Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

Dear Family and Friends,

The winner and loser of Zimbabwe's March Presidential election have begun campaigning for confirmation of their positions in a second round of the ballot.

Mr Mugabe, who lost in the first round, says that people voted with their stomachs and not their minds on March 29th. Mr Mugabe's new campaign is so far focussing on apparent plots by the British, Americans and people he calls their allies and puppets whom he says are trying to re-colonise Zimbabwe. These new colonisers, who are, by the way, not entitled to votein the coming election, are also to blame for the dire situation in the country. Mr Mugabe said: "There might be grievances about prices, food shortages and non-availability of basic commodities. These are being caused by sanctions and food shortages are a result of drought."

Mrs Mugabe, speaking in Shamva alongside her husband this week, was even more forthright in her comments. Mrs Mugabe said: "Even if people vote for the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai will never step foot inside State House. He will only get to hear about what it looks like inside State House from people who have been there. Even if Baba (Mugabe) loses, he will only leave State House to make way for someone from Zanu PF."

Ordinary Zimbabweans, meanwhile, are facing the coming poll in a state of shock and disbelief. Everywhere you go people have accounts of terror and horror to relate about events that have taken place in the last two months.Tales of burning, running, hiding, broken limbs, abductions and murder. The MDC say that in the past six weeks 50 Zimbabweans have been killed in political violence and more than 25 000 have been displaced.

MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai and the winner of the March 29th Presidential election, said on his return to the country : "They [the Government] have beaten themselves into serious rejection by the people of Zimbabwe." Mr Tsvangirai described the situation in Zimbabwe as 'tragic' and said the nation is : "in a state of despair."

For the past three weeks while the world's cameras have been upon attacks on foreigners in South Africa, mayhem has been going on almost un-noticed behind the curtain in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans want a change to this dreadful, crushing way of life. What they need now is to believe in themselves and to believe that they can effect that change.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 31st May 2008.http://www.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

IRAQ 'STEPPING BACK FROM ABYSS' !

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has praised progress in Iraq at a UN forum in Sweden on the situation in the country.
Mr Ban said Iraq was "stepping back from the abyss that we feared most" but warned the situation "remains fragile".
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki called for debt cancellation, mainly from Arab nations.
Nearly 100 countries are taking part in the forum, which is aimed at supporting Iraq's efforts to restore stability and
rebuild a functioning economy.
Correspondents say progress in these areas remains fragile.
The UN called the conference to review a five-year package it brokered last year, called the International Compact with Iraq.
Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki called on neighbouring countries to Iraq's forgive debts and waive compensation payments for wars fought under Saddam Hussein.

Ban Ki-moon has praised international efforts in supporting the rebuilding of Iraq.
"Iraq is not a poor country. It possesses tremendous human and material resources, but the debts of Iraq... which we inherited from the dictator, hamper the reconstruction process," he said.
Iraq owes more than $60bn (£30.4bn) debt in total, with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia among the biggest creditors. It also owes about $28bn in compensation claims dating from the 1991 Gulf War.
Swedish officials had earlier played down the possibility of new initiatives at the meeting, and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said debt was not its subject.
Meanwhile US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged countries to stand by Iraq during reconstruction.
She said Iraq was "making good progress" but "challenges" remained.
But Iran's foreign minister blamed the US-led coalition's "mistaken policies" for the "grave" situation in Iraq, the Associated Press reported.
'Hope'
Mr Ban opened the conference, in Upplands Vasby, about 25km (15 miles) north of Sweden's capital, Stockholm, with an upbeat assessment.
"If we had to use one word to describe the situation in Iraq today I would choose... hope," he said.

IRAQ'S DEBTS
Paris Club Group of 19 developed countries owed $37bn in 2004, now reduced to about $13bn
Arab nations: Status and amount of debts unclear, total estimated at $50-70bn:
Saudi Arabia: $25-30bn
Kuwait: $17-27bn
Qatar: $4bn
UAE: $3.8bn
Jordan $1.3bn
1991 Gulf War reparations: Iraq owes $28bn to Kuwait and other countries
Source: Jubilee Iraq

"There is new hope that the people and government of Iraq are overcoming daunting challenges and working together to rebuild their country."
On the eve of the forum the largest Sunni Muslim bloc suspended talks on rejoining Iraq's Shia-led government.
A number of demonstrations were planned in the Stockholm area and close to the conference centre against the continued US presence in Iraq.
The gathering follows up on a conference in May 2007 at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the Iraq Compact was launched.
On security, optimism has been growing in Iraq that progress is at last being made, with ceasefires in Sadr City and Basra still holding, and the Iraqi government claiming some success in clearing al-Qaeda from the northern city of Mosul.
The US military says violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels for four years.
The conference was expected to put pressure on Mr Maliki's government to push ahead with political reconciliation between Sunni Arabs, Shia and Kurds, while continuing the clampdown on both Sunni and Shia extremism.

Anti-terrorist police were brought in as part of the security preparations.
But on the eve of the conference the leader of the largest Sunni bloc suspended talks on rejoining the government, saying there was a dispute over which posts his followers would be given.
Adnan al-Dulaimi, who heads the Sunni Accordance Front in the Iraqi parliament, said Mr Maliki had refused to allow his bloc to resume leadership of the planning ministry.
Between them, the three parties that make up the bloc hold 44 of the 275 seats in parliament.
Ali al-Adeeb, a Shia MP close to Mr Maliki, played down the bloc's decision, saying it was "not a big step backward".
BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN" !

________

US IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON PKK GROUP !

Turkey, the EU and US consider the PKK to be a terrorist organisation.
President George W Bush has used a US drug trafficking law to impose financial sanctions on separatist Kurdish rebels in Turkey.
The sanctions deny the PKK access to the US financial system and block any transactions involving American companies and individuals.
Sanctions were also announced against the 'Ndrangheta mafia from Italy and a Mexican drug-lord and his cartel.
Three individuals from Afghanistan, Venezuela and Turkey were also listed.
"This action underscores the president's determination to... end the suffering that trade in illicit drugs inflicts on Americans and other people around the world, as well as prevent drug traffickers from supporting terrorists," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
The PKK is branded a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and EU. There is a widespread belief in Turkey that the PKK uses drug trafficking to finance terror.
More than 30,000 people have been killed since the PKK began its campaign in 1984.
The 'Ndrangheta, from the Calabria region of Italy, has overtaken Sicily's Cosa Nostra as the richest and most violent of the Italian mafia.
In Mexico, nearly 1,400 people have died this year across the country, as drug cartels fight among themselves and government forces.
Previously there were 68 individuals and entities subject to sanctions under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, which became law in December 1999.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TROOPS 'MUST BACK MUGABE OR QUIT' !

Zimbabwe's army chief has told soldiers they must leave the military if they do not vote for incumbent President Robert Mugabe in next month's run-off poll.
Chief-of-staff Maj Gen Martin Chedondo said soldiers had signed up to protect Mr Mugabe's principles of defending the revolution, state media reported.
"If you have other thoughts, then you should remove that uniform," he said.
Gen Chedondo was speaking at a target-shooting competition outside Harare, the Herald newspaper reported.
Zimbabwe's generals have in the past vowed never to support the main opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, if he is elected in the 27 June run-off election.
"Soldiers are not apolitical; only mercenaries are apolitical," said the general. "We should therefore stand behind our commander-in-chief."
He said the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was being supported by Britain and its Western allies in a bid to regain "imperialist" influence in Zimbabwe.
Earlier, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa accused the intelligence services of the UK and the US of acting as a sinister third force to undermine the ruling party's revolution.
He said an opposition victory in the run-off vote would reverse the gains of the revolution and destabilise the country.

Gen Chedondo said troops were being deployed across the nation to help police control political violence before the presidential election second round.
The army denies reports by human rights groups that soldiers have been involved in instigating attacks on government opponents since the first round of voting on 29 March, which saw no overall winner emerge.
The MDC says more than 50 of its members have been killed and thousands more forced to flee their homes since the first round.
Most of Zimbabwe's generals are veterans of the conflict that led to independence from Britain in 1980.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Apartheid 'not root of SA riots'

Mr De Klerk started to dismantle the apartheid regime after 1989 South Africa's former President FW De Klerk has told the BBC that the heritage of apartheid cannot be blamed for this month's xenophobic attacks. "It would be a great over simplification to blame everything which is wrong... on the heritage of the past," he said. The last apartheid-era leader said unemployment and the high crime rate were the main reasons for the violence. More than 70,000 people have fled the attacks and more than 50 died. Mr De Klerk became president in 1989 and started to dismantle the apartheid regime, which ended five years later. Ad workers in South Africa have been pushing for disaster zones to be declared in the areas worst hit by recent xenophobic attacks. Correspondents say there is growing concern about the conditions in which tens of thousands of displaced people are living. Most are still sheltering in community halls, churches and police stations and some are sleeping out in the open. The government says it is working urgently to provide more suitable accommodation for them. In an interview on the BBC's Today programme, Mr De Klerk said that the attacks against foreigners were "unacceptable" and high unemployment amongst black South Africans and crime were to blame. DISPLACED FIGURES South Africa: about 38,000 Gauteng: 17,548 Western Cape: 19,654 KwaZulu Natal: 1,650-1,750 Figures from Ocha Mozambique: 32,082 Malawi: 500 Zimbabwe: 123 Figures from the Red Cross In pictures: Displaced life in SA He said that immigrants were "prepared to work at lower wages". "Therefore many black South Africans feel that these people are robbing them of their jobs and of their food and of their livelihoods so I think that's the main root cause," he said. He said that crime could not be solely blamed on foreigners. "But there's no doubt that a substantial percentage of the illegal immigrants are involved in the high crime rates which we have." He rejected that claim that the legacy of apartheid was to blame for many of the country's current social problems. Under apartheid, people were deprived of their full political rights, but not on a "socio-economic basis", he said. "It was quite developmental if you look at what has happened in the educational field, in the field of housing - I'm now talking from the 1960s to the 1990s, the establishment of new universities, the creation of opportunities, small business development," he said. Critics of apartheid have argued that black South Africans at the time received an inferior education - many young people boycotted school to fight apartheid - and black ownership of commercial business was prohibited or highly regulated. Apartheid is often blamed as a means of "political expediency", Mr De Klerk said. I think Zimbabwe's lot is now in the hand of Zimbabweans FW De Klerk "But there's no doubt that we've now had a new full open democracy since 1994 - it's almost 15 years - and month by month the claim that everything which is wrong is to be blamed on the past loses its appeal and its credibility." In a statement on Thursday, the government acknowledged "the urgent need to accelerate its programmes for alleviating poverty, unemployment and other forms of socio-economic deprivation". It also appealed to communities "to reject any agitation from those who wish to reduce this country into a lawless country". With regard to the political crisis in Zimbabwe, Mr De Klerk said that South Africa's reputation had been "damaged". Efforts by Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's current leader, to get a unity government between President Robert Mugabe's party and that of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai were "outdated", he said. "At certain stages President Mugabe made promises to President Mbeki which he didn't keep - and in that sense I'm a bit sorry for President Mbeki because I think at times Mugabe led him up the garden path." He also had praise for Mr Tsvangirai and his "statesmanlike qualities" in agreeing to an election re-run. "I think Zimbabwe's lot is now in the hand of Zimbabweans," he said. BBC BEWS REPORT.

TOILET TROUBLE FOR SPACE STATION !

The toilet is in the astronauts' Russian-built living quarters.
International Space Station astronauts are eagerly awaiting the arrival of shuttle Discovery - it is bringing a new pump to mend their broken toilet.
The station's urine collection unit, as opposed to its solid waste unit, has been malfunctioning for several days.
Nasa said it thought a separator pump was at fault, and the three male crew members were operating it manually.
To make room for the new part, Nasa has had to remove other equipment from the shuttle, which launches on Saturday.
"Clearly, having a working toilet is a priority for us," shuttle payload manager Scott Higginbotham said.
The Discovery mission is the second of three to take up key components of the Japanese-built Kibo laboratory.
Space urinals generally use jets of air to guide waste down a tube into a container, where it is then separated into liquid and gas.

Nasa's Allard Beutel: 'You have to go to the bathroom in space'.
On its website, Nasa said the crew first realised something was wrong when they "heard a loud noise and the fan stopped working".
The crew replaced many of the toilet's working parts, but had to adopt "temporary manual operation of the pump", and a backup system for the separator unit.
Nasa said one of its employees was rushing from Russia to Florida with the spare parts for the Russian-built toilet ahead of the shuttle launch.
A 50cm-long (20in) pump and additional hardware, weighing about 16kg (35lbs), would be carried as hand luggage on a commercial plane, Nasa said.
The employee is expected to drive the parts to the Kennedy Space Center, and they should be packed on the shuttle on Thursday.
For a while, the crew was told to use toilet facilities in the Soyuz capsule docked at the ISS, and several other backup solutions are available.
The space station's solid waste unit is said to be functioning well.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RUSSIA ARMY SUICIDES CAUSE ALARM !

Conditions are notoriously harsh for new recruits in the Russian army.
Almost an entire battalion of Russian soldiers committed suicide last year, the country's chief military prosecutor has said.
A total of 341 military personnel killed themselves in 2007, a reduction of 15% on the previous year.
But Sergei Fridinsky said the numbers were worrying and called for a national strategy to prepare men for service.
Bullying, often extremely violent, is rife in the army and is the most common reason for suicide.
"Almost a battalion of military servicemen - 341 people - were irrevocably lost in the past year as a result of suicide," Mr Fridinsky said.
The BBC's Russia analyst, Steven Eke, says dedovshchina - literally, rule of the elders, a culturally specific, often very violent, form of bullying, is cited as the most frequent trigger for young soldiers taking their own lives.
Conditions of military service - compulsory for one year for Russian men - are so harsh that many parents and young men offer bribes to avoid getting conscripted.
Yet Mr Fridinsky said that about half of the suicides were among professional, contract-based soldiers, who would not face this kind of bullying.
He suggested that Russia use the experience of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan to help their troops deal with the psychological trauma of combat.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BURMA GRANTS ALL UN VISA REQUESTS !

More than 2 million people in Burma still need aid, the UN estimates
Burma has approved all pending visas for UN staff, in a sign the regime intends to keep its promise to allow in all foreign aid workers.
More foreign relief workers from other groups are also being permitted to enter the Irrawaddy Delta, which took the brunt of last month's cyclone.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week urged Burma to allow humanitarian relief into the stricken country.
The UN estimates that more than two million people still need aid.
The move comes as Burma said it had officially adopted a new constitution, which it claims was endorsed by an overwhelming majority of Burmese people in a national referendum earlier this month.
But there were widespread reports of irregularities during the poll, and critics alleged that holding the vote so soon after the cyclone showed a lack of sensitivity towards the victims.
Promise kept
The junta's new stance on international aid is being interpreted as a sign that the authoritarian regime intends to keep its promise to grant access to aid workers from all countries.
Last week's offer by senior General Than Shwe to the UN secretary general to allow in "all foreign aid workers, regardless of nationality", appeared to be a breakthrough, according to the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.

Chris Kaye of WFP on the situation in the Irrawaddy Delta.The ruling junta had previously insisted that it could adequately provide for the victims of Cyclone Nargis on its own.
Our correspondent adds that this could be because of pride, or because of intense suspicion of any large-scale foreign presence on the part of junta.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the former UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, told the BBC in an interview on Wednesday that the cyclone crisis had helped achieve more active dialogue with the junta.
He said that the international relief operation could have positive ramifications for Burma's future democratic development.
Burmese state media, believed to closely reflect the views of top generals, has launched a torrent of criticism directed at international aid efforts.

Map of the cyclone zone
Will Burma keep its word on aid?
Burmese anger at junta

State media has long insisted that the junta was capable of handling the crisis on its own.
Reports on Thursday say that people in the delta could survive on "fresh vegetables that grow wild in the fields and on protein-rich fish from the rivers".
The editorials say that although aid is welcome, the Burmese people do not need donated foreign chocolate bars to survive. One paper suggests the cyclone victims could eat frogs.
Even the victims themselves are not spared, and stand accused in these reports of tarnishing the image of the Burmese people by lining the roads scrambling for donations.
The papers blame the opposition National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, of using the cyclone to stir up unrest.
The cyclone devastated large swathes of land in key coastal areas of the Irrawaddy Delta. Farmers in that part of Burma provide two-thirds of the country's rice harvest.
The UN has said that efforts need to be made to help the region's farmers to work again and supply them with rice seed by the end of June, or Burma's rice harvest this year and next will fail.
At least 78,000 people have died as a result of the cyclone, and 56,000 people are still missing.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

QUAKE LAKES RISK 'SLURRY TSUNAMI' !

By Jude Sheerin - BBC News.

China's scramble to drain the rapidly-rising quake lake at Tangjiashan before it can burst is a nerve-jangling race against time.
Some 1.3 million people are threatened by flooding if the banks are breached, warns geology professor Zhaoyin Wang, of Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University.
It would unleash a wall of rock, soil and water about 20 metres (66ft) high tumbling down the valley, he told the BBC News website.
The deluge would destroy everything in its path, potentially dwarfing the death toll from the 12 May quake in disaster-hit Sichuan province.
The flash flood would reach Mianyang city, 100km (62 miles) away, in just four hours, wiping out a number of towns and villages en route, said Prof Wang.

This month's 7.9 magnitude tremor spawned 34 so-called quake lakes, according to the International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research expert.
The vast pools of water were created when the earthquake triggered landslides down plunging valleys, clogging rivers and turning them into fast-rising lakes.

One more aftershock could suddenly transform this incoherent mass into a devastating wall of liquid slurry - Dr Stephen Edwards, Hazard Research Centre.

Mapping the quake zone

Twenty-eight quake lakes are at risk of bursting, according to Chinese state media agency Xinhua.
But the one at Tangjiashan - on the Jianjiang river above the town of Beichuan - is the most precarious.
Aftershocks and heavy rainfall make the mammoth round-the-clock task faced by engineers and troops on the steep valley slopes even more hazardous.
The delicate, tortuous work involves heavy machinery gingerly shifting debris from the dam, and engineers blasting dynamite to carefully punch holes in the mountain of rubble and soil - although experts warn this risks further destabilising the structure.
Nearly 160,000 people in the disaster zone have already been evacuated in case the Tangjiashan quake lake bursts.
"This is the most challenging terrain possible to effect an aid and rescue operation," said another geologist, Dr Stephen Edwards, from Benfield University College London's Hazard Research Centre.
"It is topographically hellish, a logistical nightmare. These dams are essentially weak, loose piles of debris under huge pressure from the river water building up behind.
"It's a very vulnerable situation. One more aftershock could suddenly transform this incoherent mass into a devastating wall of liquid slurry.

Troops risk being buried by more landslides or the quake lake.
"It would rush off downstream, bulldozing and burying everything in its path."
It is estimated the water will reach the top of the 82 metre (270 ft) high dam at Tangjiashan within two weeks.
Troops and engineers are racing to carve a 500 metre (1,640 ft) channel out of the landscape and divert the water towards the Fujiang river.
They aim to complete the giant sluice and begin draining the 300 million cubic metre capacity lake within 10 days.
"Once the water begins to flow over the top of the dam there's nothing you can do to stop it," said seismologist Dr Alex Densmore, of Durham University's Institute of Hazard and Risk Research.
He said it could then be just a matter of time until the dam of landslide debris suffers a "catastrophic failure".
That part of central China is seamed with sedimentary rock - limestone, sandstone and mudstone - which is much weaker than the crystalline rocks, such as granite, found in the European Alps, according to Dr Densmore.

Tens of thousands are fleeing the disaster zone.
Much of it has already been undermined by many large earthquakes in the "tectonically very active" area over the past 10,000 years, he said.
He predicted further huge aftershocks, possibly up to magnitude 7, rattling the quake lake valleys.
And in a sobering reminder to those in Sichuan province, he added: "There are a large number of active faults in the area, and we know very little about most of them.
"So the likelihood of another large earthquake in the region is no less than it was before 12 May."
Little wonder then that Premier Wen Jiabao says he regards draining the swelling quake lakes at China's ground zero as the nation's most urgent task.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE 'S MAKONI TO BACK NO-ONE !

Mr Makoni once served in Robert Mugabe's cabinet.
Simba Makoni, who came third in Zimbabwe's presidential election on 29 March, says he will back neither candidate in the run-off vote in June.
Mr Makoni, once President Robert Mugabe's finance minister, told the BBC he felt there should be no second round, but a unity government instead.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvanigrai beat Mr Mugabe in the first round, but not by enough to avoid a run-off.
There have been warnings that post-poll unrest makes a fair run-off impossible.
Correspondents say hospitals have been struggling to cope with admissions as a result of what is widely perceived to be a government campaign of intimidation against opposition supporters.
Earlier this week, Mr Tsvangirai said more than 50 members of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party had been killed in the political violence since 29 March.
Large numbers of people had also been displaced, he said.
President Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party denies supporting violence and says the West is trying to demonise Zimbabwe.
Mr Makoni, who stood as an independent in March and took 8.3% of the vote, said he felt the way forward was for everyone to work together towards a government of national unity.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S.A. PROVINCE SEEKS DISASTER STATUS !

The Cape Town mayor wants local government to co-ordinate relief.
South Africa's Western Cape is to ask for parts of the province to be declared a disaster zone in the wake of recent anti-foreigner violence.
The provincial government also asked for UN help in dealing with the crisis.
Attacks against foreigners in South Africa began earlier this month, leaving tens of thousands displaced and seeking refuge across the country.
The government said it was working to provide shelters of a limited size, to lessen health and security risks.
"We should try and avoid setting up large camps that consist of shelters (for) thousands of people," said government spokesman Themba Maseko.
Aid agencies are also pushing for a disaster zone to be declared around Johannesburg in Gauteng province, where the anti-foreigner attacks began.
Most of the immigrants are still sheltering in community halls, churches and police stations and some are sleeping out in the open.
In Gauteng, police clashed with mainly Somali migrants as they fought with other foreigners in a relief camp near the capital, Pretoria.
The migrants blocked and attacked other foreigners trying to make their way from a makeshift camp to a new, tented camp, the Pretoria News reported.
The police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd in the camp after stones were thrown at a police vehicle.
A police spokesman told the BBC one officer was injured.

In the Western Cape, where the some 20,000 are estimated to have fled their homes, Premier Ebrahim Rasool said the provincial government was negotiating with the UN to get resources for displaced people.
He said the province wanted "decentralised, community-based" accommodation for migrants to replace beach camps.

RED CROSS DISPLACED
South Africa: about 51,000
Gauteng: 28,000 Western Cape: 20,000 KwaZulu Natal: 2,500
Mozambique: 32,082
Malawi: 480
Zimbabwe: 123

In pictures: Displaced life in SA

Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille said that declaring parts of the province a disaster zone would free up resources and allow the local government to co-ordinate relief.
The mayor's spokesman, Robert Macdonald, told the BBC about 20,000 people had been displaced in the city.
The UN has said it is already helping South Africa plan relief efforts, conducting surveys of the conditions in the police stations and municipal halls in which the displaced people are living.
Meanwhile, foreigners are continuing to flee the country.
Kenya was to repatriate 64 of its citizens on Thursday, while the Zimbabwe embassy is helping 700 of its citizens who have asked to go home.
Others have fled South Africa to countries including Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana.
The unrest, targeting migrants from Zimbabwe and other African countries, began in a township north of Johannesburg earlier this month.

More than 50 people have been killed and more than 650 injured in the attacks, according to officials.
Aid agencies say the number of displaced people is at least 80,000.
Resentment against foreigners who are seen to be harder working and better educated than locals have been cited as factors fuelling the violence, as has social inequality.
In a statement on Thursday the government acknowledged "the urgent need to accelerate its programmes for alleviating poverty, unemployment and other forms of socio-economic deprivation".
It also appealed to communities "to reject any agitation from those who wish to reduce this country into a lawless country".
The government has come under considerable pressure to organise better accommodation than the initial, makeshift camps.
Aid agencies have warned of deteriorating conditions in the camps, where foreigners have been exposed to cold and disease.
Correspondents say the government has made it clear that any option which isolates rather than integrates foreigners into the community would be contrary to its policy.
It has said that temporary shelters would ensure displaced people had access to health services, food and sanitation.
The government has denied reports that it wanted to set up massive migrant or refugee camps for victims of the recent attacks.
Aid agencies had said the government would reveal plans to set up seven camps for up to 70,000 people.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE GREATEST GLORY IN LIVING

LIES NOT IN NEVER FAILING

BUT IN RISING EVERY TIME WE FAIL "

_________

JAPAN PLANS CHINA RELIEF FLIGHT !

By Chris Hogg -BBC News, Tokyo

Japan says China has asked for tents and other supplies to be sent.
Japan plans to despatch a military plane with relief supplies for the victims of the earthquake in China.
Sending members of what Japan calls its "self-defence forces", or SDF, is controversial.
Reports suggest some in China fear it may trigger a backlash among people who remember Japan's war-time militarism.
More than 68,000 people died in the earthquake that struck Sichuan province on 12 May. Another 20,000 are missing and five million people are homeless.

Television stations in Japan have shown grainy footage of Japanese planes during the war bombarding the area close to where the quake struck earlier this month.
They say the planned despatch of an air self-defence force C-130 cargo plane will be the first flight into Chinese airspace by the Japanese military since hostilities ended more than 60 years ago.
An SDF advance team is expected to head to China soon to sort out the details of the plan.
Japanese ministers are stressing that China asked for tents, blankets and other supplies and accepted they would be brought in by the military.
It appears, though, that the Japanese will not be asked to transport the aid around the country.
The flight will be hugely symbolic.
For some it is evidence of the improving ties between the two countries.
Others, though, could be offended, especially those who suffered under the Japanese occupation of China during World War II.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ABUSE VICTIMS SUFFER IN SILENCE !

By Adam Mynott - BBC News.

Twelve-year-old Elizabeth - not her real name - was walking in fields with her brother, following an aunt who had gone ahead to work on the family's plot of land near the town of Man in north-western Ivory Coast, when they were approached by "les casques bleues", as UN peacekeepers are known.

"Elizabeth" was raped by 10 UN peacekeepers in Ivory Coast.
Her brother took a biscuit from one of the men; she refused.
As Elizabeth tried to run away, one of the soldiers seized hold of her. There were 10 of them.
I spoke to Elizabeth near her home. She said: "They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing... I was terrified.
"Then they just left me there bleeding..."
Elizabeth was raped by 10 peacekeepers and abandoned.
Her village elders say they tried to take the case to UN officials at the camp nearby. But Domade Jean-Baptiste, one of the village chiefs, said they were made to wait for ages and then sent away.
Elizabeth's brutal rape is one of an unknown number of sexual assaults carried out by peacekeepers and aid workers, the very people who are brought in to post-conflict areas around the world to protect the vulnerable.

They are suffering in silence - Heather KerrSave the Children UK.

Peacekeepers 'abusing children'

A report by Save the Children UK says such assaults are continuing and, despite an undertaking by the UN and other international bodies to operate a policy of zero tolerance, little appears to be done on the ground to stop the attacks taking place.
The 10 peacekeepers accused of the attack on Elizabeth have returned home.
Save the Children, a leading UK charity, has spent 12 months compiling its report from Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti.
It details cases where children as young as six years old have been preyed on by aid workers and peacekeepers who, in some cases, trade small quantities of food for sex, or rape and sodomise small children with near total impunity.
Save the Children says one of its most harrowing findings is that the abuse is taking place "in acute silence", because of an unwillingness of the authorities to investigate the reported assaults and because in many cases the victims are too frightened or too powerless to take action and report what has happened to them.
Elizabeth, now 13, has been unable to tell her parents about the attack for fear they would throw her out of the house.
She suffers daily pain, nearly a year after the attack, and has abandoned school.

The UN has peacekeepers stationed throughout the world.
Heather Kerr, country director for Save the Children UK in Ivory Coast, said: "It's a minority of people who are carrying out the abuse but they are using their power to sexually exploit children, and children that don't have the voice to report about this.
The United Nations in Ivory Coast has said it welcomes the report and will take note of its findings.
Jean Paul Proulx, the UN Chief Conduct and Discipline Officer, said: "When we have information we take action."
He said investigations often took six months or more to conclude, but they could only be pursued when information was brought forward.
The UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO) in New York says that when there is a huge peacekeeping operation around the world, it is not possible to guarantee that abuse does not take place.
Save the Children has urged that stronger measures be taken to prevent the abuse happening.
The charity says better systems need to be in place to allow children to report abuse when it happens, and it is calling for the creation of an international watchdog to translate international concern about child sexual abuse into action that pursues and prosecutes the perpetrators.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WORLD 'FAILING ON HUMAN RIGHTS' !

World leaders are failing to tackle human rights abuses around the globe, Amnesty International says.
In an annual report, the group says people are still being tortured or ill-treated in at least 81 countries.
In at least 54 states they face unfair trial and cannot speak freely in at least 77 nations, the group adds.
It says world leaders should apologise for 60 years of human rights failures since the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
The group also challenges them "to re-commit themselves to deliver concrete improvements".
The report - which covers 150 countries - was published ahead of the 60th anniversary of the human rights declaration, which was adopted on 10 December 1948.
Governments must act now to close the yawning gap between promise and performance -Irene Khan, Amnesty International

Italy condemned for 'racism wave'
The State of the World's Human Rights [6.0MB]
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Mary Robinson, who was from 1997 to 2002 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said recognising the declaration was a very different matter from implementing it.
"I think we have an opportunity during the 60th anniversary year to redress some of the problems since the terrible attacks on the United States, what we now call 911," she said.
But Amnesty's document accuses the US of failing to provide a moral compass for its international peers.
"As the world's most powerful state, the USA sets the standard for government behaviour globally," the report says.
It notes that Washington "had distinguished itself in recent years through its defiance of international law".

The report says the US must close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for terror suspects and either prosecute the inmates under fair trials or free them.
It also urges Washington to ban all forms of torture and stop propping authoritarian regimes.
It singles out the support of President George W Bush's administration for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf when he imposed a state of emergency, clamped down on media and sacked judges.
The report also says other leading nations must act to improve their human rights records:
China is urged to adhere to its human rights promises and allow free speech and end "re-education through labour"
Russia is encouraged to show greater tolerance for political dissent, and none for impunity on human rights abuses in Chechnya
The EU is being asked to investigate the complicity of its member states in "renditions" of terror suspects.
'Impotence'
HAVE YOUR SAY
Leaders are failing to protect human rights and all for the reason of money and power-
Brandon, Berlin
Send us your comments
Launching the document, Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan said: "Injustice, inequality and impunity are the hallmarks of our world today.
"The human rights flashpoints in [Sudan's] Darfur, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Iraq and Myanmar [Burma] demand immediate action.
"2007 was characterised by the impotence of Western governments and the ambivalence or reluctance of emerging powers to tackle some of the world's worst human rights crises."
Ms Khan stressed that "governments must act now to close the yawning gap between promise and performance".
She said: "2008 presents an unprecedented opportunity for new leaders coming to power and countries emerging on the world stage to set a new direction and reject the myopic policies and practices that in recent years have made the world a more dangerous and divided place."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HIGH OIL PRICES HIT GLOBAL ECONOMIES !

The soaring cost of oil is causing growing strain to economies around the world, rich and poor.
With prices more than doubling in the past year to $135 a barrel, the impact is being felt acutely by consumers and businesses alike.
The risk of strikes and social unrest has become a reality in many countries as fuel becomes unaffordable for more people.
BBC reporters around the world examine the effects of the oil prices on their regions.

BRAZIL
NIGERIA
CALIFORNIA
CHINA
BELGIUM
THE GULF
INDIA

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ANGER OVER STAR'S QUAKE REMARK !

Actress Sharon Stone has sparked criticism in China after claiming the recent earthquake could have been the result of bad "karma".
The US star, speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, linked the recent disaster to Beijing's policy on Tibet.
She said: "I thought, 'Is that karma?' When you are not nice, bad things happen to you."
But Stone added she "cried" after the Tibetan Foundation asked her to help quake victims.
Stone, 50, said: "They wanted to go and be helpful, and that made me cry.
"It was a big lesson to me that sometimes you have to learn to put your head down and be of service even to people who aren't nice to you."
Stone made her comments last week in a brief interview with a Hong Kong film crew.
"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said in footage widely available on the internet.
"And then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought, is that karma?"
Ng See-Yuen, founder of the UME Cineplex chain and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, called Stone's comments "inappropriate".
According to a story in trade magazine Hollywood Reporter, he vowed not to show Stone's films in his theatres.

UME has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, China's biggest urban movie markets.
Stone's comments also created a swell of anger on the internet, including at least one Chinese website devoted solely to disparaging her comments.
The Beijing Times also reported that some major Beijing department stores had removed advertisements for cosmetic and couture giant Christian Dior, which feature Stone's image.
The earthquake struck south-west China on 12 May, leaving 68,109 people dead, with another 19,851 still missing.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S.AFRICA TO SET UP MIGRANT CAMPS !

Aid agencies warn the government lacks the expertise needed.
South Africa is to set up seven camps around the country for foreign migrant workers who have fled a recent wave of anti-immigrant violence.
The seven new camps will take up to 70,000 people from the increasingly unsanitary conditions at temporary shelters put up around state buildings.
The decision comes despite aid agency advice that South Africa lacks the expertise necessary to run the camps.
Meanwhile, the UN said it is helping South Africa plan relief efforts.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) has warned that those sheltering in makeshift camps or outdoors have been left without protection - either physical or legal.
"It's very cold at night, it's almost like one or two degrees. It's been raining in the last few days," said MSF South Africa programme director Muriel Cornelis.
"And then legal protection - most of them do not have any status, no legal status, no temporary status."
With the cabinet expected to announce its plans later on Wednesday, aid agencies fear the government has little experience of running what are likely to become semi-permanent refugee camps, says the BBC's Africa editor, Martin Plaut.
Establishing such camps could come back to haunt the country for many years to come, our Africa editor adds.

RED CROSS DISPLACED

South Africa: about 51,000
Gauteng: 28,000 Western Cape: 20,000 KwaZulu Natal: 2,500
Mozambique: 27,234
Malawi: 480
Zimbabwe: 123
In pictures: Displaced life in SA

MSF said it was finding cases of diarrhoea and chest infections in overcrowded shelters near Johannesburg.
The International Red Cross's Francoise Le Goff told the BBC it was vital the workers left these temporary shelters.
"We have problems with sanitation; it's cold; people are getting sick, so their security is barely there," she said.
"People need to leave this place and have an area where they can settle a little better and where they can reorganise a better life."
The UN has been conducting a survey of conditions in existing, temporary camps in the Johannesburg, spokesman George Nsiah told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
He said there was no danger of temporary camps becoming permanent, adding that the South African government was "doing everything possible that will enable those affected to return to their normal lives".
South African President Thabo Mbeki has denounced the anti-immigrant violence as the worst act of inhumanity South Africa has seen since the end of apartheid.
But the president has been criticised for his handling of the crisis, including a response which some have seen as slow.
Obed Bapela, an MP for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) who is leading an investigation into the violence, told the BBC that South African leaders were tackling the crisis
The officials "are the ground talking to people, to arrest the violence so it doesn't spread any further and ensure the relief is given to those who are affected," he said.

SOUTH AFRICA
Total population: 49m
Foreign population: 3-5m
Majority from Zimbabwe, also Mozambique, Nigeria
Unemployment rate: 30%

How can S Africa end the violence?
Tensions erupt in city of promise

Meanwhile, Nigeria says it will press for compensation from the South African government for its citizens who were victims of the violence.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe told AFP news agency that no Nigerian was killed in the attacks, but many have lost their properties and others have had their shops looted.
The unrest, targeting migrants from Zimbabwe and other African countries, began near Johannesburg earlier this month.
Fifty-six people have been killed and more than 650 injured in the attacks, according to officials.
Aid agencies say the true number of displaced people is at least 80,000.
The troubles flared with a wave of attacks on foreigners in the township of Alexandra, within sight of some of Johannesburg's most expensive suburbs.
They have since spread to seven of South Africa's nine provinces.
Many people have fled South Africa to countries including Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana.
Resentment against foreigners who are seen to be harder working and better educated than locals have been cited a factors fuelling the violence.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EGYPT RUMOURS DISRUPT JEWISH TRIP !

By Magid Abdelhadi - BBC News, Cairo.

The group had wanted to visit old neighbourhoods, trip organisers said.
A trip to Egypt by a Jewish group has been called off after rumours they were going to reclaim nationalised property prompted hotels to cancel bookings.
Allegations were broadcast on Egyptian television last week that the group was coming to claim confiscated property.
The trip organisers denied that, saying it was purely a personal journey.
But anti-Israeli sentiment in Egypt is so strong that no business is willing to take any risk, particularly when it involves such a highly sensitive issue.
The woman behind the trip, Levana Zamir, is an Egyptian-born Israeli who runs an organisation in Tel Aviv that seeks to promote better understanding between the two cultures.
Ms Zamir, who speaks Arabic fluently, said she was one of a group of elderly Jewish people of Egyptian origin from all over the world who wanted to visit their ancestral homeland with their children, to see old neighbourhoods.
But a few days before the group was due to arrive in Cairo, she was told by the Egyptian travel agent that their hotel reservation was cancelled and that no other hotel in Egypt wanted to receive them.
Many believe it is all down to the populist television presenter, Amr Adeeb, whose programme is widely watched here.
Mr Adeeb urged the authorities last week to prevent the trip from going ahead.
He said all the department stores that were established by Egyptian Jews at the turn of the past century were now the property of the people of Egypt.
A local organisation that represents the few remaining Jewish people in Egypt has distanced itself from the trip.
Despite a peace treaty that ended decades of war between Egypt and Israel, relations between the two countries remain tense.
The majority of Egyptians identify with the Palestinians under Israeli occupation and the country is often rife with rumours of Israeli plots to undermine Egyptian interests.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SUU KYI'S HOUSE ARREST EXTENDED !

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the last 18 years in detention.
Burma's ruling junta has renewed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest.
Police earlier detained about 20 activists as they marched to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's home in Rangoon, where she has been held since May 2003.
The decision came at a tricky time for the generals, who have been criticised for their response to Cyclone Nargis.
Ms Suu Kyi's party won a resounding election victory in 1990, but she was denied power by the military.
The 62-year-old National League for Democracy (NLD) leader has spent more than 12 of the last 18 years in detention.
Police bundled a number of opposition activists into a truck as they marched on Tuesday from the NLD party headquarters to her lakeside villa in Rangoon.
Correspondents had expected her house arrest - which has been renewed annually - to be rolled over for another year.
Her supporters have argued that she must now legally be either released or put on trial.
Extending her detention will likely provoke further criticism of the junta by an international community already frustrated by the military's handling of the relief effort after Cyclone Nargis.

Map of the cyclone zone
Will Burma keep its word on aid?
Burmese anger at junta

The cyclone, which struck on 2 May, has left 134,000 people dead or missing and another 2.4m clinging to survival, and donors pledged nearly $50m (£25m) in aid at a landmark summit in Rangoon on Sunday.
The regime has been under fire for stalling foreign aid destined for cyclone victims.
Ms Suu Kyi's detention has long been the cause of friction between the junta and the international community.
Her party used the anniversary to denounce the regime's claim that 93% of voters had endorsed a new military-backed constitution at a recent referendum.
It said the vote was a "sham" that was not free or fair, and claimed the authorities "used coercion, intimidated, deceived, misrepresented and used undue influence" to boost the number of "yes" votes.
The party also denounced the regime for holding the referendum so soon after Cyclone Nargis, saying the ruling generals only considered "power politics and self-interest", not public welfare.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"A CREATIVE MAN IS MOTIVATED

BY THE DESIRE TO ACHIEVE, NOT

BY THE DESIRE TO BEAT OTHERS"!

JOINING CALIFORNIA'S NEW GOLD RUSH !

By Rajesh Mirchandani - BBC News, California.

In America, record prices are fuelling a new Gold Rush - 160 years after thousands descended on California, seeking riches.
With uncertainty in oil and stock markets, gold is seen as a stable investment - it hit a new high of more than $1,000 (£500) an ounce earlier this year and some think there is money to be made once more.
"You can pay your bills, if you live meagrely," says John Gurney, who gave up his job six months ago to become a full-time gold prospector.
John is standing in a shallow river in Jamestown, California, in the heart of Gold Country: in 1849, the same dream brought hundreds of thousands of people to towns like this.
He is panning for gold: he shovels rocks and dirt from the river bed into a bucket, sifts out the bigger pieces, transfers what's left into a ridged plastic panning bowl, and then, using a light movement back and forth, shakes the bowl, separating the lighter material from the heavier, including gold.
Each 20-minute session usually turns up a few tiny flecks.
"It's not a lot of money," John says, "but it adds up quite a bit... But you never know - you may hit the jackpot sometime."
This is the simplest way of gold prospecting.
The original 49ers - as they've become known - used this technique, as well as mining.
And in the first five years of the Gold Rush those early pioneers extracted as much as £6bn worth of gold, at today's prices.
Fortunes were made - and lost - in the wild towns that sprang up almost overnight along 200 miles of central California, an area they called the Motherlode.
Places like Jamestown and Columbia - which, in its heyday, nearly became California's state capital - have been mining tourists ever since.
But now these ghost towns are stirring again, as more and more amateur prospectors try their luck.
Brent Shock wears a huge gold nugget as a ring; with his long leather coat and wild eyes, he has clearly seen a thing or two in his 25 years of gold mining.
He runs gold-panning tours in Jamestown and says it is busier now than he has known it for years.
"You've got a tremendous amount of interest from people now," he tells me, "because gold's at $1,000 an ounce."

Earlier this year the price of gold broke through the magical figure and it has been hovering between $800 and $900 an ounce since.
And there is plenty of gold left in California: it is estimated that the original prospectors found at most 15% of what is thought to be there.
After a few minutes' instruction, I panned for gold, sifting through a five-gallon (20l) bucket of gravel.
In half an hour I found what Brent estimated to be worth around $30.
It seemed strangely uncomplicated, and certainly gratifying.
Most of the gold that is left is not so easy to find, but buried deep in the bedrock - modern mining techniques are needed to extract it.
However, the high prices it can fetch make it financially viable, and commercial mining claims in California have rocketed 17-fold in three years (from 132 in the first quarter of 2005, to 2,274 in the first quarter of 2008).
Many are hoping to cash in, but why are gold prices so high?
Near San Francisco, a city that boomed thanks to the first Gold Rush, Mike Dunn recently opened a shop selling prospecting equipment.
You can buy anything from plastic goldpans all the way up to floating dredges at $3,400, with long plastic hoses for sucking up large amounts of material from the river bed.
An experienced prospector himself, Mike opened the shop partly in response to growing demand from keen amateurs.
He says gold offers stability in troubled times.
"As our... economic slump, to put it mildly, increases, [gold] becomes [an] ultimate liquidity for people who are comfortable with it," he told me.
"It's been a universal form of liquidity since the time of man's first discovery of gold. It's always been useful as money and typically at the higher end of the scale... What's going to happen in two weeks, three weeks in oil, I don't know, but I know gold will be stable.
"With gold you can always get a suit and a steak and I think that's important."

In the studied atmosphere of the What Cheer Saloon in Columbia, Ben the barman wears period costume but serves modern drinks.
A sign outside offers sarsparilla (an old type of root beer).
All along the main street in fact are shops and signs from a bygone age - Columbia is a living museum to its glittering past.
And a couple of regulars are pondering this Second Gold Rush.
"It's good for this place because it brings tourism," Pat Narry says. "Tourism has always been gold!"
Bob Beck tells me: "Areas have been milked dry but with the rain and the seasons the gold comes to the surface... so they're praying. At $1,000 an ounce, they're praying!"
Back at the creek in Jamestown a group from the east coast are trying their hand at gold-panning.
Just like in 1849.
History is repeating in places like this: many will dig deep, few will make fortunes in California's new Gold Rush.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN 'WITHHOLDS NUCLEAR DETAILS' !

The IAEA says Iran is operating 3,500 centrifuges at its plant at Natanz.
The UN nuclear watchdog has said it believes Iran is still withholding information on its nuclear programme.
In a report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Tehran's alleged weapons development studies remain a matter of serious concern.
It adds that Iran is operating 3,500 centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium, at its plant at Natanz.
Enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons, but Tehran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.
Last month, the IAEA said it had reached an agreement with Iranian officials to clarify the main outstanding question about Iran's past nuclear work by the end of May.
But in its latest report, the IAEA says Tehran needs to provide much more explanation and information on its nuclear activities.
Responding to the report, Iran's envoy to the IAEA told the AFP news agency his country had "left no question unanswered" and would continue to enrich uranium.
Additional information
"Iran has not provided the agency with all the information, access to documents and access to individuals necessary to support Iran's statements [that its activities are purely peaceful in intent]," the IAEA report said.
A vindication and reiteration of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities
Iran's description of the new IAEA report
"The agency is of the view that Iran may have additional information, in particular on high explosives testing and missile-related activities which... Iran should share with the agency.
An unnamed "senior UN official" in Vienna told Reuters news agency:
"We have not got substantive answers and we could have gotten those earlier. It's up to Iran [now]."
Gregory Schulte, the chief US delegate to the IAEA, said the report had detailed a "long list of questions that Iran has failed to answer".
"At the same time that Iran is stonewalling its inspectors, it's moving forward in developing its enrichment capability in violation of Security Council resolutions," he told The Associated Press.
The envoy described parts of the report as a "direct rebuttal" of Iranian arguments that all nuclear questions had been answered.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy, told AFP by telephone that "200 pages of explanations" had been furnished by Tehran.
The IAEA report was, he said, "a vindication and reiteration of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities".
"We will continue enrichment, while not suspending our cooperation with the IAEA," he added.
Centrifuges
Iran has told the IAEA it plans to have 6,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges operating by the end of the summer.
Speaking anonymously, officials close to the IAEA said on Monday they had no reason to doubt this was the case.
The suspension of uranium enrichment is a key demand of the UN Security Council, which has imposed sanctions on Iran.
Uranium can be used either as nuclear fuel or as the fissile core of missile warheads, depending on the degree of enrichment.
Iran insists it has a right to enrich uranium under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and says it want only to generate power.
Iran's nuclear programme has been under IAEA investigation since 2002, when Iranian dissidents revealed the existence of secret uranium enrichment.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

COLOMBIAN REBELS SAY LEADER DEAD !

Colombia's main leftist rebel group, the Farc, has confirmed the death of top commander Manuel Marulanda, saying he died of a heart attack.
The long-time commander and founder of the group died in his companions' arms on 26 March, according to a Farc statement broadcast by Colombian media.
His death was reported on Saturday by the military and media.
Thought to be 78, the rebel leader had been rumoured to suffer ill-health, including suspected prostate cancer.
The Farc announced that Marulanda, whose real name was Pedro Antonio Marin, would be replaced as overall commander by Alfonso Cano (real name: Guillermo Leon Saenz), already regarded by some as the group's ideological leader.

HARD BLOWS FOR THE FARC
25 May: Death (on 26 March) of Manuel Marulanda confirmed by the Farc
19 May: Surrender of Farc female commander Karina
7 March: Government reports that Farc commander Ivan Rios has been killed by his own men
1 March: Government reports killing Farc No. 2 Raul Reyes

Obituary: Manuel Marulanda
Marulanda death blow to Farc

Reporting from Colombia, the BBC's Jeremy McDermott notes that the Farc is suffering its worst period yet as it celebrates its 44th anniversary.
Morale is at an all-time low and the loss of an inspirational figure like Marulanda could provoke more desertions and lead to a break-up of the group, our correspondent says.
However, Alfonso Cano could bring much-needed change to the Farc and seek to end the series of defeats that the rebels have suffered for the last five years, he adds.

Confirmation of the leader's death was made in a televised address by senior Farc official Rodrigo Londono Echeverri, alias "Timochenko".
"The great leader is gone," he said in the message, broadcast on Colombian TV.
Marulanda, nicknamed "Tirofijo", or "Sureshot" in English, had led the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia since its foundation in 1964.
Speaking on Saturday, the head of Colombia's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral David Rene Moreno, said government planes had bombed the area where Marulanda was believed to have been staying three times.
However, there had been no air strike on the actual date of his death, the admiral said.
He described Marulanda's death as "the hardest blow that this terrorist group has taken since 'Sureshot' was the one who kept the criminal organisation united".
Formidable force
Pablo Casas, an analyst at Bogota think-tank Security and Democracy, compared the Farc to a "dying giant, dying slowly".
"I don't see any factor they can use to keep a strong structure," he told Reuters news agency.
The Farc still have anything up to 10,000 fighters and are flush with drug money, so few believe the rebels are finished, our correspondent says.
But the US-backed offensives by President Alvaro Uribe have pushed the Farc on to the defensive.
Before news of Marulanda's death, two other commanders were killed and an iconic female leader surrendered.
It remains to be seen if a change a leadership will lead the guerrillas more towards a negotiated settlement or harden their resolve to keep fighting to the bitter end, our correspondent adds.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UGANDA SETS UP WAR CRIMES COURT !

Uganda has set up a special war crimes court to deal with cases of human rights violations committed during the 20-year insurgency in the north.
Principal Judge James Ogoola said the court will have the mandate to try Lord's Resistance Army rebel leaders.
Reporters say the move is seen as an attempt to convince the International Criminal Court (ICC) to drop indictments against top LRA commanders.
The LRA leader has refused to sign a peace deal until they are lifted.
Some two million people have been displaced during the conflict, notorious for atrocities against children.
It was agreed that the court, a special division of the Uganda High Court, would be set up at peace talks between the rebels and government.
But LRA leader Joseph Kony refused to sign a final peace agreement last month, wanting further assurances about the ICC warrants.
He wants the Ugandan government to write to the UN Security Council and the ICC to have indictments lifted.
Media reports in Uganda say Justice Akiiki Kiiza has been named to head the war crimes court.
He will be assisted by Eldad Mwangusya and Lady Justice Ibanda Nahamya, who served at Sierra Leone's UN-backed war crimes court.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SPANISH VILLAGE HOLD BABY JUMP !

Grown men have been leaping over rows of babies in the north Spanish village of Castrillo de Murcia in an annual rite meant to ward off the Devil.
Jumpers dressed as the Colacho, a character representing the Devil, bounded over clusters of bemused infants laid out on mattresses.
Nobody appeared to get hurt in this year's festive event.
Castrillo, near Burgos, has been holding the event since 1620 to mark the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi.
The feast is widely celebrated in Spain, often with processions and mystery plays.
Pageants can feature dancers depicting demons and angels or other characters.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

WHICH WAY NOW?

Dear Family and Friends,

They say that a picture speaks a thousand words and if that is true then a deafening roar filled the African sky this week. We have seen images so dreadful that they are haunting our thoughts and are etched into our memories. From The Zimbabwean newspaper comes the picture of a victim of political violence. A 22year old woman beaten so badly that her buttocks have been reduced to cavernous holes." A mess of raw flesh" is the description used by Peter Oborne, the shocked writer who met Memory, the young mother of two who was beaten in the playground of her childhood school along with others accused of being MDC supporters.

Pictures and reports such as these are not new in Zimbabwe. They have become apart of our lives - a tragic record of a country that has lost its way and is crying out for help. Then came the other images that shocked us even more.

The picture of a man burning alive on a road in a South African town is a sight too cruel for words. He was the victim of an attack against foreigners. Then came pictures of mobs of men armed with sticks, throwing rocks, beating people and chasing away their own neighbours. Now the pictures are of many thousands of frightened, homeless people taking shelter in police stations and churches and reports that the violence against foreigners has spread to other South African cities.

For the last eight years South Africa has been a place of safety for Zimbabweans - an oasis of sanity and an orderly, law abiding, normal way of life. Even though the South African government chose not to speak out about events in Zimbabwe, ordinary people opened their homes and hearts to us; they could not have been more caring, supportive and compassionate to us and our plight.

An estimated three million Zimbabweans are living in exile in South Africa. They have left home not because they wanted to but because they had to. Many left here with wounds, injuries and physical scars, others with memories of extreme trauma but always it has been the great kindness and support of our neighbours that has helped heal the wounds, restore dignity and begin the process of healing.

The eruption of violence against foreigners, many of whom are Zimbabweans, has left us in deep shock here. How can it be, that without warning and when Zimbabweans need support and refuge more than ever before, this can be happening across the border. Our temporary sanctuary, the place where we felt safe and could find food, friendship and compassion has suddenly gone. Which way now for our poor people? Too frightened to stay, too frightened to go.

Until next week,thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 24 May 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 .

"SAYINGS" !

"THE ONLY WAY OF FINDING

THE LIMITS OF THE POSSIBLE,

IS BY GOING BEYOND THEM

INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE" !

_______

MUGABE THREAT TO EXPEL U.S. ENVOY !

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has threatened to expel the US ambassador, accusing him of meddling in the country's political process.
"I am just waiting to see if he makes one more step wrong. He will get out," Mr Mugabe told a rally in Harare.
Earlier this month ambassador James McGee warned post-election violence in Zimbabwe was "spinning out of control".
Mr Mugabe was speaking as he launched his campaign for the presidential election run-off on 27 June.
He also said Zimbabweans who had fled recent anti-immigrant violence in South Africa would be given land if they returned to Zimbabwe.
"Our land is still there, even for youngsters, those who are in South Africa who wish to return to the country," Mr Mugabe told his Zanu-PF party supporters.
Earlier this month, Mr McGee told the BBC he had found evidence of "politically-inspired" violence against hundreds of people in Zimbabwe.
The diplomat warned the situation made it impossible for the second vote to be fair.
Mr Mugabe also noted that Mr McGee had publicly urged opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai to return to Zimbabwe to lead his embattled supporters in the run-off.
"As long as he carries on doing that, I will kick him out of the country," Mugabe said of Mr McGee, a Vietnam War veteran.
"I don't care if he fought in Vietnam. This is Zimbabwe, not an extension of America," he said.
According to Zimbabwe's election authorities, Mr Tsvangirai won the first round, but not by enough votes to avoid a second round.
He returned to Zimbabwe on Saturday after more than six weeks abroad.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WEB USERS 'GETTING MORE SELFISH' !

Web users are getting more ruthless and selfish when they go online, reveals research.
The annual report into web habits by usability guru Jakob Nielsen shows people are becoming much less patient when they go online.
Instead of dawdling on websites many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave.
Most ignore efforts to make them linger and are suspicious of promotions designed to hold their attention.

Instead, many are "hot potato" driven and just want to get a specific task completed.
Success rates measuring whether people achieve what they set out to do online are now about 75%, said Dr Nielsen. In 1999 this figure stood at 60%.
There were two reasons for this, he said.
"The designs have become better but also users have become accustomed to that interactive environment," Dr Nielsen told BBC News.
Now, when people go online they know what they want and how to do it, he said.

Beating Google requires someone to do search betterThis makes them very resistant to highlighted promotions or other editorial choices that try to distract them.
"Web users have always been ruthless and now are even more so," said Dr Nielsen.
"People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience," he said.
"I do not think sites appreciate that yet," he added. "They still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them."
Web users were also getting very frustrated with all the extras, such as widgets and applications, being added to sites to make them more friendly.
Such extras are only serving to make pages take longer to load, said Dr Nielsen.
There has also been a big change in the way that people get to the places where they can complete pressing tasks, he said.
In 2004, about 40% of people visited a homepage and then drilled down to where they wanted to go and 60% use a deep link that took them directly to a page or destination inside a site. In 2008, said Dr Nielsen, only 25% of people travel via a homepage. The rest search and get straight there.
"Basically search engines rule the web," he said.
But, he added, this did not mean that the search engines were doing a perfect job.
"When you watch people search we often find that people fail and do not get the results they were looking for," he said.
"In the long run anyone who wants to beat Google just has to make a better search," said Dr Nielsen.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BAN PRAISES CHINA QUAKE RESPONSE !

More than five million buildings collapsed as a result of the earthquake.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has praised China's "extraordinary leadership" in dealing with the recent earthquake in Sichuan.
He was speaking in the badly-hit town of Yingxiu, as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the death toll had passed 60,000 and could rise to 80,000.
Mr Ban said the UN was ready to provide further support for the relief effort.
Earlier a Chinese official said 50 sources of radiation were now known to have been buried by the earthquake.
Thirty-five of the sources had been secured but the remaining 15 were buried under debris or in dangerous buildings, Environment Vice-Minister Wu Xiaoqing said.

Mr Wu said there had been no leaks of radioactive substances.
He did not specify the sources but experts say they probably came from hospitals, factories or research facilities, and not weapons.
World support
Mr Ban is in China in between trips to Burma, where is seeking to provide further relief for victims of Cyclone Nargis. He is flying to Thailand later on Saturday to open a centre for cyclone relief supplies.
In Yingxiu, close to the Sichuan earthquake's epicentre, he paid tribute to Beijing's efforts.
"The Chinese government, at the early stage of this natural disaster, has invested strenuous effort and demonstrated extraordinary leadership," he said.

The secretary general said people all over the world would stand beside the Chinese people and work together to deal with the disaster.
"If we work hard we can overcome this," he said, quoted by the Associated Press news agency.
"The whole world stands behind you and supports you."
More than five million people have been left homeless by the disaster.
On Friday, the vice-governor of Sichuan, the worst-hit province, Li Chengyun, appealed for more tents and set a three-year goal to rebuild towns and infrastructure in the region.
China's leaders have promised a 70bn yuan ($10bn; £5bn) reconstruction fund.
The government has also told Chinese banks to forgive debts owed by uninsured survivors to revive Sichuan's economy.
New threat
Meanwhile, concern is growing over a number of new lakes formed by the force of the earthquake.

Thirty-four lakes were created in the province when landslides blocked rivers, Xinhua news agency said.
Eight held more than three million cubic metres of water and one lake, less than 3km (two miles) from Beichuan town, had doubled in size in four days.
Officials are monitoring the lakes and have sent experts to assess them, the agency said.
Forecasters predict heavy rain in the region next week, which could further raise the water levels in the lakes.

ANC CALL TO 'RETAKE THE STREETS' !

The army has been deployed to try to put a stop to the attacks.
The secretary general of South Africa's governing ANC has called on party members to form local committees to combat violence against foreigners.
Gwede Mantashe says that they should work to "take the streets back from criminals", whilst giving support to the police and help to the victims.
The unrest has now spread to Cape Town, with people assaulted and shops looted.
More than 40 people have died and some 15,000 people have sought shelter since the violence began two weeks ago.
On Thursday, troops were deployed to quell attacks - the first time soldiers have been used to stamp out unrest in South Africa since the 1994 end of apartheid.
In a statement on the African National Congress (ANC) website, Mr Mantashe described the violence as "a shameful pogrom".
"Ill informed and angry with people whom they perceive to be robbing them of their right to services," he said. "Is this the truth? The same mob that accused people of being criminals acted in the most obscene of criminal ways."
The screams of the burning Mozambican still haunt me... I have never seen such barbarism -
Zimbabwean woman

Your stories: Witness to burning
Scramble to flee S Africa

"There is no room for this behaviour in our country ever. There is no reason that compels us to behave in the atrocious manner."
Mr Mantashe reminded South Africans of their link to the rest of the continent ahead of Africa Day celebrations on Sunday.
"On Sunday we will wake up in this country and celebrate the victories our forebears have had over colonialism and apartheid," Mr Mantashe wrote in the party's weekly newsletter.
"Many of us... will think of the kindness we received in the poorest communities of Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria and many other African states."
Anti-apartheid fighters in the ANC were given shelter in other African countries, some of which suffered collective punishment as a result, he recalled.

Meanwhile ANC Youth League President Julius Malema condemned the fact that youngsters appeared to be some of the ringleaders of the attacks, often using the name of the party and singing revolutionary songs whilst carrying out attacks.

SOUTH AFRICA

Foreign population: 3-5m
Majority from Zimbabwe, also Mozambique, Nigeria
Total population: 49m
Unemployment rate: 30%

How can S Africa end the violence?
Tensions erupt in city of promise

"They (the youth) must rise against this thuggery and hooliganism and claim back their communities," he said.
Mr Malema said the government had not done enough to stop what it called "anarchy" and said swift and decisive action was needed from the country's law enforcement agencies.
The leader of South Africa's official opposition, Helen Zille, says the events of the past two weeks have shocked and shamed the nation.
Ms Zille, head of the Democratic Alliance, says in her weekly newsletter that President Thabo Mbeki has been conspicuous by his absence, not even visiting the affected areas to see for himself what is driving the violence.
She said the president should be actively campaigning in the country's trouble spots and preaching a message of tolerance.
Meanwhile, the authorities in Malawi says they have begun evacuating hundreds of Malawians from South Africa.
Officials said a task force had been set up to return up to 850 Malawians, who had been affected by the violence in South Africa.
The attacks in Cape Town, the hub of South Africa's tourism industry, broke out during a meeting called to prevent anti-foreigner violence in the Dunoon township, 25km from the city centre.
John, a Malawian at the Dunoon meeting, said it disintegrated and foreigners started fleeing as groups began to loot Somali-owned shops.
Plain clothes police open fire on looters in Cape town.
"We feared for our safety. They're just killing everyone - they start beating you when they find out you're a foreigner," he told the BBC, adding that he was returning home as soon as possible.
Thursday night's unrest prompted some 500 people, including Somalis, Mozambicans and Nigerians, as well as Zimbabweans to flee their homes, some seeking refuge in police stations.

The BBC's Mohammed Allie in Cape Town says Somali shops were looted overnight and one Somali killed and six others injured.
He says there have been shack-to-shack searches for foreigners and some local residents have begun flying the South African flag outside their homes.
Moeketski Mosola, head of South Africa TourismThere have also been new attacks in Strand, east of Cape Town, Durban and North-West province, where three people, reportedly from Pakistan, were stabbed and dozens of Mozambican and Somali nationals displaced.
There are fears that the unrest could have longer-term consequences for the country.
Moeketski Mosola, head of South Africa Tourism, told the BBC the government was alarmed by the situation, especially as the country was preparing to host the football World Cup in 2010.
"We are extremely concerned about the situation on the ground - you must remember that 67% of the tourists coming into South Africa are mainly African," he told the BBC's World Tonight programme.

Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee, has condemned anti-immigrant violence.
"We ask that every action must be taken to stop inflicting on displaced people further displacement," Mr Jordaan said.
However, he insisted that the unrest would have been quelled by the time the tournament took place.
Our correspondent says the police have beefed up their presence in other Cape Town trouble spots as looting spread on Friday.
Cape Town first witnessed xenophobic attacks two years ago when the Somali community - especially those who owned shops - were targeted and some murdered.
Durban also witnessed unrest earlier this week but most of the violence has been in the Gauteng region around Johannesburg, which is now reported to be relatively quiet.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TSVANGIRAI RETURNING TO ZIMBABWE !

Mr Tsvangirai's return comes despite alleged assassination threats.
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is returning home to begin his presidential run-off campaign, after spending weeks abroad.
The Movement for Democratic Change leader told reporters at Johannesburg airport in neighbouring South Africa he was "excited" to be heading home.
Mr Tsvangirai's scheduled return last weekend was delayed amid allegations the army planned to assassinate him.
The ruling party rejected the MDC claims as a fantasy.
The presidential election run-off is scheduled to take place on 27 June, despite warnings that election violence makes a fair second round impossible.
Opposition and human rights groups have said hundreds of opposition supporters have been beaten up and at least 40 killed since the first round on 29 March.
President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party denies supporting violence and says the West is trying to demonise Zimbabwe.

Last year, Mr Tsvangirai was treated in hospital after being assaulted by police.
Mr Mugabe has accused the MDC of fomenting violence since the disputed first round election.
Mr Tsvangirai has spent more than a month outside Zimbabwe, mainly in South Africa, since the first round trying to drum up international support.
According to official results, the MDC leader won the presidential poll, but not by enough to avoid a run-off with President Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said Mr Tsvangirai won 47.9% of the vote, with Mr Mugabe taking 43.2%.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA EARTHQUAKE TOLL JUMPS AGAIN !

The death toll from the massive earthquake in south-west China rose again, as an official said more than five million buildings had collapsed.
The vice-governor of Sichuan province said 55,239 people were now known to have died in the 12 May quake.
Li Chengyun appealed for more tents and set a three-year goal to rebuild towns and infrastructure in the region.
Meanwhile, concern is growing over a number of new lakes formed by the force of the earthquake.
Thirty-four lakes were created in the province when landslides blocked rivers, Xinhua news agency said.

Images taken by Taiwan's Formosat satellite show a lake forming in Beichuan County.
Enlarge Image

Eight held more than 3 million cubic metres of water and one lake, less than 3km (two miles) from Beichuan town, had doubled in size in four days.
Officials are monitoring the lakes and have sent experts to assess them, the agency said.
Forecasters predict heavy rain in the region next week, which could further raise the water levels in the lakes.
At a news conference, Mr Li said that 24,949 people remained missing and 281,006 were injured.
More than 5.47 million people were homeless and 5.46 million buildings had collapsed, he said.
China's leaders have promised a 70bn yuan ($10 bn; £5bn) reconstruction fund.
The government has also told Chinese banks to forgive debts owed by uninsured survivors to revive Sichuan's economy.
The China Banking Regulatory Commission gave no indication of how much that might cost or whether banks might receive government aid to make up for any losses.
Financial analysts estimate as little as 5% of the multi-billion dollar losses could have insurance cover.

QUAKE STATISTICS

See a detailed map of quake zone
Sichuan tourist trail in ruins
Town mourns as search goes on

On Friday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid his second visit to the region, visiting the temporary site of Beichuan Middle School.
Beichuan was devastated by the earthquake and officials say the town may be rebuilt on a new site.
More than 1,000 of the Middle School's students and teachers died in the earthquake.
"Today when we see the children, we see the hope of the quake areas and the hope of the whole nation," he told the students.
China has ordered the immediate construction of one million temporary small homes to house people without shelter.
At the same time bulldozers have been flattening ground to make way for more tent camps in worst-hit areas.
The foreign ministry says 3.3 million tents are needed and on Thursday, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited a tent factory to call for increased production.
Beijing declared three days of official mourning for victims of the earthquake, during which time the Olympic torch relay was suspended.
It has now restarted and its passage through Shanghai this morning began with a short silence for those killed in the quake.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PORTUGAL BACK IN EUROVISION FINAL !

Portugal are returning to the Eurovision Song Contest final for the first time since 2003 after qualifying from the second semi-final in Belgrade.
Sweden - who topped the BBC's Eurovision vote - also went through, along with fellow Scandinavian entrants Denmark and Iceland.
Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Croatia, Latvia and Albania also qualified.
The 25 finalists for Saturday's main event are now in place, with the UK performing second in the running order.
Euroband, who qualified for Iceland with dance tune This Is My Life, are their country's first representatives in the final since 2004.
Albania, who are represented by 16-year-old Olta Boka, have also made the final cut after a break of three years.

The buzz from Belgrade

But neighbour FYR Macedonia did not make the final after successfully qualifying in the previous four contests.
Switzerland's Paolo Meneguzzi, who was highly favoured by fans and came third in the BBC's poll, failed to make the grade.
UK viewers were able to vote in Thursday night's semi-final, but their choices will not be revealed until after Saturday night's winner has been declared.
After the semi-final results in Serbia, the draw for the final was completed.
Sweden's Charlotte Perrelli, who won the contest in 1999, will be 15th in the running order - the same spot from where she was victorious nine years ago.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HOLIDAY DRIVERS FACE PRICE HIKE !

Motorists will be feeling the pinch this bank holiday weekend, the AA says.
Bank holiday drivers face a 29% rise in diesel prices and a 17% rise in petrol prices compared with this time last year, motoring group the AA said.
The estimated 18 million drivers taking to Britain's roads this weekend will pay on average £14 more to fill up their tanks, it calculated.
The AA has joined calls for the Chancellor to delay the 2 pence a litre rise in fuel prices in the Autumn.
A litre of petrol costs an average 114p. Diesel costs 126.4p on average.

Click to see how UK petrol and diesel prices have risen
A year ago, motorists were paying less than a pound for a litre of fuel on average.
The substantial increases have been driven by the rising price of oil.

UK'S CHEAPEST & MOST EXPENSIVE FUEL
Cheapest unleaded: 107.9p (Gateshead)
Most expensive unleaded: 125p (Northampton)
Cheapest diesel: 117.9p (Mansfield)
Most expensive diesel: 138p (Hexham)
Source: PetrolPrices.com

Oil cools after vaulting to $135

This week, the price of a barrel of oil reached over $135, more than twice what it was a year ago.
"It will strike a lot of people driving this weekend just how different things are," said the AA's Andrew Howard.
This bank holiday weekend is the start of the half-term holiday for much of the UK, which will mean many families drive long distances.
The average length of journey put into the AA's route planner website is 304 miles.
But a survey carried out by the motoring organisation in March and April found higher fuel prices were forcing 37% of respondents to use their cars less.
There is expected to be one-third more traffic on Britain's roads on Friday than normal.
In an attempt to reduce congestion on England's major roads and motorways, the Highways Agency has suspended 18 sets of roadworks until midnight on Monday.
A further 17 sets of roadworks have been completed in time for the weekend, the agency said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.


Return to top

REFUGEES FLEE SOUTH AFRICA ATTACKS !

By Caroline Hawley BBC News, Johannesburg.

"Stu" escaped from Zimbabwe in January, crossing the border for the sanctuary of South Africa. Now - fearing for his life - he's trying to flee back, after a wave of xenophobic violence targeting immigrants in townships around Johannesburg.
"I ran away from the situation in Zimbabwe to try to support my family," says the 24-year old, who is too afraid to give his full name.
"But it's better to starve at home than to die here. At least, if I'm back in Zimbabwe, my parents can bury me and see my grave."
The mob came for him in the sprawling Johannesburg township of Alexandra on Monday night.
"They forced their way into my home with weapons, hammers and bricks. And they took everything I've got. The only things I have left are the clothes that I'm wearing. I don't even know how I'll get home."
"Stu" and hundreds of other foreigners - Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Malawians - are now sheltering in tents provided for them by the Red Cross on the grounds of Alexandra's police station.
It was at 21.30 on Wednesday night when a group of people attacked Arlindo Nhantumbo, a Mozambican who has lived happily in South Africa for 12 years.
"Ten of them came, with guns, and told me to leave the country. I don't know what to do, because I have married a South African and we have a five-month-old baby boy," he says. "I am desperate."
A flood of refugees
No one has exact figures of the number of immigrants now living in South Africa, but the Institute of Race Relations believes that there are between 3 and 5 million - equivalent to the country's entire white population.
And they have become scapegoats for many of South Africa's social ills - high levels of unemployment, a shortage of housing and one of the worst crime rates in the world.
Remember the horror from which we come from - Nelson Mandela.

In pictures: S Africa's xenophobia
Migrants tell of township tensions

There has been a spate of xenophobic attacks over the past few years. In 2005 and 2006, Somalis living in the Eastern and Western Cape were targeted.
But the latest wave of anti-foreigner attacks has caused growing concern in the "rainbow nation" which still bears the scars of apartheid, and where some of the country's poor are worse off than they were before the transition to majority rule.
"Violence is not a solution," says Mbuto Mthembu of the Red Cross, which is providing blankets, clothing and food to the refugees.
"We have seen it before in this country and we know just how ugly it is. We don't want to see that again."
And fears of the trouble spreading have prompted intervention from Nelson Mandela.
"Remember the horror from which we come from" he urged South Africans this week.
"Never forget the greatness of a nation that has overcome its divisions. Let us never descend into destructive divisiveness."

Many South Africans are ashamed at the treatment of migrants.
His former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, has also apologised to the victims, during a visit to Alexandra by senior ANC and government officials.
"We are sorry," she said. "It is not South African to do this."
And in the narrow dusty paths between Alexandra's corrugated-roof shacks - where competition for jobs and housing is fierce - there is sympathy, among many, for the immigrants.
"We are ashamed," says 71-year old Sonny Mokoena.
"I was born here and have lived in Alexandra all my life and have never seen anything like this. These people, who fled violence in their countries, are now fleeing again - some with small kids. It's not right."
But the violence has already spread.

On Wednesday, immigrants who escaped Alexandra to stay with friends and relatives in the township of Diepsloot, near Pretoria, were attacked again and their homes looted.
By Thursday, police had sealed off parts of Diepsloot to try to restore order, using armoured personnel carriers - a reminder of policing in the darkest days of apartheid.

The anti-foreigner violence has spread to Diepsloot.
"It started with attacks on the people who fled Alexandra," says John Makola, chairperson of the Diepsloot Community Police Forum.
"But today they are chasing every foreigner here, accusing them of being criminals or stealing their jobs. It's appalling."
Papi, 29, standing near barricades blocking the road on the edge of Diepsloot, also condemned the violence.
But he, like many other South Africans, blames immigrants for compounding the country's crime problem.
"There are so many robberies and rapes here and people suspect the immigrants," he says. "So people don't feel safe in their own country."
Ntokozo Msebeni, who came to South Africa from Zimbabwe in 2006, does not feel safe anywhere now.
"A mob came and beat us up and stole our ID cards and our money," she says.
"I have a small child and I have nothing left and don't know what to do."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE GREATER THE OBSTACLE

THE MORE GLORY IN OVERCOMING IT" !

_______

OIL SOARS TO NEW RECORD OVER $135 !

Oil prices have risen more than 40% so far this year. Oil prices surged to a record high above $135 a barrel early on Thursday, having rocketed by more than $4 a barrel on Wednesday.
US light, sweet crude for July delivery reached $135.04, taking its gain for the year so far above 40%.
The main driver was the weekly US crude stocks figure, which showed a 5.4 million barrel fall, when a small increase had been expected.
The continuing weakness of the US dollar also supported prices.
The US Energy Information Administration blamed the fall in its stocks figure on a fall in imports and a pick-up in demand from refineries.
Oil prices have set new records in 10 of the last 14 trading sessions.
Rises set to continue.
"You really cannot forecast how much further the market will rally now," said Tatsuo Kageyama from Kanetsu Asset Management in Tokyo.
"All I can say is the market will continue to rise."
London's Brent crude also set an intra-day high on Thursday, peaking at $134.50 a barrel.
Investors moving money into oil from other areas have also been blamed for rising prices.
"Oil has performed better than equities and bonds," said Victor Shum from the energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.
"There is money looking for better returns and oil has offered better returns and continues to offer better returns."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE TEACHERS FACE PUNISHMENT !

By Brian Hungwe - Harare

Zimbabwean school teacher Patrick (not his real name) is angry and in pain. He has three broken ribs, a bandaged right arm and is barely able to sit up; traces of blood can be seen in the drip attached to his stomach.
It's the end of my career as a teacher. I'm going to find something else to do -Patrick
Two weeks ago he was beaten with iron bars in the northern Mashonaland Central Province.
He says the ruling Zanu-PF party youths who attacked him wanted to know why his school, used as a polling station in the 29 March elections, recorded a high figure of opposition voters.
"I am no longer going back to teaching," he says from a private clinic in the capital, Harare. "It's the end of my career as a teacher. I'm going to find something else to do."

Many teachers acted as polling officers on election day - and have done at every election since independence in 1980.
Some schools have closed because of the political violence.
They are the backbone of the country's electoral process.
But in rural areas, several schools have been shut down because of political violence that has been unleashed since the March polls.

Teachers are being targeted, the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) says, and many are now fleeing. More than 5,000 teachers have been beaten, about 600 hospitalised and 231 teachers' houses burnt, the union says.
Raymond Majongwe, PTUZ secretary general, says the number of teachers being attacked is growing by the day and as a result the quality of education is suffering.
"The same teachers that are being pushed around and being beaten are no longer going to be giving their best," he said.
I think if education could be described as being in hospital, it would be in an intensive care unit
PTUZ's Raymond Majongwe
"They will be looking over their shoulder every other time to see who is present, who is coming and who is advancing," he said, describing their fear.
Zimbabwe's education system, once the envy of the region, has recorded its "worst year", he said.
"I think if education could be described as being in hospital, it would be in an intensive care unit," he said.
For the Zimbabwe Election Commission, the massive displacement of teachers could prove a headache ahead of the planned presidential run-off on 27 June.
Polling officers from different sectors will need to be recruited and trained.

And it has not just been teachers under attack. Independent election observers have not been spared either.
We will not risk our observers we will have to come up with different strategies of doing the same work - Zesn Chairman Noel Kutukwa.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) had more than 8,000 observers across the country during the March vote.
It says hundreds of them are now being persecuted ahead of the run-off.
And despite the courage to go on, it is fast losing members willing to take part because of the continued crackdown.
Zesn admits monitoring the run-off will be an extremely difficult task.
But Zesn Chairman Noel Kutukwa is not giving up.
"We believe our role is to observe the election and to produce a report that is as accurate as possible according to what we have observed and the ground," he said.
"Our intention is that we will observe those elections, but we will not risk our observers. We will have to come up with different strategies of doing the same work."
Nevertheless, it is an issue certain to impact on the freeness and fairness of the run-off.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

COLOMBIA HOSTAGE SIEGE MAN SEIZED !

Colombian police have arrested a man who had taken several people hostage in an office in the capital, Bogota.
Police told the BBC they had disarmed the man and that the incident was over.
The man, identified as former army employee Edgar Paz Morales, had been threatening to set off a grenade because of delayed pension payments.
Speaking to a radio station during the stand-off, the man said he wanted top officials and the media to be brought to the scene.
He said the government had favoured demobilised paramilitaries involved in Colombia's long-running conflict, but had delayed military pensions.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SA LEADER ORDERS ARMY TO DEPLOY !

Day of violence in Johannesburg suburb.
In pictures

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has approved the deployment of the army to quell violence against foreigners.
The announcement from his office came after xenophobic attacks spread outside Johannesburg to the city of Durban.
Police say a group armed with sticks and bottles attacked Nigerians drinking in a tavern overnight.
The violence, which began last week, has left more than 20 people dead and is estimated to have driven 30,000 people from their homes.
The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation says many of the people were sheltering in mosques and churches around Johannesburg.

Mobs of South Africans roam townships.
There are believed to be between three and five million foreigners living in South Africa, most of them Zimbabweans fleeing poverty and violence at home.
The Durban attack prompted about 700 African migrants to seek refuge in a nearby church while in Cape Town a safety forum has been set up to try to prevent violence.
In Johannesburg, police fired rubber bullets to disperse mobs in one area on Tuesday.
There are fears that politicians are exploiting the situation in Durban.

SOUTH AFRICA

Foreign population: 3-5m
Majority from Zimbabwe, also Mozambique, Nigeria
Total population: 49m
Unemployment rate: 30%

In pictures: Johannesburg violence
S Africa violence: Your stories

"A mob of plus/minus 200 were gathering on the streets carrying bottles and knobkerries (wooden clubs) busy attacking people on the streets," Provincial police spokeswoman Superintendent Phindile Radebe told AFP news agency.
"They attacked one of the taverns there believed to be owned by Nigerians," she said.
KwaZulu-Natal's Community Safety Minister Bheki Cele blamed Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party members for being behind the Durban violence.
"These are purely criminal activities and they will be dealt with decisively in ensuring that xenophobic attacks are not used as scapegoats for criminals who want to serve their own selfish interests," he said in a statement.
The attacks on foreigners began a week ago in the township of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, before spreading to the city centre and across the Gauteng region.
Mobs have been roaming townships looking for foreigners, many of whom have sought refuge in police stations, churches and community halls.
Some South Africans say foreigners are taking jobs from locals and contributing to crime.
Earlier, President Mbeki urged South Africans to welcome foreigners.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ISRAEL-SYRIA CONFIRM PEACE TALKS !

Israel and Syria remain technically at war over the Golan Heights.
Israel and Syria have said they are holding indirect talks to reach a comprehensive peace agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said both sides were talking "in good faith and openly".
The Syrian foreign ministry also confirmed the Turkish-mediated talks, the first since 2000.
The last round of negotiations broke down because of disagreement over the extent of Israel's possible withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
Israel and Syria are still technically at war over the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
It was reported in April that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was mediating in talks between the two sides.
In a statement, Syria's foreign ministry said both sides had "expressed their desire to conduct the talks in goodwill and decided to continue dialogue with seriousness to achieve comprehensive peace".

Golan Heights facts

Mr Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said the two countries had indicated "they want to lead these negotiations in a serious spirit so as to achieve complete peace".
The Syrian foreign minister, Walid Muallem, said Israel had agreed to withdraw from the Golan up to the armistice line of 1967.
Israel has refused to comment on the claim, although a spokesman for Mr Olmert said the current talks were being carried out with the failure of the previous ones in mind, and that the talks had recently gathered momentum.
The US and the EU have welcomed news of the talks, and both have praised Turkey's role as facilitator.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he hoped the two parties "will reach a peaceful solution".
Analysts suggest that, in return for any withdrawal, Israel would demand Syria sever its ties with Iran and the Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
However, they add that withdrawal from the Golan would not be popular with Israelis.
The reports of talks in April sparked outrage in the Israeli parliament, where several MPs said they would try to accelerate the passage of a bill requiring any withdrawal from the Golan to be backed by a referendum.
Mr Olmert is currently battling corruption allegations, and the BBC's Katya Adler in Jerusalem says the prime minister's critics believe the confirmation of peace talks may be an attempt to divert some attention from that.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA WARNS OVER QUAKE CORRUPTION !

Chinese regulators have warned that any corrupt practices linked to relief supplies for the Sichuan earthquake will be severely punished.
Officials are working to get tents and supplies to the five million people made homeless by the 12 May quake.
The official death toll is now more than 41,000, and another 32,000 people are still missing.
There was some good news on Wednesday when a woman was reportedly rescued from a tunnel of a hydropower plant.
The state news agency Xinhua said she had been trapped in the tunnel in Hongbai for nine days.
She has been air-lifted to hospital, suffering from multiple fractures, but she is expected to survive. But aid workers hold out little hope of finding many more survivors.
Both domestic and international aid has been flowing into the earthquake zone, with supply planes landing from countries including the US, Russia and Singapore. But China says more tents are desperately needed to provide temporary shelter for families.

QUAKE STATISTICS

Up to Tuesday 20 May:
40,075 dead
247,645 injured
145 confirmed aftershocks above level 4, 23 above level 5, biggest 6.1
34,000 medical staff in quake zone
Nearly 280,000 tents, 480,000 quilts and 1.7 million jackets sent
6bn Chinese yuan ($860m, £440m) received in donations, from China and abroad
Drinking water for 7m people restored
Source: Chinese government

See a detailed map of quake zone
Sichuan tourist trail in ruins
Town mourns as search goes on

Bulldozers have been levelling ground so that more camps can be set up, reporters at the scene said.
In one tent city in Mianzhu, a 52-year-old man told the French news agency AFP that he had nothing. "We don't know where we're going to find money to rebuild our village," Ma Jingsuan said. "We're entirely dependent on the government."
On Tuesday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to send 250,000 temporary housing units to the region by the end of June, and one million within three months.
In a circular, the Communist Party's graft watchdog told local agencies to deal "swiftly and severely" with any official corruption linked to relief work, Xinhua news agency reported.
The source, destination and quantity of relief supplies should be made public, it said, and police should crack down on any fraudulent collection of donations for earthquake victims.
There have already been reports of scam text messages calling for donations to help survivors.
In the earthquake zone, many residents whose homes are still standing have been sleeping outside because of continued fear of aftershocks.
Rain has also been falling, compounding their misery. On Tuesday, Mr Wen ordered patrols to constantly monitor all dams as the bad weather continued.
Thousands of residents have also been evacuated from an area in Qingchuan county where large cracks have appeared in the top of a mountain, Xinhua said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GERMAN POST PRINTS HESS STAMPS !

Hess was arrested in Britain in 1941 after parachuting in on a peace mission.
German neo-Nazis have used a personalised stamp service to send letters bearing the image of Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess.
Deutsche Post spokesman Dirk Klasen confirmed that an order of 20 55-cent stamps had been printed by the service.
Mr Klasen said Deutsche Post would review its procedures, but that it was impossible to guarantee that unsuitable images would not slip through the net.
Rudolf Hess died in 1987, aged 93, after more than four decades in prison.
Deutsche Post's personalised stamp service was launched in February and allows customers to upload their own photos over the internet to create an individual stamp design, ordering any amount from 20 to 10,000.
The service has proved popular with people celebrating weddings, birthdays or anniversaries.
Mr Klasen said Deutsche Post does have control mechanisms in place to ensure that criminal or pornographic images are not printed, "which in most cases runs problem-free, but with the Hess portrait something obviously went wrong", he said.
Mr Klasen added that the criteria for making personalised stamps would become much stricter, but that it would be impossible to guarantee "100% security".
Hess was found hanged in his cell at Spandau prison in Berlin on 17 August 1987.
He was captured in 1941 after parachuting into Scotland in an apparent personal bid to broker peace with Britain.
He is considered a hero by the German far-right, and neo-Nazis often use the anniversary of his death to stage demonstrations.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'DIRTY BOMB' WARNINGS TO OLYMPICS !

By Angus Crawford - BBC News.

The Beijing Olympics in August could be a target for terrorists using radioactive materials, the UN nuclear watchdog has told the BBC.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says a group might try to release radioactivity at an Olympic venue, possibly using a "dirty bomb".
However, the IAEA says there is no specific information suggesting an imminent attack on the Beijing games.
The IAEA warning comes as it conducts a training exercise in China's capital.

The agency says intelligence shows that terrorists are trying to obtain nuclear materials.
Its concern is that they might try to use a "dirty bomb" with conventional explosives in Beijing.
"There is a threat at some level that these [radioactive] materials could be used," said Dr Anita Nilsson, the IAEA's head of nuclear security.
"The awareness that these materials do exist in circulation is enough in itself to trigger the measures that we are now working together with the Chinese authorities to implement at the major venues of the Beijing Olympics," she said.
Dr Nilsson warned that the same threats would exist for the London Olympics in 2012.
"There is a major shift in threat perception over the last five to 10 years. And we have to take that into account and to do accordingly, whether it is Olympic games in Beijing or London. These measures must be implemented."
Organisers of the 2012 games say "work is progressing to ensure a safe and secure" event.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"KNOW YOURSELF,

AND YOU WILL WIN ALL BATTLES" !

_________

ARMY COULD STOP S AFRICA ATTACKS !

Police say they have made almost 300 arrests.
South African security ministers have been discussing using the army to help stop a wave of attacks on foreigners, which has left at least 23 people dead.
The deployment of troops, which has been demanded by human rights groups and the opposition, could not be ruled out, said a top ruling party official.
The violence has spread to four new areas near Johannesburg, while 13,000 have reportedly fled their homes.
President Thabo Mbeki has condemned the "shameful and criminal" violence.
Mobs of South Africans have been roaming townships, looking for foreigners, many of whom have sought refuge in police stations, churches and community halls.
There are believed to be between three and five million foreigners living in South Africa - most are Zimbabweans fleeing poverty and violence at home.
The attacks have spread to new areas in the Ekurhuleni region around Johannesburg, local official Zweli Dlamini told the BBC.
In the latest attacks, two people, believed to be miners from Mozambique, were beaten to death, reports South Africa's Independent Online website.
There have also been reports of attacks on South Africans from other parts of the country.
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said that if the army was deployed, it would be to back up the police.
Police reinforcements have already been sent to the affected areas and President Mbeki said they would get "to the root of the anarchy".
On Monday, a coalition of human rights groups, called the attacks a "national emergency" and urged the government to "consider whether deployment of the military is not necessary at this stage".
The police say they have made another 40 arrests overnight, on top of the 250 in recent days.
Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said the police would make the decision on whether it was necessary to call in the army.
"The situation is dire and we must intervene and intervene forcefully," he said in a debate in the Gauteng legislature.
"What kind of nation are we building - one which rejoices at someone who is burning, who is engulfed by flames?" he asked in reference to a shocking photograph used on the front pages of several newspapers on Monday.
Mr Mantashe also said the ANC had held talks with the mainly Zulu opposition Inkatha Freedom Party and noted that most of the flashpoints had been in areas where the IFP had a presence.
The IFP has denied any links to the violence.
SOUTH AFRICA

Foreign population: 3-5m
Majority from Zimbabwe, also Mozambique, Nigeria
Total population: 49m
Unemployment rate: 30%

In pictures: Johannesburg violence
S Africa violence: Your stories
S Africa violence: Your comments
Foreign attacks concern SA press

Bishop Paul Veryn, who runs the Central Methodist Church, where many foreigners have sought shelter and which was attacked over the weekend, said the attacks were "clearly orchestrated".
He told the BBC's Network Africa programme that the mobs appeared to know exactly where foreigners lived.
"That information would not be accessible if they did not have access to councillors, to people in authority."
He also blamed the poverty and massive inequality of wealth in South Africa for the violence.
Some South Africans say foreigners are taking jobs from locals and contributing to crime.
Up to three million Zimbabweans are thought to be in South Africa, having fled violence and poverty at home.
Some Zimbabweans say they will go home, despite the political violence there, rather than face attacks in South Africa.
"If we go back into the streets, they're going to kill us there," one Zimbabwean man seeking sanctuary in a police station told the BBC.
But Mr Mbeki urged South Africans to welcome refugees.
"Citizens from other countries on the African continent and beyond are as human as we are and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity."
The attacks on foreigners began a week ago in the township of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, before spreading to the city centre and across the Gauteng region.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'ARMED MAN' CLEARS BERLINS SCHOOL !

German police have evacuated a large school in the capital, Berlin, after reports that an armed man has entered the building.
Police went to the school after receiving an emergency telephone call from inside it at 0900 (0700 GMT).
There are no reports of any injuries at the school, which is located in the central district of Kreuzberg.
Police said they were still searching the building, and that the alert may turn out to be a false alarm.
"There is the possibility that the man is not inside any more," spokesman Bernard Schodrowski told local TV.
The school, a technical college, has around 6,000 pupils aged 15 to 18.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ODINGA CALLS FOR KENYAN AMNESTY !

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called for his supporters arrested during this year's political violence to be freed, to help reconciliation.
Mr Odinga was named prime minister as part of a power-sharing deal to end violence in which some 1,500 people were killed, many in ethnic clashes.
But allies of President Mwai Kibaki have rejected the call, saying it would lead to a "culture of impunity".
A BBC correspondent says the dispute could threaten the fledgling coalition.
Hundreds of people on both sides of Kenya's political and ethnic divide were arrested during the violence, in which some 600,000 people were forced from their homes.
Some of the worst violence was in the Rift Valley, where ethnic Kalenjins and others drove out members of Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu community.
Kikuyus later carried out revenge attacks.
The BBC's Josphat Makori in Nairobi says Rift Valley MPs from Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) wanted him to do more to secure the release of their supporters.
"We cannot have a coalition government when our young people are still being held," Mr Odinga said.
He said he had discussed the issue with President Kibaki.
Law professor Githu Muigai agreed with Justice Minister Martha Karua that any amnesty would only encourage impunity.
"People feel you can do anything you want, you can get away with anything you want, as long as the day before you are brought before court, you can get whatever partisan group you belong to to drum up some political intervention," he told the BBC.
Some of Mr Kibaki's allies also say that if the Kalenjin youths are freed, the same should apply to members of the Kikuyu Mungiki sect, arrested during the violence and in subsequent police crackdowns

BBC NEWS REPORT.

VENEZUELA THREATENS TO CUT US OIL !

Mr Chavez has threatened before to cut supplies. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut off oil supplies to the US unless it halts what he calls its "economic war" against his country.
His warning came days after US oil giant Exxon Mobil won orders in US, UK and Dutch courts to freeze billions of dollars of Venezuelan oil assets.
Exxon wants more compensation from the Chavez government after it took control of Exxon oil projects last year.
The US is the biggest market for Venezuela's heavy crude oil exports.
President Chavez has threatened several times before to stop sending Venezuelan oil to the US but so far not done so.
Nevertheless, his comments during his weekly televised address, took sharp aim at Exxon Mobil and, by extension, the Bush administration.
He described Exxon's management as imperialist bandits who form part of a US government-backed campaign to destabilise Venezuela.
"If you end up freezing [Venezuelan] assets and it harms us, we're going to harm you," Mr Chavez said.
"Do you know how? We aren't going to send oil to the US. Take note, Mr Bush, Mr Danger."
Long dispute
At the heart of the dispute is last year's decision to take over oil projects in the Orinoco Belt, a move Mr Chavez has argued will bring billions of dollars back to the Venezuelan people.
Exxon Mobil refused to sell a majority stake to the Venezuelan government.
It has taken its case for compensation to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a process that could take years.
It has not indicated how much compensation it wants for the 41.7% stake in the Orinoco Belt oil field - worth an estimated $750m (£370m).
Last week, the company won temporary court orders in the UK, the Netherlands and the Caribbean freezing Venezuelan assets worth up to $12bn (£6bn).
Another order in a New York court froze up to $315m of funds of the state-run Venezuelan oil company, PDVSA.
Further hearings are scheduled later this month in New York and London.
It will be a tough fight, says the BBC's James Ingham in Caracas.
Mr Chavez is a strong leader who rails against what he calls the evils of capitalism while Exxon is renowned as a tough corporate player.
Cutting off oil deliveries to the US would be damaging to Caracas as well as Washington.
The US is not only Venezuela's biggest market but is also home to refineries that specialise in the heavy sour crude oil Venezuela exports.
The threat, then, may be too risky for Mr Chavez to carry out, our correspondent says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UNCERTAIN TIMES FOR QUAKE SURVIVORS !

By Daniel Griffiths - BBC News, Dujiangyan, China

An estimated five million people were left homeless by the earthquake.
Early morning in the city of Dujiangyan and Ma Yanyou is wandering through the ruins of what were once both his home and his restaurant business.
He is a chubby forty-something dressed in what seems to be the standard uniform for a Chinese businessman - black leather jacket, black t-shirt, black trousers and black shoes.
A man on the up, but that was before Monday's earthquake.
"I used to run the restaurant with my brother," Mr Ma told me. "I don't know what I am going to do now."

We are standing on a pile of rubble. Bricks and wooden rafters are strewn across the ground and much of the roof now lies on the floor of what was the restaurant.
It is a scene of complete devastation.
One bedroom is still standing. Inside there are children's books scattered over the bed and floor.
Looking on are Mr Ma's extended family. They used to live here - all 18 relatives - but two people are not here.
Mr Ma's elderly mother tells me that one son and grandson are still in Wenchuan, a city nearer the epicentre of the earthquake, and everyone is worried.

See a detailed map of quake zone

For the time being Mr Ma and his entire family are squeezed into a tiny building nearby with just two bedrooms. His niece, Ma Lan, shows me around.
"Ten of us sleep in this one room," she tells me.
It is small and cramped with all their clothes heaped up at one end. Three cages with songbirds inside are suspended from a wire that runs the length of the room.
"The authorities have really helped us," she adds. "They've given us food and water, but having said that we still don't have electricity."
The Ma family is also sharing this place with their friend, Mr Zhou.
Mr Zhou has been on the phone all morning - his 17-year-old daughter was also in Wenchuan when the quake struck. He has just heard she's OK.

Nearly all of Ma Yanyou's relatives are sharing a two-bedroom house nearby.
He says she has also managed to make contact with Mr Ma's missing relatives, but it is not all good news.
"She's really scared," he tells me. "She keeps telling me not to go there. She knows I'll try to go to Wenchuan to look for her, but it's too dangerous."
These are very uncertain times for the survivors of the earthquake.
Back in the rubble of his restaurant, Mr Ma shakes his head.
"I just don't know what's going to happen next," he explains.
That is a sentiment perhaps felt by many of the estimated five million people left homeless by the earthquake.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FOREIGN ATTACKS CONCERN SA PRESS !

The South African press strongly condemns the recent anti-immigrant violence in the country which has left many dead.
One paper describes a "chorus of disgust" and there are warnings that the strife could spread if left unchecked.
Two writers blame the South African government's failure to take firm action on Zimbabwe, where many of those targeted by the violence come from, but another rejects this, blaming South Africans' failure to "decolonise" their minds.

RICH MKHONDO IN PRETORIA NEWS
The indiscriminate attacks, maiming and killing of immigrants around our country is reprehensible and beyond tragic. The vicious attackers deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. But xenophobia is not going to go away until society itself confronts its history of bigotry, intolerance, and hatred against people from other countries, particularly African countries.

EDITORIAL IN PRETORIA NEWS
When authorities wash their hands of this problem and simply label it as xenophobic acts by criminals, they are acting irresponsibly and in fact fuelling the flames of hatred. Such incidents have the potential of spreading throughout South Africa, when immigrants buoyed by these sentiments start retaliating. Unless someone can find intelligent reasons why we are in this mess and develop workable solutions, the irresponsible talk must now stop.

EDITORIAL IN CAPE ARGUS
Condemnation of the xenophobic violence that erupted in Johannesburg's Alexandra township and spread elsewhere has become unanimous. There is a chorus of disgust, a consensus that it shames the country. This is only a start, however. The urgent question is how best to convert this collective revulsion into formulating a lasting South African refugee policy, and short-term responses, so that fellow Africans in our country do not have to live in terror simply because they are strangers.

THEMBA MOLEFE IN SOWETAN
Haunting images of the bloodied face of a very frightened woman in Alexandra this week keep playing themselves over and over in my mind. If that was indeed the portrait of xenophobia, then, like a two-headed monster that feeds on itself, South Africa is headed for a catastrophic embarrassment on the world stage.

EDITORIAL IN CITY PRESS
We, more than many other nations, should know better. We should know better because we have just emerged from more than three centuries of the horror of settler colonialism and apartheid... This madness has to stop. There is simply no justification for attacking people simply because they are not South African nationals.

JUSTICE MALALA IN TIMES
The South African government's refusal to even acknowledge the crisis in Zimbabwe has resulted in as many as three million Zimbabweans walking the streets of South Africa. If President Mbeki and his deputy president, Zuma, had acted decisively on Zimbabwe nine years ago these Zimbabweans would not be here today. His refusal to address the crisis in Zimbabwe - and his friendship with President Mugabe - has brought them here. His block-headedness is directly responsible for the eruption of xenophobia.

PETER FABRICIUS IN CAPE TIMES
Those who kill, rape or otherwise assault foreigners must ultimately carry the blame themselves for their actions. But this eruption of xenophobia also took place within a wider context of national and foreign policy... it does look as though the inadequate response to the refugee or illegal immigrant problem is aggravated by a foreign policy shortcoming, namely Pretoria's failure to acknowledge, fully, that there is a crisis in Zimbabwe and that it has repercussions beyond its own borders.

ANDILE MNGXITAMA IN CITY PRESS
Negrophobia, or the hatred of blacks, has reached fever pitch in South Africa with the recent attacks on black Africans in Pretoria, Alexandra and Diepsloot... The rise of negrophobia is the logical conclusion of our failure to decolonise our minds and also socioeconomic realities... The root cause of these attacks rests deep in our colonial and apartheid history.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PASSION" !

_________

BURMA'S RICE HARVEST UNDER THREAT !

By Chris Hogg - BBC News, Bangkok.

Farmers in the delta normally provide two-thirds of Burma's rice harvest.
Farmers in the areas most affected by Cyclone Nargis need rice seed by the end of June, or Burma's rice harvest will fail, the United Nations says.
The UN has warned that the harvest could fail this year and next, making the country - currently a net rice exporter - a net importer of rice.
It says that to prevent this, farmers in the worst affected areas must be given all the help they need.
The cyclone devastated the fragile ecosystem in five coastal areas.
The UN says that, in places, the damage caused by the huge wave that hit the Irrawaddy Delta two weeks ago was worse than that wreaked by the tsunami in 2004.
Deforestation meant the wave swept further inland. Food stocks and rice seed were lost - livestock, tools and equipment, too.
Farming is the most important means of livelihood for more than 70% of Burma's population.
Usually, farmers in the Irrawaddy Delta provide two-thirds of the country's rice harvest.
The high cost of imported fertilisers and low crop prices were already making life hard for them, even before the cyclone, and for many families life was already very harsh and insecure.
Now it has got much worse.
Diderik de Vleeschauwer from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says while the emergency relief operation continues for those in the worst affected areas, efforts need to be made now to get the region's farmers back on their feet.
"Time is running out," he says. "We are running against the clock. If rice seeds are not received within the next 40 to 50 days, planting will not happen in time, and people will not be able to harvest rice by the end of this year."

Although many paddy fields have been flooded, most can be repaired.
The UN is trying to source strains of rice seed that will grow better in salty soil.
In most places the paddy fields can be repaired, but the damage caused by the seawater is harder to reverse.
The heavy rains that have fallen in the area over the last few days have helped by diluting the brackish water a little, but it is still a problem.
"In situations like this, the World Food Programme can provide rations for people so that they won't be tempted to eat any rice they've been given for seed," says the World Food Programme's Marcus Prior.
But if a new crop of rice cannot be planted in time, it will not just be the families in the delta that suffer. People across Burma will go hungry.
The UN's experts believe the paddy fields in the Irrawaddy Delta are not that badly damaged.
They could be repaired with quite basic technology, but new equipment will be needed to replace what was lost, including tractors and land tills, and livestock for ploughing - like buffaloes - will be needed.

Agencies were already providing food aid before the cyclone struck.
The greatest challenge, of course, will be getting the rice seed and fertiliser to the farmers. Many of the roads in the delta are in a bad state.
The largest trucks cannot use them. Bridges have been damaged. Few vehicles are available.
The fishing industry will also need support. It is estimated that around 100,000 households who relied on fishing for their livelihood have been affected.
The destructive wave of saltwater will have washed away or smashed a lot of boats in the coastal areas, which bore the brunt of the wall of water, but those inland could have been sunk too.
Much fishing equipment will have been lost.
The UN says the distribution of simple fishing gear with the early deliveries of emergency food aid could help people to start helping themselves early on.
It may not be possible to replant crops in flooded areas straight away, but they can be fished.
Dr Simon Funge-Smith, Aquaculture Officer with the FAO in Bangkok, says that where you have people who fish as part of their livelihood, "it's a coping strategy in times of crisis. People will fall back on their natural resources."
Humanitarian organisations like the World Food Programme were operating in Burma before the cyclone struck, providing food aid to half a million people across the country.

After the destruction of rice mills, new equipment is urgently needed.
UN figures showed that one in three children was chronically malnourished.
The fear now is that as a result of this damage to the area known as the country's "rice bowl", a bad situation will get a lot worse.
The bill for providing rice seeds, fertiliser and equipment is estimated by the UN to be around $243m (£122m).
To rebuild the fishing industry, "very substantial" further sums are needed.
The officials are warning, though, that if they cannot raise the money and - just as challenging - get access to the areas in need to deliver aid in time, the costs in terms of lives lost, an increase in poverty and overall economic damage to the Burmese economy will be far greater.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TEACHERS THRONG PARIS OVER CUTS !

At least 20,000 people have marched through central Paris protesting against the French government's plans to cut jobs in the education sector.
The protestors are also unhappy about President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to force schools to stay open in the event of strike action.
Mr Sarkozy was elected a year ago on a platform of reforms, but many of them have provoked stiff opposition.
Separately, fishermen angered by rising fuel costs blockaded La Rochelle port.
A cordon of 90 fishing boats cut off access to the commercial harbour La Pallice on France's Atlantic coast for a fourth day running.
Fisherman also blocked off three fuel depots that serve much of western France, by piling palettes up on their access roads. They promised to maintain their protest until talks with the government open on Wednesday, AFP news agency reported.
In Paris, organisers said 45,000 people joined the protest against education reforms, though police put the number at 20,000.
Unions are hoping that a head of steam is building up against the government's reform plans, says BBC correspondent Hugh Schofield in Paris.

President Sarkozy shows no sign of bending to stiff opposition.
Ministers want to cut 11,000 jobs in schools and universities this year, mainly by not replacing those who retire.
They say the number of pupils in France has been falling in recent years, while the number of teachers has stayed constant or gone up.
But the protestors accuse the government of trying to roll back public services.
They are also angry at an unexpected initiative by the president after a nationwide school strike on Thursday.
President Sarkozy promised that evening that a law will be passed making it compulsory for schools to look after children on days of strikes, so that parents could go to work. To the unions, this is a limitation on the right to strike.
More public sector strikes are scheduled for Thursday over plans to push back the pension age.
But the president has so far made the calculation that most people accept the changes that he has promised, and there is no sign of him backing down, says our correspondent.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

REFUGEES FLEE SOUTH AFRICA ATTACKS !

By Caroline Hawley - BBC News, Johannesburg.

"Stu" escaped from Zimbabwe in January, crossing the border for the sanctuary of South Africa.
Now - fearing for his life - he's trying to flee back, after a wave of xenophobic violence targeting immigrants in townships around Johannesburg.
"I ran away from the situation in Zimbabwe to try to support my family," says the 24-year old, who is too afraid to give his full name.
"But it's better to starve at home than to die here. At least, if I'm back in Zimbabwe, my parents can bury me and see my grave."
The mob came for him in the sprawling Johannesburg township of Alexandra on Monday night.
"They forced their way into my home with weapons, hammers and bricks. And they took everything I've got. The only things I have left are the clothes that I'm wearing. I don't even know how I'll get home."
"Stu" and hundreds of other foreigners - Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and Malawians - are now sheltering in tents provided for them by the Red Cross on the grounds of Alexandra's police station.
It was at 21.30 on Wednesday night when a group of people attacked Arlindo Nhantumbo, a Mozambican who has lived happily in South Africa for 12 years.
"Ten of them came, with guns, and told me to leave the country. I don't know what to do, because I have married a South African and we have a five-month-old baby boy," he says. "I am desperate."

A flood of refugees
No one has exact figures of the number of immigrants now living in South Africa, but the Institute of Race Relations believes that there are between 3 and 5 million - equivalent to the country's entire white population.
And they have become scapegoats for many of South Africa's social ills - high levels of unemployment, a shortage of housing and one of the worst crime rates in the world.

In pictures: S Africa's xenophobia
Migrants tell of township tensions

There has been a spate of xenophobic attacks over the past few years. In 2005 and 2006, Somalis living in the Eastern and Western Cape were targeted.
But the latest wave of anti-foreigner attacks has caused growing concern in the "rainbow nation" which still bears the scars of apartheid, and where some of the country's poor are worse off than they were before the transition to majority rule.
"Violence is not a solution," says Mbuto Mthembu of the Red Cross, which is providing blankets, clothing and food to the refugees.
"We have seen it before in this country and we know just how ugly it is. We don't want to see that again."
And fears of the trouble spreading have prompted intervention from Nelson Mandela.
"Remember the horror from which we come from" he urged South Africans this week.
"Never forget the greatness of a nation that has overcome its divisions. Let us never descend into destructive divisiveness."

Many South Africans are ashamed at the treatment of migrants
His former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, has also apologised to the victims, during a visit to Alexandra by senior ANC and government officials.
"We are sorry," she said. "It is not South African to do this."
And in the narrow dusty paths between Alexandra's corrugated-roof shacks - where competition for jobs and housing is fierce - there is sympathy, among many, for the immigrants.
"We are ashamed," says 71-year old Sonny Mokoena.
"I was born here and have lived in Alexandra all my life and have never seen anything like this. These people, who fled violence in their countries, are now fleeing again - some with small kids. It's not right."
But the violence has already spread.
On Wednesday, immigrants who escaped Alexandra to stay with friends and relatives in the township of Diepsloot, near Pretoria, were attacked again and their homes looted.
By Thursday, police had sealed off parts of Diepsloot to try to restore order, using armoured personnel carriers - a reminder of policing in the darkest days of apartheid.

The anti-foreigner violence has spread to Diepsloot.
"It started with attacks on the people who fled Alexandra," says John Makola, chairperson of the Diepsloot Community Police Forum.
"But today they are chasing every foreigner here, accusing them of being criminals or stealing their jobs. It's appalling."
Papi, 29, standing near barricades blocking the road on the edge of Diepsloot, also condemned the violence.
But he, like many other South Africans, blames immigrants for compounding the country's crime problem.
"There are so many robberies and rapes here and people suspect the immigrants," he says. "So people don't feel safe in their own country."
Ntokozo Msebeni, who came to South Africa from Zimbabwe in 2006, does not feel safe anywhere now.
"A mob came and beat us up and stole our ID cards and our money," she says.
"I have a small child and I have nothing left and don't know what to do."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

How to catch a chicken!

Saturday 17th May 2008,

Dear Family and Friends,

Early one afternoon this week a small town residential suburb grew suddenly quiet as the sound of 'the youths' filled the neighbourhood. The voices of perhaps thirty young men could be heard as they ran along local streets singing, chanting and repeating the threatening political slogans so familiar to us all. The neighbourhood was silenced, a few barking dogs the only challenge to the running mob. Later we heard one house was burnt down, one man had a broken arm, another was slashed on his head with a panga. Behind walls, fences and hedges the silence affords a tenuous measure of safety for urban Zimbabweans but for people in the rural areas nowhere is safe.

When the big trucks arrive in the villages there is nowhere to hide. A few burly men alight and they call loudly for the male youths to come. Door to door they go, gathering the youngsters who are out of school or waiting for exam results, unemployed young men, teenage boys - all are told to climb onto the vehicles. Those who refuse are immediately marked: accused of supporting the opposition. Their names are recorded on the now dreaded 'lists' - lists which determine who gets food, seed and fertilizer and who should be re-educated or punished for voting 'the wrong way' or supporting the 'wrong party.'

Once on the trucks the youths are transported to other villages, far away from home - to places where they are strangers. Hundreds of reports are now being documented of the events taking place in remote areas when these truck loads of youths arrive: reports of beating, burning, humiliation and threats.

Once the deeds are done the youths are sent back to their villages - they are paid, sometimes with money and sometimes with bags of food, blankets, new shoes.

Having been on the trucks once, the youths are trapped and know they'll be forced to go again. The youths are damned if they go and damned if they don't and for many the only choice is to run, to hide and to pray that they can stay safe until the 27th of June when Zimbabwe yet again goes to a Presidential election.

And will it work, all this violence, brutality and trauma? Will it force people to change the way they voted 2 months ago? One father, desperately trying to keep his teenage son away from the trucks said the way to catch a chicken was to throw grain for it so it comes to you, not to throw stones at it.

Despite all the horrors here in Zimbabwe, we are deeply saddened by the tragedies in China and in Burma this past fortnight and send our condolences.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

ROYAL MARRIED IN WINDSOR WEDDING !

The couple wed five years after meeting at the Montreal Grand Prix.
Peter Phillips, the Queen's eldest grandson, has married his Canadian bride Autumn Kelly in Windsor Castle's St George's Chapel.
The couple were joined by 300 guests, including most of the Royal Family.
They exchanged vows in an hour-long ceremony, before heading to a reception and dance at Frogmore House in Windsor in a horse-drawn carriage.
Cheers and clapping were heard outside the chapel as the couple, who are both aged 30, walked down the aisle.
The groom is the only son of Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips and is 11th in line to the throne.
His bride, a management consultant, wore a dress by London designer Sassi Holford with a full veil, a tiara on loan from her mother-in-law Princess Anne, and a necklace and earrings from Mr Phillips.
She was attended by six bridesmaids, including Peter's sister Zara Phillips, in sage green dresses by Vera Wang.
Showers dampened her arrival, but had subsided by the time she left the chapel as Mrs Autumn Phillips.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were among the 300 guests.
Her husband does not have a royal title because Princess Anne turned down the Queen's offer of honours for both her children.
The service was led by the Right Rev David Conner, Dean of Windsor.
Among those watching the couple exchange vows were the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.
Prince Harry, his girlfriend Chelsy Davy, and Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton were also present.
Prince William was unable to attend because he is in Kenya at the wedding of a friend.
Princess Eugenie read Shakespeare's sonnet 116 and Patrick Kelly, the bride's half-brother, read from Chapter 3 of St Paul's letter to the Colossians.

WEDDING FACTS
The bride will be known as Mrs Autumn Phillips
She was being given away by her father, Brian Kelly
The cake was made by the Buckingham Palace pastry chef
The bride's tiara is on loan from the Princess Royal

In Pictures: royal wedding
A thoroughly modern wedding

About 70 of the 300 guests flew over from Canada for the occasion.
The couple met in 2003 at the Montreal Grand Prix where they were both working. Mr Phillips proposed last July.
The new Mrs Phillips gave up her Catholic faith and converted to the Church of England, enabling Mr Phillips to retain his right to the throne.
They have not revealed where they are going on honeymoon, other than it is somewhere hot.

BBC royal correspondent Daniela Relph said the couple had sold the story of their relationship to Hello! magazine - a decision which has raised a few eyebrows in royal circles.
It has been reported they were paid £500,000.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliam told BBC News the wedding was representative of a new trend in royal marriages.
"Royals aren't marrying other royals and aren't marrying into the upper classes," he said. "They're marrying into the middle class and they're marrying for love.
"Which of course is how it should be and it has this sort of reviving effect - new ideas, new trends - and it means that royal houses won't be so alone. They won't be so fossilised "

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA PRAISES WORLD'S QUAKE AID !

The final death toll is expected to reach at least 50,000.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has voiced his gratitude for the international aid following Monday's massive earthquake.
"I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends," Mr Hu was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Offers of help in the relief effort from home and abroad have now surpassed $800m, Chinese officials say.
The number of confirmed deaths of the quake in the south-western Sichuan province has now risen to 28,881.
More than 10,600 people are believed to be still trapped, Xinhua said, citing regional officials.
The final death toll following the 7.9-magnitude quake is expected to reach at least 50,000 people, Chinese officials estimate.
Rescue efforts resumed in Beichuan, after the entire city was evacuated amid fears that it could be engulfed by a river bursting its banks.

QUAKE STATISTICS

Up to Saturday 17 May:
28,881 dead
198,347 injured
145 aftershocks above level 4, 23 above level 5, biggest 6.1
34,000 medical staff in quake zone
181,460 tents, 220,000 quilts despatched
6bn Chinese yuan ($860m, £440m) received in donations, from China and abroad
Drinking water for 7m people restored
Source: Chinese government

In pictures: Beichuan evacuation
See a detailed map of quake zone

The city - that lies near the epicentre of the quake - was reduced to ruins.
But the search was halted on Saturday as rumours of a flood saw a stampede of people fleeing to higher ground.
Several people were dug out of the rubble on Saturday, including a 31-year-old woman in Deyang city, and a 33-year-old miner in Shifang, both about 124 hours after being buried.
The region shuddered again as a strong aftershock - measured by the US Geological Survey at 6.0 - struck at 0108 Sunday local time (1508 GMT Saturday).
There have been hundreds of aftershocks since Monday's quake, some causing landslides which have made conditions even more difficult.

The Chinese government has organised a massive search and rescue effort. It released figures on Saturday demonstrating the scale of the operation.
A woman found under the rubble some 124 hours after the quake
It said 198,347 people had been recorded injured, not just in Sichuan, but in Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Hubei, Henan, and Guizhou provinces.
It said some 181,460 tents, 220,000 quilts, and 170,000 cotton-padded garments had been despatched to the disaster area.
Rescue teams from South Korea, Singapore and Russia have joined Japanese and Taiwanese experts taking part in the massive search.

Uncertain times for survivors
Dams pose flooding risk
Life in tent city

The specialist teams are equipped with sniffer dogs, and fibre-optic cameras and heat sensors to detect people buried under the rubble.
But experts say the chances of finding people alive are diminishing, and increasingly it is dead bodies which are being retrieved.
The authorities have resorted to burying the bodies in mass graves. People in the quake zone are being told to wear face masks and disinfectant teams are out in force, even though the World Health Organisation says there is little significant risk of disease from unburied bodies.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DARN THESE I.T. GREMLINS !

AD BREAKDOWN The Magazine's review of advertising


THE AD: BT with Peter Jones from Dragons' Den
THE BRIEF: Technical gremlins can strike a small business at any time.

THE SCHTICK: Trading on Jones's currency from BBC Two's Dragons' Den, in which he features as one of the less dour entrepreneurs, BT is trying to persuade small businesses that they should let it look after their IT needs. Or at least it is warning them - via an invasion of Hollywood-style Gremlins - of what can go wrong if businesses try to do it themselves.
THE BREAKDOWN: Yes, it's him off Dragons' Den. And he's surrounded here by dragons. Geddit? Jones must be thought of by BT as the credible face of business - Gordon Ramsay who previously starred in this campaign did perhaps seem too over-exposed to be seen as a businessman aside from everything else he is known for (ie: chef, celebrity, swearer).

Got an educational gremlin?
The Gremlins here are not like those in the Department for Education and Skills' 2003 adult literacy and numeracy campaign, which were designed for the event.

No, BT has gone for the Hollywood version from the 1984 films of the same name. It was that film which repositioned gremlins from being mischievous wartime goblins into seriously malicious creatures. (Brewers' Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says one explanation for the name was that they were goblins which came out of brewer Fremlins bottles).

In the advert, Jones is seen working alone in the office after everyone else has clocked off (he's a hero-boss, fighting for the future of the business by pure dedication - exactly of course the kind of people BT hopes will see themselves represented). But no sooner is Jones alone than the gremlins arrive and start destroying the office.

The message is that business folk should concentrate on what they are good at and let BT look after all the technical gubbins. Jones deserves some credit for willingly being cast in the role of boss who can't cope with computers once everyone else has left the office.

OK, he's up against an army of gremlins here, but catastrophic computer collapses are pretty rare - IT support usually has to answer a range of very simple questions (forgotten passwords) or supply very simple answers (try rebooting). Is there still some kind of inverse snobbery about being useless at computers, even among the high-achievers?

But the bigger problem is this: remember the Nationwide Building Society adverts where clients were shocked by the casual contempt of the manager? The point of it was that it was supposed to be happening in an institution other than the Nationwide. It's supposed to be happening in the dodgy bank down the street - but does that message get through? Does it not invite people to associate what goes on there with the Nationwide?

The same thing is happening here. Oooh Gremlins photocopying their bums, swinging off the ceiling fan and chewing through wires on the server! Oooh it's an advert for BT.

THE BLOGGER'S VERDICT: Iain Tait of blog Crackunit.com says: "It feels big and expensive and I'm sure both Peter Jones and the Gremlins didn't come cheap. It follows on nicely from the Ramsay ad they did last year too. For me it's a decent 'hero' ad for TV or cinema. It's straightforward and clear in its message: even very rich and seemingly expert business people can have trouble with computers, and BT can fix them."
Ad Breakdown is compiled by Giles Wilson

BBC NEWS MAGAZINE.

RANGOON AID WORKER : FRUSTRATION !

A relief worker with the organisation "Operation Blessing" tells BBC News the authorities are making life difficult for him and fellow aid workers trying to reach areas worst-hit by Burma's cyclone.

Cyclone survivors are now being drenched by monsoon rains.
Looking out of the window I can see the rain pouring down in torrents. These monsoon showers are going to be hitting the most affected zone.
So, the people who are exposed and who have lost their homes are going to be extremely wet, and that's going to bring a whole new set of problems for them.
These are people who haven't been getting medical attention anyway, now they're going to get damp and it's going to bring a lot of sickness.
The western aid workers on the ground here are not being allowed into the affected zone, so we've had to be quite creative.
We're sending local doctors in because it's the only way to access the affected areas.
These local teams are reporting a huge spike in respiratory illness because of the weather, especially among children.
These are children who have been sitting exposed for a couple of weeks now. Many have hardly had anything to eat, so their immune systems are going to be low, they're undernourished.
This has to be one of the most emotional crises we've ever worked on. Right now, three hours drive from where I am sitting, there are people in urgent need of all sorts of things: medicine, shelter, food and water, and we can't get to them.
Unfortunately the authorities are making it very difficult for us to do almost anything.
It's two weeks since this happened and there are still people we are hearing about who haven't been found
When we first got on the ground - despite the difficulties of even getting into the country - we were able to get to the most affected zone.
Then the authorities closed the door, and now no western aid workers can get in.
So, we are training local teams to go in. They are getting some aid in, but it's a very difficult situation to be in.
We are stuck in Rangoon and we want to be in the crisis zone.
It's two weeks since this happened and there are still people we are hearing about who haven't been found, let alone reached with aid.
If you think, the Asian tsunami killed about 230 thousand people. Now agencies are saying at least 200 thousand people have been killed here.
This crisis is getting worse by the day, no end in sight, people are dying. It could soon overtake the death toll of the tsunami.
A few months down the line, when we have a clearer picture, it will be really sad to think how many lives were lost after the cyclone hit, because we were stopped from getting aid to where it's needed.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE REASON WHY SO LITTLE IS DONE,

IS GENERALLY BECAUSE SO LITTLE IS ATTEMPTED" !

_________

SPAIN ARRESTS 'PROLIFIC' HACKERS !

Spanish police have arrested five hackers they describe as being among the most active on the internet.
The hackers, who include two 16-year-olds, are accused of disrupting government websites in the United States, Asia and Latin America.
Police say they co-ordinated attacks over the internet and hacked into 21,000 web pages over two years.
The inquiry began in March after a Spanish political party's site was disabled after the Spanish election.
The five were arrested in Barcelona, Burgos, Malaga and Valencia.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'PLOT' DELAYS TSVANGIRAI RETURN !

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has postponed a return to Zimbabwe because of concerns about a plot to kill him.
"We have received information from a credible source concerning a planned assassination attempt," his spokesman George Sibotshiwe said.
Mr Tsvangirai was set to return to campaign for a run-off presidential election against Robert Mugabe.
On Friday, the US ambassador warned post-election violence had made a fair second round run-off vote impossible.
James McGee told the BBC he had evidence that the police and military had been involved in "pure unadulterated violence designed to intimidate people from voting" in the election, which the electoral commission has set for 27 June.
Opposition and human rights groups have said hundreds of opposition supporters have been beaten up and at least 30 killed since the first round on 29 March.
According to official results, Mr Tsvangirai won the presidential poll, but not by enough to avoid a run-off with President Robert Mugabe. He has insisted he did pass the 50% threshold and so should have been declared the outright winner.

After spending more than a month outside Zimbabwe since then trying to drum up international support, Mr Tsvangirai had been planning to return to Harare on Saturday and resume his campaign to oust Mr Mugabe.
We can't say why he will not be coming today, except to say it's due to circumstances beyond our control -Nelson Chamisa, MDC spokesman.
He had been due to speak to newly-elected members of parliament from his party, who will form a majority for the first time since independence.
The MDC leader had also planned to address a major rally in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, on Sunday.
The rally is still scheduled to go ahead, but Mr Tsvangirai's spokesman said the politician's return had been postponed indefinitely.
Last year, Mr Tsvangirai was treated in hospital after being assaulted by police.
The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Johannesburg says that despite a campaign of state-sponsored violence and intimidation against MDC supporters, Mr Tsvangirai has no choice but to contest the run-off or allow Mr Mugabe to win by default.
'Unadulterated violence'
Ambassador McGee warned that such "politically-inspired" violence cast doubt on whether a free and fair election could take place.
"Too many people have been killed, too many people have been maimed, too many people have been dislocated from their homes," Mr McGee told the BBC.

He said the attacks involved "mainly beatings to the back and buttocks, we've seen quite a few broken limbs, we've seen cuts to the head".
Mr McGee said he had met victims on a trip with British, Japanese, EU, Dutch and Tanzanian diplomats, during which he said they were harassed by police.
Along with so-called war veterans, he said they had evidence "police and military are involved in these attacks".
It was "pure unadulterated violence designed to intimidate people from voting in the next election", he said.
Deputy Information Minister, Bright Matonga, insisted that the Zimbabwean government did not support any violence, whether by MDC or Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CLICK'S TOP FREE SOFTWARE !

By Marc Cieslak - Reporter, BBC Click.

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but free software and applications are remarkably easy to come across. Here is just a smattering of reliable goodies amongst the tens of thousands of freebies on offer.

ZoneAlarm The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
ZoneAlarm is a firewall which prevents online nasties getting in to your machine in the first place.
Like a virtual FBI profiler, this app learns the behaviour of the software on your machine and if any of that software begins to act unusually, sending or receiving data when it should not be, the firewall kicks in.
Configuration of the firewall is kind of important to make sure you are getting the best out of it. Novice users should find the onscreen instruction fairly easy to follow, with sliders to set the preferred level of security.
Beware of setting things too high as this can sometimes lead to pop-up windows asking for permissions on the simplest of operations.
But this is easy to use, robust enough to deal with the sneakiest of online attacks on your machine, and free. Result.

Media Monkey The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Organising all of your digital music can prove to be a pain if you do not use some sort of media management software. This brings me neatly to our next pick. A helpful simian with a fondness for music, though it is for Windows only, I am afraid.
Media Monkey will automatically search your drive and scan for any other media managers and audio files. Take your pick from popular formats like MP3, to more obscure ones like MPC and FLA. Once detected, the monkey prepares the file for organisation.
Music can be arranged by title, artist, date, genre or the user's personal rating.
If a lot of the music on your computer has been saved at all sorts of different volume levels, some tracks louder than others, this software will normalise all tracks to a similar volume level.
This application can also go online and hunt down and retrieve missing album art using Freedb.
It will also synchronise your music with a portable media player including iPods.

LogMeIn The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
How often have you thought it would be handy to access your home computer when you are at work, or in another country?
LogMeIn allows users to remotely access and even remotely control their computers from another location. It is web based and supports both PC and Mac.
Once the software has been downloaded and installed you can access the host machine via any web browser, moving around and accessing files or folders in a ghostly fashion.
LogMeIn offers a host of paid-for solutions, which include extra features, but the free basic option is enough to sate the appetites of all but the most demanding of users.

ADrive The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
If you want to access your data from anywhere and you are not using remote access software, you can always store that data online, which means you can access it from any machine which is online.
There are plenty of free online storage solutions out there. Microsoft allows users to store up to 5GB on its Windows live Skydrive service.
If that is not enough storage, then pay a visit to new arrival ADrive, where users can store a whopping 50GB of data.
Just bear in mind that if the storage service goes out of business your precious data may disappear.

Adobe Photoshop Express The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

For anybody who is keen to touch up or manipulate their cherished photographs, Adobe has created a free, stripped down, entry level version of Photoshop.
Photoshop Express lacks a whole host of features found in any of the paid for versions of Photoshop. It is not an application that professionals are likely to find themselves using, but for basic photo manipulation this is a handsome bit of software.
It is a totally online application. First you upload photos from a computer or from sites like Facebook or Flickr.
From here you are presented with a number of tools on the left of the screen, from red-eye removal and minor photo re-touching, to a couple of effects like tint and sketch. The tools and effects might not be the most comprehensive but they are very easy to use.

And below is the best of some of the rest.

Google DesktopDesktop search. Windows/Mac OS X/Linux, free.
Paint.NETImage editor. Windows, free.
PicasaImage manager. Windows/Linux, free.
AutoHotKeyMacro maker. Windows, open source.
VLCMedia player. Windows/Mac OS X/Linux, open source.
KeePass/KeePassXPassword manager. Windows/Mac OS X/Linux, open source.
SkypeFree computer-to-computer telephony. Windows/Mac OS X, free.
AVGAnti virus. Free Edition Windows, free with paid upgrade.
PidginInstant messenger. Windows/Linux, open source.
del.icio.usBookmarks, free.
AudacityAudio editing software. Windows/Mac OS X/Linux, open source, free.
SyncBackBack up utility. Windows, local backup, free.
Remember the MilkTo do list manager.
Google CalendarOnline calendar.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

EYEWITNESS: RESCUE IN BEICHUAN !

By Michael Bristow - BBC News, Beichuan, China

The city centre of Beichuan was devastated by the quake.
The force of the earthquake that hit China's Sichuan Province can be seen in what remains of the town of Beichuan.
Other towns and villages have been badly hit but Beichuan has been wiped off the map.
The town lay in a narrow valley between high, forested mountains.
And when the earthquake struck, rocks and boulders tumbled down on to the town below.
Walking through the streets, you can see the damage is so bad that it is difficult to image what Beichuan looked like before disaster struck.
The town has been churned up - a car sits on top of a pile of rubble, 50m (165ft) high.
The roof of a market has collapsed and fruit and vegetables lie rotting on the floor.
And everywhere there are reminders that just a few days ago this was a thriving small town.
Washing is still hanging on the balconies of destroyed apartment blocks and a child's textbooks lie scattered on the floor.

A quick look reveals that this young pupil - in the fifth grade in China - was good at maths but not so good at English.
A massive relief effort has been launched in Beichuan, with the road leading into the town clogged with vehicles. Some are delivering aid, others rescue-workers and medical staff.
Along the road, temporary medical facilities have been set up in tents.
Rescuers make their way into the town.
Walking in the opposite direction are survivors, clutching what belongings they can manage.
Some of the old and the young are being carried out on the backs of soldiers.
Still searching
Four days after the earthquake struck, rescuers in the town are still searching for - and finding - people alive.
Eight children were pulled from a collapsed school in the town by elated rescue-workers.
But many are asking why so many schools fell down in the first place.
Another survivor was pulled out of what was once the offices of a power company, several hours after rescuers heard her cries.
It was a painstaking job to free her, with workmen arguing about the best way to do it.
Eventually, they dug away the final pieces of rubble - and a woman was carefully lifted out and rushed on a stretcher to a nearby doctor.
Shielding her eyes from the daylight she had not seen in four days, she was able to tell the doctor where it hurt. He gave her a drink of water.
She was then rushed away in an ambulance. This woman was lucky, thousands more in Beichuan were not.

BBC NEWS REPORT

BURMA DEATH TOLL JUMPS TO 78,000 !

Survivors are complaining that aid is simply not reaching those that need it.
The official death toll for Burma's cyclone disaster has jumped to almost 78,000 people, with nearly 56,000 missing, according to state TV.
Previously, Burma was giving a toll of 43,000 dead and 28,000 missing while the Red Cross and United Nations had estimated a death toll above 100,000.
Aid agencies are frustrated at the slow progress of aid to areas worst hit.
Cyclone Nargis battered southern regions of Burma, including the Irrawaddy Delta, on 2-3 May.
A BBC reporter in the delta this week saw little sign of official help and foreign aid workers have been barred from the area.
Heavy rain has been lashing the region, compounding the misery of survivors.
The EU's top aid official, Louis Michel, has been denied permission to visit the delta and says he was given no explanation why disaster emergency experts were being refused visas.
However, Burma - also known as Myanmar - has promised to take foreign diplomats on a tour of the region this weekend.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOMALI CHILDREN INVENT WAR GAME !

Children in Jowhar are now playing "Islamists and Ethiopians"
Enlarge Image

A group of young children in a Somali town are playing their own form of the "Cowboys and Indians" game - "Islamists and Ethiopians".
This involves them pretending to be Islamist insurgents - setting up roadblocks and attacking passers-by with toy weapons.
In recent weeks, the real insurgents - know as al-Shabab - have carried out a number of attacks on Ethiopian troops.
Ethiopian forces are in Somalia in support of the transitional government.
Al-Shabab's tactics include attacking vehicles, briefly capturing towns, killing government soldiers, stealing weapons and then withdrawing.
The town of Jowhar has seen a number of recent attacks, but the BBC's Ibrahim Moalimu who is based there, was still surprised to find children under the age of 10 pretending to be insurgents and describing their sticks as RPGs and AK-47s.
Their commander, Abdi aged 11, told him they did not go to school, so were pretending to be the al-Shabab militia.
And he said their aim when they grow up was to be fighters.
The UN has said that Somalia is the worst place in the world for children to grow up.
The UN children's fund called for the creation of safe zones for about 1.5m children, whose lives it says have been affected by conflict.
Ethiopian troops last month raided a mosque in the capital, Mogadishu, and detained more than 40 boys they said they suspected they were being trained as insurgents.
Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINESE LEADER VISITS QUAKE AREA !

Hopes are fading of finding any more survivors under the rubble.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has flown to south-western Sichuan Province, where it is feared up to 50,000 people may have died in Monday's earthquake.
So far, 22,069 deaths have been confirmed in the region and thousands more people remain missing.
Mr Hu said rescue work had entered its "most crucial phase", Xinhua news agency reported.
As the search for survivors continued intensively on Friday, four people were reportedly pulled out alive.
Four days after the quake, Chinese CCTV showed pictures of a five-year-old boy, looking weak and bruised, being taken from the rubble, bandaged and strapped to a stretcher.
We must make every effort, race against time and overcome all difficulties to achieve the final victory of the relief efforts - President Hu Jintao.

In pictures: Rescue push
Dams pose flooding risk
Life in tent city

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old nurse was rescued from the ruins of a hospital, and two survivors were found buried together beneath a collapsed office building in the shattered district of Beichuan, state news agency Xinhua reported.
And further aftershocks - one measuring 5.9 - continued to strike the area, causing landslides that buried vehicles and knocked out communications only just restored.

The Chinese president's presence in the region appears to reflect the level of government concern over the scale of the disaster.
"The challenge is still severe, the task is still arduous and the time is pressing," said Mr Hu. He was speaking after arriving in Mianyang, one of the cities worst-hit by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake, where he was to view the relief efforts and meet troops and medical personnel.
The first foreign rescuers have now arrived in the devastated region.

A student is helped to walk free after being trapped for 80 hours.
Thirty-one Japanese experts arrived on Friday morning, state media said, and a second team with sniffer dogs was due there later in the day.
Taiwan, Russia, South Korea and Singapore are also sending teams to help in the rescue effort.
Troops have now reached all of the affected areas, state media says. It adds that about 159,000 people were injured in the quake and 4.8 million people have been relocated.

See a detailed map of quake zone
Send us your comments
How earthquakes happen

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who has been in the area since the earthquake struck, said the focus of the effort was still reaching survivors.
"Saving lives is still our top priority, as long as hope of survival still exists," he said.
But the task remains huge.
Seven schools, including two nursery schools, collapsed in the town of Mianzhu alone, burying more than 1,700 students.
In Hanwang town, about 700 students were buried when Donqi middle school collapsed.
The BBC's James Reynolds in Hanwang described seeing rescuers emerge from a building carrying two bodies, and watching parents wait at the school, hoping their children would come out alive.
China has announced an investigation into why many schools collapsed.

More than 200,000 houses have collapsed in Sichuan province, while more than four million have been damaged in some way, Xinhua said.
In Mianzhu, one of the worst-hit towns, one woman said the focus should switch to caring for the survivors.
"The focus is on saving lives, and they say food and a place to live are small issues as long as you're alive," Fan Xiaohua told Reuters news agency.
"In fact, they are very big issues right now," she said.
While the government says the search is still the priority, it is stepping up the effort to get aid to the millions of people displaced or cut off by the disaster, says the BBC's Dan Griffiths in the Sichuan capital Chengdu.
Tens of thousands of Chinese troops and police are in the region to help with relief efforts but damage to roads is making it difficult to get to the worst-hit regions.
In the village of Houzhuang, south of Beichuan, residents said they had still not received any aid.
"We ate some corn, but now we are suffering from diarrhoea after drinking water from the ditch for two days," a resident surnamed Liu told Reuters.
"Now we've been trying to get things out of the debris to use, like clothes, but we're very frightened that there will be another earthquake, so we have to be very careful," he said.
Aid agencies say while some aid is getting through, more food, medical supplies and tents are desperately needed.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PISTORIUS ELIGIBLE FOR OLYMPICS

Pistorius is the world record holder in three Paralympic events.
Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius has won an appeal to compete for a place in the Beijing Olympics.
In January, athletics' governing body the IAAF banned the 21-year-old South African from able-bodied events.
It was claimed Pistorius' prosthetic limbs give him an unfair advantage, but he disagreed and went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).
"I hope this silences the crazy theories circulating about my having an unfair advantage," he said.
Cas said in a statement that the IAAF had not proved competition rules had been contravened.
"On the basis of the evidence brought by the experts called by both parties, the panel was not persuaded that there was sufficient evidence of any metabolic advantage in favour of the double amputee using the Cheetah Flex-Foot," the statement said.

606: DEBATE
Does Oscar Pistorius deserve the right to compete in Beijing?

The panel emphasised that their verdict only applied to the individual case of the South African.
It was also stressed that any advancements in the prosthetic-limb technology used by Pistorius could be contested by the IAAF again.
"The panel does not exclude the possibility that, with future advances in scientific knowledge, and a testing regime designed and carried out to the satisfaction of both parties, the IAAF might in future be in a position to prove that the existing Cheetah Flex-Foot model provides Oscar Pistorius with an advantage over other athletes."
Pistorius is hoping to make the Olympic 'A' standard time of 45.55 seconds for the 400m or the 'B' qualifier of 45.95 if no other athlete from his country attains the higher one.
I look forward to continuing my quest to qualify for the Olympics
Oscar Pistorius
His best time over the distance in 2007 was 46.56 and his personal best is 46.46.
"There are some good South African runners over that distance and every national federation is allowed to take three athletes in an event provided they meet an 'A' standard and only one athlete if they can only meet the 'B' standard," said BBC Radio 5 Live athletics correspondent Mike Costello.
"At this stage Oscar Pistorius has only an outside chance of making that time. But now, with the impetus, with the incentive of the Olympic Games, if he can get invites to the big meetings around the summer, then maybe, with the conditions right, he can be dragged through to an even quicker time for what would be a landmark appearance at the Olympics.
"No other leg amputee has ever managed to compete at the Olympic Games."
The South African was born without fibulas - the long, thin outer bone between the knee and ankle - and was 11 months old when his legs were amputated below the knee.
He began running competitively four years ago to treat a rugby injury, and nine months later won the 200m at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. Nicknamed the "Blade Runner," Pistorius has set world records in the 100m, 200m and 400m in Paralympic events.
He finished second in the 400m at the South African national championships last year against able-bodied runners.
Pistorius added: "My focus throughout this appeal has been to ensure that disabled athletes be given the chance to compete and compete fairly with able-bodied athletes.
"I look forward to continuing my quest to qualify for the Olympics."

BBC SPORTS REPORT.

'SNAKE MAN' ESCAPES FROM PRISON !

A man has escaped from a prison cell in Austria by squeezing through a food hatch in the door, police have said.
The 19-year-old man from Kosovo weighed less than 55kg (121lb), police spokesman Alexander Niederwimmer in the city of Linz told the APA news agency.
He said officials were investigating how the inmate - dubbed "a snake man" - had got through two further doors and possibly breached the prison walls.
The inmate had been held in the prison for entering Austria illegally.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE RIGHT MAN IS

THE ONE

WHO SEIZES THE MOMENT" !

______

JAPANESE SMOKERS TO FACE AGE TEST !

Too young to smoke? The vending machine will determine your age.
A Japanese company is developing a vending machine that counts wrinkles and skin sags to check a smoker's age.
It plans to use face recognition technology to prevent anyone under the legal age of 20 buying cigarettes.
From July vending machine companies could be prosecuted if tobacco is sold to anyone under the legal limit.
Purchasers who failed a digital camera "age test" would need to show the machine an ID card to establish they were legally allowed to smoke.

The Fujitaka company system compares facial characteristics including bone structure, sags and crow's feet against a record of more than 100,000 people.
Spokesman Hajime Yamamoto told Reuters: "With face recognition, so long as you've got some change and you are an adult, you can buy cigarettes like before.
"The problem of minors borrowing identification cards to purchase cigarettes could be avoided as well."
The company says the system gets it right in nine out of ten cases. The remaining 10% would be sent to a "grey zone for baby-faced adults" where they would be asked to insert their driving licence or identification card.
Japan has 570,000 tobacco vending machines. The country's finance ministry has already given permission for an age-identifying smart card and a system to read the age from driving licences.
But it has yet to approve the face-identification method owing to concerns about its accuracy.
Underage smoking has been on the decline in Japan, but a 2004 survey showed 14% of boys and 4% of girls aged 17 and 18 smoke every day.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DIAMAOND TOPS CHART FOR FIRST TIME !

Diamond will sing at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset on 29 June.
Singer Neil Diamond has reached the top of the US Billboard album chart for the first time in his career.
Home Before Dark, the 67-year-old's 29th studio album, made its chart debut in pole position after shifting 146,000 copies in its first week on release.
His previous highest chart position was in 1973 when his soundtrack to the film Jonathan Livingston Seagull got to two.
Diamond, who will play Glastonbury in June, was in London this week for a live session at the BBC Radio Theatre.
The concert, which saw him perform such classics as Hello Again, Beautiful Noise and Forever in Blue Jeans as well as new material, will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 this Saturday at 1900 BST.

Diamond recorded his previous highest position in the Billboard chart when his last album, 12 Songs, reached number four in 2005.
Both that album and Home Before Dark were produced by the Grammy award-winning Rick Rubin.
The veteran singer-songwriter has had 46 albums make the Billboard chart since The Feel of Neil Diamond was released in 1966.
He begins a European tour on 24 May in Rotterdam that will include June dates in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and London.
Earlier this week he told BBC 6 Music why he accepted the invitation to play at Glastonbury.
"I know it's one of the ultimate festivals and maybe the biggest," he said, adding he hoped he would not be "laughed out of the country".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA QUAKE TOLL 'TO TOP 50,000' !

The town of Yingxiu in Wenchuan County
Enlarge Image

More than 50,000 people may have died in the earthquake that devastated parts of China on Monday, state media say.
The warning came after the government confirmed the death toll had risen to 19,500, as rescue efforts continue to search for thousands still trapped.
About 10 million people across Sichuan province have been directly affected by the 7.9 quake, the media said.
China is mobilising 30,000 extra troops to Sichuan to help the 50,000 already involved in rescue efforts.
Beijing says it will accept foreign aid and has agreed to help from rescue teams from Japan and its rival Taiwan.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MIGRANTS TELL OF TOWNSHIP TENSIONS !

As South Africa witnesses a rise in attacks against foreign migrants, the BBC's Joanna Jolly visits a township outside Cape Town, the scene of recent xenophobic violence.
Ahmed Dakane is a 31-year old Somali refugee. For the past four years he's been living in the South African township of Zweletemba, on the outskirts of the town of Worcester in the wine-growing hills outside Cape Town.
Among the sprawling mess of tin huts and makeshift shelters he points out a pile of rubble that until recently was his shop and his livelihood.
Two months ago a mob of local South African youths surrounded and destroyed it, forcing Ahmed to flee for his life.
"All the community from this place, all South Africans, almost 1,000 people came to me," he says, describing the night of violence.
"I called the police. When they came they said we can save your life but we can't save your shop. So they took me and put me in the police station. I lost everything, even my clothes."
Hunted and attacked
Locals living in Zweletemba say the attack was provoked by another Somali shopkeeper who shot dead a robber.
The problem is that people don't want to accept the refugees or the foreigners. They don't know who to blame for what has happened in South Africa - Sylvanus Dixon, Community worker
But when the angry mob looked for revenge, they didn't just target one shopkeeper, but every foreigner living in the township.
Zimbabwean car mechanic, Norman Kajeni, was also hunted down and attacked.
"They come here, they robbed me, they took my equipment, they broke the car, they broke the house. They hit me. I had sixteen stitches in the head," he says.
"They don't like foreigners here. For the reasons we don't know, because we have just come here to work to make a living."

Community worker Sylvanus Dixon says migrants are made scapegoats.
The attack in Zweletemba is not an isolated event.
Since the end of apartheid 14 years ago, Africans from all over the continent - both legal and illegal - have migrated to South Africa, attracted by its booming economy and apparent wealth.
There are no official figures of how many foreigners are in South Africa, but the South African Forced Migration Studies Programme estimates that between one and three million African migrants now live in the country, many of them from Zimbabwe.
The past few months have seen a marked increase in attacks by the local South African community on black migrants, causing some to describe the situation as the "new apartheid".
'New apartheid'
In Zweletemba, community workers like Sylvanus Dixon - himself from Sierra Leone - say high unemployment, poor infrastructure and few prospects for South Africa's majority black population leads to jealousy of migrants.

Poverty and unemployment are big challenges for South Africa.
"The problem is that people don't want to accept the refugees or the foreigners. They don't know who to blame for what has happened in South Africa - the apartheid, the struggling.
"They see all this influx of foreigners, especially the black foreigners, they think what is going on?" he says.
"They see foreigners with businesses and they don't know how they got their money. They think maybe he got money from the government, they don't know.
"That's where the jealousy is coming from. That's when the fear becomes xenophobia."
Sylvanus Dixon believes that many South Africans also blame foreigners for the high levels of crime in the township.

Not all South Africans are hostile to incomers. Ahmed Dakane is now rebuilding his shop with the help of a group of locals who are keen to see him re-start his business.
But there is also anger in the community. Watching Ahmed fix corrugated iron to the sides of his new shed is a teenage South African boy.
"We don't need the foreigners here," he says.
"They have a lot of businesses here, but they don't do anything for Zweletemba They have a lot of shops but they don't employ Zweletemba youth."
His comments are echoed by a middle-aged South African woman who says foreigners charge too much for basic goods and don't pay their workers enough.
"They must go, we don't want the foreigners here. We don't have jobs. The foreigners come here for our jobs."
In the past few weeks community workers like Sylvanus Dixon have organised meetings between local and migrants in Zweletemba to ease tensions.
But Ahmed and the other foreigners who live here, believe that until the major issues of poverty and unemployment are solved, it's only a matter of time before they become victims again.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IDENTITY FRAUD HITS NET TELEPHONY !

A new type of identity fraud, which sees hackers tapping into voice-over IP telephony accounts, has been highlighted by a VoIP equipment maker.
Usernames and passwords from voice-over IP (VoIP) phone accounts are selling online for more than stolen credit cards, Newport Networks has found.
The information allows someone to use the telephone service for free.
Net telephony fraud is still in its infancy, with eavesdropping on calls being the most common security flaw.
Capturing accounts
But the move into stealing usernames and passwords which are routinely sent across the network when a call is made, is a worrying new trend thinks Dave Gladwin, vice president of products at Newport Networks.
"It is still at an embryonic stage but as voice adoption increases it becomes more of a problem and needs addressing," said Mr Gladwin.
The details are not sent as plain text but are encoded in such a way as to be "easily captured and unobscured", said Mr Gladwin.
Credit card details have been traded fairly openly online for some time and can be bought for around $12 (£6) each. VoIP account details fetch a slightly higher price, at $17 (£9), according to Mr Gladwin.
The problem is less of a issue for businesses which routinely offer voice-over IP services for their employees because users are tied into a secure corporate network.
But for consumers, relying on public or unsecured home wi-fi networks, there is more of an issue.
"90% of carriers don't offer a secure VoIP service," said Mr Gladwin.
He estimated it would cost around £2/£3 per subscriber for service providers to instigate the additional level of security needed.
"Most of the software out there has the capability of running in secure mode if the service providers would accept it," he said.
VoIP provider Skpe said its service, unlike some of its rivals, offered end to end encryption.
"It doesn't matter whether I'm on an open wireless connection, there is no way someone could get hold of my username or password," said Jonathan Christensen, general manager of audio and video at Skype.
He accepts there are security issues facing the industry, especially for providers that use "less robust security mechanisms" but he questions how big a draw a free VoIP account would be for net criminals.
This is a view shared by Jupiter analyst Ian Fogg.
"I have not seen security issues with VoIP as a big issue. This is partly because such services aren't that mainstream and therefore have not been targeted by criminals in the way that e-mail and online banking services have," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ITALY PM CALLED IN RENDITION CASE !

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi will be called as a witness in a trial over the alleged CIA kidnap of a terror suspect.
Twenty-six Americans and six Italians are accused of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from Italy and sending him to Egypt, where he claims he was tortured.
A judge in Milan ruled that Mr Berlusconi, who faces no charges in the trial, could be called to testify.
Former spy chief Nicolo Pollari says testimony from ex-heads of government may prove he was against the practice.
Mr Berlusconi is considered a key witness as he was prime minister when prosecutors allege that Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr was snatched from a street in Milan, in February 2003.
Italian prosecutors say he was taken as part of a series of extraordinary renditions carried out by the CIA - when terror suspects were moved between countries without any public legal process.

'State secrets' threaten trial
Secret CIA jails 'proved'

Judge Oscar Magi ruled that former Prime Minister Romano Prodi can also be called as a witness during the trial.
The US agents and military personnel will be tried in absentia.
Italian prosecutors say Mr Nasr was taken to US bases in Italy and Germany before being taken to the Egyptian capital of Cairo.
Mr Nasr says he was tortured during his four-year imprisonment in Cairo.
At the time of his arrest he was suspected of recruiting fighters for Islamic groups but had not been charged.
He was released by Egypt in February 2007.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CLINTON SOUNDS NOTE OF DEFIANCE !

By Jamie Coomarasamy - BBC News, Charleston, West Virginia

Hillary Clinton delivered a defiant victory speech. The contrast couldn't have been greater. A week ago, in Indianapolis, I had watched Hillary Clinton's victory party run its full course, well before the New York Senator's narrow win in that night's Indiana primary had been officially confirmed.
Here in Charleston, West Virginia, most of the Clinton partygoers were still queuing outside the venue, the Civic Center, when the result was called by the US networks.
If last week's victory was a squeak, this week's was a roar. A two-to-one win over Barack Obama in a state which - as Senator Clinton has frequently reminded her supporters - no successful Democratic candidate for the White House has lost in nearly a century. And that includes, of course, her husband, Bill.
Her most recent reminder came in a victory speech that was more defiant in tone than the one she had given in Indianapolis last week.
Standing alone on stage, she used the kind of metaphors that might be expected in the Mountain State. The people of West Virginia, she said, knew about "the rough roads to the top of the mountain".

The New York Senator said she owed it to her supporters to stay. Indianna And she made it clear that she intended to stay in the primary contest until the last votes were cast - not only because she owed it to her millions of supporters across the country but, more importantly, because she still believed that she was the strongest candidate, the best-placed Democrat to win the crucial swing states in November's general election.
Criticising what she called "the pundits and the nay sayers", who had pronounced her campaign dead after last week's results, she directed her remarks - rather more explicitly than in the past, it seemed - at those uncommitted super-delegates, the party officials whose votes will decide the nomination.
She called on them to exercise their "awesome responsibility" carefully, to weigh up which of the two remaining candidates was best placed to win in the general election.
So can she convince enough of them to publicly support her, or even to defect from Barack Obama's camp? Her victories in the recent Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana primaries haven't achieved that goal, which, as her campaign manager, Terry McAuliffe admitted, is her only realistic path to victory.
In fact, she has continued to lose support from those crucial super-delegates over the past few weeks. This has prompted supposedly neutral figures in the party to begin referring to Barack Obama as the Democrats' "likely nominee".

Can Hillary Clinton take super-delegates from Barack Obama? But West Virginia provided a good example of one of the hurdles that the Illinois Senator will face should he stop being the party's almost-presumptive nominee and become its actual candidate.
In the coal mining town of Logan, where Senator Clinton made one of her last campaign stops before election day, Democratic voters spoke openly about their reluctance to vote for an African-American.
Several said they might switch their allegiance to the Republican candidate John McCain, if Hillary Clinton didn't prevail in the nominating process.
The exit polls seem to confirm that tendency. Around a fifth of the state's predominantly white Democratic primary voters admitted that the issue of race had played a role in their choice of candidate. This was a higher figure than in almost any other state.
Of course, it's hard to tell how many of those voters really will break with generations-old Democratic traditions and favour Mr McCain in November, but it's safe to assume that some will.
Among them, I would guess, will be 77-year-old Miss Hale, who told me in Yesterdays diner in Logan that she didn't like Obama's "Muslim faith" and Eugene, who casually mentioned - as he was sitting in the barber's chair - that his father didn't want blacks in his house, let alone in the White House.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TWO DISASTERS - CONTRASTING REACTIONS !

By Bridget Kendall Diplomatic correspondent, BBC News.

Two powerful natural disasters, wreaking havoc through large swathes of territory.

Aid has been slow to reach Burmese due to restrictions on foreign help.
Two Asian countries reeling from the horror of tens of thousands of people probably dead and hundreds of thousands more made destitute and homeless.
And two governments, one a military junta and the other a Communist oligarchy, both traditionally suspicious of outside intervention.
But what a contrast between the different ways they are handling their situations.
Since the cyclone that hit Burma on 3 May, the government there has been wary of giving access to outsiders, sluggish in its own response and reluctant to contemplate flexibility.
From the outset the military regime allowed in only a small percentage of the relief experts who were needed to assess the devastation and set up supply routes to reach survivors.
Journalists, usually welcomed in such circumstances so the world knows what is happening, have had to slip in incognito.
Immediate offers of airlifts and naval support from as far afield as the United States were greeted with hesitation.
And even when shipments were grudgingly accepted, government spokesmen tried to insist that while aid was welcome, foreign aid workers were not and the Burmese army could manage without them.

The Burmese army was notably absent in the days following the cyclone
Yet the immensity of the tragedy seems to be far beyond the means of the Burmese themselves.
In some places lucky survivors appeared to have been the recipients of government dispersed tents.
But elsewhere snatched glimpses of bloated bodies left floating in flooded paddy fields, and pictures of soldiers at Rangoon airport unloading aid sacks by hand sent an eloquent signal that this inward-looking regime was ill-equipped to cope with the scale and urgency of such a monumental disaster.
People, it seems, are not the first priority.
A referendum to adapt the country's constitution went ahead as planned on Saturday, except in the inundated areas of the Irrawaddy Delta.
Maintaining a firm political grip on the country, it seems, is more important to the Burmese generals than meeting the desperate needs of some of their own citizens.
Swift action
Compare that to the response of the Communist government in China to this week's catastrophic earthquake, where the government has sent the message it is prepared to be swift, flexible and surprisingly open.
Within hours the prime minister was on a plane to the region, and Chinese state television, not known for its quick response to emergencies, was rolling with a special disaster programme.

Pictures of collapsed buildings and trapped survivors have sped around the world.
Some foreign journalists have been able to get to the region to send eyewitness reports.
In contrast to Burma's inflexibility over its referendum plans, in China a swift decision was taken to scale down ceremonies surrounding the once controversial Olympic torch relay and add a daily minute of silence, out of respect for the victims.
As for offers of outside help, there has been an official welcome for the pledges of relief that have been pouring in.
And even if, like Burma, the Chinese government has stopped short of accepting disaster relief workers, it has moved fast to announce it is mobilising its own considerable resources into what appears to be an impressive rescue mission.
Tens of thousands of Chinese police and soldiers have been making their way to the disaster zone by truck, plane, parachute and some even on foot.
How effective they will be in managing this disaster will no doubt emerge in the next few days and weeks.
Whether outsiders - journalists and aid workers - will continue to be allowed near the disaster area remains a question.
Already the Chinese foreign ministry is warning that foreign journalists may be kept away from the earthquake zone "for their own safety".
But at the very least, the Chinese government clearly wants to demonstrate to its own people - and to the outside world - that it can cope, and that it cares for its citizens' welfare.
Different pattern
To be fair, though the scale of the two disasters is perhaps comparable, the logistical problems thrown up by a cyclone and a tidal surge versus the upheaval caused by a major earthquake in heavily populated areas are difficult to equate.
And even if one could, the sheer size and wealth of China, and the resilience of its infrastructure in comparison to Burma meant it was always going to be in a better position to shoulder the burden locally.
But what is particularly striking is how different this week's reaction in China is from its own inadequate response to disasters in the past, and from the other ways in which it tries to hide sensitive political information.

The Chinese army was quickly mobilised to help earthquake victims.
Its slow and secretive handling of the outbreak of Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003 led to accusations of a cover up, even though it claimed it was trying to avoid a mass panic about a medical outbreak.
In 2005 when an explosion at a petrochemical factory contaminated a river supplying the northern city of Harbin, the Chinese authorities were severely criticised for failing to own up to the disaster quickly enough.
Yet now it seems that a different pattern is emerging.
Earlier this year when millions of Chinese were stranded by ice and heavy snow in the worst winter storms in decades, the authorities again moved swiftly to try to get on top of the emergency.
Hundreds of thousands of troops were deployed and easing the crisis was declared a number one priority.
Whether because the eyes of the world are upon it in this Olympic year, or because the Chinese themselves, particularly the increasingly affluent and empowered urban middle class, demand more of their own government, these days in China - unlike in Burma - there seems to be a greater sense of the need to be accountable.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE TURBULANT PRIESTS !

By Peter Tinona - Harare,

The imposing Anglican Cathedral of St Mary and All Saints in central Harare was almost deserted on Sunday following months of violent clashes and legal wrangles between rival factions.
Zimbabwe's deep political divide has spilled over into the religious arena.
The pews which would normally play host to 1,000 worshippers held just 42 people on Pentecost Sunday, giving a melancholy feel to the huge building.
Zimbabwe's Anglican women normally look resplendent in their white and blue uniforms, singing joyous praise to the Lord.
But none of Sunday's worshippers were wearing any uniforms.
Even the singing, which was accompanied by traditional drums was dull and could have been mistaken for funeral dirges.
The house of God has been turned into a boxing-ring by politicians - Locadia Mutandiro.
Outside the church, three armed policemen sat on a park bench directly opposite the entrance to the cathedral.
They have become a permanent feature at Sunday services since Zimbabwe's Anglican Communion split last year, resulting in violent clashes between worshippers loyal to Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and his rival Bishop Sebastian Bakare.
Bishop Kunonga is a staunch supporter of President Robert Mugabe and once described Zimbabwe's leader as a "prophet of God".
He was dismissed by the church's regional leaders last year and says he is being persecuted by the global church leadership for his opposition to the ordination of gay priests.
But Zimbabwe's opposition says the government installed him to stop the church criticising human rights abuses.

Church regular Locadia Mutandiro says she is extremely disappointed by what is happening at the cathedral.
"The house of God has been turned into a boxing-ring by politicians," she said.
The police have been accused of arresting and beating worshippers.
"The last time I attended service in March, we were only a few church-goers, as many prefer to go elsewhere to avoid being victimised by state security for supporting the Bishop Bakare group."
The Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) sacked Bishop Kunonga last November after he resisted pressure from the Anglican leadership to criticise Zimbabwe's government.
But he refused to step down and has been accused of using young thugs allied to Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party to attack the rival faction.
The police have been accused of taking sides in the dispute, by beating up worshippers, including women taking the Holy Communion.

Last month, the Anglican church leadership strongly criticised the situation in Zimbabwe following the disputed March elections and how the local church had been affected.
Archbishop of York John Sentamu said President Robert Mugabe was "living on borrowed time".
The happy and peaceful mood has disappeared - Musafare Chiraga.
He famously cut up his dog collar live on television and vowed not to wear it until Mr Mugabe left office.
Such statements will not have gone down well with Bishop Kunonga.
He says he is being persecuted by the global church leadership for his "principled stance on homosexuality in the church".
President Mugabe is also virulently opposed to gay rights.
Bishop Kunonga says western groups in favour of ordaining gay priests are funding his rivals to gain support for their position in Africa, where many church leaders take a traditional view.
Moreblessing Mutare, a young father of two who belongs to the Bishop Kunonga faction, was very abusive when asked to comment on what was going on at the church.
"You journalists are fuelling this whole thing. I won't speak to you again. Our Bishop [Kunonga] is right on the issue of homosexuals, but you want to make it as if he has done something wrong. If you read the Bible, it condemns homosexuality. That is our position," he said.
Following the split, the High Court ruled that the two factions should share the church's property and hold Sunday services at different times.
The mood at the church varies according to which groups holds the service, says Musafare Chiraga, who attends service every week.

The Archbishop of York is an outspoken critic of Robert Mugabe.
He said the attendance for Bishop Kunonga is boosted by members of the state-run National Youth Service, known by some as the "green bombers" and accused of being a pro-Mugabe militia.
"The happy and peaceful mood has disappeared as people are apprehensive about what can happen any time since the clashes began," Mr Chiraga said.
The dispute spilled over into violence just after Christmas last year.
Rival groups fought running battles at the St Andrews parish in Harare's Glen View district.
Then in February, the Deputy Sheriff had to use a bolt-cutter to break in to the cathedral after followers of Bishop Kunonga defied the court order and barred their rivals from using it to conduct their service.
Police were summoned and they took leaders of the two camps to the police station to try to find an amicable solution.
But to no avail and the legal wrangles have now been taken to the Supreme Court.
Church regulars say the majority of the congregation backs Bishop Bakare, while Bishop Kunonga enjoys the support of the state.
As Zimbabwe awaits the date of a run-off in the presidential election, some say this mirrors the situation countrywide.
The contributor's name has been changed for his own safety.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

COLOMBIAN EX-WARLORDS SENT TO U.S.

Colombia has extradited 14 former paramilitary leaders to the US to face drug trafficking charges.
Officials said the men had failed to abide by a peace deal under which their groups were demobilised.
Under the 2003 pact, the militia leaders were to confess wrongdoing and surrender the proceeds of their crimes.
Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries have been accused of many thousands of killings as well as drug-trafficking and money-laundering.
The latest extraditions come a week after a top paramilitary figure, Carlos Mario Jimenez, was sent to the US.

Tuesday's operation saw the 14 men taken to a military base near the capital, Bogota, to be flown to the US and handed over to US Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
Among those extradited were Salvatore Mancuso, Rodrigo Tovar Pupo alias Jorge 40, and Diego Fernando Murillo known as Don Berna.
"Most of the top bosses are there," Colombian Interior Minister Carlos Holguin told local radio.
"In some cases they were still committing crimes and reorganising criminal structures."
The US also argues that many former paramilitary leaders continue to direct drug trafficking networks.

The Colombian government last year accused Jimenez, also known as Macaco, of running a criminal empire from prison.
They said he had therefore violated a 2003 peace deal, which obliged paramilitary leaders to surrender and demobilise 31,000 men in exchange for reduced jail terms and extradition protection.
He is to face charges of drug-trafficking and money-laundering in the US.
The paramilitaries were set up and funded by wealthy landowners and drug traffickers to combat left-wing guerrillas.
They have been accused of committing some of the country's worst atrocities.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BOY DETAINED AFTER 110mph CHASE !

A 14-year-old old boy has been sentenced to youth detention for stealing a car and driving it at more than 110mph in a police pursuit.
The child, who cannot be named, drove the VW Touran 30 miles from Hull to Scunthorpe chased by five police cars and a police helicopter.
Hull Magistrates' Court was told the boy, then aged 13, was arrested after he crashed into three parked cars.
He was sentenced to eight months in youth detention.

The youth was told at sentencing that he had endangered the lives of dozens of motorists and pedestrians.
The court heard the boy stole the car from the Hull care home at which he was staying following an argument about his pocket money.
He sped off from the city centre, weaving in and out of traffic on the Humber Bridge at more than 80mph.
Then, pursued by the police cars, he drove past a roadblock and along the hard shoulder of the M180 at more than 110mph.
When he reached Scunthorpe he crashed into the parked cars and fled on foot, before being arrested.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HOW MALAWI'S TOP TWO MEN FELL OUT !

Following the arrest of Malawian Vice-President Cassim Chilumpha on charges of treason, the BBC's Chakuchanya Harawa looks at the history of a feud between the country's two most powerful men.

Was there a plot to assassinate President Mutharika? The stand-off between President Bingu wa Mutharika and his deputy, Cassim Chilumpha, can be traced back the fall-out between the president and his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi, who leads the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) party.
When the current president quit Mr Muluzi's party to form his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), several senior officials of the UDF who were serving in his government followed him.
But Mr Chilumpha remained loyal to the former president.
Critics argue that the real cause of the impasse was Mr Muluzi's decision to pair the two men on the UDF ticket ahead of the May 2004 presidential elections.
Mr Muluzi, as chairman of the UDF, imposed the two strangers on the then ruling party. It soon became clear that the two could not work together.
The relationship between Mr wa Mutharika and Mr Chilumpha had deteriorated to the point where the vice-president no longer attended cabinet meetings or state functions where his boss was present.

Eventually, in February this year, Mr Mutharika announced that his deputy had "constructively" resigned from his position.
The president accused his deputy of insubordination, running a parallel government and failing to perform his duties.
Attempts by the opposition parties to impeach President Mutharika convinced the president that his deputy was out to get him
The vice-president disputed this, telling Malawi's High Court: "I have not deliberately failed to perform in accordance with my mandate as vice-president.
"Rather, through an organised campaign of public humiliation, the government has systematically abused me, destroyed my public image, traumatised me and utterly undermined my ability".
The court reinstated him pending a judicial review, and the ensuing stand-off sparked a debate on whether the president can fire his deputy.
According to the constitution, the two top leaders can only be removed from office by an impeachment process in parliament.
Attempts by the opposition parties, led by the UDF, to impeach President Mutharika convinced the president that his deputy was out to get him.
Mr Chilumpha would have become president in the event of a successful impeachment of his boss.
The vice-president has since made several efforts to reconcile with the president, but all have been snubbed.
The announcement of the vice-president's arrest therefore came as little surprise to many Malawians.

President Mutharika tried to dismiss Mr Chilumpha in February. It is the reasons for the arrest which may have seemed more shocking.
"The police learnt that Mr Chilumpha had hired an assassin to assassinate the president and all deliberations were recorded so the police had enough evidence with which to arrest and prosecute the vice-president," Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Henry Phoya has claimed.
Mr Phoya said presidential immunity does not extend to the vice-president. He added that even if Mr Chilumpha were immune from prosecution, it could have been a mockery of justice to allow him to carry out the alleged crime before moving in on him.

The current problems are not only political. There is also the religious factor, since Mr Chilumpha and his alleged Malawian accomplices are all Muslims.
Sympathisers of the UDF - whose leader, Mr Muluzi, is also a Muslim - often argue that prominent political arrests since Mr Mutharika came to power seem to be targeting Muslims.
One of the main reasons why Mr Muluzi handpicked the Catholic Mr Mutharika and the Muslim Mr Chilumpha was so that the two would be political force.
The vice-president's lawyer, Fahad Assani, now thinks the arrests are a continuation of the harassment of Muslims by the Mutharika administration.
But government supporters contend arrests have been made across tribes, regions and religions.
In a statement issued at the weekend, the Malawi government has promised to bring before court as soon as is practicable Mr Chilumpha and any others who may be also subsequently arrested in connection with the allegations of treason.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"CHANGE IS THE LAW OF LIFE" !

______

POLE WHO SAVED GHETTO JEWS DIES !

The Polish parliament honoured Irena Sendlerowa last year for her heroism.
The death of a Polish woman who almost certainly saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish children during World War II has been announced.
Irena Sendlerowa organised the rescue of the children from the Warsaw Ghetto during the Nazi occupation.
She died in a Warsaw hospital at the age of 98, her daughter said.
After Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, she took great risks to help Polish Jews held by the Nazis - an act that was punishable by death.
In 1942 Irena Sendlerowa joined the Zegota resistance movement.
With the rest of her team of 20, she rescued the children between 1940 and 1943, when the Nazis burned the ghetto, condemning its residents to death.
Saved from execution
In October 1943 she was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo, but refused to give up the names of the children.
She was saved on the day of her scheduled execution after the Polish underground bribed her SS guards.
She said persuading parents to part with their loved ones was particularly traumatic.
The children were smuggled out in different ways - in ambulances, through the sewers, and once under her skirt.
The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says Irena Sendlerowa hated the term "hero", and said her conscience was troubled because she had done so little.
Last year the Polish parliament unanimously passed a resolution honouring her for organising the "rescue of the most defenceless victims of the Nazi ideology: the Jewish children".
In recognition of her efforts she has also been awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations, by Israel.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THOUSANDS DEAD IN CHINESE QUAKE !

A powerful earthquake has killed at least 8,500 people in China's south-western Sichuan province, up to 5,000 of them in just one county.
Many more are feared killed and injured in other parts of the country after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck at 1428 local time (0628 GMT).
At least 50 bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a school where an estimated 900 students were buried.
President Hu Jintao has urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims.
The epicentre of the earthquake was about 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital.
Because the earthquake struck in the middle of the day, it is feared that many schoolchildren may be among the victims.
One of the worst-hit areas appears to be Beichuan county, part of the Mianyang city municipal area, about 50km from the epicentre.
Some 80% of buildings there were reported to have been destroyed, leaving between 3,000 and 5,000 people dead and up to 10,000 injured.
Meanwhile hundreds of people were reported to have been buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Shifang in Sichuan, and at least five other schools were reported to have collapsed.
The death toll could turn out to be much higher once the damage in Wenchuan county - the epicentre - is assessed, says BBC China analyst Shirong Chen.
The area is very rugged, full of mountains and valleys and a number of roads are connected with bridges from one mountain top to the next, he says.
Nine hours after the quake, Xinhua reported, a rescue team had still not been able to get to Wenchuan.
"We are doing everything we can, but the roads are blanketed with rocks and boulders," said top Sichuan official Li Chongxi.
There were fears that China's programme to save the endangered giant panda may have been affected.

Wenchuan county is home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, the country's leading research and breeding base for pandas - but the centre could not be reached by phone.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to Chengdu immediately, said China needed "calm, confidence, courage and strong leadership".
"We will definitely overcome this major disaster," he promised.
US President George W Bush expressed condolences to victims' families, while Japan offered to send aid.
The Chinese Red Cross has sent hundreds of tents and thousands of blankets to the afflicted area.
There were harrowing reports from the scene of a school collapse in Dujiangyan city - just south-east of the epicentre - where 900 students were buried and 50 dead.
We were in quite a narrow street where everything just started shaking... people were panicking... It was mayhem - Casper Oppenhuisdejong -BBC reader in Chengdu.

'Buried teenagers crying for help'
In pictures: China earthquake

Teenagers buried beneath the rubble of the three-storey Juyuan Middle School building were struggling to break free, while others were crying out for help, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Parents were watching as cranes excavated the site. Villagers rushed to help with the rescue.
Two girls said they escaped because they had "run faster than others".
Dozens of aftershocks have been reported since the quake, which was felt in Beijing, 1,545km (960 miles) away, and the Thai capital Bangkok, 1,800km (1,200 miles) away.
It was the strongest to hit Sichuan province in more than 30 years, Xinhua said.
The province is the most populated part of China - home to 87 million people.
The provincial capital Chengdu, which has a population of more than 10 million people, was comparatively lightly damaged - though Xinhua cited an official with the local seismological bureau saying 45 people were killed there.

RECENT CHINA QUAKES
March, 2008: 7.2 quake in Xinjiang - damage limited
February 2003: 6.8 quake in Xinjiang - at least 94 dead, 200 hurt
January 1998: 6.2 quake in rural Hebei - at least 47 dead, 2,000 hurt
April 1997: 6.6 quake hits Xinjiang - 9 dead, 60 hurt
January 1997: 6.4 quake in Xinjiang - 50 dead, 40 hurt

How earthquakes happen
History of deadly earthquakes

Helicopters and 5,000 troops have been sent to help with relief work.
The BBC's Quentin Somerville says this is probably the most significant natural disaster to hit China in recent memory, but that the Chinese army has a good record of mobilising and getting people to safety.
He also says it is one of the most open and speedy responses to an emergency he has ever seen from Chinese state media.
The quake was felt as far away as Beijing, he says, meaning millions of people will feel connected to the disaster and will be watching TV screens closely to see how the government responds.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE ELECTION MAY BE DELAYED !

The second round of the country's presidential election may be delayed, says Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission.
Chairman George Chiweshe told the Sunday Mail newspaper that any delay was due to logistical problems.
He said it was unlikely the run-off could be held by 23 May, as laid down by law, but said they could extend the deadline "in certain circumstances".
The ruling party's Patrick Chinamasa said Zimbabwe would not bow to pressure to invite western election observers.
Opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai had said he would only stand if international observers and media were given full access to ensure the vote is free and fair.
He had also demanded the run-off take place within three weeks of the first-round results being declared - as per the electoral law.
Mr Tsvangirai - who beat President Robert Mugabe in the first round - is due home in the next few days. He has been in neighbouring countries since the first round because of alleged threats to his life.
Zimbabwe's government rejected any conditions for the run-off, but has previously allowed in election monitors from the regional group SADC.
'Possible arrest'
George Chiweshe said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) was still waiting for funds to be allocated by the government to hold the poll.

No choice for Tsvangirai
Accounts of violence
Militias 'to rig election'

"It was ambitious for the legislature to think 21 days would be enough," he was quoted as saying.
Mr Chinamasa said Zimbabwe would not bow to pressure to invite election monitors from Western countries and the United Nations.
"We will not allow them," Zanu-PF's spokesman and justice minister in Mr Mugabe's last cabinet told the state-run Herald newspaper.
"We will think favourably of them if they lift sanctions. Until they do that, there is no basis to have any relationship with them."
Mr Chinamasa added that Mr Tsvangirai was free to come back but could not rule out the possibility that he might be arrested.
Earlier police said they had arrested nearly 60 supporters of the opposition MDC.
The activists were held on Thursday on suspicion of torching homes of members of the governing Zanu-PF in Shamva, north-east of Harare, the police said.
Mr Chinamasa said Zanu-PF would not allow an opposition victory, as this would be what he described as tantamount to slavery.

The MDC has frequently complained of intimidation, saying at least 25 of its supporters have been killed since the first round and hundreds have been forced from their homes in rural areas.

Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for close to 30 years
But police and officials from Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party have accused the MDC of staging attacks, saying it has exaggerated the scale of the violence.
In an apparent softening of his stance towards Mr Mugabe, Mr Tsvangirai said the veteran leader would be given the status of "father of the nation" if his 28-year rule ended.
Last month, Mr Tsvangirai said his rival should be put on trial for alleged war crimes.
According to official declarations, the opposition leader won 47.9% of the vote, against 43.2% for Mr Mugabe.
Although the first round was largely peaceful, the results were not announced until 2 May.
The MDC says the delay gave the authorities time to rig the counting and carry out attacks on its supporters.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SPLIT OPINION ON CANNABIS DEBATE !

Opinion is split about whether cannabis should be reclassified. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has decided to reclassify cannabis as a class B drug - despite the advice of officials. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs argued that cannabis should remain class C, to which it was downgraded under Tony Blair.

Here are the views of two people from both sides of the debate.

ANITA WILSON, FROM SHEFFIELD

Anita Wilson, 51, believes her family life has been destroyed because of the effects of her ex-partner smoking cannabis.
Anita thinks that cannabis should be reclassified.
As a result she would like cannabis to be reclassified as a class A drug, but if that cannot happen she supports the reclassification to a class B.
Anita's ex-partner started smoking cannabis at the age of 14. He continued to smoke it regularly, until in his late 30s he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He then continued to use cannabis to try to help block out his illness.
"He was smoking eight or nine ounces a week to the point where he had gone beyond using his cannabis to self medicate," said Anita.
"His dependency on the cannabis grew as his body became more and more resilient to it."
Anita lived with her partner and three children, but in 2006 she ended up in a women's refuge and her partner was sent to in prison.
"The paranoia was unbelievable. In the end the paranoia hits such highs that it completely wrecked the family.
"He accused me of poisoning him, we couldn't move the furniture because he was so paranoid and I wasn't even allowed to have a bath or wash my hair.
"We all suffered constant verbal abuse and my son had to be put in care because my partner was threatening him."
I think the cannabis should be a class A drug because I have seen the damage it has done
Anita Wilson
Anita said the situation culminated when her partner threatened to kill a social worker during a review meeting.
"He threatened to kill a social worker and then threatened to blow up the community mental health base.
"The bomb squad found enough chemicals in our garage to blow up the whole street."
Anita - who has now split from her partner - believes that for those who have a predisposition to mental problems cannabis speeds up the whole process and makes the effect more severe.
"His behaviour was all due to an excessive use of cannabis and the paranoia is causes," she said.
"If he hadn't smoked the cannabis things wouldn't have been so bad.
"I think the cannabis should be a class A drug because I have seen the damage it has done.
"I want reclassification because I think any deterrent is good.
"My partner had 24 cannabis plants growing at home because the drug laws had been relaxed and he wasn't worried about getting caught because he thought he would only get a caution."

MO VAILLANCOURT, FROM BROCKENHURT IN THE NEW FOREST

Mo believes cannabis should not be reclassified.
Mo's son Jake started smoking cannabis at the age of 13 or 14 and experienced mental problems when he was 16.
"It was peer group pressure that made him start smoking cannabis and he was smoking stronger and stronger stuff until eventually he was smoking skunk," he said.
"When he was 16 he had a psychotic episode and was sectioned into an adult ward at a secure mental hospital. It was traumatising for the whole family. "
Jake spent time in an adolescent unit and a couple of years later ended up back in the adult mental health ward, but his father said he has been on a path of recovery ever since.
Mr Vaillancourt, 56, is against anyone smoking cannabis as a result of what has happened to his son - but he does not believe reclassification of the drug will help stop people smoking it.
"If I could wind the clock back I would make sure Jake had stayed away from cannabis," he said.
"Without the cannabis it is unlikely that Jake would have had a psychotic episode. But I don't think the legal status of the drug would make any difference and it should be left as a class C drug."
"The figures show that since it has been reclassified to a C the numbers of people smoking it has gone down.
"I think the vast amount of money spent on reclassification would be better used if it was spent on education.
"This would capitalise on the feeling that I believe is out there that cannabis is dangerous and does cause mental health problems."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

On the Roadsides!

Saturday 10th May 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

It's hard to believe that six weeks ago the MDC won a parliamentary majority and their leader Morgan Tsvangirai got more presidential votes than Mr Mugabe. It's even harder to believe that the parliamentary and presidential losers have managed to completely obfuscate the entire process and remain in positions of power and authority as if nothing had happened - as if we'd never had an election at all.

How can this be happening, is the question we are all asking. Its like being stuck in an impossible horror story. The will of the people has not been heard. The aspirations of a broken nation have been ignored. The voices of the majority have been obscured in fear and betrayal. We all thought that by now the breath of life would have begun blowing through the country bringing desperately needed food, fuel, medicine and stability. Perhaps even some of our family and friends, in exile for eight years, may have begun thinking about coming home. So far the inevitable conclusion has not taken hold and every day has become a blur of utter exhaustion and real trauma for ordinary people. Trauma of finding food and having enough money to buy it and extreme trauma associated with the orgy of violence, intimidation and retribution which has engulfed our countryside.

While Zimbabwe remains paralyzed in time, every day lost this May 2008 is condemning us to yet more hunger. We are now in the main wheat planting season and yet farmers everywhere are in crisis. With inflation at 160 thousand percent, no fuel for ploughing or transporting inputs and virtually no electricity for irrigation, there seems little hope that we can grow anywhere near enough wheat for the coming year. The situation is being exacerbated as farm workers have now been caught up in the brutal political punishment campaign.

This week the agricultural workers union said 40 thousand farm workers and their families had been cast out, beaten up and were destitute. The Union's Secretary General, Gertrude Hambira, said: "Our members and their families have been left homeless. They have been attacked by a group of militia wearing army uniforms. They have been accused of voting for the opposition. Most of them are on the roadsides. We are trying to find ways of taking food to them."

Every day the international talk is of a global food crisis and yet Zimbabwe seems hell bent on adding to it. Blessed with fertile soils and a temperate climate and once proud to be called the breadbasket of Africa, to our shame Zimbabwe is wasting another wheat growing season. It seems that bashing heads and breaking legs is far more important than growing food this winter because losers simply won't accept defeat.

With so much negative news, there is still hope because, even though convinced he won, Morgan Tsvangirai has agreed to take part in a re-run Presidential election. Hopefully this means the President-in-waiting will now come home and see for himself the hell his supporters are enduring.

Until next time, thanks for reading,
love cathy.

'GUANTANAMO MAN' IN IRAQ BOMBING!

A former Kuwaiti detainee at the US camp at Guantanamo Bay carried out a recent suicide bombing in northern Iraq, the US military has said.
A spokesman for US Central Command told the Associated Press that Abdullah al-Ajmi took part in an attack in Mosul on 29 April that killed several people.
Ajmi and two other Kuwaitis blew up two explosive-packed vehicles next to Iraqi security forces, media reports say.
The US transferred Ajmi to Kuwaiti custody from Guantanamo Bay in 2005.
He was later acquitted by a Kuwaiti court of terrorism charges.
According to Kuwaiti and pan-Arab media reports, Ajmi and his two alleged accomplices, Nasir al-Dawsari and Badr al-Harbi, were able to leave Kuwait a month ago without alerting the attention of the authorities because they had wrongly been issued new passports.
They then travelled to Syria, where Ajmi is reported to have told his family of his intentions, before heading onto Iraq.
The families of Ajmi and Harbi reportedly later received anonymous calls informing them that the men had died in Iraq.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DIVERGING PATHS ON GENDER EQUALITY!

Italy's new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joked that his Spanish counterpart's cabinet line-up looked "too pink" for his liking. The Italian cabinet includes four women but they will have a tough task on their hands, says David Willey in Rome.
It could not be more different in Spain. Danny Wood reports that Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is at the very forefront of the struggle to achieve gender equality in politics.

ITALY: AN UPHILL BATTLE

There has been a lot of talk about gender equality in the run-up to Italy's recent general election, but as is all to clear from the line-up of TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi's new cabinet, men still rule here. Out of 21 ministers in the new right-wing administration there are only four women, all given lightweight roles. Most of them have so far won distinction more for their looks rather than for their political prowess.

Berlusconi cultivates a playboy image and makes off-colour jokes, sometimes earning him public reprimands from his estranged second wife The glamorous new Minister for Equal Opportunities, 32-year-old Mara Carfagna, is a former showgirl from one of Mr Berlusconi's television networks. She also came sixth in the 1997 Miss Italy contest. "You are simply gorgeous," an admirer posted on the new minister's website on her first day in office. An MP since 2006, she lists her main hobby as "collecting pens" according to one of her profiles. Environment Minister Stefania Prestagiacomo, 41, is a lawyer and a former co-ordinator of Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in Lombardy. Her good looks won for her the title of "Miss Parliament" when she was first elected as MP for Syracuse, in Sicily, 14 years ago. A popular comedian once described her as: "the best thing in Italian politics".

Mr Berlusconi, now 71, who has described Spain's new government as "too pink" prides himself on being a ladies' man. He cultivates a playboy image and makes off-colour jokes about his fondness for glamorous women, sometimes earning him public reprimands from his estranged second wife. He once said that, if he were single, he would marry Ms Carfagna.

Another woman chosen for a cabinet post by Mr Berlusconi is Giorgia Meloni, the new youth minister. At 31, she is one of the youngest people ever to reach ministerial rank in Italy. She comes from a traditionally leftist Roman suburb where she worked successfully as a youth organiser for the post-fascist National Alliance party.
Maria Stella Gelmini, 34, also a lawyer, from Lombardy, is the new minister of education. "I don't believe in the 'pink quota', rather the 'grey quota'," she is quoted as saying. "Now we shall have the opportunity to find out how much 'grey matter' she has," was the somewhat tart comment of the left-wing daily La Repubblica.

Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who went into right-wing politics in the early 1990s after an earlier career as a model and minor actress, setting up a small right splinter party of her own, has been left out in the cold by Mr Berlusconi. "I don't really think there is a future for me with the new government," she petulantly remarked.
Italian women tend to be discriminated against in the workplace despite some timid recent gender equality legislation. Employment of women in the cultural labour market is gradually improving, according to the latest Italian government statistics, but Italian women still tend to get lesser-paid jobs - as librarians, archaeologists or historians, for example. With female employment in Italy almost at the bottom of the EU ladder - at 46% - Ms Carfagna is going to have her work cut out to try to change prevailing Italian macho mentalities.

SPAIN: AT THE VANGUARD only anti-macho but feminist.

Silvia Montero, an analyst for the website 5Spaniards.com, says the prime minister is as progressive as he claims. "The different social policy measures taken during the last four years have brought some substantial changes to Spain's social reality, and the condition of women in particular," she says. On the political front, women are not just at the top of the pyramid, 40% of the political candidates in elections must be women.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero profile

"One of Zapatero's main achievements in this regard is the fact that he has re-opened the debate on gender equality: women are now even more aware of the need to become equal to men." Most Spanish males are comfortable about their new ministers. "I think it's immaterial whether the ministers are male or female," says Joaquin, an office administrator from Madrid. "The incompetence of some of our ministers is already well-known and has nothing to do with their gender." There are still plenty who are sneering, like one commentator with the conservative newspaper ABC who called Mr Zapatero's new cabinet his "battalion of seamstresses".

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's comment about the Spanish cabinet being "too pink" was barely noticed in Italy, but caused a strong reaction in Spain. "Berlusconi's statements were not appropriate at all precisely because they can be misinterpreted as Italian/Spanish rivalry," says Silvia Montero. "I wouldn't say that such rivalry exists, but on the other hand, it is true that Spain and Italy have always looked at each other as a reference in different areas, including politics."

The comments by Mr Berlusconi are perhaps a sign of how two countries, traditionally regarded by northern Europeans as relatively even in the macho stakes, are now on very different paths. Spanish women still earn about 30% less than men and make up less than 5% of the places on the boards of major companies. To help reverse that, women in Spain have 16 weeks of maternity leave to make it easier to balance a career with babies. On the political front, women are not just at the top of the pyramid, 40% of the political candidates in elections must be women. Soon this 40% threshold will be applied to the boards of companies that bid for government contracts. Domestic violence is also being taken very seriously.

Surveys show that, proportionally, more women die as a result of domestic violence in the UK and Germany than in Spain. More than 70 women were killed by their husbands, boyfriends or ex-partners in 2007. The difference in Spain is that the government is taking more dramatic steps to deal with the problem. A new law attempts to protect women with specialist judges, legal services and restraining orders on violent men within hours.

Sylvana, an events manager, laments that attitudes in society are much slower to change than legislation or clothes labels. Spaniards from all walks of life defy the macho stereotype and believe in gender equality and a pro-active approach to achieve it "Many companies still consider it an unnecessary expense or a nuisance for people to take maternity leave," says Sylvana. "In work interviews women are still asked if they intend to have children." And, of course, she points out, domestic violence is still a problem.

"That horrible maxim: 'I killed her because she was mine' is still something you hear." Some Spaniards are concerned that the gender legislation is just window-dressing. "The education system is the most important thing and we're deficient in that and that's how you change society," says Joaquin. "Like nearly all the Zapatero political programmes, it's all populist and there's not a single project behind the facade."

There might be disagreement about how to get there, but Spaniards from all walks of life defy the macho stereotype and believe in gender equality and a pro-active approach to achieve it. One of the prime minister's most implacable foes, the conservative head of Madrid's regional government, Esperanza Aguirre, never misses an opportunity to criticise the government. But even Ms Aguirre says that one of the best things Mr Zapatero has done is appoint so many female ministers.

Spain - the land that coined the word "macho" - is now at the vanguard of the fight for gender equality. After winning a second term in March, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has more female ministers in his new cabinet than male, including a 31-year-old woman, the youngest minister in Spanish history. Mr Zapatero has more female than male ministers in his cabinet.

More headline-grabbing, the new Minister for Defence Carme Chacon, is seven months pregnant. There is also a new ministry for gender equality. No other modern, democratic, administration outside Scandinavia has taken more steps to place gender issues at the centre of government. Back in the 1960s, when gender equality was first becoming a leading social issue, how many feminists would have imagined that in 2008 their movement would be given a major boost by a Spanish man?

And Mr Zapatero has declared himself not

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BURMESE VOICE ANGER ON POLL DAY !

Burma's military government has pressed ahead and held a constitutional referendum, even though parts of the country are struggling to recover from Cyclone Nargis. Here Burmese people tell the BBC about voting and the challenges of life in Rangoon, where the vote was postponed.

AUNG, RANGOON

Voting is going on in parts of the country.
Today the voting started. Although I am in Rangoon my vote is in a village elsewhere.
My niece went to the polling station in our home village to vote and the officer in charge told her to vote on my behalf.
So my niece had to vote on behalf of me. Now you can see how strict their rules are.
My sister also went to vote this morning. A man was standing at each door of the secret polling room made for a secret vote. As my sister was not too sure where to write, she asked him and - immediately the man put a tick on her paper. My sister then shouted at him and told him that she will tick by herself.
So she made it a cross. I know that the vote will be not be counted.
In a place called Taunggyi, too, voting on behalf of the legal voter was allowed to take place.
Yesterday I attended a funeral service held at the Yayway cremation site. In the past the dead bodies were cremated by gas fire one by one but now due to fuel shortages and electricity blackouts they piled up the corpses, poured gasoline, and burned them at one time.
We have no choice but to accept it.

MAN, NAY PYI TAW

The people in charge of the polling booths were shouting at people and telling them only to tick "yes".
Today we went round the polling stations to see people voting. People were in no hurry. Everything was normal for them.
I voted. I saw people voting "yes". I voted "no" as a very large sign, a very large cross.
The people in charge of the polling booths were shouting at people and telling them only to tick "yes". They were instructing people to do just as they ask.
People looked frightened to vote or ask the polling officers. There are police at the entrance gate. The authorities have said this is for security but it seems to frighten the people who come to the polling booth.
I believe the people want to vote "No." People have got very angry at the junta's position on foreign aid.
I was very disappointed and upset at this too.

MAN, RANGOON OUTSKIRTS

Today is a bit cloudy. There is not much excitement for the referendum in our area because it has been postponed.
People are dying right now but the government is still denying international help.
Some areas have electricity and water supply at night. But most areas are still dark.
We feel very bad, we have a bad feeling about the government and what they have done about the disaster. We never received any proper warnings before the storm.
Help from the government only came after three days. People are dying right now but the government is still denying international help.
All the people are really angry about that. This was a good time for the military government to collaborate with the people. They could have had support from the people if they really helped them.
Instead they are acting in a way so the people will hate them.
I have heard that some local organisations are going to the disaster area. Right now some of my friends are organising items and donations - but they cannot go in a big group. They have to go in one or two cars and then come back to make another trip.
If they go in a big group the government will stop them.
Most people here want to donate to the disaster area. The government says this has to be done through the district authorities. We don't believe them. We don't want to donate to local authorities.
At home we don't have any water. We have to find water from sources outside our home. We have to use this efficiently, only to drink or to wash our face.
When the referendum does happen, I think most people will vote "No". People are really angry.

MUSLIM MAN, RANGOON

People are still living in temporary shelters in Rangoon.
Rangoon is quite calm now, returning to normal conditions.
We are in an affected area so the vote is postponed. It's nice that they postponed the vote. It's good for us if we vote later.
I don't think it will make any difference. If we vote today or later, we are still going to express our opinion
The priorities here are food, water, sanitation and shelter. Some people are living in temples, pagodas and mosques and they are returning to their own places now.
People are going to their own villages. Those who are rich can support their own people. They donate through NGOs and they buy food and distribute, they get water from the purification area and supply that.
Prices had gone up but they are coming down now.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NO CHOICE FOR ZIMBABWE'S TSVANGIRAI !

By Peter Greste BBC News, Johannesburg !

The announcement by the Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that he will take part in the presidential run-off is hardly surprising.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the MDC won the vote outright.
The party has always claimed an outright victory in the March election, and insisted that there was no need for a second round.
But in reality, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had little choice.
To announce a boycott would have handed victory to President Robert Mugabe by default, and quite possibly spelt the end of the MDC as a political force in Zimbabwe.
As Mr Tsvangirai told a news conference in Pretoria, South Africa, if he decided not to take part, his supporters would have felt "betrayed".
"I am ready and the people are ready for the final round," he said.

In agreeing to contest the election, the MDC has made a calculated gamble that it can steam-roll its way through any attempts to rig the poll by sheer weight of numbers.
The party clearly believes it has majority support.
According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Morgan Tsvangirai won 47.9% of the vote, with Robert Mugabe taking 43.2%.
By the MDC's own count, its leader won 50.3% - hardly a resounding endorsement.
The MDC can probably depend on the support of many of the 9% or so of voters who backed the third-placed Simba Makoni.
But more importantly, some analysts believe that while the ruling Zanu-PF party has cowed many of the MDC's supporters with its campaign of violence, the sheer scale of the attacks has driven even more voters into the arms of the opposition.
And the fact that Zanu-PF officially lost control of parliament for the first time in its history has shown voters that the great party of liberation can, in fact, be beaten.
That is why the MDC has demanded the presence of international observers as well as foreign media and even peacekeepers to try to tamp down the level of violence that otherwise seems set to rise as the campaign continues.
Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa appeared to dismiss the MDC's demands, but he still held the door open by saying "the run-off will be held within the framework of the constitution and the electoral laws. There will be no conditionalities outside this framework."
The form of words leaves room for some compromise - few of the MDC's conditions would be in breach of the law.

Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for close to 30 years
But Zanu-PF has repeatedly said it would not invite international observers from countries or organisations that have previously criticised its handling of elections, and which it accuses of covertly supporting the MDC.
In the rather colourful words of the deputy information minister Bright Matonga: "When you have a wedding, you invite your friends. You don't invite your wife's ex-boyfriend."
The government has also said it has no interest in hosting international media organisations which it accuses of supporting British attempts to reclaim control of Zimbabwe using "MDC proxies".
It is also highly unlikely to accept peacekeeping forces that would be seen as threatening Zimbabwe's sovereignty - the defence of which the government has repeatedly said lies at the very heart of this political struggle.

Even so, the fact that the MDC has now formally agreed to take part, throws the focus back onto the government.
There is likely to be considerable pressure on Harare to agree to greater international oversight of the elections, if not from the UN, at least from the African Union and other African civil society organisations.
There will also be growing calls for an end to the violence - something the government has denied any involvement in.

MDC supporters say there has been an orchestrated campaign of violence.
But before any elections can take place, the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) must first announce a date.
According to the law, the second round of voting must take place within three weeks "of the previous election".
The ZEC interprets that to mean within three weeks of the day it announced the results.
It made that announcement on 2 May, although its chairman has not yet formally announced the date and he has hinted that it could take up to a year if the conditions are not right for a free and fair run-off.
There remains speculation that the two sides are negotiating through intermediaries to establish a government of national unity, and that Zimbabwe may never actually get to a run-off vote.
Certainly neither side seems to have an appetite for another campaign, and there are powerful incentives to find a negotiated settlement.
As long as the ZEC holds back from naming a day for the poll, the prospect of some form of government of national unity remains a prospect.
But until then, both sides appear to be preparing for a struggle for control of Zimbabwe that seems likely to be as physical as it is political.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BBC DEBATE : HAS ZIONISM WORKED?

By Paul Adams - BBC diplomatic correspondent.

The panellists had strong views about Zionism.
After a week or so of travelling the length and breadth of Israel, from the tranquil slopes of the Upper Galilee to the rocket shelters of beleaguered Sderot, we gathered three Israelis together, in Tel Aviv, to discuss the past 60 years.
"Has Zionism worked?" was the question we put to the former Knesset member and Ambassador, Zalman Shoval, magazine editor Bambi Sheleg and novelist Alon Hilu.
And to put everyone in the mood, we met in the modest, book-lined study of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, a couple of blocks from the beach. With his glasses on the table in the corner and the simple, utilitarian house pretty much unchanged, it was as if the grand old man of Israeli politics had just stepped out of the room, leaving us to talk.
Zalman Shoval was the only panellist who actually knew Ben Gurion, taking his Knesset seat when he resigned from politics in 1970. Mr Shoval highlighted what he called "a certain ambivalence" in Ben Gurion's vision of Israel.
"He said: 'On the one hand I want the Jewish state to be a normal state, like all the others.' But he also said, later: 'I want Israel to be a light upon the nations.'"
It's an ambivalence one still encounters today. Bambi Sheleg said this was hardly surprising. Israel, in her view, has only just begun.
"We are a people in a state of recovery," she remarked, referring to the Holocaust, "and it will take centuries."
Alon Hilu - at 35 the youngest of our panellists - said Israelis needed to re-examine their national narrative.
"Zionism tried to solve the Jewish problem," he said, "but created a very big problem, which is the Palestinian problem."
Having talked to people over the past week about their attitudes to one of Israel's central institutions - the military - I asked our guests whether they felt that Israel, having discovered power after 2,000 years without it, had used it well.
Bambi Sheleg was emphatic.
"If the Jews want to last, they need an army."
Alon Hilu was more critical, suggesting that Israel had simply become too powerful.
"Sometimes if you're too successful, it can be a disaster," he argued. "This is what happened here. Our identity is too much associated with militarism."
They are hostages to Palestinian extremists [who] want Israeli Arabs to be a fifth column inside Israel - Zalman Shoval, Former ambassador
And what of Israel's relationship with its own Arab citizens, now more than 20% of the population? After all, Israel's first President, Chaim Weizman, had written of his certainty that "the world will judge the Jewish state by how it will treat the Arabs".

Zalman Shoval said Israel had nothing to be ashamed about. Arabs were much better off in the Jewish state than anywhere else in the Middle East. But he sounded a warning.
"They are hostages to Palestinian extremists [who] want Israeli Arabs to be a fifth column inside Israel."
But Alon Hilu, whose historical novel The House of Dajani tells of Jews and Arabs struggling for land and power in late 19th-Century Jaffa, said this was a relationship Jewish Israelis needed to re-examine.
"We were the minority all the time," he said, "and here is the first time we are the majority, with a minority. How do we treat them?
Hilu went further. "Jewish Israelis are racist," he said, arguing that in order to guarantee a workable long term relationship with its Arab minority, Israel should consider abandoning its "Jewish-oriented" flag and national anthem, the Hatikva.
The views expressed during our hour-long debate were passionately held and eloquently delivered. The ghost of Ben Gurion might have been sitting at his desk, listening in.

You can hear Paul Adams in discussion with Zalman Shoval, Bambi Sheleg and Alon Hilu at 1800 GMT on Saturday, 10 May, on the BBC World Service.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

NEW HUNT AT MANSON MURDER RANCH !

US police believe more bodies may be buried at Manson's ranch.
US police are to carry out excavation work at a Californian ranch to search for more possible victims of notorious mass murderer, Charles Manson.
They believe more bodies may be buried at the ranch in the Death Valley national park where Manson and his followers hid after the killings.
Manson was in 1969 convicted of killing seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, who was pregnant.
She was married at the time to the film director, Roman Polanski.
Initial surveys of the remote ranch some 200 miles (320 km) north of Los Angeles in February proved inconclusive.
"I believe the only way to determine once and for all whether there are bodies buried at Barker Ranch from the time of the Manson family is to proceed with limited excavation in a very few areas," said Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze.
The four-day excavation is due to start on 20 May.
Manson and the four of his followers convicted of the spree of murders have reportedly claimed more victims are buried at the ranch.
Manson, 73, is serving a life sentence.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CANADIAN TRAIN PUT IN QUARATINE !

There are about 280 people on board the train.
A train in Canada with about 280 people on board has been put under quarantine, after one passenger died and several others reported flu-like symptoms.
The authorities say they do not believe there is a connection between the death and the illnesses.
The train was travelling from Vancouver to Toronto when a woman in her 60s fell ill and died on Friday morning.
The authorities say they are keeping passengers and crew on the train while they await the results of tests.

The train was stopped in the tiny hamlet of Foleyet in northern Ontario and surrounded by emergency services, who evacuated the local station.
A second passenger was airlifted to hospital, where she was diagnosed with a respiratory illness and is said to be in a stable condition.
Dr David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer, said that the woman who died did not have an infectious disease and that the illnesses were not related.

"While the cause of death continues to be under investigation, it has been determined that the deceased did most likely not have an infectious disease," Dr Williams told a news conference.
Five other passengers who complained of mild flu-like symptoms had been quarantined in a separate carriage and treated by a doctor, who was "not concerned for their immediate health," Ontario Provincial Police Staff Sergeant Rob Knox said.

The emergency services evacuated the station.
The train was on its final leg of a three day trip and is expected to continue its journey and arrive in Toronto on Saturday.
Carol Woodhouse, who works in Foleyet, told CBC News that a medical helicopter and five ambulances had been called to the railway station.
"For a little town that usually has only two police officers, it's been very busy here," she said.
Several hospitals in Ontario and Quebec have recently experienced outbreaks of C-Difficile, a bacterium that causes intestinal problems.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"ONLY THOSE WHO DARE TO FAIL GREATLY

CAN EVER ACHIEVE GREATLY" !

______

GAZA MORTAR ATTACK KILLS ISRAELI !

A mortar attack fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip has killed an Israeli, police and medics have said.
The victim was hit in the kibbutz of Kfar Aza, near the border with Gaza.
Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets and mortars at Israel from the Gaza Strip. The attacks often provoke retaliation by the Israeli military.
Earlier on Friday, medical workers said they had found the body of a Palestinian woman killed in fighting between Palestinians and Israelis.
Palestinian witnesses said the woman died after her house in southern Gaza was shelled by an Israeli tank.
The Israeli army has not commented, but said earlier its operation had targeted Palestinian militants.

The Gaza Strip has been controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas since last June when they ousted their rivals from the Fatah movement.
Three people were wounded by the mortar attack on Kfar Aza, officials said.
Hamas claimed the attack, the Associated Press news agency said, citing a radio station run by the militants.
David Baker, a spokesman for the Israeli government, said Hamas was responsible for all hostile fire into Israel.
"We hold it accountable for today's attack and the murder of our civilians," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CZECH 'MYSTERY IMPOSTER' CLEARED !

By Rob Cameron - BBC News, Prague.

A Czech woman charged with deceiving a children's home into thinking she was a 13-year-old girl has been found not guilty by a court in the city of Brno.
The court said Barbora Skrlova, who along with five others is believed to belong to a secretive cult, meant no ill-will towards the children's home.
But Ms Skrlova, aged 33, was immediately re-arrested to face more serious charges of child abuse.
Ms Skrlova went on the run after the child abuse case erupted.
She re-appeared months later in Norway, where she posed as a 12-year-old boy.
The child abuse case is one of the most bizarre and sinister in modern Czech history.
The Czech media has been haunted by the face - or rather faces - of Barbora Skrlova for over a year.
Victim or participant?
Initially, she appeared as a shy, 13-year-old girl called Anicka, with thick glasses and brown hair tied up in ponytails.
Then there was the shaved head and dark, sunken eyes of Adam, the 12-year-old Czech schoolboy who turned up in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
And finally a pale, nervous-looking woman wearing a woolly hat and clutching a teddy bear, being led away by police at Prague Airport.
It is alleged that Ms Skrlova, a woman posing as her adopted mother, and four other adults are all part of a secretive cult founded by her father.
The cult theory might explain why Ms Skrlova - who appears to be a deeply disturbed young woman - keeps changing her personality.
It could also explain why her so-called adopted mother kept her two young sons locked naked in a broom cupboard and subjected them to terrible abuse.
One of the boys found in the broom cupboard had been beaten, tortured and forced to eat his own vomit.
The court must determine whether Ms Skrlova was, as she maintains, a victim of abuse or a willing participant. The case is expected to begin in June.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.N. TO RESUME BURMA FOOD FLIGHTS !

Aid from a number of Asian countries has been arriving in Burma.
The World Food Programme says it will resume aid flights to Burma on Saturday, despite a row over the local authorities impounding deliveries.
The UN body had suspended relief flights after the Burmese government seized tonnes of aid material flown in to help victims of Cyclone Nargis.
The cyclone killed thousands of people and left many more at risk.
A Burmese government spokesman told the Associated Press the UN claims had been "baseless accusations".
Ye Htut said the government had taken control of the aid to distribute it "without delay by its own labour to the affected areas".
The country's ruling generals have faced mounting criticism over their handling of the crisis.
The UN fears more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the cyclone, with tens of thousands made homeless and vulnerable to disease.
The World Health Organization says access to clean drinking water and outbreaks of communicable diseases such as dengue and malaria are a major concern.
It is sitting in a warehouse it is not in trucks heading to Irrawaddy Delta where it is critically needed -Paul RisleyWorld Food Programme.

World wrestles with aid issue

Burmese state media say 22,980 people were killed, but there are fears the figure could rise.
Britain's ambassador to Burma, Mark Canning, said authoritative sources were now speaking of between 63,000 and 100,000 people dead or missing.
Hundreds of thousands of people have no food, water or shelter. International aid agencies on the ground say seven tonnes of high-energy biscuits have been distributed in the delta region, but they have reached only 10% of those that need help.
Despite this, Burma's foreign ministry issued a statement on Friday saying it was not ready to allow foreign aid workers to enter the country.
The junta said it was happy to accept aid, but insisted it would control the distribution itself.
'Murdering own people'
WFP spokesman Paul Risley said two flights of "critically-needed food aid" - including 38 tonnes of high-energy biscuits - arrived in Burma on Friday but was confiscated.

AID PLEDGES
UK $10m
UN $10m
Japan $10m
US $3m
France $3m
Australia $2.8m

In pictures: Cyclone survivors
Rangoon's hardship

"We are very concerned that this food is not reaching - on day six after a cyclone - the very victims of that cyclone.
"We have appealed to the minister for social welfare to release that food as quickly as possible so that it can continue on its way south to the victims of the cyclone.
"It is sitting in a warehouse, it is not in trucks heading to Irrawaddy Delta where it is critically needed."
The BBC's Jonathan Head in neighbouring Thailand says that given how little aid is getting into Burma, this was a disappointing setback.

EXTENT OF THE DEVASTATION

See map and satellite images
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He said the military leaders appeared to be putting their pride and entrenched suspicion of foreigners before the lives of their people.
One aid official told him the Burmese government was "murdering their own people by letting them die".
Tim Costello, from World Vision Australia, said aid workers in Burma were experiencing feelings of guilt about not being able to do enough and felt fear and frustration as a result of that.
"But their job is to work with the situation and keep hope alive and keep going," he told a Disasters Emergency Committee news conference in London.
The BBC's Paul Danahar, in southern Burma despite restrictions on journalists, says the survivors need more than food.
He says they have been cut off and helpless for seven days and are surrounded by tens of thousands of rotting corpses.
What they really need, he says, is the corpses to be moved, clean water, shelter, and efforts to start rebuilding the devastated infrastructure.

The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, says two trucks with shelter supplies are due to cross the border from Thailand on Saturday.
Spokeswoman Vivian Tan said the agency had assurances from the government that it would be allowed to monitor the distribution process.
"It is a small drop in the ocean given the needs on the ground," she told the BBC. "But given the scale of the crisis we need to explore different delivery routes."
Thailand's Foreign Minister, Noppadon Pattma, said he would be asking his Burmese counterpart to be more flexible regarding the admission of aid and aid teams.
"Myanmar (Burma) should be more responsive to international assistance but we cannot force Myanmar to do it, we have to respect her own decision," he told the BBC.
"But the Myanmar people should be at the centre of considerations."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MILITIAS 'TO RIG ZIMBABWE POLL' !

Zimbabwe's "war veterans" militia plan to intimidate voters by posing as police officers during the presidential run-off, a policeman has told the BBC.
He said they would be based inside polling stations during the vote, whose date has not yet been fixed.
The report came as South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, the lead Zimbabwe negotiator, prepared to hold talks with Robert Mugabe in Harare.
Mr Mbeki has previously played down talk of a crisis in Zimbabwe.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says its supporters are being systematically targeted by the "war veterans" and other supporters of President Mugabe ahead of the run-off.
Zanu-PF are determined to continue ruling the country, and continue destroying it -Police officer

Harare diary: Violence and intimidation

A trade union official on Thursday said that 40,000 farm-workers and their relatives had fled their homes because of violent attacks.
The government has in turn accused the MDC of staging political attacks, while saying the extent of the violence has been exaggerated.
But a South African election observer has said that the violence makes it impossible to hold a run-off.

The BBC's Orla Guerin met the police officer deep in Zimbabwe's bush, as he was afraid of being identified.
"The war veterans will be wearing police uniforms," he said.
"They will be given ranks and force numbers. They'll be part and parcel of the police deployed in every ward. So when people come in to vote they will see war veterans from their area in among the police, and they will be intimidated."

The security forces have been accused of backing President Mugabe
He said that preparations were at an advance stage - that the order to issue uniforms had already been given by provincial police headquarters.
Though opposed to the plan he said he was powerless to stop it, because if he objected he would be risking his life.
"Anything can happen," he said.
"You can be abducted, or just disappear, or your family can be endangered. You never know who is watching you. You can't trust anyone in Zimbabwe."
He also said the police had been told to go out and campaign vigorously for Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, and to remind people that they won the country's freedom with the barrel of a gun.
"They are trying to threaten people into voting for them, so they do not get off the throne," he said.
"Zanu-PF are determined to continue ruling the country, and continue destroying it."
According to this officer, there are many in the junior ranks of the police who talk privately about the need for change, but dare not speak out.
He said no-one could be certain of attitudes among the senior commanders, because they had benefited greatly under the ruling party.
Many of those who fought in the 1970s war of independence went on to become police officers and soldiers and remain deeply loyal to their war-time leader, Mr Mugabe.
But many of the so-called "war veterans" are too young to have fought in the war.
The MDC has still not said whether it will take part in the run-off.

The opposition says its supporters are being systematically targeted.
It says its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round outright and should be declared president.
South Africa's leader is in Zimbabwe, after he sent a fact-finding mission there.
He is meeting President Mugabe and other Zanu-PF officials but not the MDC.
Mr Tsvangirai is in South Africa and has not been home for a month, amid fears for his safety.
The MDC believe Mr Mbeki favours a government of national unity.
They reject this, unless Mr Mugabe steps down and are unhappy with the South Africa-led mediation.
According to the official results, Mr Tsvangirai gained more votes than Mr Mugabe but not the 50% needed for outright victory.
The run-off is supposed to be held within 21 days of the publication of the results - last Friday - but the electoral commission head has reportedly said it could be delayed for up to a year.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GLOBAL MANHUNT NETS ABUSE SUSPECT !

Three people in the US identified the Interpol suspect.
A man suspected of sexually abusing boys in South East Asia has appeared before a US court just hours after his arrest in the state of New Jersey.
Police arrested Wayne Nelson Corliss two days after Interpol released his picture appealing for public help in identifying the suspected paedophile.
Police in Norway had found images which allegedly show him abusing at least three boys aged six to 10.
Three people in the US identified Mr Corliss to Interpol as the suspect.
The 58-year-old is an actor who played Santa Claus and painted children's faces, the manager of the apartment building where he lived told the Associated Press news agency.
He was arrested at his home in Union City, New Jersey, and charged with producing and distributing child pornography, officials said.
At his hearing on Thursday, Assistant US Attorney Lee Vartan said Mr Corliss had told the customs agents who arrested him that he had had sex with three boys over three nights in Thailand in 2002.
"He described it as 'euphoria' to the agents," Mr Vartan added.
Interpol said its unusual public appeal had led to more than 200 leads in the first 24 hours.

Computer technology revealed the face of another suspect known as Mr Swirl.
"The arrest of the suspected child sex abuser... came about as a result of independent tips provided via the internet to Interpol's headquarters in Lyon by three individuals living in the United States," Interpol said.
"Two days ago, this man's nationality, identity and location were totally unknown," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald K Noble.
"All we had to go by were a series of graphic photographs in which the suspect was seen sexually abusing young children".
Police first became aware of the suspect two years ago from photos of him found on the computer hard-drive of a man arrested in Norway and later convicted on paedophilia-related charges, Interpol said.
The pictures showed a grey-haired white man wearing glasses with no attempt to hid his features.
The photos were checked against Interpol's vast database of child abuse images but he could not be identified, so Interpol published the pictures on their website.
It is only the second time Interpol has appealed to the public for help in hunting for a paedophile.
Last October Interpol released pictures of a suspected paedophile, dubbed Mr Swirl, who had disguised his face on the internet using a digital technique.
The image was unscrambled and soon after a 32-year-old Canadian ex-teacher, Christopher Neil, was arrested. He is due to go on trial in Thailand in June.
Mr Corliss was described by Raven Squire, the superintendent of the apartment building where he lived, as a stable man who always paid his rent on time.
Judy Stone, a neighbour who worked with him as an entertainer, said he was "the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen".
"I've never seen him act in a way that was creepy or predatory toward children," she added.
Customs agents found about 1,000 images of child pornography on computer hard drives in the apartment, Assistant US Attorney Lee Vartan said.
They also found several pairs of boys' underwear, including one that Mr Corliss said he had brought back from Thailand as a souvenir, the prosecutor added.
Mr Corliss was not asked to enter a plea at his hearing.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RUSSIA 'EXPELS US EMBASSY STAFF !

The US has given no reason yet for the expulsion from the Moscow embassy.
Russia has ordered the expulsion of two military attaches from the American embassy in Moscow, US officials say.
The US state department said it would comply with the order although it objected to it.
Two Russians have been expelled from Washington in recent months, one in November and the second on 22 April.
The news comes as Russia conducts a transition of power with Vladimir Putin becoming prime minister and Dmitry Medvedev president.

The expulsion order was given some days ago but was only revealed by the state department on Thursday.
An official there confirmed to Reuters news agency the pair had been asked to leave but declined to say what reasons had been given for the expulsion.
It is not known whether the pair have left Moscow yet.
"They have not been declared persona non grata but they have been asked to leave," the official said.
Another US official said Washington regarded the expulsions as "separate incidents" from those of the Russian envoys.
The Russian foreign ministry said it had "no comment at the moment".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HEZBOLLAH WARNS CABINET OF 'WAR' !

Hassan Nasrallah insisted Hezbollah had a right to defend itself.
The leader of Hezbollah has said the Lebanese government's decision to close down its private telecommunications network was a "declaration of war".
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah warned that the move was "for the benefit of America and Israel" and vowed to "cut off the hand" that tries to dismantle it.
"We are now embarking on a totally new era," he told a news conference.
Earlier, the army warned its unity was at risk if the ongoing political crisis and civil unrest in Beirut continued.
The capital has been largely paralysed by roadblocks set up by opposition supporters during a second day of protests which started as a strike over pay.
Tensions remain high after Wednesday's clashes between Sunni and Shia gunmen and the army remains out in force in parts of the city.
The Shia factions, led by Hezbollah, oppose the Western-backed government, while the Sunni and Druze factions support it.
The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, urged both sides "to cease immediately these riots and to reopen all roads in the country".
"We remain gravely concerned about the potential for further escalation of the situation," UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said.

Lebanon's Western-backed government declared Hezbollah's extensive fixed-line telecommunications network covering its strongholds of south and east Lebanon, and southern Beirut, illegal on Tuesday, saying it was a threat to state security.
We have the right to confront him to defend ourselves, to defend our weapons, to defend our resistance and to defend our existence - Hassan NasrallahLeader of Hezbollah.
Speaking at a rare televised news conference in Beirut, Sheikh Nasrallah said Hezbollah's network was its most important weapon against foreign aggressors, and warned that any attempt to dismantle it would be resisted.
"This decision is first of all a declaration of war and the launching of war by the government... against the resistance and its weapons for the benefit of America and Israel," he said.
"Whoever declares war against us and who launches a war against us even if he's our father or brother, or just a political opponent, we have the right to confront him to defend ourselves, to defend our weapons, to defend our resistance and to defend our existence."
Sheikh Nasrallah said his group's military wing, the Islamic Resistance, regarded the network as "the most important part" of its defensive measures and explained how it played a key role in its conflict with Israel in 2006.

The protests and disruption have affected all parts of the country.
He demanded the government therefore rescind its decision and also reinstate the head of security at Beirut international airport, Brig Gen Wafiq Shuqeir.
The government suspects him of sympathising with Hezbollah, and accused him of failing to deal with a secret camera allegedly set up by Hezbollah in a container overlooking the main runway, to monitor the movement of aircraft and VIPs.
But Sheikh Nasrallah insisted the general was not a member of any opposition group, merely a neutral member of the armed forces.
The Hezbollah leader's remarks came after many people in Beirut awoke for the second day running to find their city largely brought to a halt by roadblocks of burning tyres and bulldozed earthworks.
The army was deployed in key thoroughfares and crossroads dividing Beirut itself from the mainly Shia southern suburbs. But troops were not moved into densely built-up, heavily populated neighbourhoods nearby.
What happened in Lebanon is a rehearsal of what the small country is expected to witness over the coming days. It is the fruit of the divisions that run through the Arab world and the Middle East - Jordan's al-Dustur newspaper.

Mid-East press alarm over strike

Many streets have been blocked off by local residents, with young men on a high state of alert, ready to defend their own neighbourhoods. About a dozen people were injured on Wednesday, mostly by stones, officials said.
Opposition supporters continued to block the roads to Beirut's international airport for a second day, leading to the cancellation of flights.
The protests and disruption also affected other parts of the country. There were clashes in the eastern Bekaa Valley, in which at least five people were wounded according to officials, and the main motorway leading to Syria was cut, heightening Beirut's isolation.
The Lebanese army command later issued a call for calm, saying a "continuation of the situation... harms the unity of the military establishment".

The main roads to the international airport are blocked by barricades.
In recent years, the army has been seen as one of Lebanon's most neutral institutions, but correspondents say the recent clashes could draw it into the conflict. The fragmentation of the army along sectarian lines in 1976 was a key moment in Lebanon's descent into civil war.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says that for the moment, it seems to be a tense stand-off, with everybody waiting to see if a way can be found to break the political deadlock.
It clearly would take very little to set off a conflagration that would be very hard to stop if shooting started in earnest, and blood was shed, he says.
Lebanon is witnessing its deepest political crisis since the civil war and has been without a head of state for five months because of the internal power struggle.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'THOUSANDS DISPLACED' IN ZIMBABWE !

Some 40,000 farm-workers and their families have fled their homes in Zimbabwean election violence, a trade union official says.
"They have been accused of voting for the opposition. Most of them are either on the roadside or sheltering at some farms," said Gertrude Hambira.
Earlier, a South African observer said the country was too violent to hold a run-off in the presidential election.
There are reports that the poll could be delayed by up to a year.
A newspaper editor and a lawyer have also been arrested.
No date has been set for the second round between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, which should be 21 days after the official results.
This population represents what might be termed the swing vote - Gertrude Hambira.
These, announced last Friday, said that Mr Tsvangirai gained more votes than Mr Mugabe but not the 50% needed to be declared the winner.
Mr Tsvangirai, however, says the results were fixed and insists that he did pass the 50% threshold.
He has not said whether he would take part in a run-off, citing fraud and alleged state-sponsored violence against his supporters.
Ms Hambira said that people were being targeted in rural areas which voted for the opposition.
"This population represents what might be termed the swing vote between the traditional [opposition] MDC strongholds in urban areas and the Zanu-PF strongholds in the rural areas," she said.
You cannot have the next round taking place in this atmosphere; it will not be helpful
Kingsley MamaboloSouth African observer
"They have been attacked by a group of militias wearing army uniforms," said Ms Hambira, General Secretary of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe.
The army has denied allegations that it is involved in the violence.
Much of the political violence in recent years has been on white-owned farms, but all but 400 of these have been seized by the state and redistributed.
Of these, some 142 have been attacked since the 29 March elections, said farmers' lobby group Justice for Agriculture (Jag).
Before the seizure of white-owned farms in 2000, there were were some 4,000 white farmers in Zimbabwe, employing some 200,000 people.
Mr Mugabe blames Zimbabwe's problems on a plot for the white farmers and their western backers to reclaim their land.
Kingsley Mamabolo said South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is trying to mediate in the crisis, had sent a fact-finding mission to the country.
"You cannot have the next round taking place in this atmosphere; it will not be helpful," he said.
Those arrested are:
Reuters photographer Howard Burditt, accused of using a satellite phone illegally
Davison Maruziva, editor of the Standard newspaper, arrested for running a piece by an opposition leader - Lawyer Harrison Nkomo, accused of "insulting the head of state".

Earlier, the head of the Pan-African Parliament observer team, Marwick Khumalo, said Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairman George Chiweshe had told him that the run-off could be delayed by up to a year.
"He told me it was not possible to organise an election within the 21 days required by the constitution," said Mr Khumalo, a Swaziland MP.

The opposition says its supporters are being systematically targeted.
"He said the election would be organised within the shortest possible time and this would not be longer than 12 months."
Mr Tsvangirai has called for international observers to be sent to monitor the run-off - a call backed up by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Western observers were banned from the first round by the Zimbabwe government, which accused them of bias, after they said there had been fraud in previous elections.
African Union head Jean Ping has told the BBC that the continental body would send extra observers to Zimbabwe for the run-off.
He was speaking after meeting President Mugabe, as well as the leaders of Zambia and South Africa.
"The assurances given to me were that the second round would take place in peace and transparency," he said.
If Mr Tsvangirai does not contest the run-off, Mr Mugabe would automatically win.
Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change says at least 25 of its supporters have been killed since the relatively peaceful first round on 29 March.
But police and officials from Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party have accused the MDC of staging attacks, while accusing the MDC of exaggerating the scale of the violence.

BBC NEWS REPORT.