SWEDISH WOMAN IN AIRPORT MUDDLE !

An elderly Swedish woman tried to get herself on board an international flight by climbing onto an unmanned luggage belt after her suitcase.
The incident happened at Stockholm's Arlanda airport.
The unnamed 78-year-old thought she was just following instructions on how to check in for her flight.
She carefully lay down on the conveyor belt and was whisked into the baggage handling bay where she was rescued by surprised staff.
"It was a bit unfortunate," said Ari Kallonen of baggage handling firm Nordic Aero. "The little old lady arrived at the airport and had to take care of herself.
"Unfortunately, she did not understand when she was given check-in instructions. She took the belt together with her bag. Luckily it wasn't a long ride - only a couple of metres."
The woman did not reportedly suffer any injuries, managing to catch her flight to Germany, police said.
The airport does provide a service, on request, to help guide elderly or vulnerable people through the departures process.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AUSTRALIA SUFFERING 'MAN DROUGHT' !

By Phil Mercer - BBC News, Sydney.

An analysis of new census figures has shown that Australia is suffering from an unprecedented "man drought".
The statistics have revealed that there are almost 100,000 more females than males in Australia.
The problem is worse in the coastal cities, where women have moved seeking better jobs and lifestyles, while many men have gone overseas.
Thirty years ago Australia was with flush with men thanks to immigration policies that favoured males.
That position has been reversed because thousands of Australian men in their 20s and early 30s have gone overseas either to travel or to work.
It has caused a gender imbalance that is having far-reaching implications.

Major cities in Australia now have concentrated groups of unattached women, along with dwindling numbers of the opposite sex.
Demographer Bernard Salt says the exodus of young men to foreign countries is leaving its mark.
"If you go into the United Arab Emirates census you'll find there is around 12,000 Australians living in Dubai, mostly male, mostly in the 25 to 34-year age group.
"Here is an example of one country that has drawn out a specific age demographic out of Australia which has contributed to the 'man drought'."
But the situation outside of the larger towns and cities is very different.
Vast numbers of women have abandoned the countryside seeking better jobs or education in metropolitan areas. They have left behind communities overloaded with younger males.
In the town of Glenden in the northern state of Queensland there is one single female for every 23 men.
Demographers have compiled a so-called "Love Map" that shows how the various clusters of unattached men and women are distributed across the Australian continent.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MCCAIN UNVEILS 'THE BARRACUDA' !

By Kim Ghattas - BBC News, Dayton, Ohio.

There were no late night text messages and perhaps not the same build up that preceded the announcement of Barack Obama's choice for running mate.
But because it was kept a secret almost until the end, John McCain's choice did generate a fair amount of rumour and speculation.
Was he going to pick a traditional candidate, a safe bet - someone like the young governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, or would the veteran Arizona senator go for the wild card?
The answer came on a private jet that flew in from the Alaskan city of Anchorage on Thursday night and landed outside Dayton, Ohio, apparently carrying on board a woman, two men and two teenagers.
All the journalists who were covering the story started looking up the biography of Sarah Palin, the 44-year-old governor of Alaska.

She may be seen by some as a rising star of the Republican Party, but she was relatively unknown on a national level.
As he took to the stage, in front of a packed audience, Mr McCain introduced her as "exactly who I need, exactly who this country needs to help me fight the same old Washington politics of me first and the country second".
For observers, it showed Mr McCain felt he needed to make a bold move to help change the course of the race to the White House.

SARAH PALIN
Elected Alaska's youngest and first woman governor in 2006
Grew up in Wasilla, near Anchorage, and was voted Miss Wasilla in 1984
Studied journalism and political science at University of Idaho
Is mother of five, including a son with Down's syndrome
Her husband Todd is an oil production operator
Likes hunting and fishing.

Profile: Sarah Palin
In pictures: McCain's surprise pick

The two presidential hopefuls have been running head to head, with Mr Obama gaining eight percentage points in the polls in recent days.
The choice of Sarah Palin is a high risk bet that could bring high rewards, but there are no guarantees.
Mrs Palin, a mother of five, is the first woman to be on a Republican presidential ticket.
Married for 20 years to Todd Palin, her high school sweetheart, she was nicknamed "Sarah Barracuda" during her college years for her aggressive basketball playing style - the name has stuck.
On stage, dressed in a conservative black power suit, her hair raised in a high ponytail, she described herself as "an average hockey mom from Alaska".
She drew applause when talking about her anti-corruption drive, her standing up to big oil companies and even the "good old boys club", which drew a smile from Mr McCain.
She eats moose meat and is an inveterate hunter, a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
One of her sons is heading to Iraq in September. The other, born in April, is diagnosed with Down's syndrome.

In many ways, her story is all American and her values will appeal to the conservative base and to blue-collar voters.
With 80% approval ratings back home, she seemed to also get the approval of the crowd she was addressing, drawing very enthusiastic cheers, as she spoke in a relaxed, accessible way.
It turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all
Sarah Palin
Mrs Palin also ticks several required boxes - she is fiscally conservative, in favour of drilling for oil and very staunchly anti-abortion.
Most of all she is a reformer and a fresh face for the Republican ticket.
President George W Bush said she was "an exciting choice" and Mrs Palin certainly adds energy and sizzle to the McCain campaign.
She also clearly reached out to disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters, who are disappointed their candidate did not make it on to the Democratic ticket, not even as vice-president.
"I can't begin this great effort without honouring the achievement of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and of course, Hillary Clinton, who showed determination in her presidential campaign," Mrs Palin said.
"It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."
The Democrats for McCain group sent out an e-mail saying its supporters, especially the women, were "ecstatic" about the choice of Mrs Palin.
But other Democrats said they felt insulted that Mr McCain thought he could woo women by just putting any woman on his ticket, with one sentence making the rounds: "Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton".
Experience questioned
It all made for an exciting day in Dayton, a city of just over 150,000 that has been hard hit by job losses in the past few years.
But the whole of the US is probably now scouring the internet for more information about Governor Palin and trying to assess her credentials.

From Wasilla to the White House?

Many will be wondering whether she is ready to be vice-president and even lead the US, should something happen to Mr McCain if he is elected president.
As commander of the Alaska National Guard, she visited troops in Kuwait last year, but has a very thin foreign policy background.
Similarly, while she does have executive experience, the Obama campaign wryly pointed out she had been the mayor of a town with just 9,000 people.
As governor of Alaska during the past two years she has gained more experience, but even some Alaskans calling into talk shows on US network television said they doubted whether that had prepared her for the challenge of national politics.
She did herself no favours in a recent interview.
"As for that VP talk all the time, I can't answer until someone answers me. What is it exactly that a VP does every day?" she said just a month ago on CNBC when asked about her chances of being on the ticket.
"I'm used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that this VP slot would be fruitful type of position especially for Alaskans and for the kind of things we are trying to accomplish here for the rest of the US."

By choosing her, Mr McCain may have undercut his best attack against Senator Obama - if he uses the inexperience card now it will be turned against him and his running mate.
While conservatives, such as radio host Rush Limbaugh and former Bush adviser Karl Rove, hailed the Palin surprise, there were also dismayed reactions from some Republicans, who felt the choice underscored Mr McCain's weaknesses and was too risky.
Polls in the coming days, and Mrs Palin's performance at the Republican National Convention, will help assess the impact of Mr McCain's decision.
In the meantime, Mr McCain and his new partner have something else to worry about - Mrs Palin is facing an investigation in Alaska for alleged abuse of power involving her former brother-in-law. Her deposition is expected to be scheduled soon.
She says she has "nothing to hide" and is "cool" about the investigation.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

10 THINGS !

10 things we didn't know last week

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

1. Twenty-three wedding cakes were made for the nuptials of Charles and Diana.
More details
2. That third brake light, the one in the rear window, is called a chimsil.
3. Aircraft oxygen systems have just about 12 minutes worth of reserves.
More details
4. And when deployed, the oxygen flow can be so light that passengers can be confused into thinking something is wrong, and pulling oxygen masks from the ceiling.
5. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can be even more painful.
More details
6. Most people have an above average number of feet.
More details
7. Shetland is the fattest part of the UK.
More details
8. There are more than 150 books with the "...before you die" premise in their titles.
More details
9. Life really does imitate art.
More details
10. Almost a third of BT payphones have been removed in the past six years.
More details
BBC NEWS MAGAZINE.

ZIMBABWE - LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA !

30th August 2008.

Dear Friends,

I have long believed that a politically compromised police force is one of the root causes of the collapse of law and order in Zimbabwe. Without impartial policing and an independent judiciary the citizen has nowhere to turn for protection. From 2000 onwards we have seen that the so-called forces of law and order are tilted in one direction only and that is to uphold the political imperatives of the ruling party. The white farmers were the first victims; as their properties were violently invaded and they were driven from their homes, the police refused to intervene on the grounds that it was 'political' and they could do nothing. Even when there were violent physical assaults and murder, the police failed to act and, in many cases actively supported the farm invaders. As Mugabe's political fortunes began to wane he resorted more and more to racist rhetoric, "Our party must continue to strike fear in the heart of the white man, our real enemy," he said at the time.

I was living in Murehwa when the first white farmer, David Stevens, was murdered and five of his fellow farmers brutally assaulted as they attempted to rescue their friend. It was April 2000 ( See Cathy Buckle's Beyond Tears for an account; she calls it 'The weekend from Hell') The news of that murder went all round the world; indeed I heard of it first on the World Service of the BBC. Robert Mugabe, of course, was quick to respond with his now familiar accusation of western racism. One white man is killed and the western media goes into a frenzy he claimed. On the ground in Murehwa we all knew that it was the police who had handed the white farmers over to the war veterans. We knew the names of the killers and as the days went by after the incident we saw those very men walking freely about the township. They had acted with complete impunity knowing that no policemen would dare to lay a finger on them. That was where it all began, the politicisation of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, a body of men and women who had once been a highly trained and disciplined force, trusted by the people as the guardians of law and order. Now, eight years later, the ZRP has become no better than an arm of the ruling party. Once called 'the dogs of Ian Smith' they serve a different master now but one no less ruthless and they carry out his bidding with complete disregard for human rights or considerations of justice and the law. This week we had another example of police complicity when they stormed a perfectly lawful AGM of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition at a hotel in the middle of Harare and with a truck full of armed cops disbanded the meeting on the grounds that it was an illegal gathering. Earlier in the week the police had arrested five democratically elected MDC MPs as they were about to enter the parliament building to attend the opening of the new session. In a blatant attempt to prevent MDC members from voting for a new Speaker of the House, the police had once again proved their total partiality to Zanu PF. The democratic will of the people means nothing to them, the MOU means nothing to them, they continue their blind allegiance to Robert Mugabe and his party of thugs and thieves while the country slides further and further into the abyss. With police and judges corrupted by Mugabe's patronage and croneyism, law and order collapses. Traditional chiefs, once the upholders of customary law in the rural areas have been subverted too and there is nowhere to turn for justice. Rural or urban, black or white, it makes no difference if you are opposed to Mugabe and Zanu PF you are 'the enemy within' and the police will deal with you accordingly.

Ironic then that when Kirsty Coventry returned to Zimbabwe with her gold and silver medals this week she was treated as a heroine despite the colour of her skin. There was a victory parade through the streets of Harare and a banquet in her honour. Mugabe congratulated her 'most heartily on that heroic performance' Hypocrisy or just political expediency on the Old Man's part? The truth is that he is using Coventry's victory because he thinks it reflects well on him and his government; he fails to acknowledge that Coventry went to the hated US to train for her medals so utterly desperate are conditions in her own country. Accompanied no doubt by a police escort the white Olympian is honoured and feted by a man who will do anything to prove that the country is prospering under his leadership despite the fact that he said only this week after the State Opening of Parliament that his cabinet was to be restructured because, in his own words, "This cabinet I had was the worst in history - most of the ministers were unreliable - incompetent and spent time attending to their own businesses. Many abused their power to deny people food." (Rich, coming from the man who has banned NGO's distributing food aid!) Perhaps he has forgotten that he appointed the cabinet in the first place - the same way he extended Police Commissioner Chihuri's term of office three times thus ensuring a sickeningly compliant police force whose only concern appears to be propping up Mugabe's rotten regime while the real criminals stalk the corridors of power. Will they ever be brought to justice?

Yours in the (continuing) struggle. PH

THE RISE OF 'BEFORE YOU DIE-ISM' !

By Tom Geoghegan - BBC News Magazine.

The man who wrote 100 Things to Do Before You Die, which sparked a publishing phenomenon, has died in the US. But why do 'before you die' books have such appeal to us?
This is not an article you have to read before you die, just one you might like to read if you have a spare five minutes.
In this respect it differs from the 100 Belgian beers, 50 fish to catch, 101 places to have sex and 50 places to play golf. All before you die, of course.
Amazon lists more than 150 before-you-die books, plus many more with a shorter but more anxiety-inducing time span, like 40 Things to Do Before You're 40.
The man who is thought to have got there first, co-writing the best-selling adventure travel guide 100 Things to Do (you know the rest) in 1999 was Dave Freeman, who has died in California aged 47.
The 'before you die' element risks being a vulgarism, implying that knowledge should be consumed voraciously - Mark Irving - Editor of 1,001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die.
But his legacy is still felt indirectly in the bestseller book charts, although it's starting to wane. But why did "before you die-ism" become so popular?
Part of its appeal is its simplicity, what they call in Hollywood "high-concept", says Jon Howells of Waterstones.
"It's something people are going to grasp from the cover. It does what it says on the tin and it's quite aspirational. A thousand is a big number but it's not unreachable.
"And they are great dipping-into books. You can pick them up, dip in and then put them down. Sometimes they might inspire you to go out and see a movie but sometime they won't."
It's not just the book industry that has felt the force of this phenomenon. The Guardian newspaper recently published 1,000 Films to See Before You Die and Channel 4 broadcast a similar format with the less-ambitious 50 films.
The concept was dramatised on screen this year when Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman played two terminally-ill men fulfilling a wish-list, in the film The Bucket List.


But how sincere are these edicts for everyone to drop everything and start a new mission? Mr Freeman himself had only got halfway through his own list, even though the success of the idea had given him the means and freedom to pursue it.
The title shouldn't be taken too literally, says Mark Irving, who edited 1,001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die. He believes it's a note of insistence, rather than an instruction, but he did have second thoughts about endorsing it.
"The 'before you die' element risks being a vulgarism, implying that knowledge should be consumed voraciously. However, I took the view that putting these buildings together in a list would implicitly reveal their comparative strengths and weaknesses."
The titles that have 101 or 1001, rather than the round figure, signify that it is an incomplete list, he says.
"It derives from the Arabic classic 'The 1,001 Nights' and implies the endless potential of storytelling as well as the absurdity of limiting the knowable."
The risk of having 100 things to do can become a distraction - Philosopher, Mark Vernon.
Philosopher Mark Vernon says the concept has echoes of Socrates, who said that to philosophise is to learn how to die, and this has been a recurring theme in philosophy ever since, because thinking about your death brings life into greater focus.
The key difference is that the philosopher - who famously rarely left the city walls of Athens - believed fulfilment came not through what you did but who you were. Contemplating death is about reflecting on the kind of person you are and reaching your own potential, rather than ticking off a checklist of activities.
"It's not the number of things you do in life," says Mr Vernon. "If you do one thing really well then that can make a life. Finding a cure for cancer, for example, is one thing but a very good thing. That would be the advice of the Greek philosophers."
Socrates thought that by paying attention to what's in front of you, you really get to grips with life.
"The risk of having 100 things to do can become a distraction and you only skate across the surface. They become 100 distractions rather than 100 things lived for.
"It's an implicit critique of consumerism, that life is lived by consuming more rather than living well."

BBC NEWS MAGAZINE

'PM TERROR THREAT' - 3 CHARGED !

Police searched three addresses in Blackburn and Accrington.
Three men questioned over an alleged threat to assassinate Gordon Brown have been charged with terror offences, Lancashire Police have said.
Ishaq Kanmi, 22, of Blackburn, was charged with soliciting murder, and three other charges.
Abbas Iqbal, 23, and Ilyas Iqbal, 21, each face two charges of possessing and disseminating terrorist material.
It is understood no actual plot was in place but officers discovered a written threat on an extremist jihadi website.
The threats were also made against former prime minister Tony Blair.

Ishaq Kanmi, of Cromwell Street, faces additional charges of belonging or professing to belong to al Qaeda, inviting support for al Qaeda, and dissemination of terrorist publications.
Brothers Abbas Iqbal and Ilyas Iqbal, both of Percival Street in Blackburn, are both charged with possession of an article in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that possession is for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism. Abbas Iqbal is also charged with dissemination of terrorist publications.
Charges against Ilyas Iqbal include collecting or making a record of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
The men were arrested at Manchester Airport and in Accrington, Lancashire on 14 August.
All three are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
A fourth man, arrested on Tuesday in Blackburn and a fifth man arrested in Derby the same day, remain in custody.
On Wednesday, Lancashire Constabulary and Greater Manchester Police were granted an additional seven days to question them.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

STARS SCARED AS STRICTLY STARTS !

By Genevieve Hassan - Entertainment reporter, BBC News.

With only three weeks to go before Strictly Come Dancing returns, this year's crop of celebrity contestants are shaking in their sequinned suits.
"It is frightening," says celebrity chef Gary Rhodes, one of 16 new dancefloor hopefuls.
"When you're watching at home you think, 'I can do that', until you find yourself in a studio and you realise you can't do it at all.
"The skill of these people is phenomenal."
Former EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace also admits she is apprehensive at the prospect of the show's trickier dance routines.
"I'm scared of doing the foxtrot and the quickstep because it's so graceful and I'm so not!" she says.
"I'm just focussing on getting it right."
So aside from the lure of tight lycra and sequins, what makes a celebrity sign up to the show?
For GMTV presenter Andrew Castle, it was his colleagues and former Strictly contestants Fiona Phillips and Kate Garraway who tipped him over the edge.
"I spoke to them about it and both of them said 'it's going to be the best time of your life'," he reveals.
"Everybody who's ever done it has said the same thing... So here we are."
Wallace says she joined the show simply because she wanted to learn how to dance, but reveals her real hidden motive: "It's a great excuse to wear beautiful dresses."
Most of the contestants have little to no previous dancing experience.
"I know the mashed potato," reveals another former EastEnders star, Phil Daniels.
"But apart from that I haven't really done any dancing."
Daniels admits he has, however, been receiving dancing tips from his on-screen son and last year's runner-up, Matt Di Angelo: "He's told me to glide and not to take any notice of anybody."
Model Jodie Kidd is also keen to point out she has "absolutely zero" dancing ability.
"I race cars and play golf and polo," she says.
"I nod a lot and tap my foot at parties - I had no idea how technical this would be."
One contestant who is familiar with dancing is Rachel Stevens, who became famous as part of the pop group S Club 7.
Rachel Stevens will be partnered by Vincent Simone.
But the singer - last seen in a contact lens advert - does not think her stage background gives her an advantage in the competition.
"A dance routine in a pop band is very different from this kind of dancing," she says.
"I feel the pressure so much but I think I've just got to remember that the only pressure we have is the pressure we put on ourselves, so I just want to have fun."
Along with the long rehearsal hours comes the pain, and the contestants are already suffering at this early stage of their training regime.
"I thought I was a reasonably fit guy," says Rhodes,
"But forget it, my thighs are aching so much - and I've got blisters all over my feet."
TV presenter Lisa Snowdon is also feeling the pain: "My feet are in bits - I'm going to have really gnarly feet afterwards and I've got wicked bruises and bumps," she says.

There have long been claims of tension backstage between the stars and dancers.
Most recently, former Strictly dancer Nicole Cutler told a Sunday newspaper of bitterness behind the scenes during the show's last series.
But professional dancers Darren Bennett and Erin Boag dismiss the claims of backstage backbiting.
"It's not bitchy at all backstage - it's actually very friendly," says Boag, who has twice reached the final of the show with stars Julian Clary and former athlete Colin Jackson.
"We all get on, we're all training and get tired and we keep encouraging each other.
Bennett, who won series two with actress Jill Halfpenny agrees: "Most of us have known each other professionally since we were youngsters."
"We've all competed against each other for years and years so we all know each other inside out - it just doesn't exist."
The contestants will get to find out for themselves when the new series kicks off on Saturday, 20 September.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HACKERS PREPARE SUPERMARKET SWEEP!

Self-checkout systems in UK supermarkets are being targeted by hi-tech criminals with stolen credit card details.
A BBC investigation has unearthed a plan hatching online to loot US bank accounts via the checkout systems.
Fake credit cards loaded with details from the accounts will be used to get cash or buy high value goods.
The supermarkets targeted said there was little chance the fraudsters would make significant gains with their plan.
With the help of computer security experts the BBC found a discussion on a card fraud website in which hi-tech thieves debated the best way to strip money from the US accounts.
The thieves claim to have comprehensive details of US credit and debit cards passed to them from an American gang who tapped phone lines between cash machines and banks.

The gang plans to copy card details onto the magnetic stripes of fake cards and then use them in UK stores. In the discussion on the card site those co-ordinating the fraud say they are seeking places to "cash out", meaning strip funds from the bank accounts using fake cards.
In the forum they are asking for information about Asda and Tesco stores in which it is possible to use self-service systems that mules could visit with the fake cards to get at the cash.
The fraudsters are looking for self-service systems to avoid contact with store staff who may spot the fake cards.
Over the period of a month from mid-August the ringleader claims he will have details from 2300 cards to handle.
In the forum he declares: "Its (sic) shopping spree guys help me out and I will take care of you."
It's not difficult to take compromised cards from one country and exploit them in another
Andrew Moloney
The information found by the BBC has been passed to the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit so it can investigate the ongoing fraud.
Andrew Moloney, security evangelist at RSA, said the gang were involved in "classic" card fraud by cloning details on to magnetic stripes.
He said it was an example of a long observed trend in fraud.
"We've seen a shift from card-present fraud to card-not-present to fraud abroad," he said.
"The internet is the global marketplace," he said. "It's not difficult to take compromised cards from one country and exploit them in another. It's a simple and routine procedure for these guys these days."
The discussion on the crooks' forum is a bit of a wake-up call for all those who think that the introduction of chip-and-pin in the UK has wiped out card fraud
Rory Cellan-JonesBBC technology correspondent
Read the dot.life blog in full

Jacques Erasmus, from security firm Prevx, agreed that cashing out abroad was a well established method. "They do not normally cash out in the same country," he said, "just because it makes the law enforcement job that much harder."
He said many criminal gangs even offer their fraudulent services via the web.
"They will do it for you in India and China," he said.

Armed with fake cards and a list of shops and supermarkets that can be hit the fraudsters could make £5-8000 per day, according to Mr Erasmus.
The funds would be split between the mules who actually carry out the transactions, those organising the mules and the hi-tech thieves who stole the original card numbers.
Representatives from both Tesco and Asda argue that payment systems automatically contact the banks when a card is swiped instead of using chip-and-pin. The banks must authorise the acceptance of a signature.
"If the card has not been reported as having been cloned, yes, it can go through," said a spokeswoman for Tesco. However, she pointed out that swipe and sign transactions represent a tiny fraction of the supermarket chain's trade.
"We would hope this will bring further pressure on the States to introduce chip-and-pin," said Jemma Smith of the UK payments organisation Apacs. "Until that happens we will still see fraud on US cards happening in our shops and our cash-machines and also fraud on our cards happening in the US."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HOW A SHIA RITUAL ENDED IN COURT !

By Caroline Cheetham - BBC News.

A Muslim has been found guilty of child cruelty after forcing two boys to beat themselves during a religious ceremony. The practice has caused controversy in Britain, but this is the first case of its kind to be brought before a UK court.
Husayn - the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad - and members of his family were slaughtered during the battle of Karbala in Iraq 1,400 years ago.
Ever since that day devout Shia Muslims have commemorated the tragedy with a month-long period of mourning called Muharram.
On the 10th day of Muharram, believers relive the tragedy through the Ashura ceremony.
Millions take part in prayers and processions, and some participate in a traditional flagellation ceremony called "zanjeer zani".
Using a long-bladed whip called a zanjeer, men beat themselves on the back until they bleed.
The ritual is not obligatory, but many believe it expresses their grief and helps them to re-enact the pain suffered by Husayn and his relatives.
Like many devout Shia Muslims brought up in Pakistan, Syed Zaidi has self-flagellated during Ashura since he was a young boy.
He told Manchester Crown Court that children as young as seven flogged themselves with the zanjeer during the ceremony in his homeland.

Man convicted over Shia flogging

In January this year Zaidi took part in "zanjeer zani" at a centre in Levenshulme, but he then allowed two brothers aged 13 and 15 to do the same.
In the UK the law states that children under the age of 16 should be protected from harm by adults.
Prosecutor Andrew Nuttall told the jury: "In this country children under the age of 16 will be protected under the law from harm. Beyond the age of 16 it is a matter for them, but a line has to be drawn in the sand and that line is 16.
"In this country the laws are very different from those in Pakistan. If you want children to perform this act, then take them to Pakistan."
The case is the first of its kind to be brought before a British court, but it is not the first time police and prosecutors have been made aware that children are involved in "zanjeer zani" in the UK.
Cases in Bradford have been investigated and referred to Child Protection Officers, but charges were never brought.
Similar cases have also been reported in Greater Manchester, but Crown Prosecution Service lawyers decided prosecuting was not in the public interest because the children involved were willing participants.
Jaffria Islamic CentreThe jury in Manchester has been told that children cannot consent to self-harm.
Both boys admitted they wanted to take part in the ceremony, but Mr Nuttall said children under the age of 16 could not consent to harming themselves, and if they did they had to be protected from themselves by adults.
Shias make up about 10% of the world's Muslim population and not all worshippers take part in the all-male ritual of "zanjeer zani".
The Shia community in Manchester know the practice is controversial.
Safbar Zia, the general secretary of the Jaffria Islamic Centre in Levenshulme, said senior members of the community now tried to encourage believers to donate blood as a sign of mourning rather than beat themselves.
But he admitted many men who become very emotional during the ceremony still beat themselves and if children wanted to take part too they were not stopped.
He said: "How can you stop a child who wants to do this for his faith? We cannot discourage or stop them.
"The ceremony is very emotional and people get very involved. At that particular time of high emotion it is very difficult to say no to a child who wants to do it.
"We are trying to educate people but it will take time. We can't change things overnight."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EXHAUSTED DALAI LAMA STOPS TRIPS !

The Dalai Lama has cancelled trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
The Dalai Lama is suffering from exhaustion and has cancelled all his international trips, officials say.
The exiled spiritual Tibetan leader, 73, has cancelled two forthcoming trips to Mexico and the Dominican Republic, said a statement issued by his office.
The 1989 Nobel peace prize-winner had recently been experiencing "discomfort" which his doctors attributed to "exhaustion", the statement said.
Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of stirring up unrest in Tibet.
The spiritual leader is due to travel to Mumbai (Bombay) for medical tests and all international engagements scheduled for the next three weeks have been cancelled, according to the statement released on his website.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 during an uprising against Chinese rule, has said he only wants limited autonomy for his homeland, but Beijing accuses him of wanting full independence.
He usually spends large parts of the year teaching Buddhism and promoting the Tibetan people's cause around the world.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SIR PAUL TO PLAY ISRAEL CONCERT !

Sir Paul's has played a number of big concerts this year.
Sir Paul McCartney is to play a concert in Tel Aviv next month - 43 years after being banned from performing there.
Israel's government banned the Beatles in 1965, fearing they would corrupt young fans.
But earlier this year, Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the UK, visited Liverpool and apologised to the band for the "misunderstanding".
The gig takes place on 25 September. "We can't wait to get out there and rock," said Sir Paul in a statement.
"I've heard so many great things about Tel Aviv and Israel, but hearing is one thing and experiencing it for yourself is another," he added.
"We are planning to have a great time and a great evening."
Sir Paul has played a number of special, one-off concerts around the world this year, including the Independence Concert in Kiev, Ukraine; in Liverpool as part of the city's European Capital of Culture celebrations; and in Quebec to help celebrate the Canadian city's 400th anniversary.
He is also due to make a rare live appearance with his dance music side project, The Fireman, on Jools Holland's BBC Two show when it returns on 16 September.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'PLOT' TO KILL BURUNDI REBEL HEAD !

The leader of Burundi's last active rebel group - the FNL (National Liberation Forces) - has said that there is a plot to assassinate him.
In a letter to the president, Agathon Rwasa said army, police and intelligence officer were planning to eliminate senior FNL members.
Mr Rwasa told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme he had proof of the plot.
President Pierre Nkurunziza and Mr Rwasa held talks this week to resolve their outstanding differences.
A peace agreement signed in 2006 broke down after the government rejected rebel demands for power-sharing.

The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge says the assassination allegations are a setback to a ceasefire agreement signed between the two parties in May, after Mr Rwasa returned home from exile in Tanzania.
The ceasefire was seen as the first step in implementing the 2006 pact.
But Mr Rwasa told the BBC the "plot" should not affect the peace process.
"I don't mean by that letter that we have to stop the [peace] process and just discuss the security of my person," he said.
He said he has not yet discussed his security fears with the president.
There are daily reports of people being killed in various incidents and the FNL says many of those being targeted are its members, our reporter says.
Mr Rwasa said that there was an attempt on his life in May, but the police have not taken any action.
He claims that weapons and mobile phones have been distributed to death squads and that money to pay them is being collected.
Ex-rebel Pierre Nkurunziza was elected president in 2005 under a deal to end years of conflict between the Tutsi army and Hutu rebels.
About 300,000 people were killed in more than a decade of civil war.

BBCC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"LOVE IS LIFE.

AND IF YOU MISS LOVE,

YOU MISS LIFE" !

_______

MUGABE TO FORM GOVERNMENT ALONE !

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says he will form a new government despite stalled power-sharing negotiations with the opposition, state media reports.
"The MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) does not want to come in apparently," he is quoted as saying.
The BBC's Karen Allen says such a move would be the death-knell for the South African-brokered talks to end the post-election crisis.
Meanwhile, three MDC MPs were arrested on Tuesday when parliament was opened.

See the breakdown of parliamentary seats

Two other opposition MPs had been arrested the day before, although one was later released.
"MDC views this continued harassment and arrest of MDC legislators by the state security agents as a direct affront to the will of the people of Zimbabwe," the party said in a statement.
The police have said the arrests were in connection with rape, attempted murder and political violence.

Our correspondent in Johannesburg says Mr Mugabe was speaking in bullish mood about forming a government alone, after being booed and jeered by opposition MPs at the formal opening of parliament on Tuesday.

Fuming Mugabe rattled by hecklers
Zimbabwe's speaker makes history
In pictures: Parliament opens

Following the March elections, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF lost its majority in the House of Assembly for the first time since independence in 1980.
The president looked annoyed and raced through the final lines of his speech and it must have been humiliating for him, as the speech was broadcast live on national television, our reporter says.
"We shall soon be setting up a government," the Herald newspaper quotes him as saying.
At the start of his speech on Tuesday, Mr Mugabe had said there was "every expectation" that a power-sharing deal would soon be agreed.
The MDC says it still wants the talks to continue.
"We remain committed to a dialogue process that is going to produce an acceptable outcome for all the players, an inclusive government," Reuters news agency quotes MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa as saying.
Last week, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the balance of power between the president and the prime minister - a new post Mr Tsvangirai would take - was still a stumbling block at the negotiations.
Mr Tsvangirai won the first presidential round in March, before pulling out of a June run-off, citing a campaign of violence against his supporters.
The president said he regretted the "isolated cases of political violence" earlier this year and blamed all parties.
The MDC says some 200 people were killed and 200,000 forced from their homes.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE'S SPEAKER MAKES HISTORY !

By Brian Hungwe - Harare.

The speaker's seat in Zimbabwe's lower house of parliament is an intimidating chair, overlooked by an artificial leopard mounted on the walls. It is a symbol of power.
The man who has occupied it as parliament opens is volleyball fan Lovemore Moyo, 43, from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mr Moyo becomes the first opposition speaker to assume that position since the country attained independence from the United Kingdom in 1980.
It is a development that is forcing President Robert Mugabe to take a hard look in the mirror as the balance of power slowly shifts.
It is creating tremors along the corridors of the lower house of parliament, where the opposition commands more legislative seats than the ruling Zanu-PF party.
But the election of Mr Moyo as speaker does have its ironies.

He won with 110 votes to 98, meaning some Zanu-PF MPs voted for him.
One could have been his mother-in-law, Sithembiso Nyoni, a former minister in President Mugabe's government, who may make it into the new cabinet.
It is not easy to guess if family or party loyalty won the day for her in Monday's vote.
Given their different political backgrounds, Mr Moyo says the two "don't discuss politics at home".
But if she gets out of line in the House of Assembly, Mr Moyo will have no qualms in doing his job.
"I will call her to order," he chuckles.
The new speaker is warm and softly spoken. MDC insiders say it is difficult to read his mind, because he is quiet and aloof.
"Quiet yes, but very tough," he says.
"I don't care who you are, I just hate being patronised."
His relationship with Mr Mugabe over his five-year term is likely to be turbulent given their wide political gulf.
"I'm not in this job to pander to the interests of individuals or political organisations. Even with the head of state, we both have different constitutional obligations."
He says he wants to oversee a parliament where there are lively and real "balanced" debates.
"The polarised parliament of the past should remain in the past. I don't owe anybody anything, I owe Zimbabweans a service."
Mr Moyo hails from Matabeleland, in southern Zimbabwe, and the marginalised region will take comfort in an opposition speaker that will spearhead their interests.

There is much resentment among the region's Ndebele people towards Mr Mugabe, which stems from the massacre of an estimated 20,000 people after independence.
His passion for politics was cut early in life, when he and his seven brothers went to join the liberation struggle against white minority rule.
He cut his education short and left for Zambia in 1977 and trained to become a political commissar in Zipra - the military wing of Ndebele nationalist leader Joshua Nkomo's movement.
At independence, he refused to join the army and retired to his rural home in Matabeleland
Graves
He describes himself as a cultural and developmental activist and founded the Matabeleland Development Association.

He only finished his secondary education in 1990.
"I was taught by people that were younger than me," he remembers.
Now a father of three, he comes from a large family - his father had three wives and 17 children altogether.
"We are many and proud of that," Mr Moyo says.
His favoured way to relax is to watch a game of volleyball.
He plays socially and has sat on the committees of Zimbabwe's Volleyball Association and his favourite Bulawayo-based Highlanders Volleyball team.
His Matopos constituency is home to the grave of the man who engineered the colonisation of the region, Cecil John Rhodes.
I tease him about the British puppet tag Mr Mugabe continues to put on his party.
"I went to war, I'm a freedom fighter. My whole Mute village in Matopos was reduced to ashes during the liberation war.
"When Rhodesian forces would ask for terrorists, people would point at our village," he says.
"Our family has a liberation war tradition and I'm proud of that."
His village, he adds, also has the grave of Mzilikazi - the last king of the Ndebele people.
"Those that call us puppets, have no understanding of our history."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ORGANISERS HAIL 'GLORIOUS GAMES !

The 2008 Beijing Games have been praised as "truly exceptional" by Olympics chief Jacques Rogge.
Sixteen days of action, starring 10,000 athletes from 204 nations, climaxed in Sunday's spectacular closing ceremony at the Bird's Nest Stadium.
"New stars were born. Stars from past Games amazed us again," said Rogge.
"We shared their joys and their tears, and we marvelled at their ability. We will long remember the achievements we witnessed here."
Rogge, the International Olympic Commitee president, added: "We come to the end of 16 glorious days which we will cherish forever. Thank you to the people of China."
Chinese President Hu Jintao acknowledged the support from around the world.

OLYMPICS BLOG
There are really 204 different Olympic Games every four years - one from the perspective of every country taking part

BBC Sport's Claire Stocks in Beijing"The Beijing Olympics proceeded smoothly and successfully amid support from the international community," he said.
Liu Qi, head of the Beijing organising committee, was presented with a special award - known as the Olympic Order in Gold - to recognise the hard work that went into making the Games a success.
He said the event had been "a grand celebration of sport, of peace and friendship".
After the Olympic flag was handed over to 2012 hosts London on Sunday, the Chinese media reflected national pride.
"The Games was a historic climax of three decades of China opening to the world," said the English-language China Daily.
While China won global plaudits for staging a successful Olympics, protesters remained critical of the country's human rights record.

The Olympic flag passes from Beijing to 2012 hosts LondonDespite fears over security, pollution and humidity, the 2008 Games will be remembered for some record-breaking achievements.
Hosts China topped the medals table for the first time, with 51 golds ahead of the United States (36) and Russia (23).
Great Britain were a surprise fourth - 19 gold medals was their best Olympic performance for a century.
Two competitors at the Games went from being famous in their own sport to being international superstars.
American swimmer Michael Phelps won eight titles, beating the 36-year-old gold medal mark set by Mark Spitz.
Jamaican Usain Bolt broke three world records as he cruised to a sprint title treble and livened up the athletics arena with his flamboyant celebrations.
And India celebrated its first individual Olympic gold medal, courtesy of Abhinav Bindra in the 10m air rifle shooting event.
The number of countries represented in the medals table was up to 86 from 74 in Athens four years ago.
Rogge said his own moment of the Games was the emotional meeting between two shooting medallists from warring Russia and Georgia.
"If I had a story to tell, it definitely would be the embrace and hug of Georgian and Russian athletes on the podium two days after there had been violent clashes in Georgia," he said.
Rogge said the IOC was "extremely pleased" by how the Olympics had unfolded.

OLYMPICS BLOG
We asked 14 of our BBC reporters at the Olympics for their highlights and lowlights...

BBC Sport's Claire Stocks in Beijing"We had a splendid athletes' village, we had state-of-the-art venues, we had impeccable competition," said the 65-year-old Belgian, a former Olympic yachtsman.
"More than 40 world records were set, more than 100 Olympic records, and of course we had the two icons of the Games, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt."
There was a cautious response to the event from Japan, China's neighbour.
"Holding the Olympics was good in terms of China taking a more democratic path. We believe this is an irreversible path," said Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd spoke positively about the Olympics and what they meant for the world.
"I think our friends in China have hosted a highly successful Olympic Games," said Rudd, a fluent Mandarin speaker who was once a diplomat in Beijing and attended the Games opening ceremony. "I don't know of a single Olympic Games in recent history which has not generated controversy of one sort or another."
At a party to celebrate the handing over of the flag, mayor Boris Johnson said: "London is the sporting capital of the world. "And I say to the Chinese, and I say to the world: Ping pong is coming home, athletics is coming home, sport is coming home."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

EMOTIONAL TOLL OF PRISONERS ISSUE !

As Israel releases nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners, the BBC's Heather Sharp in Jerusalem looks at some of the personal stories behind prisoner swaps and releases involving Israel, the Palestinian Authority and militant groups.

Abu Ali Yatta is one of few with "blood on their hands" to be released.For Um Ali, Monday's release will end 28 years as a single parent. She was seven months pregnant with her third child when her husband, Muhammad Abu Ali, was jailed for killing an Israeli reservist in the West Bank town of Hebron. He is among 199 prisoners due to be released by Israel, as a goodwill gesture.
Unusually for a unilateral release, this time Israel is freeing two prisoners with Israeli "blood on their hands", something which has been largely limited to exchange deals for the return of Israelis - alive or dead - held by militant groups.
The whole area is a deeply emotive one, particularly for Israelis when it involves the release of killers, and for Palestinians because with at least 8,500 of them held in Israeli prisons, it touches large numbers of families across the West Bank and Gaza.
Speaking from her village near Hebron, Um Ali said she barely dared believe the news of the impending release of her husband, known as Abu Ali Yatta, in case, as on previous occasions, her hopes were dashed.
"I can't tell what I will do... I will hug him, kiss him, I can't wait for the moment when I have him next to me, talking to me, eating with me," she said.

But, as Meir Indor, of the Almagor victims' support group says, for Israelis who have lost loved ones in Palestinian attacks, such reunions are hard to stomach.
"You see them sitting watching the news with wide eyes. There is a feeling that not only did he succeed in killing - now he is going to continue with his life, to build his family."
The organisation is strongly opposed to all prisoner releases, and says 180 Israelis have been killed since 2000 by prisoners who have been freed under such deals.

PALESTINIANS IN ISRAELI JAILS

According to official Israeli figures obtained by human rights group B'tselem, there are about 8,500 Palestinians from the West bank and Gaza in Israeli jails:
Serving sentence: 5,137
Detainees: 270
Detained until end of legal process: 2,352
Administrative detainees [detained without trial]: 730
Figures include:
Aged 16-18: 282
Aged under 16: 34
The Palestinian Authority says 11,000 Palestinians in total are behind bars in Israel

Who are the Mid East prisoners

But victims do not always oppose the freeing of those who killed family members.
In June, Smadar Haran decided not to protest against the release of Samir Qantar, who in 1979 killed her husband, her four-year-old daughter and a policeman.
Mrs Haran accidentally suffocated her other daughter, aged two, trying to silence her as they hid from the attackers.
As part of a deal for Qantar's release, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah returned the remains of two Israeli soldiers captured in the incident that sparked the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.
It was not certain until the day of the swap that the soldiers were dead.
Mrs Haran was able to see the exchange taking place in the distance on the Lebanese border as she laid flowers on the northern Israeli beach where, according to eyewitnesses and the court verdict, Qantar shot her husband in front of her daughter, and went on to smash in the little girl's head.
"It was very difficult, and so were the days afterwards. It re-opened the wounds. I was mourning again - just like it was in the beginning," she said.
Media debate
Her decision too, was hard. But she said she realised Qantar, who she described at the time as an "abhorred murderer", "was not my personal prisoner" and such decisions should be taken by the Israeli government.
In a society where most people's children serve in the military, Mrs Haran shares the deep, widely held commitment to doing what is necessary to bringing Israeli soldiers home:

Karnit Goldwasser: "It's not a deal, it's a person""My pain is terrible and big, but there are other families who suffer, and I can't close my eyes or my heart to their feelings."
The wife of one of the soldiers, Karnit Goldwasser, was aware too of the emotional cost of the exchange, even as she mounted a campaign to bring her husband and his colleague home.
"It was tough. They [the Haran family] are from my home town. I know everything," she said.
And although she ultimately achieved her aims, the result was heartbreaking.
"The worst thing was to work for two years and to end every day alone - and then to get him back, but not alive."
Like Mrs Haran, she also faced the media spotlight, and debate over the price Israel had paid.
"It's talked about like it's a deal, but it's not a deal, it's a person," she said.
This week's release is a different case, with nothing in exchange. Israel says the aim is to boost the standing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
According to the head of Shin Bet security service, quoted by Haaretz newspaper, the move also seeks to pressure the militant group Hamas towards a deal for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, snatched from the Gaza border more than two years ago.
The Shalit family are not the only ones anxiously following the negotiations for his release.

Nemer Mohammed Youssef al-Sharadha, now 28, was nine when his father was jailed for three life sentences plus an additional 30 years.
Speaking from his home in Gaza, he said the family was "waiting on red coals" because the father of four, Mohammad, is on a list of prisoners Hamas wants released as part of a deal for the return of Gilad Shalit.
Mohammad was sentenced for the deaths of two Israeli soldiers, during operations he took part in as a member of Hamas's military wing, Nemer said.
Although the organisation has long targeted civilians, he says his father never did.
"What my father has done is a normal reaction of any person in any occupied country," he said.
"After spending 20 years in Israeli jails, he deserves to be released."
In the eyes of many Palestinians, including Um Ali, there is an imbalance in the whole situation:
"Israel kills lots of Palestinians every day," she says. "Why do we have to be punished when they are not?"
This is a widespread feeling among Palestinians, and does reflect the Palestinian death toll during some periods in the conflict, though Palestinians have also killed many Israelis.
An Israeli human rights group estimates that approximately 4,850 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict since 2000. Over the same period, about 1060 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians.

As an occupying power, Israel carries out arrests during military incursions into the West Bank and Gaza, and has a system of military and civilian courts in which to try and punish suspects.
In contrast, there is no effective channel of redress for the majority of Palestinians - both militants and civilians - killed and injured during Israeli military operations.
Cases of specific abuse by Israeli soldiers are tried in Israeli courts, but weighty punishments are rare and human rights groups often complain that censures are too rare and too light.
Initially, Um Ali said "not one hair on my head is moved" in empathy for the family of the soldier her husband killed, as he was part of an army that was "beating us and killing people".
But then, aware of the complexity of the issue, she adds: "As a mother, I wouldn't like to see my son killed, and as a mother, I would want the killer to be in jail."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TODDLER SHOT IN HEAD WITH AIRGUN !

An 18-month-old boy is critically ill after apparently being shot with an airgun by his five-year-old sister.
West Midlands Police said the boy was shot in the head in a "tragic accident" while playing in the garden of his home in Washwood Heath, Birmingham.
The boy's grandfather said it was believed the girl picked up the air weapon when the children's father left it unattended to answer a phone call.
The boy was taken to Birmingham Children's Hospital.
He sustained a pellet wound to the back of the head.
Police inquiries into the circumstances have continued but it has been stressed officers were not seeking anyone else in connection with the incident.
"While we are still trying to establish precisely what happened, this does appear to be a tragic accident involving young children," said DI Simon Vowles.
A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said when crews dropped the boy off he was in a stable but critical condition.
An ambulance, two rapid response vehicles and a doctor were sent to the scene, she said.
The spokeswoman added: "When crews arrived they found an 18-month-old boy who had suffered a very serious head injury.
"They were told that it had been caused by an airgun.
"Crews immediately started treating the child and very quickly took him to Birmingham Children's Hospital travelling on blue lights.
"Two additional paramedics travelled with the ambulance crew to provide additional assistance on route to hospital."
A spokesman for the hospital confirmed it was still treating the boy but was "not at liberty to confirm anything else".
The spokesman said: "I know this is a subject of police interest already and we will know more as time goes on."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NO LEAD ON THAILAND DISAPPEARANCE !

By Jude Sheerin BBC News

Danny Hall is a former winner of TV quiz show The Weakest Link.
How can someone disappear without trace on a small island?
That is the question nagging the family and friends of Danny Hall, a British backpacker who went missing in the southern Thai resort of Koh Pha Ngan six months ago.
The disappearance of the 36-year-old - last seen on 25 February - has baffled investigators and loved ones alike.
A roadie and former winner of TV quiz show The Weakest Link, Mr Hall had been on his third trip to Thailand when he was last seen after the island's world-famous Full Moon Party.
Every month, it is estimated up to 25,000 revellers descend on Koh Pha Ngan for the all-night beach rave.
For most of the party-goers their worst experience is likely to be waking up with a hangover.
But the British foreign office website warns that incidents of date rape have been reported at the event.

The Bangkok Post reported in April that a Koh Pha Ngan police chief had recently been transferred amid a rising crime rate and complaints about visitors' safety.
Meanwhile, a number of accounts of tourists being attacked on the island can be found on internet travel chatrooms.
Mr Hall's friend, Roy Twemlow, was one of the last people to speak to him when he rang Mr Twemlow from a bar, in the afternoon following the Full Moon Party.
The pair became friends at Birmingham University, where Mr Hall, from Norwich, England, graduated with an honours degree in history.
The 36-year-old said: "It was about 2pm when [Danny] rang me and he sounded fine, he didn't sound panicked. It's just not like him to vanish without trace.
"I've kind of accepted I'm never going to see him again. But someone must have seen something, someone must know something.

In pictures: Full Moon Party

"Danny's very sociable, makes friends easily and is highly intelligent. He's also very non-confrontational."
On arriving in Thailand at the end of January, Mr Hall, who had worked as a roadie for The Rolling Stones and at England's Glastonbury music festival, spent a week in Bangkok at Mr Twemlow's home.
"He wasn't moping around or depressed," recalls his friend. "It was just the same old Danny."
Mr Twemlow, a teacher who has lived in Thailand for a decade, travelled down to Koh Pha Ngan to investigate after Mr Hall had been reported missing.
He expected to find police on the island in the midst of a full investigation when he arrived at the end of April.
'Disgrace'
But he says: "When I got to Koh Pha Ngan, the police knew very little about the case, they hadn't even searched the area where Danny was last seen. It's a bit of a disgrace really."

Mr Hall (right) on the day he was last seen in the Backyard Bar
Mr Twemlow found his friend's possessions - a backpack and an acoustic Yamaha guitar - left in his accommodation, a hut at the island's secluded Hat Yao beach. But Mr Hall's passport and money belt have not been found.
American backpacker Chris Chester, who met Mr Hall on Koh Pha Ngan a week before his disappearance, but did not attend the Full Moon Party, raised the alarm within three of four days of the Briton vanishing.
The 39-year-old said he and his German girlfriend had met up with Mr Hall almost daily, going to the beach, relaxing with a massage and shopping.
"He had been in regular contact with us the whole time, so when we didn't hear from him for a couple of days I thought it was pretty strange. I started trying to find him and asking around," he said.
Mr Chester checked hospitals and clinics on Koh Pha Ngan and neighbouring Koh Samui in his search for the missing tourist, but to no avail.
"There was nothing to suggest he was depressed. I really can't fathom what happened to him," he said.
Mr Hall is known to have joined dozens of party-goers at the Backyard Bar for an "after-party", on the morning after the Full Moon rave.

Thai police say Mr Hall's bank account remains dormant
Niki Kursakul, 45, from Sydney, Australia, who is married to the Thai owner of the bar, described Mr Hall's disappearance as "totally bizarre".
The mother-of-two, who has lived in Thailand for 16 years, said: "It's very, very strange. The bar isn't near a beach but I suppose it's possible he could have wandered down to the sea, gone swimming and got into difficulty.
"But a body would usually get washed up if someone drowned. If he'd fallen or had an accident near the bar he would have been found by now.
"There can be the occasional fight [in the Backyard Bar] but no-one saw any argument taking place that day as far as I know."
Bangkok's ministry of foreign affairs said the Thai authorities were working closely with Mr Hall's family and friends and the British embassy to investigate his disappearance.

Mr Hall's friends have launched an appeal to help find him on Facebook
Spokesman Tharit Charungvat said: "The safety of tourists in Thailand is a matter of great concern to the Royal Thai Government."
He said the number of visitors to Thailand was on the rise and that the country's popularity was "due, among other things, to the hospitality and safety tourists can expect when visiting Thailand".
Thai Police Colonel Chataree Pandum said Mr Hall's bank account remains dormant since he disappeared and investigators believe the Briton did not leave the island.
Norfolk Constabulary in England said they were treating Mr Hall as a missing person - as is the UK foreign office - but that officers currently had no plans to travel to Thailand.
In the meantime, the agony for Mr Hall's loved ones continues.

Have you ever been to Koh Pha Ngan's Full Moon Party? What was your experience? Tell us using the form below:
You can send pictures and video to: yourpics@bbc.co.uk or to send via mobile please dial +44 (0)7725 100 100.
If you have a large file you can upload here.
Do not endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws.
Click here for terms and conditions on sending photos and video
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA DEPORTS U.S. TIBET PROTESTERS !

China has deported eight Americans detained in Beijing last week for demonstrating about Tibet during the Olympic Games.
The eight left China on Sunday while the closing ceremony was taking place after American officials pressed for them to be released.
Washington had voiced "disappointment" that China had not used the Olympics "to demonstrate greater tolerance".
Two other detainees, a Briton and a German, were reportedly also freed.
The eight Americans were deported by the Chinese authorities at 2100 Chinese time (1300 GMT) on Sunday on a China Air flight to Los Angeles, the White House said.
They had been among dozens of foreigners who evaded security checks to demonstrate in favour of Tibetan independence and were arrested on 20-21 August.
They had faced up to 10 days in custody after hanging a "Free Tibet" banner near an Olympic venue and holding other small demonstrations.
Briton Mandie McKeown is expected to arrive home on Monday.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown had raised Ms McKeown's case when he met his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, in Beijing on Friday.
Florian Norbu Gyanatshang, an ethnic Tibetan German, is said by German media to have been released and to be on his way home.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

10 THINGS !

10 things we didn't know last week !

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

1. Misheard song lyrics are known as mondegreens.
More details
2. The Banana Splits theme tune is very similar to reggae classic Buffalo Soldier.
More details
3. Clouds can be breast-shaped.
More details
4. And thunderclouds are so menacingly dark because they are four to five miles (6.4 to 8km) thick.
More details
5. A 72oz steak is about the size of a large telephone directory. And since 1960, 8,000 people have managed to eat one - plus all the trimmings - in under an hour.
More details
6. DNA from 3,000-year-old skeletons can be matched to living descendents.
More details
7. Jerry Springer, the American talkshow host, was born in a London Tube station during World War II.
More details (The Scotsman)
8. Some chemotherapy drugs are made from yew tree clippings.
More details
9. The Queen no longer sends telegrams to those turning 100.
More details
10. The rock hyrax - a modestly proportioned rodent - is the closest living relative to the elephant.More details

BBC NEWS MAGAZINE.

"SAYINGS" !

"JUST BECAUSE EVERYTHING'S DIFFERENT

DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING'S CHANGED" !

_________

MADONNA RAVES ON AS TOUR BEGINS !

By Ian Youngs - Entertainment reporter, BBC News, Cardiff

Madonna has begun her new world tour in Cardiff, proving to fans that she can still cut it on stage at the age of 50.
In a typically energetic performance, the pop superstar played two hours of hits from her 25-year career.
It featured radically reworked versions of some of her old favourites, such as a techno remix of Like A Prayer and a rock take on Borderline.
"She gets better with age," said Lewis Aldous, 23, from Brentwood, Essex.
He said Madonna looked "incredible", adding: "She looks like she's in her 30s. This is the most fast-paced tour of recent times, especially Like A Prayer."
Maria Paradisis, 32, who travelled from Sydney, Australia, for the show, said Madonna's dancing was "mesmerising".
"She can still shake it like she's a 20-year-old," she said.

But some fans at the Millennium Stadium were not so happy with her latest reinvention.
"She didn't do any of the traditional stuff that everyone loves her for," said Susan Harvey from Cardiff.
"For £85 a ticket, I was really disappointed."
The show is split into four sections - Pimp, Old School, Gypsy and Rave
Danielle Wheeler, 26, said she was "not as good as Kylie", while Stephanie Olokopa, 20, from London, gave the show six out of 10.
"She was late and she didn't even thank the people," she said.
The show was first of 51 dates for the pop superstar, who celebrated her birthday a week ago.
It involved 250 crew, 16 dancers, eight costume changes and £1m of jewellery.
The concert was split into four sections - Pimp, Old School, Gypsy and Rave.
Madonna appeared on a jewel-encrusted black leather throne with the letter M written on its back.
Opening with Candy Store, the first track of her latest album Hard Candy, the Pimp section was characterised by revealing and risque black outfits for Madonna and her troupe.
When a classic white convertible rolled on, it took Madonna and her dancers out into the crowd, with Madonna donning the driver's white top hat before pushing the car back.

The intricately planned visual spectacle was as potent as the music, and Madonna is the master at using colour, costume and choreography to full effect.
She was raised on podium for Vogue with four female dancers wearing long black gloves and boots and very little else.

After that, it was into the Old School segment - intended to evoke her 1980s New York roots - with Madonna appearing in red shorts, pop socks and a skipping rope, surrounded by the kids from Fame.
Into the Groove was the first of her '80s hits to be updated, backed by heavy bass and trance piano.
She then picked up a guitar for Borderline, backed by a more conventional rock band set-up.
The star donned heart-shaped sunglasses for She's Not Me, from her latest album, with her old videos flashing up behind her.
When four dancers appeared as Madonna at various stages of her career, the singer went on to abuse them before indulging in some very frenetic, angry dancing.
Gypsy theme
With her long, wavy blonde hair, fit physique and endless stamina, she doesn't look too dissimilar to the Madonna of a couple of decades ago.
She certainly doesn't look ready for a Saga subscription.
The Gypsy segment began with Madonna in a black cloak writhing on top of a black piano, before her dancers donned hooded robes for Spanish Lesson.

They then ripped off the cloaks to reveal shiny, gaudy shirts and indulge in some flamenco-style dancing.
Not everything quite made sense - but it looked quite good, and that, you suspect, is what matters to Madonna.
With her dazzling friends, she went on to play a Europop version of La Isla Bonita, complete with big, bearded violinist in a sequined shirt.
The final section was Rave, which started with a pair of sparkly American football shoulder pads for her recent hit 4 Minutes.
It then turned into a full-on rave as the queen of pop played thumping techno versions of Like A Prayer and Ray Of Light.
During Like A Prayer, screens behind her flashed the names of sacred figures from various religions and quotes from holy texts.
Heavy beats
Most of the crowd seemed to lap up the pumped-up dance remixes.
But as she strummed guitar in a skin-tight silver top, surrounded by futuristic creatures during Ray of Light, lasers firing over her head, it was tempting to think that maybe she should calm down just a bit.
The entire night had the feel of a giant nightclub - and that is something that some purists didn't like.
But heavy beats made the more mediocre new songs more passable, and the momentum was maintained by non-stop music even when she was off stage.
With wailing thrash metal guitars at end of Hung Up, Madonna posed, hand on hip, seemingly satisfied with her night's work.
Now she's hit 50, she seems even more determined to prove that she doesn't stand still, and she certainly doesn't slow down.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SAUDI CHILD 'FILES FOR DIVORCE' !

A court in Saudi Arabia is reported to be preparing to hear a plea for divorce from an eight-year-old girl who has been married off to a man in his 50s.
The Saudi newspaper al-Watan said the girl had been married off to the man by her father without her knowledge.
The child's mother is thought to be pushing for the marriage to be annulled - though the father opposes the move.
In April, a court in neighbouring Yemen annulled the arranged marriage of another eight-year-old girl.
She had been married to a 28-year-old man.
Child-protection groups say children are often given away in return for hefty dowries, or as a result of old customs in which a father promises his infant daughters and sons to cousins out of a belief that marriage will protect them from illicit relationships.
Activists have called for an end to the practice.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE - LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA !

22nd August 2008.

Dear Friends,

Another week has gone by, another year is almost over and still Zimbabweans wait in exile all over the world for something to happen, anything that will tell them their country is finally shaking off the shackles of dictatorship. Here in the UK, as August draws to its wet and windy close we too watch and wait for news of the change which seemed so tantalisingly close just a month ago. For the past week the British media has been almost totally silent on the subject of Zimbabwe, their attention has been elsewhere: Russian tanks advancing into Georgia, the Olympics with its clutch of medals for Britain and for a little while it was the resignation of Pakistan's president Mushareff that dominated the news. Listening to Mushareff's resignation speech it was hard not to wonder if there was a warning there for Robert Mugabe? If there was, then Our Man in Harare just wasn't listening - but then he rarely does. Now, top of the news is the Spanish air crash, that's the story for the moment until some fresh disaster grabs the headlines.

Meanwhile Zimbabwe's disaster goes on: people die of starvation or Aids or a combination of the two, Zanu PF continues its campaign of violence against the opposition and the remaining white farmers are driven off their farms, villagers are raped and brutalized, the shops are still empty, even affluent suburbs are going without water for months and power supplies diminish by the day while inflation climbs to even more dizzying heights. It's just the same old story. So much for Gideon Gono chopping off the noughts; like white ants climbing up the house wall no matter how often you knock them down they will not go away; everyone knows you have to eliminate the cause if you really want to rid yourself of the tiresome beasties. Left to their own devices, they will bring your house down in the end.

Commenting on the Central Statistical Office's inflation figure of 11.2 million percent, the Minister of Finance - I didn't even know we had one, he's been so silent lately - Samuel Mumbengegwi commented that Zimbabwe wasn't the only country in the world with high inflation. In Zimbabwe's case, the minister maintained, the situation was exacerbated by world food prices and western sanctions. Perhaps it is better if the Minister remains silent with that kind of reasoning! Since when has Zimbabwe with its stone-age barter economics been part of the twenty-first century world economy? The real Finance Minister, Gideon Gono aka the Governor of the Reserve Bank says we must find a way of getting people in the diaspora to contribute more to the country's economic revival. While Zanu PF sharks gobble up the country's remaining assets, Gono expects hard-pressed exiles to send even more of their precious pounds and dollars home to rebuild the collapsing economy which he and his government cronies have plundered. Only watch the parallel market rate and you will see in a five day period the rate shot up from 340 to 800$ to the pound sterling. Those pesky noughts are already back again!

In the absence of hard news, political hacks spend their time writing stories whose sole purpose is to make trouble and create division, particularly in MDC ranks. 'It's all Morgan Tsvangirai's fault that there is no agreement signed,' they claim, ignoring the fact that it is Robert Mugabe aided by Thabo Mbeki and SADC who stubbornly clings to power. Worse than that, he still refuses to let the NGO's do their work of feeding the people. An estimated 5 million Zimbabweans face starvation; villagers in Matabeleland survive on wild berries and roots and urban folk struggle to cope while the infrastructure collapses around them. It is indeed the same old story.Now we hear talk that Mugabe will reconvene parliament next week in direct contravention of the MOU that all parties to the talks signed. Yet another example of the spineless SADC mediation that virtually gave Mugabe the go-ahead to do just what he likes; after all he is the Liberation Hero and liberation credentials are apparently the only qualifications needed to run a country - into the ground. Witness the antics of one Joseph Chinotimba, the so-called war veteran, as he directs the terror campaign in Manicaland.

But it's Arthur Mutambara who continues to echo Mugabe's vitriolic rhetoric against the west and appears to align himself with the dictator. Interviewed by an Australian radio station, Mutambara was at his loud-mouthed, arrogant best. "We are smarter than the Australians. We are smarter than the Americans" he bragged. " We went to better schools than most of these leaders in America, in Britain and Australia. I am coming out of Oxford. None of your prime ministers can challenge me intellectually." With two such massive egos: Robert Mugabe, the self-elected president, at the top and Mutambara, the self-proclaimed intellectual giant, at his side in whatever role, there is little hope that sanity will prevail in Zimbabwe soon but Robert Mugabe will be 85 years old in February. He will go at a time of his own choosing, we hear, not when he is told to. But what if the summons comes from a higher authority? That's one call the Old Man will not be able to reject.

Yours in the (continuing) struggle. PH.

REBELS PUSH TO SEVER GEORGIA TIES !

A big pro-independence rally is being held in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region and a similar rally is expected soon in war-ravaged South Ossetia.
Separatists in both regions are urging Russia and other countries to recognise them as independent from Georgia.
Russia says it is reviewing its co-operation with Nato, which has insisted that Moscow pull its troops out of Georgia, in line with a truce.
Nato said on Tuesday there could be no "business as usual" with Moscow.
At an emergency meeting, Nato suspended formal contacts with Russia because of the Russian military presence in Georgia.

See map of the region

"Relations with Nato will be reviewed," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency on Thursday.
"This will apply to the military co-operation programme," he said.
There is still no clear indication of a significant withdrawal of Russian military forces from Georgia, despite Moscow's promise to pull out most of its troops by the end of Friday.
Gen Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian military's general staff, reiterated on Thursday that "by the end of 22 August all the forces of the Russian Federation will be behind the line of our zone of responsibility".
But a BBC correspondent in the Georgian village of Igoeti, just 35km (21 miles) from the capital Tbilisi, says Russian troops there do not appear to be preparing to leave. Russian forces are also dug in around Georgia's main Black Sea port of Poti.
Co-operation stopped?
Russia poured troops into Georgia after Georgian forces tried to retake the breakaway South Ossetia region on 7 August. Russian-led peacekeeping troops had been deployed there since a war in the early 1990s.
The world-renowned conductor Valery Gergiyev - himself an Ossetian - plans to give a concert in South Ossetia with his St Petersburg orchestra on Thursday. The regional capital, Tskhinvali, where it will be held, was heavily damaged in the intense fighting.

PEACE PLAN
No more use of force
Stop all military actions for good
Free access to humanitarian aid
Georgian troops return to their places of permanent deployment
Russian troops to return to pre-conflict positions
International talks about security in South Ossetia and Abkhazia

Georgia faces reality of defeat
Who started the crisis?
Nato's Russia dilemma
Georgia conflict: Key statements

Nato has accused Russia of failing to respect a French-brokered ceasefire plan requiring both Russian and Georgian forces to pull back to the positions they held before heavy fighting erupted in South Ossetia.
On Wednesday, Norway's defence ministry said Russia had informed Norwegian diplomats that it was planning to freeze co-operation with Nato.
Norway's Aftenposten newspaper said Oslo was trying to establish exactly what impact the Russian decision would have on existing co-operation, such as joint rescue operations and border controls. Norway shares a border with Russia in the Arctic.
A statement from the Norwegian defence ministry said: "Norway notes that Russia has decided that for now it is 'freezing' all military co-operation with Nato and allied countries.
"We expect that this will not affect planned activities in the areas of coastguard operations, search and rescue and resource management, because on the Russian side these are handled by civilian authorities."
Russia has not yet given Norway formal written notification about its suspension of co-operation, a ministry spokesperson said.

Russia's permanent envoy at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Dmitry Rogozin, has been recalled to Moscow for consultations, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reports.
He said that in light of Nato's position on the Georgia conflict, relations with Nato "really cannot remain as before," but he added that "there will not be a cold war".
A state secretary in Norway's defence ministry, Espen Barth Eide, said "there's no doubt that our relationship to Russia has now chilled".
On Tuesday, Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said "there can be no business as usual with Russia under present circumstances".

Russian news agencies say an armoured column, consisting of more than 40 vehicles, has passed through South Ossetia, on its way to the Russian border.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

HENRY WINKLER UNVEILS BRONZE FONZ !

Happy Days ran from 1974 to 1984
In pictures

Actor Henry Winkler has unveiled a statue of his iconic Happy Days character Arthur "Fonz" Fonzarelli in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The bronze Fonz sports a trademark black leather jacket and slicked back hair, and strikes the character's classic two thumbs up pose.
Winkler told the crowd: "To see it in real life and that it exists it's just unbelievable. It really is."
The series was set in Milwaukee, although it was filmed in California.
The unflappable Fonz was the most iconic character in the long-running sitcom, which centred on the life of the middle-class Cunningham family.
Other members of the cast present at the unveiling included Anson Williams (Potsie), Don Most (Ralph), Marion Ross (Mrs Cunningham), Tom Bosley (Mr Cunningham) and Erin Moran (Joanie).
Film director Ron Howard, who played straight-laced Richie Cunningham, was unable to attend as he was on location.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ROW IN NIGERIA OVER OBAMA MONEY !

A Nigerian group backing US senator Barack Obama for president has told the BBC the money it raised from a gala event was never meant for his campaign.
It is illegal for campaign groups outside the United States to donate funds to US political parties.
Earlier this week, the Obama campaign wrote to the Nigerian press saying it was not affiliated to Africans for Obama and would not accept its money.
The group said it wanted to use the funds to urge US Nigerians to vote.
Tickets to the lavish event in Lagos on 11 August cost more than $21,000 (£11,000) for an eight-person table.
Africans for Obama chairwoman Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, who is also the head of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, told the BBC News website there had been a misunderstanding in the press regarding the event.
"We never said we were going to donate money for the campaign," she said.
"We paid for the hall and the entertainers and the surplus we said would be spent on advertisements aimed at persuading Nigerians to tell their relatives in America to register to vote.
"There is not one Nigerian who doesn't have a relative or friend in America. Our aim was to encourage those people to tell their family who have the right to vote in America to vote for Obama."

Local media had reported the event raised more than $840,000 (£420,000), but Mrs Okereke-Onyiuke said the group's accountant had not finished counting the proceeds yet.
I am a woman of the highest integrity
Ndi Okereke-OnyiukeAfricans for Obama chairwoman
Full-page adverts in major newspapers publicising the event did not mention what the organisers were planning to do with the money.
Tickets to the gala dinner at the Muson Centre, usually used for conferences and trade shows, were split into two price ranges: "gold" and "platinum".
Individual tickets for more expensive platinum range cost $2,754 (£1,300) with an option to buy a "corporate" table sitting eight for more than $21,000.
A line-up of Nigerian musicians and comedians were billed as the evening's entertainment.
Mrs Okereke-Onyiuke said the cost was "not unusual".
"This year a newspaper put on a concert where tables cost 10m naira ($87,000, £43,500) and no-one blinked an eye then, why should they now?"
'Jealousy'
Prominent figures such as opposition People's Democratic Party grandee Chief Sonny Iroche and human rights lawyer Femi Falana had warned the group to cancel the event and give back any money.
The Barack Obama campaign wrote to Nigerian newspaper The Punch this week to confirm it would not be taking any money from the group.
"We want to make it clear that the event and this organisation are in no way associated with Obama for America of the Democratic National Committee should this organisation seek to place additional advertisement in your paper," the letter said.
Mrs Okereke-Onyiuke hit back at critics who have accused her of abusing her position as head of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
She said the press was trying to attack her because they were jealous of her success.
"I am a woman of the highest integrity," she said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

USAIN BOLT GAINS TWO GOLDS AT THE OLYMPICS

Jamaica's Usain Bolt added the 200m crown to his Olympic 100m title in an incredible new world record time of 19.30 seconds in Beijing.
The 21-year-old, who won the 100m title in a world record of 9.69 secs, powered past the field to cross the line and smash Michael Johnson's mark of 19.32.
American defending champion Shawn Crawford took silver with team-mate Walter Dix getting the bronze.
Great Britain's Christian Malcolm clocked 20.40 secs for fifth place.
While Bolt's win was never in doubt the minor medals were shuffled twice, first when American Wallace Spearmon was disqualified for running out of his lane and denied bronze.

Officials then upheld the US team's protest that second-placed Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles had also stepped out of his lane which bumped Crawford into silver and Dix, the 100m bronze medallist, up to third.
Bolt told the BBC after his sensational win: "It's great. I have a great feeling.
"This is a dream come true. You come out every day to be a champion and I'm just happy."
When asked if he planned to go all out for Johnson's world record, the 21-year-old said: "I was worried after the semis.
"But I told everybody I would leave everything on the track and I did just that.
"I've proved I'm a true champion and that with hard work anything is possible."

Bolt was simply incredible - this guy is Superman II

Bolt had been accused of jogging through the line in his heats but the Jamaican said he would run flat out in the final and he delivered on that promise with interest.
He blasted out of the blocks and was already well clear of the field going into the bend at the Bird's Nest stadium.
The Olympic 100m champion accelerated away down the straight, gritting his teeth as he chased down gold and the record that Johnson set 12 years ago in Atlanta.
Bolt seized both with ease, becoming the first man to secure the prestigious Olympic sprint double since Carl Lewis in 1984.
The 6ft 5in sprinter is also the first since compatriot Don Quarrie in 1976 to hold both sprint world records at the same time.
Bolt, who will celebrate his 22nd birthday in Beijing on Thursday, could win a third gold medal when he competes in the 4x100m relay.
"I have been dreaming about winning the 200m since I was yay high," he added pointing to his knees.
"It means a lot to me - more than the 100m because I have loved this event since I was 15 and I became the youngest ever winner of the world junior championships. Since that day it was dear to my heart."
He added: "I am looking forward to my birthday tomorrow - I am looking forward to going to bed, going to sleep and letting it all soak in."
Welshman Christian Malcolm was satisfied with his achievement in reaching the 200m final after finally rediscovering some following after a spate of injuries.

"I didn't run particularly great," the 29-year-old said. "But I have got to take the good from these championships.
"I have made the final and I am injury free, so I can move on and build from this.
"You have got to keep going because he [Bolt] is going to have a bad day some time. He has had a great championships and got it right on the day but I am improving so I am looking forward to next season."
BBC SPORTS NEWS

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

Just out of reach !

Sunday 17th August 2008.

Dear Family and Friends,

The will of the people. It is impossible to believe that 140 days after Zimbabwe voted for an MDC Parliament and an MDC President the will of the people has yet to be accepted or implemented. After nearly five months we remain locked in a truly horrible state without sworn in legislators, without a parliament and without legitimacy. Everything around us is falling apart so fast now and yet the people and party in power for the last twenty eight years simply refuse to go.

The electricity is now off more than on - in my area its only been on twice during daytime working hours in the last week. Urban water supply seems to have virtually collapsed and in my home area taps are dry for at least 20 hours a day. Massive environmental devastation is being done as people have no choice but to cut trees down for fuel wood. Shops remain barren of virtually all goods and banks have become nightmare places where hundreds of people queue for hours at a time to withdraw the maximum daily allowance which is now handed out as a small bag of coins. At some banks the situation is so bad that the doors stay closed and locked all the time and people are only allowed to enter in small batches.

Much as the old leadership would have us believe, we are not a country at war, no one is trying to invade us or take us over and the future is waiting, just out of our reach. It is very hard, however, to stay sane, healthy and focussed on the Zimbabwe that the majority voted for on the 29th March 2008.

One afternoon this week I went with a friend to a small environmental education centre and game park at a local school and the magnificence of the Zimbabwean bush helped revive flagging spirits. The Msasa trees are coming into new leaf and putting on a spectacular display of copper, caramel, burgundy, port and hot red. The wild oranges are starting to turn yellow and they hang heavily from branches of leafless trees. On rocks and kopjes there are unexpected and vivid scatterings of lime green and bright orange lichen. In between trees and rocks, superbly camouflaged, there were giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and impala. This small environmental education centre, a vision from the past, giving knowledge and understanding to our children in such troubled times and promising hope for the future of our beleaguered, broken Zimbabwe.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

NKOMO'S GHOST HAUNTS ZIMBABWE TALKS !

By Allan Little - BBC News- Johannesburg.

There is a ghost at the table around which the four principal negotiators have been sitting these last three days, trying to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis.
The talks are haunted by the spirit of the late Joshua Nkomo, whose fate stands as a warning to anyone trying to strike a deal with President Robert Mugabe.
Joshua Nkomo was, broadly, Mr Mugabe's contemporary, and a Zimbabwean liberation leader of impeccable credentials.
In 1980, at independence, he emerged as an alternative leader to Mr Mugabe.
His support base was in Matabeleland in the south and west of the country.
Mr Mugabe fought him for five years.
He destroyed him in two ways. First he sent into Matabeleland the ruthless, North Korea-trained Fifth brigade.
Thousands of Mr Nkomo's supporters were murdered and their bodies dumped in mass graves in a two-year operation known as Gukurahundi.
Mr Mugabe used what, on the face of it, was sold to the world as a power-sharing agreement to consolidate his own one party state
Then - and this was a master stroke - Mr Mugabe reached an agreement with Mr Nkomo: a power-sharing agreement.
Mr Nkomo was brought into the government as vice-president.
Officially, the two political parties merged to form Zanu-PF, but in reality Mr Mugabe's party swallowed Mr Nkomo's Zapu party whole.
Mr Nkomo was neutralised, destroyed.
Mr Mugabe used what, on the face of it, was sold to the world as a power-sharing agreement to consolidate his own one-party state.
It entrenched his dictatorship for 20 years.
If Mr Nkomo - who died in 1999 - could speak from the grave, would he warn the opposition Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai not to walk into the same trap?
Deadlock
Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai have agreed on the need to share power.
Mr Mugabe stays as president, Mr Tsvangirai becomes prime minister.
But they are deadlocked on how much and what kind of power Mr Mugabe should retain.
Mr Mugabe has in mind what you might call the Nkomo solution: he retains control of the military and security services that he has used so successfully to terrorise his way to successive election victories.
In other words he retains the coercive instruments of real executive power.
Mr Tsvangirai gets the economy to sort out.
Mr Tsvangirai is not weak enough to have to accept this poisoned chalice.
For one thing the European Union and the United States have both made it clear that they would not help fund a recovery package under a deal like this.
Mr Mugabe makes hay with this, accusing his rival of being the candidate of Western interests, of resurgent British imperialism.
This plays well in much of Africa, but it no longer plays well in Zimbabwe, where there is now real economic privation.
On the contrary, the evidence is that there is immense pressure on the MDC from below, from the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who have risked much and endured more.
If they are afraid of anything now it is that Mr Tsvangirai will be tempted to settle.
Many would see such a deal as an unforgivable betrayal.

At the negotiating table it has been three against one - with Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Arthur Mutambara, who leads a minority faction of the opposition, joining forces with Mr Mugabe to put pressure on Mr Tsvangirai to accept the Zanu-PF power-sharing plan.
Brave as he is, constancy is not one of Mr Tsvangirai's virtues.
The talks have hung on whether he would bend to this pressure.
There is much dark talk in MDC circles of intolerable bullying.

But Mr Tsvangirai has not caved. He has shown more backbone than the other three had hoped.
What he wants is the transfer of real executive power from the president's office to that of the prime minister.
Mr Mugabe would stay on as head of state in a largely ceremonial role.
The odds are stacked against that. The hardliners who run the military and security services are implacably against it.
Mr Mugabe is negotiating for them as well as for his party.
But Mr Tsvangirai has two strong cards: the first is that he holds the key to an internationally funded recovery programme, which cannot happen without him; and time is on his side.
In South Africa, Thabo Mbeki has less than a year left in office. His likely successor, Jacob Zuma, has been much more critical of Mr Mugabe, and his party, the African National Congress, has openly accused Mr Mugabe of bringing the liberation tradition into disrepute.
It is in Mr Mugabe's interests to strike a deal before Mr Zuma takes over.
The parallels are not exact - this is not 1987.
Joshua Nkomo did not, then, hold the cards that Morgan Tsvangirai holds now.
Robert Mugabe is finding that it is no longer so easy to swallow the opposition whole and go on governing, unchallenged.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DEADLY VIOLENCE HITS WEST CHINA !

Two militants died in the bombings and five were killed by police, Xinhua says.
Seven militants and a security guard have been killed after a series of bombings in China's north-western region of Xinjiang, state media says.
The pre-dawn violence in southern Kuqa county targeted a police station and other government buildings.
The explosions were followed by gunfire in the area, which is 3,000km (1,860 miles) from Beijing, witnesses said.
Earlier this week, China said 16 policemen were killed in an attack by Islamist separatists in Xinjiang.
"The lawbreakers drove a taxi to the local public security office, industry and business administration and other sites and tossed homemade explosives, destroying two police vehicles," Xinhua news agency reported.
Two of the militants died in the attacks, while five were killed later by police, Xinhua news agency reported.

World Uighur Congress spokesman Dilxat Raxit told the BBC that the Chinese government was responsible for the latest blasts because of what he called repressive policies in Xinjiang.
"In order to stop the East Turkestan situation getting worse, I urge the international community to exert pressure on China to immediately stop its systematic repressive government policies," he said.
Xinjiang is home to many Muslim Uighurs, some of whom want independence in the region they call East Turkestan.
Kuqa county itself is almost exclusively populated by Uighurs.
Uighur separatists in Xinjiang have waged a low-level campaign against Chinese rule for decades.
The latest incident came after the Olympic Games opened in Beijing, with a spectacular display of fireworks, music and dancing.
Human rights groups say Beijing is suppressing the rights of Uighurs.
China has spoken in the past of what it calls a terrorist threat from Muslim militants in Xinjiang, but it has provided little evidence to back up its claims, correspondents say.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SAYINGS

"LIFE CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD

BACKWARDS,

BUT IT MUST BE LIVED

FORWARD" !

______

MBEKI TRIES TO SEAL ZIMBABWE DEAL !

Mr Mbeki is hoping to secure a power-sharing deal.
Talks are under way in Zimbabwe to try to finalise a power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is acting as mediator at the talks, which are taking place in a Harare hotel.
Reports in some South African papers say a deal is close, and that a final agreement could be reached shortly.
Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are due to meet after more than a week of talks between their parties, reports say.
One widely touted solution is that Mr Mugabe, the Zanu-PF leader, may become ceremonial president while Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, is made executive prime minister.
But there has been no official comment on these reports, apart from statements from all sides that the talks have been progressing well.

Mr Mbeki has been mediating negotiations between the two sides in neighbouring South Africa.
Zimbabwean government spokesman George Charamba described Mr Mbeki's visit to Harare as an "important milestone".
There has been a news blackout on the South Africa-mediated talks
He said the South African president was "going to meet the principals, basically to update them on the progress so far and to consult on how to take the dialogue forward".
Mr Mugabe won a run-off in June after Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the race alleging violence against his backers.
South African mediators say that talks are aimed at creating some form of coalition but there is disagreement over who would lead a unity government and over Mr Mugabe's exact role.
For the two men to achieve a power-sharing deal will be no easy matter, as they share nothing but a mutual loathing, says BBC Africa analyst, Martin Plaut.
Make or break
Assuming a deal can be achieved, the next question is how the senior figures in the country's security apparatus - the military and police - can be accommodated, our analyst adds.
There were strong suggestions a deal was blocked earlier this year because their concerns had not been addressed.
This time round it is proposed that there would be two deputy prime ministers:
one - to be occupied by the ruling Zanu-PF, would take the defence portfolio
the other, for the MDC, would take the police
If this is acceptable to all sides, our analyst suggests, then other issues are seen as less important.
But Sunday's negotiations are seen as make or break, with diplomats warning that until everything is agreed, nothing is agreed, he adds.

Mr Mbeki is under pressure to produce a solid outcome ahead of a mid-August summit of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).
Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have fled the country's worsening political and economic situation, many crossing over the borders into neighbouring states of South Africa, Zambia and Botswana.
Botswana's foreign minister suggested on Friday that Mr Mugabe should be barred from the Sadc summit.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

KNEELING IN THE DUST !

Dear Family and Friends,

Coming into Zimbabwe by road from South Africa is an experience not to be missed - for all the right and all the wrong reasons!

As you approach Musina, the last South African town before the border with Zimbabwe, you are struck with a feeling of being in a place of great majesty and ancient history. Giant Baobab trees stand dramatically in the dry, scratchy scrub land. It's hard to take in their massive and strangely upside down appearance. They are leafless as summer approaches and you are left wondering if some great hand from above pulled them up and then plunged them head first back into the hard African ground. In Musina town itself, on a dusty roadside, a glorious blaze of pink flowers crowd the swollen, grey stems of a Sabi Star shrub. Their pink-ness seems ironic and out of place amidst the dust and the heat and this, together with the Baobabs, sets the scene for the approaching insanity that has become life in Zimbabwe.

Musina town is crowded with Zimbabwean vehicles. Cars, trucks and minibuses are filled to overflowing with food and household goods. The images remind you of the place you are going to: the land of nothing. There are piles of bread crammed against car windows, huge blocks of toilet paper stuffed onto roof racks; women with 10 kilo bags of flour, sugar and mealie meal on their heads; gaudy carrier bags bursting at the seams filled with all the essentials of every day - essentials robbed us by economic collapse due to gross mismanagement and leadership incompetence.

The border control entry point at Beitbridge is Zimbabwe at its worst: a grim nightmare and disgraceful window into our country. The officials are sour, surly and downright rude. You stagger from one filthy counter to the next with no volunteered information on what to do, where to go and which bits of paper need stamps on. There are more touts, con men and wheeler dealers than you can cope with and they operate openly, brazenly and untouched, in full view of police, security guards and officials. For American dollars or South African Rand they force their way to the front of the one and only counter for returning residents and there they get your papers stamped, pay your road access tax, your Bridge toll fees or your customs duties. Appealing to the man with the legend: "Modern Security" enscribed on his navy uniform incurs a disgusting display of rudeness, temper and heavy handed physical pushing, not of the bad guys but of innocent members of the public. Question Mr Modern Security and he rubs his thumb against his fingers indicating clearly that if you want help you must pay. If you don't pay the bribes you wait, and wait, and wait. I was 12th in line but was there three and half hours.

Once back in Zimbabwe you plummet from 1st world to 4th in less than 10 minutes. Fuel stations are dry, food shops are empty, mobile phones have no signal. Women wash clothes and naked children bathe in the pools of the Bubye River and one lady dressed all in white kneels in the dust, her hands clasped in prayer, under a leafless thorn tree in the middle of nowhere. Donkey drawn carts become more commonplace than cars, goats dawdle across the road, fences along the highway are gone and its not worth your mental or physical health to look for or use a public toilet. Huge farms stand empty and derelict, fields unploughed, no sign of preparation for the season now just weeks away.

As night draws in you pass towns and cities engulfed in the darkness of power cuts and an uncountable number of road blocks loom out of the blackness, manned by Policemen who look younger than my teenage son. Its hard to believe that Zimbabwe is in the same place in time as the rest of the world. Perhaps not for much longer is our fervent hope.

Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 9th August 2008.
www.cathybuckle.com .

SPECTACULAR OPENING FOR OLYMPICS !

China has presented a dramatic display of fireworks, music and dancing to mark the opening of its Beijing Olympics.
Some 10,000 performers took part in the ceremony, watched on TV by an estimated one billion people, before athletes paraded around the national stadium.
Security was tight in the capital, and three US activists were arrested after holding a pro-Tibet protest. Larger rallies took place in Nepal and India.
Analysts say it is the most politicised Games since the Cold War era.
The build-up to the event was dogged by worries over pollution and criticism of China's rights record.

Olympics: Live coverage
In pictures: Beijing's big day
Spectators' day of awe

Beijing has faced pressure to improve civil liberties - with US President George W Bush among several world leaders to express concern over a crackdown on dissidents.
But after the controversy of the run-up, the opening ceremony certainly changed the focus of attention.
Some 90,000 fans packed the new national stadium - known as the Bird's Nest because of its steel lattice construction - and cheered the performers.
The choreographed show took seven years to plan, and costs are estimated to have hit a record-breaking $40bn (£20bn).
It began at eight minutes past eight on the evening of 8 August, reflecting the belief widespread in Asia that eight is a lucky number.
More than three hours later, China's President Hu Jintao officially declared the Games open.
And in a theatrical finish to the day's activities, champion gymnast Li Ning was winched up to the rim of the stadium carrying the Olympic torch - the end of its journey around the world.
He used the torch to light the Olympic cauldron - in the form of another huge torch - and an explosion of fireworks ensued.

Meanwhile, security has remained a pressing concern for the Chinese authorities.
An extra 100,000 troops and police have been deployed in the capital. Areas including Tiananmen Square - which could provide a rallying point for protesters - were closed off.
In other developments:

Beijing pollution: Facts and figures

• Three US activists were detained while trying to mount a pro-Tibet protest near the national stadium, according to the Associated Press.
• A protester tried to set himself alight outside the Chinese embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara, as Chinese Muslims protested against alleged rights violations in China.
• An Air China flight bound for Beijing from Tokyo was forced to turn back after an Olympic-related bomb threat was received.
• Exiled Tibetans held angry protests in Nepal, with hundreds reported to have been arrested in the capital, Kathmandu.
• Hundreds of Buddhist monks tried to storm the Chinese embassy in Delhi, India, in protest at Beijing's Tibet policies.

Pollution remains a key concern for the Games and on the morning of the opening ceremony, fog obscured the Beijing skyline.

A BBC reading suggested air quality remained below World Health Organization (WHO) standards.
But Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Observatory, predicted that heavy rain over the weekend would clear the skies.
And he warned that hazy conditions should not be confused with high levels of pollution.
On Thursday, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said events that lasted more than an hour could be shifted or postponed if the pollution was bad.
But he also praised China's "extraordinary" efforts to cut pollution ahead of the Games, saying there was no danger to athletes' health.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RUSSIAN TANKS ENTER SOUTH OSSETIA !

Russian tanks have entered Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, says Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
Georgia has been fighting separatists with ties to Russia in order to regain control of the province, which has had de facto independence since the 1990s.
Russian troops in the South Ossetian capital said their artillery had begun firing at Georgian forces, Russian news agencies reported.
Russia's president earlier promised to defend his citizens in South Ossetia.
Moscow's defence ministry said more than 10 of its peacekeeping troops in South Ossetia had been killed and 30 wounded in the Georgian offensive. At least 15 civilians are also reported dead.
Amid international calls for restraint, Georgia's president said 150 Russian tanks and other vehicles had entered South Ossetia.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili says he is willing to agree an immediate ceasefire.
He told CNN: "Russia is fighting a war with us in our own territory."
Mr Saakashvili, who has called on reservists to sign up for duty, said: "This is a clear intrusion on another country's territory.
"We have Russian tanks on our territory, jets on our territory in broad daylight," Reuters new agency quoted him as saying.
Later, Moscow's foreign ministry told media that Russian tanks had reached the northern outskirts of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.
The Georgian interior ministry said Russian jets had killed three Georgian soldiers at an airbase outside the capital, Tbilisi, during a bombing raid on Friday, Reuters news agency reported.

In pictures: Unrest in Georgia
Bitterness turns to conflict

Russia denied any of its fighters had entered its neighbour's airspace.
Moscow's defence ministry said reinforcements for Russian peacekeepers had been sent to South Ossetia "to help end bloodshed".
Amid reports of Russian deaths, President Dmitry Medvedev said: "I must protect the life and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are," Interfax news agency reported.
"We will not allow their deaths to go unpunished. Those responsible will receive a deserved punishment."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was receiving reports that villages in South Ossetia were being ethnically cleansed- Russian Foreign Minister - Sergei Lavrov.
Mr Lavrov added in televised remarks: "The number of refugees is growing. A humanitarian crisis is looming."
Russia said it would cut all air links with Georgia from midnight on Friday.
Meanwhile Interfax quoted South Ossetian rebel leader Eduard Kokoity as saying there were "hundreds of dead civilians" in Tskhinvali.
Witnesses said the regional capital was devastated.
Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, told AP news agency: "I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars. It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged."

SOUTH OSSETIA MAP & TIMELINE

1991-92 S Ossetia fights war to break away from newly independent Georgia; Russia enforces truce
2004 Mikhail Saakashvili elected Georgian president, promising to recover lost territories
2006 S Ossetians vote for independence in unofficial referendum
April 2008 Russia steps up ties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia
July 2008 Russia admits flying jets over S Ossetia; Russia and Georgia accuse each other of military build-up
7 August 2008 After escalating Georgian-Ossetian clashes, sides agree to ceasefire
8 August 2008 Heavy fighting erupts overnight, Georgian forces close on Tskhinvali

Q&A: Violence in South Ossetia
In quotes: Strife in Georgia

US President George W Bush spoke with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the crisis while they attended the Beijing Olympics.
Later, the US voiced support for Georgia's territorial integrity and its state department said it would send an envoy to the region.
Nato said it was seriously concerned about the situation, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on all sides to show restraint.
The European security organisation, the OSCE, warned that the fighting risked escalating into a full-scale war.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili told the BBC it wanted to ensure that any civilians who wanted to leave the conflict zone could do so safely.
International Red Cross spokeswoman Anna Nelson said it had received reports that hospitals in Tskhinvali were having trouble coping with the influx of casualties and ambulances were having trouble reaching the injured.
Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said Georgia had simply run out of patience with attacks by separatist militias in recent days and had had to move in to restore peace in South Ossetia.

Georgia accuses Russia of arming the separatists. Moscow denies the claim.
Russia earlier called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to respond to the crisis, but members failed to agree on a Russian statement calling on both sides to renounce the use of force.
The BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says Russia has always said it supports the territorial integrity of Georgia but also that it would defend its citizens. Many South Ossetians hold Russian passports.
Hundreds of fighters from Russia and Georgia's other breakaway region of Abkhazia were reportedly heading to aid the separatist troops.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZUMA THREATS WORRY S.A. GOVERNMENT!

Mr Zuma is favourite to become president in 2009.

South African government says it is extremely concerned by threats by some ruling party supporters to make the country ungovernable.
Supporters of African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma have threatened unrest if he is jailed for corruption.
Government spokesman Themba Maseko said there was particular concern at threats to the judiciary.
Mr Zuma is charged with corruption, money-laundering and racketeering in connection with an arms deal.
Supporters of Mr Zuma, who denies the charges, have repeatedly made threats of unrest, and some have said they are prepared to kill for the ANC leader.
The statements... seems to be suggesting that our judiciary is not independent - Themba Maseko - Government spokesman.

Timeline: Zuma's legal problem

ANC Youth League President Julius Malema said in June: "If these people think we are only prepared to die for him, we are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma."
Mr Maseko said such comments sent out the wrong signal.
"As government we are extremely concerned about a lot of the statements being made, particularly against the judiciary which basically seems to be suggesting that our judiciary is not independent," the South African Press Association quotes him as saying after a cabinet meeting.
Earlier this week, Judge Chris Nicholson set 12 September as the date when he would rule on whether Mr Zuma's corruption trial would go ahead.
Hi legal team argued that the delays in bring the case to court meant he would not get a fair trial.
Mr Zuma's colleagues in the leadership of the ANC are standing firmly by him.
They say he is been the victim of a political conspiracy intended to prevent him becoming South Africa's president in elections due to be held before July 2009.
In 2005, Mr Zuma was sacked as South Africa's deputy president when his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was found guilty of soliciting a bribe on behalf of Mr Zuma and jailed for 15 years in connection with an arms deal.
He then went on trial, but the case collapsed in 2006 when the prosecution said it was not ready to proceed.
He was charged again last December shortly after winning a bitter campaign against President Thabo Mbeki to become ANC leader.

SOMALIA 'THREATENS' KENYA PEACE!

Kenya's struggle with terrorism will continue as long as neighbouring Somalia remains lawless, the prime minister has said.
Kenya and Tanzania are marking the 10th anniversary of the US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga joined relatives and survivors at the site of the attack in Nairobi, which is now a memorial garden.
More than 220 people died in the first major al-Qaeda attack on US targets.
"A lawless Somalia threatens Kenya's security," Mr Odinga said during the commemoration ceremony.
"We need to build a new strategic engagement with popular voices in Somalia."
He said the bombing ended country's innocence about the brutality of terrorism.
The ceremonies come days after Kenyan police narrowly failed to arrest the suspected mastermind of the bombings, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed.
Mr Odinga said the failure to apprehend Mr Mohammed reminded Kenyans that "we have terrorists in our midst still planning awful deeds".
"We must therefore never relax our vigilance against these extremists. Let me assure Kenyans that this government will do everything possible to prevent us from ever again being attacked," Mr Odinga said.

My eyes were destroyed on the spot by the glass - Catherine Bwire.

Kenya's terror scars yet to heal
Can survivors forgive terrorists?
Timeline: Al-Qaeda

Sunday's botched operation to arrest Mr Mohammed has raised questions in Kenya about whether the government is doing enough to protect its citizens from the threat of terrorism.
The police have intensified their manhunt for the fugitive in the coastal city of Mombasa, and security along the country's borders has been tightened.
The country's sizeable Muslim community has complained that the "war on terror" is being used to victimise Muslims.
But the prime minister denied claims that the community was being used as a scapegoat, saying Islam was a religion of peace.
At least 17 Kenyan Muslims are being held in Ethiopia on suspicion of involvement in terrorism.

The BBC's Peter Greste in Nairobi says the solemn ceremony rekindled painful memories for those who survived the attack and the families of the victims.
It also uncovered deep bitterness and frustration among the survivors who accuse both the Kenyan and the American governments of failing to compensate them for their losses, he says.
US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said the best way to honour victims of the bombings was to look at the achievements of the last ten years.
"I truly believe that the fact that Kenya and the United States have both moved ahead to strengthen their democracies and to expand well-being for their people is probably the best honour we could possibly pay to those victims," he said.
At about 1030 local time on 7 August 1998, a suicide bomber threw a grenade at the guardhouse outside the US embassy in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, and tried to ram his way through the barricades.
He then detonated the explosives packed inside the vehicle, severely damaging the embassy and bringing down a seven-story building near by, killing 218 people and wounding more than 4,000.
A simultaneous attack on the embassy in Dar es Salaam killed 11 people, and wounded 72.
The bombings were al-Qaeda's first major strike in its conflict with the United States.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NINE FEAR DEAD IN US AIR CRASH !

The crash site was proving difficult to access, the US Forest Service said.
Nine people are missing, feared dead, after a helicopter carrying firefighters crashed on its way to a forest fire in northern California.
The helicopter went down on Tuesday night in a remote area about 35 miles (56km) north-west of Redding.
The cause of the crash of the Sikorsky S-61 was not immediately known.
The helicopter was carrying 11 firefighters and two flight crew. Three firefighters and pilot are being treated in hospital for burns.
Two are said to be in critical condition and two serious.
Firefighting contractor Grayback Forestry, which had employed the crew, named two of the injured men as Michael Brown, 20, and Jonathan Frohreich, 18.
Ian Gregor, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the helicopter was destroyed in the crash.
He added that the Trinity County Sheriff's Department was leading the search for victims.

Janet Rabuck of the US Forest Service said that the area was very difficult to access.
"It's very remote, very steep and heavily forested," she told the AP news agency.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was praying for the safe return of the victims.
"Our hearts go out to their loved ones," he added.
The firefighters had been tackling a blaze that was covering 27 sq miles (70sq km) of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
They had been at the north side of a blaze burning across 27 sq miles (70 sq km) in the national forest, part of a series of fires which crews have mostly managed to contain.
In June, a state of emergency was declared in California after fires mostly sparked by lightning in dry wilderness areas burnt more than 500 sq miles (1,400 sq km).
A wildfire burning near Yosemite National Park in California destroyed 12 houses during July.
Another firefighter died after being hit by a falling tree while tackling a blaze in the same forest in the same month.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NET ADDRESS BUG WORSE THAN FEARED !

By Maggie Shiels - Technology reporter, BBC News Website, Silicon Valley.

A recently found flaw in the internet's addressing system is worse than first feared, says the man who found it.
Dan Kaminsky made his comments when speaking publicly for the first time about his discovery at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.
He said fixes for the flaw in the net's Domain Name System (DNS) had focused on web browsers but it could be abused by hackers in many other ways.
"Every network is at risk," he said. That's what this flaw has shown."
The DNS acts as the internet's address books and helps computers translate the website names people prefer (such as bbc.co.uk) into the numbers computers use (212.58.224.131).
Mr Kaminsky discovered a way for malicious hackers to hijack DNS and re-direct people to fake pages even if they typed in the correct address for a website.
In his talk Mr Kaminsky detailed 15 other ways for the flaw to be exploited.
Via the flaw hi-tech criminals or pranksters could target FTP services, mail servers, spam filters, Telnet and the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) that helps to hide make web-based from eavesdroppers.
"There are a ton of different paths that lead to doom," he said.

But the DNS threat was played down by net giant VeriSign which issues many of the security certificates used in SSL. It told BBC News its system was "not vulnerable".
The Silicon Valley company looks after two of the net's 13 DNS root servers. It also controls the computers that contain the master list of domain name suffixes such as .com and .net

"If there is a silver lining in all of this, it's that users will become more aware and more consious of who they do business with."
Ken Silva, chief technology officer at Verisign, said: "We have anticipated these flaws in DNS for many years and we have basically engineered around them."
He believed there had been "some hype" around how the DNS flaw will affect consumers. He added that while it was an interesting way to exploit DNS on weak servers, there were other ways to misdirect people that remained.
Mr Silva said he was concerned that people would read too much into the doom and gloom headlines that have surrounded the discovery of the DNS flaw.
"It's been overplayed in a sense. I think it has served to confuse the consumer into believing there is somehow now a way to misdirect them to a wrong site.
"The fact of the matter is that there have been many ways like phishing attacks to misdirect them for a long time and this is just yet another of those ways that will be surgically exploited."
Security gap
Mr Kaminsky kept news of the flaw out of the public domain for months after its discovery to give companies time to patch servers.
Mr Kaminsky said that 75% of Fortune 500 companies have fixed the problem while around 15% have done nothing.
Major vendors like Microsoft, Cisco, Sun Microsystems and others have issued patches to close the security hole.
"The industry has rallied like we've never seen the industry rally before," said Mr Kaminsky.

Computer users need to be educated to surf the superhighway more safely.
DNS attacks are not new but Mr Kaminsky is credited with discovering a way to link some widely known weaknesses in the system so that the attack now takes seconds instead of days or hours.
"Quite frankly, all the pieces of this have been staring us in the face for decades," said Paul Vixie, president of the Internet Systems Consortium, a non-profit that makes the software run by many of the world's DNS servers.
Mr Silva at VeriSign said even though patches have been put in place, this doesn't mean users can sit back and relax.
"The biggest gap in security rests between the keyboard and the back of the chair," he said.
"The look and feel of a website is not what a consumer should trust. They should trust the security behind that website and do simple things like use more secure passwords and change their password regularly."
Mr Silva said education is fundamental in making the net a safer place.
"We have been trained since we were young to lock the door to our house, our car. We take these sensible security measures in the environment we are functioning in.
"Yet when it comes to computer safety we forget to look both ways before crossing the internet highway."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"A MAN SHOULD ALWAYS CONSIDER

HOW MUCH HE HAS

MORE THAN HE WANTS" !

_______

AL-QAEDA FACES ISLAMIST BACKLASH !

By Frank Gardner - BBC Security Correspondent.

Al-Qaeda's violent methods and tactics have been coming under mounting criticism this year from Islamist scholars who once supported it. One by one they have been coming out in public to denounce the organisation's actions as being counterproductive.
But at the same time, a leading British de-radicaliser says the number of young British Muslims attracted to violent extremism is growing - and, he claims, the UK government is partly to blame.
In the living room of his London home, the Libyan former jihadist Nu'man Bin Othman reads out part of the open letter he sent recently to al-Qaeda's no 2 and chief strategist, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri. He tells him that al-Qaeda's tactics have been a failure and - most damningly - its methods un-Islamic.
He even questions its very claim to speak for Muslims.

What is so striking about this is that Bin Othman is no armchair commentator, he is a former comrade-in-arms of Osama Bin Laden.
Together they fought the communists in Afghanistan in the 1990s and as recently as the summer of 2000 he attended the al-Qaeda leader's 'summit' of jihadists in Afghanistan.
Yet now, while like many Muslims he still deeply disapproves of western policies and actions in the Middle East, Bin Othman is telling his former allies that al-Qaeda's strategy of apparent indiscriminate killing is wrong.
"I said to him, we want to give you what you need, not what you want. You need to re-examine your ideology and you need someone to advise you. Why should I believe I have a duty to support al-Qaeda? How, Islamically, did they establish their authority?"
Oh, you young people, do not be deceived by the heroes of the internet, the leaders of the microphones... - Sayyid Imam Egyptian ideologue.
His denunciation of al-Qaeda follows another highly significant repudiation by the jailed Egyptian ideologue, Sayyid Imam.
Also known as 'Dr Fadl', he is seen as the godfather of jihadi thought, the man whose edicts al-Qaeda's leadership have drawn on for years.
But last November he published a devastating treatise that drew on Islamic law and jurisprudence to plead with would-be jihadis that resorting to violence is forbidden, and so was rebelling against a Muslim ruler.
It said: "Oh, you young people, do not be deceived by the heroes of the internet, the leaders of the microphones, who are launching statements inciting the youth while living under the protection of intelligence services, or of a tribe, or in a distant cave or under political asylum in an infidel country.
"They have thrown many others before you into the infernos, graves, and prisons. Those who have triggered clashes and pressed their brothers into unequal military confrontations - are specialists neither in fatwas nor in military affairs."

So, are words like these having any effect on impressionable young men who are vulnerable to being influenced by al-Qaeda's recruiters?
To find out, we visited the Active Change Foundation in East London.
It's a movement set up to try to steer young men away from violent jihad. It was set up by Hanif Qadir, himself a former jihadi who turned back six years ago on the brink of going to fight alongside the Taleban in Afghanistan.
I asked him if all this ideological debate on jihadism is making any real difference at street level.

Many still want to take part violent jihad, says Hanif Qadir.
He replied that while some 'veteran' jihadists were coming back from theatres of conflict like Afghanistan and Chechnya bitter and disillusioned, the number of people queuing up for violent jihad was growing.
He blames western foreign policy for playing into the hands of jihadi recruiters and says the UK government should do more to listen to Muslim grievances.
"I think there's a lack of communication and I think that until we get this individual involvement from politicians and ministers and other people to come down and in this safe space have a critical dialogue, we're going to get young people who are going to try to vent their frustration elsewhere," he said.

It is almost as if there are two separate tectonic plates, grinding against each other in opposite directions.
At one level there is the intellectual debate, the Arab thinkers within the jihadi movement.
These are the people who are standing back and questioning whether al-Qaeda's extreme methods aren't actually doing more harm than good to Muslims.
But then down at the grass roots level, things are moving the other way, because there are still growing numbers of potential recruits to violent jihad, including in Britain.
Often these recruits have only a shallow knowledge of Islam, and they are far less impressed by theological debate than they are by more day-to-day, down-to-earth factors like TV reports of western airstrikes on civilians in Afghanistan or the presence of US and British troops in Iraq.
With conflicts still raging in those two countries, and the Palestinian question unsettled, it is still too early to predict with any certainty which way al-Qaeda's fortunes will go.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.S. ELECTION TAKES A NEGATIVE TURN !

By Jon Kelly - BBC News.

They promised positive, high-minded campaigns which focused on issues rather than personalities.
But as the race for the White House intensifies, the two contenders have increasingly gone on the attack.
Republican John McCain has earned huge publicity for an advert mocking rival Barack Obama as "the biggest celebrity in the world", juxtaposing the Democrat with gossip magazine regulars Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
But Senator Obama has not hesitated to lambast his opponent and his allies as "cynical", "desperate" and "in the pocket of Big Oil".
Negative campaigning is, of course, hardly be a new phenomenon in US politics - and as Professor Shanto Iyengar of Stanford University attests, it is often the quickest way for politicians to grab attention.
"That is a stock approach here - candidates use controversial personal attacks as a means of attracting free news coverage," he says.

Senator McCain has so far been the most forthright of the two contenders when it comes to going on the offensive.
The Republican has accused his opponent, who promises to withdraw troops from Iraq, of being prepared to "lose a war in order to win a political campaign".
A McCain campaign advert also charged Mr Obama with cancelling a visit to injured US soldiers.
But in the blue corner, Mr Obama has aimed regular blows at his rival.

He has accused Mr McCain of taking the "low road" in the election and dismissed his time in the US Senate as "years of inaction".
An Obama advert accused Mr McCain of practising the "policies of the past", using images of him with President George W Bush.
The McCain camp also protested when John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in 2004, said the 71-year-old was "confused" over Iraq.
The tone of the contest took an angrier turn after Mr Obama warned an audience that the Republican would try to scare voters about how he looked unlike "all those other presidents on the dollar bills".
A McCain aide responded furiously, attacking Mr Obama for having "played the race card" - all previous US presidents having been white men.
Mr Obama said no-one had thought his comments were accusations of racism until Mr McCain's team "started pushing it".
If Mr Obama has so far avoided the jugular, it is only because his campaign do not want to tarnish his brand of idealism and hope, Professor Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia believes.
"The candidate of fresh, optimistic change cannot afford to go too negative," Mr Sabato says.
"McCain is also now given more leeway to go negative since he is the underdog. It isn't fair, but nothing about politics is fair."

Few American voters are likely to be shocked by such tactics. Negative campaigning has, after all, played a key role in modern elections.
The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth - who questioned Mr Kerry's Vietnam war record in the 2004 presidential election - were widely agreed to have contributed to George W Bush's victory.
In 1988, the "Willie Horton" campaign run by George Bush against Michael Dukakis accused the Democrat of supporting weekend leave for prisoners who went on to reoffend.

And perhaps the most famous negative advert of all time was shown just once in 1964.
Lyndon Johnson's "Daisy" showed a small girl counting as she picked the petals off a flower. When she reached nine, an ominous adult voice counted down to 10 and the scene dissolved into a nuclear explosion - playing on public fears that Mr Goldwater would start a war if elected.
Not everyone believes that negative campaigning is intrinsically unhealthy.
Brooks Jackson, director of the nonpartisan campaign monitoring group FactCheck.org, says he is less concerned by whether an advert is positive or negative than by whether it is accurate.
"Political scientists and communications scholars will tell you that negative ads tend to have more information in them than positive ads," he says.
"We see positive ads that are false or misleading, too."
Professor John Geer of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, is the author of In Defense of Negativity - a spirited defence of the role of attack adverts in the political process.
He says it is vital that candidates are held up to scrutiny and examined under fire.
"Being president is a tough job - ask Bush or Clinton," he adds.
"Having a negative campaign run against you is a test of your toughness. You come out of the election battle-tested."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE PARTIES CALL FOR PEACE!

Zimbabwe's ruling and opposition parties have issued a joint call for an end to post-election violence.
A statement called on supporters and members "to stop and desist the perpetration of violence in any form", Reuters news agency reports.
President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have been holding crisis talks in South Africa.
The parties have been trying to negotiate a power-sharing deal.
Mr Mugabe won a run-off presidential election in June after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out because of a campaign of violence against his supporters.
Last month, the two rivals agreed to hold crisis talks after meeting for the first time in a decade.

A two-week deadline to complete the talks passed on Monday without any news of a deal.
The appeal came as the Star newspaper in South Africa said a draft agreement was being circulated under which Mr Tsvangirai would run Zimbabwe as prime minister and Mr Mugabe would serve as a ceremonial president.
The South African talks have been held at a secret location and are subject to a media blackout.
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned of a growing food crisis in Zimbabwe.
It said two million people were short of food because of poor harvests and economic collapse, and warned that the figure could rise to five million by early next year.
A spokesman for the federation, Matthew Cochrane, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that such a figure would represent about 45% of Zimbabwe's population.
"It is a very worrying situation and it really could develop into a humanitarian catastrophe unless action is taken as quickly as possible and as effectively as possible," he said.
The federation is appealing for $26m (£13m) to help deal with the crisis.
Zimbabwe's economy has been crippled by hyperinflation that has left people struggling to buy basic goods and food.
Mr Tsvangirai won the first round of Zimbabwe's presidential poll in March, but official results gave him less than the 50% needed for an outright victory.
Subsequently, the opposition said that more than 120 of its supporters had been killed, some 5,000 abducted and 200,000 forced to flee their homes after being attacked by Zanu-PF militias and security agents.
The government blames the MDC for the violence.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

POLICE FILES GIVE MACCANNS 'HOPE' !

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have "drawn strength" from the lack of any evidence in police files that she is dead, said their spokesman.
Clarence Mitchell was speaking after the release of thousands of Portuguese police documents on the case.
He told the BBC: "They hope against hope she is being held somewhere".
Kate and Gerry McCann have accused police of exaggerating DNA evidence to name them as suspects after Madeleine vanished, aged three, in May 2007.
The police inquiry into the girl's disappearance was wound up last month due to a lack of evidence.
The McCanns and a third British national, Robert Murat - who have always strongly denied having had any involvement in what happened to Madeleine - were then declared to no longer be formal suspects.
This is not, unfortunately, a detective novel, a crime scenario fit for the investigative efforts of a Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot - Portuguese public prosecutors.

Sifting through case files
The questions put to Kate McCann

The Portuguese police files, made public on Monday, include details of the lines of inquiry pursued, forensic reports, pictures of the bedroom where Madeleine was sleeping, witness statements and transcripts of interviews with the McCanns.
Among the files was a prosecutor's report that said the investigation had uncovered "very little" conclusive about Madeleine's fate.
In their final 58-page report, dated 21 July, public prosecutors Jose de Magalhaes e Menezes and Joao Melchior Gomes noted that detectives were unable to achieve any proof.
They added: "This includes the most dramatic thing, ascertaining whether she is still alive or dead - which seems the most probable."
They went on to say investigators were aware their work was "not exempt from imperfections".
"This is not, unfortunately, a detective novel, a crime scenario fit for the investigative efforts of a Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, guided by the illusion that the forces of law and justice can always re-establish order," they said.

They said Kate and Gerry McCann could not have predicted that "in the resort they chose to spend their holidays they could place the life of any of their children in danger".
Other new information revealed in the files includes the account of one witness who reported seeing a man carrying a young girl with blonde hair on the night of the disappearance. He later told the police the man could have been Madeleine's father.
Martin Smith, 58, who was on holiday at the time, was interviewed by detectives in Portugal and his native Ireland but the line of inquiry was later discarded.
Four months after his initial statement Mr Smith contacted the police to say he had seen Madeleine's parents arriving back in Britain on BBC News, and the way Gerry McCann carried one of the couple's twins reminded him of the man he had seen in Portugal.

Madeleine went missing in May 2007, days before her fourth birthday.
When detectives replayed video footage of the couple's arrival at East Midlands airport, the witness said he was 60-80% sure that the man he passed was Gerry McCann.
But this was later dismissed by prosecutors because at the time of the sighting, shortly before 2200, Gerry McCann was sitting in the Ocean Club's tapas bar with other members of his party.
The papers also confirmed that police focus turned to the McCanns following a visit to Portugal by UK detectives last August.
Portuguese police cited DNA evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
Clarence Mitchell said police had told Mr McCann during interrogation that his missing daughter's DNA had been found in the boot of the car - hired 24 days after her disappearance.
But an e-mail from a UK forensic scientist had already warned that DNA samples taken from the couple's hire car was "inconclusive".
The investigation papers show a sniffer dog detected the apparent odour of a body in their hire car and apartment, and a second dog detected what was thought to be blood in the same locations.
British forensic scientist John Lowe, of the major incidents team of the Forensic Science Service (FSS), said the car sample contained 15 out of 19 components of Madeleine's DNA but they were not "unique to her".

Clarence Mitchell says the files will be investigated privately.
In an e-mail dated 3 September 2007 he said it was impossible to conclude whether the material taken from the car came from Madeleine.
The e-mail was translated into Portuguese the following day and four days later detectives named the McCanns arguidos, or formal suspects.
Mr Mitchell told the BBC: "You have to ask yourself what the police were trying to achieve by overstating evidence they simply didn't have in that way to Gerry."
Interview transcripts in the documents reveal that Kate McCann was asked directly if she had anything to do with the disappearance of her daughter.
She refused to answer this and nearly 50 other questions, as was her legal right, following advice from her lawyer.
"Her lawyers told her not to answer because there was a fear the questions could be leading," said Mr Mitchell.
Lawyers for the McCanns, both 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were given access to the police documents last week.
They are studying the papers for fresh leads that the couple's private detectives could follow up.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

U.S. HEARING FOR 'AL-QAEDA' WOMAN !

A Pakistani woman scientist accused of links to the al-Qaeda leadership is to appear in a US court after being transferred there from Afghanistan.
Mother-of-three Aafia Siddiqui, 36, an ex-student at the elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), faces charges of trying to kill US agents.
The US military says it took custody of Ms Siddiqui in Afghanistan last month.
However, her family and rights groups say she has spent the last five years in jails secretly run by the US.
At a news conference on Tuesday in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, Ms Siddiqui's sister said: "Aafia was tortured for five years until one day US authorities announce that they have found her in Afghanistan."
Fauzia Siddiqui said her sister had spent "five years in detention" despite being "innocent of any crime".

US authorities say Ms Siddiqui was taken into American custody in July.
A statement by the FBI says Mrs Siddiqui was apprehended on 17 July in the Afghan province of Ghazni by local security forces.
According to the statement, US army officers and FBI agents visited her in detention on 18 July.
During the visit, Ms Siddiqui reportedly attempted to kill US officers with a weapon she had snatched.
The attempt failed and she was reportedly overpowered after being shot in the chest by the Americans.
Ms Siddiqui appears in court in New York on Tuesday to face charges of assaulting and attempting to kill US personnel.
If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each charge.
Ms Siddiqui's lawyer, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, called the charges "a tall story" and disputed claims by the US that her client had been in hiding for several years before her alleged capture in July.
According to her family, she has not been seen since returning to Pakistan on a visit from the US in 2003.
A statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry said that embassy staff in Washington are seeking consular access to Ms Siddiqui and the government is "committed to bringing back all Pakistani detainees".
"Our efforts in this regard will continue," the statement said.
US authorities say Ms Siddiqui was married to the nephew of the man accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

S. A. PRESIDENT DENIES BRIBE CLAIMS !

The office of South African President Thabo Mbeki has denied a newspaper report claiming that a German firm paid him millions to approve an arms deal.
Mr Mbeki's office said he had never received money from the firm.
It called the report in South Africa's Sunday Times a "hotch-potch recycling of allegations that have from time to time been peddled" over the arms deal.
The paper said MAN Ferrostaal paid Mr Mbeki 30m rand (£2.1m at current rates) to guarantee a submarine contract.
The Sunday Times said its story was based on a secret report by an unnamed UK risk consultancy, commissioned by a central European manufacturer that faced a hostile bid from MAN Ferrostaal.

The report cites a former South African official as saying the firm paid Mr Mbeki to secure a 6bn rand contract to sell three submarines to the South African navy, the paper said.
It said the company promised to build a 6bn rand stainless steel plant in the Eastern Cape province as part of the deal.
The paper reported that Mr Mbeki had told investigators that the 30m rand payment had been split between former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, who received 2m rand, and the governing African National Congress (ANC) party, which received the rest.
MAN Ferrostaal has dismissed the allegations as a "fishing expedition" intended to damage its reputation and that of the South African government, the Sunday Times reported.
Mr Mbeki's office said the report was part of the Sunday Times' "enthusiastic voyage to re-writing the fundamentals of journalism".
"The presidency would like to place it on record that President Thabo Mbeki has never at any stage received any amount of money from MAN Ferrostaal," it said in a statement.
It noted a joint investigation into the South African government's Strategic Defence Procurement Package, which it said found no evidence of "any improper or unlawful conduct by the government".
It also challenged the paper to explain why it had not named the UK risk consultancy, and asked it to explain the allegation that Mr Zuma had acted as a front-man for Mr Mbeki during arms deal negotiations - "particularly in the context of the court process currently under way".
Mr Zuma is currently seeking to have corruption charges linked to a separate arms deal dismissed.
He defeated Mr Mbeki in the ANC's leadership contest in December and is the favourite to become South Africa's next president.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

HOW BIG IS THE XINJIANG THREAT ?

By Michael Bristow - BBC News, Beijing.

Security is high in Xinjiang ahead of the OlympicsChina has for months been warning that Xinjiang terrorists were planning attacks during the Olympics - fears that now appear well-founded.
One official said recently that China had cracked five terrorist groups and arrested 82 suspected terrorists in the first half of this year alone.
But some experts believe there is only a "medium risk" that Xinjiang terrorists would disrupt the Olympic Games.
Others say the whole terrorist threat has been exaggerated as an excuse to allow Beijing to carry out repression in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang, in the far west of China, is home to the Uighur ethnic group, many of whom resent Beijing's rule over the region.

There has been low-level terrorist activity there for a number of years, but this appears to have increased this year ahead of the Olympics.
As early as March, Wang Lequan, Xinjiang's Communist Party chief, suggested terrorists were planning attacks against this summer's Olympic Games.

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"There are always a few people who conspire [to] sabotage. It is no longer a secret now," he said, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
That warning seemed to have been borne out.
Earlier this year, China said it had foiled an attack on a passenger plane flying from the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi.
And just last month officials said they had shot dead five members of a group planning a "holy war" in China.
Now Chinese officials seem to be blaming the East Turkestan Islamic Movement for Monday's attack on the Kashgar police station that left 16 dead.
'No credible evidence'
Over recent months, senior Chinese leaders have stressed that security is the main priority for the Olympics.
So how big is the terrorist risk at the Games? Hong Kong-based security expert Steve Vickers, CEO of consultancy International Risk, said there was only a "medium risk".
"There are real problems in Xinjiang, but my assessment is that these people are well-known and have been infiltrated by the Chinese security apparatus," he said.
Others believe China is using the Olympics as an excuse to crack down on ordinary people in Xinjiang.
Speaking before Monday's attack, Rebiya Kadeer, president of the Uyghur American Association, said there was no credible evidence that Uighurs posed a significant terrorist threat.
"I call on the US government and the international community to condemn China's manipulation of terror threats to kill and intimidate Uighurs on the eve of the Olympic Games," she said in a press release.
Ms Kadeer, who herself spent time in a Chinese prison, claims Uighurs suffer a broad range of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
These are said to include arbitrary detention, torture, religious repression, and the suppression of the Uighur language and culture.
Nicholas Bequelin, an expert on Xinjiang, said this latest incident could drive a wedge between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese, the country's dominant ethnic group.
Over recent decades, many Han people have moved into Xinjiang, which is rich in natural resources.
"My biggest concern is that an incident like this, and the repression that follows, could further polarise the Uighur and Han communities in Xinjiang," said Mr Bequelin, of Human Rights Watch.
"That would be a disaster, because these people have got to live together."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS" !

"BRAVERY IS THE CAPACITY TO PERFORM PROPERLY

EVEN WHEN SCARED HALF TO DEATH" !

_______

IOC DENIES DEAL ON INTERNET CURBS !

Olympic official have denied agreeing to curbs on internet access for foreign journalists covering the Beijing Games.
Reporters found a number of politically sensitive websites blocked earlier this week, and some senior Olympic officials said they had been aware of it.
But International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge said there had been "no deal to accept restrictions".
He also praised China's organisation of the Games, which open next week.
Speaking at a news conference in Beijing, Mr Rogge hailed the "excellent organisation" of the Games, saying the Olympic village was the best he had ever seen.
However, he went on to say that the IOC required journalists "to have the fullest possible access to report on the Olympic Games".

The IOC's Kevin Gosper says a team will ensure websites are uncensored.
"I am adamant in saying there has been no deal whatsoever to accept restrictions," he added.
China had promised that foreign media would be given unfettered access.
On Wednesday, IOC press commission chairman Kevan Gosper said he had been advised that some IOC officials "had negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked" at Olympic venues.
China enforces tough internet controls, and Chinese President Hu Jintao has appealed to the international media not to "politicise" the Beijing Games.
However, access restrictions appear to have been eased in recent days.
Mr Rogge said on Saturday that he was pleased that journalists could now visit the BBC Mandarin website, Wikipedia and a number of websites for human rights groups.
Some other sensitive sites are reported to remain unavailable.

Other major concerns in the week before the Games begin have been about drug use and air quality.
On Saturday, the IOC stripped gold medals form the US 4x400m men's relay team won at the Sydney Games in 2000, after sprinter Antonio Pettigrew admitted in June that he used banned substances between 1997 and 2003.

-Reynolds' China: Predictions
Beijing pollution: Facts and figures

The IOC was going to discuss whether to allow Greek athlete Katerina Thanou to compete at the Games, but it now seems a final decision has been delayed until next Thursday at the earliest.
The sprinter pulled out of the Athens Olympics in 2004 after failing to report for a drugs test.
She was banned for two years after missing her third test, but is now in Greece's athletic team for this year's Games and has threatened to sue Mr Rogge if she is barred from Beijing.
Mr Rogge said a recent increase in positive drugs tests ahead of the Games was the result of a deliberate IOC policy.
He said 17 athletes had tested positive in the lead up to the Games.
"This is the result of a deliberate strategy and policy. These are 17 cheats who will not falsify the competition," he said.
Air pollution remains another big worry, although the skies over Beijing on Saturday were clear.
The Chinese authorities have been working on improving the dirty air that hangs over Beijing, but athletes remain concerned.
Steve Roush, head of sports performance with the US team, said he was monitoring the situation and was optimistic.
"We do have fallback plans if all of a sudden it deteriorates to the point where the health and safety of our athletes might be in jeopardy," he said.
"But I don't think that if the air quality was at that level that the IOC would even allow for the competition to take place."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

JAPAN RAID OVER 'NUCLEAR EXPORTS' !

Police in Japan have raided the premises of a company suspected of illegally exporting machinery that could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Officers targeted the headquarters of Horkos Corp and several related sites in the southern city of Fukuyama.
The company is accused of exporting tools that could be used in enriching uranium without government permission.
Police say the equipment, which was sent to South Korea, could have been sold to North Korea or the Middle East.
The tools are normally used to manufacture automotive components, but they can be modified to produce the centrifuges used to enrich uranium.
Export of these items requires approval from the government, but Horkos is accused of falsely labelling items to avoid the need for permission.
Police suspect a batch of tools sent to South Korea in 2004 could then have been resold to a country for use in nuclear weapons' development, Kyodo news agency said.
Japanese police have carried out similar raids in the past.
Last year four former executives of precision equipment maker Mitutoyo were convicted of illegally exporting devices that could be used in nuclear weapons' production - one of which was reportedly found in Libya.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CONGO GROUPS 'RE-ARMING' IN EAST !

By Martin Plaut - BBC Africa editor.

Government forces and rebel troops are rearming and recruiting for conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the BBC has learned.
US and European Union officials are warning the situation is increasingly tense despite a January peace deal.
One source said six plane-loads of arms and ammunition had been flown into Goma by the government in the last 10 days.
The defence minister refused to confirm or deny allegations the government was moving weapons into eastern DR Congo.
Chikez Diemu said it was an internal matter for the authorities to deal with.
Human rights groups say that tens of thousands of people have fled as the situation in the area deteriorates.

At the end of January a peace deal was signed in Goma between the government and the variety of groups that have fought for control of the lush green forests of eastern DR Congo.
It was supposed to have seen the disarmament of groups and their integration into the army.
We're very concerned about what appears to be preparations for renewed conflict
Tim Shortley US Senior African conflict adviser
Anneke van Woudenberg, of Human Rights Watch, who has returned from the area, warns that the peace process is now under threat.
"The peace process is very fragile and shaky," she said.
"What we're seeing is re-recruiting and ongoing attempts by different armed groups to continue with the military option."
Alan Doss, the UN special representative for DR Congo, told the BBC that peacekeepers in the region were anxious about the situation.
"When you have armed groups in close proximity to each other and where we are not making progress on the political process, the risk of an accident is always there and, of course, things can spiral out of control," he said.

The level of violence dropped after the Goma peace deal, Mr Doss said.
"The problem is that in the areas that they control, violence against civilians of various kinds - and especially sexual violence - has continued, so that is a big worry."
He also said it was hard for peacekeepers to monitor re-armament in isolated parts of the country.
On one side there are the forces of General Laurent Nkunda - Tutsis with traditional links to neighbouring Rwanda.

On the other side is a loose coalition of forces - among them the Hutu FDLR, former members of the Rwandan army who fled to DR Congo, after participating in the genocide of 1994.
Alongside the FDLR are a variety of groups, including a local militia called the Mai Mai, who supported the Congolese army during last year's disastrous attempt to crush General Nkunda by force.
These groups have been participating in the peace process, though the FDLR was not at the negotiating table in Goma.
But Tim Shortley, the US senior African conflict adviser and a witness to the Goma peace deal, warns that the peace process is now in danger.
"We're very concerned about what appears to be preparations for renewed conflict," he says.
General Nkunda and his CNDP force "have been playing with the Goma process unfortunately", he adds.
"I think that they are ultimately afraid to disarm and to demobilise and they want to hold on to the land that they have through military means."
It now appears that General Nkunda is not just touring his area and strengthening his defences.

There are reports that he is recruiting fresh forces - and not just in the area of eastern DR Congo that he controls.
He is reported to be recruiting in Rwanda and Burundi.
But he is not alone in preparing for a new round of fighting, given the six plane-loads of arms and ammunition recently flown into Goma by the government.
Meanwhile, Ms van Woudenberg says the Congolese army continues to support the Mai Mai groups and the FDLR.
"This of course raises serious questions about the government's commitment to the peace process in eastern Congo," she says.
The European Union, which also witnessed the Goma peace deal, is now working hard to try to prevent an outbreak of fighting.
Roeland van den Geer, the EU's representative in the Great Lakes, said that as all parties continued to arm, he had spoken to those responsible for army operations.
"I have underlined, as I did a few days before in Kinshasa, that in the view of the international community an armed offensive against the arms group would be disastrous," he said.
"Those responsible for the army in the east have underlined that there are no plans for a military offensive."
It does not look as if war is imminent.
But clashes since January's peace deal already drove 100,000 from their homes, and with the situation as tense as it is now, any incident could spark off a fresh round of fighting.

U.S. ANTHRAX 'SUSPECT' FOUND DEAD !

Anthrax attacks caused widespread disruption across the US.
A top US scientist suspected of anthrax attacks in 2001 has apparently killed himself just as he was about to be charged, a newspaper reported.
The Los Angeles Times said Bruce Ivins, 62, had taken an overdose of painkillers. It said he had recently been told of the impending prosecution.
There has been no official comment but unnamed sources said prosecutors were to indict and seek the death penalty.
Five people died when anthrax was posted to the media and politicians.
The incidents took place shortly after the 11 September attacks in 2001.
Security measures in the wake of the anthrax attacks temporarily closed a Senate building and increased the public's fear of their vulnerability to terrorism.
As well as the five deaths, 17 other people were made ill.
'Great progress'
Dr Ivins worked for the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland.

ANTHRAX PANIC, 2001
First anthrax-laced letter is mailed on 18 Sept, 2001
Florida sees first of five deaths, three weeks later
Panicked Americans try to stock up on antibiotic Cipro
Postal depots shut for de-contamination
Senate offices shut for weeks
Hoaxes become an almost daily occurrence
Plans to deal with a biological weapons attack updated
Mail irradiated to kill anthrax spores

As a microbiologist he helped the FBI investigate the anthrax-tainted envelopes.
The mail was sent to legislators in Washington and media offices in New York and Florida.
Those killed were two postal workers in Washington, a New York hospital worker, a Florida photo editor and an elderly woman in Connecticut.
Last week, FBI director Robert Mueller told CNN "great progress" had been made in the investigation and he was confident it would be resolved.
Associated Press news agency has quoted unnamed officials as saying an indictment was planned that would seek execution.
The agency said the authorities were investigating whether Dr Ivins had released the anthrax to test the vaccine he was developing.
Dr Ivins died in hospital on Tuesday. In a statement on Friday, USAMRIID said it "mourned the loss of Dr Bruce Ivins, who served the institute for more than 35 years as a civilian microbiologist... We will miss him very much".
Dr Ivins's lawyer, Paul Kemp, said: "We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trial."
The FBI focused more on Dr Ivins after the leadership of the investigation was changed in 2006.

Another scientist at the Fort Detrick laboratory, Dr Steven Hatfill, who had been named a "person of interest" in the case in 2002, was exonerated of any involvement.
He sued the justice department, saying it had violated his privacy rights by speaking to reporters about the case.
In June, the US department paid Dr Hatfill $5.82m (£2.94m) to settle the lawsuit.
The LA Times said the investigation had been making new progress based on analysis of anthrax-tainted letters posted to senators Patrick Leahy and Thomas Daschle.
The paper said Dr Ivins would have been forced to retire in September.
A doctor who worked with Dr Ivins at Fort Detrick, Russell Byrne, told Associated Press news agency the FBI had "hounded" Mr Ivins.
Dr Byrne said Dr Ivins had had to seek treatment for depression.
In 2003, Dr Ivins was awarded the highest honour for defence department civilian staff for his anthrax vaccine work.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HAMAS AND FATAH BATTLE FOR POWER !

By Aleem Maqbool - BBC News, Gaza City.

The political power struggle is, once again, creating tensions across Palestinian society. Hostilities were re-ignighted last week, with a bombing which killed five Hamas members in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, the Islamist party in charge of Gaza, pointed the finger at rival Fatah, the party of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Since then, tit-for-tat arresting operations - by Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, and Fatah in the West Bank - have left hundreds in prison
It is one of the worst flare-ups of the conflict since last summer, when fierce fighting led to dozens of deaths, and two rival administrations in Gaza and the West Bank.
Ahmed Abul Nasser, 47, is a public health specialist in Gaza City and a Fatah supporter.
A few days ago, while he was preparing to go out for a meal, he says two armed Hamas guards appeared at his door and told him to go with them.
She was laughing and drawing sand circles around me and her grandmother. Then she was dead
Falastin Sefady Mother of girl killed in rival fighting
"They didn't say why they wanted me, or where they were taking me, but there was nothing I could do," Mr Nasser says. "There were maybe 20 gunmen surrounding the house and my family was here."
"They say on the news they arrested people because of the bombing on Gaza Beach, but they didn't even ask me about it, they know I don't even know how to use a gun. They just want to scare us."
Mr Nasser says he was only released when he signed a form saying he would stop any activities associated with Fatah and would respect the "Hamas government".
While he was not beaten, he says he saw many others who were.

Tahir An-Nunu, a Hamas spokesman, insists the detentions are just part of a criminal investigation.
"We don't arrest people just to arrest people, there are no political reasons," he says. "I say clearly, anyone who is found to have nothing to do with the bombing will be released."Mr An-Nunu said anyone who alleged mistreatment was a liar.

Ms Sefady finds it too upsetting to go anywhere associated with her daughterBut Fatah argues Hamas has seized on an opportunity to silence its opposition in any way it sees fit, including physical intimidation.
However, Hamas accuses Fatah of carrying out a worse, unjustifiable, campaign in the West Bank.
Scores of people associated with Hamas have been arrested there in what is seen as retaliation for the detentions in Gaza. The effect seems only to have been to fuel animosity.
Certainly, there are ideological differences between the two parties. Hamas is religiously conservative and more hardline in its view of the conflict with Israel, feeling peace talks have achieved little.
Fatah is a secular party, which favours dialogue with Israel, but was voted out of government in 2006 in favour of Hamas.
However, many Palestinians feel the fight between the two factions has now become less about ideology, but more about power, control and, ultimately, revenge.

There has been talk for many weeks of the possibility of Egyptian-mediated reconciliation talks, and both sides publicly say that is still what they want.
But there remains intense mistrust between them, and few can see how they would able to work together, given recent history.
Falastin Sefady enters the living room in her aunt's house with a limp. She is being supported by her two young sons. They were all caught up in the bombing last week, during a family trip to the beach.
Hamas may have been the intended target, but Falastin got shrapnel injuries to her legs. Her four year old daughter, Serena, was killed.
"My daughter was enjoying herself so much," says Falastin. "She was laughing and drawing sand circles around me and her grandmother. Then she was dead. Now I can't bring myself to go into my own home or any of the places Serena spent time, it is too upsetting.
"Hamas and Fatah have to stop their fighting, for all of us."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THOUSANDS LAID OFF IN CALIFORNIA !

Thousands laid off in California

The governor said he had not taken his decision lightly
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California has moved to end a budget crisis by sacking 22,000 state workers and ordering pay cuts for 200,000.
The most populous state in the US faces a budget deficit of more than $15bn (£7.6bn), and legislators are struggling to agree a spending plan.
The cuts, which will save $100m a month, are designed to put pressure on politicians to end the budget crisis.
But a leading official in the state challenged the decision to cut pay.
California has one of the largest economies in the world and it has no way to pay contractors for many of the services it provides.
Some 30 American states face budget deficits caused by rising costs and falling revenues in a slumping economy but California's is by far the largest.
'Whatever it takes'
Mr Schwarzenegger, the former Hollywood film star turned Republican politician, told reporters he had signed an executive order on the staff and pay cuts.
"Today I am exercising my executive authority to avoid a full-blown crisis and keep our state moving forward," he said.
"This is not an action I take lightly but we do not have a budget and, as governor, I have a responsibility to make sure our state has enough money to pay its bills."
California's state financial controller, John Chiang, a Democrat, has vowed not to implement the pay cuts, saying to do so could risk legal action.
He sent a letter to Mr Schwarzenegger on Thursday saying he would defy the order and issue employees their regular salaries.
The governor's executive order, he said, was based on "faulty legal and factual premises".
Asked whether his administration would sue the state financial controller's office if it did not comply with the executive order, Mr Schwarzenegger said:
"If that's what it takes. I'm here to make sure that our state functions, and whatever it takes, I will do it."
BBC NEWS REPORT.