that it was one which did not compete with staple food resources.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CLINTON DENOUNCES OBAMA TACTICS !

Mrs Clinton's outburst comes ahead of key primaries in Ohio and Texas
Clinton's attack

US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has made her fiercest denunciation so far of Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic Party nomination.
Mrs Clinton accused the Illinois senator of producing a misleading leaflet on her health care policy.
"Shame on you, Barack Obama!" the New York senator said at a rally in Ohio, which holds its primary in 10 days.
But Mr Obama said he stood by the leaflet, saying he was puzzled by what he called his rival's change in tone.
"Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove's playbook," said the former first lady ahead of Ohio's crucial primary early next month.
Both the Ohio and the Texas primaries, both being held on 4 March, are being seen as must-wins for Mrs Clinton.

Mr Obama, who has won 11 consecutive primaries and caucuses in recent weeks, is now seen as the Democratic front-runner.
But Mrs Clinton's campaign has struggled to find an effective way to cope with her rival's extraordinary momentum and has decided to "go negative", says the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington.
She and her advisers have clearly calculated that the state of the race now calls for sharper elbows and a sharper tone, our correspondent adds.

Barack Obama has pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton in recent primaries. Mr Obama now has at least 1,353 of the 2,025 delegates he needs to secure the Democratic nomination at the party's convention in August, according to an Associated Press projection.
Mrs Clinton has 1,264 delegates. Texas and Ohio have a combined total of 334 delegates up for grabs.
Correspondents say the blue-collar vote will be crucial in both contests, and the Clinton campaign has already begun targeting lower-income workers in its ads.
But in his drive to become the first black US president, Mr Obama has recently gained support from some powerful unions, including the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union.

Meanwhile, John McCain was given a further boost by the Pacific islands of Northern Marianas which chose its nine Republican delegates on Saturday.
The islands are among three US Pacific territories each sending nine delegates to the Republican convention in Minnesota this September, and delegates have praised the former Vietnam prisoner for his knowledge of their islands.
Republicans in American Samoa also announced that all nine of their delegates would support Mr McCain.
Guam Republicans take their decision on 8 March.
The latest results give the Arizona senator a total of 976 delegates, according to the Associated Press, and he needs 1,191 delegates to secure the Republican nomination.
His rival, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, trails far behind with 254 delegates.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SAUDI MEN ARRESTED FOR 'FLIRTING'

Relations between the sexes outside marriage is against the law. Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia have begun investigating 57 young men who were arrested on Thursday for flirting with girls at shopping centres in Mecca.
The men are accused of wearing indecent clothes, playing loud music and dancing in order to attract the attention of girls, the Saudi Gazette reported.
They were arrested following a request of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The mutaween enforce Saudi Arabia's conservative brand of Islam, Wahhabism.
Earlier in the month, the authorities enforced a ban on the sale of red roses and other symbols used in many countries to mark Valentine's Day.
The ban is partly because of the connection with a "pagan Christian holiday", and also because the festival itself is seen as encouraging relations between the sexes outside marriage, punishable by law in the kingdom.
The Prosecution and Investigation Commission said it had received reports of such "bad" behaviour by 57 young men at a number of shopping centres in the holy city of Mecca, the Saudi Gazette said.
The guardians of some of the men defended their actions, however, saying they would regularly get together at the weekend to have fun without ever violating laws governing the segregation of the sexes, it added.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

Dear Family and Friends,

Headline news on the propaganda mill one day this week was that three trillion Zimbabwe dollars had been raised for President Mugabe's 84th birthday party. I thought about what you could do with that much money but before I could work it out I had to check in a dictionary just exactly how much a trillion was.

My sources say that a billion is a thousand million and a trillion is a million million. This means that for the President's birthday celebration being held in Beitbridge, there is a pile of money which on paper is a 3f ollowed by 12 zeroes. Even in Zimbabwe's collapsed state, 3 trillion dollars is a huge amount of money. It didn't take long before my kitchen table was littered with bits of scrap paper covered with hand written sums.Why didn't I just use a calculator you might ask? That's simple, there are too many digits and so this sum had to be done by hand.

The calculations took some time to perform and the results were shocking. For three trillion dollars I could buy three million kilograms of maizemeal at the present Grain Marketing Board price of a million dollars a kg. This, of course, is assuming that the GMB had any maize meal for sale, which they say they haven't. Allowing half a kg of maize meal per person, 6million Zimbabweans, half the population of the country, could have had one decent meal with the President's birthday party money.

A friend who is far more mathematically minded than me, and had more patience with all those lines of zeroes, worked the figures out a different way. 85 trucks, each holding 35 tonnes of maize, could have been filled with the three trillion dollars of birthday party money. Moving away from the dollars, I went in search of ingredients usually found at a birthday party. Three major supermarket chains which have outlets all over the country were visited. The cake came first on my list but there was no flour, sugar, margarine, baking powder, milk or eggs in any of the supermarkets. Puddings and sweet treats were next on my list but there was no jelly, instant pudding, custard, biscuits or tarts to buy. Sandwiches, I thought, they are good for parties but there was no bread or rolls, nos pread, cheese, cold meats or sandwich fillings to buy. What about a hotmeal I thought but there was no maize meal, rice, pasta or potatoes and so that idea was also a non starter.

The shopping list and the search for ingredients was a pointless exercise but at least it was easier than trying to understand the latest official inflation figures. In January 2008 inflation was one hundred thousand, fivehundred and eighty percent - it is the stuff of hellish nightmares and the reason why we parents can't sleep at night.

Trying to understand three trillion dollars was utterly absurd for an ordinary mum in a collapsed country. Hardest of all though was knowing that half the population of the country could have gone to bed tonight on a full stomach if the birthday party had been sacrificed for the suffering, hungry people of a country whose 84 year old ruler has been in power for almost 28years.

Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathybuckle 23 February 2008.www.cathybuckle.com My books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are availablein South Africa from: books@clarkesbooks.co.za and in the UK from: orders@africabookcentre.com

MUGABE TO LAUNCH SIXTH TERM BID !

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is expected to launch his campaign for a sixth term in power at celebrations marking his 84th birthday.
Thousands are expected at the rally in the southern border town of Beitbridge.
Launching his manifesto in the eastern town of Mutare, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said Zimbabwe was bleeding under "dictatorship".
Zimbabwe is suffering an economic crisis, with annual inflation of 100,000%, and unemployment at 80%.
There are also severe food and fuel shortages.
The presidential, legislative, senate and local council polls are scheduled for 29 March.

Mr Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980.
Mr Tsvangirai - who leads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - is one of three candidates challenging him in next month's presidential poll.
The others are independent candidates - former Finance Minister Simba Makoni and Langton Towungana.
Mr Makoni, 58, has pledged to turn round the country's economic fortunes if elected.

He has been expelled from the ruling Zanu-PF party, and Mr Mugabe has compared him to a prostitute.
Launching his campaign before thousands of supporters in Mutare, Mr Tsvangirai said:
"All of Zimbabwe is in the custody of a dictatorship. We're all bleeding, but we're marching on. We're weak and with hunger, but we're stronger with anger."
He said the Zimbabwean economy was "an enclave economy that is uneven, unequal and virtually dead".
"Zimbabwe is one of the world's great humanitarian crises," he said.
BBC southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says Mr Mugabe's annual birthday celebration is always a lavish occasion, and the state media have poured adulation on the Zimbabwean president this week.
Across the border in South Africa, Zimbabwean exiles have been staging an anti-Mugabe demonstration.
Roy Bennett of the MDC addressed the crowd of about 200 exiled Zimbabwean activists.
"After 28 years, a man who is now 84 years old is having a birthday party. A birthday party while everybody around him is starving and dying."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

LIECHTENSTEIN FURY AT GERMAN TAX SNOOP!

By Steven Rosenberg BBC News, Vaduz.

Prince Alois denies the tax haven helps the rich break the law. Walking around Liechtenstein for the first time, there are two things that strike me most about this place: manure and money.
The smell of manure - that comes from the farmland that surrounds this rural principality.
The money… well, you can see that from all the shiny banks and investment firms that jostle for space in the capital, Vaduz.
These are the companies that have made Liechtenstein one of the richest states in Europe.
Secretive
Liechtenstein also has the reputation of being one of the most secretive tax havens in the world.
Just ask the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

From his castle, the prince wields more power than England's Queen .
This financial watchdog says Liechtenstein is one of only three states left on its blacklist of "uncooperative tax havens" (the others are not a million miles away - Monaco and Andorra).
Liechtenstein this week attacked the authorities in Berlin for buying information on German businessmen clients that have bank accounts in the tiny Alpine principality.
Germany has launched a tax evasion investigation using the data, which was supplied by an anonymous informant who was reportedly paid 5m euros (£3.75m; $7.3m).
Perhaps the tax evasion scandal explains the hushed silence that accompanies our arrival at our hotel.

To reach the lift we have to pass through the hotel restaurant.
As we walk in with all our equipment (TV camera, tripod and cases), the packed dining hall suddenly goes very quiet.
Feeling rather embarrassed, I scurry through as quickly as possible and go up to my room.
Admittedly, the people we meet in Liechtenstein are extremely friendly, even at LGT Group.
It was a former LGT employee who stole data relating to German businessmen in Liechtenstein.
It is thought this could be the same information that was bought up by the German secret service.
We are invited in for a background chat (but not allowed to switch on the camera, for fear of frightening clients).
The Crown Prince of Liechtenstein is also welcoming.
I meet 39-year-old Prince Alois up in his 900-year-old castle, perched on a hill above Vaduz.
He may only have 34,247 subjects (that is how small Liechtenstein is), but the prince has more power than the Queen of England - for instance, he can sack his government whenever he chooses.

The data was reportedly stolen from LGT group in 2002.
He may be powerful. But these days Prince Alois is not amused.
"I would describe the methods used by Germany as completely unreasonable," he tells me, referring to German spies buying up CDs containing confidential data.
I point out that his country stands accused of helping greedy German businessmen stash their money away, keep it hidden from the taxman and break the law.
"Well, we're not helping them," Prince Alois replies. "We just don't ask continuously questions like a nanny: 'Have you paid your taxes every year?' I think this can't be our role."
The Crown Prince believes that the problem is not Liechtenstein – it is Germany's own punitive tax system.
He tells me: "I think the only real long-term solution for Germany is to change their tax system to introduce an easy, simple-to-understand and just tax system.
"I think, then, people are happy to pay."
Prince Alois claims the principality has gone a long way to cleaning up its image as a financial centre.
Berlin, however, remains unconvinced.
As far as the German government is concerned, in Liechtenstein it is not only the manure that smells, but the financial world too.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE PARTY TO LAUNCH CAMPAIGN !

MDC backers demonstrated with a fake cake in Pretoria on Thursday. Zimbabwe's main opposition party is due to release its campaign manifesto for next month's general election.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will introduce candidates at a ceremony in the eastern town of Mutare.
Meanwhile, exiled Zimbabweans are due to hold protests on the South African border as President Robert Mugabe celebrates his 84th birthday nearby.
Mr Mugabe is visiting the Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge for his official birthday party.
Zimbabwe's president of 28 years is also expected to campaign for the joint presidential, legislative, senate and local council polls which are scheduled for 29 March.
"We are introducing our full set of candidates whom we have named as the 'New Zimbabwe Team,'" MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told AFP.

Mr Mugabe called presidential rival Simba Makoni a political prostitute
He said the ceremony would include the unveiling of the party's symbol, as well as a manifesto spelling out the MDC's aims for its first 100 days in office, if elected.
He said thousands of supporters were expected at Saturday's event, which will be held in Mutare's Sakubva stadium.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is one of three candidates challenging Mr Mugabe in next month's presidential poll.
The others are independent candidates - former Finance Minister Simba Makoni and Langton Towungana.
On Thursday Mr Mugabe described Mr Makoni as a political "prostitute".
Zimbabwe is suffering from an annual rate of inflation officially more than 100,000%, as well as severe shortages of basic goods such as food and fuel.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"IF YOU DONT RISK ANYTHING,

YOU RISK EVEN MORE" !

AU HEAD URGES KENYA PEACE DEAL !.

There were more violent clashes in Nairobi on Thursday. The African Union Commission chairman has urged Kenya's government and opposition to reach an agreement to end weeks of post-election violence.
Jean Ping said he hoped for a deal next week. Earlier, there was hope that the rivals would end their talks on Friday.
A draft plan would involve creating a prime minister's post to be held by the oppositions, but disagreement remains over what powers this post would have.
The East African Community says the crisis is hurting the regional economy.
"The weekend will be crucial. We hope that next week we'll have something which can be agreed," Mr Ping said in Nairobi.
Mediator and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Thursday's agreement on the creation of a prime ministerial post showed progress towards ending violence.

Ugandan economy suffers

But earlier hopes that a final deal would be announced on Friday proved unfounded as disagreements remained between the two sides on the exact role of the proposed prime minister.
The post is likely to be held by opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga, whose party demands that the post include executive powers.
The government favours "a non-executive prime minister but with some substantial meaningful responsibilities," government negotiator Mutula Kilonzo said, according to the AP news agency.
Friday's round of talks started late after the government delegation failed to arrive on time.
Also on Friday, Mr Odinga flew out of Kenya to an unconfirmed destination. He is however keeping in close contact with his negotiating team at the talks, his aides say.
Economic slowdown
The East African Community has warned of an economic slowdown throughout the region as a result of the Kenyan political crisis.
"Trade flows have been negatively affected and so have exchequer and business revenues," EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu said in a statement on Thursday.
"We can only promote and attract investments sustainably, as well as assure effective intra-regional trade, if we have enduring peace and stability."
The landlocked economies of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, largely rely on trade through the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
The opposition alleges widespread rigging in the December election, and international observers said the poll was flawed.
The Kenyan opposition said on Wednesday it would resume mass protests if a deal was not reached within a week.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CLINTON AND OBAMA SPAR IN TEXAS !

Barack Obama has pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton in recent primaries.
Clinton and Obama

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has accused rival Barack Obama of political plagiarism during a live televised debate.
But Mr Obama brushed off the accusation that he represented "change you can Xerox", saying it was just part of "silly season" politics.
The debate took place in Texas, which holds a crucial primary next month.
It comes in the wake of Mr Obama's victory among Democrats living abroad - his 11th straight win over Mrs Clinton.
Both the Texas and the Ohio primaries on 4 March are being seen as must-wins for Mrs Clinton, and Thursday night's debate at the University of Texas in Austin was a major test for her flagging campaign.
"If your candidacy is going to be about words, then it should be your own words," Mrs Clinton said.
She was referring to Mr Obama's apparent copying of rhetoric used by one of his supporters, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, during his campaign speeches.
But Mr Obama was disdainful in his response.
"What we shouldn't be doing is tearing each other down, we should be lifting the country up," he said.
On foreign policy, Mrs Clinton criticised Mr Obama for implying that he would meet the leaders of Cuba and Iran "without preconditions".
Mr Obama countered that the new US president should reach out to both countries, but conceded that preparation for such meetings was vital.
The two senators also differed over the economy and how to extend health care coverage.
Neither candidate scored a decisive blow during the 90-minute encounter, says the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington.
But as Mr Obama, the front-runner, did not slip up, this probably means that he won, our correspondent adds.
The Texas debate was the first of two to be held ahead of the 4 March primaries.
Mrs Clinton now needs a majority of the remaining delegates to beat Mr Obama.
He has at least 1,353 - according to an Associated Press projection - of the 2,025 delegates he needs to secure the Democratic nomination at the party's convention in August.
Mrs Clinton has 1,264 delegates. Texas and Ohio have a combined total of 334 delegates up for grabs.
Correspondents say the blue-collar vote will be crucial in both contests, and the Clinton campaign has already begun targeting lower-income workers in its ads.
But in his drive to become the first black US president, Mr Obama has recently gained support from some powerful unions, including the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BA AND VIRGIN TO PAY OUT REFUNDS !

Virgin tipped off the authorities that there had been price collusion. People who flew long-haul with British Airways or Virgin Atlantic between 11 August 2004 and 23 March 2006 will be eligible for a refund.
Virgin and BA have reached agreement on a class action suit, which will now have to be approved by US courts.
BA was fined for price-fixing on fuel surcharges while Virgin also admitted breaching the law but escaped a fine.
The refunds will be worth one-third of the fuel surcharge, between about £2 and £10 for each flight.
Claims process
Individuals and businesses that bought a ticket on either airline in the UK or the US will be able to claim refunds.
"Virgin deeply regrets its involvement and believes the provisional settlement draws a line under the episode," a spokesman for the airline said.

DO I QUALIFY?
You may be eligible for a refund of one-third of your fuel surcharge if you bought:
A BA or Virgin long-haul ticket
In the UK or US
Between 11 August 2004 and 23 March 2006
Paid a fuel surcharge

Full details of the claims process will be available in about 60 days.

"The US courts still need to approve the refund process, which will take some time, and further details about the claims process will then be announced by an independent claims administrator," he added.
British Airways' chief executive Willie Walsh also said that the settlement would give the airline a chance to move on.
"As we have previously said, we absolutely condemn any anti-competitive activity by anybody," he said.
"This settlement, which British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have jointly agreed with the lawyers for the plaintiffs, is fair and reasonable," he added.
BA shares closed down 4% on Friday at 278.75p
The class action suit was brought by the US law firm Cohen Milstein.
Cohen Milstein estimates that the settlement will be worth about $200m (£100m), £73.5m of which will be set aside to pay claims by passengers who bought tickets in the UK in pounds sterling.

Check BA share price

BA said that the refunds would be worth between £1 and £11.50 per flight while Virgin said they would be between £2 and £10.
BA was fined £121.5m by the Office of Fair Trading and $300m by the US Department of Justice for colluding with Virgin on the level of fuel surcharges that would be added to their ticket prices.
Virgin escaped the fines because it had informed the authorities that the breaches had happened.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

US TO TAKE OWN FOOD TO OLYMPICS !

By James Reynolds - BBC News, Beijing.

China's Olympic food

China has expressed regret that the US has decided not to trust its food during this summer's Olympic Games.
The US delegation has said it is planning to bring its own food for American athletes.
At a news conference in Beijing, a senior official, Kang Yi, said it was a pity that the US had apparently decided not to trust China's food.
Ms Kang insisted that the food served to athletes at the Olympics would exceed international health standards.
For China, a good Olympic Games means cheering spectators, record-breaking performances and athletes and fans all sitting down to enjoy some good Chinese-made food.
But the US is not so sure about the food part, and plans to import its own meat and cook its own meals for its athletes when they get to Beijing.
Ms Kang and her colleagues were asked about the allegation that chickens on sale here are so full of hormones that athletes would test positive for steroids if they were to eat them.
There is no scientific evidence for this, insisted Lu Yong, who runs Beijing's municipal food safety monitoring centre.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

US CONFIDENT OVER SATELLLITE HIT !

The Pentagon used a missile to shoot down the satellite.

Enlarge Image

The US is confident that its shooting down of a disabled spy satellite with a missile managed to destroy its potentially toxic fuel tank.
Marine Gen James Cartwright said there was a 80-90% chance that the satellite's tank had been destroyed.
A fire ball, vapour cloud and spectral analysis indicating the presence of hydrazine all indicated that the tank had been hit, he told reporters.
The operation has been criticised by China and Russia.
"We're very confident that we hit the satellite," Gen Cartwright said at a Pentagon briefing hours after the missile was fired.
"We also have a high degree of confidence that we got the tank."

Graphic of how the satellite was hit

It would take another 24-48 hours for officials to confirm whether the operations had been completely successful, he said.

BROKEN SATELLITE
Owner: National Reconnaissance Office
Mission: Classified
Launched: 14 Dec 2006
Weight: 2,300 kg (5,000lbs)
1,134kg (2,500lbs) could survive re-entry
Carrying hydrazine thruster fuel

Gen Cartwright said he could not rule out that hazardous material might fall to earth, but said there was no evidence of this happening so far.
He added that officials would continue to track debris falling over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans over the next two days.
"Thus far we've seen nothing larger than a football," he said.
The satellite, USA 193, was struck 153 nautical miles (283 km) above earth by an SM-3 missile fired from a warship in waters west of Hawaii.

Operatives had only a 10-second window to hit the satellite, which went out of control shortly after it was launched in December 2006.
The missile needed to pierce the bus-sized satellite's fuel tank, containing more than 450kg (1,000lbs) of toxic hydrazine, which was otherwise expected to survive re-entry.

USA 193 lost control shortly after launch on a Delta II rocket.
China called on the US on Thursday to provide more information about the mission.
Russia suspects the operation was a cover to test anti-satellite technology under the US missile defence programme.
The US denies the operation was a response to an anti-satellite test carried out by China last year, which prompted fears of a space arms race.
US officials had said that without an attempt to destroy the fuel tank, and with the satellite's thermal control system gone, the fuel would have been frozen solid, allowing the tank to resist the heat of re-entry.
If the tank were to have landed intact, it could have leaked toxic gas over a wide area - harming or killing humans if inhaled, officials had warned.
"The intent here was to preserve human life... it was the hydrazine we were after," Gen Cartwright said on Thursday.
The US has also denied that it shot down the satellite to prevent parts of it from falling into the hands of foreign powers.
Gen Cartwright said most of the satellite's intelligence value was likely to have been destroyed.

SATELLITE DESTRUCTION

1 SM-3 missile launched from a US Navy cruiser in Pacific Ocean

2 The three-stage missile headed for collision location, where the relative "closing" speed was expected to be 10km/s (22,000mph
3 Satellite came in range at altitude of 247km (133 nautical miles), close to edge of Earth's atmosphere
4 Missile made contact with satellite with objective of breaking fuel tank, freeing hydrazine into space
5 Much of the debris will burn up but an as yet unknown amount is expected to be scattered over hundreds of kilometres
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ANNAN HAILS KENYA TALKS PROGRESS !

Ex-UN chief Kofi Annan has announced considerable progress in talks between Kenya's government and opposition aimed at ending the political crisis.
Talks have been adjourned until Friday, as negotiators consult on a compromise agreement.
The deal is understood to involve the creation of a prime ministerial post, the BBC's Adam Mynott reports.
At least 1,000 people have died in violence since the December poll, which the opposition alleges was rigged.
"I am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel," Mr Annan said after negotiators from President Mwai Kibaki's government and the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) adjourned their talks on Thursday.
Our correspondent adds, however, that the compromise discussed by the two teams includes elements that will make the constituencies on both sides unhappy.
The current uneasy calm in Kenya should not be misunderstood as a return to normalcy - International Crisis Group report

The rivals have agreed in principle on a grand coalition as a solution to the crisis, but discussions had reached deadlock over how it would work in practice.
The creation of a post of prime minister - which does not exist under the current constitution - was one of the opposition's demands.
Najib Balal, a senior ODM member, told the BBC on Thursday that the opposition would be prepared to accept the post of prime minister provided it carried the necessary authority and power.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BEST BOOKER WINNER TO BE CHOSEN!

Peter Carey won the prize twice, in 1988 and 2001. The Booker-winning novel voted the best from the prize's 40-year history is to be honoured with a special award.
A panel of judges will choose a shortlist of six books, while the public will determine the final winner.
In 1993 Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children was named the Booker of Bookers, a title given to celebrate the award's 25th anniversary.
The Best of the Booker Prize winner will be announced at the London Literature Festival in July.
Members of the public will be invited to vote for their favourite novel via the Man Booker website after the shortlist has been made public in May.

Anne Enright's The Gathering won in 2007
The first Booker Prize winner was announced in April 1969 and was awarded to PH Newby's Something To Answer For.
Other high profile winners have included The Sea, The Sea by the late Iris Murdoch in 1978, Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally in 1982 and The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje in 1992.
The prize was awarded to two novels in 1974 and 1992.
Novelist and critic Victoria Glendinning, who is on the shortlist selection panel, said the award was "a wonderful opportunity to read, or re-read, some of the best literature in English of the past four decades".
She added that "all readers will enjoy this".
A series of events celebrating the prize will also take place at the London Literary Festival, while a season looking at Booker authors at the movies will be held by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in June.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DOMAIN NAME FOR ASIA UP FOR GRABS !

There are big hopes for take-up of .asia. The so-called landrush for the latest domain name suffix - .asia - has begun.
DotAsia, the organisation overseeing the registration, is expecting huge demand for the first domain name extension for the Asia Pacific region.
But some in the industry are concerned about the proliferation of domain name suffixes in recent years.
While others think that the business of buying domain names has become more about protecting brands than promoting them.

Work to create the .asia domain began in 2000 with the DotAsia Organisation winning official approval to set up the domain in 2006.
A so-called sunrise period, where companies can reserve domains to match their trademarks, has been ongoing since October.
Now the process has been opened up for anyone to register and the first .asia domains will go live on the internet in March.
Thomas Herbert, a product manager from UK hosting firm and registrar Hostway, believes the nature of buying domain names has changed, largely due to the lucrative businesses of cybersquatting.
"People are willing to pay big money for a domain and with domain name reselling on the increase, it has become a matter of protecting your trademark," he said.
As well as cybersquatting there can be legitimate battles over suffixes.
For example, in the sunrise period for the .eu domain, there were some 95,000 conflicting claims for domains.
The www.polo.eu domain was applied for by car maker Volkswagen, fashion house Ralph Lauren and sweet manufacturer Nestle.
To limit squabbles and cybersquatting this time around, the DotAsia Organisation, has put in place certain rules.
Companies must be already registered in the Asia/Pacific region to qualify and if there are any conflicts of interest, the domain will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Such restrictions are likely to increase as more domain names come online, thinks Mr Herbert.
Leona Chen, spokeswoman for the DotAsia Organisation, anticipated plenty of interest and hoped the suffix could have as significant an impact in Asia as .com has globally.
"We are ready for something big. All of our people and systems are in place and we look forward to the commencement of the .asia landrush," she said.

UK domain name registrar NetNames pointed out that the number of firms registering interest is considerably lower than for the sell-off of the eu domain in April 2006.
"Only 30,780 applications have been filed for .asia domain names so far compared with 330,000 at the same point in the launch of the .eu domain name," said Jonathan Robinson, chief operating officer of NetNames.
He advised firms to get onboard quickly.
"Once it starts, there's far less protection for companies' trademarks and its open season on the .asia domain name for cybersquatters, online speculators and competitors," he said.
According to a report from Nominet, the overseer of the .uk registry, there is an active market in buying, selling and storing domain names, with sales regularly exceeding £100,000 and peak values reaching more than £1m.
While some of these resales are legitimate there was also a big market for speculators, said Nominet chief executive Lesley Cowley.
She was concerned that a sudden leap in the number of domain names could leave companies confused as to which ones they need to register for.
"The current process being developed by Icann (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) means there could be a couple of hundred or even thousands of new suffixes to bid for by the end of the year," she said.
The .asia domain name extends to some 70 countries, from the Middle East to Australia. 60% of the world's population lives within the Asia-Pacific region and there are 400 million internet users.
Other regional suffixes for Africa and Latin America are expected to follow.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYAN BEER STIRS OBAMAMANIA !

Tom Oladipo - BBC News, Nairobi.

The close battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to secure the Democratic nomination for the US presidency is captivating many across the world.
The charismatic Illinois senator is drawing big crowds at campaign rallies in a phenomenon known as Obamamania.
Kenya, where Senator Obama's father came from, is not immune from this either, but here, another Obama is riding on the crest of a wave.
This one, though, comes in the form of a brown bottle and is called Senator beer.
In many slums and low income areas, people who find beer too expensive often resort to cheap home brews.
But these potent drinks which include traditional spirits known as chang'aa have on a several occasions proved lethal.
Some consumers have died and others have been blinded. It's believed brewers spike the beer with deadly additives like ethanol and bleach.
So one brewery, East African Breweries Limited (EABL), spotted a market opportunity for a cheap beer that is also safe.
The result: Senator Keg beer, known simply by drinkers as "Obama".
The beer became an instant hit when it was launched in 2004 at about the same time as Barack Obama was elected as senator of Illinois.
Fears of alcoholism
The product has proved as popular as the US senator in the intervening years, but with more beer for less money there are fears it could contribute to a rise in alcoholism in Kenya.
EABL's Corporate Affairs Director Ken Kariuki rejects this.
He says that normally poorer people are consuming drinks with an alcohol content of around 40%. By contrast Senator beer is only 6%.

Barack Obama could be the first black president of the United States.
"So you are almost forcing a responsible consumption of alcohol, only this time you're packaging the product in a more affordable and hygienic manner," Mr Kariuki explains.
But others are worried that cheap beer can create more alcoholics.
Dr Frank Njenga, chairman of the National Campaign against Drug Abuse, says more needs to be done to tackle alcohol abuse.
"Alcohol problems require the intervention by all the players, chief of which is the government through its agencies and also those in the industry," he says.
Dr Njenga, who is also a prominent psychiatrist in Nairobi, says everyone must work together to combat the rising trend of alcohol consumption.
Certainly bar owners are not complaining.
On a good day, John Kameta, who owns the Bro Jimmoh bar in Nairobi, can make up to $100 from sales of Senator beer.
"With the high cost of living, people from across all income brackets are turning to Obama beer each evening," he says.
So what do Kenyans make of the new liquid Obama?
"I like the way it is served - from a jug, instead of a bottle. Most people think you get a larger serving from a jug," one devotee told me.
So while the outcome of the US elections may not matter as much in Kenya as it does in America, here every visit to the local watering hole is a vote of confidence in their Obama.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE INFLATION HITS 100,000%

Zimbabwe's central bank introduced a $10m note in January. Zimbabwe's soaring inflation hit an annual rate of 100,000% in January, new official figures show.
Ongoing shortages of food and fuel helped drive inflation from December's rate of 66,212%.
Government officials say the shortages make it hard to work out inflation with any degree of accuracy.
About 80% of the country's population lives in poverty and it is estimated that three million people have left the country for a new life in South Africa.

The economy has been in trouble for seven years, with supplies of basic foodstuffs, cooking oil and petrol all running low.
The central bank has introduced new banknotes to cope with the spiralling prices.
Last month it issued a 10 million Zimbabwe dollar note.
President Robert Mugabe stands for re-election next month.
He faces a challenge from his former finance minister, Simba Makoni and the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic change, Morgan Tsvangirai.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'THOUSANDS' MOVED FOR CHINA GAMES !

By James Reynolds BBC News, Beijing.

Thousands of people have been relocated for the Olympics. Just under 15,000 people have been moved from their homes to make way for Olympic venues, the organisers of the Beijing Olympics say.
Beijing's Municipal Construction Committee said 14,901 people from 6,307 households had been moved.
The figures differ dramatically from those provided last year by an international campaign group.
The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) said 1.25m people had been displaced ahead of the Games.
Zhang Jiaming, of the Municipal Construction Committee, said everyone who was relocated did so voluntarily.
Mr Zhang's figures are strikingly precise, but the discrepancies can be explained.
Beijing's numbers refer exclusively to people who have had to move to make way for Olympic venues - and nothing more.
The figures from the COHRE include everyone who has had to make way for new building work designed to make Beijing a more modern city for the Olympic Games.
So, for example, the centre would count people who have been made to leave their homes to make way for a new skyscraper - but Beijing would not.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EGYPT DETAINS BROTHERHOOD MEMBERS !

The brotherhood has recently been protesting against Israel and the US. The authorities in Egypt have rounded up dozens of members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Officials from the Islamist organisation put the figure of arrests at 70.
Correspondents say the government is escalating a crackdown on the group ahead of local elections in April.
Reports say the arrests bring to at least 150 the number of brotherhood activists taken into custody in the last week.
Nearly 500 Muslim Brotherhood members in all are now in detention, the group says.
Although the brotherhood is banned in Egypt, it is tolerated to a degree, with its members standing as independents in elections.
The municipal elections were postponed in 2006, in what analysts said was an attempt by the authorities to prevent more election success for the Muslim Brotherhood, after its gains in the 2005 parliamentary vote.
Brotherhood-supporting MPs hold more than one-fifth of seats in the Egyptian parliament.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS"

"EXCESSIVE FEAR IS ALWAYS POWERLESS" !

TOURIST TELLS OF SAFARI GUN RAID!

The camp was near Namibia's Etosha National Park. A Sussex tourist has told how he and his wife were subjected to a "truly terrifying" raid by armed bandits at a secluded safari camp in Namibia.
Nick and Maggi Bradgate, of Crowborough, East Sussex, were with seven other tourists and three guides, when the attack happened.
He said: "Our tents were slashed. We were dragged from our tents. One of them said 'Don't look or we kill you'."
Tour operator Kuoni said the incident was being fully investigated.
Mr Bradgate, 54, who runs a garden maintenance business with his wife, 53, said; "I looked up at one point and I got hit in the head.
The safety and security of visitors to Namibia is an absolute priority and this is an isolated and rare incident - Namibia Tourist Board.

"They fired one shot in the air and waved knives under our noses, so we knew these guys meant business."
He said three of four attackers took cash, passports, mobile phones and camera equipment during the 25-minute attack in the middle of the night.
Mr Bradgate said they were left "cold shocked and in the middle of nowhere in the dark".
But he praised the staff at the camp, between the capital Windhoek and Etosha National Park, for looking after the party following the raid.
Lisa Cain-Jones, of Kuoni, said: "The safety and security of our clients are of paramount importance to us.
"We constantly monitor and follow the advice of the Foreign Office for all our destinations and work closely with our local ground agents."
She added: "This is the first incident involving Kuoni customers which is now being fully investigated."

A spokesman for the country's tourist board said: "Namibia Tourism can confirm that there was a robbery at Okonjima Campsite in Namibia on 2 February, the nine guests and three guides were unharmed."
He added: "Security measures were in place at Okonjima at the time, however these are being reviewed following the incident.
"The safety and security of visitors to Namibia is an absolute priority and this is an isolated and rare incident."
The Foreign Office website says most visits to Namibia are trouble-free, with road accidents and lost or stolen passports the main concern for holidaymakers.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

JFK MURDER 'TRANSCRIPT' UNVEILED !

The purported transcript may re-open the JFK conspiracy debate. Officials in Dallas, Texas, have unveiled the purported transcript of a conversation between US President John F Kennedy's assassin and another man.
The transcript records an alleged conversation between assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, who killed Oswald before he could face trial.
The two men discuss a plot to kill the president a month before his 22 November 1963 murder in Dallas.
A Dallas official said he did not know whether the transcript was genuine.
The transcript was found in a Dallas courthouse safe with other papers related to the assassination.
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he was told about the contents of the safe when he took office in 2007.
He showed a news conference the alleged transcript, a leather gun holster used to carry the gun that Ruby shot Oswald with, and a movie contract signed by Henry Wade - the Dallas District Attorney when Mr Kennedy was killed.

"We don't know if this is an actual conversation or not," said Mr Watkins.
"It will open up the debate as to whether or not there was a conspiracy to assassinate the president."
Staff at Mr Watkins' office have been busy cataloguing the items since the safe was opened last year.
One theory is that the transcript is a fake - part of a movie script that Mr Wade was working on.
In the transcript, Oswald and Ruby discuss a way to "get rid of" US Attorney General Robert Kennedy - JFK's brother - by killing the president.
Robert Kennedy was launching a crackdown on the mafia in the US at the time.
The conversation purportedly took place at a nightclub in Dallas owned by Ruby.
An investigation into the Kennedy assassination concluded that Oswald probably acted alone.
BBC NEWS REPORT

MUSHARRAF RULES OUT RESIGNATION !

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, says he has no plans to resign, despite a sweeping victory by the opposition in the country's parliamentary elections.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Mr Musharraf said there was a need to move forward to help bring about a stable democratic government in Pakistan.
Meanwhile the party of late former PM Benazir Bhutto says it is ready to form a coalition with Nawaz Sharif's PML-N.
The main party backing President Musharraf suffered a heavy defeat.
A union of Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) with the PML-N of another former PM, Nawaz Sharif, would have more than half parliament's seats.
The president's position has never looked more precarious, the BBC's Chris Morris in Islamabad says.
If a new governing coalition manages to muster a two-thirds majority in parliament, it could call for Mr Musharraf to be impeached.

NATIONAL RESULTS SO FAR
PPP (Bhutto's party) : 87
PML-N (Nawaz Sharif): 66
PML-Q: (pro-Musharraf) 39
MQM (Sindh-based): 19
ANP (Secular Pashtuns): 10
MMA (Islamic alliance): 3
Others: 34
Source: Election commission

But Mr Musharraf said that he would try to work with any new government.
"I would like to function with any party and any coalition because that is in the interest of Pakistan," he told the Wall Street Journal.
"The clash would be if the prime minister and president would be trying to get rid of each other. I only hope we would avoid these clashes," the president added.
Mr Musharraf was re-elected to the presidency last October, in a vote boycotted by the opposition as unconstitutional.
He has been a major US ally in the "war on terror" but his popularity has waned at home amid accusations of authoritarianism and incompetence.
The US State Department described Monday's election as a "step toward the full restoration of democracy".

At a press conference on Tuesday, Ms Bhutto's widower and the PPP leader, Asif Ali Zardari, said his party would "form a government of national consensus which will take along every democratic force".
"For now, the decision of the party is that we are not interested in any of those people who are part and parcel of the last government," he said, seemingly ruling out any coalition with the Pakistan Muslim League's pro-Musharraf wing, the PML-Q.
With votes counted in 258 out of 272 constituencies, the PPP has won 87 seats, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari invited Mr Sharif to join a coalition.

Can Musharraf survive?
Pakistani press upbeat

The PML-N, or Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz, is in second place with 66 seats so far.
Mr Sharif said earlier on Tuesday that he was prepared to discuss joining a coalition with Mr Zardari's party in order "to rid Pakistan of dictatorship forever".
The two parties so far have a combined total of 153 seats in the 272-seat parliament.
President Pervez Musharraf main parliamentary ally, the PML-Q, has already admitted defeat.
The party has come a distant third, with 39 seats so far.
PML-Q chairman, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, told Associated Press Television News his party accepted the results "with an open heart" and was prepared to "sit on opposition benches".

Mr Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, stepped down as army chief last year, at the urging of his foreign allies.
The parliamentary election has been seen as a key milestone in Pakistan's transition from military to civilian rule.
The election was preceded by months of violence, including the suicide attack that killed PPP leader, Ms Bhutto, in December.
The poll was initially scheduled for early January but was delayed after her assassination.
Pakistan's military has been trying to contain a Taleban-influenced Islamist insurgency along the country's rugged frontier with Afghanistan.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RARE COOPERATION TO SAVE GORILLAS !

By Sarah Grainger - BBC News, Kampala.

The slaughter of mountain gorillas in 2007 shocked the world. Three countries have come together for the first time, to try to save the mountain gorillas of central Africa.
Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda are launching a project to improve security for the great apes.
One of the world's most endangered species, they live at the point where the three countries meet.
There are only about 700 gorillas still left in the world. Numbers have been badly affected by poaching.
They have also been hit by the deadly ebola virus and the destruction of the mountain forests - their natural habitat.
The volcanic Virunga mountains that straddle Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the heartland of these great apes.

Diary: Protecting mountain gorillas

A census carried out in 2004 estimated that 380 mountain gorillas, more than half of the world's population, lived in the Virunga national park and surrounding region.
They are often poached for bush meat. Last July, five gorillas were killed - shot dead execution style, inside the park.
More recently, rebel forces loyal to the dissident Congolese general Laurent Nkunda, took over large areas of the park, forcing out the rangers and leaving the gorillas vulnerable to poachers.
The wildlife authorities of all three countries are well aware of how important the gorillas are as they represent an important revenue earner.
Tourists pay $500 each for a permit to track the animals, raising $5m annually for the three countries.
The conservation project, which was launched in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, will focus on greater security and ways of discouraging local communities from destroying the region's forests.
It aims to give them a share of the money made from gorilla-trekking permits.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

POWER CUTS 'EMBARRASSING' NIGERIA !

Frequent power cuts in Nigeria have become "embarrassing", the country's vice-president has said.
Goodluck Jonathan was speaking after the lights went out at a meeting he was attending in the capital, Abuja.
During last year's election, President Umaru Yar'Adua said he would declare a "state of emergency" in the power sector but little has changed.
A senior official gave the BBC shocking details of why much vaunted improvements have had little effect.
The vice-president was speaking after a power cut at a meeting in the Sheraton International Hotel in Abuja, where dignitaries were marking the 20th anniversary of the country's road safety agency.
"It is a problem we have and we must solve. We are determined to solve it. It is not about Abuja, but the whole country and we must get out of this embarrassing situation," he said.
President Yar'Adua fired his special assistant on power, Foluseke Somolu, last week local media reported. Mr Somolu served in the same position in the last government of Olusegun Obasanjo.

NIGERIA POWER SHORTAGES
Produces 3,000 megawatts of electricity
Needs at least 8000 megawatts
10 existing power stations running at very low capacity

The government has spent $16 billion dollars on building new power stations and trying to fix transmission grids in the last nine years, the speaker of the House of Representatives said last month.
But six power stations - already paid for by the government - are yet to be completed years after they were begun, a member of the committee set up to reform the power industry told the BBC.
Eighteen turbines worth $3 billion are sitting untouched in a Lagos port because the government has no way of moving them to the site of the power stations, he said.
"It's been an embarrassment for nearly a decade. Some of the construction work on the stations is so delayed that after six years they have not even finished building the foundations," said the committee member, who did not want to be identified.
"Only the president knows what the next move is," he added.

A further three power stations have been completed, but have insufficient gas to power them.
At the same time oil companies burn off gas from onshore well heads, causing environmental distress to the communities who live in the oil-rich Delta region.
President Yar'Adua has issued deadlines to oil companies to stop "flaring" the gas, but some have tried to push them back.
A new contract to supply gas to the power stations is being finalised.
Nigeria currently has 10 power stations - they are all between 20 and 30 years old.
"The necessary maintenance work was never done," an inside source said.
In the meantime, businesses and many homes rely on their generators.
Many businesses say diesel represents about a third of their costs.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AID WORKERS FLEE DARFUR BOMBING !

More than two million have been displaced by the Darfur conflict. Some United Nations aid workers are withdrawing from eastern Chad, following bombing across the Sudanese border in Darfur.
A camp for displaced Darfuris was hit during the bombing, although it was empty as people had fled an earlier government offensive.
The UN humanitarian chief earlier warned of "disastrous consequences" for 20,000 civilians if attacks continued.
Aid workers say the bombing could be heard in Chad.
At least 200,000 people have died in five years of conflict between rebels, the army and pro-government militias in Darfur.
The UN refugee agency said its staff would return when the situation calmed down.
The BBC's Stephanie Hancock says the bombing raid continued into Tuesday morning and could be heard by aid workers over the border in Chad.
'Caught in the middle'
The bombing reportedly claimed the life of a 55-year-old woman who lost both her legs, as refugees fled into Chad.
The latest influx of refugees comes as aid agencies struggle to cope with an estimated 10,000 people who fled Darfur in the last week following previous bombing raids.
Residents say more than 100 people were killed in that offensive against three major towns.

UN humanitarian chief Sir John Holmes called for all parties to act now to stop the attacks and help bring those responsible to account under international law.
"I am very concerned for the civilian population caught in the middle of this violence," he said.
"Should further attacks occur, the consequences for 20,000 civilians in this area could be disastrous."
The joint African Union and UN peacekeeping mission is due to expand to 26,000 people this year, though currently just 9,000 peacekeepers are in place.
The government has denied links to the Janjaweed militia, accused of trying to "cleanse" the region of black Africans.
At least two million people have been displaced by the conflict in Darfur.
Sudan and Chad both accuse each other of harbouring rebel groups.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE TOWNS WHERE PEOPLE LIVE THE LONGEST !

By Denise Winterman BBC News Magazine.

The quest to live longer is one of humanity's oldest dreams and three isolated communities seem to have stumbled across the answer. So what can they teach us about a longer life? Something remarkable links the remote Japanese island of Okinawa, the small Sardinian mountain town of Ovodda and Loma Linda in the US. People live longer in these three places than anywhere else on earth.
At an age when the average Briton is predicted to die - 77 years for men and 81 for women - inhabitants of these three places are looking forward to many more years of good health. Often they're still working in jobs as demanding as heart surgery.
Okinawa has a population of one million and of those 900 are centenarians, four times higher than the average in Britain or America. Even more remarkably, Ovodda is the only region in the world where as many men as women live to be 100 years of age, bucking the global trend.
But what is even more intriguing is that each community is distinct from the others and raises a different theory as to why residents live longer. In all three communities scientists have dedicated themselves to trying to uncover these unique secrets. So what can we learn from the towns where people live the longest?

OKINAWA, JAPAN

There is one remarkable scientific fact that sets Okinawans apart from the rest of us, they actually age more slowly than almost anyone else on earth.
"The calendar may say they're 70 but their body says they're 50," says Bradley Willcox, a scientist researching the extraordinary phenomenon. "The most impressive part of it is that a good lot of them are healthy until the very end."
Finding the cause of their exceptional longevity is not simple but the spotlight has fallen on one hormone - DHEA. It's a precursor of both oestrogen and testosterone and produced in the adrenal glands.
While scientists don't know what it does, they do know the hormone decreases with age and levels decline at a much slower rate among the Okinawans.
Explanations for this mostly centre around the dinner table. The Okinawans not only eat more tofu and soya products than any other population in the world, their diet also includes a vast range of different vegetables and fruit all rich in anti-oxidants. Scientists refer to it as a rainbow diet.
But it's what they don't eat that may be at the heart of their exceptionally long lives.
The Okinawan's most significant cultural tradition is known as hara hachi bu, which translated means eat until you're only 80% full.
In a typical day they only consume around 12,00 calories, about 20% less than most people in the UK. Culturally it is a million miles from attitudes in a lot of Western societies, where all-you-can-eat meal deals are offered in restaurants on most high streets.
Scientists call it caloric restriction, but don't entirely understand why it works. They think it sends a signal to the body that there is going to be a impending famine, sending it into a protective, self-preservation mode.
"It's this ability to trick their bodies into starvation that may be keeping Okinawans physiologically so young. It's a stark contrast with the cultural habits that drive food consumption in other parts of the world," says Mr Willcox.

OVODDA, SARDINIA

In stark contrast to Okinawans, the residents of Ovodda don't count calories and meat is very firmly on the menu, while tofu and soya are not. In this part of Sardinia, the sheep are the only vegetarians.
But this small town of just over 1,700 residents boasts five centenarians and, even more remarkably, as many men live to 100 as women.
The benefits of a Mediterranean diet are well known, but this still does not account for the number in Ovodda and other parts of Sardinia. It's even the case that Sardinians who emigrated at 20, 30 or 40 years of age still manage to reach 100, say researchers.
Over the years Professor Luca Deiana has tested every single Sardinian centenarian and has come up with a surprising theory about why there are so many.
For hundreds of years families in Ovodda have lived in relative isolation from the rest of the world, marrying into each others' families. In fact most people living in the town today are descended from only a few original settlers.
"Marriage among relatives is not the rule but there are some cases of this taking place," says Professor Deiana.
"From a genetic point of view when this happens there's a higher probability of having genetic diseases, but also of having positive results like centenarians."
In Ovodda, this interbreeding actually seems to have enabled people to live longer. The limited gene pool has provided a unique opportunity to discover specific genes that are associated with long life. Professor Deiana has detected a number of unusual genetic characteristics that seem to link the centenarians of Ovodda.
"One particular gene on the X chromosome seems to be faulty, failing to produce an enzyme known as G6PD. This can often have a negative impact on health, but in Ovodda it may well have had a positive effect."
The role G6PD may play in living longer is now being researched further, but the professor is convinced the genetic elixir of life lies with the families of Ovodda.

LOMA LINDA, CALIFORNIA

In Loma Linda, California, one community is proving anyone can increase their chances of living a longer, healthier life. The extraordinary longevity of residents may not have anything to do with genes.
The community has discovered a secret that's much easier to find than any gene. Its effect is so powerful that it enables them to live longer than anyone else in the US.
For many of those living in Loma Lindo long life is a matter of faith. A significant number of people in the town are Seventh Day Adventist, a religion whose members live between five and 10 years longer than fellow citizens.
This can be partly explained by the fact Adventists don't drink or smoke and many stick to a vegetarian diet the church advises. But not all members do and even they live significantly longer than average.
"It does certainly raise the question if there's something about spiritual life that also has an impact on longer life," says Dr Gary Fraser, who is researching the community.
"At this moment we don't really know that but there's been one interesting fact that's been known now for 20 or 30 years and that is that people that go to church regularly - whatever faith they have - live longer and there's no question about that."
It seems that regular churchgoers have significantly lower levels of stress hormones and so may be better equipped to cope with the challenges in life, say scientists.
"Religion and connection to something higher than oneself, connection to the sacred, connection to a tight-knit religious community allows you to modulate your reactions and your emotions to believe there is a broader purpose," says Dr Kerry Morton, who is involved in a longer-term study on Adventist health.
"Therefore your body can stay in balance and not be destroyed by those stressors and traumas over time."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FIDEL CASTRO ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT !

Castro's career

Cuba's ailing leader Fidel Castro has said he will not accept another term as president, ending 49 years in power.
"I neither will aspire to, nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief," he told the newspaper, Granma.
The 81-year-old handed over power temporarily to his brother, Raul, in July 2006 when he underwent surgery.
US President George W Bush said the news should mark the beginning of a transition towards democracy for Cuba.
"The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for a democracy, and eventually this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections," he told reporters in Rwanda.
"And we're going to help. The United States will help the people of Cuba realise the blessings of liberty."

Reaction in quotes
Cold War to thaw?

The European Union meanwhile said it was ready to seek ways to relaunch ties with Cuba that have been almost completely frozen under Mr Castro. Mr Castro has ruled Cuba since leading a revolution in 1959.
In December, Mr Castro indicated that he might possibly step down in favour of younger leaders, saying "my primary duty is not to cling to any position".
Soon afterwards, Raul Castro appeared to suggest that his older brother still had an important political role to play, saying the president still had full use of his mental faculties and was being consulted on all important policy issues.
In the letter, published on Granma's website during the middle of the night in Cuba, Mr Castro said he would not accept another five-year term as president when the National Assembly meets on Sunday, because of the health problems.
"It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total devotion, that I am not in a physical condition to offer," he wrote.

Excerpts of Castro's letter
Castro: The great survivor
Profile: Raul Castro

Mr Castro said he had declined to step down after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in 2006 to avoid dealing a blow to his government before "the people" were ready for change "in the middle of the battle" with the US.
"To prepare the people for my absence, psychologically and politically, was my first obligation after so many years of struggle," he added.
Despite the announcement of his impending retirement, the Cuban leader insisted he was "not saying farewell".
"I just want to carry on fighting like a soldier of ideas," he added. "I will continue writing under the title, Reflections of Comrade Fidel."
"I will be one more weapon in the arsenal that you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I will be careful."
The National Assembly is widely expected to elect 76-year-old Raul Castro as his successor, although analysts say there is speculation about a possible generational jump with Vice-President Carlos Lage Davila, 56, a leading contender.
"There is also the intermediate generation which learned together with us the basics of the complex and almost unattainable art of organising and leading a revolution," Mr Castro wrote in Tuesday's letter.
If elected, Raul Castro has indicated that major economic reforms and "structural changes" could be on the way.

FIDEL CASTRO

Born in 1926 to a wealthy, landowning family
Took up arms in 1953, six years before coming to power
Brother Raul (pictured) was deputy and Che Guevara third in command
Has outlasted nine American presidents
Target of many CIA assassination plots
Daughter is a dissident exile in Miami

Castro's life in pictures

Fidel Castro did not say whether he would continue to be involved in government affairs as a member of the Council of State or retain his post of secretary of the ruling Communist Party.
The Cuban ambassador to the Netherlands, Oscar de los Reyes, told the BBC that Mr Castro "embodies to a very large extent what Cuba is today" and would always remain Cuba's "elder statesman".
"Fidel will always preside over our revolution... In our minds and hearts he will always be the leader," he said.
There was very little reaction to Mr Castro's decision in Havana on Tuesday morning, and it was not until 0500 (1000 GMT) that official radio reported the news.
The BBC's Michael Voss in the capital says nobody knows whether Mr Castro's decision not to seek another five-year term has been prompted by a further decline in his health - it has been an official secret since the moment he was taken ill.
The president has not been seen in public for 19 months, although the government occasionally releases photographs and pre-edited video of him meeting visiting leaders from around the world.
Last month, Mr Castro was shown talking to his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who described him as being lucid and in good health.

In power since he led a communist revolution which ousted the regime of President Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Mr Castro has been a dominant force in Latin American politics and a thorn in the side of the United States.
Under his leadership, Cuba underwent an economic and social transformation.
Most foreign and local businesses were nationalised, land reform was introduced, and education and health care for the poor improved. At the same time, Mr Castro was criticised for not restoring democracy and ruling with absolute power.

Mr Castro created the western hemisphere's first communist state.
His government saw off an early threat from Cuban exiles, backed by the US, who launched an abortive invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.
The following year saw the Cuban missile crisis, when the US and the Soviet Union came to the brink of war over the presence of Soviet nuclear warheads in Cuba.
Mr Castro also backed a string of left-wing leaders in South America and Africa and, in 1975, sent thousands of troops to fight in Angola.
It is said that Mr Castro has been the target of many CIA-sponsored assassination plots as a result of such policies - in 1999 a Cuban interior ministry official put the figure at 637.
Washington has also imposed an economic embargo on Cuba for more than four decades, which helped cripple the Cuban economy in the 1980s after the Soviet Union withdrew financial aid and subsequently broke up.
A tourism boom along with a rapprochement with oil-rich Venezuela, run by Mr Castro's great friend, Hugo Chavez, has allowed the economy recover slowly in recent years.
Our correspondent says the news of his retirement will take some digesting by Cubans, 70% of whom have known no other leader.
Mr Castro will leave a mixed legacy, he adds, with both friend and foe recognising him as an iconic leader and major figure in the post-war era.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NEW BID TO BREAK KENYA DEADLOCK !

Kofi Annan has said the two rivals are very close to a deal. Talks aimed at breaking Kenya's political deadlock have resumed a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged a power-sharing deal.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga has called for powers to be vested in the new post of prime minister.
He says he was cheated of victory in December's elections - a charge denied by President Mwai Kibaki, who wants to keep his powers.
Violence over the dispute has left at least 1,000 people across the country.
However, most parts of Kenya are now calm.
"I frankly believe that the time for a political settlement was yesterday," Ms Rice said after holding separate meetings with President Kibaki and Mr Odinga on Monday.

Round-up: After the violence

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is meeting Mr Kibaki separately before returning to the talks, where he is the chief mediator.
Last week he said the two sides were "very close" to a solution.
'Move forward'
The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says that although both sides have agreed the idea of a grand coalition in principle, they appear deadlocked over how it should work in practice.
Ms Rice also said: "It can't be that there is simply the illusion of power-sharing, it has to be real."
President Kibaki's team has not revealed its position, although it has left several cabinet posts unfilled, opening the way for some form of coalition government.
A government negotiator has also said they would be happy to change the constitution - a step that would be needed to create the post of prime minister.
The government has also warned against a foreign solution imposed on Kenya.
But Ms Rice dismissed suggestions from Kenyan ministers that the US was meddling in Kenyan affairs.
"It's Kenyans who are insisting that their political leaders, that their political class finds a solution to the crisis so that Kenya can move forward," she said.
However, foreign diplomats have warned representatives of both sides of dire consequences if they scupper the process.
The US has said that 10 MPs, accused of stirring up the violence, will be banned from entering the US, while some donors have threatened to reduce aid to Kenya.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

INTERVENE IN NIGERIA. BUSH URGED!

A leading militant group from Nigeria's oil region has written to US President George Bush, asking him to help solve their dispute with the government.
In their open letter, the militants pointed out that the US receives a large proportion of its crude oil from the Niger Delta.
President Bush is on a tour of Africa but Nigeria is not on his itinerary.
Attacks by militants have drastically cut Nigeria's production and helped drive up the price of oil.
The appeal came from a faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) loyal to Henry Okah.
Mr Okah was extradited from Angola to Nigeria last week. His exact whereabouts are not known.
The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says Nigeria's militants have used Mr Bush's trip as an opportunity to attract publicity.
Last month they tried to invite the Hollywood actor George Clooney to intervene in the crisis.
Criminal activities
The militant faction is demanding the release of Mr Okah following his extradition.
Mend claimed he was being held at a secret location in northern Nigeria, but ministers in Abuja have not commented.

Should Africa host Africom?

Mr Okah is a founder of Mend. He was arrested in Angola five months ago on arms trafficking charges.
The group came to prominence in the Delta two years ago when it cut Nigerian oil production by a quarter.
While other militant groups have called a ceasefire after being offered government incentives, Mr Okah's faction has remained active.
They have carried out a series of attacks in the region since his arrest last September.
Earlier this month, Nigeria's government told all oil companies which had fled attacks in the Niger Delta to return or stop working, saying the area was now safe.
Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer but more than half of its people live in poverty.
Our correspondent says although the people of the Delta have genuine grievances, many of the armed groups are thought to be involved in criminal activities.

"SAYINGS" !

"ONE NEVER KNOWS WHAT EACH DAY IS GOING TO BRING.

THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO BE OPEN AND READY FOR IT" !

RICE IN NAIROBI TO PUSH FOR DEAL !

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is holding talks in Kenya in an attempt to push the country's rival political groups to accept a deal to share power.
Before meeting President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga in Nairobi, Ms Rice said a coalition was needed "so that Kenya can be governed".
She earlier held talks with the lead mediator, former UN chief Kofi Annan.
Both sides agreed on Friday to set up a panel to review December's presidential vote, which Mr Odinga says was rigged.
The dispute has led to widespread political and ethnic violence in which at least 1,000 people have been killed and 600,000 have fled their homes.

Ms Rice arrived in Nairobi and went straight into a meeting with Mr Annan, who briefed her on the discussions so far between the government and the opposition.
In a brief statement afterwards, she paid tribute to the former UN secretary-general's mediation efforts, saying there had been progress under his leadership and that his mission was "fully supported by the entire international community".
But Ms Rice said there was now an urgent need for a power-sharing agreement.
"There has clearly been progress and that is in large part I think to the fact that these are leaders of the Kenyan people who want to move forward," she said.

Aids patients hit by crisis
Round-up: After the violence

"There needs to be a governance arrangement that will allow real power-sharing, that will allow a coalition, indeed a grand coalition, so that Kenya can be governed."
Ms Rice said the 27 December presidential election had not produced "an outcome that can lead to the governance of Kenya".
"So now that outcome has to be produced by negotiation and goodwill," she added.
Mr Annan said there had been no attempt by the international community to impose a solution, but simply an insistence that a solution should be found.
The BBC's Adam Mynott in Nairobi says considerable progress has been made but there is no agreement ready to be signed and there remains considerable opposition in the government to an imposed solution.
"We encourage our friends to support us and not make any mistake of putting a gun to anybody's head and saying 'either/or', because that cannot work," Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula warned on Sunday.
"Even if we get visitors to help us in any way possible, the answer to the problem in Kenya lies with Kenyans themselves."
The talks between government and opposition negotiators are due to resume on Tuesday, after being adjourned last Thursday.

On Friday, Mr Annan announced that both sides had agreed to set up an independent panel, including Kenyan and non-Kenyan experts, to investigate "all aspects" of the disputed election.

Kofi Annan has said the two rivals are very close to a deal
The committee is due to start work on 15 March and submit its report within three to six months, he added.
"We are there, we are very close, we are moving steadily," Mr Annan said after two days of secret talks to end the crisis.
The government negotiator, Mutula Kilonzo, said on Thursday that the two sides had agreed to write a new constitution within a year.
Correspondents say this could pave the way for the creation of the post of prime minister, which Mr Odinga could take, although the opposition team said the issue of power-sharing needed to be resolved first.
Other details still reportedly needing to be worked out include the division of ministerial portfolios in any coalition.
Foreign diplomats have warned representatives of both sides of dire consequences if they scupper the process.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NO AGREEMENT IN MCCARTNEY DIVORCE!

Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills have failed to reach agreement over a financial settlement in their High Court divorce case.
The settlement will be decided at a later date by Mr Justice Bennett after he reserved judgement on the case.
It has been suggested the financial settlement could break records.
Divorce experts have suggested that, based on recent cases, Ms Mills could walk away with £60m of Sir Paul's estimated £825m.
That would make it the biggest settlement of its kind in a British court.
The current record rests with businessman John Charman who was ordered to pay £48m to his ex-wife last year.
But the details of the McCartneys' settlement may never be known to the outside world.
Any financial settlement will not be made public unless the case goes to the Court of Appeal.
Ms Mills, who lost part of a leg in a road accident in 1993, married Sir Paul in June 2002, four years after first wife, Linda, died of breast cancer.
The couple announced the end of their marriage in 2006.

MACHINES 'TO MATCH MAN BY 2029'!

By Helen Briggs Science reporter, BBC News, Boston

Tiny machines could roam the body curing diseases. Machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, a leading US inventor has predicted.
Humanity is on the brink of advances that will see tiny robots implanted in people's brains to make them more intelligent, said Ray Kurzweil.
The engineer believes machines and humans will eventually merge through devices implanted in the body to boost intelligence and health.
"It's really part of our civilisation," Mr Kurzweil explained.
"But that's not going to be an alien invasion of intelligent machines to displace us."
Machines were already doing hundreds of things humans used to do, at human levels of intelligence or better, in many different areas, he said.
"I've made the case that we will have both the hardware and the software to achieve human level artificial intelligence with the broad suppleness of human intelligence including our emotional intelligence by 2029," he said.
"We're already a human machine civilisation; we use our technology to expand our physical and mental horizons and this will be a further extension of that."
Humans and machines would eventually merge, by means of devices embedded in people's bodies to keep them healthy and improve their intelligence, predicted Mr Kurzweil.
"We'll have intelligent nanobots go into our brains through the capillaries and interact directly with our biological neurons," he told BBC News.

CHALLENGES FACING HUMANITY
Make solar energy affordable
Provide energy from fusion
Develop carbon sequestration
Manage the nitrogen cycle
Provide access to clean water
Reverse engineer the brain
Prevent nuclear terror
Secure cyberspace
Enhance virtual reality
Improve urban infrastructure
Advance health informatics
Engineer better medicines
Advance personalised learning
Explore natural frontiers

The nanobots, he said, would "make us smarter, remember things better and automatically go into full emergent virtual reality environments through the nervous system".
Mr Kurzweil is one of 18 influential thinkers chosen to identify the great technological challenges facing humanity in the 21st century by the US National Academy of Engineering.
The experts include Google founder Larry Page and genome pioneer Dr Craig Venter.
The 14 challenges were announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, which concludes on Monday.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

'DEADLIEST' ATTACK IN AFGHANISTAN

The Taleban have carried out numerous attacks in Kandahar.
Enlarge Image

At least 80 people have been killed in a suicide bombing outside the Afghan city of Kandahar - in what appears to be the deadliest attack since 2001.
The massive blast hit a crowd of people watching a dog-fighting contest.
"This suicide attack was the work of the Taleban," said Governor Assadullah Khalid, adding the death toll may rise.
Southern Afghanistan is a Taleban stronghold and last week the Kandahar governor himself was the target of an attempt on his life.
The Taleban have not claimed responsibility for the blast, but it bears all their hallmarks, says the BBC's Jon Brain in the Afghan capital.
Among those killed was Abdul Hakim, a local police chief fiercely opposed to the Taleban who is thought to have been the target of the attack.

Excitement was mounting among the 500-strong, male-only crowd when the huge blast struck.
Dog-fighting competitions, which were banned under the Taleban regime, are a popular pastime in Afghanistan.
"Fighting had just started between two dogs," said one spectator, Abdul Karim.
"Suddenly I heard a huge explosion next to a police vehicle. Then I saw lots of people dead and wounded.
"I counted over 40 people on the ground dead," Mr Karim, 53, told the AFP news agency.
Twisted car and bicycle parts littered the ground as shawls and shoes lay scattered among the bodies of the dead and wounded.
Injured spectators staggered through the carnage searching for relatives.
Scores of wounded were packed into civilian cars and rushed to hospitals in the city centre, some 15km (nine miles) away.
Aside from Abdul Hakim, several other policemen were reported to be among the victims of Sunday's blast.

MAJOR TALEBAN ATTACKS
29 Dec 2007: 16 policemen killed in Kandahar
6 Nov 2007: At least 70 die in attack on sugar factory in Baghlan province
29 Sep 2007: At least 30 soldiers killed in bus attack in Kabul
16 Jan 2006: At least 24 people killed in two attacks in Kandahar

Deadliest Afghan attacks
In pictures: Afghan blast

The Taleban claim to have influence across most of the country and have extended their area of control from their traditional heartland in the south.
They have a significant presence around Kandahar from where they carry out suicide attacks and roadside bomb blasts.
The militants are even able to operate freely in Wardak province, neighbouring the capital Kabul.
Last year, violence in Afghanistan reached its highest levels since the Taleban were forced from power in 2001, analysts say.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

WE ARE READY !

Dear Family and Friends,

Now is not the time to give up! This is the rallying call in Zimbabwe and it's getting louder by the day as elections draw ever closer. This week I met a friend who had been transferred to a town nearly 400km away. We had not seen each other since August last year and those times, just six months ago, seem like they were from another era. It is hard to believe that back in August inflation had just topped one thousand percent and that now it's sixty six thousand percent. It's a percentage so high that none of us can comprehend what it really means. When I last saw my friend in August, a litre of milk was thirty thousand dollars; six months later it's five million dollars! My friend isn't surviving on his salary anymore. He can't afford for his wife and child to live with him and he survives only thanks to the subsidies given him by his parents who have a plot in the rural areas. My friend's entire monthly salary is sufficient to buy him a two litre bottle of cooking oil and one loaf of bread. It costs more than his entire monthly salary to travel the 400km back to the town he once lived in, to see his friends and relations. As is the norm in Zimbabwe today we talked about plans for survival. The usual question that was uppermost in the conversation was: Wouldn't it be better to leave the country? Go somewhere that has food in the shops, water in the taps, regular electricity and where even a menial job earns enough for you to pay your rent and buy a month's supply of basic foodstuffs. Despite all the hardships, we agreed that now was not the time to be making decisions and that we must wait till after the elections. Everyone is just trying to hold on until after the elections. Hope for real change is now less than six weeks away. It is undoubtedly going to be a gruelling six weeks. Since the Africa Cup of Nations football games ended, so too did the supply of electricity and many residential are as are back to fifteen hour a day power cuts. With these come water cuts and with 66 thousand percent inflation come prices that change at least once a day and businesses that are closed more than they are open.There is a feeling of real anticipation in the air of Zimbabwe and whether it is a protest vote or a ballot for a new democratic order, we stand ready to rebuild our battered land. Despite all the negatives attached to every aspect of the coming elections, we are ready.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 16 Feb 2008www.cathybuckle.com
My books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available in South Africafrom: books@clarkesbooks.co.za and in the UK from: orders@africabookcentre.com

KENYANS TO REVIEW DISPUTTED POLL!

Both sides claimed victory in the December elections. Kenya's rival political parties have agreed to set up an independent panel to review last year's disputed elections, Kofi Annan has said. The former United Nations secretary general however said that a possible power-sharing agreement had not yet been finalised.

The opposition has accused President Mwai Kibaki of rigging the poll. The dispute has led to protests, in which at least 1,000 people have died and 600,000 have fled their homes. The independent panel, including Kenyan and non-Kenyan experts, will investigate "all aspects" of the disputed election, said Mr Annan.

The committee is due to start work on 15 March and submit its report within three to six months, he added. "We are there, we are very close, we are moving steadily," Mr Annan said, after two days of secret talks to end the crisis. If patients cannot access their medication, HIV could kill more people than injuries from bullets -Walter KizitoMedecins Sans Frontieres.

Aids patients hit by crisis

He is due to meet Mr Kibaki and opposition Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga on Monday. The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says the teams may have agreed in principle to share power but details still need to be ironed out. The international community is pushing for a deal which would see Mr Odinga form a coalition with President Kibaki.

On Thursday, government negotiator Mutula Kilonzo said the two sides had agreed to write a new constitution within a year. This could pave the way for the creation of the post of prime minister, which Mr Odinga could take; however the opposition team says the issue of power sharing needed to be resolved first. Our correspondent says other details which would need to be worked out are the division of ministerial portfolios in a grand coalition.

During the talks, German's Foreign Minister Gernot Erler briefed both teams on how the country's grand coalition would work during a session on power-sharing. The teams are expected to get further briefings from their leaders before the talks resume next week. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive in Kenya on Monday to help put pressure on both sides to reach a deal.

Mr Annan had expressed optimism that a political settlement that will end the crisis would be reached within three days. He has said it would be too dangerous to hold new elections for at least a year. Foreign diplomats have warned representatives of both sides of dire consequences if they scupper the process.

But Justice Minister Martha Karua, who heads the government side, has asked them to refrain from threats as Kenya charts its own course. "I would like to remind them we are not a colony and they should adhere to the diplomatic convention of not interfering with sovereign states," Ms Karua told reporters soon after arriving in Nairobi from the talks.

The future of Kenya may depend on the negotiations. Meanwhile, human rights activists have accused police of "sleeping on the job" for allegedly failing to investigate claims of criminal behaviour at the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). They presented a list to the attorney general of 22 ECK officials and other staff, who they believe were involved in forgery, subverting the rule of law and failing in their statutory duty during the 27 December election.

International election observers say there were numerous discrepancies in the way the votes were counted and results announced. The human rights groups have urged the attorney general to order an investigation and warn that if their pleas are ignored they will opt for a private prosecution.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BRAZIL RAIDS AMAZON TIMBER MILLS !

Para is one of the Amazon states worst hit by deforestation. Brazilian police have mounted a major operation in the Amazon, seizing what they describe as one of the biggest ever loads of illegally logged timber.
Some 140 officers raided eight illegal sawmills in the state of Para, confiscating 10,000 cubic metres (353,000 cubic feet) of lumber.
The operation marks the start of new government efforts to tackle illegal logging and slow Amazon deforestation.
Figures last month showed the rate of clearances had unexpectedly soared.
"It's one of the biggest operations ever against sawmills," said Ivanette Motta from the government environmental protection agency, Ibama.

See map of areas worst hit by recent deforestation

Police began moving in on the sawmills in the town of Tailandia on Monday.
The town, which is home to dozens of sawmills, is in the south of Para state, one of the worst-hit areas by Amazon deforestation at the hands of loggers.
President Lula had earlier hailed a slowing of deforestation.
Last month the Brazilian government announced new measures to stop the destruction of the rainforest.
These include deploying police and environmental agents in areas where illegal clearing jumped most dramatically last year.
Figures showed that the last five months of 2007, 3,235 sq km (1,250 sq miles) of rainforest were cleared.
The state of Mato Grosso was the worst affected, accounting for more than half the total area of forest stripped.
As well as Para, Rondonia state also saw big losses.
The report was an embarrassment for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
He had said that government's efforts to control illegal logging and introduce better certification of land ownership had helped reduce forest clearance significantly.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

OLD PROS GET KICK OUT OF 'BUCKET LIST' !

By Liam Allen - Entertainment reporter, BBC News .

"The movie business is still Darwinian - you can't make a movie star." Nicholson and Freeman's approach to the film differed. As one of the world's biggest, Jack Nicholson should know. He and Bucket List co-star Morgan Freeman - with their combined 78 years of film acting - emphatically confirm Nicholson's belief in the survival of the fittest.

The film tells the moving story of mechanic Carter Chambers (Freeman) and corporate billionaire Edward Cole (Nicholson) who meet in hospital where they are both diagnosed with terminal cancer. United in their struggle to come to terms with the end of their lives, they embark on an epic and often humorous quest to tick off items on their bucket list - a list of things they want to do before they die.

NICHOLSON AND FREEMAN'S PERSONAL BUCKET LIST WISHES

Jack Nicholson - See children graduate- Speak another language- Learn how to cook.
Morgan Freeman - Golf score under 90 - Buy a business jet.

After jumping out of a plane, race car driving and travelling the world, the two reflect upon the most important things in their lives.
Nicholson, clad in his trademark dark glasses, says he is delighted that a film starring two 70-year-olds has topped the US box office.
"Literature, not just in films but in general, is pretty limited in terms of people beyond 50 - there aren't a lot of stories and the themes are surprisingly limited," he says.
"When I read now and they talk about somebody being 65, you're meant to take from that that it's an ancient person. That makes me laugh - that's a young guy."
Freeman says the film's key message is that "it's never too late for anything".
The sprightly actor, who took up flying at the age of 65, added: "There's only one moment when it's absolutely too late and that's your last gasp."
Both actors said the film had made them consider their own mortality.

Oscar winner Nicholson says: "I used to rely on my legs to solve a lot of problems. I could escape from a party out of the back door and around.
"When you lose a certain amount of your stamina you have to adjust. This applies to other areas as well."
Asked about the art of seduction he jokes: "I don't do any tricks - it's pure animal magnetism.
"This becomes super-structured, you have to learn how to not be shy about it, or stupid about it and hopefully to be funny about it."
Hollywood acquaintances
While Nicholson is famed for his appreciation of women, Freeman is well known for his on-screen stillness.
Freeman said: "I think it's one of the things that's defined me as a person all of my life, this ability to focus."
"But it's short term. I don't get married to anything - my wife excepted."

JACK NICHOLSON OSCARS

1976 - Best actor: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1984 - Supporting actor: Terms of Endearment
1998 - Best actor: As Good As It Gets

Director Rob Reiner said it had initially been hard to attract interest from the studios in the idea of a film "about old guys dying of cancer" in the "ageist" film industry. "But if you have Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman it makes it more attractive to them. But even with that, most of the studios were not interested," he adds. Reiner, whose hit films include Stand By Me and This Is Spinal Tap, said he hoped the "massive success" of The Bucket List would prove "there's an audience out there" for films featuring older characters.

Freeman and Nicholson have never worked together before, while Reiner says said it was "a dream come true" to work with "the two best actors in the world". "In the case of these two guys, they have such respect for each other and they're watching each other's back. "You see ego in younger actors who are becoming famous, but actors who have been a long time in a profession like this, they know what the gig is."

Despite their longevity, acting success came relatively late for both Nicholson and Freeman. Nicholson made his screen debut at 21, while Freeman appeared in his first film, Brubaker, in 1980 - at the age of 43. He says he managed to avoid some of the pitfalls faced by young actors. If you just write a character and I gotta do it, I don't have to go somewhere and sit and watch to figure out how to manifest that character - Morgan Freeman. "Knowing my character, it's probably best that it waited a while before I got a certain level of success - I'm experimental."

But despite their similarities, The Bucket List's leading men have quite different ways of approaching their work. Nicholson is well known for immersing himself in research for his roles, spending time talking to cancer patients for The Bucket List. Freeman, meanwhile, insists "you don't really have to do research to create a character". In the presence of these two Hollywood giants, it's clear they both bring good old-fashioned star quality to the table. And who better to define that than the effervescent Nicholson, now celebrating his 50th year in films.

"Star quality is if you're on stage and a cat walks on and they still watch you."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TRAFFICKING: A VERY MODERN SLAVERY!

By Stephanie Holmes BBC News.

Penny was almost 29 when she was trafficked from Rwanda to the UK, tricked into believing she could start a new life. Instead, she ended up trapped in a small flat in south-west London. She had unwittingly stepped into a trap laid by a trafficker, becoming a commodity in what campaigners say is the world's fastest growing illegal trade - in people. Yet when Penny agreed to meet the agent, introduced to her by a friend, she was unaware that human trafficking even existed. "I didn't think about the consequences. I just took the opportunity to get out of the country," Penny said.

Which countries are people trafficked from?

"I had never heard what trafficking was all about until I was here. I didn't know anything about it at all." Penny's story is just one of many that remain hidden. The UN estimates that some 2.5 million people are in forced labour at any given time, as a result of trafficking.

"We don't know much about the size of the iceberg that lies beneath," admitted Antonio Mario Costa, head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "Like any other market - and it is a perverse kind of market - there is a supply in terms of people who are duped, coerced or tricked, and a demand, people who may be buying the sort of commodities we are talking about. And there is the act of connecting the supply and demand - those who do the trafficking," he said.

The UN says governments have fallen behind on commitments to tackle the problem and has called a conference in Vienna this week to urge more concerted action. While 116 out of 192 UN member states have ratified an Anti-Trafficking Protocol, drawn up in the same city in 2003, some governments still do not have any legislation in place. A few of the member states who have not yet even signed the convention include countries identified by UNODC as having a high number of people trafficked from them - such as India and Pakistan. Japan too, which scores "very high" as a destination country, has yet to sign the international accord.

Ruth Dearnley of the coalition of campaigning groups, Stop the Traffik, says human trafficking has never been a top priority for the international community. "Enforcement agencies have always focused on the drugs and arms trade but this is the fastest growing global crime," she said. "If you make money out of illegal products then, in some ways, people are an easier product than drugs and arms." Estimates - which are notoriously difficult to calculate - put the profits of the industry at $31.6bn (£16bn; 21.6bn euros) per year, making it the third largest shadow economy - after drugs and arms.

Penny was told the journey to the UK would set her back £1,000 pounds ($1,968; 1,347 euros).
But the fact that she didn't have the sum wasn't a problem. She was told she would be given both a place to stay and a job when she arrived, enabling her to pay the money back. But the reality was very different. "I ended up going with him to his place," she said. "I stayed with him that day. After four days he came on to me and started demanding sex. I refused, I didn't think that was the kind of deal I had with him." "He forced himself on to me, started raping me. From that day, for about two weeks, it would just be daily." Soon, he brought men with him and Penny was forced to have sex with them too. Once, she tried to escape, but he tracked her down and beat her badly, locking her in the flat. By the end, she remembers: "I was under his control - mentally, physically, I was under his control. I couldn't even sneeze without him knowing."

TRAFFICKING IN NUMBERS
52% of those recruiting victims are men
49% of profit generated in industrialised economies
Most trafficked people aged 18-24
1.2m children trafficked per year
Source: UNGIFT

UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking

Even once someone has managed to escape the traffickers' trap, British campaigners say authorities are far more concerned about their status as an illegal immigrant, than as a trafficked person. Penny, for example - repeatedly imprisoned for not having the right paperwork - is convinced the man who trafficked her is still plying his trade, unmolested by the authorities. "The policeman said, 'It's not him, it's you we have to deal with,'" she said. "I told them his address. They had everything. They weren't interested."

Crystal Amiss, of London's Black Women's Rape Action Project, said that frequently women's accounts of being trafficked are ignored when they emerge from the underworld and seek asylum. "The priority is to stop people coming into the country. They are determined to have robust immigration controls and it is very easy to target people who have to work clandestinely," she said.

It is not just the sex industry that is fed by traffickers, though the UN estimates that 43% of those trafficked are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation. Workers are also exploited in the international textile, food and drink industries, often in the developing world, Mr Costa says. Campaigners say, for example, that an estimated 12,000 children are still employed in the Ivory Coast's cocoa plantations. Hundreds are sold by their parents to work underwater for fishermen on Ghana's Lake Volta, where their nimble fingers untangle trapped nets.

The final and common link at the end of a long and complex chain, Mr Costa says, is exploitation.
"What counts mostly is the exploitation that takes place at several points along the chain as the human trafficking takes place and that is repetitive and prolonged. That is where most of the violence takes place."

BBC NEWS RPORT.

U.S. UNIVERSITY GUNMAN KILLS FIVE !

Police say there is no apparent motive for the attack. A gunman has opened fire on students at a university near Chicago in the United States, killing five people before turning the gun on himself, police say.
The shooting took place at Northern Illinois University, in De Kalb, 65 miles (100km) west of Chicago.
Students ran for cover as a white male armed with two handguns and a shotgun opened fire in a lecture theatre.
Police said he had shot himself before they arrived on the scene and that there was no apparent motive.
Two weapons have been recovered and police are searching for a third firearm in Cole Hall near the King Commons, a central gathering place for the 25,000 students on campus.
The victims, four women and a man, were killed in a "brief, rapid-fire assault", university president John Peters said.

The gunman was believed to be a former graduate student in sociology, but he was not currently enrolled at the university, Mr Peters told a news conference.
Earlier reports said 17 victims had been transported to Kishwaukee Community Hospital, several with serious head wounds.
The shooting comes 10 months after 32 students and staff were shot by a student at Virginia Tech University in one of the worst shootings ever at a US school.
It is also the fourth shooting at a US education establishment within a week.
Last Friday, a woman shot dead two fellow students before killing herself at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. In Memphis, Tennessee, a 17-year-old is accused of shooting and critically wounding a student on Monday, and a 15-year-old was shot at a junior high school in California on Tuesday.
A student named John told local radio station WBBM that the gunman entered a lecture theatre and began firing a shotgun on the more than 100 students inside.
Emergency workers were at the scene within minutes.
"He pointed it into the middle of the class... then he went for the teacher," John said.
George Gaynor, a senior geography student, told the student newspaper that the gunman was "a skinny white guy with a stocking cap on".
He described the scene immediately following the incident as terrifying and chaotic.
"Some girl got hit in the eye, a guy got hit in the leg," he said.
The university's website first issued alerts, warning of the possibility of a gunman on campus.
"Get to a safe area and take precautions until given the all clear," it warned students.
The site then carried updates confirming the shooting and telling students to stay away or stay in doors. It then said the gunman was "no longer a threat".
Emergency hotlines and counselling are being offered for students and parents.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOMALIA IS 'THE FORGOTTEN CRISIS' !

The UN needs $6m to keep feeding programmes going. The lives of up to 15,000 children are at risk in Somalia unless emergency aid arrives in the next two weeks, the UN children's agency, Unicef, has warned.
"It is the forgotten crisis," Unicef's Christian Balslev-Olesen told the BBC, saying Somalia was the world's worst place for children.
Without extra funding, emergency feeding programmes could be closed down next month, he warned.
He said fighting had created "a time-bomb" of people living in camps.
Ethiopian troops intervened in Somalia just over a year ago, when they helped government forces oust Islamists from much of southern Somalia.
If you take all the indicators for children, it's the most difficult place on the globe
Christian Balslev-OlesenSince then the capital, Mogadishu, has been the scene of battles with government and Ethiopian troops taking on insurgents.
In this time it is estimated that 60% Mogadishu's residents have fled their homes, many to camps around Afgooye just outside the capital.
"If we are not getting additional funding within the coming two weeks, we will have to close down a number of life-saving feeding activities in the central-south by the end of March," Mr Balslev-Olesen told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
The UN body needs about $6m to keep 110 feeding programmes running, the Unicef's representative in Somalia said.
A further $3.1m was needed for water sanitation projects to contain outbreaks of diarrhoea and cholera.
"Life in Somalia for the IDPs [internally displaced people], but also the ordinary people, is extreme," he said.
"If you take all the indicators for children, it's the most difficult place on the globe."
He said it was also the world's most insecure place for humanitarian staff to work.
So far only 2,400 African Union peacekeepers have been sent to Somalia, of a planned 8,000-strong force.
Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"IN SOLITUDE THE MIND GAINS STRENGTH

AND LEARNS TO LEAN UPON ITSELF" !

BUSH TO SEND TOP ENVOY TO KENYA !

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to go to Kenya amid efforts to end the violence that erupted after a disputed presidential election.
President George W Bush said Ms Rice would back the mediation efforts led by former UN chief Kofi Annan.
She would press for an immediate halt to violence, justice for victims, and "a full return to democracy", he said.
At least 1,000 people have been killed and more than 600,000 displaced during Kenya's post-election unrest.
Mr Annan has been pushing for an agreement between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, who claimed victory in December's election, and opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has argued that the poll was rigged.
Ms Rice will be accompanying President Bush on his trip to the African states of Tanzania, Rwanda, Benin, Ghana and Liberia, which begins on Saturday.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE NEW BREED OF CANDIDATE'S SPOUCE!

By Kathryn Westcott BBC News.

As Americans choose their candidates for the 2008 presidential race, never before have so many spouses battled it out so publicly.

Mrs Obama has been articulate and passionate. The 2008 campaign has seen the role of the political spouse reshaped, with potential first ladies - and one possible first gentleman - more than ever acting as independent surrogates for their partners.
The past 12 months have seen Michelle Obama emerge as a formidable campaigner for her husband, drawing large crowds to her own scheduled events.
Outspoken, articulate, and independently minded, she has been widely seen as an asset to the Obama campaign.
The 44-year-old Ivy League lawyer has taken a much edgier role than the other candidates' wives: not shying away from going on the offensive where necessary.
She recently launched a scathing attack on Hillary Clinton, saying she represented "the same old thing over and over again."
She has not, however, gone as far as Bill Clinton, whose controversial role as Hillary's bad cop has drawn criticism from senior members of his own party.

There is no formal job description for a First Lady at the White HousePossibly because a woman is running for the first time for the role of commander-in-chief, spouses have seized the opportunity to express themselves and weigh in on issues.
Mrs Obama - who has taken time out from her high-powered job as a hospital administrator in Chicago - has been a crucial element in her husband's campaign to win over key voting groups, such as working women and African-Americans.
Her experience of growing up in a working-class black Chicago neighbourhood could been seen as more typical of the African-American experience than that of her husband, providing more connection with black working-class voters.
Her speeches have resonated with issues of race and the prejudice she encountered in her early years.
Unlike Barack, who has largely tried to avoid talking about race, Mrs Obama has raised the flag for the "little black girls" and highlighted "disparities that exist across the country."
Asset or liability
But she never forgets her own two young children, ensuring that voters know that she is home every night in time to put them to bed.
Michelle Obama brilliantly frames what she says within a safe, nurturing framework
Robert P Watson, presidential historianThis is a very modern marriage, and the senator's wife has often spoken of juggling the demands of being a professional, a mother and wife of a politician who is away from home for long periods.
A community activist, she has described herself as committed to public service.
"Michelle Obama has been fantastic on the stump," says Robert P Watson, professor of American history at Lynn University in Florida, and the author of a number of books on the history of first ladies.
"She has great political instincts."
However, such spouse visibility can be either an asset or a liability.
In 2004, Teresa Heinz Kerry publicly waded into areas of policy and quickly became seen as a risk within Camp Kerry.
Mr Watson says that Mrs Obama has been careful to avoid discussing policy and strategy.
Cindy McCain has played a more traditional, supporting role. "She is a remarkably savvy operator," he says. "She brilliantly frames what she says within a safe, nurturing framework. Much of what she says comes through the eyes of a mother with two young children - in a way that doesn't really allow her to be a target."
Mrs Obama has said that politics is not her passion and that her role is to complement her husband's campaign.
Cindy McCain, wife of the Republican front-runner John McCain, has complemented her husband's campaign by playing a more traditional, supporting role.
She has, however, been more outspoken than she was in her husband's 2000 campaign.
A "military mom" with two sons in active service, she has criticised the Bush administration for what she says is its mishandling of the Iraq war.
But, she has resisted taking policy positions or criticising other candidates publicly.
The 53-year-old former Arizona rodeo beauty queen is seen as an asset to her husband's campaign, having long overcome the humiliating public exposure of her former addiction to prescription painkillers.
The mother of four is a philanthropist and businesswomen in her own right. In 2000, she took over as chairman of her father's multi-million dollar Budweiser distribution company.
Mrs McCain has said that if she were to become first lady, she would continue her overseas volunteer work and encourage others to do so.
What do Americans expect from their first ladies?
There is no formal job description, although the first lady does get an office, a budget and staff.
"Over the years, first ladies have been White House managers, White House hostesses, White House renovators, co-campaigners, social activists and policy advocates," says Mr Watson.
Former President Mr Clinton would break new ground as "first gentleman", and questions have been raised about who would really run the affairs of the country if Hillary Clinton got into office.
'Finger on the pulse'
While Mrs Clinton has suggested that he might play the role of ambassador to the world, some commentators have suggested this could potentially spark a small turf war with a new secretary of state.

Mrs Obama, says Mr Watson, has the capacity to "re-write" the books. But, as the first African-American first lady, she "would have a smaller tightrope to walk and it would be a more sensitive balancing act," he says.
It is unlikely that she would be able to become the first working wife to inhabit the White House, in Mr Watson's view.
"First ladies have to have their fingers on the pulse of the public opinion," he says.
The public, however, are never entirely sure about what they want from a first lady.
"If she's independent, we're wary. If she's a prop, that's worse. A big career is an asset, unless she won't give it up," June Kronholz once wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
Eleanor Roosevelt used her influence as an active first lady to advocate for human rights, among other things. And Hillary Clinton moved the First Lady's office to the heart of power in the West Wing.
But Mr Watson says Mrs Roosevelt and Mrs Clinton both faced criticism after they left.
"The country suffered 'Eleanor fatigue' and 'Hillary fatigue'," he says. But, he said, first ladies are always criticised for either trying to do too much or doing too little. "It's a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't."
Laura Bush, who took over from Mrs Clinton, has been a more traditional first lady.
Mrs McCain has said she thinks the "American voter wants a traditional situation," in that office.
And, asked recently what her "first lady platform" would be. Mrs Obama said: "To make sure my kids have their heads on straight".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PUTIN SCORNS MOVE TO BACK KOSOVO !

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that recognition of Kosovo independence - expected within days - would be immoral and illegal.
The UN Security Council will hold a closed meeting on Thursday to discuss Kosovo, which is poised to declare independence from Serbia.
It would be "not moral and not legal" to back the declaration, Mr Putin said.
The UN meeting is being held at the request of Serbia, which is strongly opposed to Kosovo's attempt to secede.
Kosovo is expected to make an independence declaration on Sunday or Monday.
Serbia's ambassador to the UN told the BBC that Belgrade would refrain from retaliatory measures against Kosovo.

Putin repeats missile threat

But Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned that his country would not allow itself to be humiliated by a "puppet state" on its territory.
The government in Belgrade announced it was rejecting Kosovo's plans in advance.
"This [decision] annuls the acts and actions of the interim government of Kosovo that proclaim unilateral independence, because they violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia," it declared in a statement.

It also said it would "void all decisions by the European Union to send a [civilian] mission to Kosovo".
The US and many EU countries plan to recognise Kosovo's independence.
"Are you not ashamed in Europe of the double standards you are applying to settle problems?" Mr Putin asked at an international news conference on Thursday.
He dismissed claims that Kosovo was a "special case", arguing that it was in the same category as the separatist conflicts in parts of the former Soviet Union, such as Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Trans-Dniester.
He said Russia - a permanent member of the UN Security Council - "will not ape them [the West]", warning that "we have a ready-made plan and we know what we are going to do". Russia is a traditional ally of Serbia.

The United Nations has administered Kosovo since a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 drove out Serb forces accused of persecuting the province's majority ethnic Albanians.
A civilian police and justice mission for Kosovo is expected to be given the go-ahead by EU member states by the end of the week.
A senior official told the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels that deployment of the 1,800 staff would be staggered over four months.
By early June, 1,500 police officers including special anti-riot units and 250 judges, prosecutors and customs officials would be in place to maintain stability in the self-proclaimed state.
The police and judges are expected to come from Germany and Italy as well as other countries, including the United States, Turkey, Croatia, Norway and Switzerland.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE 'A NATION FULL OF FEAR' !

Mr Makoni is standing as an independent candidate. Zimbabwe has been described as a sad nation full of fear by former Finance Minister Simba Makoni as he launched his manifesto for president.
"[It is] a polarised nation in deep stress and one characterised by disease and extreme poverty," he said.
If elected on 29 March as an independent candidate, he said he would start a process of reconciliation.
He said he was not against President Robert Mugabe, but urged ruling party members wanting "renewal" to join him.
Mr Mugabe is seeking a sixth term in office and told state media earlier this week he is "raring to go" in the polls.

At the manifesto launch in the capital, Harare, Mr Makoni said that he was not standing against the ruling Zanu-PF party, which formally expelled him this week, but "for the people of Zimbabwe".

SIMBA MAKONI
Zanu-PF moderniser
1980: Named deputy minister aged 30
2002: Sacked as finance minister after argument with Mugabe
2002: Went to South Africa
Possible support of Zanu-PF heavyweight Solomon Mujuru
Trained chemist

Makoni's magic formula
Diary: Election fever starts

He said that land reform was more urgent than ever - but it was necessary for rural development rather than a means of redressing the wrongs of the colonial era.
He urged Zanu-PF members to join him by standing in the election as independent candidates.
He also called on Zimbabweans living abroad to come home to vote.
The former finance minister claimed that since he had entered the contest last week, attendance at voter registration centres around the country had increased 10-fold.
President Mugabe will face three presidential challengers as both factions of the opposition are also fielding candidates.

Mr Tsvangirai has said Mr Makoni is "old wine in a new bottle"
Earlier at a press conference in South Africa, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai confirmed his faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would contest the election, despite what he called an uneven playing field.
He said that he would work with anyone who was prepared to close ranks against President Mugabe and the ruling party.
But the BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says he gave no hint that he and Mr Makoni were about to form an electoral coalition.
Mr Tsvangirai pointed out that Mr Makoni had been a member of Zanu-PF's politburo while the Zimbabwean economy had been destroyed.
Previous polls have been characterised by violence and allegations of fraud.
Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate - 26,000% - and only an estimated one adult in five has a job.
Mr Mugabe's critics blame the economic crisis on his policies, but he blames a Western plot to bring him down.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ATHLETES PUT POLITICS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

By Alex Capstick - BBC sports news reporter.

Team Darfur is the brainchild of speed skater Joey Cheek . A growing number of athletes from all over the world have signed up to Team Darfur, an organisation committed to raising awareness about the crisis in the troubled region of Sudan.
It wants to put pressure on the Sudanese authorities, and also those countries, like China, that support inaction against the regime.
Team Darfur plans to highlight the issue at the Beijing Olympics.
But athletes have been warned to steer clear of protests during the Games. Article 51 of the Olympic charter clearly forbids any sort of demonstration or political propaganda at Olympic sites and venues.
Canada's former Olympic swimmer Nicky Dryden, a Team Darfur campaigner, wants athletes to make a stand during the Beijing Games.
She said she hoped successful athletes in the spotlight "can take the opportunity, when for the one time in their life the media will be focused on them... to talk about the things that make them proud to be Olympians".
"And I think those are the fact that the Olympics are based on the value of human rights and human dignity - and that perhaps that's not happening in China, within its own borders, and [in] its interaction with the Sudanese government," she added.
Team Darfur is the brainchild of the American speed skater Joey Cheek.

The IOC is accused of hypocrisy for its stance on political protests.
After clinching the 500m gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Turin two years ago, he used his news conference to talk about Darfur.
He hopes successful athletes in Beijing display a similar disregard for the rules.
"I would love to have several hundred more athletes in Team Darfur by Beijing and I see no reason why we can’t recruit a few hundred more," the Times newspaper quotes him as saying.
"So much of the Olympic charter is about brotherhood and achieving something greater through sport; it's pretty lofty language. It seems hypocritical for people within the Olympic movement to say 'We believe in human rights' and then take no action."
The possibility of political demonstrations has so concerned the British Olympic Association, that it inserted a strongly worded clause in its contract for Beijing-bound athletes, in which they agree not to make such protests.

Richard Vaughan, a medal contender in badminton and a member of Team Darfur, accused the BOA of using "bullying" tactics, and sees no reason why people should not talk about Darfur.
"Darfur is a humanitarian issue, not really a political one. I think gagging athletes is the wrong way to go about it," he said.

British Olympic officials have agreed to soften the wording, insisting it is not a gagging order, and that it merely reflects what is already written in the Olympic charter.
A spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee has confirmed that action will be taken against anyone who contravenes its rules. In the past it has been done on a case-by-case basis.
The best known protest was at the Mexico Games in 1968 when the black American sprinters Tommy Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved fists during the 200m award ceremony in support of the civil rights movement.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

OBAMA WINS PRIMARIES CLEAN SWEEP!

Barack Obama appears to be on a winning streak
Barack Obama

Illinois Senator Barack Obama looks set to overtake his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In the latest round of primaries, Mr Obama has clinched Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
But neither has secured enough party delegates to secure the nomination to contest November's presidential poll.
For the Republicans, Senator John McCain is on course to win all three races, beating rival Mike Huckabee.
With eight consecutive primary wins behind him, Mr Obama is beginning to look formidable and the manner of his victory on Tuesday looks ominous for Mrs Clinton, says the BBC's North America editor, Justin Webb.
Halfway there
"Tonight we're on our way," Mr Obama told supporters in Wisconsin, which will hold the next primary on 19 February.

Hillary Clinton12 states, 1,198 delegates
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Barack Obama22 states, 1,223 delegates
Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington state 2,025 delegates needed for nomination. Source AP (includes all kinds of delegates)

Q&A: US election delegates

Mike Huckabee8 states, 241 delegates
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kansas, Louisiana
John McCain16 states, 821 delegates
Arizona, California, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington state
Mitt Romney11 states, 288 delegates
Campaign suspendedAlaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah 1,191 delegates needed for nomination. Source: AP (includes all kinds of delegates)

Mrs Clinton, who has recently lost a number of key staff, indicated she would be focusing on the races in Ohio and Texas in March as her best hope to retake the lead.
"We're going to sweep across Texas in the next three weeks," she said, making no mention of the three contests she lost.
"I'm tested, I'm ready, let's make it happen," she told supporters.
Each Democratic candidate is about halfway to winning the 2,025 delegates needed to secure victory at the party's national convention in August.
With most of the Tuesday's votes counted, Mr Obama has edged into the lead with 1,223 delegates to Mrs Clinton's 1,198 delegates, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Mrs Clinton's deputy campaign manager, Mike Henry, reportedly stepped down on Monday, in a shake-up coming only a day after her campaign manager left.
Meanwhile Mr McCain, who holds a strong lead over his Republican rival Mike Huckabee, told supporters he was "fired up and ready to go".
With results counted in almost all of Virginia's precincts, Mr McCain led by 50% to Mr Huckabee's 41%. In the District of Columbia, Mr McCain took 68% of the Republican vote to 17% for Mr Huckabee, with almost all the votes counted. Congressman Ron Paul took 8%.

John McCain
In pictures: Potomac primary
Primary may prove pivotal
Elections come to Culpeper

Mr McCain's victories mean he extends his significant lead in terms of the number of delegates who will vote for him at the party's national convention.
But correspondents say Mr McCain still has some work to do to unite his party, amid continuing criticisms from leading party members who have questioned his conservative credentials.
Mr Huckabee has been under pressure to stand aside for the sake of party unity, but has said he has no intention of pulling out.
Exit polls suggest he won the support of very conservative voters in Virginia by nearly three to one, while Mr McCain was backed by somewhat conservative and moderate Republicans.
Broad appeal
In Virginia, Mr Obama was leading by 64% to Mrs Clinton's 35.5%, with almost all precincts reporting.
His margin of victory was even greater in Washington DC, where he led by 75% to 24% with almost all the votes counted.

NEXT CONTESTS
19 Feb: Wisconsin (bi-party), Hawaii caucus (D)
4 March: Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont (bi-party)

Election at a glance

Analysts suggested the most significant aspect of Mr Obama's success was his broadening appeal across different demographic groups.
Exit polls conducted for AP in Virginia suggested Mr Obama had won the support of two-thirds of men and almost six in 10 women.
Mr Obama also made gains with women voters, who have been a core constituency for Mrs Clinton in past contests, and with white men and Latino voters.
And nine in 10 black voters in Virginia backed the Illinois senator, an even bigger margin than in previous primaries.
The economy was the top issue for both Democratic and Republican voters in the so-called Potomac primary, named after the river that runs through the two states and the nation's capital.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

AFRICA WAR ZONES 'RAPE EPIDEMIC' !

Unicef says social turmoil leads to an epidemic of sexual abuse. Sexual violence is spreading in African conflict zones like an epidemic, the United Nations has warned. The UN's children's fund, Unicef, says rape is no longer just perpetrated by combatants but also by civilians.
The organisation said rape was most common in countries affected by wars and natural disasters.
"When societies collapse there seems to be a licence to rape. This is a major concern to us," Unicef Deputy Executive Director Hilde Frafjord Johnson said.
Sexual violence appeared to accompany a significant uprooting of society when some of the social norms crumble, she said.
Ms Johnson said that in Kenya reported cases of sexual violence had doubled within days of the recent post-election conflict erupting.
"Things happen that are unheard of in other African communities suddenly happen in these situations, and that is why we call it epidemic proportions, because it takes a life of its own," she said.
She added that rape was also prevalent in trouble spots in Sudan, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where victims range from a few months old to octogenarians.
The warning comes as Unicef launches an appeal for $856m to help women and children who are victims of conflicts and other emergencies across the continent.
Sudan tops the list of countries in need of aid with Unicef calling for $150m.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DANISH MUHAMMAD CARTOON REPRINTED!

Danish newspapers have reprinted one of several caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad which sparked violent protests across the Muslim world two years ago.
They say they wanted to show their commitment to freedom of speech after an alleged plot to kill one of the cartoonists behind the drawings.
Three suspects were held in Denmark on Tuesday "to prevent a murder linked to terrorism", officials said.
The cartoons were originally published by Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.
Danish embassies were attacked around the world and dozens died in riots that followed.
'Defiant'
Jyllands-Posten and many other major newspapers - including Politiken and Berlingske Tidende - reprinted the caricature in their Wednesday editions.

The cartoon depicts Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a lit fuse.
The editors say no-one should feel their life is threatened because of a drawing.
"We are doing this to document what is at stake in this case, and to unambiguously back and support the freedom of speech that we as a newspaper will always defend," Berlingske Tidende said.
The cartoon was also broadcast on national television, and even newspapers that were originally against the publication of the caricatures are now backing the campaign to defend freedom of speech, the BBC's Thomas Buch-Andersen in Copenhagen says.
One Danish tabloid published all 12 drawings, the Associated Press news agency reported.

On Tuesday, the head of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (Pet), Jakob Sharf, said its operatives had carried out pre-dawn raids in the Aarhus region.
The three suspects - two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin - had been detained "after lengthy surveillance", he added.
The Danish citizen will be released pending further investigation, while the Tunisians will be held until they are expelled from the country.

The Pet did not identify the target of the alleged plot, but the online edition of Jyllands-Posten said its cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard, was the focus.
The newspaper, based in Aarhus, said Mr Westergaard, 73, and his 66-year-old wife, Gitte, had been under police protection for the past three months.
In a statement on Jyllands-Posten's website, Mr Westergaard said: "Of course I fear for my life when the police intelligence service say that some people have concrete plans to kill me.
"But I have turned fear into anger and resentment."
The editor of Jyllands-Posten, Carsten Juste, said he and his staff had been "deeply shaken" by the news.
"We'd become more or less used to death threats and bomb threats since the cartoons, but it's the first time that we've heard about actual murder plans - that's new," he said.

The BBC's Thomas Buch-Andersen in Copenhagen says the arrests have stunned people in Denmark, where the furore over the cartoons was thought to have passed.
Mr Westergaard was one of 12 artists behind the drawings but he was responsible for what was considered the most controversial of the pictures.
The cartoons were later reprinted by more than 50 newspapers, triggering a wave of protests in parts of the Muslim world.
The demonstrations culminated a year ago with the torching of Danish diplomatic offices in Damascus and Beirut and dozens of deaths in Nigeria, Libya and Pakistan.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

KENYA GOVERNMENT ANGER WITH ANNAN !

The head of the Kenyan government team at crisis talks has expressed anger with mediator Kofi Annan over comments on resolving the election dispute.
Mr Annan hinted that both sides had agreed on a transitional government for two years, after which fresh presidential elections would be held.
But Justice Minister Martha Karua said this had never been discussed.
She said that Mr Annan, the former UN chief, had undermined the government's position at the negotiations.
Some 1,000 people are thought to have died in the violence that followed the disputed polls results.
More than 600,000 people have been forced to flee their homes amid clashes between rival ethnic groups, seen as pro-government or pro-opposition.

When talks between government and opposition teams were moved away from the capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday to a secret location to avoid the glare of publicity, Mr Annan asked both sides not to discuss the contents of the talks with anyone else, calling for a complete news blackout.

Around Kenya: After the violence

His comments about a possible grand coalition were made during a special closed-door session with Kenyan MPs.
But details of his briefing have angered President Mwai Kibaki's negotiating team.
Ms Karua said his statement about a transitional government had caused distress and great embarrassment to them as it had misrepresented their position.
"We feel these inaccuracies have greatly undermined our position as members of the dialogue team and we demand the issue be revisited as the first item when we meet next," she said.
A power-sharing deal had been thought to be imminent, but correspondents say this development implies the government is against fresh elections.
In a statement on Wednesday, mediators sought to downplay the rift, saying the grand coalition was Mr Annan's perspective on the discussions.
"[It] does not imply a formal agreement between the two parties," the statement says.
Both the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) have tabled proposals for a power-sharing agreement at the talks.
Mr Annan had hinted the deal would include comprehensive constitutional, judicial and electoral reforms.
He told parliament both President Kibaki and Mr Odinga are committed to the talks aimed at reconciling the nation and urged the MPs to equally support the process.
"Your active involvement, across party lines, is necessary. Without this, the government may be paralysed. We cannot afford to fail," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"BE GREAT IN ACT,

AS YOU HAVE BEEN IN THOUGHT" !

PRIMARY TEST FOR OBAMA MOMENTUM!

People in and around Washington DC are voting in primary polls which could see Democrat Barack Obama keep his momentum over rival Hillary Clinton.
Senator Obama is aiming to win the Democratic presidential nomination contests in Maryland, Virginia and DC.
Senator Clinton is looking ahead to primaries in Ohio and Texas in March in the hope of reversing her fortunes.
In the Republican race, John McCain is seeking to bolster his front-runner status after two weekend defeats.

Primary may prove pivotal
Elections come to Culpeper

Polls suggest Mr McCain has the edge over Mike Huckabee, who won in Kansas and Louisiana on Saturday.
But correspondents say the Arizona senator still has some work to do to unite his party, amid continuing criticisms from leading party members who have questioned his conservative credentials.
Mr Huckabee has been under pressure to stand aside for the sake of party unity, but has so far said he has no intention of pulling out.
Campaigning
Polls opened in Virginia at 0600 local time (1100 GMT) and in Maryland and the District of Columbia an hour later.
Baltimore voters give their views ahead of primary elections in Maryland

In pictures

A high turnout is expected in the Democratic vote.
Each candidate is about half way to winning the 2,025 delegates needed to secure victory at the Democratic Party's national convention in August. Virginia has 83 delegates up for grabs, while Maryland offers 70 and the District of Columbia has 15.
Both candidates were campaigning hard on Monday.
Mr Obama addressed a mass rally of students at Maryland university, while his rival spoke at smaller, more targeted events around the region.

Hillary Clinton 12 states, 1,147 delegates
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Barack Obama 19 states, 1,124 delegates
Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Washington state 2,025 delegates needed for nomination. Source AP (includes all kinds of delegates)

Q&A: US election delegates

Mike Huckabee 8 states, 241 delegates
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kansas, Louisiana

John McCain 13 states, 729 delegates

New Hampshire, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington state

Mitt Romney 11 states, 288 delegates
Campaign suspendedAlaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah 1,191 delegates needed for nomination. Source: AP (includes all kinds of delegates)

Mrs Clinton told General Motors staff in Baltimore County, Maryland, that her experience would be key in the battle for the presidency with Senator McCain.
"A lot of these fights are fights you have to have," she said, quoted by the Washington Post. "You can't walk away from them."
But Mr Obama said he, too, was ready for the fight.
"I may be skinny, but I'm tough, too. I'm looking forward to mixing it up with John McCain," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Polls give Mr Obama a slight lead in the so-called Potomac Primary, named after the river that runs through the two states and the nation's capital.
This follows his weekend victories in Washington state, Louisiana, Nebraska, Maine and the US Virgin Islands.

Mrs Clinton appointed a new campaign manager after the weekend's setbacks.

NEXT CONTESTS
19 Feb: Wisconsin (bi-party), Hawaii caucuses (R)
2 March: Hawaii caucus (D)
4 March: Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont (bi-party)

Castro in spat with McCain

Maggie Williams, who was the New York senator's chief of staff when her husband was serving as US president, will take over from Patti Solis Doyle, who has decided to step down.
Aides say the former First Lady is looking ahead to primaries in the larger states of Ohio and Texas.
She and Mr Obama face a long, drawn-out battle after neither was able to deliver a knockout blow in the 22 state contests of Super Tuesday on 5 February.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AROUND KENYA : AFTER THE VIOLENCE!

After six weeks, Kenya's violent ethnic and political clashes are easing, following disputed elections. Here is a snap-shot of the situation in what have been some of the worst trouble spots:

RIFT VALLEY, WESTERN

Relative calm is returning to the opposition strongholds of Rift Valley and Western provinces, particularly to Eldoret town, after weeks of bloody clashes.
Government statics show that of the 1,000 people killed in the violence, almost half were killed in Rift Valley and Western provinces.
The worst incident came when armed youths set ablaze a church on the outskirts of Eldoret, killing at least 50 people, mostly women and children, who had sought shelter there.

There have been ethnic clashes across the country.
An estimated 150,000 people, mostly members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikukyu community, have left the two provinces to move to their ancestral homelands in Central province and Nairobi.
Some 20,000 people, mostly Luos like opposition leader Raila Odinga, have moved in the opposite direction.
Business in most towns, such as Nakuru and Eldoret have reopened. Banks, shops, hotels and petty traders are operating without fear.
All the roadblocks, where gangs had dragged Kikuyus from minibuses and hacked them to death with machetes, have been removed and armed police are keeping watch.
But life in camps for the victims of the violence is harsh owing to the rains that are now pounding the region.
Many people, especially the elderly and children, run the risk of contracting diseases. There is also an urgent need for supplies of food and medical services.

See maps charting key issues in Kenya

Public transport has resumed and minibus taxis are doing well again, as they no longer need a police escort.
But a heavy police presence remains in Eldoret and adjacent towns.
Trucks full of the paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) are now a common feature on the streets.
Residents no longer shy away from this squad that used to be known for ruthlessness and brutality.
Eldoret police boss Bernard Muinde Kioko told the BBC that the security officers will remain in town as long as former UN chief Koffi Annan's mediation talks are still in progress.
"We are not taking anything for granted, including the calm that Eldoret is enjoying - things can change very first and we must be prepared at all times," he said.

KISUMU

Kisumu, which featured prominently during the post-election violence with people looting and burning shops, is now calm.
Some businessmen have even started reconstructing their business premises and painting them, hoping that life will soon be "back to normal" in the capital of Nyanza province.

Enlarge Image

But the economy of the city on the shores of Lake Victoria has been badly hit.
Fishing, which is the region's main economic venture, has collapsed since most of the buyers and factory operators fled following the ethnic clashes that followed the 27 December 2007 elections.
Taxi driver Oiro says: "While in the past I made up to 5,000 shillings ($71, £35) per day, I am today lucky when I make Sh1,000. I hope that Kofi Annan pushes [President] Kibaki and Raila [Odinga] to make peace so that we can continue with our lives."
Maseno University, which is about 50km from the city and should have more than 10,000 students, cannot open because the management cannot guarantee the security of students and workers.
Some of the halls of residence were destroyed and are still being repaired.

NAIROBI SLUMS

Tension remains high in Nairobi's Kibera and Mathare slums, which experienced serious post-election violence.
Some Kenyans have been calling for peace. The violent scenes that forced thousands of people to flee have gone and some families have started returning to their homes but they are exercising extreme caution.
Some parts of the slums have been divided along ethnic lines, with many people choosing to live in areas dominated by people from their own community.
In both areas, some landlords have had their houses taken over by strangers who refuse to move out, contributing to on-going tension.
In Kibera, where many shops and houses were set on fire during the violence, police and government officials held a meeting with the residents at the weekend in an attempt to resolve the simmering housing disputes.
Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said most slum areas have remained calm since the mediation talks led by Mr Annan began.
At the weekend, police chief Hussein Ali lifted the ban on holding public rallies across the country, citing a return to normalcy.
Residents are now pinning their hopes on Mr Annan's ability to mediate a political solution.

MOMBASA

The tourism sector, based on along the Indian Ocean coast, which last year contributed 15% of Kenya's national income, has been devastated by the post-election crisis.
Most holiday-makers have cancelled their trips to see the world famous safari resorts and beach hotels, with a few lucky hotels recording 30-40% bed occupancy.

Only a small number of tourists have dared to go to Kenya. The Coast province alone has more than 120 world class hotels, 20 of which have been closed down, with about 20,000 workers sent home.
Rufus Mwachiru, chairman of the Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO), says about 20,000 of their members have also been rendered jobless.
Kenya Tourism Board managing director Ong'ong'a Achieng' says that the industry, which last year earned the country a record 65 billion shillings ($1bn), is now expected to lose about 5.5 billion shillings ($84m) per month during the first quarter of this year.
He warns that the situation will get worse and the economy will be severely hurt if a solution to the current political impasse is not found soon.
Mombasa's port has suffered an unprecedented cargo pile-up.
This was caused by the unavailability of trucks, as transporters were not willing to travel up-country due to fighting in Nairobi, Rift Valley and the Western region.
By mid-January, the port which has a capacity of 14,300 20-foot containers was overwhelmed by 18,472 containers.
At that time eight ships were floating at sea as there was no space to dock.
Some ships got tired of waiting and changed course to Dar es Salaam in neighbouring Tanzania.
The railway is operational once again, after sections of line were ripped up by protestors.
Some of the cargo back-log is now being moved but at a snail's pace.
The crisis at the Mombasa port has also badly hit Uganda, Rwanda, eastern DR Congo and South Sudan.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE RIVAL EXPELLED FROM PARTY!

Zimbabwe's ruling party has expelled ex-Finance Minister Simba Makoni who announced he would challenge Robert Mugabe for the presidency in March.
"The rules are very clear that anyone who tries to challenge an elected candidate of the party stands expelled," a Zanu-PF spokesman said.
President Mugabe will face three challengers as both factions of the opposition are fielding candidates.
The 83-year-old president told state TV was "raring to go" in the polls. "I am very raring to go and raring to fly," Reuters news agency quotes him as saying on Tuesday. He predicted he would win a landslide victory on 29 March.

Mr Makoni's status within Zanu-PF has been unclear since a ruling party official said he had effectively expelled himself after announcing last week that he would stand as an independent.

SIMBA MAKONI
Zanu-PF moderniser
1980: Named deputy minister aged 30
2002: Sacked as finance minister after argument with Mugabe
2002: Went to South Africa
Possible support of Zanu-PF heavyweight Solomon Mujuru
Trained chemist

Makoni's magic formula

"It was decided to make the expulsion of Simba Makoni clear," Nathan Shamuyarira, a Zanu-PF spokesman, said at a news conference. "In the case of Simba Makoni ... he stands expelled," he said.
After 18 months as finance minister, Mr Makoni was sacked in 2002 over policy differences with Mr Mugabe.
Mr Shamuyarira added that anyone in Zanu-PF who decided to back Mr Makoni would also be expelled.
He is thought to have the backing of the former army chief Solomon Mujuru whose wife Joyce is vice-president.
The 57-year-old is expected to launch his election manifesto this week and has said he will not be fighting the election alone.

On Monday, Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he would not join forces with Mr Makoni, who he described as "old wine in a new bottle". There had been speculation that Mr Tsvangirai could stand aside to let Mr Makoni be the main anti-Mugabe challenger.
There are also reports that Arthur Mutambara, from the other faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, could join forces with Mr Makoni. The MDC had been insisting on a new constitution before the elections, as well as guarantees they would be free and fair.

Previous polls have been characterised by violence and allegations of fraud. Zimbabwe has the world's highest annual rate of inflation - 26,000% - and only an estimated one adult in five has a job. Mr Mugabe's critics blame the economic crisis on his policies, especially the seizure of white-owned farms. He blames a western plot to bring him down.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'DANISH CARTOONS PLOTTERS HELD' !

Danish police have arrested several people suspected of planning an attack against one of the cartoonists who drew caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Denmark's intelligence agency (Pet) said the arrests were made in the Aarhus region at 0430 (0330 GMT) "to prevent a murder linked to terrorism".

The agency did not indicate how many people were detained.

The pictures in Denmark's biggest daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 sparked a worldwide furore.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ILLEGAL DOWNLOADERS 'FACE U.K. BAN' !

People in the UK who go online and illegally download music and films may have their internet access cut under plans the government is considering.
A draft consultation Green Paper suggests internet service providers would be required to take action over users who access pirated material.
Under a "three strikes" rule they would receive an e-mail warning, suspension, and then termination of their contract.
Six million people a year are estimated to download files illegally in the UK.
Music and film companies claim that the illegal downloads cost them millions of pounds in lost revenues.
The proposals are part of a Green Paper - a consultation document issued by the government - on the creative industries that is due to be published next week.

The government proposals were first reported by the Times newspaper.
The Times suggested that broadband firms which failed to enforce the rules could be prosecuted, and the details of customers suspected of making illegal downloads made available to the courts.
According to the Times, the draft paper states: "We will move to legislate to require internet service providers to take action on illegal file sharing."
Some of the UK's of the biggest internet providers, such as BT, Virgin and Tiscali have been in talks with the entertainment industry over introducing a voluntary scheme for policing pirate activity, but no agreement has been reached.
So far, they have failed to resolve how disputed allegations would be arbitrated - for example, when customers claim other people have been "piggybacking" on their internet service.
"No country has actually introduced these rules and internet service providers are likely to be very reluctant," Chris Cooke, founder of music newsletter CMU Daily told the BBC.

A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association told the Times it remained hopeful that a deal over a voluntary system could still emerge.
"Every right-thinking body knows that self-regulation is much the better option in these areas," he said.
A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "Early drafts of our creative economy programme document were circulated to stakeholders for comment."
"The content and proposals for the strategy have been significantly developed since then and a comprehensive plan to bolster the UK's creative industries will be published shortly," he explained.
"We will not comment on the content of the leaked document."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FIFA FLOATS 2010 TURF IDEA FOR SA !

By Farayi Mungazi BBC Sport, Accra.

Installing artificial pitches around Africa is one of Blatter's projects. Fifa president Sepp Blatter says the 2010 World Cup in South Africa could be played on artificial pitches.
"We have envisaged, though it's not yet a final decision, that the 2010 World Cup could be played on artificial turf," Blatter told BBC Sport.
And Blatter also suggested future Africa Cup of Nations tournaments should be played on artificial turf.
"I think it's now time in this region to think about artificial turf," said the head of football's governing body.

Blatter on benefits of artificial turf

Many players and coaches dislike artificial pitches arguing the surface disadvantages teams that are not used to playing on them.
In October England struggled in a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Russia in Moscow, losing 2-1 on an aritificial pitch.
Under the "Win in Africa with Africa" project, Fifa is laying an artificial pitch in all 53 of its member countries on the continent, with the exception of South Africa.
Playing surfaces in many African countries can be badly affected during the rainy and dry seasons.
"An artificial pitch gives you the same conditions during the whole year," said Blatter, who expressed his concern over the quality of the 2008 Nations Cup pitches in Ghana.
"I've followed with a lot of interest most of the matches of this competition, and I have to say that African football is at a very high level," he said.
"What I've not not liked so much is the turf, especially in Accra - the grass is too high.
"Artificial turf is a solution to the owners of stadiums - you can use it more than just once a week, you can use it for other sports.
"I think it's better than uneven ground, where control of the ball not easy.
Pitches aside, Blatter was satisfied by Ghana's hosting of the Nations Cup, despite problems with ticketing, transport and hotels.
"I think the organisation was not so bad - we should not be so critical," he said.

BBC SPORTS REPORT.

SOUTH AMERICA TOO HOST DAKAR RALLY !

Argentina and Chile will host the 2009 Dakar Rally, after this year's race was cancelled because of safety concerns.
The 2008 rally was called off in January after four French tourists were murdered in Mauritania on 24 December.
The event's organisers, the Amaury Sport Organisation, said there had been "direct threats against the race issued by terrorist groups".
Next year's Dakar Rally, which has been going since 1979, will start and finish in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
It will feature 6,000km of special stages over a 9,000km-long course, details of which are set to be unveiled in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.
"Signing-up priority will be given to the Dakar 2008 competitors," said Etienne Lavigne, director of the Dakar Rally.
Competitors will be able to sign up for the race from 15 May.
Dominique Serieys, head of Mitsubishi Motorsport, the sporting subsidiary of the Japanese manufacturer unbeaten on the Dakar since 2001, said the announcement that the 2009 edition would go ahead in South America was timely.
"It's good news, one month after the cancellation of the 2008 rally," said Serieys.
"Mitsuibishi will announce its decision at the end of February or beginning of March. In principle we're very interested.
"It was necessary to take a break in Africa given the geopolitical context there. The fact the resumption is on a new continent is good news.
"We've already taken part in the Atacama Rally and the Las Pampas Rally. Chile and Argentina are countries where there are great varieties of terrain.
"Bearing in mind we don't know the exact details of Dakar 2009, I would think it will make for a very difficult course. But that's great, we want a testing course."

BBC SPORTS REPORT.

US CHARGES SIX SUSPECTS OVER 9/11,

The Pentagon has announced charges against six Guantanamo Bay prisoners over their alleged involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the six, who include alleged plot mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The charges, the first for Guantanamo inmates directly related to 9/11, are expected to be heard by a controversial military tribunal system.
About 3,000 people died in the hijacked plane attacks.
Brig Gen Thomas Hartmann, a legal adviser to the head of the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions, said the charges alleged a "long-term, highly sophisticated plan by al-Qaeda to attack the US".

The US has about 275 prisoners left in the detention centre.
He said there would be "no secret trials" and that they would be "as completely open as possible".
"Relatively little amounts of evidence will be classified," Gen Hartmann said.
The other five defendants are Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni, Walid bin Attash, also from Yemen, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, who was born in Balochistan, Pakistan, and raised in Kuwait, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi, and Mohammed al-Qahtani.
Gen Hartmann said the charges included conspiracy, murder in violation of the laws of war, attacking civilians, destruction of property and terrorism.
All but Mr Qahtani and Mr Hawsawi are also charged with hijacking or hazarding an aircraft.
In listing more details of the charges against the defendants, Gen Hartmann alleged that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had proposed the attacks to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in 1996, had obtained funding and overseen the operation and the training of hijackers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a Kuwaiti of Pakistani extraction, was said to have been al-Qaeda's third in command when he was captured in Pakistan in March 2003.
He has reportedly admitted to decapitating kidnapped US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 but these charges do not relate to that.
The charges will now be sent to Susan Crawford, the convening authority for the military commissions, to determine whether they will be referred to trial.
Any trials would be held by military tribunal under the terms of the Military Commissions Act, passed by the US Congress in 2006.
The Act set up tribunals to try terror suspects who were not US citizens.
The law is being challenged by two prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, who say they are being deprived of their rights to have their cases heard by a US civilian court.
After the release of hundreds of Guantanamo detainees without charge, about 275 prisoners remain in the detention centre in Cuba. The US says it plans to try about 80 of them.
Nineteen men hijacked four planes in the 9/11 attacks. Two planes hit the World Trade Center in New York, another the Pentagon in Washington and the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HOW TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS!

By Garth Sundem

With Valentine's Day around the corner, don't trust your instincts when it comes to selecting a mate. Human decision making is seriously flawed - but it can be fixed with a few simple sums. Be warned: this article deals primarily with shark attacks, the lottery, beer, and how to get a date using mathematics. Is it a good decision to keep reading? Unfortunately, the answer is "you need to keep reading to find out."

Sound irrational? Good - your massively irrational mind should have no problem with it, then.
Consider this: every year in the United States, when the Discovery Channel broadcasts "Shark Week" visits to Florida beaches decline. Presumably, the network's programming makes the waters no less safe (assuming sharks are not, in fact, empowered by cable television).

DILEMMA SOLVER

Try Garth Sundem's decision calculator (link below) for the following dilemmas:
Should you apologise?
Should you buy something (or not)?
Should you join a gym?

Garth's decision calculator

However, after watching a week of kicking legs seen from below, the idea of shark attack is refreshed in our minds and we choose not to offer ourselves as bait. This phenomenon is known as an availability heuristic - our rationality is subverted by easily available sensationalist images.
On the sunnier side of the availability heuristic is the lottery. Should you invest £2 a day or use it to buy lottery tickets?

Maths makes the decision obvious. Suppose you invest two quid every day at the reasonable rate of 10%. It will take you almost exactly 50 years to accumulate £1m. To earn this same £1m in the National Lottery, you would (on average) have to match five numbers and a bonus ball, at odds of 2,330,635-to-1. If you spent two quid a day for 50 years you would total just over 36,500 tickets and would thus have only a 1-in-63 chance of making that million pounds. However, the available image of immediate wealth subverts this rationality.

Alphabetically, the availability heuristic is only the first in a long line of psychological mechanisms that lead us into bad decisions. Imagine - if you will - beer. See, wasn't that nice?

Which beer do you like best? The most expensive (and least dusty)At your local pub, you have many beers to choose from. Which is best? If you are like most human beings, the answer is "the most expensive one." A number of studies have shown that by switching price tags, you can switch preferences (for obvious reasons, this is a favourite experiment among university psychology students).

And what about the power of suggestion? Imagine I handed you a cup of hot coffee and then asked your opinion about a person whom you had recently met; now suppose I instead handed you a cup of ice-cold soda. Experiments show that your opinion of this person would be different because you have been primed to feel warmth or coldness.

Add to the list...
framing (how you present data is as important as the data itself)
impact bias (overestimation of possible outcomes),
confirmation bias (recognising only data that supports your hypothesis)
loss aversion (we stand to gain more than we would lose, but our fear of loss prevents us)
selective perception (seeing what you want to see),and
rosy retrospection (integral to the repeated experience of family Christmas)
...and you seem doomed to blunder through life led by your brain's clumsy irrationality.

Is there any hope for the human race? In the example of the lottery, mathematics offered incontrovertible rationality. Might we be able to apply mathematics to other situations, as well?
The secret to Errol's smile? A hot cup of tea. A rudimentary attempt at this is the list of plusses and minuses, in which one lists the positive aspects of a decision on one side of a chart and the negative aspects on the other, and then weighs these against each other as if on a scale (the heavier side wins).

To add a layer of mathematics, if one factor on the list is more important than the others, we might multiply it by two. If it is very important, we could even square or cube it. Suppose you were sitting in the aforementioned pub, drinking the aforementioned beer (perhaps while holding the aforementioned lottery ticket and worrying about the aforementioned shark), while sneaking peeks at a beautiful woman sitting at the bar. What do you think would influence your chance of success with this woman?

It will certainly help if you are attractive - especially in comparison to her (you might say your chances increase in direct proportion to your looks/her looks); it will also help if you are a witty conversationalist and willing to pursue the interaction aggressively, and hurt your chances drastically if she already has a boyfriend (esp a large one).

Putting this into an equation, we could come up with the following (W=Witty, G=Aggressive, Ay=Your Attractiveness, AH=Her Attractiveness, R=Her "Amount" of Current Relationship; all variables from 1-10 with 10 being high):

You would, of course, have to evaluate the results on some type of scale, like the one here:

If ASK is less than zero you should lower your standards
If ASK is between zero and 1, you have exactly a snowball's chance in hell with her
If ASK is between 1 and 10, game on!
If ASK is greater than 10, consider her more attractive friend instead

In practice, using this equation (and equations in general) to make decisions can have an interesting secondary effect. As described by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, by introducing tools to measure a situation, we can affect the situation itself.

To whit: one of my university students decided to apply this equation to calculate his chances with Girl X Of His Dreams. Alas, the equation predicted little hope.

However, Girl X Of His Dreams was flattered that said student had cared enough to calculate his chances (an endearing display of vulnerability, perhaps?), and they ended up having dinner.
Beware, though - as described by the Uncertainty Principle, the introduction of this tool could easily have had negative consequences, turning a calculated sure thing into no chance at all (if the girl had decided that anyone who uses an equation to determine their chances at love was decidedly creepy). The moral is, perhaps equations can help you make decisions, as long as no one sees you doing it.

Try Garth Sundem's decision calculator for the following dilemmas: Garth Sundem is an American professor and author of the book Geek Logik: 50 Foolproof Equations for Everyday Life. He demonstrates his ideas in Horizon on BBC Two at 2100GMT on Tuesday 12 February.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN STANDS FIRM ON NUCLEAR ROW !

The president attacked his domestic critics for pursuing a "vendetta". Iran's president has warned that his government will not back down one iota in its nuclear dispute with the West.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was speaking at a rally marking the 29th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
He said Western pressure over the nuclear issue was just "playing with pieces of paper".
He said it would be a serious mistake for the UN Security Council to pass a new resolution toughening sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme.
Mr Ahmadinejad also announced that Iran would soon be launching two more rockets into space in preparation for Iran putting a satellite into orbit.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says the move will be seen outside Iran as deliberately provocative.
A similar launch a week earlier was condemned both by the United States and by Russia.
Mr Ahmadinejad repeated his defiance over the nuclear issue to loud cheers from a huge crowd of supporters.
He went on to attack his critics at home, whom he accused of having a vendetta and of betraying their country.
The US has led Western efforts to stop Iran enriching uranium, fearing it could provide material for a nuclear arms capability, but Iran says its activities are entirely peaceful.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE RIVAL RULES OUT ALLIANCE!

Mr Tsvangirai said he was confident of victory. Zimbabwe's main opposition leader has said he will not join forces with an ex-minister who last week said he would challenge President Robert Mugabe.
Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed former finance minister Simba Makoni as "old wine in a new bottle".
Mr Makoni is seen as a reformer but Mr Tsvangirai said he shared the blame for Zimbabwe's economic crisis.
Both men say they will contest next month's poll, along with a candidate from another opposition faction.
"Dr Makoni has been part of the establishment for the last 30 years and has witnessed our country deteriorate to this unprecedented level. He is equally accountable as Robert Mugabe for the omissions of Zanu-PF," Mr Tsvangirai said.
"I believe that what Dr Makoni is trying is to reform an institutionalised dictatorship. That is not my agenda."
Mr Makoni was expelled from the ruling party last week after saying he would stand against Mr Mugabe on 29 March.

SIMBA MAKONI

Zanu-PF moderniser
1980: Named deputy minister aged 30
2002: Sacked as finance minister after argument with Mugabe
2002: Went to South Africa
Possible support of Zanu-PF heavyweight Solomon Mujuru
Trained chemist

Makoni's magic formula

There had been speculation that Mr Tsvangirai could stand aside to let Mr Makoni be the main anti-Mugabe challenger.
There are also reports that Arthur Mutambara, from the other faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, could join forces with Mr Makoni.
Mr Tsvangirai said he was confident of victory but accused Mr Mugabe of planning electoral fraud.
"Mugabe may rig it, may steal it, but we would have won it... I have no doubt in my mind, we will win it," he said.
The MDC had insisted on a new constitution before the elections, as well as guarantees they would be free and fair.
Previous polls have been characterised by violence and allegations of fraud.
Zimbabwe has the world's highest annual rate of inflation - 26,000% - and only an estimated one adult in five has a job.
Mr Mugabe's critics blame the economic crisis on his policies, especially the seizure of white-owned farms.
He blames a western plot to bring him down.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GANG STEALS FRENC ART IN ZURICH !

An armed gang has stolen paintings by French Impressionists Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh and Monet from a museum in Zurich, Swiss police say.
They say the robbery took place on Sunday and that the masterpieces are valued at more than $91m (£47m).
Police have not yet named the museum. They say they will provide more information at 1330 (1230 GMT).
It comes just days after two paintings by Picasso were stolen from a Swiss exhibition near Zurich.
Picasso's oil paintings - Head of Horse and Glass and Pitcher - were taken from an exhibition in the town of Pfaeffikon last Wednesday.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

E. TIMOR LEADER 'IN INDUCED COMA' !

Jose Ramos-Horta

East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta is in a critical condition and has been put into an induced coma, after being shot by rebel soldiers, reports say.
Mr Ramos-Horta was shot in a pre-dawn attack on his Dili home, and later airlifted to Australia for treatment.
Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado died in the attack. PM Xanana Gusmao, who was also attacked but not hurt, said it was an attempted coup and called for calm.
Australian PM Kevin Rudd pledged to send more peacekeepers to East Timor.
He said the "attempt to assassinate the democratically elected leadership of a close friend and neighbour of Australia's is a deeply disturbing development".
"It's obviously a destabilising time, with rogue elements at play. Therefore an appropriate show of force is necessary."
Extra troops from New Zealand have also been put on standby, the country's defence minister said.
The attack on Mr Ramos-Horta happened at about 0700 on Monday (2200 GMT Sunday).

JOSE RAMOS-HORTA
Founder of East Timor's independence movement
Spent 24 years in exile after Indonesia invaded
Won Nobel Peace Prize in 1996
Former journalist, fluent in five languages

Profile: Jose Ramos-Horta

Two cars drove past the president's house on the outskirts of the capital, Dili, shooting him on the road outside.
One soldier was also reported to be seriously wounded.
Mr Ramos-Horta was taken to a hospital run by the Australian military in Dili, where he was stabilised.
He was later evacuated to Darwin for further treatment.
"He is in a critical condition on full life support, with a ventilator for breathing, and under an induced coma," said Ian Badham, a spokesman for medical evacuation service Careflight International.
'Failed coup'
Shots were also fired at Prime Minister Gusmao's car, shortly after the attack on Mr Ramos-Horta, but he was not hurt.

Peacekeepers have stepped up security in Dili.
Mr Gusmao told a press briefing that the situation was under control.
"I consider this incident a coup attempt against the state by Reinado and it failed," he said.
"This government will guarantee security and development will continue."
Dili is reported to be quiet and heavily patrolled by local and international security forces.
But the BBC's Andrew Harding says officials are concerned that there could be fighting between rival groups.

An Australian-led UN force has been in charge of security in the capital since mid-2006.
Peacekeepers were invited into the country to quell violent clashes between police and the military, triggered by then Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's decision to sack a third of the armed forces.

Reinado had been indicted over the 2006 unrest in East Timor.
At least 37 people were killed in several weeks of fighting and more than 150,000 were forced to flee their homes.
Reinado, a former naval commander, was accused of being involved in several shooting incidents during the violence and charged with murder.
But he escaped from jail and, with a group of followers, holed himself up in the mountains, refusing government pleas to surrender.
His continued stand-off with the government had led to fears of renewed violence in what is one of the world's newest and poorest nations.
Mr Ramos-Horta is a political veteran.
He spent 24 years in exile after Indonesian troops invaded East Timor in 1975, leading the country's bid for independence from overseas and winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
He served in the more powerful role of prime minister in the wake of the 2006 violence, before elections last year which saw him switch roles with then President Xanana Gusmao.
East Timor gained independence in 2002.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE GREATER THE DIFFICULTY,

THE MORE THE GLORY IN SURMOUNTING IT" !

FILM WORLD AWAITS BAFTA CEREMONY!

A host of celebrities are expected to grace the red carpet at this year's Bafta awards, to be held later at London's Royal Opera House.

The ceremony holds a greater significance following the cancellation of the Golden Globes and uncertainty over whether the Oscars will go ahead. Oscar favourites Daniel Day-Lewis and Julie Christie are among the nominees expected to attend the event. Jonathan Ross will host the ceremony, broadcast on BBC One at 2100 GMT.

British drama Atonement leads the field with 14 nominations, which include acting nods for stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. Thriller No Country for Old Men and oil prospecting drama There Will Be Blood are up for nine awards apiece, while Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en Rose is shortlisted in seven categories.

Minogue was among the guests at Saturday's pre-awards party. Cuba Gooding Jr, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Spacey are among the Hollywood stars who have been lined up to present awards. Eddie Izzard, Ricky Gervais, Thandie Newton and Sir Ian McKellen are among the British talents doing the honours.

The Bafta Film Awards have grown in prominence since the decision was made in 2002 to move the ceremony before the Oscars. Nominees and other celebrities were out in force at a pre-awards party held in central London on Saturday. Pop stars Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen and Bob Geldof were also present, alongside actor Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EGYPT TO RECOGNISE COPT CONVERTS !

By Bob Trevelyan - BBC News.

The group's lawyer said the ruling was a victory for religious freedom. An Egyptian court has ruled that 12 Christians who converted to Islam and then reverted to Christianity can have their faith officially recognised.
The decision overturns a lower court ruling which said the state need not recognise conversions from Islam because of a religious ban.
This is a case that has tested Egypt's tolerance of conversions from Islam.
A lawyer for the 12 Coptic Christians described the case as a victory for human rights and freedom of religion.
He says it could open the door for hundreds of other Copts who want to revert to their original faith from Islam.

It appears, though, that the court's decision will have a limited application.
Reports say the judge decided that the Copts should not be considered apostates for converting from Islam, because they had been born Christian.
This suggests that Egyptians born Muslim will still be unable to convert to other faiths and have those conversions recognised on their identity cards. Many Muslims believe that converting from Islam is wrong, and some believe it is punishable by death.
Last year, an Egyptian convert to Christianity was forced to go into hiding when he received death threats after trying to have his conversion officially recognised.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ASSAULT RAP FOR ROUGH HANDSHAKE!

The lawyer could face up to a year in jail for her vigorous handshake. A Florida lawyer has been charged with assault for over-vigorously shaking the hand of a fellow attorney.
Kathy Brewer Rentas, 49, shook the hand of Assistant US Attorney Jennifer Keene so hard her arm was nearly ripped out of its socket, a court official said.
Moments before, Ms Keene successfully prosecuted Ms Brewer Rentas' husband.
Anthony Rentas was accused of violating the terms of a probation order for supplying cocaine, and sentenced to 90 days of house arrest.
After the hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Mrs Brewer Rentas insisted on shaking the prosecuting lawyer's hand.
In shaking it, she nearly floored Ms Keene with the vigour of her hand-action.
"With Keene in hand, Brewer made an upward, then a quick downward motion and pulled Keene toward the ground moving her forward, almost causing Keene to fall to the ground," said a court security officer.
Alicia Valle, a spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office, said assaulting a federal officer was a serious matter and that Mrs Brewer Rentas would be prosecuted "vigorously".
"As a member of the bar, she should know better," she said.
Mrs Brewer Rentas was freed on Friday on $100,000 (£50,000) bail, after spending a night in solitary confinement, and ordered to undergo psychological examination.
She was also ordered to stay away from Mrs Keene, and faces up to a year in prison if convicted of assault.
Mrs Brewer Rentas says she did not intend to cause any harm.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

BLAZE SHUTS FAMOUS MARKETS AREA !

Flames were reported leaping up to 30ft in the air.

Flames over Camden

Police are warning people to avoid parts of Camden, north London, after a fire ravaged the world famous markets area on Saturday.
Surrounding roads are expected to stay closed for several days as damage is assessed in Camden Canal Market.
Some 100 firefighters tackled the blaze, which severely damaged storage buildings and the Hawley Arms pub.
Six people, including three children, spent the night at a sports centre after homes were evacuated.
Camden Council said 100 beds were made available for people at the sports centre, and about 20-odd who initially turned up were found overnight accommodation at hotels.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Chalk Farm Road and parts of Camden High Street, as well as surrounding one way streets, are expected to be closed for the next three or four days."

Eyewitness accounts of blaze

The closures are to allow structural engineers to assess the damage to buildings.
The markets area is a major tourist attraction attracting up to 300,000 visitors each weekend to its six open-air and indoor markets and vibrant mix of bars, clubs, shops and restaurants.
London Fire Brigade said there were no reports of casualties.
LFB station manager Guy Foster said: "I have had no reports of any casualties, injuries or rescues and I believe that all people who were in the area at the time of the fire are now accounted for.
"When firefighters arrived they found an intense fire and they have done incredibly well to get it under control so quickly.

"The decision was taken to clear a large area around the fire because we believed there were propane gas canisters in some of the market stalls.
"The police had to carry out a large operation to clear what is a very busy area on a Saturday night and they have done an excellent job to enable us to fight the fire effectively.
"Fire investigators are already on the scene but it is far too early to make any guesses about what might have started the fire."
Residents had also been evacuated from some houses and flats.
A spokeswoman for Camden Council said: "We have opened Talacre Sports Centre as a rest centre for those who have been evacuated from their homes and beds and refreshments have been made available."
She also said the centre would be kept open for "as long as it is needed".
Evacuees are being advised to call the council's emergency line on 0207 974 4444 for the latest information on rehousing.

Camden Council is also organising a meeting to help businesses affected by the fire on Sunday but have yet to confirm a time. Details will be posted on the council's website.
The meeting will be to provide advice, such as insurance and re-opening plans, to damaged businesses as well as those undamaged but within the cordon which remain closed, a spokeswoman said.

In pictures: Camden fire
Shock as Camden burns

Train services passing through Camden Town on the North London line were suspended during the blaze, and the line remains partly closed due to scheduled engineering works on Sunday.
Network Rail said it would check if any damage was caused to the tracks by the fire.
Firefighters were alerted at about 1920 GMT on Saturday to the blaze, which has reportedly consumed part of the Hawley Arms, a popular Camden pub which is frequented by celebrities including singer Amy Winehouse. Revellers from local pubs and bars were moved away from the danger area, where flames were leaping up to 30ft in the air.

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, said: "Our thoughts are with those people affected by the fire in Camden Market - one of the most thriving markets in London and of enormous importance for the economy of the local area and beyond."
Conservative mayoral candidate Boris Johnson said: "This will come as a terrible blow to their livelihoods and the area generally. My thoughts are with the traders, local residents and the emergency services who are, as usual, performing brilliantly under pressure."
London Ambulance Service said it had sent ambulances and a hazardous response team to the scene.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

POLL WATCH : JANUARY 2008 !

In the latest monthly Poll Watch, the BBC's political research editor, David Cowling, reviews the political opinion polls published in the UK in January.

One poll found Lib Dem support rose after Nick Clegg became leaderThis was an unusually busy January as far as polling was concerned.
Voting intention figures ranged between a 10-point Conservative lead through to a one-point Labour lead.
Generally, compared with December, Conservative support fell back about 3%, Labour has stayed the same and the Liberal Democrats' share increased about 2%.
A Mori/BBC poll (sampled from 3 to 6 January) concentrated on issues of trust in British society.
This was a wide-ranging survey (24% think the death of Diana, Princess of Wales was the result of a conspiracy, 30% believe evidence of UFO landings is being hidden from the public and a refreshing 16% believe in witches) in which politicians fared badly.
Some 83% did not trust politicians, 46% said they trusted government least among a list of seven national institutions; and only 4% thought MPs put the country's interests first.
However, friends also took a knock, with only 35% agreeing that they generally believed what their friends told them. And whereas 54% agreed that "most people can be trusted", 45% disagreed.
A survey by ICM for the Sunday Telegraph (sampled from 9 to 10 January) found 78% agreement that immigration to Britain should be made harder and 56% who thought British Muslims need to integrate more into mainstream British culture.
Half of respondents (51%) agreed that Muslims enriched British society and were not a threat to it (37% disagreed). But opinion was more evenly divided about whether British identity would be endangered if more Muslims came to live here - 48% agreed and 45% disagreed.

European issues
In light of the growing number of reports predicting a harsher economic climate in the coming year, Populus/ITV News (sampled from 9 to 10 January) tested public opinion.
They found 47% of respondents were pessimistic (35% were optimistic) about the state of the British economy over the next 12 months. Yet, when it came to predicting their personal and family economic prospects, 52% were optimistic compared with 32% who were pessimistic.
ICM/Guardian (sampled from 18 to 20 January) probed European issues and found 58% who thought membership of the EU was good for Britain, compared with 35% who said it was bad.

Jacqui Smith (right) was criticised over her concerns about safety. Some 54% thought the EU was good for British jobs and trade, whereas 41% disagreed. However, 67% also thought EU membership resulted in Britain's national identity being lost.
And when it came to judging Britain's relationships, 64% thought they were warmest with the USA, as against 29% who chose the EU.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was criticised when she said she felt unsafe walking in London at night.
However, ICM/Sunday Telegraph (sampled 30 to 31 January) found a very clear gender divide on this issue. They asked respondents to what extent they personally felt safe walking the streets late at night in their area and found 16% of men felt unsafe doing so, compared with 41% of women.
The same poll also tested public opinion in the aftermath of the recent furore about parliamentary allowances and found 74% who said MPs should not be allowed to employ family members if they are paid from public money.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

OFFERING HIMSELF!

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been a long and dramatic week in politics in Zimbabwe. Things are changing very fast and some of the news I relate here may well be out of date or have altered completely by the time you read this letter.

The first major development took place last weekend when the two factions of the opposition MDC met to decide if they were going to reunite and stand as one party in the coming elections. Despite everything that has happened to the MDC and their supporters in the last 8 years including murder, rape, torture, abduction and arson, the two factions were not able to agree to stand together to fight Mr Mugabe and Zanu PF. As I write it is still not clear if both factions will be fielding a Presidential candidate or how many individuals they be putting forward for parliament, senate, rural and local council seats. I suppose the inability of the two factions to unite has not come as a surprise to most Zimbabweans but, regardless of the detail or the inevitable finger pointing, it is a sad event for Zimbabwe. So many people, so many sacrifices, such pain - what a shame that in the end, at this most crucial time, the desperate state of the country could not come first.

The news of the MDC division had hardly got around when it was completely overtaken by the dramatic news of a serious challenge within the ruling Zanu PF party. A Presidential challenge no less! Simba Makoni, the exMinister of Finance, long time Zanu PF member and presently sitting on the Politburo, addressed a news conference on Tuesday. Saying that he had consulted widely and across the board, Mr Makoni said he was accepting the call of the people and offering himself as a candidate for President of Zimbabwe. His short speech was realistic and down to earth. Simba Makonisaid: " Let me confirm that I share the agony and anguish of all citizens over the extreme hardships that we all have endured for nearly 10 years now. I also share the widely held view that these hardships are a result of failure of national leadership and that change at that level is a pre-requisite for change at other levels of national endeavour."

Almost as one Zimbabwe drew breath.

Naturally the rumours and speculation that have followed this historic announcement have almost overwhelmed us. Is Simba Makoni expelled from ZanuPF? Is he standing as an Independent. Has he got a political party waitingin the wings? Is he a threat to Mr Mugabe? Will other senior Zanu PF members now come out in the open and support Mr Makoni? Is this the end of Zanu PF as we know it? Is this going to split the Zanu PF vote? Will it have an impact on the MDC vote?

The most pressing question on everyone's lips has been: Is Simba Makoni genuine? As each day has passed and the attacks on Simba Makoni by the State propaganda have increased to greater heights, they have perhaps even answered the question with their own vitriol. In one classic editorial in The Herald came the predictable and groaningly familiar blaming of the West- so insulting to the intelligence of Zimbabweans. The editorial said: "one does not have to be a seer to see that Simba has just subscribed to megaphone politics by giving a black face to the voices from the White House and Whitehall."

In the middle of all of the upheaval came the announcement that the date for nominating candidates had been moved back another week and so, again, we wait and we watch. Certainly whoever Simba Makoni represents and whatever positions the two branches of the MDC take, the events of this past week may well have broken the apathy that is suffocating Zimbabwean voters. I join the call of others and urge Zimbabweans, wherever you are and if you are still on the voters roll to please come home and vote on the 29th March.
Until next week, thanks for reading,
love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 9 February 2008 www.cathybuckle.com My books: "African Tears"and "Beyond Tears" are available in South Africa from: books@clarkesbooks.co.za and in the UK from: orders@africabookcentre.com

JAPAN ACCUSES RUSSIA OF INCURSION !

Japan has accused Russia of violating its airspace over the Pacific Izu islands and demanded an explanation. A Russian Tupolev 95 bomber flew for about three minutes over the isle of Sofugan, 650km (400 miles) south of Tokyo, Japanese officials said.

Japan responded by scrambling 22 jets and lodging an official protest with the Russian embassy.
But a spokesman for the Russian air force denied any incursion into Japanese airspace had ocurred.

Alexander Drobyshevsky told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency that strategic bomber flights had been "carried out in strict accordance with international rules on flying over neutral waters, without violating the border between the two countries".

Russia last violated Japan's airspace in January 2006 near Rebun Island near the northern island of Hokkaido, Japanese officials said. On Thursday, Japan held an annual rally to demand the return of four disputed islands - known as the Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan - which Russia seized in the closing days of World War II.

The dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty to formally end the war. It was not clear whether Saturday's flyby was related to the rally. Despite their territorial disputes, Japan and Russia have recently indicated their desire to improve relations, the BBC's Chris Hogg reports from Tokyo.

Russia wants Japanese financial support for development of its far eastern regions while Japan wants greater access to Russia's oil reserves.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"REAL LEADERS ARE ORDINARY PEOPLE

WITH EXTRAORDINARY

DETERMINATION" !

PROGRESS AT KENYA'S PEACE TALKS !

Kofi Annan has been trying to broker a deal between the rivals. Kenya's ruling party and opposition could be days away from a final political settlement to end post-election bloodshed, officials say. Ex-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told reporters in Nairobi a deal could be reached next week but that earlier reports of a deal had been premature.

The BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi says it is a significant development which could pave the way to power sharing. Some 1,000 people have died in the clashes since December's elections. Mr Annan said: "We are all agreed that a political settlement is needed, that a political settlement is necessary and we are working out the details of such a settlement."

President Mwai Kibaki's party said there had been an "agreement in principle", while the opposition spoke of a "positive development". The new mood of consensus represents a significant development and follows weeks of intransigence from both sides, says our correspondent.

Speaking at a prayer service in Nairobi on Friday, Mr Kibaki said he was "encouraged by the commendable progress" in the peace talks. Mr Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential election, which observers said was deeply flawed.

The opposition Orange Democratic Movement, led by Raila Odinga, had said it was cheated of victory and called for a re-run of the poll. But Mr Kibaki's Party of National Unity had insisted the opposition should challenge the disputed result through the courts. More than 300,000 people were displaced in the post-election violence, as both sides traded accusations of ethnic cleansing.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

VOLGA ROAD TRIP : SILVER BEARS !

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes is travelling in a Volga car along the Volga river to take a snapshot of life in Vladimir Putin's Russia, as the presidential election looms. This is his fifth piece, from the city of Saratov.

The long journey to Saratov has its wintry charms. If you've never been to Russia in deepest winter then your impression may be of a land of endless cold and darkness. And indeed it can sometimes feel like that. But not today.
Today was wintertime Russia at its very best. I woke to crystal-clear skies and dazzling sunshine. On days like this Russia can look spectacularly beautiful. With the mercury down around minus 12C the countryside is transformed into a fairyland of ice and snow.
The freeze-dried birch trees stand out against the flawless sky like giant candyfloss.
The green pine trees look for all the world like they've been covered with large dollops of icing sugar. The snow under foot is deliciously hard and crunchy.
The city of Saratov is another unexpected surprise. Russian cities are, as a rule, unrelentingly horrible. The few historic neighbourhoods that weren't erased by Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev are now being bulldozed by property developers.

But so far Saratov has escaped the ravages of communism and capitalism. Charming streets of Tsarist-era buildings line the west bank of Volga. Down on the waterfront I found an excellent German restaurant with real German beer and sausage!
The Volga here is almost five kilometres (three miles) wide, and at this time of year covered in a metre of ice. The locals even take their cars out for a spin on it!

But my real object in coming to Saratov is not to enjoy the winter weather, it is to track down a group of Russian Bears. Not the four-legged, furry type. The big silver type, with propellers and wings. Just across the Volga from Saratov is Engels, home to Russia's strategic nuclear bomber force.
For more than 15 years, since the end of the Cold War, Russia's fleet of strategic bombers (known in the West by their Nato codename "Bear") have been in hibernation.
But in the last six months the Tupolev Tu-95 Bears have been back on the prowl. The huge silver bombers have been repeatedly intercepted approaching the coasts of Scotland, Norway and Alaska. It's led some to talk of a new Cold War.

My first problem was locating the base. The old Cold War may be long over, but Engels airbase still doesn't appear on my Russian road map, or my satnav. When I finally did, the experience was distinctly unscary.
I've been on a couple of American airbases, and the overwhelming impression there is of money and muscle. They have the best of everything, and loads of it. Engels looks like it hasn't had a penny spent on it in 20 years.
The big silver Bears sit out on the edge of the runway exposed to the biting wind. Amid the decaying base they, at least, look in excellent condition. But there's no getting away from the fact that the Bears are now fairly vintage aircraft. They first started flying in the 1950s!
Sadly I wasn't allowed to fly in one of the silver beasts. "Foreigners are not allowed", I was told by my delightful defence ministry minder. "You might find out some Russian military secrets!" she told me with a wry smile.
Instead I was invited to dinner at the home of a squadron leader. Over vodka and caviar he described to me what the coast of Britain looks like from 10,500 metres (35,000ft), at two o'clock in the morning.
"The whole place is lit up like a Christmas tree," he said. "You people must have far too much money if you can afford to waste it like that".
We toasted the eternal friendship of the British and Russian peoples. I was awarded an honorary flying pin, and I stumbled back to my hotel feeling warm and fuzzy.
It certainly didn't feel like a new Cold War.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TANZANIA'S LEADER SACKS CABINET !

The former prime minister feels the committee misled parliament. Tanzania's president has dissolved his cabinet in the wake of a corruption scandal that forced the resignation of the prime minister and two ministers.
The three were implicated in an energy deal involving a US-based electricity company which is said to be costing the country more than $100,000 a day.
They deny any wrongdoing but there has been a public outcry about the affair.
The firm was hired in 2006 to provide emergency electricity during a power crisis, but MPs say it failed to do so.
President Jakaya Kikwete's move comes days ahead of a planned visit to Tanzania by President George Bush.
Correspondents say pressure has been mounting on the government to crack down on officials linked to corruption.

A parliamentary committee set up to investigate the energy deal revealed that the government was losing more than $100,000 a day to the company that was awarded the contract.
Political analyst Mwesigye Baregu says the resignations allow the president to reposition his government and restore public confidence in the face of sharp criticism.
"The storm has been gathering in the past two years and people have been very dissatisfied with the performance of some ministers," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
Former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa made an emotional speech to parliament when he resigned on Thursday, saying he felt the committee had misled parliament.
Energy and Minerals Minister Nazir Karamagi and Ibrahim Msabaha - a former energy minister and now in the East African Community ministry - resigned hours after him.
The BBC's Vicky Ntetema in Dar es Salaam says Richmond Development was contracted to bring in generators to provide 100 megawatts of electricity each day after a drought early in 2006 left low water levels in dams leading to severe power cuts.
By the time the company was ready to start operations, Tanzania's power problems had been resolved.
Mr Lowassa's office later influenced the government's decision to extend Richmond's contract despite advice to the contrary from the state-run energy company Tanesco, the inquiry alleges.
The parliamentary committee has recommended that those implicated in the scandal be prosecuted but observers say the onus remains with President Kikwete.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE END OF ONE LAW FOR ALL?

By Innes Bowen Producer, Law in Action

Faizul Aqtab SiddiqiEthnic and religious courts are gaining ground in the UK. Will this lead to different justice for different people? Aydarus Yusuf has lived in the UK for the past 15 years, but he feels more bound by the traditional law of his country of birth - Somalia - than he does by the law of England and Wales.
"Us Somalis, wherever we are in the world, we have our own law. It's not Islamic, it's not religious - it's just a cultural thing."
The 29-year-old youth worker wants to ensure that other members of his community remain subject to the law of their ancestors too - he helps convene an unofficial Somali court, or "gar", in south-east London.
Aydarus is not alone in this desire. A number of parallel legal universes have been quietly evolving among minority communities. As well as Somali customary law, Islamic and Jewish laws are being applied and enforced in parts of the UK.
What they mustn't do - and this must never happen - is to stray into the field of criminal matters
Gerald Butler QCIslamic and Jewish law remains confined to civil matters. But the BBC's Law in Action programme has learned that the Somali court hears criminal cases too.
One of the most serious cases it has dealt with was the "trial" of a group of young men accused of stabbing a fellow Somali.
"When the suspects were released on bail by the police, we got the witnesses and families together for a hearing," says Aydarus. "The accused men admitted their guilt and apologised. Their fathers and uncles agreed compensation."

So how did this court come about? Some academic lawyers see these alternative legal systems as an inevitable - and welcome - consequence of multiculturalism.

Orthodox Jews living within London's eruv boundary are among those who may use the Beth DinDr Prakash Shah, of London's Queen Mary University, advocates this "legal pluralism".
"Tribunals like the Somali court could be more effective than the formal legal system in maintaining social harmony."
Former judge Gerald Butler QC says that while courts such as the Jewish Beth Din can work properly, it's essential that all of the involved parties "freely and voluntarily agree to the jurisdiction..