BILL FOR BUFFET LUNCH HITS $2m !

A Chinese businessman has won the right to have lunch with Warren Buffett after bidding $2.1m (£1m) for the privilege of dining with the legendary investor.
The proceeds of the lunch at the Smith and Wollensky steakhouse in New York will go to a non-profit foundation which fights poverty and homelessness.
Zhao Danyang topped the bids after an auction on the eBay website.
Mr Buffett has raised $4m in charitable donations by selling annual dinner invitations since 2000.
Mr Buffett's appeal shows no sign of waning since this year's successful bid is more than three times as high as the $650,100 sum paid by Mohnish Pabrai last year.
Known as the Sage of Omaha for his shrewd business acumen and ability to spot winning investment opportunities, Mr Buffett is one of the world's richest men.
Investors travel thousands of miles to attend the annual meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway company, where Mr Buffett holds forth on his investment philosophy and market trends.
Mr Buffett recently emerged as a key figure in the planned merger of iconic US businesses Mars and Wrigley and will take a stake in the business after the deal is completed.
He has agreed to leave the bulk of his fortune to the charitable foundation set up by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

A GLIMPSE INSIDE MUGABE'S WORLD !

South African writer Heidi Holland is one of the last non-Zimbabwean journalists to have interviewed Robert Mugabe. She spent two hours with him last December after pursuing the Zimbabwean president for months. This is her description of that encounter.

While I waited outside Robert Mugabe's office in the foyer of State House, his spokesman hissed at me to get to my feet.
Jumping up, I followed the frozen gaze of a dozen officials who stood to attention suddenly.
Behind my chair, Zimbabwe's president had appeared in a doorway, motionless and staring straight at me.
I smiled but he stared passively back. His eyes never left my face.
I felt he was trying to get the measure of me. I had heard from his niece how he used silence as a weapon to unnerve his enemies and ensure that nobody knew what he was thinking.
Once facing Mr Mugabe across his big desk, he apologised for keeping me waiting in a Harare hotel for five weeks.
His face remained expressionless, which is presumably why, having neither frown nor laughter lines, he looks so much younger than his 84 years.
As one of the world's most reviled leaders continued to study his visitor silently, I realised Mr Mugabe was almost as wary of me as I was of him. The six officials in attendance did not move a muscle.
The tension in the room remained suffocating until I was invited by his spokesman to describe the book I was writing.
Mr Mugabe laughed uproariously when I related an anecdote from my interview with Lady Mary Soames, widow of Britain's last governor in Rhodesia.
She told me how her English friends had urged her to send a disapproving letter to Mr Mugabe, with whom she once socialised, and how she explained to them that, having taken Zimbabwe's president off her Christmas card list, she could do no more.
Lonely child
Earlier, I had spotted a massive banner inside the presidency on which the words 'Mugabe is right' were emblazoned.
His staff's obsequious laughter each time he made a sarcastic remark confirmed that their conditions of service included internalising the idea that he can do no wrong.
Mr Mugabe admitted having no lifelong friends and, as a lonely, bookish child, he recalled "talking to myself, reciting little poems and reading things aloud to myself."
Tears gleamed in his eyes when he recalled the cordial relations he once enjoyed with Britain's Royal Family.
He talked a lot about his "sacrifice and suffering", words reminiscent of the Christian concepts he imbibed as a child in a Catholic mission school.
He told me that his granny was regarded as a heathen, explaining that he could only visit her when the European priests allowed it.
One of them became a surrogate parent after his own father abandoned the family.
I first met Mr Mugabe in 1975, shortly before he crossed the border from what was then Rhodesia into Mozambique to wage war against white minority rule.
He came to dinner at my house, not to meet me but to talk to a constitutional expert, who was my friend.
He was quiet and pleasant, though he became agitated when his lift did not arrive and he thought he would miss his train at 2100.
Seeing my friend could not drive, I decided to take Mr Mugabe to the station myself, leaving my baby at home alone.
Driving fast and in a panic, I told him that I had left my son unattended.
The next day, he phoned from a public call box to thank me for dinner and to ask if my baby was okay.
In contrast to his vitriolic public speeches, underneath there is a shy, softly-spoken man.
When I met him again last year, he remained the same, albeit more severe and distilled.
Bubble of denial
When discussing his infamous land grab, he referred pointedly to the country's dispossessed land owners as "British farmers" and made it clear that he held Britain responsible for the bloody 15-year-long war with his predecessor Ian Smith.
Mr Mugabe is obsessed with his sense of betrayal by the British. "It was the British who spoilt things for the whites," he told me.
On his reasoning behind the land invasions, he said: "We had hoped that the British would take notice of it and that they would say: 'Let's meet and discuss this'"
It became clear that Mr Mugabe has arranged himself in a bubble of denial to avoid facing what he has done in Zimbabwe.
When I suggested that his policies had caused the economy to collapse, he sat up straight, his eyes flashing.
"Our economy is a hundred times better, than the average African economy. Outside South Africa, what country is [as good as] Zimbabwe?...What is lacking now are goods on the shelves - that is all."
It seemed to me that Mr Mugabe was showing he was completely out of touch with reality.
Heidi Holland is the author of Dinner with Mugabe

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE LOOMS OVER AFRICA SUMMIT !

African Union (AU) leaders have begun a summit in Egypt that looks set to be overshadowed by the crisis in Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe entered the hall in Sharm el-Sheikh with the Egyptian and Tanzanian leaders.
Mr Mugabe, 84, was sworn in on Sunday after his election victory but observers said pre-poll violence had undermined the vote's credibility.
There have been calls for the AU not to recognise Mr Mugabe, but it may urge talks with the opposition instead.
Mr Mugabe claimed a landslide victory as the sole candidate after the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, withdrew.
Draft resolution
The two-day AU meeting was declared open by the current chairman, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who introduced host President Hosni Mubarak for the first speech.
It will be none of this summit's business to choose the titles for leaders
Bernard Membe,Tanzanian Foreign Minister

After other opening speeches, the 53-nation bloc will begin closed-door talks, with Zimbabwe expected to be high on the agenda.
The AU has a rule not to accept leaders who have not been democratically elected - but observers say it is unlikely to take such strong action against Mr Mugabe so quickly.
"It will be none of this summit's business to choose the titles for leaders, it is the business of this summit to see what we are going to do for the suffering people and masses in Africa," Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe said at a media briefing, when asked if he would address Mr Mugabe as president.
A draft resolution written by African foreign ministers during talks ahead of the summit did not criticise the elections or Mr Mugabe, but condemned violence in general terms and called for dialogue.

Independent observers have criticised the poll.
The head of a 400-person observer mission from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), Angolan Sports Minister Jose Marcos Barrica, was quoted as saying: "The pre-election phase was characterised by politically-motivated violence, intimidation and displacements."
Another observer team, from the Pan-African Parliament, has called for fresh elections to be held, saying the vote was not free or fair.
African leaders are expected to urge Mr Mugabe to enter into talks with Mr Tsvangirai, and engage in some sort of power-sharing agreement.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, the regionally-appointed mediator for Zimbabwe, has called for a negotiated solution.
On Monday, the MDC called for an additional mediator to be appointed to work alongside Mr Mbeki.
On the eve of the summit, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa was rushed to hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh suffering chest pains.
Mr Mwanawasa, who is said to be in a stable condition, has taken a tough line against Mr Mugabe's regime, calling the election undemocratic.
Mr Mugabe was sworn in during a quickly convened ceremony on Sunday, about an hour after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced the results of the presidential election run-off.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from Zimbabwe's election
The commission said Mr Mugabe won 85.5% of the vote, but many ballots were spoiled.
In a speech that followed the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Mugabe said he was committed to talks with the opposition to find a solution to the political crisis.
However, BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says the opposition may reject any notion of a government of national unity in which Mr Mugabe is still in a key position.
The MDC said some 86 of its supporters were killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party in the weeks preceding the run-off.
The government has blamed the MDC for the violence.
Mr Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

FOUR AGAINST HUNDREDS !

Sunday 29th June 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

We woke to the sound of shouting on the 27th of June as four young men, wearing Zanu pf scarves, stretched out across the width of the road and roused the neighbourhood. It was ten past six in the morning, the sun was hardly up and a cold sheet of frost lay across gardens and along roadsides. "Hey, hurry up, hurry up," the Zanu PF youths shouted; "time for voting! Let's go, let's go to vote," they yelled.

The arrogant calls were met with silence. Even in urban Zimbabwe people are deeply traumatized by the events of the past few weeks and so we stay behind closed doors. The progress of the four men could be tracked by the barking of dogs and the thought that just four young men could intimidate hundreds is a chilling reality.

The 27th of June will be remembered as a dark day in our history. How will we explain to our grandchildren that in the depth of Zimbabwe's crisis there was a Presidential election in which only one candidate was contesting? As he prepared to step into his official limousine after casting his vote for the only contesting Presidential candidate, Mr Mugabe smiled for the cameras."How are you feeling Mr President?" someone asked."Fit, very fit," he replied. "And very optimistic." Optimistic? Of winning an election without an opponent? Walking round my home town the morning after the election, there was a sombre and dejected feeling in the streets. There was no excitement or expectation and no point talking about results. With only one candidate the outcome was obvious.

One man held up his red stained finger to show that he'd voted - under protest but for his own safety. With dry sarcasm he said he'd spoiled his paper: he said he loved both candidates equally and so he'd given them both an X ! Moments later he shook his head sadly and said: "so many people will die now - there is already such hunger everywhere. Now it will be worse."

Another man lifted his red finger but said angrily: "For What?" His daughter had been told to bring 'top -up' school fees of one hundred billion dollars when schools re-opened after the elections. This amount is five times the man's monthly salary. It is his daughter's O Level year so he said he would sell yet more of his possessions to raise the money - in order to give his daughter a future.

Two young men stood on the roadside desperately trying to flag down a lift for their friend who had just come out of hospital after a severe asthma attack. Because there is virtually no public transport anymore a group of friends had clubbed together and raised the 90 billion dollars needed for a private car. 90 billion dollars to travel one way - less than ten kilometres to the hospital to save their friend's life. As the youngsters moved on, one said:" We cry for our fair country."

It took five weeks to count the votes cast in the March 29th election. It took just forty four hours to count the votes of the June 27th ballot. The results have been officially stated as follows: Robert Mugabe: 2,150,269 votes Morgan Tsvangirai : 233,000 votes Spoilt papers 131,481.At 4.17 pm on the 29th June 2008, 84 year old Mr Mugabe was declared the duly elected President of Zimbabwe.

Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.

U.S. HANDGUN BAN CHALLENGE SPREADS !

The lawsuits say a ban on handguns violates the Second Amendment.
A powerful pro-gun lobby group in the United States has filed legal challenges to handgun bans in San Francisco and Chicago.
The lawsuits come a day after the US Supreme Court ruled that a ban on the private possession of handguns in Washington DC was unconstitutional.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) says it wants similar bans in other states and cities overturned as well.
San Francisco's mayor says he plans to fight the NRA challenge.
The NRA lawsuit in San Francisco challenges the city's handgun ban in public housing; while in Chicago it challenges a ruling that makes it illegal to possess or sell handguns in the city.
"In Washington DC, or in any state, whether you live in the housing projects or a high end suburb, you have the right to defend yourself and your family at home," said Chris Cox, from the NRA.
"These laws all deny that right."

The NRA is joined in the San Francisco suit by a gay man living in a government-owned housing development who says he needs a gun to protect himself from potential hate crimes.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the city would "vigorously fight the NRA" and said the ban was good for public safety.
"Is there anyone out there who really believes that we need more guns in public housing? I can't for the life of me sit back and roll over on this. We will absolutely defend the rights of the housing authority," Mr Newsom said.
The Supreme Court's ruling says that the constitution "protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defence within the home".
The ruling enshrines for the first time the individual right to own guns and limits efforts to reduce their role in American life.
"The Supreme Court's decision was very encouraging, but it is just a start," NRA lawyer C D Michel said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINESE RIOTS OVER GIRL'S DEATH !

Angry crowds have attacked government buildings in south-west China in protest at the death of a teenage girl.
Reports said several thousand people took part in the riots, setting fire to police stations and cars in Wengan county in the province of Guizhou.
Local residents were angered after a police inquiry concluded that the girl, found dead in a river earlier in June, had committed suicide.
Her family accused the son of a local official of raping and killing her.

"Local residents were very angry about the injustice exercised by local authorities," one resident, who is a local official, told Reuters news agency.
"About 10,000 people rushed to the site and totally burned down the county party office building, and burned other offices in the county government.
"They also burned about 20 vehicles, including police cars," the official said.
AFP news agency said riots had erupted on Saturday when the girl's uncle was pronounced dead in hospital after seeking justice for his niece.
It quoted locals saying he had been badly beaten - it is not clear by whom.
Chinese news reports said provincial leaders had gone to the area to deal with the unrest.
Xinhua news agency said order began to return after crowds dispersed early on Sunday morning local time.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BIRTHDAY PARTY SNUB SPARKS DEBATE !

The case has sparked a debate in Sweden about civil liberties.
An eight-year-old boy has sparked an unlikely outcry in Sweden after failing to invite two of his classmates to his birthday party.
The boy's school says he has violated the children's rights and has complained to the Swedish Parliament.
The school, in Lund, southern Sweden, argues that if invitations are handed out on school premises then it must ensure there is no discrimination.
The boy's father has lodged a complaint with the parliamentary ombudsman.
He says the two children were left out because one did not invite his son to his own party and he had fallen out with the other one.
The boy handed out his birthday invitations during class-time and when the teacher spotted that two children had not received one the invitations were confiscated.
"My son has taken it pretty hard," the boy's father told the newspaper Sydsvenskan.
"No one has the right to confiscate someone's property in this way, it's like taking someone's post," he added.
A verdict on the matter is likely to be reached in September, in time for the next school year.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.S. RIVALS CLASH OVER IMMIGRATION !

US presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain have clashed over their commitment to immigration reform.
Addressing a conference of Hispanic officials in Washington, Mr McCain, the Republican candidate, said the US must secure its borders.
Mr Obama, the Democratic Party candidate, said he admired Mr McCain's attempt last year to get an immigration reform bill approved by Congress.
But he said that Mr McCain had since walked away from that commitment.
Mr McCain was one of the few Republican senators to back President Bush's comprehensive immigration plan which contained an amnesty for some illegal immigrants.

Speaking before some 700 Hispanics attending the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference Mr McCain paid his respects to Hispanic-Americans.
"I know this country... would be the poorer were we deprived of the patriotism, industry and decency of those millions of Americans whose families came here from Mexico, Central and South America," he said.
He added that his primary focus regarding immigration reform was to secure the United States border with Mexico.
"We will not succeed in the Congress of the United States until we convince a majority of the American people that we have border security," he said.
"But that does not have to be done in an inhumane or cruel fashion," he added.
Mr McCain's speech was disrupted several times by hecklers from an anti-war group.
'Nation of immigrants'
Appearing later before the same audience, Mr Obama accused Mr McCain of walking away from comprehensive immigration reform.
"When he was running for his party's nomination, he walked away from that commitment. He said he wouldn't even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote," Mr Obama said.
"If we are going to solve the challenges we face, we can't vacillate, we can't shift depending on our politics."
"We must assert our values and reconcile our principles as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. That is a priority I will pursue from my very first day," he added.
Mr McCain's campaign team later issued a statement saying Mr Obama had worked to defeat last year's reform attempt by voting for amendments that the bill's Democratic sponsors opposed.
Hispanic votes are concentrated in several key states, including Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.
In 2004, President Bush won about 40% of the Hispanic vote, a Republican record. But recent elections have shown that the Hispanic vote has returned to its Democratic leanings.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Q & A : ZIMBABWE ELECTIONS !

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has pulled out of Friday's presidential election run-off, saying he does not want to risk more of his supporters losing their lives.
The first round in March was relatively peaceful but the mood has changed since then. Mr Tsvangirai gained more votes than Mr Mugabe, and the opposition says its supporters have subsequently been targeted, assaulted and killed in a bid to ensure the president remains in power.
Why did Tsvangirai pull out?
Firstly to save the lives of his supporters.
Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says that more than 80 of its supporters have been killed and 200,000 displaced in a state-sponsored campaign of violence designed to prevent it repeating its first-round victory.
He fears that the violence would only increase in the final days of the campaign.
Secondly, he says he does not want to be part of an illegitimate process.
Mr Mugabe has said "only God" can remove him, so what is the point of going through the motions?
So what happens next?
Mr Mugabe and the authorities insist that the election is still going ahead as normal.
The head of the electoral commission said Mr Tsvangirai withdrew too late to cancel the elections.
There have been reports of people being forced to vote - to try and make turnout as high as possible.
Mr Mugabe will no doubt proclaim victory and try to carry on as normal.
But Mr Tsvangirai will be hoping that the international community, in particular Zimbabwe's neighbours, will increase pressure on Mr Mugabe to step down, or at least form a government of national unity.
South Africa and China are the countries with the most influence, by helping to keep Zimbabwe's moribund economy afloat.
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has been trying to mediate in the political crisis but has so far refused to criticise Mr Mugabe in public.
Some other African leaders have, however, started to break ranks, showing that Mr Mugabe's claims to be fighting for African nationalism against colonialism may be wearing thin.
He may have to take notice if Africa's regional institutions, such as the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the African Union (AU), refused to accept him as Zimbabwe's leader.
But he has ignored calls from Sadc leaders to postpone the run-off, after their observers witnessed the violence first-hand.
Would the run-off have been free and fair?
It didn't look like it.
There are numerous, credible reports that opposition activists have been assaulted and some killed by ruling party militants.
Mr Tsvangirai says MDC structures have been systematically targeted in some parts of the country - starting in rural areas which have switched away from Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and then coming to Harare.
The MDC says the results of the first-round were deliberately delayed for several weeks to give ruling party militants time to carry out these attacks.
By the end, he says he was denied access to three-quarters of the country.
The MDC was also prevented from holding rallies, while its adverts were banned from state media, in contrast to the first round on 29 March.
Mr Tsvangirai was detained on several occasions and MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti has been charged with treason.
Election observers and officials were also targeted for beatings.
The MDC says that Zanu-PF militants were being recruited as polling agents for the run-off, to ensure Mr Mugabe would win.
Zanu-PF, however, denies this, saying Mr Tsvangirai pulled out because he would lose.
It says the scale of the violence has been exaggerated and accuses the MDC of being behind some attacks.
Who would have won the run-off?
Mr Tsvangirai gained most votes in the first round, so he started the campaign favourite.
President Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe since 1980, and so many Zimbabweans cannot imagine another leader.
His first round defeat damaged this aura of invincibility, and this could have led more people to vote against him.
But the difference between the two men in the first round was only 120,000 votes, according to the official results.
What happened in the first round?
The 29 March elections were the most peaceful since the MDC emerged to challenge Mr Mugabe in 1999.
Opposition candidates were able to campaign around the country, even in previously no-go areas - although this has since changed.

It is not clear if the first round results were tampered with. The MDC said Mr Tsvangirai gained 50.3% - not a massive difference from the official tally of 47.9%, but a crucial one.
Projections by independent monitors were pretty close to the official results, which show that Mr Mugabe gained 43.2%.
However, one MDC official says he has doubts about a block of 120,000 votes for Mr Mugabe, which he says were enough to prevent Mr Tsvangirai winning outright.
Before polling, MDC complained about the electoral roll, saying there were many thousands of "ghost voters".
These are the names of dead people or people who have registered from addresses where there are no buildings.
It was not possible to update the roll in time for the run-off, so the "ghost voters" could have emerged as an issue again.
What happened in the other elections?
Election officials say the long delay in publishing the results of the presidential poll was because four elections - presidential, House of Assembly, Senate and local councils - were held on the same day.

Senate results:
Zanu-PF: 30
MDC: 24
MDC breakaway: 6
Source: ZEC

In the House of Assembly, President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party lost its majority for the first time since independence in 1980, with 97 seats against the MDC's 90 in the 210-seat chamber. The smaller MDC faction won 10 seats.
In the Senate, Zanu-PF and the combined opposition have 30 seats each.
How significant is the parliamentary result?
It is significant, as it loosens the ruling party's hold on power - but the presidency is a far more powerful institution.
The president can veto any legislation passed by parliament and can rule by decree in some instances.
So, if Mr Mugabe is proclaimed the victor, he would be badly weakened but still be the most powerful figure in Zimbabwe.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

N.KOREA DEMOLISHES REACTOR TOWER !

North Korea has demolished the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, in a symbol of its commitment to talks on ending its nuclear programme.
International television crews were invited to witness the tower being blown up.
The move comes a day after the isolated state handed over long-awaited details of its programme, but no account of the weapons many fear it has stockpiled.
In return, the US has agreed to lift some of its economic sanctions.
State media reported North Korea's Foreign Ministry had welcomed the US move on sanctions, regarding it as a "positive step".
The Yongbyon reactor was shut in July last year as part of a six-party agreement reached 16 months ago, when the North said it would scrap its nuclear ambitions in return for aid and diplomatic concessions.

YONGBYON COOLING TOWER
It was 20m (65ft) high
In operation since March 2003
A key element of the reactor, although Yongbyon was already in the process of being decommissioned
Cooling tower is a simple piece of equipment that could easily, though not invisibly, be rebuilt.

North Korea: Timeline
Press split over declaration

Analysts say that while the destruction of the tower is not, in itself, a huge step forward, it is still being seen as an important gesture.
"It was a significant and very important step," said US state department official Sung Kim, who witnessed the event.
"As I saw it, it was a complete demolition."
The US has agreed to scrap sanctions under the Trading with the Enemy Act, and will begin the process of removing the state from its list of terrorist sponsors in August - but only if North Korea's nuclear declarations are verified.
"We assess this as a positive step and welcome it," a foreign ministry spokesman told the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
The reactor, 96 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, produced plutonium for the North's nuclear weapons test in 2006.
The BBC's world affairs correspondent said that blowing up the cooling tower meant it would take North Korea about a year to revive its plutonium production, and it would be obvious if it was doing so.
However, he added that "bigger hurdles remain" - including the critical issue of actual weapons stockpiles, as well as suspected North Korean proliferation activities - particularly the supposed Syrian connection.
South Korea said on Friday it hoped a new round of six-party talks - which also include North Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the US - could begin next month.
Meanwhile, the negotiating team has been poring over Pyongyang's 60-page declaration, submitted on Thursday.
Six months overdue, the account is expected to cover the North's plutonium production activities.
But the dossier omits any tally of its nuclear arsenal, any mention of a suspected uranium enrichment programme or claims it helped Syria build a nuclear facility, all denied by Pyongyang.
Mr Bush has emphasised moves to take the North off the US terror list would not begin for 45 days, and only if its nuclear declaration was verified.
But former US envoy to the UN John Bolton labelled the decision "shameful" and the "final collapse of Bush's foreign policy".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.N. 'REGRETS' ZIMBABWE ELECTION !

Reports from across the country indicated low voter turnout.
The UN Security Council has said it deeply regrets Zimbabwe's decision to go ahead with the presidential poll.
It said conditions for a free and fair election did not exist, but stopped short of saying it was illegitimate.
President Robert Mugabe is assured of victory after opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted the poll. Vote counting has started.
A top African Union diplomat said African leaders could find a credible solution to Zimbabwe's problems.
AU commission chairman Jean Ping emphasized that democracy and human rights were shared values of all the AU countries.
"We are here playing the role of guardian of these values, so when we see there has been violations of some of these shared values, it is our duty to react and call some of our members to order," he said.
Mr Ping was speaking in Egypt ahead of next week's AU summit.
Mr Mugabe is expected to attend the summit and the BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says he will want to declare victory before leaving.
'Mass intimidation'
The European Union and the US earlier dismissed the vote as meaningless.
Foreign ministers for the Group of Eight nations (G8) meeting in Japan said they could not accept the legitimacy of a government "that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people".


US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said they would consult other members of the UN Security Council to see what "next steps" might need to be taken.
"There was a strong sentiment... that what is going on in Zimbabwe is simply unacceptable in the 21st century and it can't be ignored by the international community," she said.
The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, read out a statement by the Security Council which said members "agreed that conditions for free and fair elections did not exist and it was a matter of deep regret that the election went ahead in these circumstances."
The statement, backed by all 15 council members including South Africa, China and Russia, stopped short of declaring the election illegitimate because of South African opposition.

People will not feel safe moving about with an unmarked finger - Zimbabwean citizen.

Harare cowed for one-man poll
Election: At a glance
In pictures: Mugabe election

Mr Khalilzad added that the council would return to the issue in the coming days:
"We have already started discussions with some colleagues on a resolution that would impose appropriately focused sanctions on the regime, assuming conditions continue as they have during the last period," he said.
However, diplomats said that because of resistance from South Africa, China and Russia, any sanctions were unlikely to be imposed by the council.
At a news conference held in Harare before polls closed, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai described the election as "an exercise in mass intimidation".
Mr Tsvangirai, who boycotted the poll because of violence, said people across Zimbabwe had been forced to take part and urged the international community to reject the vote.

Zimbabweans explain why they are voting in the election"Anyone who recognises the result of this election is denying the will of the Zimbabwean people," he said.
The MDC leader has been taking refuge at the Dutch embassy for most of the past six days.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a monitoring group, reported that people had been forced to vote in most rural areas.
Fear of retribution
A Zimbabwean journalist said militias loyal to Mr Mugabe had gone door-to-door in townships outside the capital, Harare, to coerce people.
Despite the pressure, Marwick Khumalo, who heads of the Pan-African parliamentary observer mission, told the BBC that overall turnout had been low and the mood sombre.
But the state-owned Herald newspaper said there had been a huge voter turn-out in the election.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said that people were aiming to preserve Zimbabwe's independence.

African voices on Zimbabwe's poll crisis
In pictures

Mr Mugabe came second to Mr Tsvangirai in the first round of the presidential vote in March.
Since then, the MDC says some 86 of its supporters have been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to Zanu-PF.
The government blames the MDC for the violence, but Mr Mugabe has suggested negotiations with the MDC were possible - "should we emerge victorious, which I believe we will".
Mr Tsvangirai has said negotiations would not be possible if Mr Mugabe went ahead with the run-off.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

TOP JUDGE ASSASSINATED IN BAGHDAD !

Professionals like judges have been targeted in the bitter sectarian fighting.
A leading Iraqi judge has been ambushed and shot dead by gunmen in Baghdad.
Kamil al-Showaili, head of one of the capital's two appeals courts, was driving home in the east of the city when the attack happened.
Police said masked assailants used two vehicles to block the judge's path, before opening fire and driving away.
Mr Showaili, who was in his 50s, was one of the country's most important judges, charged with handing criminal cases for eastern Baghdad.
"He was one of the best judges in Iraq," Abdul Satar al-Birqadr, a spokesman for the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council, told Reuters news agency.
"He worked in this field for more than 20 years. It is very difficult to replace him," said Mr Birqadr, adding that the shooting was one of a series of killings of Iraqi professionals.
In January, gunmen killed Appeals Court Judge Amir Jawdat Naeib as he was driven to work in the west of the city.
Both judges were members of the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council which supervises the judiciary and nominates senior judicial officials.
Correspondents say professional people, such as judges, lawyers, and doctors, have often been singled out for attack in bitter sectarian fighting between Shia and Sunni Arabs.
Assassinations of prominent individuals have, however, decreased in recent months as US and Iraqi forces have cracked down on insurgents and lawlessness.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"THE QUIETER YOU BECOME,

THE MORE YOU CAN HEAR" !

_________

PAKISTAN TALEBAN 'EXECUTE SPIES' !

Taleban supporters in parts of Pakistan are not afraid to appear in public.
Militants in Pakistan have carried out what officials have called a "public execution" of two Afghans before thousands of cheering supporters.
The pair were alleged to have helped an American missile strike that killed 14 people in a border village last month.
Correspondents say that the brazen nature of the killings - one man was decapitated and another shot - show the Taleban's growing power.
The deaths took place in the Bajaur tribal agency near the Afghan border.
Spying charges
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan says that such killings before large crowds are unusual - but not unprecedented - in the tribal areas.
An AFP correspondent who witnessed the executions said more than 5,000 people watched on open ground 10km (six miles) west of Khar, the main town in Bajaur.

The authorities have little control in much of the north-west.
Local security officials say that the two condemned men were kidnapped two days ago by the Taleban.
The AFP reporter said that the Taleban announced the spying charges against the men on megaphones.
They alleged that their spying activities led to the US missile strikes in the Damadola area of Bajaur.
The houses of two militant leaders were targeted on 14 May and 14 people were killed.
"The men's faces were covered and their hands were tied. One was slaughtered with a knife amid shouts of Allahu akbar (God is great), while the other was shot with a burst of fire from a Kalashnikov," the AFP correspondent said.
Correspondents say that after the two Afghans were killed, celebratory gunfire broke out. Two bystanders were shot dead. It is unclear whether they died from stray bullets or whether they were caught up in an argument.
Violence has escalated in north-western Pakistan in recent days, despite peace negotiations between militants and the government.
The killings came a day after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Pakistan's failure to put pressure on Taleban forces on the border was a "concern".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

VOTERS SNUB ZIMBABWE 'SHAM' POLL

Voting has been slow in Zimbabwe's run-off presidential poll in which Robert Mugabe is the sole candidate.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the contest because of violence against his supporters and has urged them to stay away if possible.
The European Union dismissed the vote as a "sham" and the US and Germany say the UN will consider sanctions.
Turnout has been noticeably less than during the first round in March and concerns about violence remain.
A Zimbabwean journalist said militias loyal to Mr Mugabe were going door-to-door in townships outside the capital, Harare, forcing people to vote.

Robert Mugabe casts his vote and says he feels 'optimistic'.
An observer for the South African Development Community (Sadc) - among the few monitors permitted - said the elections "were worse than those we witnessed in Angola in 1992 after decades of war and are not credible''.
Foreign ministers for the Group of Eight nations (G8) meeting in Japan have said they could not accept the legitimacy of a government "that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people".
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said they would consult other members of the UN Security Council to see what "next steps" might need to be taken.
'Frightening'
Earlier, Mr Mugabe brushed aside calls for the election to be postponed or called off and said his Zanu-PF party would continue to rule the country as it believed it should be ruled.

People will not feel safe moving about with an unmarked finger - Zimbabwean citizen.

Election: At a glance
In pictures: Mugabe election

The BBC's John Simpson, in Zimbabwe despite a reporting ban, says he had never seen an election as frightening - where people know that if they fail to turn out to vote and do not have the ink stain to prove it, they are liable to the most ferocious retribution from Zanu-PF thugs.
He adds that if someone does summon up the courage to vote for Morgan Tsvangirai, whose name is still on the ballot, then there are fears their identity could be discovered.
State-owned newspapers said "massive voter turnout" was expected in Friday's poll but Zimbabwean journalists in Harare and Bulawayo told the BBC voting had got off to a slow start - especially compared with the high turnout in the first round.
Themba Nkosi, in Bulawayo said officials for Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had told supporters in rural areas to vote if they felt their lives were in danger - and to vote for Morgan Tsvangirai or spoil their ballot.
One-man race
A woman in Muture told the BBC's Network Africa programme she thought the result would not be legitimate.

Zimbabweans explain why they are voting in the election.
"I haven't been out and about but I have phoned a few friends and most of them say they are going to vote and exercise their democratic right," she said.
"Some people will vote out of fear because even in the urban areas because there is that ink they put on your finger when you vote and people will not feel safe moving about with an unmarked finger."
Another, in Manicaland Province, said: "I am not going to vote in a one person race.
"I will not vote for a dictator and for hunger while my brother was killed in cold blood."
Zanu-PF supporter Richard Munsaka, in Hwange, Matebeland North Province said the question of a free and fair election "depends on the eyes of the beholder".
"I'm not saying there is no violence in the east of the country... but not on a massive scale and that in itself cannot stop the whole country from going to vote just because a few individuals are kicking themselves."
A woman in Harare said: "I will be exercising my right. We as Zimbabweans need to decide the direction that we want the country to take - so we can only do that by voting."

Reports suggested Zanu-PF membership cards were selling for huge sums of money on the black market. Those buying the cards believe they will offer some protection from attack by militias, a BBC correspondent reports.
Zimbabwe's police said the MDC were planning to disrupt the elections and have warned that any criminal activity will be met "head on, and with the full force of the law".
Polling stations are due to close at 1700 GMT.
Mr Tsvangirai condemned the election as "another tragic day in our nation's history".
"My fellow Zimbabweans, we know what is in your heart. If possible, we ask you not to vote today. But if you must vote for Mr Mugabe because of threats to your life, then do so."

The MDC is contesting three by-elections that are also taking place on Friday following the deaths of three candidates - in circumstances not related to the political violence.
The MDC won the parliamentary elections - also held in March - but the presidency is a far more powerful institution.
Mr Mugabe came second to Mr Tsvangirai in the first round of the presidential vote in March.
Since then, the MDC says some 86 of its supporters have been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to Zanu-PF. The government blames the MDC for the violence.
Regional leaders - including from Nigeria, the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the African Union - had called on Mr Mugabe to postpone the vote and negotiate with the opposition.
While Mr Mugabe said he planned to attend an African Union summit in Egypt next week, Mr Mugabe said the AU had "no right in dictating to us what we should do with our constitution, and how we should govern this country".
He has suggested negotiations with the MDC were possible - "should we emerge victorious, which I believe we will".
Mr Tsvangirai has said negotiations would not be possible if Mr Mugabe went ahead with the run-off.
He said Zimbabwe's army was preparing to force people to vote in massive numbers for Mr Mugabe.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WASHINGTO DIARY : TACKLING ZIMBABWE !

By Matt Frei - BBC News, Washington.

Look around the world and what you see is one nasty regime after another getting away with it.

How will the international community tackle Robert Mugabe?

The generals of Burma thumbed their nose at the global community, first by gunning down monks in the streets, then by watching their own citizens die rather than accept urgently needed aid after the cyclone.
The government of Sudan happily continues to sponsor what President George W Bush has called "genocide", and a phalanx of outrage from Hollywood to The Hague has been powerless to stop it.
Iran continues to enrich uranium - and its own coffers thanks to the soaring price of crude oil - while the Israelis are wondering whether they should put a stop to Tehran's alleged nuclear programme with a unilateral strike sanctioned by the US.

And now it is Zimbabwe's turn to proffer two fingers.
As he prances around the campaign trail in his colourful jackets, the still-sprightly 84-year-old Robert Mugabe reminds me of the Joker in Batman, laughing at a disapproving world.
His opponent Morgan Tsvangirai has been forced to hide in the Dutch embassy.
The wife of the mayor of Harare, a regime opponent, has been beaten to death.
Zimbabwe is a country of destitute, frightened billionaires
There is consistent evidence of systematic harassment and murder of anyone who dares to support the opposition.
And a ham sandwich now costs 3.8 billion Zim dollars, when we last checked.
Zimbabwe is a country of destitute, frightened billionaires. And yet there seems very little that a disapproving world can do about it.

Call it the axis of impunity. It is a club that speaks volumes about the state of the world.
There is no shortage of moral outrage about the members of this club. What is missing is the moral high ground.
When America points a justly accusing finger at Burma's generals, it no longer has the same clout as it did a decade ago.
The double standards of Guantanamo Bay are one reason.
The other is the concept of "the coalition of the willing", the phrase used by President Bush to describe a fairly reluctant bunch of fellow travellers on the regime change express.
This further eroded the weak authority of the United Nations and introduced an air of voluntary laxity into matters of global urgency.

When I put it to Jendayi Frazer, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, that Zimbabwe might be a case for "regime-change", she almost reacted as if she had never heard the phrase.
Diplomacy has replaced the 101st Airborne Division as the administration's tool of influence.
The trouble is that it is firing blanks.
Just when you actually want Uncle Sam to throw his weight around a bit, he says he is bogged down, busy, otherwise engaged - call back later.
The UN is toothless, the EU is gormless and the US has had 'the willing' kicked out of it by Iraq and Afghanistan
Then there is good old fashioned economic self-interest.
Why would the Chinese rein in their clients in Sudan if they need to buy all the oil and copper they can get their hands on?
And what hope is there for Europe to speak with one thunderous voice when its 27 members cannot even agree on a basic common constitution?
And if you're Russia, Iran or Venezuela - the axis of crude - and you can rake in $145 for a barrel of oil, why should you be listening anyway? You're laughing all the way to the refinery.
The UN is toothless, the EU is gormless and the US has had "the willing" kicked out of it by Iraq and Afghanistan.

The emphasis now seems to be on regional bodies that most of the world barely even knew existed until recently.
Asean has tried to grapple politely with Burma.
The African Union is sending peacekeepers to Sudan.
And Zimbabwe awaits the stinging sanction of the Southern African Development Community. Take cover!
The good things about these neighbourhood watchdog schemes is that they are regional.
If his African neighbours berate him, then Robert Mugabe can no longer claim that he is being hounded by Rhodesia's former colonial masters.
Unfortunately the neighbours also need to shed their milk teeth.
Jacob Zuma, South Africa's president-in-waiting, may have called the actions of Zimbabwe's ruling party Zanu PF "unacceptable".
The President of Namibia has chimed in.
But the man who really counts - President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa - has remained mutely on the fence, apparently unwilling to ruffle the feathers of his former comrade-in-arms.
But whatever debt the ANC leadership owes Mr Mugabe from its days in opposition against apartheid, it must know that it would probably never have come to power if the international community had not imposed stringent sanctions against the Pretoria regime.
This crisis is about Zimbabwe's future and South Africa's reputation.
There is clearly more work for sanctions to do.
The British bank Barclays, for instance, opted out of business in apartheid South Africa but continues to function in Zimbabwe, which has made a mockery of human rights as well as the value of money - both of which are surely good reasons to cut ties.
The crisis in Burma, Darfur and Zimbabwe illustrate how messy the global picture has become.
We are living in an age of non-intervention, where the stage is crowded with fuming ringside observers.
It is time to get back to the drawing board.

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

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA DENIES POLITICISING GAMES !

China has denied politicising the Olympic Games following a rebuke by the International Olympic Committee over remarks made by an official in Tibet.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sent a letter "regretting" remarks made during a ceremony marking the passage of the torch through Tibet.
The Communist Party boss there spoke of "smashing the separatist plot of the Dalai Lama clique".
China said it had a "solid position against politicising the Olympics".

The IOC said in its letter it "regrets that political statements were made during the closing ceremony of the Torch Relay in Tibet".
"We have written to [the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games] to remind them of the need to separate sport and politics and to ask for their support in making sure that such situations do not arise again."
The torch passed through Lhasa in Tibet last Saturday.
During his speech, Communist Party boss Zhang Qingli said: "The sky above Tibet will never change. The red five-star flag will always fly above this land.
"We can definitely smash the separatist plot of the Dalai Lama clique completely."
China's foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said he was unaware of the details of the IOC letter.
But he insisted Mr Zhang was trying to foster a "stable and harmonious environment for the Olympics".
"China's solid position is against the politicising of the Olympics," Mr Liu said.
There was a wave of violent anti-China protests in Tibet three months ago.
Although there have since been talks between Chinese officials and envoys of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, Beijing still accuses him of orchestrating the violence.
He says he wants meaningful autonomy, not independence.
Some of the international legs of the torch relay suffered violent protests over Chinese rule in Tibet.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AUSTRALIA DEATHS DOCTOR TO RETURN !

By Nick Bryant - BBC News, Sydney

Jayant Patel faces allegations of malpractice.
In Australia, former patients of an Indian surgeon accused of manslaughter have welcomed his decision not to fight extradition from the US.
Dr Jayant Patel was arrested by FBI agents at his home in Oregon in March.
Serving as the head of surgery at a Queensland hospital between 2003 and 2005, he was linked in a government inquiry to the deaths of 17 patients.
The inquiry said these deaths were a result of alleged medical malpractice on the part of Dr Patel.
He was subsequently charged with 16 offences, including manslaughter, grievous bodily harm and negligence.
Since his arrest, Dr Patel has been detained in a high-security prison in Portland, Oregon, and was expected to wage a lengthy court battle to avoid extradition.
But in a surprise move, his legal team has filed a motion to a US court expressing his "willingness, desire, and intent" to confront the allegations.
According to the motion, he accepted that he must return to Australia to contest the allegations.
The news has been met with delight by some of his former patients, many of whom firmly believe they were adversely affected by his care.
They have fought a three-year campaign to bring him to trial in Australia, and one former patient wept with relief after learning he would be brought back to Queensland much sooner than was thought.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

POLICE HALT 'BROTHEL-ON-WHEELS' !

Detectives said they found half-naked young women on board.
An alleged mobile brothel in the US state of Florida has taken its last ride following a police sting.
Undercover detectives in Miami Beach allegedly paid a $40 entry fee to board the vehicle and found women offering sex acts and lap dances for money.
Six people, including the driver of the stretch limousine bus, were detained.
They face a range of charges, including transportation for the purpose of prostitution and conducting business without a licence.
The sleek black bus had allegedly been cruising the South Beach neighbourhood, popular among tourists and clubbers.
When they boarded on Sunday, detectives said they found a fully-stocked bar and several young women who stripped down to reveal G-strings stuffed with cash.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MANDELA CONDEMNS MUGABE 'FAILURE' !

Nelson Mandela makes his first public remarks criticising Robert Mugabe.
Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has added his voice to the growing international condemnation of the political violence in Zimbabwe.
In his first public comments about the crisis, he noted "the tragic failure of leadership" of President Robert Mugabe.
Southern African leaders earlier called for Friday's run-off presidential vote to be postponed because conditions did not permit a free and fair election.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged foreign help to end the crisis.
Speaking at a dinner in London to mark his 90th birthday, Mr Mandela said:
"We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe."
Mr Mandela had held his silence until now, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins, to avoid undermining South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki's efforts as chief mediator on Zimbabwe.
Mr Mbeki's policy of "quiet diplomacy" has been criticised for its failure to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Nelson Mandela spoke few words but they will carry immense weight simply because of who he is, says our correspondent.
I am asking the AU [African Union] and Sadc to lead an expanded initiative supported by the UN to manage what I will call a transitional process - Morgan Tsvangirai.

Harare diary: Shell-shocked
Can Sadc solve Zimbabwe's crisis?
Mugabe stripped of knighthood

Earlier on Wednesday, southern African leaders holding an emergency summit in Swaziland called for the run-off vote to be postponed.
The governments of Swaziland, Tanzania and Angola said conditions would not permit a free and fair election.
The three countries from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) are responsible for overseeing peace and security in the region.
The leaders said they were concerned and disappointed by Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal on Sunday from the vote.
But they said that holding the election under the present circumstances might undermine the credibility and legitimacy of its outcome.
They also said the people of Zimbabwe deserved a "cooling-off period".
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), says some 86 of its supporters have been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party. The government blames the MDC for the violence.
Mr Tsvangirai said he withdrew from the election over fears for the lives of his supporters.

President Robert Mugabe has vowed to go ahead with Friday's vote.
The government and Zimbabwe's election authority insist Friday's vote will go ahead because Mr Tsvangirai's withdrawal came too late to prevent his name appearing on the ballot paper and was therefore invalid.
Mr Mugabe officially came second to Mr Tsvangirai in the first round in March.
The governing Zanu-PF party, led by Mr Mugabe, also lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980.
'Sham vote'
The crisis has drawn growing international condemnation of Mr Mugabe and his government.
Britain has said it will withdraw an honorary knighthood granted to President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Mugabe is the first foreigner to be stripped of the award since Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, the day before his execution.

Morgan Tsvangirai speaking at a news conference at his home in Harare.
US President George W Bush said Friday's vote appeared "to be a sham" because the opposition had not been able to campaign without fear of intimidation.
The US has said it will not recognise the results of the vote.
Mr Tsvangirai has appealed for the African Union and Zimbabwe's neighbouring states to intervene to resolve the situation.
"I am asking the AU [African Union] and Sadc to lead an expanded initiative supported by the UN to manage what I will call a transitional process," he said at a news conference in Harare.
Dismissing Friday's planned election as pointless, he said Zimbabwe should work out a political settlement based on genuine and honest dialogue.
Mr Mugabe has said his government was open to negotiations with "anyone" but only after the elections.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SAUDI HOLD 520 TERROR SUSPECTS !

Saudi Arabia is holding 520 suspected militants following raids across the kingdom this year, its interior ministry says.
They are accused of links to what it called the "deviant group" - a term used for al-Qaeda by Saudi officials.
They said the accused were of various nationalities and had been plotting attacks in and outside Saudi Arabia.
Officials said a further 181 suspects detained in 2008 had been released because of a lack of evidence.
The militant arrest figures are thought to be the largest and most comprehensive ever released by the Saudi authorities.
The ministry said one group of suspects was detained close to an oil export terminal and major petrochemical plants in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast.
The authorities said another alleged cell, which included Africans, was broken up in eastern Saudi Arabia after trying to gather information about oil facilities.
The oil-rich kingdom - the birthplace of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden - has been waging a crackdown on militants since a 2003 wave of attacks on foreign compounds.

BBC NEWS REPORT

"SAYINGS" !

"ANY MAN CAN WIN WHEN THINGS

GO HIS WAY,

IT'S THE MAN WHO OVERCOMES ADVERSITY

THAT IS THE TRUE CHAMPION" !

__________

BURMA BLOCKS EMERGENCY TELECOMS !

By Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter, BBC News.

More than two million people are thought to have been affected.
Two teams of foreign aid workers dedicated to delivering emergency telecoms in disaster areas have been forced to leave cyclone-hit Burma.
The members of Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) left the country after attempts to reach affected areas were blocked.
The charity, which described the situation as "unprecedented", said it had no other choice but to leave.
TSF finally reached Burma on 1 June after waiting nearly a month to be granted visas to enter the country.
"The frustration is that we were allowed into the country but not allowed to deploy," TSF spokesman Oisin Walton told BBC News.
Many international charities were allowed into Burma following a visit to the area by UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon.
But repeated attempts to get the necessary authorisation to visit affected areas such as the Irrawaddy Delta, were met with a wall of silence.
"We got no reply at all," said Mr Walton.

TSF is a specialist agency which works with the UN to provide communication support to aid agencies and local people. Its presence was requested by Unicef following Cyclone Nargis on 2 May.

TSF KITLIST

BGan satellite link (data and voice: 496kbps). Primary connection
Gan M4 satellite link (data and voice: 64kbps). Used as backup
Large VSAT satellite dish for long term deployments
At least two satellite phones including a mobile device
Mobile phones and local sim cards if GSM infrastructure intact
Routers and access points for communication centre
Wireless relays to extend coverage
PCs, printer and scanner
GPS
Power packs including car batteries and solar panels

But despite being granted visas to enter the country - one month after the event - the teams were held in Rangoon.
In the meantime other charities were given the go ahead to deploy to the worst affected regions.
Mr Walton believes that TSF was blocked because of the nature of its work.
"They obviously didn't want us in the affected areas with telecommunications equipment," said Mr Walton.
Some charities have had communications equipment held at the border, he said. Limited facilities are currently being provided by Unicef and the World Food Programme (WFP).
"Aid agencies are doing a wonderful job but the government is not helping," he said.
Had the charity reached the disaster, teams would have set up communications centres for other charities and organisations.
These contain all the telecoms and IT equipment found in a normal office - including printers, scanners, laptops and phones - housed in a tent or temporary shelter.
Connections are made via satellite links.
In addition, it offers "welfare" calls to affected people, allowing them to make contact with friends and family.
The charity has a commitment to the UN to deploy within 48 hours but is generally in the field within just 24 hours.
"We are an emergency response NGO," said Mr Walton. "But it's not really an emergency response two months after the event."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE : POSSIBLE SCENARIOS !

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has declared that the second round of presidential elections will be held as planned on 27 June. The opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has withdrawn from the election. We look at the possible scenarios ahead for Zimbabwe.

Mugabe wins election and remains as president
Given Robert Mugabe's determination to stay on and to use the instruments of the state and his party Zanu-PF to support him, this is the most likely scenario, at least in the short term.
The second round will be held on Friday 27 June and, in the absence of Morgan Tsvangirai, of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Mr Mugabe will win.

Mugabe isolated internationally and regionally
The US and UK governments have said they now do not recognise Mr Mugabe as the president of Zimbabwe. They would campaign for a similar decision to be taken by the regional Southern Africa governments, especially South Africa, and by the EU. This could prevent Mr Mugabe from attending international meetings. The African Union would be called on not give him a seat, based on its rule not to accept leaders who have not been democratically elected.

Sanctions increased
Sanctions might be increased. At the moment, the EU has imposed travel bans and asset-freezing measures against Mr Mugabe and 130 of his leading supporters. This list would be extended and would apply to their families as well, including children at schools and universities abroad. The US and Australia have similar targeted measures and could increase them.
The government of Zimbabwe relies heavily on its earnings from mining and there could be EU and US restrictions on companies doing business with state enterprises in Zimbabwe. Care would have to be taken not to hurt the poor, already suffering from huge inflation. The loophole is that China or other countries might step in the fill any gap.
The UN has no sanctions on Zimbabwe. Whether the Security Council would impose any must be doubtful at the moment.

Government of national unity
The MDC would offer negotiations and, realising that his position internationally and regionally is weakened, Mr Mugabe agrees to form a coalition government. New elections would follow.
The key question here is whether Mr Mugabe would remain president. If he did, would the MDC agree? If not, would he agree? Any agreement would also need pressure on Mr Mugabe from South Africa and other regional governments and the African Union. Also, there would need to be guarantees that the new elections would be free and fair.

Collapse of Zanu-PF leadership
Mr Mugabe's close associates would break into factions, with some wanting to find a safe way out for themselves (through an immunity deal with the MDC, for example). Others might fight on, but in the end, even they might realise it was over, would turn on Mr Mugabe and tell him to go. Without support from the powerful security force elements, Mr Mugabe could not enforce his will. Despite reports of splits within Zanu-PF, the campaign of violence shows they remain united.

Civil unrest and economic deprivation
This is the more of the same scenario. There could be violence as Zanu-PF seeks to establish total control under a renewed Mugabe presidency. Economically, the country falls into subsistence living. The chances of a full-scale civil war look remote at the moment, given the weakness of the MDC and the intimidation used by Zanu-PF.

Military intervention
Mr Tsvangirai has called for an international military force to be sent to Zimbabwe, but no government has shown any desire to send in troops to invade and remove Mr Mugabe from power. It would need a UN Security Council resolution to authorise such an invasion and this would be very difficult to get, even if anyone proposed it, which is unlikely at the moment.
A humanitarian intervention, with the aim of protecting and feeding people, is a possibility if things get totally out of control. A UN authorised force might be assembled but it would be difficult to do anything if there was opposition from the Zimbabwe authorities.

International Criminal Court prosecution
The problem with this is that Zimbabwe has not signed up to the court and therefore proceedings cannot be taken against its leaders. Any legal action would need authorisation from the Security Council (along the lines of the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda).

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BIOFUEL USE 'INCREASING POVERTY' !

Palm oil is one of the biofuel crops stirring controversy.
The replacement of traditional fuels with biofuels has dragged more than 30 million people worldwide into poverty, an aid agency report says.
Oxfam says so-called green policies in developed countries are contributing to the world's soaring food prices, which hit the poor hardest.
The group also says biofuels will do nothing to combat climate change.
Its report urges the EU to scrap a target of making 10% of all transport run on renewable resources by 2020.
Oxfam estimates the EU's target could multiply carbon emissions 70-fold by 2020 by changing the use of land.
The report's author, Oxfam's biofuel policy adviser Rob Bailey, criticised rich countries for using subsidies and tax breaks to encourage the use of food crops for alternative sources of energy like ethanol.
"If the fuel value for a crop exceeds its food value, then it will be used for fuel instead," he said.
"Rich countries... are making climate change worse, not better, they are stealing crops and land away from food production, and they are destroying millions of livelihoods in the process."
Opportunity - or crime?
Biofuels are a divisive issue with strong arguments on both sides.
Leaders such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have suggested the biofuel boom provides developing nations with a great opportunity.
He says it creates a profitable export for energy crop producers in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean that could enable them to claw their way out of poverty.
But several aid agencies and analysts have warned of the possible downside of biofuel crop cultivation.
One UN adviser went as far as describing biofuels as a "crime against humanity".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NZ SIGNS HISTORIC MAORI LAND DEAL !

In a historic settlement, the New Zealand government has signed over huge tracts of forest land to the ownership of seven Maori tribes.
The NZ$420m ($319m) agreement transfers ownership of nine forests - covering 435,000 acres (176,000 hectares) of land - in the central North Island.
Hundreds of Maori, some in traditional dress, thronged parliament to witness the signing of the accord.
"It's a historic journey we are on," Prime Minister Helen Clark said.
"We came into politics to address injustice and seek reconciliation. Thank you for walking that road with us on this historic day," she added, according to AP news agency.
The settlement - the largest single deal between the government and Maori tribes - seeks to address grievances dating back to the Waitangi Treaty of 1840.
The treaty guaranteed the indigenous Maori people use of their land and resources in return for ceding sovereignty to the British crown. But land seizures and ownership breaches followed.

The forests signed over are mainly large commercial pine plantations, generating about NZ$13m a year in rents.
The settlement also hands over rents that have accumulated on the land since 1989.
Between them, the seven tribes or iwi include more than 100,000 members. They will manage the land collectively, setting up a holding company structure and forestry management structure.
The chairman of the collective, Maori paramount chief Tumu Te Heu Heu, said the objective was to provide tribes with "a strong, durable and sustainable economic future", in particular young members and the coming generations.
"This is our legacy to them," he said, according to AP.
Maori make up about 15% of New Zealand's 4.2 million population, but are among the country's poorest citizens, experiencing high unemployment, and poor health, education and housing compared to other New Zealanders.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AFRICA LEADERS SEEK ZIMBABWE PLAN !

Robert Mugabe says he is open to talks - after the elections
An emergency meeting of southern African leaders is seeking to address the Zimbabwe crisis, ahead of Friday's presidential election run-off.
The summit involves leaders from Swaziland, Tanzania and Angola - but does not include the region's chief mediator, South Africa's Thabo Mbeki.
It comes as UK-based mining giant Anglo American defended a large investment in a Zimbabwean platinum mine.
The UK government said it was planning further sanctions against the regime.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the financial and travel restrictions would target specific individuals in Mr Mugabe's government.
The politically-motivated violence, intimidation and torture have made a just and fair run-off presidential election virtually impossible - South African Catholic Bishops' Conference.

Harare diary: Shell-shocked
Zimbabwe: Possible scenarios
Mugabe's remarkable comeback
New media evades censors

Asked about Anglo American's reported $400m (£200m) investment in a Zimbabwe platinum mine, Mr Brown told parliament he did not want to see anything that would "prop up" the Mugabe regime.
The project, in the central district of Unki, would be the largest foreign investment in the country, the London Times reports.
Separately, the England and Wales Cricket Board said it had severed ties with the Zimbabwe Cricket team, cancelling a tour to England due for next year.
Run-offEmbassy Harare
Zimbabwe's presidential election run-off is due to go ahead on Friday, despite the opposition's withdrawal.
The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, pulled out of the contest on Sunday, citing government-backed violence against his supporters.
Mr Tsvangirai, who is taking refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare, says his party is open to suggestions from the emergency meeting of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) peace and security committee being held in Swaziland.
The UK-based Guardian newspaper ran an article on Wednesday purportedly by Mr Tsvangirai, saying Mr Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" had failed and calling for UN peacekeepers to go into Zimbabwe.
But MDC officials later contacted the BBC to disown the article, insisting neither Mr Tsvangirai or any other MDC member had written it - claims rejected by the paper.
Mr Mugabe, who blames the opposition for the violence, says he is open to discussions - but only after the vote, the Herald newspaper quoted him as saying.
Police raided an MDC building in the eastern city of Mutare on Wednesday, the AFP news agency reports, demanding ID cards and posting guards outside the premises.
The BBC's David Bamford says Sadc was assigned to oversee the election in Zimbabwe on behalf of Africa, and for that reason its opinion counts as to whether it believes Friday's election should go ahead if the opposition does not take part.

But that is not to say President Mugabe will necessarily pay any heed to its opinion, he adds.
The Swazi foreign minister, Mathendele Dlamini, told the BBC that the Sadc meeting was likely to offer advice to Mr Mugabe rather than issue any rebuke.
But the general secretary of the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Zwelinzima Vavi, said he hoped they would tell Mr Mugabe his presidency was over.
"The Sadc government must not drag themselves into recognising what everybody now agrees to be an illegitimate Robert Mugabe government," he said.
"We don't want Mugabe to be recognised at all, that should be the starting point."
Kenya's leaders have also joined international condemnation of Mr Mugabe and his government.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Mr Mugabe had no right to call himself president and said Friday's vote would have no legitimacy and should be postponed.
"He lost an election and if he now proceeds to go and conduct a sham election and declare himself as a president that is not going to be acceptable," he said.
Unified effort
The US has said it would not recognise the result of any vote held on Friday because of the violence being waged against the opposition.
The MDC says some 86 of its supporters have been killed and 200,000 forced from their homes by militias loyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party. The government blames the MDC for the violence.
The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference issued a statement on Wednesday saying "the politically-motivated violence, intimidation and torture have made a just and fair run-off presidential election virtually impossible".
They urged a unified effort from the international community and southern African countries to help resolve the situation and avoid a "vast humanitarian crisis that will engulf the whole Southern African region".
The MDC won the parliamentary vote in March, and claims to have won the first round of the presidential contest - held on the same day - outright.
According to official results, Mr Tsvangirai was ahead of Mr Mugabe but failed to gain enough votes to avoid a run-off.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MICHELLE : BARAK'S BITTER OR BETTER HALF?

By Molly Levinson.

It is less than a month into the general election and Michelle Obama is already in the midst of a makeover. Michelle Obama could help court the all-important female vote.
A tough primary campaign put some dents in her image. She weathered a storm of criticism following a comment she made about her husband's candidacy, saying that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change".
Immediately, Republicans and her Democratic rivals piled in, including Republican presidential hopeful John McCain's wife Cindy McCain, who has alluded to Mrs Obama's comment on more than one occasion.
The conservative magazine National Review dubbed her "Mrs Grievance." Conservative commentators have called her Barack Obama's "bitter half." Fox News was rebuked for referring to her with the racial slander "Baby Mama," and talk among political pundits escalated about her "angry" side.
The politically motivated rumour mills that have plagued Mr Obama have not spared Mrs Obama either. Whisper campaigns on the internet have alluded to racist comments in her past that she says she has never made (and the evidence is solidly in her court, as so far no one has produced any evidence of the comments).

Still, the Obama campaign is actively trying to refresh Mrs Obama's image. Appearing on ABC's The View last week, Mrs Obama used the opportunity to address her critics, but also to present a picture that those close to her say is more true to herself than the caricature her critics are painting.
During the course of the show she was able to talk about her background, growing up in humble circumstances on the South Side of Chicago, attending Princeton for college, and Harvard law school, becoming a wife and a mother.
She addressed her "proud" gaffe directly, saying "I think when I talked about it during my speech, what I was talking about was having a part in the political process. People are just engaged in this election in a way that I haven't seen in a long time and I think everybody has agreed with that, that people are focused, they're coming out."
She also appeared this week on the cover of US Weekly Magazine above the title Why Barack Loves Her. The article pointed out that she shops at the US store Target, loved the television show Sex and the City, and included a quote from Mr Obama, who told the magazine, "Nothing is more important to Michelle than being a good mother."
It is no surprise that the Obama campaign chose The View and US Weekly for their re-introduction of Mrs Obama; those outlets are extremely popular among women, who are up for grabs in this election.
Hillary Clinton's loss in the Democratic primary, combined with Republican competition for important female demographics including married and Hispanic women, makes winning women all the more important for Mr Obama.

Mrs Obama could be quite an asset when appealing to these voters.
Her background is another electoral asset. Her roots on Chicago's historically black South Side and the fact that she is a descendant of American slaves served as an important counter-point to early questions among African American voters over whether Mr Obama is "black enough."

Her conversations with African Americans about her background and the fact that she has family from South Carolina were a key piece of the Obama primary strategy in the state, and contributed to Mr Obama's win there.
She is also well-positioned as a bold counterpoint to the GOP's favourite charge when it comes to Mr Obama: "elitism". Her modest roots in a one-bedroom apartment, with a shift-working father, are anything but "elite".
Further, as she said herself on last week's The View, she "wears her heart on her sleeve," a potentially powerful contrast to Mr Obama, who, at times, has come across as more guarded.
She is able to speak for the candidate in a way that no one else can. Mrs Obama has talked about what her husband was like as a younger man, the qualities that she loves about him and the reasons she thinks he should be president.
All this is in the hope that voters can connect to her stories, and increase their trust in him. If she can do that, she will be enormously successful in her role.
The downside to all of this, as the Obama campaign is all too aware, is that she runs the risk of being an enormous liability. If rumours about Mrs Obama being anti-white or unpatriotic persist, they could have a very negative impact on Mr Obama's chance to win the White House.
Not only do these stories steal the spotlight from the message that the campaign is trying to convey, but they contribute to voters' doubts about Mr Obama.
Whether true or completely unfounded, as many of these rumours are, they have a danger of becoming a distraction, and chipping away at Mr Obama's trustworthiness rating, which would, in turn, diminish his ability to win the White House.
At the end of the day, voters vote for the candidate they most want to be president of the United States, and not for his wife. But in the months between now and election day, Michelle Obama can have a huge impact on how voters feel on 4 November.
Molly Levinson is a political analyst and former CBS News Political Director.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GAME, SET AND CASH AT WIMBLEDON !

Forty-fifteen might be the numbers you usually hear during the two weeks of the Wimbledon Championships.
But other figures of interest might be the £91 price for a centre court ticket for the final or £25m made for the development of tennis in Britain.
Other visitors might want to know that strawberries and cream have gone up in price from £2 to £2.25 for a punnet of no fewer than 10 prime berries.
About 450,000 people will attend the Championships which started on Monday.
The Wimbledon Championships are a huge business and merchandising opportunity with hundreds of millions of people around the world watching the matches.
Last year, 9,739 men's championship towels, 9,912 women's towels and 16,712 mini tennis ball keyrings were sold at the event.

There are no fewer than 10 strawberries in each £2.25 punnet.
Another significant source of revenue comes from ticket sales. Prices start at £20 for a ticket for the outer courts during the first week. Centre court tickets start at £38.
As well as the strawberries, picked from farms in Kent at 5.30am each morning, the spectators get through 300,000 cups of tea and coffee, 190,000 sandwiches, 150,000 glasses of Pimm's and 30,000 portions of fish and chips at the event.
But the All England Lawn Tennis Club is a not-for-profit organisation, and the funds generated by the Championships, less tax, are used by the Lawn Tennis Association to develop tennis in Britain.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TSVANGIRAI GETS SAFETY ASSURANCES !

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he will leave the Dutch embassy in Harare in the next 48 hours.
He was speaking to Dutch radio from the embassy, where he took refuge on Sunday night after pulling out of a run-off election, citing widespread violence.
He said the Dutch ambassador had received assurances from the Zimbabwe authorities about his safety.
Meanwhile, an African election observer told the BBC torture was "the order of the day" in Zimbabwe.
BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says the observer interviewed opposition supporters in hospital and found that "everyone was utterly terrified".
BBC world affairs editor John Simpson, who is in Harare, says critics of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader have been lambasting him for seeking refuge in a European embassy, rather than an African one.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL
Five permanent members: US, China, France, Russia, UK
10 non-permanent members: Belgium, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Indonesia, Italy, Libya, Panama, South Africa, Vietnam

Mugabe's remarkable comeback

He says few people in Zimbabwe know that Mr Tsvangirai has withdrawn from the race, because official media barely ever mention him.
He adds that Mr Mugabe is on course for a remarkable victory, when only three months ago he seemed to be on the ropes.
Zimbabwe's Police Commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, labelled Mr Tsvangirai's move to the Dutch embassy as an "exhibitionist antic", intended to provoke international anger.
He said Mr Tsvangirai, who was detained briefly on five separate occasions during recent election campaigning, had been making a desperate attempt to besmirch the election.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's UN ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "We have never prevented [Mr Tsvangirai] from campaigning.
"He's a cry baby…. He has been free to move wherever he wanted to move."
Mr Chidyausiku has said Friday's presidential run-off would go ahead despite Monday's unanimous statement by the UN Security Council that said a free and fair vote would be "impossible".

President Mugabe blames the opposition for the election violence. The British-drafted statement was toned down from an earlier draft but was the first time that South Africa, Russia and China had agreed to criticise President Robert Mugabe's government.
It said the campaign had "resulted in the killing of scores of opposition activists and other Zimbabweans, and the beating and displacement of thousands of people, including many women and children.
"The Security Council regrets that the campaign of violence and the restrictions on the political opposition have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place on 27 June."
Earlier on Monday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Zimbabwe to postpone the run-off.

On Monday, more than 60 MDC supporters were arrested at the party's Harare headquarters.
The MDC won the parliamentary vote in March, and claims to have won the first round of the presidential contest outright. According to official results, Mr Tsvangirai was ahead of Mr Mugabe but failed to gain enough votes to avoid a run-off.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been leading efforts by Zimbabwe's neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to mediate an end to the crisis.
Mr Mbeki is reported to be trying to arrange a meeting between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai for talks on cancelling the election run-off and forming a government of national unity.
Mr Mugabe has hit back at his international critics, accusing Western countries of lying about Zimbabwe in order to justify an intervention.
"Britain and her allies are telling a lot of lies about Zimbabwe, saying a lot of people are dying," Tuesday's edition of the pro-government Herald newspaper quoted Mr Mugabe as saying.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FBI PROMISES MORE FRAUD ARRESTS !

By Greg Wood Business Correspondent, BBC News, Washington DC

The US Justice Department says the frauds have cost victims $1bn.
A senior FBI officer has told the BBC that more arrests will be made as part of its probe into mortgage fraud and the credit crunch.
Section chief for Financial Crimes, Sharon Ormsby, said hundreds of arrests already made were just a "good start".
More than 400 US real estate brokers have been arrested and charged with fraud in the past few months.
And two former Bear Stearns executives have been charged over the collapse of two hedge funds.
They are the first executives to face criminal charges related to the collapse of the value sub-prime loans which triggered the credit crunch.

"It's a good start for us in our push to begin further investigations into corporate and mortgage related fraud" said Ms Ormsby, who is overseeing the FBI's Operation Malicious Mortgage.
"We wanted to put forth a statement that we are serious about these frauds and that we understand that if we don't take action against them it will create further problems for our economic future."
She refused to say how many more arrests the FBI expects to make in one of its biggest financial investigations, involving 200 full-time agents and more than 30 task forces across the US.

Sharon Ormsby on tackling corporate and mortgage related frauds.
But she confirmed that the Bureau was looking at every aspect of mortgage fraud, from the granting of individual loans to their bundling up and sale on Wall Street as investments.
"We've initiated investigations into 19 corporations. We are precluded from talking about them. But we are looking at individuals related to mortgage lenders, investment firms, brokerage houses, hedge funds, due diligence firms, rating agencies - the whole gamut."
UK co-operation
Some of the leading investment banks on Wall Street and their senior executives are now thought to be in the frame over the collapse in the market for mortgage-backed securities which has left them with hundreds of billions of dollars in losses.
Ms Ormsby said the problem of mortgage fraud could be even bigger than expected and forecast that the FBI would be working on it for at least the next two years.
"I don't know that I ever put into consideration as to how extensive it is," she said.
"I think at this point we're looking at economic trends, intelligence collection and analysis to tell us exactly how large this could potentially be and we haven't determined that at this point."
She said that the FBI had been in contact with law enforcement agencies in other countries as part of its investigation into mortgage industry fraud, including the UK's Serious and Organised Crimes Agency, "but not about a particular corporation", she added.
The FBI estimates that homeowners in the US have lost more than $1bn because of mortgage fraud.
But Ms Ormsby held out little hope of compensation for the victims of the sub-prime collapse.
"A lot of times in these kind of cases the perpetrators will take the ill-gotten gains and purchase homes or cars or other material items," she said.
"They may no longer have them in their possession or they may have used them for their own lifestyle. By the time we conclude the investigation the best we can do is forfeit those items, and some of that money can be turned over back to the victims.
"If we can identify the victims we will do that but many times unfortunately very little money comes back to them. In the vast majority of cases there's not much hope of them getting compensation."
Some of cases involve the alleged use of false employment records or the inflation of property values.
Others are looking into alleged foreclosure rescue scams which target struggling homeowners offering to help prevent them losing their home for a fee.
Reports of mortgage fraud have increased significantly over the past year. According to the US Treasury Department, banks reported almost 53,000 cases of suspected mortgage fraud in 2007, up 37,000 a year earlier.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SHAKE-UP FOR INTERNET PROPOSED !

By Darren Waters Technology editor, BBC News website

The net could see its biggest transformation in decades if plans to open up the address system are passed.
The net's regulators will vote on Thursday to decide if the strict rules on so-called top level domain names, such as .com or .uk, can be relaxed.
If approved, it could allow companies to turn their brands into domain names while individuals could also carve out their own corner of the net.
The move could also see the launch of .xxx, after years of wrangling.
Top level domains are currently limited to individual countries, such as .uk (UK) or .it (Italy), as well as to commerce, .com, and to institutional organisations, such as .net, or .org.
To get around the restrictions, some companies have used the current system to their own ends.
For example, the Polynesia island nation Tuvalu, has leased the use of the .tv address to many television firms.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), which acts as a sort of regulator for the net as well as overseeing the domain name system, has been working towards opening up net addresses for the last three years.
The plan would also allow for the new domain names to be internationalised, and so could be written in scripts for Asian and Arabic languages.
Dr Paul Twomey, chief executive of Icann, told BBC News that the proposals would result in the biggest change to the way the internet worked in decades.
"The impact of this will be different in different parts of the world. But it will allow groups, communities and business to express their identities online.
"Like the United States in the 19th Century, we are in the process of opening up new real estate, new land, and people will go out and claim parts of that land and use it for various reasons they have.
"It's a massive increase in the geography of the real estate of the internet."

Hundreds of new domain names could be created by the end of the year, rising to thousands in the future.
Icann says any string of letters can be registered as a domain, but there will be an independent arbitration process for people with grounds for objection.
The openness of the new system could pave the way for a .xxx domain name, after more than half a decade of wrangling between its backers and Icann.
The latest attempt to launch .xxx was rejected by Icann last year on the grounds that approval would put the agency into the position of a content regulator.
When asked about the possibility of a .xxx domain name, Dr Twomey repeated only that the new system would be "open to anyone".
The move could yet be blocked as the independent arbitration panel can reject domains based on "morality or public order" grounds.
Dr Twomey said Icann was still working through how much the application fee to register a domain name will be, but it is expected to be at least several thousand dollars.
'Cost recovery'
"We are doing this on a cost recovery basis. We've already spent $10m on this," he said.
Individuals will be able to register a domain based on their own name, or any other string of letters, as long as they can show a "business plan and technical capacity".
While companies will be able to secure domain names based on their intellectual property easily, some domain names could become subject to contention and a bidding war.
Dr Twomey said: "If there is a dispute, we will try and get the parties together to work it out. But if that fails there will be an auction and the domain will go to the highest bidder."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CAMERON ATTACKS BROWN OVER TREATY !

David Cameron has accused the prime minister of "letting down" Britain, Ireland and Europe by failing to declare the EU Lisbon Treaty "dead".
He said Gordon Brown had joined fellow EU leaders at their recent summit in "bullying" the Irish who rejected the treaty in a referendum.
Mr Brown said it was the Irish who said "they wanted time to discuss this matter in their own country".
He said the Tories were "isolated" in their "perverse view of Europe".
The heated exchanges came as the prime minister reported back to MPs the outcome of the EU summit in Brussels.
'Failure to show leadership'
Mr Cameron said the PM could have "done the difficult thing and declared the treaty dead" or "the easy thing and join others in starting the process of bullying Ireland into a second referendum".
That's half truths, ignoring democracy, breaking promises - shutting people out when they should be given a say. Can you get any more old politics than that?
David Cameron
"Isn't it the case that in taking the latter path, you have let down the people of Ireland, you've let down Britain and you've let down Europe?" he asked Mr Brown.
British governments, whatever their political persuasion had "never wanted a European constitution with a European president, a European foreign minister and a European diplomatic service", he said.
"Even Tony Blair was clear when the process started in saying he didn't want a constitution," he said.
"So why, when the only people who were given the chance to speak say 'no' do you fail to show any leadership?
"Even Tony Blair was better than this."
He said it was "simply untrue" for Mr Brown to say the treaty was "absolutely essential for enlargement".
"You say that if the treaty was killed off, we would be isolated in Europe too...but isn't that wrong too? On our side, against this steady creation of a European state are the Dutch voters, the French voters and now the Irish voters.
"You have brought back a constitution, pretending it's a new treaty; taking part in the bullying of a small country that has voted against it; insisting on driving through this treaty and not allowing the British people a say on it.
"That's half truths, ignoring democracy, breaking promises - shutting people out when they should be given a say. Can you get any more old politics than that?"
Mr Brown replied that the Irish leader Brian Cowan had reported to the summit that Ireland "wanted time to discuss this matter in their country".
Respect call
"They said they wanted to report to the Council of Europe - it's for the Irish to make their position known.
"The Irish government made it clear that they were not seeking to persuade other countries not to ratify the treaty and that is why you are isolated in Europe when you say that European governments are with you."
He said Mr Cameron should respect the fact that both the Commons and the Lords had voted in support of the treaty through the EU Amendment Bill, which was given Royal Assent last week.
Nearly 60% of British trade is with Europe and nearly three million jobs depend on its membership of the European Union, he said.
"The Conservative Party are not only isolated in Europe, they are increasingly isolated in this perverse view of Europe that blames everything on Europe when Europe is delivering many great things for the British people."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TSVANGIRAI SEEKS EMBASSY REFUGE !

Morgan Tsvangirai feared for supporters' safety at the polls.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has taken refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare.
A Dutch foreign ministry spokesman said Mr Tsvangirai had spent the night at the embassy as he feared for his safety but had not requested asylum.
On Sunday, he announced he was withdrawing from the 27 June presidential elections in the face of violence from ruling party militias.
Zimbabwean officials have said a run-off election will still go ahead.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Mr Tsvangirai's withdrawal announcement was a ruse as he had not sent a formal notice yet.
The BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says Mr Tsvangirai is now considering his next move, but he remains in the Dutch compound.
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said that if Mr Tsvangirai was looking for safety at the diplomatic mission, he was welcome.
Mr Tsvangirai blames supporters of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF party for the death of 86 of his supporters.
On Monday, more than 60 supporters of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party were arrested at its Harare headquarters.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said those arrested were women and children who had fled political violence.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WHEELCHAIR MAN 'OVER THE LIMIT' !

Police in the northern Australian city of Cairns have charged a man with drink-driving - in a motorised wheelchair.
Patrol officers found the man stopped and fast asleep in his wheelchair in the exit lane of a major highway at 1000 on Friday morning.
He had a blood alcohol level of 0.31 - six times over the legal alcohol limit.
When police woke him up, the man told them he had been on his way to visit friends.
A local police inspector said that man's actions were a recipe for disaster.
"It's unlawful, it is unacceptable and people should realise it could lead to a fatality," Bob Walters told the Cairns Post newspaper.
Horses, bicycles, in-line skates and skateboards were also considered vehicles under drink-driving laws, he added.
The man is due to appear in court on 7 July.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"NO ARMY CAN WITHSTAND THE STRENGTH

OF AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME" !

_______

MDC PULL-OUT : ZIMBABWE REACTS !

The opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has pulled out of the Zimbabwean presidential run-off, handing victory to Robert Mugabe.
Here, readers inside Zimbabwe react to the news.

IN FAVOUR OF PULL-OUT

It's the best decision ever by Tsvangirai who has proved that he is concerned for the suffering masses of Zimbabwe. For how long will our countrymen be killed by Mugabe while our sisters are raped by the war veterans? God will judge Mugabe for that at least now elections are no longer there. Tapondwa Mupande, Hwange
Yes, the decision was the correct one, no lives should be lost just for an election. If Mugabe wants to rule, let him rule until the day he dies. As far as I am concerned he is not the leader of Zimbabwe. He is not a leader deserving respect. He has embarrassed himself and the people of Zimbabwe.Thulasizwe, Harare

The presidential run-off was due to take place on 27 JuneI strongly support the move taken by the MDC. Today I witnessed a very sad situation. The Zanu-PF thugs came to Sam Levy village in their regalia, singing and chanting then proceeded to loot the flea market. They also had a white car waiting to collect the loot. They went in and out of the complex each time bringing things to the car while singing and chanting their songs. It's so pathetic. Let this dear devil go ahead and declare himself the winner. What a shame.M M, Harare
This is the safest move taken by the MDC, it is for the safety of the people and also their secretary general. There is no doubt that Zanu-PF was going to win this election and SADC as we all know was going to endorse Mugabe yet the whole world knows that he is suppressing Tsvangirai's rallies. Now the ball is in SADC's court, whether they accept Mugabe's presidency or not. Its time for action not words.Darlington, Harare
I am happy about the MDC decision - too much blood has been shed and we cannot afford to lose any more people over this ruthless and undemocratic government. At least the world has seen Mugabe for what he is - undemocratic, senile and evil. Now is the time for the AU, SADC and international community to push Thabo Mbeki to act against this Mugabe regime.Pamhidzai, Harare

The MDC have made the right decision - success in leadership is not about greedily holding on to power with the skin of your teeth against the will of the people. Success is about taking responsibility and being answerable. Leadership is more than just a job in an office, it is about the ability to listen and learn - taking note of the needs of the electorate and working with the people to build the country. If a leader feels omnipotent then history will judge them harshly as with Saddam Hussein, Hitler, Marcos and many many others.Sarudzai, Harare.

OPPOSED TO PULL-OUT

Come on Morgan! When did you realise free and fair polls were not possible? How many times did Simba Makoni call for the cancellation of polls for the same reason you are now pulling out and more. This is a disgrace. Morgan should have listened to voices of reason John Kachere, Masvingo
Morgan! I know it is easy for me to say fight on, stand regardless, while I sleep in safety at night. But I fail to understand why you don't carry on, I mean Eddie was ousted! It cost, but he left! As for the rest of the world, shame on you for making interesting noises to make yourselves look good while old people starve and little children just don't have a chance to life. A beautiful, gentle people are being subjected to hell and the politicians don't seem to grasp just how nasty this all is. Louise Tee, Kwekwe
The situation in Zimbabwe is totally untenable for a free and fair election. Today the Zanu-PF thugs were all over Borrowdale, the upmarket suburb in Harare, going door to door and beating up people from newspaper vendors at the corner of Harare Drive and Rolf Avenue to stall vegetable vendors at Ballatyne Park Shopping Centre, and Sam Levy's Village. This situation now calls for international intervention. Enough is enough.Fungai, Harare
I haven't been able to sleep for three days now because I'm a known supporter and since the death a colleague I feel it's just a matter of time before they come for me. I blame Zimbabwe's neighbour and the African Union for not putting enough pressure on this mad dictator who is taking a whole country for a ride. Thambo Mbeki has disappointed millions for saying nothing. The only country that could help Zimbabweans is Ghana.Thomas, Harare
It seems the only logical thing to do. The country is being run by Zanu-PF thugs who are immune to the laws of the country. Take today's disturbances at Glenis stadium for instance, the police, quite armed, were parked in town whilst the Zanu militia was busy beating people up. Even the countrywide roadblocks are meant for MDC people only as Zanu-PF people are not stopped. No wonder people are sticking up the Zanu stickers as a way to get past the roadblocks without being stopped.Martin, Zimbabwe
How can the MDC fight against Zanu when Zanu has the guns? The west is allowing Zanu to get away with the crimes against humanity, and the Zimbabweans can do nothing.Mark, Harare
Nothing will happen because of this. Tomorrow MDC will be back in the election. Tsvangirai is flip-flopping. MDC needs a better leader. Sonduku, Bulawayo
I think that the MDC should have gone ahead with the run-off. I believe people were still going to turn up to vote especially those from urban areas who did not vote in the first round. Pulling out of the election only serves to legitimise the Mugabe regime. Opposition supporters will continue to be victimised.Tendai, Harare, Zimbabwe
I can't believe this. The MDC is letting all of us down. What was the point in any of this? Please have the run-off, please get rid of this old man.Susie, Chinhoyi
While you can understand why the MDC has made this decision given the violence and the very clear fact that the elections will not be free and fair and the lack of acknowledgement they have from the "exclusive mediator" Mbeki, it appears that once again, the MDC have failed to pull through for the people. Speak to anyone on the street and yes, they fear for their lives, but the violence and oppression have made them more committed to the MDC - to change. Change is what's needed and although it won't be instantaneous, it will give the Zimbabwean people hope.Megan, Harare
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BBC NEWS REPORT.

CASTRO CONDEMNS EU 'S 'HYPOCRISY' !

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro has lashed out at the EU's decision to lift sanctions against his country, calling it "an enormous hypocrisy".
He said the move was "disparaging" because it was conditioned on human rights progress in Cuba.
The ailing 81-year-old said the measure came just days after the EU passed a "brutal" law that could jail illegal immigrants up to 18 months.
The EU lifted the sanctions against Cuba in principle on Thursday.
The decision is expected to come into formal effect on Monday. The EU said its move was aimed at encouraging change in Cuba, following Fidel Castro's replacement by his brother Raul in February.
The decades-old US trade embargo against Cuba remains in place.

In an article published on Cuba's official website, Fidel Castro said he wanted "to put in writing my contempt for the enormous hypocrisy that surrounds the [EU] decision".
There will be very clear language also on what the Cubans still have to do -Benita Ferrero-Waldner EU External Relations Commissioner.

EU approves illegal migrants plan

While saying that Cuba must improve its human rights record and free political prisoners, the EU mistreats illegal immigrants from Latin America by using the new law to jail and expel them, Mr Castro wrote.
"From Cuba, in the name of human rights, they demand impunity for those [dissidents] that try to deliver... the homeland and the people to imperialism," he said, referring to the US.
The EU sanctions were imposed in 2003 in protest at the Cuban government's imprisonment of more than 70 dissidents.

Raul Castro has introduced a series of reforms since taking office in February.
They included a limit on high-level government visits and the participation of EU diplomats in cultural events in Cuba.
But EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on Thursday the EU would continue to monitor human rights conditions in Cuba.
"There will be very clear language also on what the Cubans still have to do... releasing prisoners, really working on human rights questions," she told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels.
The sanctions' removal is largely symbolic but still a success for Raul Castro's new government, analysts say.
Several leading Cuban dissidents have criticised the decision.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BIDDING BEGINS ON 'ENTIRE LIFE' !

Mr Usher plans to make a fresh start
Enlarge Image

An ex-pat who decided to make a clean break after splitting with his wife has so far attracted 70 bids for his "entire life".
Ian Usher, from Darlington, who emigrated to Australia six years ago, is selling his house, friends and job on internet auction site eBay .
The 44-year-old said he hoped to earn about £185,000 for his Perth lifestyle.
About five hours after bidding opened on Sunday, the highest offer was just over £314,000.
Up for auction is his three-bedroom home in the western Australian city and everything inside it, including his car, motorcycle, jet ski and parachuting gear.
On the day it's all sold and settled, I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, nothing else at all - Ian Usher.
He is also selling an introduction to his friends and a trial run at his job.
Mr Usher said: "Everything that I have - the furniture in the house - all has memories attached to it. It's time to shed the old, and in with the new.
"On the day it's all sold and settled, I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, nothing else at all.
"My current thoughts are to then head to the airport and ask at the flight desk where the next flight with an available seat goes to, and to get on that and see where life takes me from there."
Joy Jones, who co-owns the rug store in Perth where Mr Usher worked as a shop assistant, said she supported the auction idea.
Her company is offering the successful bidder a two-week trial, which could be extended for three months and then become permanent.
She said: "When Ian came up with this idea, because we had seen him go through a break-up of marriage and pain and bits and pieces, I thought it was really exciting.
"We thought, why not give it a go?"
Mr Usher said his friends in Perth were willing to be introduced to the highest bidder, allowing him to advertise his auction as offering a complete lifestyle.
Bidding closes at 0500 BST on 29 June.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE RIVAL QUITS ELECTION RACE !

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he is pulling out of Friday's presidential run-off, handing victory to President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Tsvangirai said there was no point running when elections would not be free and fair and "the outcome is determined by... Mugabe himself".
He called on the global community to step in to prevent "genocide".
But the ruling Zanu-PF said Mr Tsvangirai had taken the decision to avoid "humiliation" in the poll.
The opposition decision came after its supporters, heading to a rally in the capital Harare, came under attack.
Mugabe will remain unopposed to seek revenge and retribution on all who stood for democracy and change - Sam, St Lucia.

MDC pull-out: Have your say
Day of drama in Harare

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change says at least 70 supporters have been killed in recent months.
At a press conference in Harare on Sunday, Mr Tsvangirai said: "We in the MDC cannot ask them to cast their vote on 27 June, when that vote could cost them their lives."
"We have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process."
"We will not play the game of Mugabe," he added.
He called on the United Nations, African Union and the southern African grouping SADC to intervene to prevent a "genocide" in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the BBC that Mr Tsvangirai pulled out the vote because he faced "humiliation and defeat" at the hands of President Mugabe, who he said would win "resoundingly".
"Unfortunately," he said, the opposition leader's decision was "depriving the people of Zimbabwe of a vote".
BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says the key question now is what Thabo Mbeki, president of Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour South Africa, will do.
He is in the best position to step up the pressure on Mr Mugabe, since Zimbabwe is so economically dependent on South Africa, our analyst says.

Some opposition supporters at the rally were captured and beaten.
South Africa immediately responded to the news by calling on the MDC to continue talks to try to find a political solution.
"We are very encouraged that Mr Tsvangirai, himself, says he is not closing the door completely on negotiations," said a spokesman for Mr Mbeki.
On Sunday, the MDC was due to stage a rally in Harare - the highlight of the campaign.
But supporters of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF occupied the stadium venue and roads leading up to it.
Witnesses reported seeing hundreds of youths around the venue wielding sticks, some chanting slogans, and others circling the stadium crammed onto the backs of trucks.
Some set upon opposition activists, leaving a number badly injured, the MDC said.
It said African election monitors were also chased away from the rally site.
The United States reacted to Sunday's developments by saying: "The government of Zimbabwe and its thugs must stop the violence now."

The MDC says Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidential election outright during the first round in March.
The government admits he won more votes than President Mugabe, but says he did not take enough to win outright.
Robert Mugabe has said only God will remove him from power.
But in recent weeks, as the run-off approached, the MDC said it had found campaigning near impossible.
Its members have been beaten, and its supporters evicted from their homes, forcing it to campaign in near secrecy.
Mr Tsvangirai was arrested several times, and the party's secretary general, Tendai Biti, has been held and charged with treason.
The BBC's Peter Biles, in Johannesburg, says Mr Mugabe has made clear he will never relinquish power, saying only God could remove him.
While Mr Tsvangirai's move will hand victory to Mr Mugabe, it is unclear whether the international community or election observers will confer any legitimacy on the process, our correspondent says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

JOURNALIST 'REPORTED OWN MURDERS' !

Police in Macedonia have arrested a journalist on suspicion that he is behind three murders he reported on.
The journalist, Vlado Taneski, is accused of raping, torturing and killing three elderly women in the south-western town of Kicevo.
Macedonian police began to suspect him after he included details in his reports that they had not made public.
Other men have reportedly already been convicted of the first two murders. The third was committed last month.
Mr Taneski, 56, has not yet been charged with any offence, police said.
They allege that he kidnapped and abused the women before cutting them into pieces and dumping them in plastic bags.
"He is also suspected of being involved in... [the disappearance of] a 78-old female who is still missing," said police spokesman Ivo Kotevski.
"All victims were found naked, strangled, wrapped with phone cables," the spokesman said.
"The women were sexually and physically abused. For example, the last victim, a 65-year old female, was found with 13 deep wounds on her skull and multiple rib fractures."
All cleaners.
All the women apparently had similarities to the suspect's late mother, with whom he reportedly had a poor relationship.
"All victims were elderly females with poor education who had worked as cleaners. They all were from the same neighbourhood of Kicevo," Mr Kotevski said.
Mr Taneski's editor at the Utrinski Vesnik newspaper told the Associated Press: "We are all shocked with this. I know him as an exceptionally quiet man and I would never believe that he is capable of doing something like that."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

Dear Family and Friends,

A blanket of fear has descended over Zimbabwe as we count down the last few days before the second Presidential election. Our streets and towns are seething with police, army and youth brigade members. Our shops are empty of all basic foodstuffs; filling stations still have no diesel or petrol; water and electricity supplies are scarce; queues at banks and cash machines are immense and prices increase at least once every day. The trauma of living like this has been compounded a hundred fold as now each day brings news of terror, torture, kidnapping, burning and murder. The reports are of barbaric behaviour and extreme cruelty and they are coming from all over the country. The perpetrators move in groups; sometimes they come in the day but more often it is at night.

A report released this week by the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights contains details of some of the victims of violence seen in the last month: men and women with broken arms and legs, fingers and toes, soft tissue damage to face, feet and buttocks; burns, lacerations and bruising. One patient the doctors described had been: " beaten extensively on the shoulders, back, buttocks and thighs, was also struck in the face and suffered a leak of vitreous humour (the transparent gel-like substance behind the lens of the eye) resulting in blindness."

Alongside the fear of physical violence is the rhetoric from the rallies whose words are now being quoted around the world. In the last few days Zanu PF leader Mr Mugabe has said on four different occasions: "We are prepared to fight for our country and to go to war for it.""We are not going to give up our country because of a mere X. How can a ballpoint fight with a gun?""The MDC will never be allowed to rule this country - never ever.""Only God, who appointed me, will remove me, not the MDC, not the British."

Its hard to know what the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been saying as he's been detained by police five times, his rallies have been cancelled, his vehicle has been impounded and his secretary general is in police custody charged with treason. To further silence the MDC leader, and inobvious violation of electoral laws, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation said that they wouldn't air campaign adverts from the opposition party. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa defended the ZBC's stance saying that international coverage favoured the MDC and never reported Zanu PF's position.

As silenced as Zimbabweans are, hope has come at last from our neighbours who have begun to speak out. This week Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe said: "There is every sign that these elections will never be free nor fair," adding that he and the foreign ministers of Swaziland and Angola would write to their presidents "so that they do something urgently so that we can save Zimbabwe."

And now, beaten, bloodied, scared and in a state of mourning, we go to the polls again. We don't need the rallies and the speeches to know where to vote on the 27th of June.

Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy

Copyright cathy buckle 21st June 2008.www.cathybuckle.com My books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" areavailable in South Africa from: books@clarkesbooks.co.za and in the UK from: orders@africabookcentre.com

WILL SYRIAN SITE MYSTERY BE SOLVED?

By Paul Reynolds - World affairs correspondent, BBC News website.

The suspected site could yield nuclear secrets.
UN nuclear weapons inspectors hope this weekend to begin solving the mystery of the Syrian building attacked by the Israelis last September and which, according to the CIA, was a nuclear reactor under construction.
However, since the structure has since been completely demolished, the evidence might be elusive.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, said: "It is doubtful we will find anything there now, assuming there was anything in the first place."

Mr ElBaradei has also cast doubt on Syria's ability to construct and run such a complex nuclear process.
"We have no evidence that Syria has the human resources that would allow it to carry out a large nuclear programme," he told al-Arabiya television.
He has also said that "no nuclear material" had been introduced at the site. So it is highly unlikely that there will be signs of any radioactivity there.
"Don't expect too much from this trip," said Mark Fitzpatrick, nuclear expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. "But the IAEA has in the past found things that the hosts didn't expect, as in North Korea, so it's possible Syria will be surprised."
The inspectors do have photos provided by the Americans. These allegedly show the inside of the building and the suspected reactor. But a lot will also depend on what the Syrians say.

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
6 Sept 2007: Israel bombs site in Syria
1 Oct: Syria's President Assad tells BBC site was military
24 Oct: New satellite images show site now bulldozed clear
24 April 2008: US claims Syrian site was nuclear reactor
22 June: IAEA due to visit Syria to investigate

Nuclear power in Middle East
Images of suspected site

Led by the IAEA chief inspector Olli Heinonen, the inspectors arrive in Syria on Sunday and will stay until Tuesday.
They could ask to see the architect's drawings for the building, and ask to question the architect and the construction engineers. They could ask to see rubble from the building, and take samples, especially from any surviving parts of the suspected nuclear reactor.
They will in any case ask the Syrians what the building was for, if it was not, as the Bush administration claimed, "a covert nuclear reactor in its eastern desert capable of producing plutonium". Plutonium can be used to construct a nuclear bomb.
"We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities. We have good reason to believe that reactor, which was damaged beyond repair on 6 September of last year, was not intended for peaceful purposes," the White House said in April this year.

Syria has said that the site, at al-Kibar, was a military building under construction and was not a nuclear facility.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that Syria does not have a nuclear weapons programme.
Syria is a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which bars it from making nuclear weapons.
The IAEA has in the past found things that the hosts didn't expect... so it's possible Syria will be surprised
Mark FitzpatrickIISSA test of Syrian co-operation will be whether the inspectors gain access to three other sites. Syria has reportedly told other Arab countries that these are military bases not connected with the suspect site at al-Kibar.
One site is said by diplomatic sources, who spoke to the Associated Press news agency, to be suspected of having "equipment that can reprocess nuclear material into the fissile core of warheads".

Behind the IAEA visit, there is the wider issue of what to do if a country is suspected of trying to develop nuclear weapons secretly. The IAEA is furious that it was not alerted by Israel or the United States about evidence concerning the al-Kibar site before it was bombed. The IAEA thinks it could have established what was going on there.
The IAEA is anxious to preserve its leading role in the investigation of possible violations of the NPT.
The Americans are doubtful that the IAEA can do the job properly. It took US and British intelligence operations to get Libya to admit to secret nuclear activities and abandon them in 2003.
The Israelis have their own solutions. They bombed Iraq's nuclear plant in 1981 and did the same to the Syrian construction last year.
There is plenty of talk in Israel that at some stage Israel will decide to attack Iran's nuclear enrichment plant. The New York Times has reported that a major Israeli air exercise involving more than 100 F-15 and F-16 aircraft took place in early June and was apparently designed to develop long-range bombing techniques.
Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE CONDEMNS OPPOSITION 'LIES' !

President Mugabe blames the opposition for violence.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has accused the opposition of lying about political violence in the country to cast doubt on forthcoming polls.
The opposition says at least 70 of its supporters have been killed and many more beaten in the run-up to next week's presidential run-off election.
He also told supporters that "only God" could remove him from office.
Meanwhile the opposition MDC says a court has overturned a police ban on a major rally on Sunday in Harare.
Opposition spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, planned to attend the event.
Police have banned a series of opposition gatherings, leading the MDC to say it was being forced to campaign in virtual secrecy.
All necessary force will be applied on malcontents and perpetrators of violence -Augustine ChihuriPolice chief

Your questions answered
'Raped for opposing Mugabe'
Send us your comments

Mr Mugabe told supporters at a campaign rally in the southern city of Bulawayo on Friday that he would "never allow an event like an election to reverse our independence, our sovereignty."
"Only God who appointed me will remove me - not the MDC, not the British," he said.
The BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says President Mugabe has given another indication that he will not relinquish power as a result of a poll.
Mr Mugabe has accused the MDC of acting in the interest of Britain, the former colonial power, and other Western countries.
He was also quoted by the state-run Herald newspaper as saying that MDC leaders had been compiling names of people they say are victims of political violence.
"They say this so that they can later say the elections were not free and fair. Which is a damn lie!" he said.

Mr Mugabe's police chief, Augustine Chihuri, has claimed that the MDC is the main culprit in the current political violence.
"All necessary force will be applied on malcontents and perpetrators of violence," he said.
"This violence is aimed at intimidating people from voting."

Zanu-PF supporters filmed by US embassy staff in Harare township
The MDC is to announce on Monday whether it will contest the 27 June poll, a party source has told the BBC.
Mr Tsvangirai - who is due to face Mr Mugabe in the run-off - is reported to be under pressure to pull out in view of escalating pre-poll violence.
New footage emerged on Friday, shot by US embassy staff, showing ruling party militias armed with sticks apparently hunting for MDC supporters in a township in the capital, Harare.
Zimbabwe's immediate neighbours have added their voice to increasing international concern over the validity of the run-off.
On Friday Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, one of Mr Mugabe's closest allies, has urged him to stop the violence.
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe, head of an election monitoring team, told the BBC earlier this week that violence appeared to be "escalating throughout Zimbabwe".
Nigerian Nobel-winning writer Wole Soyinka told the BBC that Mr Mugabe had ruined Zimbabwe with a "scorched earth policy" and that Zimbabweans were primed to "throw off this yoke by all means necessary".
In Brussels, the European Union has drafted a summit statement saying it is ready to take unspecified "additional measures against those responsible for violence".

A former Zimbabwean police officer tells of how he was threatened.
The EU already has an arms embargo against Zimbabwe and has placed travel bans on - and frozen the assets of - President Mugabe and senior government and ruling Zanu-PF party officials.
Mr Mugabe - who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 - blames Western sanctions for causing the country's economic freefall.
The MDC suffered at least five violent deaths of activists or their family members this week and its secretary general, Tendai Biti, was charged with treason and subversion.
"Differences of opinion" have emerged among the party's senior officials over its next move, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told the BBC after the leadership met in Harare on Friday.
The party, he said, needed to assess the situation in the country but if conditions did not change, the vote would be a "charade".
"We are assessing the situation as some areas are inaccessible," he added.
"People are being abducted at night. Our grass-roots activists are being subjected to terror. Some of them are staying in the bushes and mountains to avoid pro-government militias.

"SAYINGS" !

"WE DONT SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE,

WE SEE THEM AS WE ARE" !

________

ABORIGINES THREATEN TO SHUT ULURU !

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a popular tourist draw.
Aboriginal leaders have threatened to ban tourists from one of Australia's top landmarks in protest at what they describe as racist government policies.
The warning over Uluru comes one year since police and soldiers were sent into indigenous settlements to try to tackle high rates of child sex abuse.
Bans on alcohol and pornography were introduced along with strict controls on how welfare payments were spent.
But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he remained committed to the initiative.
Addressing an Australian Labor Party conference in Queensland, Mr Rudd said the government's priority was to improve the lives of indigenous people.
"Progress has been made in the last 12 months, but much remains to be done to meet our targets to close the gap on indigenous life opportunities," he said.
The so-called "intervention" in the Northern Territory was introduced by former Prime Minster John Howard's conservative government.
Chronic disadvantage had led to Aboriginal life expectancy being 17 years below that of other Australians.

CHILD ABUSE REPORT
Abuse is serious, widespread and often unreported
Aboriginal people not the only victims or perpetrators of sexual abuse
Contributing factors include poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, gambling, pornography
Health and social services desperately need improving
Full report [6500k]

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In response to a damning report about widespread child abuse, troops, police officers and medical teams were sent to more than 70 indigenous communities.
But 12 months after the intervention began, tribal leaders from Central Australia have threatened to ban tourists from climbing Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock.
Vince Forrester, an elder from the Mutitjulu people, who are the rock's traditional custodians, told a rally in Sydney that the government's actions had been a disaster.
He insisted that Aboriginal men had been portrayed as violent alcoholics who beat women and abuse children.
"We've got to take some affirmative action to stop this racist piece of legislation.
"We're going to throw a big rock on top of the tourist industry... we will close the climb and no one will climb Uluru ever again, no one," he told the meeting.
The BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney says that critics of the policy say that young Aborigines are still vulnerable to sexual assault despite the intervention.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S.A. REJECTS E GUINEA COUP CHARGE !

South Africa has dismissed as "laughable" an accusation that it supported a failed coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
It was reacting to comments by British mercenary Simon Mann, who is on trial in Equatorial Guinea for his alleged role in the 2004 plot.
During a hearing this week, he said South Africa and Spain both "gave the green light" for the plot.
Spain, the former colonial power, has also denied any involvement.
South Africa's Department of Foreign Affairs said the charge was "as preposterous at it is laughable".
"We reiterate our view that Simon Mann must bear the consequences of his own actions," the statement said.
A Spanish foreign ministry official has also denied any involvement.
Simon Mann and his ilk must fully understand that the days of military coups are indeed over
South Africa's Department of Foreign Affairs
Mann, a former SAS officer, was arrested four years ago with 64 others in Zimbabwe when they landed in a plane from South Africa.
Mann told a court in Equatorial Guinea's capital, Malabo, that it felt as though the coup attempt was an official operation.
He said that Sir Mark Thatcher, son of UK former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was one of the plot's organisers and that London-based millionaire Eli Calil was "the boss".
Mr Calil and Sir Mark have both denied plotting a coup.
Sir Mark was fined in 2005 and received a suspended sentence in South Africa for unknowingly helping to finance it.
Mann and Sir Mark were neighbours in Cape Town.

Eleven other men, including South African arms dealer Nick Du Toit, who testified that he was recruited by Mann, are already serving sentences in Equatorial Guinea in connection with the coup attempt.
Guinea prosecutors have called for Mann to serve 30 years in jail.

South Africa's Department of Foreign Affairs said the country was signatory to a number of UN and African Union protocols "prohibiting the unconstitutional transfer of power".
South Africa would never "tacitly or expressly support the use of mercenaries to bring about fundamental political changes in any country," it said.
"Simon Mann and his ilk must fully understand that the days of military coups are indeed over," the statement said.
South Africa has strict anti-mercenary laws.
Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich former Spanish colony, has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang since he seized power from his uncle in 1979.
His government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses and of ruthlessly suppressing political opposition.
Transparency International has put the tiny nation on its list of top 10 corrupt states.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NIGERIA 'SHOCK' AFTER OIL ATTACK !

Oil production at an oil installation off the Nigerian coast remains halted because staff are suffering from shock after a militant attack, officials say.
The attack on the Royal Dutch Shell facility stopped about 10% of Nigeria's oil production. Shell also said the militants had damaged equipment.
An American hostage was released after a few hours.
It is the first attack on an offshore facility, previously thought safe despite a wave of inshore attacks.
Shell also said the emergency shutdown might have damaged equipment, which would have to be repaired.
The raid took place on the Bonga oil platform about 120km (75 miles) off the coast of the Niger Delta.
Shell has also been blamed for an oil spill in the Ogoni region of the Delta.
Oil is gushing from disused pipes abandoned by the company when it left the region nearly 15 years ago, following local protests.
Attacks on the inshore Niger Delta have helped drive up world oil prices and previously cut Nigeria's output by about 20%.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) claimed it carried out the attack in an e-mail sent to journalists.
Several people were reported to have been injured. Mend says it is campaigning for a greater share of the region's oil wealth to be kept by local people, but the government says they are criminals, motivated by the ransoms they receive from oil companies.

Our correspondent says Bonga was new, expensive and working well despite the difficulties and repeated attacks affecting the company's inshore operations in the Delta.
The militants in the Delta are getting more sophisticated and better equipped and armed, he says.

BONGA OILFIELD
Discovered in 1995
Production began in 2005
Expected to last until 2019
120Km off the Nigerian coast
Capable of producing 200,000 barrels of oil and 150 million sq ft of gas per day
Oil and gas drawn up from 16 well heads on the ocean floor to a processing tanker
Source: offshore-technology.com

Now they have proven that in terms of distance at least, all of Nigeria's facilities are within their reach.
Local activists in the Ogoni region have asked Shell to come and contain the oil spill that has covered farmland.
The yellow brown oil is flowing through the village of Kpor and into a stream about a mile away.
Villagers told the BBC they heard a "thunderous noise" and ran to the spot to see oil spraying all over their land.
Last week the government revoked Shell's rights to drill for oil in Ogoni saying the company had "lost the trust" of the local community.
Shell stopped drilling there in 1993 after pressure from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop) and it has not returned since.
A Shell spokesman said in the past such spills have been because saboteurs damaged sealed well heads.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AFRICA TURNS UP HEAT ON ZIMBABWE !

Observers have been witnessing violence at first hand.
African states monitoring Zimbabwe's election campaign have added their voice to growing international pressure over the presidential run-off vote.
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe, who heads a troika of observer states, told the BBC mounting violence could make a free vote impossible.
A spokesman for the governing Zanu-PF party dismissed Mr Membe's remarks.
A key figure opposition figure, Tendai Biti, has meanwhile been charged with treason and subversion.
Mr Biti, who as secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has often deputised for presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, was arrested last week after returning from South Africa.

Diary: Militias reach town

If convicted, Mr Biti could face the death penalty.
The MDC has reported the discovery near the capital Harare of the bodies of four of its members. They had, it said, been abducted and tortured to death.
An MDC spokesman accused supporters of President Robert Mugabe of being behind the deaths ahead of the 27 June election.
The body of Abigail Chiroto, wife of Harare's recently elected opposition mayor, Emmanuel Chiroto, has also been found. She had reportedly been abducted on Monday along with her son, 4, while her husband was away.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told an informal meeting of the UN Security Council that the actions of Zimbabwe's government have ensured the vote will be neither free nor fair.
"By its actions, the Mugabe regime has given up any pretence that the 27 June elections will be allowed to proceed in a free and fair manner," she said.

Mr Membe was speaking at a news conference on behalf of the three nations - Tanzania, Angola and Swaziland - from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) monitoring the polls.

Many opposition rallies have been banned, so they campaign in buses
"The first impression we have is that if the elections were to take place today, these elections would never be free and fair... because... the report we received still indicates that violence is escalating throughout Zimbabwe," he told the BBC.
"We have received a report that says on the 16th of June this year, as the observers were being deployed to those various stations, two people were shot dead.
"Of course, it scared most of these observers to the extent that they had to pose the question of why are we here then, and what are we doing?"
"There is a derailment of Mr Tsvangirai wherever he wants to go to campaign, he's detained at police stations," Mr Membe added.
Speaking for the Zimbabwean ruling party, Jerome Macdonald Gumbo accused the Tanzanian foreign minister of bias.

"Skirmishes between the MDC and Zanu-PF are normal but not to the extent that the elections cannot be free and fair," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"He [Mr Membe] is biased."
Correspondents say SADC is the international grouping with the most influence on Zimbabwe, as it is made up of its neighbours.
His remarks are the latest in a growing chorus of opinion across Africa that Zimbabwe's elections now appear to be fatally flawed, the BBC's Peter Greste reports from neighbouring South Africa.
Observer numbers slashed
Zimbabwe's own independent electoral watchdog, the election support network, says it has at last been formally invited to monitor the poll but only with 500 observers.
That is a tiny fraction of the 12,000 the network had hoped to deploy to keep track of the 9,000 polling stations that will be opened on election day.
The network has been credited with helping to keep the first round of the election relatively free and fair but even now its members have come under attack, our correspondent says.
One of its observers was murdered earlier this week.
The MDC says at least 70 of its supporters have now been killed and 25,000 forced from their homes in a state-sponsored campaign of violence.
Speaking to BBC Radio Four, Emmanuel Chiroto said his wife's body had been hard to identify.
"She was badly swollen, it was like they used a club or some blunt object to smash her head and blood had been coming out of her mouth, nostrils and ears," the mayor-elect of Harare said.
"There was either a stab wound or a bullet wound that hit the abdomen."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

INDIAN BABY 'BACK FROM THE DEAD' !

Hospital authorities in India have ordered an independent inquiry after a baby was declared dead, only to make an apparently miraculous return to life.
The baby girl - born in the city of Mumbai (Bombay) - was diagnosed as stillborn on Monday night.
But she astonished her distraught family by gurgling as they took her off to the cemetery the next day.
It is thought she revived after the effect of drugs - given to her mother during a complicated labour - wore off.
Hospital authorities say they are now investigating possible negligence by staff who attended the birth.
"We have to fix responsibility," said Dr Suleiman Merchant, acting dean of Sion Hospital in Mumbai where the child was delivered.
Under such circumstances, it would appear that doctors had no reason to assume that the baby was dead - Dr Suleiman Merchant.
"The doctors who were on duty are being questioned and the inquiry will last the entire day."
Correspondents say that it is not clear when or even if the results of the independent inquiry will be made public.
Dr Merchant said that the 30-year-old mother of the child - who was seven months pregnant - suffered life threatening convulsions and high blood pressure over the weekend, which required powerful medicines.
He said that that the doctors believed that the baby - who was limp at birth - had no heart beat and no pulse.
She was given a death certificate on Tuesday morning and two hours later her body was handed over to her parents.
But later, when the effect of medicines wore off, Dr Merchant said that the baby "showed attempts to breathe".
"Under such circumstances, it would appear that doctors had no reason to assume that the baby was dead," he said. "There is on the face of it a case of negligence to be answered."
As the grieving parents made their way to the cemetery, the baby reportedly started gurgling and was rushed back to the hospital.
She is reported still to be in a critical condition and is on a ventilator.
Medical experts say the most likely explanation for what happened is that drugs given to the mother suppressed the baby's heart beat - which would have grown stronger once the effects of the drugs wore off.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EX-BEAR STEARNS MANAGERS ARRESTED !

US authorities are investigating hedge fund activity before the bank collapsed.
Two former managers at investment bank Bear Stearns have been arrested in New York over their role in the collapse of the bank's hedge fund last year.
Reports say Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin will face criminal charges for their role in managing hedge funds that collapsed in June 2007.
The bank's hedge funds bet on the high-risk sub-prime mortgage market in the US before it collapsed.
Authorities in Brooklyn are due to give details about the case later.
FBI spokesman Jim Margolis told the BBC the men faced criminal charges of "securities fraud related to their management of two Bear Stearns hedge funds".
The men are due to appear in the US Federal Court in Brooklyn later this afternoon local time.
If charged, the men would become the first Wall Street executives to face criminal charges related to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis.
Sub-prime mortgages, loans issued to people with a poor credit history, were repackaged as securities and sold across the globe.
The collapse of these hedge funds preceded Bear Stearns' own demise earlier this year.
In March, JP Morgan agreed to buy Bear Stearns with backing of the US Federal Reserve. The deal was approved by Bear Stearns shareholders last month.
Bear Stearns was one of the most high-profile victims of the credit crunch, which was triggered by bank losses linked to the US housing market.
The Fed took swift action over the situation at Bear Stearns to prevent problems spreading to the rest of the international financial sector.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

FOREBODING RISES OVER ZIMBABWE !

By David Bamford - BBC Africa analyst.

Just over a week before the presidential run-off election in Zimbabwe, the regional mediator, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, has held separate talks with President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
There has been no word on the outcome of Mr Mbeki's meetings with the two political opponents.
Earlier, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, added his voice to the growing international concern over the political violence in Zimbabwe.
African governments are looking to next week's run-off presidential election in Zimbabwe with a growing sense of foreboding.

Violence remains high, intimidation is rampant, and there is an assumption that if and when this election takes place, the troubles could only just be starting.
A few - but only a few - African leaders have spoken out publicly against President Mugabe and his political allies.
The leader of South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) party, Jacob Zuma, said he did not expect the election to be free and fair.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who has been in Washington, has gone the furthest so far.
"My view is that the time has come for the international community to act on Zimbabwe in the way that it did in Bosnia," he said.
"I do not think that we are going to get free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.
"And, what you need in Zimbabwe is an international peacekeeping force so that eventually proper elections can be held."

There has been no shortage of Western voices, not only criticising the violence, but saying who they believe is behind it.
Mr Mbeki has remained loyal to his original strategy of neutrality and gentle persuasion.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is among those hoping that - however it looks on the outside - he is being far more forthright in his consultations with Mr Mugabe.

Western leaders have condemned the electoral violence in Zimbabwe.
"I think that it is time for the leaders of Africa to say to President Mugabe that the people of Zimbabwe deserve a free and fair election, that you cannot intimidate opponents, you cannot put opponents in jail, you cannot threaten them with charges of treason, and be respected in the international community," she said.
"And I think that is a strong message, and I hope it will be delivered."
Behind the scenes, many are already dismissing the election as irrelevant.
Some are talking of a possible Kenya-style solution, with a form of unity government.
But there are forces in Zimbabwe - on both sides of the political divide - who would oppose this tooth and nail.
If no deal can be reached, then the country and the region seem destined for an even greater humanitarian disaster.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TIBETANS DESCRIBE CONTINUING UNREST !

Tibetans taking part in and affected by the continuing unrest have contacted the BBC News website to describe their experiences.

ANONYMOUS TIBETAN, HONGYAN COUNTY, ABA PREFECTURE, SICHUAN PROVINCE, CHINA

There have been many reports of injuries and deaths in Lhasa
I am inside a monastery right now. The telephone landlines have all been cut off. Just one minute ago [1345 GMT] there was a big commotion. The monks outside the monastery were shouting: 'Long Live the Dalai Lama!'
This morning the students of a middle school went out and protested. There were arrests and many Tibetans went to the police station to demand the release of those detained. Two girls were shot and wounded.
It is tense and frightening. The police later released the students.
In Barkham county there is a high school with a student population of about 300-400 students. These students managed to bring down the Chinese national flag.

ANONYMOUS TIBETAN PROTESTER, MACHU, GANSU PROVINCE

On Sunday at around 2pm, 200 people demonstrated in Machu county. Groups of people took down the Chinese flag, set it on fire and put the Tibetan flag up in its place.
In the evening, at around 4 or 5pm, a crowd of people went to government office buildings and set them on fire. Later on, the crowd set fire to the Public Security Bureau office.
Along the way, people were settling motorcycles and shops alight. I think they were Chinese-owned shops.
I was there. I saw it all.
Groups of people took down the Chinese flag, [and] set it on fire
In surrounding villages there have been small protests. In a small village called Ngura Xian I also took part in a silent candlelight vigil.
We did this to symbolise the hopes and aspirations of Tibetan people from under the dark period of Chinese rule. During the vigil, the police came and dispersed us.
We are protesting for many reasons. We know that this is the Olympic year for Beijing. Nations will come to China to represent themselves. We are protesting like this to express our national identity.

TIBETAN WHO WISHES TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS, LHASA

There is a heavy police presence and lots of military vehicles. I heard that there have been arrests and that two people were killed in the Tsangkhung nunnery.
What really worries me is that I don't see a single Westerner or foreign journalist around
On state television they're announcing that the situation is under control and the trouble-makers have surrendered. They also said a mosque had been burned but I only saw that the shops outside the mosque were burned and damaged.
I have been able to call people and I was allowed to go and visit the Tormzig Khang market, and wasn't challenged by the police. So I have been out.
The schools are now open and children are going to school but shops are still closed as lots have been damaged and burned.
What really worries me is that I can't see a single westerner or foreign journalist. That is of concern.

TIBETAN WHO WISHES TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS, OUTSIDE LHASA

The situation feels very tense and there is a heavy military presence. I saw large convoys moving towards Lhasa.
There are all kinds of rumours going around but it is difficult to know what to believe.
My family and friends are all very, very worried and fearful of the unknown and what might happen in the coming days. Journalists
We are very worried about arbitrary arrests. We believe that the people recorded on CCTV will get arrested but I fear that others will be arrested.
We are all very worried about the lack of western people and journalists in and around Lhasa. I have not seen any myself in the past day.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MBEKI TO HOLD TALKS WITH MUGABE !

South African President Thabo Mbeki is in Zimbabwe for talks with Robert Mugabe, amid growing concern over violence ahead of next week's poll.
Mr Mbeki has mediated between Mr Mugabe and the opposition MDC, which said it expected little from the talks.
President Mugabe will face MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a second round presidential election on 27 June.
The meeting comes as UN head Ban Ki-moon expressed "profound alarm" over pre-poll violence in Zimbabwe.
If current conditions - including intimidation and arrests of opposition leaders - continued, the election outcomes would be in question, the UN Secretary General said.
This follows a warning from an African poll observer that he would not endorse the vote if current violence levels continued.
Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan-African Parliamentary observers, told the BBC his team had received horrendous reports of attacks and the political environment was not conducive to a free poll.
South Africa's foreign affairs ministry said Mr Mbeki's trip on Wednesday to see Mr Mugabe in the Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo was part of his efforts to mediate between the country's veteran president and Mr Tsvangirai.

There has been growing international concern about the political violence
The BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says this is the third time in as many months that Mr Mbeki has been to Zimbabwe.
But with the vote just days away, there is a growing sense of urgency with political violence beginning to spread from the countryside to the towns, he says.
Mr Mugabe has been waging a fierce campaign to extend his 28-year rule since Mr Tsvangirai failed to win enough votes to score an outright victory in March's disputed first round.
Meanwhile, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga called for an international peacekeeping force to be deployed in Zimbabwe to ensure a free and fair vote.
Mr Odinga - who earlier said Mr Mugabe should quit and labelled the run-off a "sham" - made the call during a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington.
Ms Rice added: "It is time for the leaders of Africa to say to President Mugabe that the people of Zimbabwe deserve a free and fair election."
The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he has spoken to the leader of South Africa's governing African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, about the possibility of deploying 1,000 election observers from the ANC.

In other developments:

• The MDC's second-in-command, Tendai Biti, who was arrested last week accused of treason, appeared in court on Wednesday in leg irons and was denied access to his lawyers.
• The opposition has said that in contravention of electoral law, it is being denied access to public media controlled by Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF.
• An election observer was killed in an attack in Karuru, a town north of Harare, early on Tuesday, as his family looked on, a local observer group said
• Local election observers are to be screened by the government to ensure they have "no preconceived ideas" about the vote
• The UN accused Zimbabwe's authorities of an escalating pattern of harassment after one of its human rights officials was expelled from the country
• The government lifted a ban on aid agencies which distribute food and Aids treatment

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S.AFRICAN CHINESE WANT TO BE BLACK !

Chinese communities in South Africa are taking the government to court over laws which they say discriminate against them.
The Chinese Association of South Africa says it wants its members to be included in the definition of "black people" in constitutional laws.
It wants people of Chinese origin to be included affirmative action programmes designed to help black people.
An estimated 200,000 ethnic Chinese live in South Africa.
Ethnic Chinese will soon know if they will benefit from the Broad-Based Economic Empowerment and the Employment Equity Acts.
The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says these laws were designed to eradicate the legacy of apartheid which left many black people impoverished.
The laws give people classed as blacks, Indians and coloureds (mixed-race) employment and other economic benefits over other racial groups.
The Black Economic Employment concept was initiated by the governing ANC to help previously disadvantaged individuals - to start their own businesses or become part of existing companies - thus redressing the country's historic inequalities.
Whites still on top
Our correspondent says a ruling should provide clarity for corporations in South Africa on the rights of their Chinese staff - who were declared "coloured" under apartheid but are generally regarded as white today.
An example cited in court papers includes an oil company that disqualified Chinese citizens from getting a slice of its biggest empowerment transaction to date.
The company says the group is not catered for in the Black Economic Empowerment codes.
Another example includes a Chinese national who was refused an opportunity to buy shares from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange two years ago.
None of the three government departments cited as respondents in the court case are expected to oppose the application.
A study released last month revealed that white South Africans still earn around 450% more than their black counterparts, 14 years after the end of apartheid.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"WHEN A GOAL MATTERS ENOUGH TO A PERSON,

THAT PERSON WILL FIND A WAY TO ACCOMPLISH

WHAT AT FIRST SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE" !

_________

PERU'S 'COPPER MOUNTAIN' IN CHINESE HANDS

By John Simpson - BBC News, Mount Toromocho.

At 15,000 feet (4,600m), Mount Toromocho, 86 miles (138km) from Lima, is comparable to any mountain in Europe.
It gets its name from its shape - The Bull With No Horns. And it is composed almost entirely of copper ore: two billion tonnes of it.
It could become the most productive copper mine anywhere on earth. Now it belongs, in effect, to China.
When open-cast mining begins, in three or four years, a Chinese mining company, Chinalco, will send the copper back home to be turned into electrical wire.
The plan is to use it to carry out the electrification of the whole of China.
Bargain
The Peruvian government is happy with the $3bn (£1.53bn) that Chinalco will invest in the Toromocho mines.
The Chinese will be even happier. They have got themselves a bargain.
The copper Chinalco extracts from Toromocho will cost something like US$410 (£210) per ton. Today, the price for copper on the London Metal Exchange was $8,255 (£4,220) - 20 times more.
Chinalco stands to make a 2,000% profit on its investment.

An entire town is being moved to make way for the Chinese mine.
There is only one problem. In order to dig out the copper ore, the company will have to shift the inhabitants of an entire town, and move them across the valley.
Morococha is a poor and depressing place. Many of the inhabitants lead the most basic of lives. But that makes them all the more willing to accept the compensation which Chinalco is offering.
Two thousand dollars plus the promise of a small house or apartment is a powerful inducement if you live in a shanty with an open fire.
In a referendum last year, more than half of the inhabitants voted to accept.
Of the minority who voted against, some just wanted to be left alone where they have always lived.
Others felt that Chinalco was getting much too good a bargain. In other words, that Morococha's people were selling themselves short.
"What we're being offered for our houses is derisory," one of the organisers of the No campaign told us.
He wanted to drive a much harder bargain.
Perhaps, in the interests of harmony, the Chinese will offer more.
But not very much more. There are no other potential buyers. Chinalco has the field to itself.
That, in a way, is the problem for countries like Peru.
Of course they would like to get more for their raw materials. There is often an instinctive dislike of China's bargaining methods, and the high-handed way many Chinese companies operate abroad.
But there is no serious alternative. China is buying up raw materials all around the world, paying for its shopping spree with its vast reserves of foreign currency.
Often, as with Toromocho, the Chinese are successful because they can put the cash on the table. Three billion dollars is a very large amount of money for a relatively poor country like Peru.

China has become a dominant player in Peru's mining industry
During his disastrous term in office from 1985 to 1990, President Alan Garcia set out to challenge the world's richest countries and the power of the big multinational corporations.
It was a disaster. As a result Peru went through a period of economic near-chaos.
Two years ago, surprisingly, he managed to get elected again - only this time he cuts a very different figure. He has become the friend of international business.
China offers Peru cash, and it is prepared to give Mr Garcia its political support. You can see why he would be interested.
Some Peruvians, just like the critics of Chinalco's offer to the town of Morococha, think President Garcia ought to get a better deal from the Chinese.
But Peru is not a rich country. He is perfectly pleased with the bargain the Chinese are offering.
So are the Chinese.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ISRAEL AGREES TO GAZA CEASEFIRE !

Israel has approved a ceasefire to end months of bitter clashes with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed.
Under the terms of the truce, which is set to begin on Thursday, Israel will ease its blockade on the Gaza Strip.
At the same time, talks to release an Israeli soldier held by Hamas would intensify, an Israeli official said.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, says it is confident that all militants will abide by the agreement.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, driving out forces loyal to Fatah, the political faction led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Since then, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the international community have sought to isolate Hamas.
For Hamas, the ceasefire agreement is an acknowledgement that Israel's economic blockade of Gaza is hurting its administration and is having a huge detrimental impact on Gaza's population, says the BBC's Wyre Davies in Jerusalem.

The decision to approve the ceasefire was made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, following the return of a defence official from Cairo, where he held talks with Egyptian mediators.
The truce is scheduled to begin at 0600 (0300 GMT) on Thursday, and should bring an end to rocket attacks from within Gaza and ease the humanitarian situation inside the Palestinian territory.

GAZA TRUCE TIMETABLE

0600 (0300 GMT) Thursday ceasefire begins
After 24 hours, Israel eases crossing restrictions
After five days, Israel opens commercial crossings
After two weeks, Egypt starts talks with all sides to seek re-opening of Rafah crossing

What chance of lasting peace?

However, there are still many obstacles to long-term peace, with both sides warning that the truce will collapse if it is violated, our correspondent says.
An Israeli government spokesman said it wanted the ceasefire to succeed.
"Thursday will be the beginning, we hope, of a new reality where Israeli citizens in the south will no longer be on the receiving end of continuous rocket attacks," Mark Regev said.
According to a breakdown of the deal released by Hamas, Israel will ease its restrictions on Gaza crossings with Israel on Friday morning, followed by the bigger commercial crossings next week.
After two weeks, talks will start involving Israel, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and the EU on reopening the Rafah crossing into Egypt.
An Israeli security source told Israel Radio that negotiations on the return of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit were expected to resume with a few days.
He said that if progress was achieved, Israel would have to reach a decision regarding the release of Palestinian prisoners.
As part of the deal, Egypt has also committed to stop the smuggling of arms and weapons from its territory into Gaza, Israeli officials said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ABU QAATADA RELEASED FROM PRISON !

The radical Islamist preacher Abu Qatada has been released from jail.
Abu Qatada, 47, was freed from Long Lartin Prison, in Worcestershire, at about 2020 BST after winning his fight against deportation from Britain.
A senior judge earlier signed papers authorising the release of Abu Qatada, previously described as Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe.
The Palestinian-Jordanian preacher will be subjected to a 22-hour home curfew and tight restrictions on his liberty.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said she is "disappointed" with the decision to release him, and says the government will appeal.
Abu Qatada was once described by a judge as a "truly dangerous individual at the centre of al Qaeda's activities in the UK".
Last month the Court of Appeal blocked his deportation to Jordan, where Abu Qatada has been convicted in his absence of involvement in terror attacks.
Appeal Court judges feared evidence gained from torture could be used against Abu Qatada in a future trial.

Mr Justice Mitting of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) granted Abu Qatada bail on Tuesday with strict conditions.
He must wear an electronic tag and must not attend a mosque or lead prayers or religious instruction.
Abu Qatada must also stay in his west London home for at least 22 hours a day, and cannot attend any kind of meeting. He is also forbidden from using mobile phones, computers or the internet.
Police have special permission to enter and search his home while Abu Qatada is banned from having guests other than family and solicitors.
Among the people he is banned from meeting in London is al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Others include bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and Rachid Ramda, who has been convicted in France of masterminding a series of bombings in 1995.
Also named is hate preacher Abu Hamza.
Public safety
Ms Smith said she was disappointed that Abu Qatada had been granted bail, even though the conditions were strict.
She added: "I am appealing to the House of Lords to reverse the decision that it is not safe to deport Qatada and the other Jordanian cases.
"The government's priority is to protect public safety and national security and we will take all steps necessary to do so."
Abu Qatada became one of the UK's most wanted men in December 2001 when he went on the run, on the eve of government moves to introduce anti-terror laws allowing suspects to be detained without charge or trial.
In October 2002 the authorities tracked him down to a council house in south London and took him to Belmarsh Prison.
He was eventually freed on bail in March 2005, but was made the subject of a control order to limit his movements.
In August that year he was taken back into custody pending the extradition to Jordan.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE POLITICIAN STAYS JAILED !

Tendai Biti has not been formally charged with treason.
Zimbabwe's main opposition party has lost a legal bid for its secretary general to be freed from custody.
The Movement for Democratic Change argued that Tendai Biti - who is expected to face a treason charge - was not being legally detained.
But a high court judge said he was not satisfied that Mr Biti's detention on return from South Africa was unlawful.
The MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai faces incumbent Robert Mugabe in a presidential run-off vote on June 27.
Mr Tsvangirai won more votes than Mr Mugabe in the first round on 29 March but not the 50% needed for outright victory.
Prosecutors said they were ready to bring Mr Biti, who was arrested in Harare last week, to court on Wednesday. If convicted of treason he faces the death penalty or life in prison.

Haile Menkerios's visit is the first by a UN envoy since 2005.
Tuesday's hearing came as a senior UN official met Mr Mugabe in Zimbabwe to discuss the country's political and humanitarian situation.
Haile Menkerios, UN assistant secretary general for political affairs responsible for Africa, is expected to meet other politicians during the rest of a five-day visit.
"He met the president to discuss the technical requirements for holding the election, to see what the UN can do to help build capacity for a free and fair election," a UN official told Reuters news agency.
There has been growing international concern that political violence will make a free and fair vote impossible.
The opposition, rights groups and some Western governments accuse Mugabe supporters of directing a campaign of violence and intimidation against the MDC.
But Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has accused the opposition of leading a violent campaign against government supporters known as war veterans.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MANN 'CONFESSES' TO AFRICAN COUP !

Mann was moved from a jail in Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea. British mercenary Simon Mann, who is in prison awaiting trial for plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea, has confessed to involvement.
He said he was not the "main man" behind plans to overthrow the West African nation's government in 2004.
Speaking to Channel 4 News, the ex-SAS officer also alleged Sir Mark Thatcher was "part of the team".
Channel 4 overturned a ban on the interview, which Mann's lawyers claimed may have been given "under duress".
Mann's lawyer Anthony Kerman had argued, on behalf of his family, that he may have been forced to take part by prison authorities.
But the court injunction was overturned by Channel 4 on Friday and the interview, in which Mann himself denied coercion, was broadcast on Tuesday night.
Channel 4 said Mann's sister and brother had gone to Equatorial Guinea and upon their return, his sister told the High Court that he did indeed wish for the interview to be broadcast.

Mark Thatcher-Dogs of War

The 55-year-old ex-Etonian was interviewed at the notorious Black Beach prison in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea.
He said he was the "manager, not the architect" of a plot to oust Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
He went on to name those who were involved in the conspiracy.
Mann insisted his old friend Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was "part of the team".
Sir Mark was fined and received a suspended sentence in South Africa for his involvement in the coup.
He has always claimed he was an unwitting conspirator and that as far as he knew, he was helping finance a new company - an air ambulance business in West Africa.
I blame myself most for simply not saying 'cut' two months before we were arrested -Simon Mann.

Profile: Simon Mann

In response to Mann's allegations, Sir Mark told Channel 4 News: "Simon Mann is an old friend of mine for whom I have the utmost sympathy throughout this whole ghastly process.
"Clearly what's happening to him now is very worrying and he must be frightened and acutely distressed, poor man.
"I have nothing to add to the statements that I gave to the relevant authorities in 2004, which are a matter of public record."

Mann went on to categorically deny rumours that EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson and former Tory peer Jeffrey Archer were involved in the plot.
He told Channel 4 News he had to "carry the can".
"I blame myself most for simply not saying 'cut' two months before we were arrested," he said.
"That's what I should have done, and there I was bloody stupid. Mea culpa (my fault)."
I regret it all terribly. You go tiger shooting, and you don't expect the tiger to win -Simon Mann.
Mann was jailed in Zimbabwe after arriving from South Africa on board a plane carrying weapons in 2004.
Up until the interview, he had maintained he was going to help guard a mine in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Last month, he was extradited from Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea without the knowledge of his lawyers. During the interview, he described it as an "illegal violent abduction".
He went on to apologise for his role in the plot.
"I regret it all terribly," he said. "You go tiger shooting, and you don't expect the tiger to win.
"I've been saying how sorry I am to everybody for four years now actually. I'm going to write it on my forehead - sorry."
Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich former Spanish colony, has been ruled by President Obiang since he seized power from his uncle in a coup in 1979.
Corruption watchdog Transparency International has put the tiny state in its top 10 corrupt states.
Mann is due to stand trial next week.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MCCANNS LOBBY MEP'S ON ALERT PLAN !

Gerry and Kate McCann fear time is running out for their campaign.
The parents of missing Madeleine McCann are visiting the European Parliament to gain support for a Europe-wide alert system for abducted children.
Gerry and Kate McCann need the backing of 393 MEPs to ensure that their proposal is published by the EU.
But some MEPs have shown "a complete lack of understanding" of the need for an alert system, Gerry McCann has said. Madeleine, then aged three, of Rothley, Leicestershire, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal in May 2007.
Amber Alert
The McCanns believe that a European version of the US Amber Alert system would have helped the search for their daughter in the crucial hours after her disappearance.
The US system enables an early warning to be given via the media across the country when police confirm a child has been abducted.
The couple launched their campaign in April but now fear time is running out in their bid to achieve formal recognition of the scheme.
Although publication of the proposal would carry no legal weight in the European Union, the McCanns believe it would help them win the moral argument over whether such a cross-border system is needed.
As of Monday evening the couple had collected the names of 211 MEPs.
But they need another 182 signatures before the July 24 deadline if the declaration is to be sent to the EU president and published.

Speaking in the latest blog on the Find Madeleine website, Gerry McCann revealed his frustrations in persuading MEPs that such a system is needed.
He said: "Some of the responses that have been sent display a complete lack of understanding in what we hope to achieve. "
However, after a vote in the European Parliament on Tuesday , several MEPs approached the McCanns to express their support for the scheme.
French member Alain Lamassoure, of the European People's Party, said: "I will sign it because it's a very painful issue and clearly a far better co-operation between the judiciary and police of member states could help prevent or solve these kinds of issues."
Irish Fianna Fail member Liam Aylward said: "It's a heart-rending case and it captured the imagination of people around the world.
"If we can influence anybody, we will do."
The couple are due to stage a press conference on Tuesday evening at the end of their day of campaigning in Strasbourg.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

POLICE OUT AS TORCH HITS XINJIANG !

Security was tight as the Olympic torch began passing through China's mainly Muslim Xinjiang region, on a highly sensitive part of its trip to Beijing.
Police were out in force as the flame left People's Square in the capital, Urumqi, on its run around the city.
The torch will spend three days in the region, which is home to around eight million Muslim Uighur people.
Relations between Chinese authorities and the Uighurs are tense. Officials fear separatists may target the relay.
The relay has been moved forward by a week, in an apparent attempt to avoid unrest.

CHINA'S UIGHURS

Ethnically Turkic Muslims, mainly in Xinjiang
Made bid for independent state in 1940s
Sporadic violence in Xinjiang since 1991
Uighurs worried about Chinese immigration and erosion of traditional culture.

In pictures: Life in Urumqi
View from Urumqi

Many Uighurs resent the large-scale influx of Han Chinese settlers into the resource-rich region, and some groups are fighting to establish an independent Islamic nation, which has led to periodic violence in Xinjiang.
Beijing accuses the groups of links to al-Qaeda and claims this year to have foiled at least two Xinjiang-based plots targeting the Olympic Games.
But human rights groups accuse the Chinese authorities of using the alleged terror links as a way of cracking down on the independence movement.
The torch's visit to another potential hotspot, Tibet's main city, Lhasa, has also been moved forward in an attempt to avoid disruption.
Terror allegations
In Urumqi, very tight security was put in place ahead of the relay.
Police carried out vehicle checks and set up checkpoints in the normally busy city.

Local residents who live and work along the route of the torch relay were instructed to stay inside, keep well away from their windows and watch the proceedings on television, the BBC's James Reynolds reports from Urumqi.
Our correspondent saw a handful of people daring to look out of the window in one office block, but every other window was empty.

That's the government's view: China is facing a serious terrorist threat - and this threat comes from where I'm writing these words - Xinjiang.
James Reynolds

Reynolds' China: Xinjiang in mind

People entering People's Square - where the relay began - had to pass through metal detectors while police searched their bags.
The majority of the crowd there were Han Chinese, and they waved flags of support, chanting "Go, China!" and "Go, Olympics!"
Nicola Dean, a British student in Urumqi, went to watch the torch relay. "There were a lot of people crowding the streets, little babies with Chinese flag stickers on their faces," she said.
"But the police wouldn't let anyone closer than 40m away from the path of the torch. There were traffic police, ordinary police and special forces police - and there were snipers in the tall buildings around the area. There were policemen in each building."

The flame's passage through the city was peaceful, but the danger of disruption to the Xinjiang leg has not passed.
On Wednesday the torch will move to the Silk Road oasis city of Kashgar, then to the cities of Shihezi and Changji on Thursday, before moving on to Tibet for a relay in Lhasa on Saturday.
Kashgar is already under tight security in preparation for the torch's arrival, and soldiers and firefighters are reportedly patrolling the main square.
The city is seen as one of the main Islamic centres in the region - more so than Urumqi.
"Nobody is allowed to watch the torch relay tomorrow unless you are being organised by your work unit. I feel a lot of regret," Chen Guangsheng, a Han Chinese resident in Kashgar, told Reuters news agency.
"The police are coming to my house tonight to inspect it and to register everybody living there."

BBC NEW REPORT.

50 OFFICE SPEAK PHRASES YOU LOVE TO HATE !

Lucy Kellaway's article against boss speak

Management speak - don't you just hate it? Emphatically yes, judging by readers' responses to writer Lucy Kellaway's campaign against office jargon. Here, we list 50 of the best, worst examples.

1. "When I worked for Verizon, I found the phrase going forward to be more sinister than annoying. When used by my boss - sorry, "team leader" - it was understood to mean that the topic of conversation was at an end and not be discussed again."Nima Nassefat, Vancouver, Canada
2. "My employers (top half of FTSE 100) recently informed staff that we are no longer allowed to use the phrase brain storm because it might have negative connotations associated with fits. We must now take idea showers. I think that says it all really."Anonymous, England
3. At my old company (a US multinational), anyone involved with a particular product was encouraged to be a product evangelist. And software users these days, so we hear, want to be platform atheists so that their computers will run programs from any manufacturer." Philip Lattimore, Thailand
4. "Incentivise is the one that does it for me."Karl Thomas, Perth, Scotland
5. "My favourite which I hear from the managers at the bank I work for is let's touch base about that offline. I think it means have a private chat but I am still not sure."Gemma, Wolverhampton, England
6. "Have you ever heard the term loop back which means go back to an associate and deal with them?"Scott Reed, Lakeland, Florida, US
7-8. "We used to collect the jargon used in a list and award the person with the most at the end of the year. The winner was a client manager with the classic you can't turn a tanker around with a speed boat change. What? Second was we need a holistic, cradle-to-grave approach, whatever that is."Turner, Manchester
9. "Until recently I had to suffer working for a manager who used phrases such as the idiotic I've got you in my radar in her speech, letters and e-mails. Once, when I mentioned problems with the phone system, she screamed 'NO! You don't have problems, you have challenges'. At which point I almost lost the will to live."Stephen Gradwick, Liverpool
10. "You can add challenge to the list. Problems are no longer considered problems, they have morphed into challenges."Irene MacIntyre, Courtenay, B
11. "Business speak even supersedes itself and does so with silliness, the shorthand for quick win is now low hanging fruit."Paul, Formby, UK
12. "And looking under the bonnet."Eve Russell, Edinburgh
13-14. "The business-speak that I abhor is pre-prepare and forward planning. Is there any other kind of preparedness or planning?"Edward Creswick, Exeter
15-16. "The one that really gets me is pre-plan - there is no such thing. Either you plan or you don't. The new one which has got my goat is conversate, widely used to describe a conversation. I just wish people could learn to 'think outside the box' although when they put us in cubes what do they expect?"Malcolm, Houston
17. "I work in one of those humble call centres for a bank. Apparently, what we're doing at the moment is sprinkling our magic along the way. It's a call centre, not Hogwarts."Caroline Garlick, Ayrshire
18. "A pet hate is the utterly pointless expression in this space. So instead of the perfectly adequate 'how can I help?' it's 'how can I help in this space?' Or the classic I heard on Friday, 'How can we help our customers in this space going forward?' I think I may have caught this expression at source, as I've yet to hear it said outside my own working environment. So I'm on a personal crusade to stamp it out before it starts infecting other City institutions. Wish me luck in this space."Colin, London
19. "The one phrase that inspires a rage in me is from the get-go."Andy, Herts
20. "'Going forward' is only half the phrase that gets up my nose - all politicians seem to use the phrase go forward together. 'We must... we shall... let us now... go forward together'. It gives me a terrible mental image of the whole country linking arms and goose-stepping in unison, with the politicians out in front doing a straight-armed salute. Is it just me?"Frances Smith, Toronto, Canada
21. "I am a financial journalist and am on a mission to remove words and phrases such as 360-degree thinking from existence."Richard, London
22. "The latest that's stuck in my head is we are still optimistic things will feed through the sales and delivery pipeline (ie: we actually haven't sold anything to anyone yet but maybe we will one day)."Alexander, Southampton
23. "I worked in PR for many years and often heard the most ludicrous phrases uttered by CEOs and marketing managers. One of the best was, we'd better not let the grass grow too long on this one. To this day it still echoes in my ears and I giggle to myself whenever I think about it. I can't help but think insecure business people use such phrases to cover up their inability for proper articulation." Leon Reilly, Ealing, London
24. "Need to get all my ducks in a row now - before the five-year-olds wake up." Mark Dixon, Bridgend
25. "Australians have started to use auspice as a verb. Instead of saying, 'under the auspices of...', some people now say things like, it was auspiced by..."Martin Pooley, Marrickville, Australia
26. "My favourite: we've got our fingers down the throat of the organisation of that nodule. Translation = Er, no, WE sorted out the problems to cover your backside." Theo de Bray, Kettering, UK
27. "The health service in Wales is filled with managers who use this type of language as a substitute for original thought. At meetings we play health-speak bingo; counting the key words lightens the tedium of meetings - including, most recently, my door is open on this issue. What does that mean?" Edwin Pottle, Llandudno
28-29. "The business phrase I find most irritating is close of play, which is only slightly worse than actioning something."Ellie, London
30. "Here in the US we have the cringe-worthy and also in addition. Then there's the ever-eloquent 'where are we at?' So far, I haven't noticed the UK's at the end of the day prefacing much over here; thank heavens for small mercies."Eithne B, Chicago, US
31. "The expression that drives me nuts is 110%, usually said to express passion/commitment/support by people who are not very good at maths. This has created something of a cliche-inflation, where people are now saying 120%, 200%, or if you are really REALLY committed, 500%. I remember once the then-chancellor Gordon Brown saying he was 101% behind Tony Blair, to which people reacted 'What? Only 101?'"Ricardo Molina, London, UK
32. "My least favourite business-speak term is not enough bandwidth. When an employee used this term to refuse an additional assignment, I realised I was completely 'out of the loop'."April, Berkeley, US
33. "I once had a boss who said, 'You can't have your cake and eat it, so you have to step up to the plate and face the music.' It was in that moment I knew I had to resign before somebody got badly hurt by a pencil."Tim, Durban
34. "Capture your colleagues - make sure everyone attends that risk management workshop (compulsory common sense training for idiots)."Anglowelsh, UK
35-37. "We too used to have daily paradigm shifts, now we have stakeholders who must come to the party or be left out, or whatever."Barry Hicks, Cape Town, RSA
38. "I have taken to playing buzzword bingo when in meetings. It certainly makes it more entertaining when I am feeding it back (or should that be cascading) at work."Ian Everett, Bolton
39. "In my work environment it's all cascading at the moment. What they really mean is to communicate or disseminate information, usually downwards. What they don't seem to appreciate is that it sounds like we're being wee'd on. Which we usually are."LMD, London
40. "At a large media company where I once worked, the head of human resources - itself a weaselly neologism for personnel - told us that she would be cascading down new information to staff. What she meant was she was going to send them a memo. It was one of the reasons I resigned - that, and the fact that the chief exec persisted on referring to the company as a really cool train set."Andrew, London
41. "Working for an American corporation, this year's favourite word seems to be granularity, meaning detail. As in 'down to that level of granularity'."Chris Daniel, Anaco, Venezuela
42. "On the wall of our office we have a large signed certificate, signed by all the senior management team, in which they solemnly promise to leverage their talents, display and inspire 'unyielding integrity', and lots of other pretentious buzz-phrases like that. Clueless, the lot of them." Chris K, Cheltenham UK
43. "After a reduction in workforce, my university department sent this notice out to confused campus customers: 'Thank you for your note. We are assessing and mitigating immediate impacts, and developing a high-level overview to help frame the conversation with our customers and key stakeholders. We intend to start that process within the week. In the meantime, please continue to raise specific concerns or questions about projects with my office via the Transition Support Center..."Charles R, Seattle, Washington, US
44. "I was told I'd be living the values from now on by my employers at a conference the other week. Here's some modern language for them - meh. A shame as I strongly believe in much of what my employers aim to do. I refuse to adopt the voluntary sectors' client title of 'service user'. How is someone who won't so much as open the door to me using my service? Another case of using four syllables where one would do."Upscaled Blue-Sky thinker, Cardiff
45. "Business talk 2.0 is maddening, meaningless, patronising and I despise it."Doug, London
46. "Lately I've come across the strategic staircase. What on earth is this? I'll tell you; it's office speak for a bit of a plan for the future. It's not moving on but moving up. How strategic can a staircase really be? A lot I suppose, if you want to get to the top without climbing over all your colleagues."Peter Walters, Cheadle Hulme, UK
47. "When a stock market is down why must we be told it is in negative territory?"Phil Linehan, Mexico City, Mexico
48. "The particular phrase I love to hate is drill down, which handily can be used either as an adverb/verb combo or as a compound noun, ie: 'the next level drill-down', sometimes even in the same sentence - a nice bit of multi-tasking."B, London
49. "Thanks for the impactful article; I especially appreciated the level of granularity. A high altitude view often misses the siloed thinking typical of most businesses. Absent any scheme for incentivitising clear speech, however, I'm afraid we're stuck with biz-speak." Timothy Denton, New York
50. "It wouldn't do the pinstripers any harm to crack a smile and say what they really felt once in a while instead of trotting out such clinical platitudes. Of course a group of them may need to workshop it first: Wouldn't want to wrongside the demographic."Trick Cyclist, Tripoli, Libya

BBC NEWS MAGAZINE.

OIL AT RECORD NEAR $140 A BARREL !

There have been calls for increased global oil output.
The price of crude oil has hit a new high of close to $140 a barrel in New York trade, despite Saudi Arabia agreeing to increase output in July.
US light crude rose to a record high of $139.89 a barrel, surpassing the previous high of $139.12 set on 6 June.
The price later fell back in afternoon trade to $134.57 a barrel.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabia had said it would increase its oil production by 200,000 barrels a day next month in a move to meet growing world demand.
That would make a total rise of 550,000 barrels a day, or over 6%, since May and would take Saudi output to its highest monthly rate since August 1981.
The news was announced after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon met Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi in Jeddah for talks on the high oil price.

Q&A: Record oil prices

Last month, Saudi Arabia increased its production by 300,000 barrels a day.
The country is thought to be the only oil producer with the ability to pump substantially more crude.
It argues that the current high prices are caused by speculators rather than any shortage of crude oil.
Oil prices had fallen by almost $2 on Friday after reports that Saudi Arabia might boost oil production but many believe that this pledge is too little too late to bring down oil prices.
Extremely volatile
"If they'd have said this six months ago, it might have had some effect," said oil industry expert John Hall.
"But the market has got it in its head that we are about to run out of oil, and is looking for negative news."
"The market is extremely volatile at the moment," he added. "Any disruption to supply is immediately jumped on."
Speculation about the future of oil prices has been rife recently, with some analysts predicting oil could jump to as much as $200 a barrel during the next 18 months.
Israeli threats to strike Iran over its nuclear programme have also helped fan the flames.
Movements in the currency markets on Monday also triggered the latest price spike, with the dollar weakening against the euro and subsequently making oil cheaper for investors dealing in other currencies.
Meanwhile, Norwegian oil firm StatoilHydro saw oil and gas production temporarily abandoned when a fire broke out on the 90,000 barrel a day North Sea platform.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"IT IS A FINE THING TO HAVE ABILITY,

BUT THE ABILITY TO DISCOVER ABILITY IN OTHERS

IS THE TRUE TEST" !

_______

UK SAYS UAE TERROR RISK IS 'HIGH' !

Dubai emirate in particular has become a major tourist destination.
British nationals in the United Arab Emirates have been warned there is now a high risk of a terror attack there.
Travel advice from the UK Foreign Office said terrorists might be planning indiscriminate attacks in places frequented by expatriates.
It did not give details about why there was believed to be a more serious threat than the general one previously issued to UK nationals.
Unlike neighbour Saudi Arabia, the UAE has had no major terrorism incidents.
Expatriates make up a majority of the population of the oil-rich state, which consists of seven individual emirates, including the main ones Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is also a major tourist destination.
"High" is the most serious of four terrorism risk levels which the Foreign Office uses in its warnings, the others being "general", "underlying" and "low".
Security awareness
British officials do not usually comment on the reasons for specific changes in its foreign travel advice, but say conditions in overseas countries are constantly under review.
"There is a high threat from terrorism," an official travel advice notice for the country said. "We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE."
The web-posted advice says attacks could happen at any time and may target residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests.
"You should maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places," the advice says.
However, the advice is prefaced by an assurance that the "vast majority of visits" to the UAE are "trouble-free".
At least 100,000 UK citizens are resident in the UAE and more than one million Britons travelled there in 2006, the British embassy says.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

HONDA MAKES FIRST HYDROGEN CARS !

The FCX Clarity emits none of the gases responsible for global warming.
The Japanese car manufacturer Honda has begun the first ever commercial production of a hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicle.
The medium-sized four-seater, called the FCX Clarity, runs on hydrogen and electricity, emitting only water vapour.
Honda claims the vehicle offers three times better fuel efficiency than a traditional, gasoline-powered car.
It plans to produce 200 of the cars over the next three years.
One of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of wider adoption of fuel cell vehicles is the lack of hydrogen fuelling stations.
The car will initially be available for lease starting July to a limited number of customers in southern California and then in Japan later this year.
Honda says it expects to lease a few dozen units in the U.S. and Japan within a year, and about 200 units within three years.
It said the cost of the car, on a three-year lease, would be $600 (£300) a month.

BBC NEW REPORT.

VIOLENCE 'SPREAD TO HARARE AREA' !

Attacks by suspected Zanu-PF supporters have been on the increase
Political violence in the campaign for this month's presidential run-off in Zimbabwe has spread to urban areas around the capital Harare, reports say.
Some opposition supporters complained of being attacked in a township near the city.
The area had been largely quiet while violence flared in rural districts.
One opposition supporter told a local journalist he had been abducted and beaten by supporters of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF.
Earlier, Mr Mugabe vowed the main opposition party would never lead Zimbabwe and said he was prepared to "go to war" for his country.
He is due to face Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, in the 27 June run-off poll.
Mr Tsvangirai was earlier released having been being arrested for the fifth time in just nine days.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MCCARTNEY ROCKS UKRAINIAN CAPITAL !

Sir Paul McCartney has performed in front of tens of thousands of people in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
The former Beatle braved thunder, lightning and torrential rain to perform his first concert in the former Soviet republic.
Sir Paul sang a range of Beatles classics and solo material during his two-and-a-half hour set.
He told the crowd in the city's main square: "It's great to be here. Thank you for coming out in the rain."
The free Independence Concert, organised by Ukrainian billionaire businessman Viktor Pinchuk, was also broadcast live on TV across the country and on giant screens set up in five other cities.

Sir Paul opened his set with the Beatles hit Drive My Car, followed by a series of Beatles songs, including Hey Jude, Let it Be, Back in the USSR, and Penny Lane.
But the crowd's loudest screams were reserved for an electrifying performance of Bond theme tune Live And Let Die, complete with pyrotechnics and fireworks.

Up to 200,000 people braved the weather to watch Sir Paul.
Sir Paul also finished the concert with two encores, ending on Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
"It was fantastic, the reaction was amazing," said Oxana Bulan, a teacher from Kiev.
"It's huge to finally feel a piece of something.
"We have always been somewhere behind the iron fence and we'd like to join the rest of the world now."
Ukraine, which gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has played host to a number of well-known performers in recent years.
Last June, Sir Elton John performed to 200,000 people in Independence Square.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TIED UP IN KNOTS ON A WEDDING DAY !

Wedding disasters are not limited to soap opera storylines.
They call it the happiest day of your life - but for thousands of couples last year the white wedding blues turned them red with rage.
Government advice service Consumer Direct received 4,000 complaints in 2007 related to wedding day woes.
Problems included venues cancelling at the last minute, wedding dresses failing to arrive and guests getting struck down with food poisoning.
Couples planning to marry are being urged to plan well in advance.

Wedding contracts can be worth several thousands of pounds so it is vital that you shop around
Michele Shambrook, Consumer Direct
Thousands of couples will be looking forward to their big day this summer - including England football star Wayne Rooney who is tying the knot on the Italian Riviera.
For those getting married in less glamorous surroundings, the advice is to negotiate early with hotels, caterers, jewellers, photographers, florists and travel agents.
"Wedding contracts can be worth several thousands of pounds so it is vital that you shop around, compare prices, ask lots of questions and make sure you know exactly what you're getting before you agree a deal," said Consumer Direct operations manager Michele Shambrook.
One tip for couples is to ask for legally binding written quotes, rather than estimates, so venues cannot raise prices after the booking is made.
Other advice includes checking terms and conditions, such as cancellation policies, before paying a deposit for a venue and consider using a credit card for purchases between £100 and £30,000 as it could offer extra protection.

BBC NEWS REPORT

FEARS OVER NUCLER WEAPON PLANS !

Pakistani scientist AQ Khan admitted leaking nuclear secrets in 2004.
An international smuggling ring managed to acquire blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon, a former UN arms inspector is to say in a new report.
David Albright, who investigated the ring led by Pakistani scientist AQ Khan, found the drawings in 2006.
His report, due to be published later this week but seen in advance by the Washington Post, suggests the plans may have been sold to rogue regimes.
The blueprints included key details for building a compact nuclear device.
Such a device, unlike less advanced ones, could be fitted to the kind of ballistic missile used by Iran and more than a dozen developing countries.
In 2004, Dr Khan admitted having passed on nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea before his network was dismantled.
However, in a BBC interview last month, Dr Khan said that the allegations were false and claimed he had been pressured into confessing "in the national interest".
In his report, Mr Albright states that he found the drawings on computers owned by Swiss businessmen, the Washington Post newspaper says.
The computer contents have since been destroyed by the Swiss authorities under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
But UN officials cannot rule out the possibility that the blueprints were shared with others before they were found, Mr Albright says.
"These advanced nuclear weapons designs may have long ago been sold off to some of the most treacherous regimes in the world," the Post quotes him saying in his report.
The computers on which the drawings were found belonged to Swiss businessmen Friedrich Tinner and his sons Marco and Urs.
They are awaiting trial in Switzerland on charges connected to their alleged involvement in the smuggling ring.
Speaking in May, after the destruction of the computer files was disclosed, Swiss President Pascal Couchepin said the action had been taken to prevent the information falling "into the hands of a terrorist organisation" or a rogue state.
He told reporters: "There were detailed construction plans for nuclear weapons, for gas ultracentrifuges to enrich weapons-grade uranium, as well as for guided missile delivery systems."
The files were among information seized in the course of a government investigation into the Tinners that began in 2004.
Mr Albright's report is the first to allege that the documents included plans for a more advanced nuclear weapon.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

To stay safe, stay silent!

Saturday 14th June 2008.

Dear Family and Friends,

Every time the man insulted and complained in his ugly, raised voice, I could feel droplets of his spit on my neck. He was standing so close behind me that I felt distinctly uncomfortable. There must have been about twenty of us waiting in the queue at the supermarket but no one commented or said a word about the abusive tirade. The owners of this sort of behaviour are well known to us all and to stay safe we stay quiet. "Hey Manager," he shouted, "someone send for the manager. Why must I wait like this? I don't expect to have to wait." The more the man ranted the quieter it got in the shop. Two security guards standing at the exit doors did not come forward, instead they retreated out of sight and the shower of spit on my neck increased. "Hey, bring more tellers! Come on, I'm tired of waiting. Hey, you, how much is that chocolate? No, not the local one, the imported one. What about the newspaper, the imported one? How much? Hey, hurry up."

The owner of the abusive behaviour was a man of perhaps thirty. His head was shaven and he wore a thick gold chain around his neck. In his hand, on obvious display, he flicked a thick bundle of money. Under his loose, open-necked shirt we could all see the T shirt he wore with the face of Mr Mugabe on it.

This is the face of Zimbabwe a fortnight before elections: one man silences twenty. We see but we stay quiet.

Two men arrived on foot at a farm this week and they were carrying Zanu PF posters. As they began putting up the posters on the walls of outbuildings a worker tried to object - this is private property after all. "You are not allowed to complain," came the response. "Or maybe you are MDC?" The worker did not respond and the posters of Mr Mugabe were plastered on the walls of private property.

This is the face of Zimbabwe where election observers have begun arriving but are only allowed to watch from 8 am to 5pm.

A friend was at the hospital when the latest victim of political violence arrived. The victim was in his early sixties and accused of being an MDC supporter. Both his arms and one leg were broken , his skull was fractured and the injuries too severe to be treated at the local hospital.

This is the face of Zimbabwe where only 400 election observers will watch 12 million Zimbabweans on the 27th of June. 400 election observers to watch 9231 polling stations. One observer for every 23 polling stations - it is a mockery, an insult to a tired, broken, hungry and frightened population. Is this really the best Africa can do?

Until next time, love cathy

MILLION FLEE SOUTH CHINESE FLOODS !

Flooding in southern China has killed at least 55 people and forced more than one million to flee their homes, the government says.
Torrential downpours have affected nine provinces, China's civil affairs ministry says. More rain is expected in the coming days, forecasters warn.
Among those provinces badly hit is Sichuan, which is still reeling from last month's massive earthquake.
Some 87,000 people were killed or missing after the 12 May earthquake.
China's civil affairs ministry says nearly 1.3 million people have now fled their homes in the hardest hit regions as the bad weather continues.

Television showed boats cruising city streets, homeowners trying to bale out their home and rescuers handing out supplies of bottled water.
The flooding has submerged large areas of farm land and destroyed 6,600 homes in Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces, the official Xinhua news agency reports.
It says that many roads throughout the affected areas have been covered by landslides.
The flooding in the Pearl river delta is the worst for 50 years, forcing the Guangdong government to issue an emergency flood alert throughout the province, Xinhua says.
China 's rainy season causes chaos every year, often leaving many dead and forcing millions to leave their homes.
In the past, the Chinese authorities have warned that climate change may make the problem worse, the BBC's Daniel Griffiths in Beijing says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"NONE OF US IS AS SMART AS

ALL OF US" !

___

ZIMBABWE CAMPAIGN : SECRET DOCUMENTS !

Undercover BBC News correspondent Ian Pannell has obtained evidence of plans by Zimbabwe's ruling party to harass and drive out opposition supporters.

LEADING THE CAMPAIGN

The first document outlines who is running the campaign in Midlands Province. The JOC referred to is the Joint Operations Command, made up of the heads of the military and state security organisations. On the supervising committee are: senior Zanu-PF official Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has denied reports he is now running the country as chairman of the JOC; Edna Mazongwe, who is the speaker of the outgoing Senate, and Joshua Malinga, a campaigner for the rights of disabled people, who was a senator.

WAR VETERANS

Jabulani Sibanda and Joseph Chinotomba are leaders of Zimbabwe's association of veterans of the 1970s war of independence. The group has been used recently as a Zanu-PF militia.

RURAL AREAS

Thousands of opposition MDC supporters have been assaulted and at least 60 killed, mostly in rural areas which voted for the MDC. The resettled farmers are those given land under President Robert Mugabe's land reform programme.

FOOD AS WEAPON
The government has denied repeated claims it is denying food aid to opposition areas. Last week, it banned aid agencies from rural areas, which critics say is to tighten its control of food aid.

BBC NEWS REPORT.
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DIVERS FIND 1780 BRITISH WARSHIP !

HMS Ontario had as many as 130 people on board when it sank.
Deep sea divers have found the wreck of a Royal Navy warship which sank during the American Revolution.
The discovery of HMS Ontario, at the bottom of one of the Great Lakes on the US-Canada border, has been hailed an "archaeological miracle".
The 22-gun vessel, with 130 men on board, disappeared without trace in Lake Ontario in a gale in 1780.
The ship is now being treated as a war grave and there are no plans to raise it or remove any of its artefacts.
Shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville have revealed how they used side-scanning sonar and an unmanned submersible to find the 80ft (24.4m) ship earlier this month.
To have a revolutionary war vessel that's practically intact is unbelievable -Arthur Britton Smith - Canadian author
They claim HMS Ontario is the oldest confirmed shipwreck and the only fully-intact British warship to have ever been found in the North American Great Lakes.
Canadian author Arthur Britton Smith, who chronicled the history of the HMS Ontario in the 1997 book The Legend of the Lake, described the find as an "archaeological miracle".

Mr Scoville told AP that, although the vessel went down in a huge storm, it had still managed to "stay intact".
"There are even two windows that aren't broken. Just going down, the pressure difference can break the windows. It's a beautiful ship," he said.
The vessel is currently sitting in an area of the lake where the water is up to 500ft (152m) deep and can only be reached by the most experienced divers.

A drawing by Arthur Britton Smith shows how the ship would have looked
However, Mr Kennard and Mr Scoville, who have been hunting for the ship for three years, have refused to give its exact location, saying only that it was found off the southern shore.
The pair believe the cold freshwater of the lake has acted as a preservative - with the lack of light and oxygen slowing decomposition - ensuring the ship has stayed intact.
The HMS Ontario is considered one of the few "Holy Grail" shipwrecks in the Great Lakes and for many years divers and shipwreck hunters have searched for the vessel without success.
Official records quoted by the team of explorers show the Ontario went down on 31 October 1780 with a garrison of 60 British soldiers and a crew of about 40, mostly Canadians. There could also have been up to 30 American prisoners of war on board.
There are about 4,700 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, with approximately 500 in Lake Ontario.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

A GLIMPSE OF MUGABE TERROR !

Undercover reporting from Zimbabwe is a risky business. Add to the mix a close encounter with one of President Mugabe's most feared supporters and, as Ian Pannell discovered, it becomes a brief glimpse of the terror that many people in the country are living through.

A presidential run-off election is to be held on 27 June 2008.
"We would like to apologise for the late release of results, this was due to the rigging process which was more difficult than we anticipated."
This joke was being passed around on mobile phones the last time I was in Zimbabwe.
It was early April and the country felt as though it was on the brink of historic change.
But I have just returned from another visit and this time the atmosphere could not be more different.

Many people have been arrested, more than 60 opposition activists have been murdered, thousands have been beaten, and tens of thousands of people have been driven from their homes.
People have learned to live very different lives.
They talk in code and use passwords to communicate with friends.
Anyone who has been actively involved in opposition politics can be assumed to be a target of the sinister gangs which come at night, dragging people from their beds for a savage beating or sometimes worse.

There are days when it feels that everyone is hiding something, running from something, planning or plotting something.
The vast majority of the violence over the last two months has been in the countryside.
We left Harare and headed east towards Manicaland, a lush, fertile, province whose rolling fields give way to mountains on the Mozambique border.
The areas that have seen most of the violence are those which have historically voted for Zanu-PF but which switched sides in the last election. Manicaland is one of those places.
We knew that hundreds of opposition supporters had been forced from their homes in a brutal campaign of retribution.

A source told us of a site where 400 men, women and children were in hiding.
The area was thick with stories of ongoing violence and we knew that the militias, the military and the widely-feared war-veterans were active here.
After 30 minutes of driving along a fairly deserted road, we pulled over to wait for our contact.
That was when we encountered Joseph Chinotimba.

Joseph Chinotimba is deputy-leader of the war veterans association.
He was not our contact.
Joseph Chinotimba is the deputy leader of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association and perhaps the most feared member of a group that has become synonymous with the worst excesses of violence in Zimbabwe in the last eight years.
His car blocked ours. He got out with three other men, striding towards us, wearing a T-shirt with two Kalashnikovs and Robert Mugabe's face printed on it.
We were in trouble.
His eyes were unflinching, a large, brooding man, full of hatred, smelling of alcohol and full of threats.
He leaned into the car, demanding to know who we were, where we were from, what we were doing, where we were going.
"We know what you are up to," he said and he paused, as if waiting for a confession.
"There are journalists here you know."
Still no response from us.
Joseph Chinotimba is a thug of a man who has acted with impunity for many years, and it was only fast and fluid talking by two South African colleagues we were travelling with that persuaded him to leave us alone.
I will never quite believe that he really bought what felt like a terribly flimsy cover story about travelling to see friends, but he did eventually let us pass.
It was a frightening few minutes, a brief glimpse of the terror that many people in Zimbabwe are living through.
Voter intimidation
We did eventually meet our contact and drove on through many police road blocks to the people we had come to see.
We were taken to a run-down holiday camp which was now home to hundreds of people who had been forced out of their village for voting "wrongly".
One thing has not altered... people's desire for change
That was not their word but the one used by the thugs who attacked them.
Time and again we heard that same charge being levelled against people: "You voted wrongly and we're going to punish you."
I told our contact that we would only be 20 minutes here. "Ten would be better," he said, "it's not safe here."
And actually 10 minutes was enough time to hear not just what had happened to them but also what they would do about it.
The atmosphere in the country may have changed, the violence and intimidation is systematic and brutal and people are living different lives... but one thing has not altered and that is people's desire for change.

I have spoken to people with deep gouged wounds in their buttocks and their feet, broken limbs, burnt down homes, even the bereaved.
Almost all are scared but they are also defiant.
Robert Mugabe's thugs may well have over-stepped the mark and actually stiffened people's resolve.
One woman who had lost everything was emphatic.
She told me that her beating had made her stronger. "It is my certificate," she said, like some perverse badge of distinction.
Now she would go and use it to vote again for change.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 14 June, 2008 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

AFRICA'S LOOMING CANCER EPIDEMIC !

By 2020, it is predicted that Africa will be facing a cancer epidemic. Claudia Hammond reports from Ghana, where efforts are being made to transform cancer care before it is too late.

When I first walked into the room labelled brachytherapy in the hospital in Ghana's second city, Kumasi, it seemed fairly empty.
There was just one nurse sitting at a wooden desk.
But she was watching a black-and-white monitor, and there on the screen was a woman lying very still on a bed in a cell-like room.
Broad tubes emerged near her feet from under the crumpled sheets.
For the safety of staff, she was separated from them by several heavy, lead doors while she had the radioactive treatment.
Still aThis hospital is one of just two with cancer centres, and between them they serve a country with a population of 23 million.
But this treatment - low dose brachytherapy - is not pleasant.
Radioactive material is inserted into the cervix via tubes, which are held in place with metal gynaecological devices.
The doctor showed me the equipment and it looked distinctly uncomfortable.
There are just five cancer specialists in the whole country, treating tumours of a size doctors in the West rarely see But it was worse than I thought.
For this treatment the patient must stay alone in this room for 50 consecutive hours.
There was a TV, but little else to distract her.

Like many cancer patients in Ghana, the disease was not diagnosed until it was already at a late stage.
There are just five cancer specialists in the whole country, treating tumours of a size that doctors in the West rarely see.
A combination of a lack of awareness of the symptoms, combined with a fear of surgery and the stigma of cancer, leads people to seek help late.
Doctors have resorted to recruiting ex-patients who have survived to help them to convince people to have surgery In rural areas, the first port of call is often a traditional healer and the tumours tend to be treated with herbal remedies more suited to boils.
Then there is the belief that cancer always leads to death.
It is not unusual here to know someone who has had a mastectomy for breast cancer that was at such a late stage that they later died.
So in many people's minds their deaths are linked with the operation.

Sharon helps other cancer patients see the benefits of treatmentDoctors have resorted to recruiting ex-patients who have survived to help them to convince people to have surgery.
Sharon, who has lost two cousins and a sister to cancer, was diagnosed with breast cancer 19 years ago and had a double mastectomy.
She told me women are afraid to have mastectomies in case their in-laws persuade their husbands to leave them.
Her approach is blunt. Whenever she is going to the hospital to meet a woman reluctant to have the surgery, she gets dressed up so that she is looking her best, draws the curtains around the hospital cubicle and then quickly undoes her blouse.
"One woman almost fainted," she told me.
And then she spells it out to them: "If you don't do it, you will die."

But in rural areas, even the option of treatment is not always available.
A new charitable organisation called Afrox - led by a team from Oxford University - has ambitious plans to transform cancer care across Africa before the predicted epidemic starts, and it is beginning its work in Ghana.
The proposals cover the prevention and early detection of cancer as well as treatment and palliative care.
This is an area where a lot of people miss out.
Protocol seems to dictate that no decisions are made during the meetings themselves, so by the end very little appears to have been achieved Although the number of terminally ill patients is on the rise, there are no hospices and for some there are not even adequate painkillers.
Sharon told me about a woman she used to visit who was dying from breast cancer.
Her family saved what little money they had to give her a good funeral, rather than spend it on pain relief for her final days. They said she was going to die anyway, so why waste money on treatment?

For two days I sat in on the meetings Afrox had with health ministers and other officials.
It was an insight into the way ministerial meetings work.
Protocol seems to dictate that no decisions are made during the meetings themselves, so by the end very little appears to have been achieved.
What does take place is a great deal of business-card swapping.
There is even an etiquette for the timing of the handing over of the card.
People introduce themselves, set out their stall, get some kind of response and then out come the cards. It is easy to get 20 in a day.
Then everyone shakes hands, and with nothing agreed the meeting is over. Yet somehow this is how policies are formed and things do get done.
As well as going to meetings in the two days since I had seen the patient having brachytherapy, I had recorded lots of interviews, had two lunches, two suppers and two nights' sleep.
But all along I knew that she was still there, lying with that equipment inside her, all alone in that little room.
And it turns out that after all that, this treatment is not even aimed at curing her. She just might live a little longer.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN RULES OUT HALT TO ENRICHMENT !

Tehran has warned it will reject any deal that demands it halt uranium enrichment - part of a new package of incentives from world powers.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented the offer of trade benefits in Tehran. Iran says it is studying it.
The UN Security Council's permanent members and Germany have threatened new sanctions if Iran refuses the deal.
US President George W Bush said he was disappointed that Iran had rejected "this generous offer out of hand".
"It's an indication to the Iranian people that their leadership is willing to isolate them further," he said after talks in Paris with President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The West fears the enriched uranium could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Mr Sarkozy said a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iran would be "an unacceptable threat to world security".
An Iranian government spokesman said Iran would look at the deal, but if it included suspension it was "not debatable".
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says the discussions have not got off to a promising start, but for the moment both sides do seem to want to keep talking.
I don't expect miracles, but I think it's important for us to continue extending also a hand, therefore to make clear that we have a double track approach - Javier Solana -EU Foreign Policy Chief

Solana expects no miracle in Iran

These talks probably represent the last chance of a negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis for the foreseeable future, our correspondent says.
The deal presented by Mr Solana offers Iran help with a peaceful nuclear programme and the suspension of UN sanctions, if Iran agrees to suspend the enrichment of uranium.
The Western help would include the transfer of technology, a guarantee of fuel for nuclear power, and other trade and political benefits.
The package, agreed in May by the US, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany, is a revised and enhanced version of an offer turned down by Iran in 2006.
A spokesman for Mr Solana said he had handed the offer to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday and that talks were continuing.
In the background is the threat of new sanctions, our correspondent says.
While the EU may suggest that a "grand bargain" is on offer, he adds, the package in fact does little to tackle the fundamental question of Iran's relations with the US - and without that, the nuclear issue will surely never be resolved.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EARTHQUAKE ROCKS NORTHERN JAPAN !

The earthquakes triggered massive landslides.
At least three people have been killed and about 60 hurt by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake which struck the north of Japan's main island.
The epicentre was in Akita prefecture, 100km (60 miles) north of the city of Sendai, at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), according to the US Geological Survey.
The tremor rattled buildings in nearby towns and in the capital, Tokyo, 390km (240 miles) to the south.
All high-speed bullet trains in the area were automatically shut down.
Several gallons of radioactive water leaked from two pools storing spent fuel at the Fukushima nuclear plant, but the operator said this posed no risk to the environment.
Two other nuclear power plants in the area were being inspected but there were no immediate signs of damage, officials said.
Several people were reportedly buried under mud at a hot spring hit by a landslide, with up to 100 more reportedly trapped.
Seismologists had issued advance warning of the earthquake moments before it struck around 0845 (2343 GMT on Friday).

Footage from NHK television showed surveillance cameras in Sendai being shaken violently for about 30 seconds.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters in Tokyo that one person had been killed by a landslide triggered by the earthquake in Iwaki City in Fukushima prefecture.
Another death occurred in Iwate prefecture, close to the epicentre, when someone ran out of a building in panic and was hit by a lorry.
A third victim was a construction worker hit by a rock at a dam in Iwate, according to the National Police Agency.
Four people were badly injured near the airport in Sendai when a bus in which they were travelling was jolted by the tremors, Japanese television reported.
Children and at least one teacher were also reportedly hurt when window panes broke at a child care centre in Oshu, it added.
Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries and experiences thousands of minor tremors each year.
An earthquake last year in central Japan caused a small radioactive leak from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AFRICA PRESSURE GROWS ON MUGABE !

Mr Mugabe claims to have reined in war veterans spoiling to fight the MDC.
Forty of Africa's most prominent figures have published an open letter calling for Zimbabwe's presidential run-off to be peaceful and fair.
The warning came as Botswana became the first of Zimbabwe's neighbours to protest against the detention of two senior Zimbabwean opposition leaders.
President Robert Mugabe wants to extend his 28-year rule in the 27 June poll.
Mr Mugabe has said he has dissuaded war veterans from fighting to keep the opposition from power.

The group of African leaders, which includes former UN chief Kofi Annan and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, urged an end to violence and intimidation ahead of the presidential run-off.
In the first round in March, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai gained more votes than Mr Mugabe, but not enough for an outright victory.
They came to my office after the elections and asked me: 'Can we take up arms?'
President Robert Mugabe
Former leaders like Ghana's Jerry Rawlings, Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano and Nigeria's Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar also put their names to the letter.
Mr Mugabe is still hailed by many African leaders as a hero of the fight against colonialism.
The government of neighbouring Botswana has summoned the Zimbabwean high commissioner to protest against the detention of Mr Tsvangirai and MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti on Thursday.
Botswana's Foreign Minister Phandu Sekeleman told the BBC that the arrests amounted to harassment.
"These repeated arrests do not augur well for a free, fair and democratic election - people must be free to campaign," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
He said Botswana had been affected by all the Zimbabweans fleeing the violence.
Correspondents say Botswana is the first African government to lodge a formal protest with the Zimbabwe government about the violence and intimidation that has hit the country ahead of the election.

On Friday, MDC lawyers were still trying to get access to Mr Biti, who spent the night in custody after his arrest at Harare airport. The authorities say Mr Biti faces a charge of treason and another charge for proclaiming victory in the 29 March elections before official results had been published. A high court judge has ordered police to bring Mr Biti to court on Saturday and explain why he is being held, opposition lawyers said.

On Friday, Mr Mugabe warned that veterans from Zimbabwe's 1970s war of independence were ready to fight to stop the MDC gaining power.
The Herald newspaper quoted Mr Mugabe as saying: "They came to my office after the [first round of] elections and asked me: 'Can we take up arms?' "They said this country was won by the barrel of the gun and should we let it go at the stroke of a pen? Should one just write an X and then the country goes just like that?" The 84-year-old leader of the Zanu-PF party reportedly made the comments on Thursday at a rally in Murehwa, north-east of the capital Harare. He said the MDC would hand back Zimbabwe to "our former oppressors, the whites".

The opposition, rights groups and some Western governments accuse Mugabe supporters of directing a campaign of violence and intimidation against the MDC.
The opposition says at least 66 of its supporters have been killed and some 25,000 forced to flee their homes.

Zimbabwe's war veterans have been staunch supporters of Mr Mugabe.
The BBC has uncovered evidence that the army is behind the violence, although this has been denied by the military.
On Friday, the MDC said police had impounded two opposition election buses in Gweru, central Zimbabwe.
Mr Tsvangirai has been detained several times on the campaign trail.
Earlier, top UN humanitarian official John Holmes told the Security Council that up to four million Zimbabweans - a third of the population - needed aid.
But the UN's World Food Programme told the BBC last week 600,000 Zimbabweans currently needed aid and that figure might rise to four million early next year in a worst-case scenario.
Correspondents say that within the Security Council, South Africa - backed by Russia and China - is resisting action on Zimbabwe.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRELAND REJECTS EU REFORM TREATY !

The Irish No campaign was a broad-ranging coalition.
Voters in Ireland have rejected the European Union's Lisbon reform treaty in a referendum by 53.4% to 46.6%.
The vote is a major blow to leaders in the 27-nation EU, which requires all its members to ratify the treaty. Only Ireland has held a public vote.
The European Commission says nations should continue to ratify the treaty, designed to streamline decision-making.
Irish PM Brian Cowen said he respected the vote but it had caused a "difficult situation" that had "no quick fix".
Leaders of the No campaign said the vote was a "great result for Ireland".
An earlier, more wide-ranging EU draft constitution failed after French and Dutch voters rejected it in 2005.

The Irish No campaign won by 862,415 votes to 752,451. Turnout was 53.1%.
At the end of the day, for a myriad of reasons, the people have spoken - Dermot Ahern, Justice Minister.

EU mulls options after No vote
Mark Mardell's Euroblog
In quotes: Referendum reaction

Mr Cowen said: "The government accepts and respects the verdict of the Irish people."
He said he would work with other EU leaders to try to find an "agreed way forward" but that the bloc was in "uncharted territory".
"Ireland has no wish to halt the progress" of the EU, he said.
A referendum was mandatory in Ireland as the country would need to change its constitution to accommodate the treaty.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he had spoken to Mr Cowen and agreed with him that this was not a vote against the EU.
"Ireland remains committed to a strong Europe," he said.
"Ratifications should continue to take their course."
France and Germany quickly issued a joint statement expressing regret over the Irish result.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the UK would press on with ratification, saying: "It's right that we continue with our own process."
This is democracy in action... and Europe needs to listen to the voice of the people - Declan Ganley, Libertas.

Q&A: Irish referendum
UK to press ahead
Send us your comments

Spain has said a solution will be found but Czech President Vaclav Klaus said ratification could not now continue.
Mr Barroso said EU leaders would have to decide at a summit next week how to proceed.
He called for the EU to continue focusing on issues of interest to people like jobs and inflation, energy security and climate change.
But BBC Europe editor, Mark Mardell, says this is a multiple crisis for the EU - a crisis of rule change, of legitimacy and of morale.
In the end, he says, the Lisbon treaty could be declared dead: some parts of it would be implemented without a treaty, others abandoned, others put in a new treaty when Croatia joins the EU in a couple of years time.
Declan Ganley of the anti-treaty lobby group Libertas said: "It is a great day for Irish democracy."
He added: "This is democracy in action... and Europe needs to listen to the voice of the people."
The No campaign was a broad coalition ranging from Libertas to Sinn Fein, the only party in parliament to oppose the treaty.
Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, said: "People feel secure at the heart of Europe, but they want to ensure there's maximum democratic power."
Correspondents say many voters did not understand the treaty despite a high-profile campaign led by Mr Cowen, which had the support of most of the country's main parties.

Jose Manuel Barroso said the EC respected the vote but had hoped for another outcome
Mr Cowen accused the No camp of "misrepresentation", saying voters had voiced concern about "issues that clearly weren't in the treaty at all", the Irish Times reported.
The treaty, which is designed to help the EU cope with its expansion into eastern Europe, provides for a streamlining of the European Commission, the removal of the national veto in more policy areas, a new president of the European Council and a strengthened foreign affairs post.
The treaty was due to come into force on 1 January 2009.
Fourteen countries out of the 27 have completed ratification so far.
Just over three million Irish voters are registered - in a European Union of 490 million people.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GADDAFI ATTACKS OBAMA ON ISRAEL !

Col Gaddafi was conciliatory up until his comments about candidate Obama.
Libya's leader has strongly criticised US presidential candidate Barack Obama for saying Jerusalem should remain the undivided capital of Israel.
Col Muammar Gaddafi said he was either ignorant of the Middle East conflict or lying to boost his campaign.
Mr Obama was speaking to pro-Israel lobbyists in the US last week.
Referring to him as "our Kenyan brother", Col Gaddafi also said Mr Obama might suffer from an inferiority complex because of his African origins.
The issue of race could make Mr Obama's behaviour "more white than white people", Col Gaddafi suggested, rather than acting in solidarity with African and Arab nations.
The comments came during a speech to mark the 38th anniversary since the US evacuated Wheelus Air Force base in Tripoli.
Israel claims Jerusalem as its "eternal, undivided" capital, but the Palestinians want the eastern half - occupied by Israel in 1967 - as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
The Americans left Libya shortly after Col Gaddafi came into power in a bloodless coup in 1969.

The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says the speech was a passionate critique of past US policies towards Libya but emphasised that current relations are not confrontational.

History of US-Libya ties

However, Col Gaddafi's defiant and famously politically incorrect rhetoric returned when talking about Mr Obama towards the end of the speech.
"The statements of our Kenyan brother of American nationality Obama on Jerusalem... show that he either ignores international politics and did not study the Middle East conflict or that it is a campaign lie," he said.
"We fear that Obama will feel that, because he is black with an inferiority complex, this will make him behave worse than the whites."
"This will be a tragedy," Gaddafi said. "We tell him to be proud of himself as a black and feel that all Africa is behind him."
Conspiracy theory
Mr Obama's epic primary campaign against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton ended in his victory early this month.
The presidential election will be in November.
Correspondents say he has largely avoided playing on past racial struggles in the US and has drawn support among black and white Americans.
In addition, Mr Gaddafi suggested Mr Obama's comments may have been informed by a fear of assassination by Israeli agents, "the same fate as [former US President John F] Kennedy when he promised to look into Israel's nuclear programme".
Conspiracy theories abound about Kennedy's assassination in 1963, which the US authorities say was carried out by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"DO NOT GO WHERE THE PATH MAY LEAD,

GO INSTEAD WHERE THERE IS NO PATH

AND

LEAVE A TRAIL" !

__________

LOCALS KILLED IN S AFRICA ATTACKS !

A third of those killed in xenophobic attacks in South Africa last month were local citizens, the government says.
The BBC's Mpho Lakaje in Johannesburg says gangs of attackers mistook them for people from other parts of Africa.
Twenty-one South Africans died in the riots, spokesman Themba Maseko said. He said 20,000 displaced people were still living in fields and halls.
The violence, blamed on unemployment and scarce resources, was the worst since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Mr Maseko said that a day of national healing may be declared for the 62 people who died.
Non-governmental organisations estimate that about 85,000 people were uprooted in the violence - many thousands fled to their countries of origin.

The government says language played a role in death of the South Africans as people from the north of the country speak Shangan, which is widely spoken in neighbouring Mozambique.
These people, they don't even ask where you are from or what you are doing here - they just kick you, hit you -
South African citizen Mpho Seraje
But Mpho Seraje, a South African citizen from the Free State who was attacked last month in Johannesburg, says appearance was often what counted more.
"Maybe because of the colour pigmentation one may say I'm from Zimbabwe or Mozambique," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"They all carry guns; they all carry slash hammers and knives. They even took our cell phones, money and luggage."
Mr Maseko said the government's policy was to push for the reintegration of those living in makeshift camps.
"We should not be romanticising the process of reintegration," he told journalists.
"It's not going to be easy; it's going to require a lot of hard work.
"It'll require dialogue between the communities and the displaced people and the issue of security is going to be one of the major issues."
He said that the UNHCR has no plans to evacuate any of the foreigners.
"Therefore, reintegration is supported by the international agencies."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MUGABE CRITIC ON TREASON CHARGE !

The secretary general of Zimbabwe's main opposition party will be charged with treason and faces a possible death sentence, the police have said.
Tendai Biti of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was arrested in Harare on his return from South Africa.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who faces President Robert Mugabe in a 27 June run-off, was also briefly detained.
The BBC has obtained evidence suggesting the military is actively involved in Mr Mugabe's campaign.
The documents outline plans by ruling party Zanu-PF to harass and drive out opposition supporters, especially from rural areas.
Officials said Mr Biti would be charged with treason for announcing the results of the 29 March presidential elections early.
"For the treason charge he faces the death penalty or life in prison. He is in police custody and we are still investigating the matter," police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.
Mr Tsvangirai was detained at a roadblock near the central town of Kwekwe on the way to an election rally.
It was the third time he had been held this month.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MILITARY 'RUN MUGABE CAMPAIGN' !

By Ian Pannell - BBC News, Zimbabwe.

Documents obtained by the BBC suggest for the first time that the Zimbabwean military is actively involved in running the re-election campaign for Robert Mugabe.
More than 60 people have been killed, thousands have been beaten and many more have been driven from their homes in related violence.
The papers outline plans by Zanu-PF, the ruling party, to harass and drive out opposition supporters, especially from rural areas.
Testimony from eye-witnesses and victims from across Zimbabwe as well as internal party documents show that violence and intimidation are being used to try to guarantee the re-election of Robert Mugabe against the challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on 27 June.

The documents outline the use of covert operations against the MDC.
The documents suggest that the JOC, or Joint Operations Command, is now actively helping to conduct the president's campaign, running logistics and operations. The JOC is made up of the heads of the military and state security organisations.
Another document lays out the party's tactics, including the use of scarce food supplies as a political weapon.
"Basic commodities should be sold from either people's shops or pro-Zanu PF shops," it says. "Emphasis should be in party strongholds."
It talks about giving the notorious and feared war veterans, responsible for much of the violence in Zimbabwe, a "leading role in Zanu-PF campaigns".

The document also outlines the use of covert operations against the MDC including harassing supporters and driving them out of Zanu-PF strongholds and declares a "no-go area" to rural constituencies for the MDC.
We're told to vote for Zanu-PF and they told us it's not now a secret vote - you have to vote in front of your commanding officer

The BBC is banned from reporting in the country, which makes it difficult to authenticate some of this material but our investigations found that all of the tactics mentioned in the document are being used by Zanu-PF and its supporters.
The Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Information, Bright Matonga, denied that the ruling-party is responsible for the violence and he refused to comment on what he described as "illegal documents."
But speaking anonymously, a Zimbabwean police officer confirmed to the BBC that officers had been given orders to support Zanu-PF and turn a blind eye to violence perpetrated against MDC supporters.

Mr Tsvangirai says he will not accept a victory for Mr Mugabe in the run-off.
We met in a dark car park in Harare. He told me "we're told to vote for Zanu-PF and they told us it's not now a secret vote, you have to vote in front of your commanding officer".
He complained that the police were no longer independent: "Our police is now politically motivated, whereas it is supposed to be an organisation that stands for not taking part."
Posters supporting Robert Mugabe are plastered across the walls of the capital. The party has brought in private PR consultants to give the campaign a far more positive image.
It is a slick strategy that promotes sovereignty, independence and empowerment. But under-writing the campaign are the resources of the central bank and a monopoly of air-time in the state-controlled media.
Often the MDC and its supporters are portrayed as the perpetrators of much of the violence but all the evidence points the other way and that is also the conclusion of many observers.
The US ambassador to Harare insisted that Robert Mugabe wants to "to retain power through any means possible."
He said Zanu-PF, the military and the war veterans were responsible for most of the violence against those who voted for the MDC in the first round, "ensuring that, number one, they'll be too afraid to vote and, number two, that they're not in their district and cannot vote".
I asked him whether there was any way you could conclude that this election is either free nor fair. His answer was swift: "Absolutely none."
We met people across Zimbabwe who all had almost identical stories to tell. Many had been beaten or burnt, many had broken limbs, some had relatives killed, thousands had been driven from their homes.
They were all targeted because they voted for the opposition.
Robert Mugabe has called this an "all-out war". He and his supporters are engaged in a fight for survival and what is now clear is that they will use any means necessary to achieve that.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRELAND IN CRUNCH EU TREATY VOTE !

Nearly three million people are eligible to vote in the Irish Republic's poll.
People in the Irish Republic are voting in a referendum on whether to ratify the European Union reform treaty, in a poll anxiously watched across the EU.
All other 26 member states have left the issue to their parliaments, but Ireland is obliged to hold a popular vote on changes to its constitution.
All of the main Irish parties back the treaty but the No campaign has been putting up a strong challenge.
With many voters undecided, opinion polls suggest the result will be close.
The document, known as the Lisbon Treaty, replaces a more ambitious draft constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
It provides for a streamlining of the European Commission, the removal of the national veto in more policy areas, a new president of the European Council and a strengthened foreign affairs post.

Irish voters give their views on the Lisbon Treaty
In pictures

The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Dublin says that a No vote would plunge the EU into crisis, and that all eyes will be on the turnout.
A figure below 40% would almost certainly sink the treaty, our correspondent says.
In 2001, Irish voters almost wrecked EU plans to expand eastwards when they rejected the Nice treaty. It was only passed in a much-criticised second vote.
Ireland's EU Minister, Dick Roche, predicted on the eve of polling that the Yes campaign would win but the result would be "very, very close".

Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, urged all EU states to back the treaty, which is due to come into force on 1 January 2009.
Speaking after Finland and Estonia became the latest EU members to ratify the treaty in their parliaments, he said the reforms would strengthen the EU to meet global challenges.
The No campaign is a broad coalition ranging from lobby group Libertas to Sinn Fein, the only party in parliament to oppose the treaty.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said a successful No vote would give Ireland's "government a strong mandate to negotiate a better deal for Ireland".
Ireland's PM Brian Cowen has accused opponents of the treaty of "sheer inaccuracy and absurdity" and said Ireland could not get a better deal than the one on offer.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CELLAR INCEST GIRL 'WILL RECOVER' !

Kerstin Fritzl, the 19-year-old whose illness in April alerted the Austrian authorities to a major incest scandal, will make a full recovery, doctors say.
They say the woman, who spent her life as a captive in a cellar, has taken her first steps since waking from a coma.
Ms Fritzl, who was admitted to hospital suffering from major organ failure, has also been reunited with her siblings.
She is the eldest of seven children fathered by Josef Fritzl with his daughter, Elisabeth.
Though her mother visited her regularly, Kerstin finally met other family members on Sunday.
"The family is now very happy to all be together for the first time," family lawyer Christoph Herbst told a press conference.
Elisabeth and the six surviving children have moved into a house on hospital premises to enable them to live as normal a life as possible while still under hospital care.
"The reunion of Kerstin with her family a few days ago was a moving moment," hospital director Berthold Kepplinger told a press conference.

Police say Fritzl has admitted imprisoning and raping his daughter.
Her medical recovery was a "great relief", he said, adding that he expected her to recover fully and "develop normally".
Dr Albert Reiter, who treated Kerstin, said she said made steady progress since being woken from an artificially induced coma.
He said she first greeted him during a morning visit on 1 June.
"I said to Kerstin 'Hello Kerstin', and Kerstin tells me 'Hello'," he said.
Mr Kepplinger said she could read and write, and was good at communicating.
She told doctors that she would like to travel on a ship and listen to a Robbie Williams concert.
Elisabeth was held captive for 24 years and raped repeatedly by her father.
She and Kerstin and two other children lived in a cellar beneath his house. Three other children lived with Mr Fritzl, while another died as an infant.
Mr Fritzl, 73, remains in detention pending charges.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PAPERS ON AL-QAEDA LEFT ON TRAIN !

There was a 'clear breach of the rules' when the documents were lost.
A police inquiry has been launched after top-secret documents containing the latest government intelligence on al-Qaeda were left on a train.
The documents belonged to a very senior intelligence official working in the Cabinet Office.
A passenger on the train from Waterloo in London to Surrey spotted an envelope the papers were in abandoned on a seat and handed the documents to the BBC.
A full-scale search for them had been launched by the Metropolitan Police.
Just seven pages long but classified as "UK Top Secret", the latest government intelligence assessment on al-Qaeda is so sensitive that every document is numbered and marked "for UK/US/Canadian and Australian eyes only", BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said.
However, it appears that in a serious breach of the rules, according to our correspondent, the document was taken out of Whitehall and left on a train on Tuesday.
When a fellow passenger saw the material inside, which included a top-secret and in some places "damning" assessment of Iraq's security forces, they handed it in to the BBC.
Meanwhile a full-scale search for the documents had been launched by the Metropolitan Police, amid fears that such highly sensitive material could have fallen into the wrong hands, our correspondent said.
The two reports were assessments made by the government's Joint Intelligence Committee.
The report on Iraq was commissioned by the Ministry of Defence and the one on al-Qaeda was commissioned jointly by the Foreign Office and the Home Office.

Our correspondent said that across several departments in Whitehall this evening there is said to be "horror" that top-secret documents could have been so casually mislaid.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: "Two documents which are marked as 'secret' were left on a train and have subsequently been handed to the BBC.
"There has been a security breach, the Metropolitan Police are carrying out an investigation."
The spokesman declined to discuss the contents of the documents.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We are making inquiries in connection with the loss of documents on June 10."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MANDELA HIDEAWAY RESTORED FOR ALL !

By Peter Biles - BBC Southern Africa correspondent.

A hideaway used by Nelson Mandela when he was a political activist nearly half a century ago has been restored and opened as a museum.
Lilliesleaf Farm in the Rivonia suburb of Johannesburg was a site used by the African National Congress from which to launch its armed struggle against the apartheid state.
But leading members of the ANC were arrested there in 1963, and faced what became known as The Rivonia Trial. Mr Mandela and his colleagues were subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
The farm is just half an hour's drive from the centre of Johannesburg, and over the years, the plush suburb of Rivonia has grown up around it.
But back in the 1960s, this was an isolated place. It made Lilliesleaf an ideal "safe house" for members of the ANC's military wing ¿ Umkonto we Sizwe .
Nelson Mandela came to live here in 1961 when he was on the run. He used the name "David" and posed as a caretaker and slept in one of the small outhouses.
But 18 months later, the farm was raided by the police, and the ANC's high command was arrested, while advancing the plans for an armed struggle.

Tour guide Jacqueline Otukile says it is important that Lilliesleaf Farm has been preserved.
"We need to know where Nelson Mandela started the struggle of the South African people," she says.
One of the projects that the Lilliesleaf Trust has been involved in is a search for a gun that Mr Mandela acquired during military training in Addis Ababa - and that he said he buried outside the property.
However, despite intensive investigations at the site, it has not been found.
Over the last four years, Lilliesleaf has been extensively rebuilt as part of its transformation into a heritage site.
But the black-and-white photographs from the 1960s are a stark reminder of the struggle for political freedom.
It is something that South Africans will never be allowed to forget.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TRUMP GOLF INQUIRY IN FULL SWING !

Timeline: Trump application

Donald Trump has denied claiming he would create the "world's greatest golf course" to justify building it on environmentally sensitive land.
The American tycoon was speaking as an inquiry into his plans for a £1bn golf resort north of Aberdeen got under way.
Mr Trump said he always believed the project could be the best in the world.
The inquiry - ordered by Scottish ministers after an Aberdeenshire
Council committee rejected his plans - is expected to last several weeks.
Environmental groups and local campaigners have criticised the plans for the Menie Estate, while business leaders have backed it.
Part of the course would be built on sand dunes which are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Donald Trump insists his golf resort would be 'very special for Scotland'
Mr Trump was questioned by a number of environmental groups at the start of the inquiry at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC).
David Tyldesley, for the RSPB, suggested that Mr Trump's original vision had been to create a "world class course" but not necessarily the world's best.
Mr Trump said: "Let me make it clear so we can perhaps save some time.
"I am looking to build the finest golf course in the world if given the chance to do it."
Mr Tyldesley said: "I don't doubt that it's an aspiration but can I put it to you that it is only a recent aspiration in order to justify the use of SSSI?"
Mr Trump replied: "That is absolutely false - the moment I saw the site I thought it had the potential to be the greatest golf course in the world."
Mr Trump later described the current state of the site as "kind of disgusting".
David Morris of the Ramblers Association in Scotland asked him if the Aberdeenshire site was one of the best he had seen in the world.
He said: "I don't think it is just now, I think it can be. There are dead bird carcasses, there are animals lying over the site which have been shot. Maybe some people are into that - I'm not."
Mr Morris then asked whether it would still be possible for the public to go to the sand dunes and watch golfers play, if it was within the law to do so.
Mr Trump said: "Subject to the law - but they don't go hand in hand.
"You don't want to be sitting with your family getting smashed by a golf ball."
Mr Trump said he did not know how many people currently used the beach, but added that he personally never saw people there and that it seemed "pretty desolate".
He added: "Before, no-one knew what it was. Now they are saying 'Menie, it's the greatest'."
Mr Trump repeatedly insisted that his development would help protect the dunes.
When asked by Mr Morris how far he was willing to compromise, Mr Trump replied: "In the US we have the expression 'half-assed'. Let's do it properly."
At one point, inquiry chief reporter James McCulloch warned that there should be no calls from the crowd after Mr Trump described himself as "an environmentalist".
Mr Trump flew into Aberdeen in April 2006 to visit the area where he has pinned his hopes on building the resort.
The local and political controversy that followed has rarely subsided.
The application includes two championship golf courses and a luxury hotel.
In November last year, Aberdeenshire Council's infrastructure committee rejected the plans on the casting vote of the chairman at the time, Martin Ford.
Mr Ford was later sacked as the committee's chairman, a move he said sent out the "wrong message" on the planning system's integrity.
The matter was later called in by the Scottish Government due to its importance.
Finance Secretary John Swinney said there was to be a public inquiry "given the nature of the application and the considerable public interest".
In March this year, a parliament committee said First Minister Alex Salmond took a "cavalier" approach to his involvement with the plans.
Holyrood's local government committee raised concern that a government decision to call in the plans came after "two five-minute phone calls".
But, following an inquiry, it said the unprecedented decision was "competent".
The Scottish Government said the probe had found ministers and officials had acted within planning law.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

JAPAN LIFTS OLYMPICS SWIMSUIT BAN !

Japanese swimmers will be allowed to wear cutting-edge swimsuits made by UK-based firm Speedo at the Beijing Olympics, officials have said.
The decision is a U-turn on a previous ruling that allowed only Japanese makes of swimwear to be used.
Swimmers wearing Speedo's LZR Racer suit have smashed 30 world records in previous months - the latest Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima on Sunday.
That had raised the spectre of a revolt against the ban on Speedo.
"In order to get the best results in Beijing we took into account the opinions of the athletes and the coaches," said Kazuo Sano, vice-chairman of the Japanese Swimming Federation.
"Based on that input we have decided to let the athletes choose their swimsuits."
Until now, Japanese swimmers had been contracted to wear only swimwear produced by three domestic companies - and a race had begun to try to develop a fabric to rival that produced by Speedo.
The LZR Racer is made from a hi-tech, water-resistant polyurethane that Speedo claims reduces drag.
On Sunday, the LZR-clad Kitajima set a new 200m world breaststroke record of two minutes, 7.51 seconds, shaving almost a second off the previous record.

BBC NEWS REPORT

PLANE ABANDONED AT HANOI AIRPORT !

Officials say the plane could belong to a Cambodian airline.
Vietnamese authorities say they are mystified as to who owns a Boeing 727 which has been abandoned at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport.
The plane was flown in from Siem Reap in neighbouring Cambodia in late 2007 and has been unclaimed ever since.
An airport official told the BBC that they believe the owners could be an airline based in Cambodia.
The official said that if it remains unclaimed, the plane will have to be sent for scrap.
The plane has a Cambodian flag on its fuselage and is emblazoned with the name Air Dream, but the authorities say they have no information about the airline.
Earlier, one security official at Noi Bai airport told the BBC’s Vietnamese Service that the plane belongs to bankrupt budget Cambodian airline Royal Khmer, but this is not certain.
Permission was originally given for the plane to remain at the airport while essential maintenance was carried out but these repairs have not been done.
Online newspaper VietnamNet reported that the owners could be unable or unwilling to pay the required airport parking fees.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

US NET FIRMS TO BLOCK SEX SITES !

Three of the biggest US internet service providers have agreed to block access to bulletin boards and websites that carry images of child sex abuse.
The firms - Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable - will also provide more than $1m (£500,000) to fund efforts to remove child sex sites.
The agreement was brokered by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Previous attempts to crack down on child pornography have been resisted by the industry.
Internet companies had previously argued that they could not be held responsible for how individuals communicate with other individuals online.
Law enforcement agencies therefore concentrated on targeting the producers of images of child sex abuse rather than the ISPs. Mr Cuomo's initiative represents a new approach.
"You can't help but look at this material and not be disturbed," the New York Times quoted Mr Cuomo as saying.
"To say 'graphic' and 'egregious' doesn't capture it," he added.
Agents from Mr Cuomo's office conducted an eight-month investigation into the ISPs before the agreement was reached.
They posed as ISP subscribers and complained to the companies that they were allowing images of child sex abuse to proliferate in spite of customer service agreements pledging to discourage such activity.
Mr Cuomo's office threatened the ISPs with charges of fraud and deceptive business practices.
In an attempt to avoid the charges, the firms agreed to Mr Cuomo's terms, including the agreement to block access to child sex sites.
The agreement will affect customers across the US.
Negotiations with other service providers to broker similar agreements are continuing, according to Mr Cuomo.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WITNESSES DESCRIBE ZIMBABWE VIOLENCE !

By Caroline Hawley BBC News, Johannesburg

Violence spread shortly after the 29 March election
As the date for Zimbabwe's presidential run-off approaches, state-sponsored violence has escalated sharply, according to human rights workers and opposition politicians in Zimbabwe who have given first-hand accounts to the BBC.
Andrew Makoni and Harrison Nkomo, both young human rights lawyers, fled to the safety of South Africa last week, fearing for their lives.
Five of Mr Makoni's clients, all activists for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), have been murdered over the past few weeks.
He says three of them had their eyes gouged out, and their tongues cut off.
'Systematic campaign'
"I had threats last year, and was incarcerated for my work, and I stayed in the country," he said, speaking at a small unfinished hotel in Johannesburg where he is now staying.
"But this time we have to take the threats seriously because there seems to be a systematic campaign to eliminate those with opposing views.
There are horrific injuries. Bones are not just fractured, they are shattered
Human rights worker
"People are being abducted and their decomposing bodies are being found."
Mr Nkomo said: "I received credible information that I was on a list of lawyers who are being targeted by state security agents for elimination. It seems they want to remove anyone seen to be standing in their way."
Hospitals in Harare have been kept busy dealing with an endless flow of bloodied and bruised patients, who have been subjected to brutal beatings.
"The violence we're seeing is more life-threatening than it was," said one human rights worker, who did not want to be identified.
"There are horrific injuries. Bones are not just fractured, they are shattered. Victims speak of being handcuffed and then beaten."
Petrol bombs
The violence is worst in rural areas - where the MDC did well in the 29 March election, at the expense of the ruling Zanu-PF.
"There are hit squads operating, and the level of attacks is increasing," Misheck Marava, an MDC senator from south-eastern Zimbabwe, told the BBC by telephone.
Mr Marava represents the town of Zaka where, last week, an MDC office was attacked with gunfire and petrol bombs leaving charred bodies in the wreckage, according to the opposition.
"My homestead has been attacked three times," he said.
"My wife was beaten and the husband of one of our councillor's was shot and had his ribs broken. It's very, very bad."

Morgan Tsvangirai is still campaigning, but his supporters have been targeted
He also said the government's suspension of the work of aid agencies would have a terrible effect in his district: "We are now at the mercy of God."
Aid groups believe that their field work has been banned in part to prevent them witnessing government abuses.
"We are the eyes and ears of the international community," one foreign aid worker told the BBC.
"And it's clear that the authorities don't want us out in the countryside seeing what they're going to do."
In one of the worst attacks, Human Rights Watch says six men were beaten to death in Chiweshe in Mashonaland Central province on 5 May - at a "re-education" meeting meant to compel MDC supporters to vote for Robert Mugabe in the presidential run-off.
It reports that another 70 men and women were tortured, including a 76-year old woman who was thrashed in front of assembled villagers.
Retaliatory attacks
Although the government blames the MDC for the violence, all independent reports suggest that the vast bulk of attacks are being carried out by state security organs, as well as Zanu-PF militia.
But human rights workers in Zimbabwe say it is not wholly one-sided.
"We're starting to hear stories about resistance being organised and retaliatory attacks," one told the BBC.
"A couple of Zanu-PF supporters were hospitalised after the Chiweshe incident."
Human Rights Watch says it has now confirmed at least 2,000 victims of violence - and that may be a conservative figure.
"Fear is being instilled in people to such an extent that they're running away to urban areas," says Blessing Chebundo, MP for KweKwe in the centre of the country.
"Zanu-PF youth militia and army men are forcing people to put on Zanu-PF T-shirts and they're confiscating the ID cards of people they think are MDC supporters so they won't be able to vote."
He described how, after a Zanu-PF rally last Friday, government supporters went on the rampage, killing an MDC supporter.
"No-one in the area had the courage to help him - they were too scared," he said.
A human rights activist inside Zimbabwe said: "Almost everyone you talk to seems to have a story of intimidation. People are being threatened and told they must vote 'correctly.'"

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"FOR OUR OWN SUCCESS TO BE REAL,

IT MUST CONTRIBUTE TO THE SUCCESS OF OTHERS" !

_________

FATAH AND HAMAS 'RESTORE TRUST' !

Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have held two days of talks in the Senegalese capital Dakar.
A joint statement said that the meetings had restored an "atmosphere of trust and mutual respect".
The two factions have been bitterly opposed since June 2007 when Hamas took control of Gaza by force.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas branded the seizure a "coup", sacked a Hamas-led unity cabinet and revived talks with Israel.
Senegal is hosting the talks because the country's President, Abdoulaye Wade, is currently head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Senegalese officials said the talks aimed "at levelling divergences and reconciling the Palestinian family".
The joint statement at the end of what is intended to be the first in a series of meetings in Dakar was signed by Hamas representative Emad Khalid Alamy and Fatah's Hikmat Zeid, the Palestinian ambassador in Senegal.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman based in the Gaza Strip, called on the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to cease arrests of Hamas members.
"Hamas has taken steps [towards dialogue] and the president of the authority and Fatah movement in the West Bank are demanded to take similar steps to prove seriousness and concern and good intentions," Mr Barhoum told the Reuters news agency.

The Hamas takeover of Gaza last June in effect split the Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank, into two separately ruled entities.
Analysts say Fatah's holding talks with Hamas may threaten Israel's acceptance of Mr Abbas as a negotiating partner.
But six months of US-sponsored peace talks have made little headway, which has weakened Mr Abbas and prompted growing criticism by him of Israel.
Mr Abbas had until now refused to talk to Hamas unless it relinquished Gaza.
Israel has meanwhile closed off the Gaza Strip and blocked all but the most essential humanitarian supplies after militants stepped up rocket attacks from the territory.
Several abortive efforts have been made, including by Egypt and Yemen, to repair the rift between Hamas and Mr Abbas's Fatah party.
Hamas, shunned by Israel as a terrorist group, claims to be the legitimate government in the occupied Palestinian territories after winning parliamentary elections in 2006.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

VIEWPOINTS: OBAMA VERSUS MCCAIN !

The big battle for the White House is about start. Who has the wind behind him, Barack Obama or John McCain? What hurdles do they face and what strategies can they employ to overcome them? Five leading US pundits give their views.
Click on the links below to read what they have to say.

"The election is Obama's to lose. The Democrats will be favoured."Larry J Sabato, University of Virginia
"There will be an effort to try to associate [Obama] with the tumultuous 1960s."Tom Mann, Brookings Institution.
"The Democrats have extraordinary enthusiasm on their side."Karlyn Bowman, American Enterprise Institute
"McCain has defied gravity in the last few months in terms of the numbers."Tony Fabrizio, Republican pollster
"McCain may be able to prove he is formidable without demonising Obama."Walter Shapiro, Salon.com

Larry J Sabato is professor of politics at the University of Virginia.
The election is Barack Obama's to lose. The Democrats will be favoured: there is an unpopular war, an unpopular president and the economy has tanked. But Obama has demonstrated serious weaknesses and he has a lot of ground to make up.

The issue of race is the great unknown for Barack Obama The great unknown for Obama is race - we simply don't know how it will play.
Obama will gain from minorities but will lose some of the white working class, particularly in the Rust Belt and the Appalachian region. Some will come back - the vast majority of those who voted for Hillary Clinton will come back, no matter how angry they are at the moment.
John McCain's strength in terms of the Republican Party is that he does have the image of the maverick and moderate, at a time when the public is deeply anti-Bush.
Another of his advantages, is that as we move into the fall, people will focus on defence, military policy and foreign policy.
The downside is his age. Last week, I really thought he was showing his age.
It will be a tough, uphill climb for him but it is doable.
Click here to return
Tom Mann is an elections expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington
The political environment for John McCain is overwhelmingly hostile.

Barack Obama's ideological position will be tested by John McCainMcCain could start to try to discredit Barack Obama. He could play on a set of concerns that exist or could be planted in the course of the campaign.
Certainly, there is his relative inexperience in politics and public life. There will also be problems revolving around his race and ideology.
His cultural as well as ideological position will be tested by McCain, and there will be an effort to try to associate [his campaign] with the tumultuous 1960s: student radicalism, ideological extremism, lack of patriotism. But, it will be hard for McCain to sustain this.
Everything is pointing towards a negative referendum [on the Bush years]. Obama's challenge is to get himself known to more people; to tell his story, to share his values and to make people comfortable with him, so that in the last two months he can focus on more substantive things like Bush's failures.
Click here to return
Karlyn Bowman is a public opinion researcher at the American Enterprise Institute.
The Democrats have extraordinary enthusiasm on their side.
There is a sour US mood, mostly directed at President Bush. John McCain has had to walk a fine line in terms of distancing himself from Bush, and has, so far, done well.
Obama's challenge will be to sustain the mood of enthusiasm over the summer Many polls have shown the race is dead even - but there are a lot of variables. Pew Polls, for example, have shown John McCain ahead on handling Iraq. The issue of national security will be seen as his strength.
However, there is less attention focused on Iraq at the moment. It's on the back burner and there is a steady simmer but the economy is the strongest issue.
Many Americans feel that the country has gone off on the wrong track, with inflation etc.
There are certainly concerns over Barack Obama's inexperience.
His challenge will be to sustain the mood of enthusiasm over the summer, which will be difficult as people begin to think about their holidays.
He's been drawing wonderful crowds, and there has been an extraordinary turnout of young people - but whether they turn out to vote in November remains to be seen.
It's a very exciting race
Click here to return
Tony Fabrizio is a Republican strategist who is not working on the campaign.
John McCain has defied gravity in the last few months in terms of the numbers: he is running 10-13 points ahead of the generic Republican brand and is continuing to fly there. But he will need to keep the independents on board, if he doesn't, he has little chance of winning.
What are the Republicans waiting for? It's already June and they need to be defining the race The environment is favourable to Democratic Party but Barack Obama is an unknown commodity.
Is it possible that Obama might collapse under the weight of his own liberal record? Yes.
Is it possible that McCain could get defined as the third term of George W Bush? Yes.
One strategy for McCain is to make the race about Obama - to make it not about micro-policy but about ideological differences. Given Obama's record, this will be easy.
But what are the Republicans waiting for? It's already June and they need to be defining the race.
Obama portrays himself as mainstream, however he is anything but. If Obama isn't on the front pages of the newspapers soon defending himself, the Republican [campaign] isn't doing its job.
Click here to return
Walter Shapiro is the Washington bureau chief of Salon.com.
One of the main issues is, can John McCain present himself as the reformer, as the person that voters in New Hampshire and Michigan - which he will have to win in November - fell in love with in 2000?
McCain will need to revive his appeal to hang on to independents.
He may be able to prove that he is formidable without demonising Obama.
He could, for example, really try to stress that he is someone with reform credentials to change Washington that are as good, if not better than Obama's.
It is quite possible that Obama, on the other hand, will have to focus on the negatives: that McCain is an old man who is out of touch, one who sold his soul to the devil on taxes to win the approval of President Bush.
The election is five months away, and we have no idea what the voters will be thinking about in October - whether it will terrorism, economy, or something we haven't even thought about. After all, six months ago we wouldn't have thought that people now would be talking about the price of gas.
We try so hard to get ahead of the story that we end up making certain predictions about many things that reasonable people agree are unknowable.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

WHY ARE THERE REBELS EVERYWHERE?

By Ben Wright - BBC News political correspondent.

Mr Brown is dealing with Labour opponents on several fronts.
Rebellion. It's the word of the moment in Westminster.
In this world of tightly whipped discipline, any deviation from the party line is seen as a courageous act of career-crushing defiance.
But rebels are everywhere right now. Well, actually, they are everywhere in the Labour Party.
The rebels do not want to overthrow the government but they do want to change its policies.
Their great recent triumph was the 10 pence tax U-turn and their pin-up is Frank Field, the Labour MP who showed what could be done with a good argument and a clever campaign.
And now the rebels have organised on other issues: the government's plan to increase vehicle excise duty (retrospectively) on the most polluting cars; its proposals to reform the planning system; and of course its plans to increase detention without charge for terror suspects up to 42 days.
And, they reason, if the government is in the mood to appease bolshie backbenchers on the issue of 10p tax, why not these?
When Gordon Brown's working majority is 66 and poll ratings are plunging, he cannot afford damaging defeats in the Commons.
This coming week had pile-up potential, with one controversial policy shunting into the next.
I certainly hope it [gets through], because I believe it is the right thing to do - Jacqui Smith on terror detention plan

MI5 'has not asked for 42 days'
Labour rebel watch

Monday promised a key vote on the Planning Bill - a dull-sounding piece of legislation but with big significance.
Many Labour MPs are angry about what they see as a lack of political accountability in the government's plans for a new planning system.
But last week the bill was suddenly pulled from the parliamentary schedule.
One of the potential rebels, John Grogan, said: "Either the government doesn't want two controversial votes in one week or it's preparing concessions to meet backbench concerns. It's got to be one or the other."

Would-be rebels tend to reveal their identities by signing Early Day Motions, in-house parliamentary petitions that do not have any power to change policy but do reveal what MPs are getting cross about.
Ronnie Campbell started one asking the government to reconsider its vehicle excise duty policy and 53 MPs have signed it.
Mr Campbell has got a meeting with the chancellor next week to talk though his concerns. It is a rebellion the government is anxious to stall.
But the proposal that is really getting rebel watchers excited is contained in the Counter-Terrorism Bill.
The House of Commons votes on Wednesday on extending 28-day detention limit to 42 days - and the result remains impossible to call
A flurry of new amendments that beef up the safeguards and stress the exceptional circumstances in which the power could be used has won over some Labour MPs such as Keith Vaz and Martin Salter.
But an unknown number of others remain opposed to the central principle of the plan.
Of course, some of Labour's disgruntled MP are serial rebels, left-wingers who habitually vote against the government.
For others this is a bigger line to cross, particularly on a vote that - though not a confidence issue - carries the tag of being a major test of Gordon Brown's authority.
A rebellion is one thing. A rebellion that could dangerously wound an embattled prime minister is quite another.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DEATH ON INDIA'S ROADS !

By Chris Morris - BBC News, Delhi.

It's an all-too-depressing sight on India's chaotic roads. An accident - the crushed remains of a car or a van - and more anonymous victims.
There are now more road deaths in India than anywhere else in the world - a man-made epidemic according to a government committee.
In 2006 - the latest year for which figures are available - more than 100,000 people died, and an estimated 2,000,000 were seriously injured.
The economic and social costs of these shocking figures are enormous.
India loses 3% of its GDP to road crashes every year. Many of the deaths happen in rural areas, and one study found that 70% of families who lose their main wage earner in a traffic accident subsequently fall below the poverty line.
It is a scourge which claims far more victims than communicable diseases like Aids, TB and malaria combined. And yet far less money is spent on trying to do something about it.
"It's a national crisis," said Rohit Baluja, a leading road safety activist. "Not only casualties, but violations are increasing. We need strong political will to bring down the number of accidents."
Belatedly, the government has decided to act.
Legislation is moving slowly through the political system which will create powerful new road safety agencies at state and national level. They will be financed in part by tax on fuel.

On traffic patrol with Indian police - 'You're fighting a war.'
Critics fear this could turn out to be just another bureaucratic reorganisation, but the authors of the new scheme deny it.
"You're fighting a war, and you need a structured army to fight that war," said Sanjivi Sundar, who chaired a special government committee on road safety, "so that's what has been recommended."
Better road engineering, better driver training and better enforcement of the rules are all urgently needed.
At the moment it's much too easy to buy a driving licence in India without ever taking a test.
And as more and more people squeeze onto the roads - on two, three or four wheels - that is having a lethal effect.
"People don't care about road safety," said Harman Singh Sidhu, who was paralysed when his car crashed on a crumbling road 12 years ago.
"It's only when they are personally affected that anyone seems to pay any attention."
Mr Sidhu now spends his time in a wheelchair, lecturing drivers about safety standards. Much of the advice has to be pretty basic.

We spoke to two lorry drivers who had just attended a road safety lesson. One of them hadn't known he was supposed to allow emergency vehicles like ambulances to pass him by; the other hadn't known what many of the road signs meant.
A new generation of driver education centres is emerging, with off-road circuits allowing learners to practice in safety. But at the moment it feels like a drop in the ocean.
Driving around India's crowded cities certainly isn't for the faint-hearted.
But the people most at risk are often pedestrians. Many of the fatalities in road accidents are simply trying to cross to the other side.
"We have to improve things, it isn't an option," said Sanjivi Sundar.
"The children we save from diseases when they are young, we sacrifice at a later date. We need to do something very urgently and very drastically."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TWO KILLED BY LARGE GREEK QUAKE !

At least two people have been killed as an earthquake rocked southern Greece, collapsing buildings and causing panic.
Some 20 injuries were reported from falling roofs as the tremor - which had an epicentre 200km (124 miles) west of Athens - struck near Patras in the Peloponnese region.
The quake had a magnitude of 6.5, the Athens Geodynamic Institute said, and could be felt in the capital.
Greece is one of Europe's most earthquake-prone countries.
A 60-year-old man died when his home's roof collapsed on him, and an 80-year-old woman died of a heart attack after the quake shook her village, authorities said.
Experts have warned that aftershocks are likely as the quake's epicentre was close to the ground's surface.

"The earthquake was terrifying," Patras resident Anna Tsokana told the BBC.
"The duration was about 60 seconds... Buildings have fallen or been damaged and roads have been destroyed."
The earthquake was one of the most powerful to hit Greece in modern times, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.1.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

MISSED THE TARGET !

Dear Family and Friends,

A new schedule of minimum wages for some categories of employment was releasedby a government department last week. One of the lowest in the schedule is ayard or garden worker whose minimum wage has been set at 3.2 billion dollars amonth. To outsiders this may sound like a massive amount of money but in realityit is a death sentence. As I write this letter a 1 kg packet of plain hard biscuits is 9.2 billion dollars, a 2 kg packet of potatoes is 3.6 billion dollars, a 400 gram tin of baked beans is 1.8 billion dollars. By the time your ead this letter all of these prices will have increased; it is likely they will have doubled within a week. On a full month's pay a yard or garden worker cannot even feed himself for a few days; worse still, he cannot provide any food for his family, he cannot buy any clothes or shoes and cannot pay his children's school fees. God help him if he gets sick. Perhaps the saddest fact of all isthat this government stipulated minimum wage is currently worth just ten US cents a day.

After almost a decade of political turmoil and economic collapse, the vast majority of Zimbabweans are unable to cope on their own and are surviving on charity of some type or other. It may be from families in the Diaspora sending hard currency home every month, relations abroad paying school fees and medical needs or friends, churches and other well wishers sending parcels of food,toiletries, medicines and other essentials. On a much larger scale help has come from the international aid organisations who this winter were set to feed 4million Zimbabweans - over a third of the population.

This week all aid organizations operating in Zimbabwe were ordered to immediately stop all their field operations and to re-apply for new licences. It seems none are spared from the ruling issued by the Social Welfare Minister. All are affected from school children surviving on one charitable meal a day to rural households receiving grain and food relief to people with HIV/Aids receiving life sustaining anti-retroviral drugs.

The timing of the ban on charitable assistance could not have come at a worse moment for Zimbabweans. It is winter, market gardening is minimal and vegetable growth very slow. Supermarket shelves remain largely empty. All basic goods continue to be unavailable including maize meal, flour, rice, sugar, cereals,beans, oil and many more.

This week, while Mr Mugabe, his wife and their delegation were in Rome attending a UN Food Security conference, dire news was released about Zimbabwe's daily bread which should be growing this winter. The state sponsored Herald newspaper reported that only 8 963 hectares of wheat have been planted this winter amounting to just 13% of the government target of 70 000 hectares. Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo was quoted as saying: "We have missed the target, with challenges being shortages of fertilisers and fuel as well as frequent breakdowns of tillage facilities."

Zimbabwe was often in the international news this week for diplomatic incidents at road blocks, for food insecurity, for ongoing political violence, for widespread arrests of MDC officials, activists and MP's and for the prevention of MDC election campaign rallies. For the ordinary and very long suffering people of Zimbabwe, we are counting down the days to round 2 of the Presidential election. It cannot come soon enough and the reasons for which candidate to choose become more obvious each day.

Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 7th June 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" !

"IT IS COMMON SENSE TO TAKE A METHOD AND TRY IT.

IF IT FAILS, ADMIT IT FRANKLY AND TRY ANOTHER.

BUT, ABOVE ALL, TRY SOMETHING" !

________

OIL CRISIS DOMINATES G8 MEETING !

The energy ministers of the world's leading industrialised nations are meeting in Japan amid fears soaring oil prices could damage the global economy.
The Group of Eight (G8) organisation is meeting two days after a record one-day jump in crude oil to $139 a barrel.
Efficiency, shared technology and the promotion of alternative power sources will be high on the agenda.
But disagreements have already surfaced on fuel subsidies, which the US and others feel have helped boost prices.

The meeting is taking place in Aomori, on the northern edge of Japan's main Honshu island.
Business Secretary John Hutton, who is representing Britain at the meeting, will call for an increase in oil production to push prices down.
On Saturday, five key energy-consuming nations, the United States, China, Japan, India and South Korea, all called on oil producers to increase output to try to control the soaring prices.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has said no new decision will be made until its meeting in Vienna in 9 September.
US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said: "It's not good for producing nations to see the US struggling economically. They depend on us to be a significant engine in world economic activity."
Later, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said a "blowtorch" needed to be applied to OPEC to urge the cartel to increase production.
The ministers of the five nations meeting on Saturday also agreed on other issues such as developing clean energy technologies, improving efficiency and on better cooperation in strategic oil stocks.
However, sharp differences emerged on fuel subsidies.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says heavy fuel subsidies are used throughout the developing world to try to ease the burden on the poorest in society.

The G8 will discuss improving efficiency and sharing technology.
Mr Bodman said the subsidies in China and India had helped drive demand and so increase prices. "We know demand is increasing because a lot of nations are still subsidising oil, which ought to stop," he said.
India insists there is no agreement to remove the subsidies altogether.
Its representative at the talks on Saturday said the country was not ready to move to a position where the market decided the price its citizens should pay for oil.
China also made clear it had no time frame for moving towards lower subsidies, saying they needed to consider carefully how removing them might affect the country's social and political stability.
Mr Bodman said even quick action at the Aomori talks might not bring immediate benefits.
"This has been a long time in coming... this is going to take a long time to accomplish."
The Aomori talks herald a full meeting of G8 leaders on Japan's northernmost Hokkaido island in July.
Friday's spike in oil prices coincided with a dollar slump, plummeting share prices on Wall Street and US unemployment suffering its biggest rise in 20 years.
Some analysts have suggested that prices would reach as high as $200 a barrel during the next 18 months.
The benchmark light, sweet crude oil is more than twice the price it was a year ago.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

COLORADO CATCHES 'THONG BANDITS' !

Colorado police say two suspected robbers dubbed the "thong bandits", after they used women's underwear to disguise themselves, have been caught.
The two men used skimpy underwear as masks, but much of their faces remained visible in a CCTV tape broadcast across the US state.
Nineteen-year-old Joaquin Rico and his 24-year-old alleged accomplice, Joseph R Espinoza, both turned themselves in.
Police in Arvada say the men stole cash and cigarettes from a shop in May.
The two were unarmed but reportedly hit a shop assistant and injured her.
One man wore a green thong and the other wore blue. The garments barely covered the men's features, leaving most of their faces exposed.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

OIL HIKE SPARKS 'SERIOUS CONCERN' !

The US and the four largest economies in Asia are to voice "serious concerns" over "unprecedented" oil prices.
Energy ministers are meeting in Japan a day after a record one-day jump in the crude oil price, to $139 a barrel.
Under pressure from the US, Japan, China, India and South Korea have agreed on the need to end fuel subsidies, blamed for boosting demand.