HOLIDAY !

Tomorrow I am setting off for Kenya on holiday.
See you when I get back.....

TAIWAN'S EX-FIRST LADY IN COURT !

The Chen family corruption case has gripped public attention for months

A former Taiwanese first lady has pleaded guilty to money-laundering and forgery but denied embezzlement charges in a high-profile corruption case.

Wu Shu-chen said she had accepted a $2.2m (£1.5m) political donation in connection with a land purchase deal - not a bribe as alleged by prosecutors.

She admitted charges of forging documents in a separate case but denied using the money for personal gain.

Mrs Wu is the wife of ex-president Chen Shui-bian, who was in office 2000-2008.

It was the first time Mrs Wu had appeared in court for two years. She was indicted in 2006 for allegedly embezzling 14.8m Taiwan dollars ($440,000) in public funds.

But Mrs Wu collapsed at the start of her trial later that year and has been excused from attending court sessions on health grounds.

Mr Chen, her husband, is currently in jail awaiting trial on the same charges. He has denied the accusations, saying they are politically motivated.

Last month Chen Chih-chung, the Chens' son, pleaded guilty to money laundering as did Chen's daughter-in-law and Mrs Wu's brother.

The case has hurt the image of the Democratic Progressive Party, which backed Mr Chen during his time in office from 2000 to 2008.

Mr Chen has maintained his innocence throughout the investigation, insisting his political opponents are mounting a "witch-hunt" against him, and accusing the new administration of making him "a sacrifice to appease China".

He has been a vocal and persistent critic of the new government's China policies since he left office.

His accusations have been denied by both the Chinese government and Taiwan's current President Ma Ying-jeou, of the Nationalist Kuomingtang party (KMT).

Taiwan has been ruled separately from China since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, when the defeated Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan to create a self-governing entity.

But Beijing sees the island as a breakaway province which should be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS "

"NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE MAN

WHO DOESN'T HAVE TO DO IT HIMSELF" !

___________

Mexican troops swoop on police HQ

Drugs cartels are blamed for General Tello's murder last week

Mexican troops have detained the police chief and 36 other officers in the resort of Cancun in connection with the murder last week of an ex-army general.

Soldiers swooped on the police HQ and took police chief Francisco Velasco to Mexico City for questioning.

Former general Mauro Enrique Tello, who had just taken command of an elite squad to tackle in Cancun, was tortured and shot by suspected traffickers.

Some 5,400 people were killed in drug-related violence in Mexico in 2008.

In a surprise operation, dozens of heavily armed soldiers swarmed on the police station in the municipality of Benito Juarez, which includes Cancun.

Soldiers stripped the police chief and his officers of their weapons to check the registration of the guns.

Chief Velasco was flown to the capital for questioning in connection with Gen Tello's murder.

Gen Tello, who retired from the army earlier this year, had been sent to Cancun to lead a new force intended to break up the influence of drugs cartels.

He and two other men with him were abducted on a local main road, then driven to a remote location where they were tortured and then shot.

The BBC correspondent in Mexico, Stephen Gibbs, says the general's death, the day after he arrived to take up his new job, is being blamed squarely on corrupt police and drugs cartels.

Drug-related violence in Mexico is soaring, as criminal gangs fight both each other for control of the trafficking routes from Colombia to the US, and fight federal forces deployed against them.

Some 40,000 soldiers and police have been deployed since December 2006 against the cartels.

Much of the violence to date has been concentrated in Mexico's northern border cities, while Cancun, which attracts millions of tourists every year, has largely been spared.

Our correspondent says the general's killing is another sign that Mexico's drug war has no boundaries.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Zimbabwe deal: Key points

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the opposition leaders, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, have signed a power-sharing deal, aimed at resolving the country's political and economic crisis.

Here are the main points of the agreement detailed in the 30 pages of the 80-page deal that have so far been made public:

Diagram of power-sharing agreement

DECLARATION OF COMMITMENT

The parties hereby declare and agree to work together to create a genuine, viable, permanent, sustainable and nationally acceptable solution to the Zimbabwe situation and in particular to implement the following agreement with the aims of resolving once and for all the current political and economic situations and charting a new political direction for the country.

RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH

The parties agree... to give priority to the restoration of economic stability and growth in Zimbabwe. The government will lead the process of developing and implementing an economic recovery strategy and plan.

SANCTIONS AND MEASURES

The parties note the present economic and political isolation of Zimbabwe by the United Kingdom, European Union, United States of America and other sections of the international community over and around issues of disputed elections, governance and differences over the land reform programme.

Recognising the consequent contribution of this isolation to the further decline of the economy... the Parties hereby agree:

(b) that all forms of measures and sanctions against Zimbabwe be lifted in order to facilitate a sustainable solution to the challenges that are currently facing Zimbabwe;

(c) commit themselves to working together in re-engaging the international community with a view to bringing to an end the country's international isolation.

LAND QUESTION

Recognising that colonial racist land ownership patterns established during the colonial conquest of Zimbabwe and largely maintained in the post independence period were not only unsustainable, but against the national interest, equity and justice.

Accepting the irreversibility of the said land acquisitions and redistribution.

Noting that in the current constitution of Zimbabwe and further in the draft constitution agreed to by the parties the primary obligation of compensating former land owners for land acquired rests on the former colonial power.

The parties hereby agree to:

(a) conduct a comprehensive, transparent and non-partisan land audit, during the tenure of the seventh parliament of Zimbabwe, for the purpose of establishing accountability and eliminating multiple farm ownerships;

(d) call upon the United Kingdom government to accept the primary responsibility to pay compensation for land acquired from former land owners for resettlement.

CONSTITUTION

Mindful of the need to ensure that the new constitution deepens our democratic values and principles and the protection of the equality of all citizens, particularly the enhancement of full citizenship and equality of women.

The parties hereby agree:

(a) that they shall set up a select committee of parliament composed of representatives of the parties whose terms of reference shall be as follows:

(b) that the draft constitution recommended by the select committee shall be submitted to a referendum;

(c) that, in implementing the above, the following time frames shall apply:

(i) the select committee shall be set up within two months of inception of a new government;

(ii) the convening of the first all stakeholders conference shall be within three months of the date of the appointment of the select committee.

EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE

The parties hereby agree:-

(a) that the responsibility of effecting change of government in Zimbabwe vests exclusively on and is the sole prerogative of the people of Zimbabwe through peaceful, democratic and constitutional means;

(b) to reject any unlawful, violent, undemocratic and unconstitutional means of changing governments;

(c) that no outsiders have a right to call or campaign for regime change in Zimbabwe.

FREE POLITICAL ACTIVITY

Recognising that the right to canvass and freely mobilise for political support is the cornerstone of any multi-party democratic system, the Parties have agreed that there should be free political activity throughout Zimbabwe within the ambit of the law in which all political parties are able to propagate their views and canvass for support, free of harassment and intimidation.

FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION

The parties have agreed:

(a) to work together in a manner which guarantees the full implementation and realisation of the right to freedom of association and assembly; and

(b) that the government shall undertake training programmes, workshops and meetings for the police and other enforcement agencies directed at the appreciation of the right of freedom of assembly and association and the proper interpretation, understanding and application of the provisions of security legislation.

STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS

State organs and institutions do not belong to any political party and should be impartial in the discharge of their duties.

HUMANITARIAN AND FOOD ASSISTANCE

The parties hereby agree:

(a) that in the fulfilment of its obligations… the government and all state institutions and quasi-state institutions shall render humanitarian and food assistance without discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity gender, political affiliation or religion;

(c) that all displaced persons shall be entitled to humanitarian and food assistance to enable them to return and settle in their original homes and that social welfare organisations shall be allowed to render such assistance as might be required;

(d) that all NGOs [Non-Governmental Organisations] rendering humanitarian and food assistance must operate within the confines of the laws of Zimbabwe.

SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE

The parties hereby agree:

(a) to promote the values and practices of tolerance, respect, non-violence and dialogue as means of resolving political differences;

(b) to renounce and desist from the promotion and use of violence, under whatever name called, as a means of attaining political ends;

(c) that the government shall apply the laws of the country fully and impartially in bringing all perpetrators of politically motivated violence to book;

(h) to work together to ensure the safety of any displaced persons, their safe return home and their enjoyment of the full protection of the law.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION

The parties hereby agree:-

(a) that the government shall ensure the immediate processing by the appropriate authorities of all applications for re-registration and registration in terms of both the Broadcasting Services Act as well as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act;

(d) that steps be taken to ensure that the public media provides balanced and fair coverage to all political parties for their legitimate political activities.

COMPOSITION OF THE EXECUTIVE

• There shall be a president, which office shall continue to be occupied by President Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
• There shall be two vice-presidents, who will be nominated by the president and/or ZANU-PF.
• There shall be a prime minister, which office shall be occupied by Morgan Tsvangirai.
• There shall be two deputy prime ministers [from each faction of the Movement for Democratic Change], one from MDC-Tsvangirai and one from MDC-Mutambara.
• There shall be 31 ministers, with 15 nominated by the Zanu-PF, 13 by the MDC-T and three by the MDC-M. Of the 31 ministers, three (one per party), may be appointed from outside the members of parliament. The three ministers so appointed shall become members of the House of Assembly and shall have the right to sit, speak and debate in parliament, but shall not be entitled to vote.
• There shall be 15 deputy ministers, with eight nominated by the Zanu-PF, six by the MDC-T and one by the MDC-M
• Ministers and deputy ministers may be relieved of their duties only after consultation among the leaders of all the political parties participating in the inclusive government.

EXECUTIVE POWERS AND AUTHORITY

• The executive authority of the inclusive government shall vest in, and be shared among the president, the prime minister and the cabinet, as provided for in this constitution and legislation.
• The president of the republic shall exercise executive authority subject to the constitution and the law.
• The prime minister of the republic shall exercise executive authority subject to the Constitution and the law.
• In the exercise of executive authority, the president, vice-president, the prime minister, deputy prime minister, minister and deputy ministers must have regard to the principles and spirit underlying the formation of the inclusive government and accordingly act in a manner that seeks to promote cohesion both inside and outside government.

THE PRESIDENT

• Chairs cabinet;
• Exercises executive authority;
• Can, subject to the constitution, proclaim and terminate martial law;
• Chairs National Security Council [commonly called the Joint Operations Command (Joc) which includes army, police, and secret services];
• After consultation with the vice-presidents, the prime minister and deputy prime ministers, allocates ministerial portfolios in accordance with this agreement;
• Exercises executive authority;
• May, acting in consultation with the prime minister, dissolve parliament
• Must be kept fully informed by the prime minister on the general conduct of the government business and;
• Shall be furnished with such information as he/she may request in respect of any particular matter relating to the government, and may advise the prime minister and the cabinet in this regard.

THE PRIME MINISTER

• Chairs the Council of Ministers and is the deputy chairperson of cabinet;
• Exercises executive authority;
• Shall oversee the formulation of government policies by the cabinet;
• Shall be a member of the National Security Council;
• Shall report regularly to the president and parliament.

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BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAN 'READY FOR DIALOGUE WITH US'

Mr Ahmadinejad said change from the US must be fundamental, not tactical

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he would welcome talks with the US as long as they were based on "mutual respect".

Speaking on the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran, he said Iran would welcome change from the US as long as it was "fundamental".

He said: "The Iranian nation is ready to hold talks... in a fair atmosphere."

The two nations cut ties in 1979 after the revolution, when the US embassy in Tehran was occupied for 444 days.

"The new US administration has announced that they want to produce change and pursue the course of dialogue," Mr Ahmadinejad said at a rally attended by thousands of people. "It is quite clear that real change must be fundamental and not tactical. It is clear the Iranian nation welcomes real changes and is ready for dialogue in a climate of equality and mutual respect."

Mr Ahmadinejad's remarks come a day after US President Barack Obama said he was "looking at places where we can have constructive dialogue" with Iran.

The US severed diplomatic ties with Iran after the US-backed Shah was overthrown in 1979 and the US embassy in Tehran was occupied by students for more than a year, with dozens of diplomats and staff held hostage.

Relations have worsened further in recent years as the US has led efforts to prevent Iran from further developing its nuclear programme, which some Western nations fear will lead to nuclear weapons.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is for civilian, energy-generating purposes only.

On Monday Mr Obama said that his administration was looking for "openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face-to-face".

It was the latest in a series of positive remarks he has made about the possibility of direct US-Iranian talks.

"I think there's the possibility, at least, of a relationship of mutual respect and progress," Mr Obama said, but "it's time now for Iran to send some signals that it wants to act differently."

Mr Obama's predecessor, George Bush, famously included Iran in what he called "Axis of Evil", along with North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

ICY TEMPERATURES PLUNGE TO -18C

The freezing conditions provided a boost for Scotland's ski centres Your pictures: Scotland's snow

Temperatures in parts of the Highlands have plunged as low as -18C overnight as much of Scotland had its coldest night of the winter.

Aviemore recorded the coldest February temperature since 1986 (-18C), Altnaharra in the Highlands was down to -15C and Aberdeen was -12C.

The Met Office warned of freezing temperatures leading to the risk of widespread ice on untreated roads.

Temperatures in Glasgow and Edinburgh were about -1C despite snow falls.

There was more snow over much of southern and central Scotland overnight.

Drivers were being advised to take extra care.

No major routes were closed but in Dumfries and Galloway the M74 was down to two lanes at Beattock Summit.

About 80 Aberdeenshire schools and six schools and a nursery in the Highlands were closed or partially closed as cold weather continued to cause problems.

The freezing conditions provided a boost for Scotland's ski centres over the weekend.

Much of Scotland had its coldest night of the winter

Skiers flocked to the slopes to make the most of the weather.

At Glenshee Ski Centre the car park was full by 1000 GMT, with 1,500 cars parked.

However, some people were reporting that their cars were getting stuck in the snow and Grampian Police was forced to close the snow gates on the incoming roads in an attempt to persuade new arrivals to go elsewhere.

The centre's website said that conditions were "nearly perfect".

At Nevis Range ski centre near Fort William there were about 800 people already on the slopes by 1030 GMT.

The icy conditions made driving difficult in some areas on Sunday and in Grampian the B974 Banchory to Fettercairn road and the B976 Crathie to Gairnsheil roads were closed due to ice and snow, while some roads in the Highlands were also closed.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BASEBALL STAR ADMITS STEROID USE!

Alex Rodriguez is baseball's highest paid player

American baseball has been thrown into disarray after its highest-paid player, Alex Rodriguez, admitted using performance-enhancing drugs.

The 33-year-old, known as A-Rod by fans, said he took steroids for several years - but he denies using them now.

"I did take a banned substance," said Rodriguez in an interview with American sports network ESPN.

"For that, I'm very sorry and deeply regretful. I was stupid for three years. I was very, very stupid."

Rodriguez tested positive for steroids while playing for the Texas Rangers in 2003 - before Major League Baseball introduced a stringent anti-drugs regime.

The tests were carried out to determine whether the League needed to take a tougher stance on the issue.

According to Sports Illustrated magazine, Rodriguez was one of 104 players who tests proved positive. MLB maintains that list should have remained confidential.

Rodriguez said: "When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me, and I needed to perform at a high level every day. I started experimenting with things that, today, are not legal, that today are not accepted. "Back then, it was a different culture [surrounding drugs]. It was very loose. I was young and naive. I am sorry for my Texas years. I apologise to the fans of Texas."

Rodriguez joined the New York Yankees in 2004, and signed a new 10-year contract just over a year ago for a reported $275m (£185m).

He insisted: "All my years in New York have been clean."

In modern baseball, they do not get bigger than A-Rod.

As well as being the sport's highest-paid player, he has been romantically linked to Madonna, although both say they are simply good friends.

He is an American superstar and, until recently, was seen as the great hope for baseball after its image was tarnished by a series of drug use revelations.

His admission about steroid use in 2003 is depressing for those in the US who regard baseball as the quintessential American pastime and expect more of its stars.

Even US president Barack Obama has expressed his disappointment, saying: "I think it's depressing news on top of what's been a flurry of depressing items when it comes to Major League Baseball.

"If you're a fan of Major League Baseball, I think it tarnishes an entire era, to some degree. It's unfortunate, because I think there are a lot of ballplayers who played it straight."
BBC NEWS REPORT.

UNDERWEAR PROTEST AT INDIA ATTACK

The group has already attracted more than 5,000 members

Indians outraged at an attack on women for drinking in a bar have gathered together to send a provocative gift of underwear to right-wing activists.

More than 5,000 people, including men, have joined the Facebook group, which calls itself the Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women.

The group says it will give the pink underwear to Sri Ram Sena (Army of Lord Ram) on Valentine's Day on Saturday.

It was blamed for the bar attack in the southern city of Mangalore last month.

Pramod Mutalik, who heads the little known Ram Sena and is now on bail after he was held following the attack, has said it is "not acceptable" for women to go to bars in India.

He has also said his men will protest against Valentine's Day on Saturday.

The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women, which was formed on Facebook last Thursday, has also exhorted women to "walk to the nearest pub and buy a drink" on Valentine's Day.

A spokeswoman for the group, Nisha Susan, told the BBC it was gifting chaddis (Hindi colloquial for underwear) as they alluded to a prominent Hindu right-wing group whose khaki-shorts-wearing cadres were often derisively called "chaddi wallahs" (chaddi wearers).

Indian television crews caught the attack on film

"We chose the colour pink because it is a frivolous colour," she said.

Ms Susan said the group expected to collect at least 500 pieces of pink underwear from all over the country and send them to Mr Mutalik's office in the southern city of Hubli.

"It's a choice between ignoring a group like Ram Sena or respond to its activities. We have decided to give it attention, but it is attention which it will not like," she said.

The group has asked people to mail or drop underwear at "collection points" across the country.

The Ram Sena has not yet commented on the group's moves.

Last month's attack in Mangalore, which was filmed and then broadcast on national television, shocked many Indians.

Mr Mutalik has said his men will protest against Valentine's Day celebrations

Television pictures showed the men chasing and beating up the panicking women. Some of the women, who tripped and fell, were kicked by the men.

Around 30 people, including Mr Mutalik, were arrested following the attack.

Women's groups strongly condemned the attack which was described by the country's Women's Minister Renuka Chaudhury as an attempt to impose Taleban-style values.

The Hindu nationalist BJP government in Karnataka state distanced itself from the attack. It said that it had nothing to do with Sri Ram Sena.

But our correspondent says that right-wing Hindu vigilante groups loosely linked to the BJP are active in many parts of India and have in the past targeted Muslim and Christian minorities as well as events such as Valentine's Day.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

AUSTRALIA MEDIA : WILDFIRE HORROR

Flowers at the gate of a burnt-out property in Bendigo, Australia

The shock and horror felt in Australia at the scale of the devastation caused by the wildfires is reflected across the media.

The national reaction is underlined by the headline on the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper: "A Tragedy Beyond Belief".

In an editorial headline, Melbourne's The Age describes: "A state swept by flames, united by suffering."

The newspaper highlights the case of one victim. It says: "Whatever the final figure may be, however, the reality of what has happened will still be the same for the man who arrived at a farm near Kinglake with his infant daughter.

"The man and the child were both badly burned, and his news was that his wife and other child were dead. 'Look, I've lost my wife, I've lost my other kid,' he said, 'I just need you to save (my daughter)'."

The editorial concludes: "The bonds forged by death and devastation are never willingly sought, but sometimes they are the bonds that sustain us most."

ABC News has been hearing how the bushfires are continuing to wreak havoc in Kinglake, north-east of Melbourne.

One survivor, Christopher Harvey, who fears he has lost nearly all his neighbours, told the broadcaster: "There was no chance of fighting or taking care of this fire.

"Everybody's gone. Everybody's gone. Everybody. Their houses are gone. This is our house, this is it. They're all dead in the houses there. Everybody's dead."

The Age focuses on the town of Strathewen, north of Melbourne.

The paper says on Saturday afternoon, there were 200 people living in the rural town. By the end of that night, it is believed about 15% of the population, or about 30 people, had perished.

The paper spoke to firefighter and farmer David McGahy, who is the divisional commander of that section of the fires.

Fighting back tears, he said: "I've had a fair bit of criticism from people saying why didn't you help me, but I couldn't help them. I couldn't do anything."

The Sydney Morning Herald highlights the story of another firefighter, Drew Adamson, in Dixons Creek. The paper tells how he stood and watched his home burn while he saved someone else's.

In the past two days, he had seen a body tumble from a smashed car and charred remains in the blackened shells of other vehicles, it adds.

He tried to help a woman find her sister's children, only to discover they had burned in a house in the Kinglake fires.

Rescuers search through rubble in Kinglake, one of the worst-hit areas

Doctors treating burn victims say the situation is worse than the Bali bombings, according to ABC News.

At Melbourne's Alfred Hospital, staff were treating 21 victims with burns to at least 30% of their bodies, the broadcaster says.

Many news organisations also reflect on the emotion shown by Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard during a sombre two-hour sitting of parliament and her description of Saturday as "one of the darkest days in Australia's peacetime history".

But not everyone sympathises with the politicians.

This comment from Ben in Westmead was sent to 2GB Radio in Sydney: "Kevin Rudd and the Australian government, hang your head in shame.

"I personally think it's disgusting that we, the tax payers, are giving banks a A$70bn bail-out, to only give the bushfire victims A$10m.

"For me, give the bush the A$70bn to sort [out] lives and infrastructure and let the greedy banks go bust.

"Finally, seeing the PM hugging people in front of news cameras doesn't rebuild shattered lives or homes."

Blogger Darryl Mason at The Orstrahyun described the wildfires as "like a tragedy from another century".

Police officers examine the remains of a burnt out vehicle in Bendigo

"The visuals that haunt and linger now are of all those cars, reduced to grey and black metal husks, some all alone on charred roads, others rammed into each other in piles of six, seven, eight vehicles outside of towns with names that are literally scorched into our national consciousness," he wrote.

"How did this appalling horror become reality, here? In this age? With all our technology?"

At least three groups have been created on Facebook in the wake of the wildfires.

The biggest group is called: "Applaud the CFA (Country Fire Authority) heroes & empathise with the victims of the 09 Vic bushfires".

It reads: "May the arsons [sic] who felt the need to destroy people's lives truly be punished!"

The Herald Sun in Melbourne, meanwhile, is one newspaper with appeals from readers worried about loved ones.

This, on its message board, is typical: "Looking for my Mum who lives in Marysville. Very worried. Haven't heard anything from her since 6.45 p.m. last night."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

POLICE CATCH 'VANDAL' AGED THREE !

A three-year-old child was caught with a gang of children who were vandalising a building in Dundee, it has emerged.

A freedom of information request revealed the child had been the youngest member of the group.

BBC Scotland has learned that the children had been throwing paint at a house which was due for demolition in the Fintry district of Dundee.

The age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is eight, but crimes committed by younger children are recorded.

The child was caught as part of a police operation targeting vandalism in the city.

It identified eight youngsters who were each responsible for more than 10 acts of vandalism, some causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

The incident involving the three-year-old took place last May.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHAMBER OF MUMMIES FOUND IN EGYPT

One of the mummies found in a sarcophagus at the Saqqara site

Egyptian archaeologists have found more than 20 mummies in a burial chamber dating back at least 2,600 years.

Eight wooden and stone sarcophagi were also discovered during the excavations at the Saqqara site, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's chief archaeologist.

One limestone sarcophagus sealed with plaster is thought to be more than 4,000 years old.

Despite decades of excavations at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, new finds are frequently made.

Correspondents say it is rare for such an intact burial site to be unearthed.

The mummies, 22 of which were found in niches along a wall, were in a tomb dating to 640BC, Mr Hawass said.

One wooden sarcophagus had not been opened since ancient times, though one official said ancient grave robbers had probably reached it first, according to a government statement.

A mummy was found in the only sarcophagus to have been opened so far, and archaeologists said they were expecting to find more mummies in the others.

Mr Hawass has said that some 70% of Egypt's ancient monuments remain buried.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

BURMA 'MUST STOP ROHINGYA ABUSE'

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled Burma

The US has called on Burma to stop persecuting its Rohingya Muslim minority, who have fled the country in their hundreds of thousands.

On a visit to neighbouring Bangladesh, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said the Rohingya's treatment was "a matter of concern" to the US.

Hundreds of Rohingya recently fled to Thailand in boats, but were cast adrift by the Thai authorities and many died.

Burma's military rulers do not recognise the Rohingya as Burmese.

And refugees who have been arriving in Thailand and Indonesia have told how the military authorities there have beaten and abused them.

Many have shown scars on their bodies they claimed were caused by Burmese soldiers whipping them as a warning not to return to Burma.

"The US was aware of the fleeing of Rohingyas from Myanmar [Burma] for persecution and economic reasons," Mr Boucher told a news conference in Dhaka.

"It's a matter of concern and the US wants that Myanmar stops the persecution of Rohingyas."

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) some 230,000 Rohingya now live in Bangladesh, having fled decades of abuse by Burma's military rulers.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

NISSAN TO CUT 20,000 GLOBAL JOBS!

Nissan's job cuts come as the firm has seen sales slump

Nissan is to cut 20,000 jobs worldwide, 8.5% of its workforce, over the next year because of a sharp fall in sales.

The Japanese carmaker made the announcement as it said it expected to make a loss of 265bn yen ($2.9bn; £2bn) for its current financial year.

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn said the the firm's "worst assumptions on the state of the global economy have been met or exceeded".

"The global auto industry is in turmoil. Nissan is no exception."

Nissan said the 20,000 job cuts would be made between March 2009 and March 2010.

Mr Ghosn has painted a bleak picture

The reduction will see the size of its global workforce fall to 215,000 from 235,000, although Nissan has yet to say which plants will be affected, and by how much.

It added that it would also be talking to unions about cutting working hours.

The company had already announced job cuts last month, including 1,200 at its UK plant in Sunderland.

Nissan also said on Monday that it sold 731,000 vehicles worldwide between October and December, down 18.6% from a year before.

This resulted in a net loss of 83.2bn yen, compared with a 132.2bn profit a year earlier.

Car industry analyst Mamoru Katou said the job losses would make Nissan unpopular in its home country.

"The job cuts will hurt Japanese parts-makers, too, and in the long run diminish the Nissan brand value in Japan," he said.

Most of the world's other main carmakers have also seen sales and profits slump as a result of the global economic slowdown.

As a result, there is a growing trend of cutting production and jobs.

Since the start of the year, Honda has announced 3,100 redundancies, while General Motors is reducing its workforce by 2,000.

Other car firms, such as Toyota, Porsche, Honda and BMW, have announced reductions in output as fewer people buy new cars.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS"

"A CLOSED MOUTH GATHERS NO FEET" !
___________

ITALIAN RIGHT-TO-DIE ROW DEEPENS!

Ms Englaro is said to have opposed being kept alive artificially

A political standoff has developed in Italy over the right of a woman who has been in a coma for 17 years to die, despite a court ruling in her favour.

Italy's PM drafted an emergency decree to prevent feeding tubes being removed, but the president refused to sign it.

Doctors quoted by local media said they had begun withholding food on Friday and a lawyer said her family would continue moves to allow her to die.

Eluana Englaro, now 38, has been in a coma since a car crash in 1992.

The case has provoked fierce debate in the country.

Euthanasia is illegal in Italy and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's position is supported by the Roman Catholic Church.

Last Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI added his voice to the debate about euthanasia, calling it a "false solution" to the tragedy of suffering.

Italy's President, Giorgio Napolitano, said Mr Berlusconi had acted unconstitutionally when he issued an emergency decree to prevent the woman's life-support machine from being disconnected.

He accused Mr Berlusconi of over-ruling a previous court decision to allow Ms Englaro to die.

Mr Berlusconi, who has a parliamentary majority, said an emergency session of parliament would enact a new law barring doctors halting nutrition to patients in a coma.

On Saturday he said he was "amazed that doctors who have vowed to save human lives can take part in the act that will surely lead to death, even cruelly by depriving the organism of food," AFP news agency reported.

On Tuesday Ms Englaro was transferred to a private geriatric clinic in the northern city of Udine, where doctors had agreed to disconnect her feeding tubes.

A lawyer for the Englaro family, Giuseppe Campeis, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera: "We are continuing with our (medical) procedure aimed at ensuring a 'gentle death'.

According to medical experts quoted by the paper, the process should become irreversible within three to five days.

Another report said it could take Ms Englaro about two weeks to die.

Last year Ms Englaro's father won a court battle allowing her to die. He said that before the accident, she had expressed a wish not be kept alive artificially.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

GOVERNMENT PLANS TRAVEL DATABASE.

Similar schemes run in the US, Spain and Canada

The government is compiling a database to track and store the international travel records of millions of Britons.

Computerised records of all 250 million journeys made by individuals in and out of the UK each year will be kept for up to 10 years.

The government says the database is essential in the fight against crime, illegal immigration and terrorism.

But opposition MPs and privacy campaigners fear it is a significant step towards a surveillance society.

The intelligence centre will store names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details of travellers.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: "The government seems to be building databases to track more and more of our lives.

"The justification is always about security or personal protection. But the truth is that we have a government that just can't be trusted over these highly sensitive issues. We must not allow ourselves to become a Big Brother society."

A spokesman for campaign group NO2ID said: "When your travel plans, who you are travelling with, where you are going to and when are being recorded you have to ask yourself just how free is this country?"

The e-Borders scheme covers flights, ferries and rail journeys and the Home Office says similar schemes run in other countries including the US, Canada, Spain and Australia.

Minister of State for borders and immigration Phil Woolas said the government was determined to ensure the UK's border remained one of the toughest in the world.

"Our hi-tech electronic borders system will allow us to count all passengers in and out of the UK and [it] targets those who aren't willing to play by our rules," he said.

"Already e-Borders has screened over 75 million passengers against immigration, customs and police watch-lists, leading to over 2,700 arrests for crimes such as murder, rape and assault."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PALESTINIAN UNITY PLEAS MASK SPLIT

Tihani Abed Rabbu revisits the scene of a family tragedy during Israel's offensive

By Aleem Maqbool BBC News, Gaza City

Standing with the support of relatives on a street in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, Tihani Abed Rabbu is distraught.

She is revisiting the spot outside a grocery store to which she ran a few weeks ago, after hearing Israeli shelling.

Then, amidst the smoke and the blood, she found six bodies. They included her teenage son, Mustafa, as well as her brother and her closest friend.

Tihani breaks down as she tells me she had left them just moments earlier as they bought food during what they thought was a lull in the bombing.

"Why don't people feel our suffering?" she cries. "My heart is on fire, I miss Mustafa with every breath.

"There were no fighters around here, and they were not terrorists, so why did they die?"

She suddenly raises her voice. "But even our own politicians, sitting in their big chairs, don't care. They don't feel what we feel. If they cared, they'd be united.

"The only thing that will help my heart is if our so-called leaders stopped fighting and joined hands in the face of our enemy."

If we don't have national reconcilation, rebuilding Gaza will be very difficult Ahmed Youssef, Hamas

Politicians from the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, all claim that unity is exactly what they want.

Dr Faisal Abu Shahla, a Fatah member of parliament in Gaza City, says the recent Israeli offensive did unite Palestinians.

"They were all together suffering," he says. "There was no discrimination between Hamas and Fatah people, civilians. Everybody was facing the Israelis, and the Israelis were killing anyone. All together, it was a message from the Palestinians that they want unity."

Hamas politicians too, like Ahmed Youssef, talk of the time being right for unity.

"We understand that if we don't have national reconciliation, developing Gaza, or re-building Gaza, will be very difficult to achieve," he says.

But both Fatah and Hamas have been talking of unity for a long time. Still, Gaza is run by Hamas, the West Bank by Fatah, and there is little contact between the two.

This has been the case for 18 months when inter-factional fighting reached its peak and the 2006 parliamentary election winners Hamas ousted the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and its security forces from Gaza.

Since then every Palestinian politician I have spoken to, from whatever party, has said he or she recognises the harm the political split is doing to the Palestinian cause. They will insist that reconciliation is their priority.

But talk a little longer, and the bitterness and the same old accusations soon surface. Even at a time like this.

The Israelis think they are dealing with Gaza alone, not all Palestinians. This is the weak point Faisal Abu Shahla, Fatah

"There are people who are inside Fatah who are serving the Zionist and American agenda," Ahmed Youssef, of Hamas, tells me.

"They don't want to see the Palestinians united and are weakening the social fabric of the Palestinians."

Hamas is reasserting its control on the streets of Gaza. It admits to having carried out punishment beatings and even shootings of rival Fatah supporters that it claims spied for Israel.

Fatah says Hamas is unfit to govern and has brought untold problems - including the Israeli attacks - to the Palestinians.

"The division which Hamas created allowed this to happen," says Dr Fasial Abu Shahla of Fatah. "What it did in Gaza and what it has done since, made the Israelis think they are dealing with Gaza alone, not all Palestinians. This is the weak point.

"What Hamas is practising on the ground makes the division bigger."

The word on every politician's lips here may be "reconciliation," but even after an Israeli offensive which wrought so much death and devastation, they still point fingers of blame at each other.

Those Palestinians who hope unity will come out of the carnage could still have a long wait.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

WOMAN SCORES ATLANTIC SWIM FIRST

Figge swam for up to eight hours at a stretch

A 56-year-old American athlete has become the first woman on record to swim the Atlantic.

Jennifer Figge took 24 days to swim from the Cape Verde islands off Africa to Trinidad. The exact distance she covered has yet to be calculated.

She swam inside a cage to protect her from sharks.

Figge, who had originally planned to make landfall in the Bahamas, now plans to finish by swimming from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands.

She first dreamed of swimming across the Atlantic Ocean as a little girl.

Looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way Jennifer Figge

The swimmer finally moved nearer her goal when she left Cape Verde Islands on 12 January, facing waves of up to 9m (30 ft).

Each day she would spend up to eight hours in the water at a stretch before returning to her support boat.

Crew members would throw the athlete energy drinks as she swam along, if it was too stormy divers would deliver them in person.

She saw pilot whales, turtles, dolphins, Portuguese men-of-war, but no sharks.

"I was never scared," she told the Associated Press news agency.

"Looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way. I can always swim in a pool."

Jennifer Figge's journey comes 10 years after a French swimmer, Benoit Lecomte, made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim covering 6,400km (4,000 miles) in 73 days.

Figge had planned to swim 3,380km (2,100 miles), but she was blown off course and reached Trinidad rather than the Bahamas.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

US FISHERMEN TRAPPED ON ICE SLAB

One person died and scores of others were rescued after being trapped on a big slab of ice that broke off from the shore of Lake Erie, US officials say.

Boats and helicopters were sent to help people off the ice floe which floated away from the Ohio shoreline.

Media reports put the number of those rescued - thought to be mostly fishermen - at between 100 and 145.

Fishermen say ice on Lake Erie has been particularly thick this winter, luring more people on than usual.

Ice in western parts of the lake is up to 2ft (60 cm) thick, according to Bill Randel of the National Weather Service.

The ice started to crack when temperatures rose above freezing this weekend and strong gusts of wind pushed on the ice, he told AP.

It is thought the anglers had used wooden pallets to make a temporary bridge across a crack to get further out on the lake, leaving them stranded when the ice shifted and the planks fell in the water.

The slab of ice that broke off and floated away was about eight miles (13 km) wide, the Coast Guard said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CLASSIC BUGATTI MAKES 3.4m EUROS !

A classic Bugatti car, which gathered dust in a Tyneside garage for half a century, has been sold for 3.4m euros (£3m) at an auction in Paris.

Bonhams had listed lot 17403 as a "motoring icon" with an engine that has not been fired up for 50 years.

Relatives of reclusive Newcastle doctor Harold Carr found the 1937 Type 57S Atalante in a garage after he died.

It was originally owned by Earl Howe - first president of the British Racing Drivers' Club. Just 17 were built.

Bonhams tempted bidders by writing in its sales description: "The new owner will have the pleasure of firing up [engine] 26S and hearing that turbine-like sound that so excited Earl Howe when he collected this car from Sorel in 1937.

The 1937 Bugatti gathered dust in a garage for 47 years. Pic Bonhams

"Once again [chassis] 57502, a true supercar with impeccable credentials, emerges to take its place on the world stage."

Earl Howe took delivery of the sporty two-seat Atalante after it was completed in 1937 and kept the car for eight years.

After Earl Howe sold it, it changed hands a couple of times before Dr Carr bought the car in 1955 from Lord Ridley, a member of the Northumberland gentry.

Dr Carr drove it until 1960 when he parked it in his garage - to be discovered after he died in 2007.

The car has a remarkably low mileage with an odometer reading of just 26,284. It eventually sold for 3,417,500 euros (£2,989,495).

The Bugatti 57S is a highly coveted car by collectors, with at least four thought to belong to the Musee Nationale de L'Automobile in Mulhouse, France.

Others remain in the hands of private collectors.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

A SMALL STATE WITH A BIG PROBLEM

By Greg Wood BBC North America Business Correspondent, Cranston, Rhode Island

The Cranston job center is deluged with people looking for work

"If it wasn't for my parents I'd be on the streets with my two kids. It's rough at the moment."

Those words, from mother-of-two Mary Hallam, sum up the plight of many people in the town of Cranston, Rhode Island.

This tiny state has the highest unemployment rate in the US after Michigan. One in ten of the workforce here is without a job.

Mary lost her job as a cashier in a seafood restaurant last October. She and the children get by on $465 (£314) a month in food stamps.

She can't afford her own place, so they have to live with her parents, both of whom are also unemployed.

"My Dad worked at the same company for 25 years", she says, "He paid his taxes. Now he can't even get help from the state to pay for medical care. It's very sad."

Rhode Island, known as the Ocean State, is a mixed bag. Parts of it are very prosperous. The town of Newport is famous for its jazz festival and the mansions built by 19th century barons of industry.

But away from the tourist centres on the coast the story is very different. Rhode Island has been losing manufacturing jobs for years.

Now the financial crisis has caused major shut downs in many other areas of the local economy, from construction to financial services to retailing.

Despite the thick snow on the sidewalks, the labour and training centre in West Warwick, just a few miles from Cranston, is packed with job seekers - at computer screens, in one-on-one interviews, in big groups doing tests.

Many stores have closed down in the area

There used to be pages of job adverts in the local newspaper. Now they're down to a single page, if that. There are four vacancies at a firm which needs jewellery polishers, but not much else.

Marissa Stewart-White is a single mother with a nine-year-old daughter. She lost her job working for a government contractor just before Christmas.

"I have a degree in economics and computer science. I've been working since I was fifteen. However, these are really hard times right now."

The Labour Department here can't cope with the avalanche of new claims for unemployment benefit. In a bitter irony, it's bringing back retired workers and advertising for forty new call centre staff to deal with the backlog.

"We absolutely have a backlog of claims" says Labour Department manager Laura Hart. "We have about 10,000 internet claims and they go back to the beginning of January. We hope to make a dent in it this week".

So, on top of the shock of losing their jobs, many of the people here are having to wait more than a month before they receive their first benefit payment. The system is struggling to cope with the human tide of unemployment.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DEATH PENALTY DEBATE GROWS IN MEXICO

By Stephen Gibbs BBC News, Mexico City

The Green Party is planning on keeping the posters up for months

Billboards can reveal a lot about a country.

They tend to show what advertising executives and politicians think are the desires and fears of the people they target.

The skyline of Mexico City is a case in point.

It is dominated by the usual alluring, aspirational adverts for products like Bacardi rum, cheaply financed cars and lipstick.

But scattered among them are huge black posters calling for the reintroduction of capital punishment.

"Because we care about your life - death penalty for murderers and kidnappers," they demand in bold yellow letters.

The campaign, somewhat incongruously, is paid for by Mexico's Green Party. The organisation's mascot, a large toucan against a green backdrop, appears prominently on each poster.

The contrasting messages on the city's billboards highlight one of the idiosyncrasies of this country.

While its GDP puts it among the richest 15 countries in the world, its official kidnapping rate tops that of Iraq.

Moreover, murders linked to organised crime - in particular the drugs trade - are soaring with almost 6,000 people killed last year, double the number for 2007.

Children are being murdered and kidnapped, the current policy is not working Gloria Lavara Mexican Green Party

It is against this background that Mexico's tiny Green Party has decided to campaign for the reintroduction of the death penalty.

It has been almost 50 years since anyone was executed in Mexico. A soldier was the last person to face a firing squad in 1961 for insubordination and murder.

In 2005, Congress abolished the death penalty and removed all references to it from the constitution.

Antonio Garcia, a senator campaigning against capital punishment at the time, called it "the most cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment, and a violation of the right to life".

However, Gloria Lavara, the Green Party deputy who is coordinating the pro-capital punishment campaign, makes no apology for shifting the main focus of her party from protecting the environment to endorsing a policy which the Green movement worldwide rejects.

"We are expressing the voice of the people," she says.

"Children are being murdered and kidnapped, the current policy is not working."

But according to Juan Francisco Torres Landa, a lawyer who represents Mexico United - a non-governmental organisation campaigning against crime - there is no evidence that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to criminals.

"I believe the Green Party is promoting a media campaign simply to obtain political dividends," he says.

But a random straw poll of people in a Mexico City shopping centre seems to lend some support to Ms Lavara's views.

Everyone I spoke to favoured the reintroduction of the death penalty.

"If people do not respect the lives of others, then they too have lost the right to life," said one middle-aged woman who gave her name only as Elvia.

Another woman said she had her own reasons for strongly believing that kidnappers should be executed.

"I was kidnapped for two hours," she said. "They hit me, and molested me. They even threatened to rape me."

Alejandro Marti, whose son was kidnapped and murdered, on crime in Mexico

Nevertheless, the chances of capital punishment actually being reinstated in Mexico are extremely remote.

President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party (Pan) and the leftist PRD both oppose it, as does the Roman Catholic Church.

The PRI, the party which held power in Mexico continuously for more than 70 years until 2000 supports public debate on the issue.

Late last month, Congress voted to consult on the issue.

It promised to host forums, bringing together opinion from all sides of the debate. The outcome will not be legally binding.

The Green Party posters are expected to remain in place for months - a daily reminder of the violence which millions of Mexicans dread, and simply want to end.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

AUSTRALIAN BUSH FIRES TURN DEADLY.

At least 14 people have been killed by wildfires in southern Australia, the deadliest in the country for decades.

The deaths occurred at four towns in Victoria state, state deputy police commissioner Kieran Walsh said. Police fear as many as 40 may have perished.

Firefighters are battling dozens of fires in parks and bush land, amid a heatwave, with temperatures set to reach 47 C (117F) this weekend.

Aircraft are dropping water bombs and thousands of firemen are on standby.

More than 100 homes have been destroyed in nine major blazes in Victoria.

See a map of the fire-affected areas

Officials say they are battling against the worst fire conditions in the state's history.

Six people have been killed in the township of Kinglake, four at Wandong, three at Strathewen and one at Clonbinane - all in Victoria state.

In Kinglake, north-west of Melbourne, one resident said the whole township was pretty much ablaze and that the fire front came through in a matter of minutes.

It's just going to be, probably by a long way, the worst day ever in the history of the state in terms of temperatures and winds John Brumby, Victoria premier In pictures: Australian fires

He said that some 200 residents had taken refuge in a local pub and that no fire engines could get into the town.

Tens of thousands of firefighters are trying to contain blazes in two further states - New South Wales and South Australia - but blazes there were largely contained or burning away from residential areas.

However if winds pick up, the authorities fear that the fires could spread.

The fire service is using water-bombing aircraft to contain fires. Thousands of volunteers are using water hoses.

"It's just going to be, probably by a long way, the worst day ever in the history of the state in terms of temperatures and winds," Victoria Premier John Brumby said.

"It is extremely dry. We do have some concern about the winds winds picking up and having an impact on the fire," a spokesman for Victoria state's Country Fire Authority told Reuters.

In 1983, a wildfire killed 75 people, on a day known as Ash Wednesday.

NO OUTCRY OVER RUSSIAN KILLINGS

Following the murders of a lawyer and journalist in Moscow, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes asks why little appears to have been done to find those responsible.

Russia has a population of 142.8 million (UN, 2008)

There is a tendency for many to resort to stereotypes when describing Russia.

The Fleet Street headline writers rarely resist an opportunity to declare the outbreak of a new Cold War.

This week there was much chortling in British newspapers at the story of a Russian airline pilot who had been forced off a plane because he was too drunk to make the safety announcement.

These Russians, many will have giggled, they will never change.

It is a problem I have struggled with for the last two years. How to describe this huge, complex and often frightening country?

When bad things happen, like the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, there is a tendency for all of us to see it as a vast conspiracy: the work of KGB agents acting on orders straight from the Kremlin.

In recent days I have had cause to look hard at that version of Russia and to ask again, what is the nature of this place?

The reason has been the cold-blooded murder of two brave young Russians on a Moscow street.

Stanislav Markelov was a 34-year-old human rights lawyer.

Mr Markelov had worked on many high profile human rights cases

He campaigned for all sorts of people, but most notably for Chechens brutalized in the two wars Moscow has fought to prevent their tiny republic from breaking away.

The other was Anastasia Baburova, a 25-year-old journalist who investigated Russia's growing neo-Nazi movement.

Their killings were cold and deliberate, straight from the set of a Hollywood gangster film.

In the mid-afternoon Stanislav and Anastasia were walking a short distance from the Kremlin.

Russia collectively shrugged its shoulders and looked the other way

A young man approached them, pulled a ski mask over his face and a silenced pistol from his pocket.

He shot Stanislav in the head killing him instantly.

As Anastasia tried to grab the killer he turned and shot her too. She survived for a few more hours before dying in hospital.

Perhaps the most shocking thing about their deaths was the reaction in Russia.

As her father bent over the coffin and stroked her face, large tears rolled down his cheeks

There was no huge public outcry. There were few banner headlines demanding justice.

Most shocking of all was the stony silence from the Kremlin.

Not a single word of condemnation came from President Dmitry Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimr Putin.

Russia collectively shrugged its shoulders and looked the other way.

I was angry.

And then I went to Anastasia Baburova's wake, and that made me more angry.

In Russia, wakes are held with an open coffin.

Anastasia's face had been made up to cover the wound that killed her. She looked doll-like amid the bouquets of flowers.

Her elderly parents shuffled forward to kiss their daughter goodbye.

As her father bent over the coffin and stroked her face, large tears rolled down his cheeks.

How could this have happened? Who is responsible? Why does nobody care?

These were the questions that raced through my head as I walked from the funeral hall.

In the two weeks since, I have been asking people from Moscow to Kiev those same questions.

Mr Lebedev has spoken out against corruption in Russia

First I went to see Alexander Lebedev, the Russian billionaire businessman who owns the paper Anastasia and Stanislav worked for. I asked him who he thought had ordered their killings.

In answer he described Russia as two countries, one within the other.

In one, live tens of millions of ordinary Russians, in the other live a tiny elite of officials, politicians and businessmen, who together have amassed vast fortunes running in to hundreds of billions.

They own private jets, houses across Europe, and yachts anchored on the French Riviera. "They will", he told me, "do anything to defend their wealth and power."

Next I went to see a man who once worked for the Russian state prosecutor's office. We met furtively in a forest on the edge of Moscow.

"Would the murders of Anastasia and Stanislav ever be solved?" I asked him.

"There is a very small chance," he said, "just a few percent."

"Why?"

"In these sorts of cases an order may come down from above not to investigate," he said.

"Why would they do that?" He looked at me as if I was a bit stupid.

"Because," he said, "that might reveal the whole chain of people, right up to the one who ordered it."

The impression that emerges is of a modern oligarchy.

One where the divisions between the state and private business have disappeared, where the security services are for hire and everybody has his price.

It is not a neo-Soviet state. There is no grand conspiracy. But that does not make it any less dangerous for those who stand in its way.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 7 February, 2009 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

MALAYSIAN TWINS SPARED DEATH ROW

Malaysian identical twin brothers have escaped hanging for drug trafficking as a court failed to decide which brother was the criminal, and cleared both.

A judge in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, said the case was unique and she could not send the wrong person to his death.

In 2003 police arrested one brother found driving drugs to a house. The second twin arrived soon afterwards and was also arrested.

Neither officers nor a DNA test could identify which twin owned the drugs.

Sathis and Sabarish Raj, 27, cried in court when they heard the judge say that the prosecution had failed to prove which twin had been arrested first with a car containing 166kg of cannabis and almost 2kg of raw opium.

According to the New Straits Times, the judge told the court: "I can't be calling the wrong twin to enter his defence. I can't be sending the wrong person to the gallows."

Execution is mandatory for convicted drugs traffickers in Malaysia.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

STEAM TRAIN VISITING LONDON!

The train has started to take fare-paying passengers

The first new mainline steam engine to be built in Britain for nearly five decades is making its first long-distance passenger trip into London.

The train set off from Darlington and due to arrive in London King's Cross station at 1347 GMT.

Enthusiasts in Darlington raised £3m to build the Peppercorn class A1 Pacific locomotive, which has taken 19 years.

The train will be on display at London King's Cross station for about an hour after arrival.

Additional passengers will be picked up at York and the train will pass through stations including Newark, Peterborough and Potter's Bar before arriving in London.

The train will consist of 13 carriages, equating to about 500 tons, and will run at up to 75mph. It began taking fare-paying passengers on 31 January.

It is apple green, the colour carried by the first 30 Peppercorn class A1s.

Mark Allatt, chairman of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, said: "Tornado's first train to London is the opening of a new chapter in the story of a project that many said could never be completed.

"In 1990 a group was formed with a vision and the determination to make it succeed - to build and operate a Peppercorn class A1 Pacific steam locomotive for main line and preserved railway use.

"Nineteen years later, and thanks to that shared vision and determination, Tornado hauled her first passenger train on the Network Rail main line in front of the world's press and an estimated 10,000 people on 31st January 2009."

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. The world's longest snake was 13m (42ft) long.
More details

2. Salt mines are ideal for storing important documents.
More details

3. Facebook was originally called "The facebook".
More details

4. The English Channel between Dover and Calais froze over in 1673.
More details

5. The Victoria line, and Waterloo and City line, are the only two of the 11 London Underground lines that are entirely below ground.
More details (the Times)

6. The famous "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster was never actually used during World War II.
More details

7. Being born with additional digits (fingers/toes) is called being polydactyl.
More details

8. Barbra Streisand is an honorary knight of the Legion of Honour.
More details

9. In Norway some streets are heated by pumping seawater through pipes below them.
More details

10. Dalek operatives in Dr Who used to wear just swimming trunks, so hot would it get inside.
More details

BBC NEWS MAGAZINE

ZIMBABWE- LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA

6th February 2009


Dear Friends,

Another week of waiting for an end to the nightmare that is Zimbabwe in 2009. When I wrote last week we thought we were on the verge of a solution - however imperfect it was. After all SADC in their wisdom had even given us the precise dates when all the various steps would be taken that would install a so-called Government of National Unity. Surely nothing could be easier; rather like a kids' picture book game, all the politicians had to do was to join up the dots and the picture would emerge. The cameras showed us hundreds of people waiting on the streets outside Harvest House for Morgan Tsvangirai to tell them that he had done his part. He had agreed to join the GNU subject to the settlement of outstanding issues. Was Zimbabwe at last on the way to a settlement that would bring Zimbabwe back into the community of democratic nations?

As the week progressed, it became very clear that Zanu PF were playing their usual childish but deadly games. First, they delayed the necessary tabling of the Constitutional Amendment that would install Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister and Arthur Mutambara as his Deputy. Zanu said it had no mandate to take such a step; what they really meant was that Robert Mugabe was out of the country and without his presence they were unwilling to act. And where was the Dear Leader at this crucial time in the country's history? No sooner had Morgan Tsvangirai announced he would join the GNU Robert Mugabe had flown off to the AU summit in Addis Ababa where his old comrade, Muammar Gaddafi was installed as the new head of the AU. In reality, of course, Mugabe was touting for support - or was it for fuel and arms - from his African brothers. Meanwhile, at home the police and the courts continued to act as if nothing had changed: Jestina Mukoko and the other activists were refused bail again; students were arrested for demonstrating against the announcement by the University of Zimbabwe's announcement that they would all have to find $400 US entrance fee to sit their end of semester exams. MDC's Star Rally, due to be held last Sunday was cancelled by the police and even more significantly, Tendayi Biti's treason trial was postponed. Biti faces two charges: one, that he pre-empted the announcement of election results by announcing that the MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai had won the March election. This was after the ZEC had delayed announcing the results for five weeks and two, that Biti had written and published a letter calling for the unconstitutional overthrow of Robert Mugabe's government. It is no coincidence that Tendayi Biti is one of the chief negotiators in the MDC's team. By holding the threat of a treason trial over his head and by refusing bail for the other activists it is clear what game Mugabe and Zanu are playing. Once again they are using the judiciary and the police to ensure they have the upper hand; it is in effect blackmail: play the game according to our rules or your people will face capital charges which, incidentally, carry the death sentence in Zimbabwe.

However much people, and I include myself, want to believe that the GNU will bring peace to our troubled land, what is abundantly clear is that we are dealing with a vicious and corrupt regime that simply does not know the meaning of the word 'Truth'. All along the state-controlled media have sought to portray the MDC as a party of western puppets bent on bringing back colonial rule to Zimbabwe. The truth is that the only unity Zanu PF is interested in is one that will allow them to get their hands on international investment. Here's what Bright Matonga said to the BBC, "We will respect property rights, we will respect the issue of declaration and repatriation of dividends. So really we are inviting people in manufacturing, in tourism, in farming, in mining." And in the very week Matonga made this remark, the President's wife seized the farm of one Judge Ben Hlatshwayo. The learned judge had himself seized the farm from a prominent and highly successful white farmer and is said to be furious at Grace Mugabe's action. She apparently wants the farm as a gift for her son from her first marriage. So much for respect for property rights; rumour has it that Judge Hlatshwayo will sue Grace Mugabe. How will they ever find an honest judge to preside when we all know the judges have themselves been guilty of similar thefts! No honour among thieves is the phrase that comes to mind.

Finally, on Thursday the Constitutional Amendment was passed unanimously in the Lower House and subject to its passing through the Senate, Morgan Tsvangirai will be sworn in as Prime Minister on Wednesday February 11th. Despite this, the US and the EU will not lift sanctions or resume financial aid until they are convinced that there is genuine power sharing. They say that a week is a long time in politics; in Zanu PF politics it can be a death sentence and who knows what dirty tricks they may still have up their sleeves before this next week is out. As Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC prepare to share power with Zanu PF the 'political analysts' will be out in force no doubt, predicting doom and condemning Tsvangirai for 'selling out' but for the suffering masses it is a tiny glimmer, no more, of hope. " Let us make no mistake," said Morgan Tsvangirai in his statement announcing his party's decision, "by joining an inclusive government, we are not saying this is the solution to Zimbabwe's crisis, instead our participation signifies that we have chosen to continue the struggle for a democratic Zimbabwe in a new arena…We have the majority in parliament, we control all the main urban councils and many rural councils, we will have control of 13 ministries and a presence in the key decision-making bodies of the executive…The struggle continues."

If this is not the end of Zimbabwe's nightmare it is perhaps the beginning of the end?

Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.

OBAMA DENOUNCES STIMULUS HOLD-UP

US President Barack Obama has said the Senate's delay in passing his $900bn (£616bn) economic stimulus package is "inexcusable and irresponsible".

He described the economic situation as "an urgent and growing crisis", which could become "a catastrophe" if the Senate failed to act.

The bill includes measures to cut taxes and invest in job creation.

Moderate Democrat and Republican senators have argued that the plan should be trimmed by up to $90bn.

Mr Obama described as "devastating" the news that nearly 600,000 Americans lost their jobs in January.

"The situation could not be more serious. These numbers demand action," he said.

Mr Obama's remarks came as he unveiled a new board of economic advisers, chaired by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

"I created this board to enlist voices that come from beyond the echo chamber of Washington DC," said Mr Obama, "and to ensure that no stone is unturned as we work to put people back to work and to get our economy moving."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"Sayings"

"AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO KINDNESS

IS TOO PRECIOUS TO NEGLECT"!

________

ALTERNATIVE VIEWS OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

The dramatic downturn gripping the global economy has breathed new life into old questions about how best to run our economic systems.

Politicians, business leaders and policymakers searched for solutions at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos.

Meanwhile, different debates were taking place at the "alternative" World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil.

There, an eclectic mix of some 100,000 campaigners, thinkers, and working people came to starkly different conclusions about the causes of the downturn, and how best to address it.

We asked four participants from around the globe to give us their opinions. Click on the links below to read their arguments.

"The current economic model which privileges unbridled competition is not sustainable" David Evan Harris Director, Global Lives Project "This crisis has roots in global overproduction" Walden Bello Focus on Global South

"Calls for re-regulation require a dismantling of the architecture of international trade treaties" Myriam Vander Stichele Researcher on multinationals "At this point the capitalist emperor has no clothes" Marcos Arruda Economist

UN HALTS GAZA AID OVER 'THEFTS' !

UN trucks have been passing through Kerem Shalom crossing to deliver aid

The UN aid agency in Gaza says it has suspended all aid shipments, accusing the Hamas government of seizing hundreds of tonnes of food supplies.

Ten truckloads of flour and rice were taken from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the UN's Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said.

Hamas admitted that a "mistake" was made and says it will return the goods.

But Unwra says deliveries will not restart until it has assurances that such seizures will not happen again.

Gaza is facing a humanitarian crisis after Israel's three-week offensive.

About half the population is dependent on UN food aid.

Israel intensified a blockade on the territory 19 months ago when Hamas took over the territory.

The lifting of the blockade is among Hamas's demands for agreeing a long-term truce with Israel.

On Friday the group's exiled leader, Khaled Meshaal, told a rally in Syria that Israel still had not given the necessary undertakings for such a truce.

Unrwa said the trucks of food had been imported from Egypt, and had been due to be collected by its staff at the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza on Friday.

The UN had recently increased its food distribution to Gazans

"The food was taken away by trucks contracted by the Ministry of Social Affairs," the agency said in a statement.

It said aid deliveries would only be resumed if Hamas returned all the aid and provides "credible assurances" that it would not happen again.

It was the second incident in three days. On Tuesday, 3,500 blankets and more than 400 food parcels were seized at gunpoint from a distribution centre in Gaza, the UN said.

The Hamas government's social affairs minister ordered "the aid to be returned to the agency if it turns out it is indeed its property", Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said, according to AFP news agency.

He said no Hamas or Unrwa representatives had been present at the crossing when drivers loaded up the aid supplies, and the drivers had assumed they belonged to the Hamas government.

But the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Gaza City says Hamas has recently expressed anger that aid agencies do not co-ordinate aid deliveries with it. Hamas has previously said all financial donations should be distributed through its administration, he adds.

The UN has increased its food distribution in recent weeks to cover 900,000 of Gaza's population of 1.5 million following Israel's offensive against Hamas that began in December.

The UN, along with most of the Western world, does not deal directly with the Hamas leadership, which governs the Gaza Strip.

But it does have contacts with Hamas-appointed ministers and civil servants, strictly on technical issues related to the delivery of its humanitarian services in line with wider UN policy.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE ETIQUETTE OF SNOWBALL FIGHTS

With swathes of Britain covered in snow this week innocent folk have found themselves the unwitting targets of snowball attacks launched by grinning children. But how to react, asks Brendan O'Neill?

Snowball fights are breaking out everywhere. Some children, who have never seen so many inches of snowfall before, are enjoying the age-old, mischievous pastime of pelting one another with hand-rolled balls of slush for the first time.

Adults are joining in, too. The London bus drivers who found themselves with idle hands on Monday indulged in some snow fighting instead, while David Cameron got in on the act - hurling snowballs at his education spokesman Michael Gove.

Hug a hoodie? Pelt him more like

But not everyone is happy with the storm of snow-throwing. Where in the past - as epitomised in those nostalgia-tinged tomes The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls - snow fighting seemed to be accepted as a normal part of life in a week-long winter wonderland, today there seems to be confusion, even green shoots of anger, over certain kinds of snowy activity.

The Daily Mirror reports that snowball fights have sparked an "avalanche" of 999 calls. Around one in seven of the calls made to police control rooms at the height of the snowy weather were about snowballs hitting people, private property or moving vehicles. On Monday, Cambridgeshire police received 121 about youths chucking snow.

"It shows how times have changed," said an officer.

When police in Hertfordshire warned children that throwing snowballs in an "irresponsible way" could face arrest or a fine, they were branded "winter killjoys". Yet one man certainly struggled to see the funny side after his van was pelted by a snow-wielding gang of children near Alexandra Palace in London. He pulled out a Stanley knife to frighten his woolly-gloved assailants away.

So what is the proper snowballing etiquette? Is it acceptable for children to lob snowballs at adults, including perfect strangers? And should the chucking of a snowball ever become a police matter?

Night of misrule

Simon Fanshawe, writer, broadcaster and author of The Done Thing: Negotiating the Minefield of Modern Manners, says those complaining to authority about being hit by a snowball are missing the point.

Upping the ante - snowballs for the 'go large' generation

Snowstorms, he says, turn society's "normal structure of authority" on its head, allowing kids to mock and embarrass adults in a way that they would never normally do.

"Manners are all about context. They are not about set rules that must always be followed. Etiquette changes depending on where you are and who you are with."

And the wonderful thing about heavy snow, says Fanshawe, is that it creates a "situation like Twelfth Night". "Twelfth Night is all about the 'night of misrule', where the servants become the masters and the masters become the servants. When snow covers Britain, something similar happens: children who would normally avoid even speaking to adults suddenly feel it is okay to throw projectiles at us.

"Snow temporarily undermines the normal structure of authority, which means it is perfectly acceptable for children to throw snowballs at strangers."

If a child were to throw something like a shoe or pencil case at a passing man or woman on a normal, non-snowy Monday morning, that would be bad manners, says Fanshawe, since it would "disrupt normal activity". But when it snows heavily, "normal activity" is disrupted anyway, and the "rules change".

What is it about snow that alters the "structures of authority"?

Lob one back?

"Well, for a start, public space becomes extremely malleable", says Fanshawe. "The distinction between road and pavement becomes less clear. Trees look less like trees and more like decorations. And school is out. Some adults don't go to work. Normality is turned on its head - and children can sense that."

Fanshawe was hit by a snowball while out jogging this week. He responded by throwing one back.

Kate McNab, a criminal solicitor in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, says that snowball-throwing could, strictly speaking, count as a form of common assault, which is when someone causes someone else to "fear or apprehend" that unlawful violence will be used against them.

"Common assault can be carried out intentionally or recklessly, which could also be the definition of hitting someone with a snowball", she says.

However, most snowball-throwing is not malicious in intent - "the intent is to have fun", says McNab - and therefore it is unlikely that many people will make a serious legal complaint.

"The real problem arises when snow is thrown at fast-moving cars. That can be dangerous."

Judi James, a leading expert in body language and social behaviour, agrees that snowballing is a fun, rule-thwarting activity - but she says it also exposes adults' underlying uncertainty today about what is an acceptable way to relate to children.

Where's the dignity?

"Children have always thrown snowballs at adults. In the past they tried to knock off gentlemen's top hats with snowballs.

Just when you thought you'd covered all eventualities... attack by macaque

"And back then, there was that wonderful adult response of shaking your fist at a child while also smiling - a response that expressed both adult authority and a recognition that children will be children. It wasn't a menacing response."

Today, however, adults feel they are caught in a Catch 22, says James.

"We sometimes don't know how to respond to something like a snowball. Some adults feel it demeans their dignity and compromises their status. All their pent-up anger, all the times their boss has had a go at them, can be unwittingly released when they are hit on the head by a snowball. But if you respond too pompously, you're likely to be hit by 20 more.

"And in our era of the nanny state, if you decide to join in the fun and throw a snowball back at the children, and it happens to contain a stone or too much ice, will you get into trouble?"

The new tortured debate about snow fighting shows how "adult authority and responses have changed" in recent years, says James.

Stuart Waiton of the Scottish youth charity Generation says the important thing for adults is - no pun intended - to keep their cool. "Kids can smell weakness, uncertainty, and other behaviour that is not 'adult-like'.

"And any adult who gets involved in a snowball fight must be aware that this means he is now entering their world - and you will therefore no longer be in control."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RUSSIA AND CHINA SEEN NEGATIVELY !

Hosting the Olympics appears to have done little for China's image

Global attitudes towards Russia and China are worsening, a poll carried out for the BBC World Service suggests.

China's positive ratings fell six points over the year to 39%, while negative views of Russia jumped eight points to 42%, according to the survey.

The survey was taken after President Barack Obama's election, but 43% still felt the US impact was negative.

More than 13,000 people in 21 countries were interviewed for the poll, part of an annual survey of world opinion.

It was carried out by international pollster GlobeScan with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (Pipa) at the University of Maryland in the 10 weeks leading up to 1 February.

In last year's poll of the same countries, people leaned more towards saying China and Russia were having a positive influence on the world.

But views of China are now divided, with 40% rating it negatively compared with 39% who view it positively.

"It seems that a successful Olympic Games has not been enough to offset other concerns that people have," he added, referring to the summer games hosted by Beijing in August 2008.

The poll also suggests that substantially more people now have a negative view of Russia's influence - 42% negative versus 30% positive - and that was before the recent disruption in Russian gas supplies to Europe.

"As for Russia, the more it acts like the old Soviet Union, the less people outside its borders seem to like it," Mr Miller said.

The World Service poll has been canvassing opinions on the influence of countries since 2005.

The US, for the first time since 2005, has surpassed Russia in positive ratings, with an average of 40% compared with 35% last year.

But it is still rated negatively by 43% of those polled, down from 47% in the 2008 poll.

Views of the US have improved in six countries, but attitudes towards it in Russia and China have grown more negative, while most people in Europe show little change.

"Though BBC polls have shown that most people around the world are hopeful that Barack Obama will improve US relations with the world, it is clear that his election alone is not enough to turn the tide," said Steven Kull, director of Pipa.

"People are still looking to see if there are significant changes in US policies."

Germany once again fared best in the poll, with every country viewing it positively and 61% of people rating it favourably, up from 55% last year.

The UK also moved up seven points, with 58% of people rating it as having a positive influence.

As was the case last year, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea were rated most negatively.

The latest results are based on 13,575 responses in 21 countries around the world. The survey has a margin of error ranging from 2.4% to 4.4% depending upon the country, 19 times out of 20.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CLARKSON PM INSULT 'UNFORGIVABLE'

Jeremy Clarkson also accused the prime minister of lying to the public

Scottish politicians have reacted angrily to comments made by Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson about Gordon Brown.

Speaking to journalists in Sydney, the presenter reportedly called the prime minister a "one-eyed Scottish idiot".

Gordon Banks, Labour MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, said the remark was "unforgivable". Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray also criticised Clarkson.

Mr Brown lost the sight in one eye after an accident as a teenager. Number 10 and the BBC declined to comment.

Clarkson is in Australia to host Top Gear Live, a stage version of the hit BBC show.

The controversial presenter compared Mr Brown to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, shortly after Mr Rudd had addressed the country on the severity of the global financial crisis.

According to The Australian newspaper, Clarkson said: "He [Rudd] genuinely looked terrified. The poor man, he's actually seen the books.

"[In the UK] we've got this one-eyed Scottish idiot.

"He keeps telling us everything's fine and he's saved the world and we know he's lying, but he's smooth at telling us."

The comments provoked anger in Scotland.

Mr Gray said: "Such a comment is really a reflection on Jeremy Clarkson and speaks for itself.

"Most people here are proud that the prime minister is a Scot and believe him to be the right person to get the UK through this global economic crisis."

In November, more than 1,800 people complained to the BBC after Clarkson made a joke on Top Gear about lorry drivers killing sex workers.

The joke followed the conviction of forklift truck driver Steve Wright for the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich.

Some 340 people also complained to regulator Ofcom, but it later ruled the joke did not breach the broadcasting code.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MPS PASS ZIMBABWE UNITY DEAL BILL.

Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to be sworn in on 11 February

Zimbabwe's lower house of parliament has passed a constitutional amendment paving the way for the country's political rivals to share power.

The change will allow opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to become prime minister, with Zanu-PF leader Robert Mugabe remaining as president.

The amendment is now before the Senate and correspondents say it is then expected to be signed by Mr Mugabe.

The deal was agreed last September but has been mired by months of disputes.

Under the agreement, negotiated by southern African leaders, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Mr Tsvangirai is to be sworn in as prime minister on 11 February.

The unity government is intended to ease Zimbabwe's economic meltdown but correspondents say this is largely dependent on the restoration of foreign aid and investment.

Donors say they will only restore aid when the government is working efficiently and equally.

Reuters news agency reports that the vote was greeted with jubilation and stomping of feet by MPs from both parties - in a rare show of unity.

Relief and trepidation in Harare

As the amendment was tabled, the MDC's chief negotiator Tendai Biti told MPs it was a feat that the rivals had come so far.

"Everything has happened on the negotiating table other than physical confrontation. It is a miracle that we are here," AFP news agency quotes him as saying.

Correspondents say Mr Biti arrived in parliament after a morning in court where his treason trial was set for 4 May.

He is accused of announcing March's presidential poll result before the electoral body, which took more than a month to make its announcement, as well as publishing false statements and insulting the president.

"We go into this government knowing that for this to work there has to be commitment," he told MPs. "It is important to establish trust from the word go."

Last week, the MDC agreed to a new timetable proposed by the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).

The months of wrangling between Zanu-PF and MDC have centred on how the most powerful cabinet posts were to be shared out - especially that of the Home Affairs ministry which controls the police.

Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for nearly 19 years

Negotiators are still trying to hammer out who gets what ahead of the unity government taking over on 13 February.

Another stumbling block had been attacks on and abduction of opposition and human right activists after the September deal - and Mr Tsvangirai still insists political abductees must be released.

Zimbabwe is enduring rampant inflation and an escalating food crisis.

An outbreak of cholera, fuelled by the collapse of infrastructure, has now infected nearly 66,000 people and killed more than 3,300.

Mr Tsvangirai won the first round of presidential elections last March, but pulled out of a run-off against Mr Mugabe in June, citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

WATER - ANOTHER GLOBAL 'CRISIS' ?

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Sharper, more intense rains may reduce the water available to farmers

If you look at the numbers, it is hard to see how many East African communities made it through the long drought of 2005 and 2006.

Among people who study human development, it is a widely-held view that each person needs about 20 litres of water each day for the basics - to drink, cook and wash sufficiently to avoid disease transmission.

Yet at the height of the East African drought, people were getting by on less than five litres a day - in some cases, less than one litre a day, enough for just three glasses of drinking water and nothing left over.

Some people, perhaps incredibly from a western vantage point, are hardy enough to survive in these conditions; but it is not a recipe for a society that is healthy and developing enough to break out of poverty.

"Obviously there are many drivers of human development," says the UN's Andrew Hudson.

"But water is the most important."

At the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where Dr Hudson works as principal technical advisor to the water governance programme, he calculated the contribution that various factors make to the Human Development Index, a measure of how societies are doing socially and economically.

"It was striking. I looked at access to energy, spending on health, spending on education - and by far the strongest driver of the HDI on a global scale was access to water and sanitation."

Two key questions arise, then.

WATER TRENDS How availability, use and needs are changing across the world In graphics

Why do some communities have so little access to water? And how will the current picture change in a world where the human population is growing, where societies are urbanising and industrialising, and where climate change may alter the raw availability of water significantly?

The UNDP is unequivocal about the first question.

"The availability of water is a concern for some countries," says the report. "But the scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis is rooted in power, poverty and inequality, not in physical availability."

Statistics on water consumption appear to back the UN's case.

Japan and Cambodia experience about the same average rainfall - about 160cm per year.

But whereas the average Japanese person can use nearly 400 litres per day, the average Cambodian must make do with about one-tenth of that.

The number of people with access to clean water is increasing

The picture is improving to some extent.

Across the world, 1.6bn more people have access to clean drinking water than in 1990.

But population growth and climatic changes could change the picture.

In some regions, "the scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis" could become one of physical availability, especially in places where consumption is already unsustainably high.

"There are several rivers that don't reach the sea any more," says Mark Smith, head of the water programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

"The Yellow River is one, the Murray-Darling (in Australia) is nearly another - they have to dredge the mouth of the river every year to make sure it doesn't dry up.

"The Aral Sea and Lake Chad have shrunk because the rivers that feed them have been largely dried out; and you can see it on a smaller scale as well, where streams that are important for small communities in Tanzania may go dry for half the year, largely because people are taking more and more water for irrigating crops."

Last year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) took an in-depth look at how the raw availability of water might alter in the future as climatic patterns change.

Its projections are derived from computer models of the Earth's hugely complex climate system, and as such are far from being firm forecasts.

A warmer climate overall means a wetter climate; warmer air can hold more moisture.

Mountain glaciers act as "natural reservoirs" Himalayan glaciers alone store water used by more than a billion people Scientists measure the volume of glaciers in "mm SLE" - the amount that sea levels would rise if the ice melted

But weather patterns are likely to shift, meaning that water will be deposited in different places with a different pattern in time.

"In general we see drying in the sub-tropics and mid-latitudes, from southern Europe across to Kazakhstan and from North Africa to Iran," recounts Martin Parry, who as co-chair of the IPCC's working group on climate impacts oversaw the water report's compilation.

"And the drying extends westwards into Central America. And there are equivalents in the southern hemisphere - southern Africa, Australia."

In some populated parts of North Africa and Central Asia, he says, people may struggle simply to get enough to drink.

Other areas, meanwhile, are projected to receive more rain - considerably more, in some cases.

The question then is whether societies can make use of it.

"If you look at India, Bangladesh and Burma, there are indications of an increase in water availability," says Professor Parry.

"But when you look in more detail you see that monsoonal precipitation will become more intense - there'll be a heavier downpour but over fewer days - so you might just end up with more runoff, which could actually mean less availability of water to the community."

A changing climate is only one of the factors likely to affect the amount of water at each person's disposal in future.

A more populated world - and there could be another 2.5 billion people on the planet by 2050 - is likely to be a thirstier world.

Those extra people will need feeding; and as agriculture accounts for about 70% of water use around the world, extra consumption for growing food is likely to reduce the amount available for those basic needs of drinking, cooking and washing.

Industry can also take water that would otherwise have ended up in peoples' mouths.

FUTURE WATER STRESS Interactive map: Water stress in a changing world

On the other hand, as a society industrialises it tends to become less reliant on farming - which could, in principle, reduce its local demand.

It is a tremendously complex picture; and forecasting its impacts makes simple climate modelling look a trivial task by comparison.

Researchers at the University of Kassel in Germany, led by Martina Floerke, have attempted it.

Their projections suggest that some regions are likely to see drastic declines in the amount of water available for personal use - and for intriguing reasons.

"The principal cause of decreasing water stress (where it occurs) is the greater availability of water due to increased annual precipitation related to climate change," they conclude.

"The principal cause of increasing water stress is growing water withdrawals, and the most important factor for this increase is the growth of domestic water use stimulated by income growth."

The modelling suggests that by the 2050s, as many as six billion people could face water scarcity (defined as less than 1,000 cubic metres per person per year), depending, most importantly, on how societies develop - a significant increase on previous estimates.

The irony is that the richer societies are the ones most likely to be able to adapt to these changes - perhaps relatively easily.

A century ago, a 500km-long pipeline was built to bring water from the Western Australian coast to the parched inland goldfields around Kalgoorlie; the economics of gold made it viable.

Now that the coastal capital Perth is drying out, there is talk of building an even longer pipeline to bring water from the north of the state.

The state recently acquired a desalination plant - an effective, but expensive, way of increasing the raw supply of clean water. A number of Middle Eastern countries are doing the same; it is even being contemplated near London.

Rivers can be diverted huge distances, as China is contemplating. Spain and Cyprus can take water deliveries by ship.

But can all societies afford such measures?

Parched Perth seeks fresh ideas

In any case, is adaptation possible to some of the really big projected changes, such as the rapid shrinking of Himalayan glaciers which may lose four-fifths of their area by 2030, removing what is effectively a huge natural reservoir storing water for more than a billion people?

"In principle you could do it, if you're equipped to do the engineering," says Mark Smith.

"But societies are going to have to get much better at deciding how they're going to use their water.

"And very often, in developing countries where institutions are not well established, decisions are made in a very ad-hoc way - someone says 'yes let's use this much for irrigation' but you're already using that much for a sugar mill, and before you know it you've allocated more than you actually have."

Two years ago I stood in a forest clearing in the west of the Amazon basin talking to researchers studying the deforestation and fires that are an increasing plague in the region.

They told me that some villages around there were experiencing water shortages.

How can that happen, I asked incredulously, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, in one of the most luxuriously verdant places on Earth?

What had brought the shortages was a combination of increased human settlement, deforestation, and a drying of some streams, possibly related to climate change.

If even the Amazon can feel these pressures, it is difficult not to think that the same picture will be played out in much starker and possibly much messier colours in parts of the world that are already feeling the heat of dwindling supplies and growing needs.

Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA DECLARES DROUGHT EMERGENCY

The prolonged drought has added to the misery in rural areas

China has declared an emergency in northern and central drought-hit regions, where nearly four million people are suffering water shortages.

Nearly half of China's winter crop - some 10m hectares (24m acres) of wheat and rape seed - are also under threat.

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered all-out efforts to fight the drought, allocating 400m yuan ($58m, £40m) in relief assistance.

China's drought relief office called it an event "rarely seen in history".

China faces droughts and floods annually but has seen a recent increase in extreme weather conditions.

The Chinese authorities say the current drought is expected to continue as no rain has been forecast in the affected areas for at least 10 days.

The Chinese leaders' decision was announced at a State Council meeting, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Government efforts should be directed at stabilising grain production, increasing farmers' income and ensuring agricultural production, the Council said.

The agriculture ministry says it is on red alert.

Eight wheat-growing regions - Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi and Gansu - are under threat, Xinhua reported.

The official China Daily newspaper, citing meteorological authorities, said Henan had recorded its worst drought 1951, going 105 consecutive days without rain.

Much of China's farming still relies on rainfall as they have a poor irrigation system.

The BBC's China analyst Shirong Chen says the prolonged drought has added to the misery in rural areas where millions of migrant workers have lost their jobs as a result of the global economic downturn.

A poor harvest in the summer would mean even less income for the farmers. The government is worried that this will dent its effort to stimulate consumer spending in rural areas, making it harder to maintain social stability, he says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

NUMBER OF ALIEN WORLDS QUANTIFIED

We are likely to be listening for a long time, even if there are many worlds

Intelligent civilisations are out there and there could be thousands of them, according to an Edinburgh scientist.

The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.

The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.

The work is reported in the International Journal of Astrobiology.

Even with the higher of the two estimates, however, it is not very likely that contact could be established with alien worlds.

While researchers often come up with overall estimates of the likelihood of intelligent life in the universe, it is a process fraught with guesswork; recent guesses put the number anywhere between a million and less than one.

"It's a process of quantifying our ignorance," said Duncan Forgan, the University of Edinburgh researcher who carried out the work.

In his new approach, Mr Forgan simulated a galaxy much like our own, allowing it to develop solar systems based on what is now known from the existence of so-called exoplanets in our galactic neighbourhood.

These simulated alien worlds were then subjected to a number of different scenarios.

The first assumed that it is difficult for life to be formed but easy for it to evolve, and suggested there were 361 intelligent civilisations in the galaxy.

A second scenario assumed life was easily formed but struggled to develop intelligence. Under these conditions, 31,513 other forms of life were estimated to exist.

The final scenario examined the possibility that life could be passed from one planet to another during asteroid collisions - a popular theory for how life arose here on Earth.

That approach gave a result of some 37,964 intelligent civilisations in existence.

While far-flung planets may reduce uncertainty in how many Earth-like planets there are, some variables in the estimate will remain guesses.

For example, the time from a planet's formation to the first sparks of life, or from there to the first intelligent civilisations, are large variables in the overall estimate.

For those, Mr Forgan says, we will have to continue to assume Earth is an average case.

"It is important to realise that the picture we've built up is still incomplete," said Mr Forgan.

"Even if alien life forms do exist, we may not necessarily be able to make contact with them, and we have no idea what form they would take.

"Life on other planets may be as varied as life on Earth and we cannot predict what intelligent life on other planets would look like or how they might behave."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS"

"WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU LEMONS,

ASK FOR A BOTTLE OF TEQUILA" !

__________

BOY BORN WITH 24 FINGERS AND TOES.

The condition runs in families

A baby boy has been born in California with 24 perfectly formed fingers and toes - six on each hand and foot.

Being born with additional digits - or being a "polydactyl" - is not wholly uncommon, but it is unusual to see the condition on every extremity.

The Bay Area hospital said staff did not notice the extra digits on ultrasound scans - and did not even spot it when Kamani Hubbard was born.

It was his father, Kris, who realised his son had some unusual features.

Polydactylism is genetic and the father said there was a family history of the condition. However he added his son's case was unique.

"Some family members have had six fingers, not completely developed. But not the toes."

A paediatrician at St Luke's hospital, Dr Michael Treece, said: "It's merely an interesting and beautiful variation rather than a worrisome thing.

"Imagine what sort of a pianist a 12-fingered person would be. Imagine what sort of flamenco guitarist. Think of their typing skills."

Others have pointed out that his family may have some difficulty establishing what the extra pig does in the famous 'This Little Piggy' refrain.

Famous polydactyls have reputedly included the English music hall entertainer Little Tich and Anne Boleyn - although the latter is still disputed by historians.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

IRAQ'S FEMALE BOMBER RECRUITER !

Samira Jassim is accused of recruiting dozens of female attackers

Suspected militant recruiter Samira Jassim reportedly calls herself "the Mother of Believers".

Detained in January by Iraqi security forces, the mother of six is accused of converting dozens of vulnerable women into suicide attackers.

In an apparent video confession, the middle-aged woman described how she identified potential bombers, helped supply them with explosives and led them to their targets.

She also explained, in a separate interview with the Associated Press, how insurgents used rape as a tool, with the "shamed" women persuaded to redeem themselves through suicide attacks.

Her apparent confession could help throw light on the recent increase in attacks in Iraq involving female bombers.

In 2007 there were eight suicide attacks by women; in 2008 there were 32, the US military says. In early January, a female bomber killed at least 35 Shia pilgrims in a blast near a Baghdad shrine.

Insurgents use female bombers because they can hide explosives under their robes and are less likely to be searched by male guards at security checkpoints.

Samira Jassim worked with Sunni militants from the Ansar al-Sunnah group in Diyala province, one of the last remaining centres of Sunni insurgency, Iraqi security officials said.

Women can sometimes bypass the security checks in Iraqi cities

She had recruited 80 women to act as bombers, 28 of whom had gone on to launch attacks, a military spokesman told journalists at a news conference in Baghdad.

In a filmed confession, the black-robed Jassim described how she recruited one woman for an attack in the city of Mukdadiyah, 100 km (62 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

"I talked to her a number of times," she said. "I went back to them (the militants) and gave them the details on her. And they told me, bring her to us... And I took her to the police station and that's where she blew herself up."

She also described the long process of persuading a woman named Amal, who had family problems, to launch an attack.

"I talked to her many times, sat with her and she was very depressed," she said.

In a separate interview with AP a week after her 21 January arrest, Jassim also described how insurgents used organised rape as a way of generating more bombers.

Her role was to persuade the traumatised victims that carrying out a suicide attack was their only way out.

That claim was impossible to verify, AP said, and during their interview with her police interrogators sat in an adjoining room.

But in a culture where rape is considered very shameful for the victim, it is not implausible, correspondents say.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF 'DR DEATH'.

A German television station has reported that one of the most wanted Nazi criminals, Aribert Heim, died in 1992 after living under a pseudonym in Egypt.

The BBC profiles the doctor who was accused of carrying out atrocities during World War II.

Aribert Heim was accused of cruel medical experiments

Aribert Heim's crimes were so severe that he earned the nickname 'Dr Death'.

Born 28 June, 1914 in Radkersburg, Austria, Heim joined the local Nazi party in 1935, three years before Austria was annexed by Germany. He later joined the Waffen SS.

He earned his chilling sobriquet for his sadism as a doctor at the Nazi's Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria.

After World War II, Heim practised medicine in the German town of Baden-Baden until 1962, when he was indicted as a war criminal and fled the country.

The subsequent search over the following decades for the former SS medical officer took investigators from Germany all around the world.

Tips came from Uruguay, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil and Chile.

Nazi-hunters were recently confident that Heim was seeing out his twilight years near his daughter in southern Chile, or across the border in Argentine Patagonia, the region between the Andes and the south Atlantic.

Now German's ZDF television has reported that Heim had been living under a pseudonym in Egypt's capital, Cairo, had converted to Islam and actually died in 1992.

The Austrian-born physician was indicted by Germany on charges that he murdered hundreds of inmates while serving as a doctor at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, where he earned his nickname.

He was accused of killing Jews using exceptionally cruel methods. According to Holocaust survivors, he performed operations and amputations without anaesthetic to see how much pain his victims could endure.

Injecting victims straight into the heart with petrol, water or poison was said to have been his favoured method at Mauthausen.

And when he was "bored", he apparently timed patients' deaths with a stopwatch.

Efraim Zuroff believed that Heim was living in South America

One testimony from a camp survivor accuses him of cutting off the head of a murdered Jewish prisoner and boiling off the flesh to enable the skull to be used as an exhibit.

Stories like this abound. One claims that the doctor removed tattooed skin from one victim and turned it into a seat cover.

Efraim Zuroff, the Simon Wiesenthal Center's top Nazi-hunter, travelled in July to the Chilean town of Puerto Montt, 657 miles (1,058 km) south of the capital Santiago, where he said Heim's elderly daughter lives.

This was because he believed the former Nazi to be living in the area.

Heim was number one on the Center's Most Wanted List of Nazi war criminals.

Heim's daughter said that her father died in 1993 in Argentina, but a death certificate was never produced.

Neither she nor her two brothers, who live in Germany, claimed the estimated $1.5m (900,000 euros; £750,000) that sat in a European bank account in Heim's name.

Members of the Heim family have previously said their father should be declared dead.

If the reports of Heim's death turn out to be true, however, Dr Zuroff said that "the German police have a very important investigation on their hands in terms of prosecuting people who helped Aribert Heim escape justice".

He pointed out that Heim's son Ruediger has previously said that the only contact he had since his father went into hiding in 1962 were two notes that appeared in his family's mailbox, and that he had no idea if he was alive or dead.

Dr Zuroff says he wants closer examination of the evidence before he finally calls off the hunt for the infamous doctor.

"The most important thing is missing: the body," he said. "There's no grave, there's no corpse, there's no DNA tests."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

TEN KILLED IN BRAZILIAN SLUM RAID.

By Gary Duffy BBC News, Rio de Janeiro

Police mount the raid in Rio de Janeiro

Ten people, including two teenage boys, have been killed during a police raid on shanty towns in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, officials say.

The authorities say those who died were suspected drug dealers.

But community and rights groups often challenge the police version of events after major security operations.

The deaths happened at a time when police in Rio de Janeiro are trying a new community policing approach in two of the city's shanty towns.

The raids involving 300 officers were carried out across four of Rio de Janeiro's sprawling shanty towns.

Armoured vehicles and helicopters were used by police searching for drugs, arms and stolen cars.

Two of the dead are reported to be teenage boys, while a woman who was hit by a stray bullet was also taken to hospital.

Brazil's shanty town challenge

The police often stay out of Rio's large shanty towns, only entering on heavily-armed raids directed against drug gangs or illegal militias.

However, the latest killings come at a time when a new approach to policing is being tried in two poor neighbourhoods, one of which was visited by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday.

Instead of withdrawing after a short and violent confrontation, the police say they are maintaining a 24-hour presence in the shanty town of Santa Marta in order to take back the area from drug traffickers.

Analysts say the experiment might offer at least a limited alternative for policing in Rio de Janeiro.

However, there are more than 900 shanty towns of various sizes in the city, and the costs and challenges of ensuring all of them are properly policed would be enormous.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHAIRMAN ARRESTED IN JAPAN 'SCAM'

Kazutsugi Nami had offered investors 36% annual returns

Japanese police have arrested the chairman of a Tokyo bedding supplier over an alleged investment scam reportedly worth $1.4bn (£970m).

Kazutsugi Nami, chairman of the now bankrupt L&G, had offered investors 36% annual returns and issued special electronic money termed "Enten".

The 75-year-old businessman had built a cult status among those who invested in his company.

He is reported to have swindled 37,000 investors, but denies any wrongdoing.

Police have confirmed his arrest but not the size of the alleged fraud.

Mr Nami and other L&G executives allegedly collected huge investment funds from clients despite knowing they could not pay the promised investment returns.

He also collected funds by issuing ''Enten'', saying that the quasi-currency could be used at company-sponsored bazaars nationwide and internet markets, according to an investigation reported by Kyodo news agency.

Mr Nami has denied any wrongdoing, AFP news agency reports.

"I'm leading 50,000 people. Can they charge a company this big with fraud?" he asked reporters.

Questioned over whether he was sorry for his investors, he was quoted as replying: "No! I have put my life at stake." He was then led away by the police.

Kazutsugi Nami had built up a cult-like following among customers.

Mr Nami wooed his so-called "shareholders", saying he had a "divine decree" to "eliminate poverty from this world", according to lawyers representing victims.

"Enten" was fed into investors' mobile telephones and used to buy items ranging from vegetables to futons, clothes and jewellery.

The name "Enten" is apparently a combination of the Japanese words for the yen currency and paradise.

The NTV network aired footage of an "Enten fair" where participants sang the praises of the investment plan.

L&G was established in 1987, at first selling bedding and health products.

It began its investment scheme, including the issuance of "Enten", in 2001.

The company stopped paying cash dividends in February 2007, and by September of that year had sacked most of its employees, Kyodo reported.

It folded in November 2007 and is now undergoing a court-led bankruptcy process.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

MAN HANDS OUT CASH IN NEW YORK

By Sima Kotecha Newsbeat US reporter

'Bailout Bill' is giving out amounts ranging from $50 to $5,000

Imagine getting £35 for doing absolutely nothing. Well in New York, a man is giving away stacks of cash to anyone who's prepared to stand in line for it.

The mystery man, who calls himself 'Bailout Bill', says in the middle of an economic crisis ordinary Americans who are struggling to make ends meet deserve a bailout.

In order to get the money people have to go the 'Bailout Booth' in the heart of Manhattan's Times Square.

It's a small cubicle, a couple of blocks away from the massive Virgin Megastore.

The minimum anyone can get is $50 (£35). The maximum is $5,000 (£3,513).

No matter who you are or what you do Bailout Bill guarantees that you'll get something if you just show up and tell your story.

Hundreds have already braved the freezing temperatures to get their free dosh. Some have stood in line for hours before getting to the front.

Gerrard Rinemoof, 34, was covered in snow before he got his cash.

He told Newsbeat it was worth it: "Our cat is sick and we had to take him to the vet, so the 50 bucks helps me pay the bill."

Hundreds of queued in the cold in New York's famous Times Square

But perhaps there is something Bailout Bill would like in exchange - even though he doesn't necessarily spell it out.

His staff hold up banners which have the address of his website printed on them.

They encourage the public to go online and check it out. It's an advertising site where people can post their videos and adverts in order to sell items they no longer want.

So maybe Bailout Bill is giving away thousands to promote his business?

Many here don't seem to care. Rodriguez, who's 24, said the entrepreneur had a big heart.

"Basically I just need to pay my bills and save money, and this money helps me do that. With my $50 I'm going to grab a McDonald's now."

The Bailout Booth doesn't end here in New York. In the coming weeks, it'll make stops in Washington DC, Boston, and Philadelphia.

One homeless woman, who didn't want to give her name, said: "I have no jacket, nowhere to live, and I'm sick. God bless this day."

BBC NEWS REPORT

GADDAFI CONDEMNS AFRICA DEMOCRACY

Col Gaddafi was elected as the African Union's new head this week

The new African Union (AU) chairman, Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi, has said that multi-party democracy in Africa leads to bloodshed.

Speaking at the AU summit in Ethiopia, Col Gaddafi said Africa was essentially tribal and political parties became tribalised, which led to bloodshed.

He concluded the best model for Africa was his own country, where opposition parties are not allowed.

Analysts say the AU is in for an interesting year under Col Gaddafi.

The BBC's Mark Doyle, at the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, says many may wonder what direction the 53-member organisation will take under his leadership over the next 12 months.

Views on Gaddafi's African mission

At the final press conference of the summit on Wednesday, Col Gaddafi sought to back up his argument by citing other countries like Kenya, where elections in December 2007 were followed by ethnic killings, and war-torn Somalia.

"We don't have any political structures [in Africa], our structures are social," Reuters news agency quotes him as saying.

"Our parties are tribal parties - that is what has led to bloodshed."

The Libyan leader's remarks could prove controversial in a continent where people have struggled for decades to have more open systems of government, says our correspondent.

He adds it seems likely activists who have fought for multi-party democracy in countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal may profoundly disagree with the new AU chairman

While these activists accept that ethnicity plays a big role in African politics, they insist the advantages of democracy over dictatorship are undeniable.

The summit had to be extended into a fourth day after disagreements over Col Gaddafi's plan to create a United States of Africa.

The Libyan leader envisages a single African military force, a single currency and a single passport for Africans to move freely around the continent.

Col Gaddafi had used his inaugural address as rotating head of the AU to push his long-cherished unity project and called for integration to begin immediately.

But many of his fellow leaders said the proposal would add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.

They said they would study the unity proposal, make a report and meet again in three months time.

In other words, our correspondent says, they are kicking the ball into the long grass.

One participant in the closed-door AU meeting said Col Gaddafi appeared to admit defeat and laid his head on the table in despair, before he swept out.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said: "He didn't walk out, he just got tired."

Before arriving at the summit, Col Gaddafi circulated a letter saying he was coming as the king of the traditional kings of Africa.

Last August, he had a group of 200 traditional leaders name him the "king of kings" of Africa.

BBC NEWS REPORT

KENYAN FIRST COUPLE IN PUBLIC ROW

Lucy Kibaki said a woman minister would have prevented the accidents

A public row has erupted in Kenya between President Mwai Kibaki and his wife over the handling of fires last week that left almost 150 people dead.

Mr Kibaki was forced to defend the security minister after his wife, Lucy, launched a blistering attack on him.

The first lady accused the minister of insensitivity towards victims of the fires and failing to prevent deaths through public education.

She said a woman minister would have prevented the tragedy.

Kenya has declared a week of mourning for victims of the two blazes.

The first, in a Nairobi supermarket, left at least 25 people dead. Police are investigating reports that doors were locked after the fire broke out to keep looters away.

The second happened in Molo, after an overturned road tanker caught fire and exploded, killing at least 120 people. Crowds had gathered around the tanker to collect spilled fuel.

Mrs Kibaki took exception to comments by Security Minister George Saitoti that Kenyans could learn a lesson from the disaster.

"How can dead people be taught a lesson?" she asked, after visiting victims of the tanker blaze in hospital on Monday.

The tanker caught fire as people were trying to collect its spilt fuel

The first lady accused Mr Saitoti of failing to anticipate such accidents and tackle them through public education.

"If it was a woman member of parliament in the ministry of internal security, she would have stopped this accident," she added.

But the president appeared to disagree with his wife, assuring Mr Saitoti of his "full confidence" in a speech two days later.

Mrs Kibaki has a reputation for volatile outbursts and this one was clearly embarrassing for the president, reports the BBC's Peter Greste in Nairobi.

In 2005, she sparked a media furore when she stormed into the offices of a leading daily newspaper in Nairobi to protest at its portrayal of the first family.

The first couple's row also reflects public anguish over the two fires and the debate about who is to blame, our correspondent adds.

FOREIGN LABOUR ROW DEAL REJECTED !

Workers say the action is not racist, but about discrimination against Britons

Workers battling against the use of foreign labour at North Lincolnshire's Lindsey Oil Refinery have refused to accept a deal proposed in Acas talks.

The suggested solution came after talks between unions and the refinery owner.

There were reports that about half of the disputed 200 jobs would be offered to British workers, but workers have been told it would be less than 25%.

Workers are angry a sub-contractor is using only non-British labour, and similar protests spread around the UK.

Speaking from the Lindsey site, the BBC's Danny Savage said: "As things stand this protest continues, this dispute is not over."

At a mass meeting on site on Wednesday, protesters were told that about 60 of the 200 jobs would be made available to British workers - 40 skilled and 20 unskilled.

They believed the figure was too low, and have also demanded proof that the foreign workers being brought in are on the same pay and terms and conditions as their British counterparts.

Total has consistently claimed this is the case, but local workers do not believe it, added the BBC correspondent.

Negotiations will continue on Wednesday, he said.

Unemployed workers and contractors in oil refineries, power stations and nuclear plants have been taking part in protests since last week.

Union activists have said the issue has been simmering in the industry for years, with British workers being excluded from applying for some jobs.

On Wednesday morning protesters again gathered at the Lindsey site, a week after the walkouts began.

The current row is centred on the North Lincolnshire plant, in North Killingholme, which is owned by French company Total.

A contract for work to expand the refinery was sub-contracted by Total's main contractor - engineering firm Jacobs - to an Italian company, IREM, which decided to use its own foreign workforce.

Total insists it is not discriminating against British workers and that the decision to award the contract was fair.

But the protests spread and in the last week thousands of workers at more than 20 sites in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have taken part in sympathy walkouts and protests.

Talks involving the unions, Total, and its contractors began on Monday in Scunthorpe, then moved to a hotel near Grimsby.

ONE WEEK OF SUPPORT PROTESTS 1-5: Stanlow oil refinery [1]; Longannet Power Station [2]; Drax Power Station [3]; Coryton Refinery [4]; Langage Power Station [5] 6-10: Marchwood Power Station [6]; Fawley Refinery [7]; Torness Power Station [8]; Mossmorran chemical plant [9]; Aberthaw power station [10] 11-15: South Hook gas terminal [11]; ICI chemical refinery [12]; Corus steel plant [13]; Fiddler's Ferry Power Station [14]; AES Kilroot Power Station [15] 16-22: Cockenzie Power Station [16]; Sellafield nuclear site [17]; Heysham nuclear power station [18]; Staythorpe power station [19]; Didcot Power Station [20] Grangemouth oil refinery [21]; St Fergus gas plant [22]

Union sources had told the BBC that the deal appeared to offer 50% of the disputed jobs to British workers.

Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of Unite, told BBC Breakfast the dispute needed to be settled, but there was still a "wider problem" to address.

"Even if this dispute is settled [there is] still a major problem about how these foreign companies, who win contracts and come complete with a workforce, are going to create other difficulties.

"We need to build in some sort of concept that the jobs that are created by these contracts are open to everyone - to foreign and to UK workers."

He said there were several other similar disputes "bubbling under" at other places.

"It will occur again, and I'm sure it will occur in other countries as well unless there's a realisation that you can't just use the freedom of labour to the exclusion of indigenous labour."

During Tuesday's demonstration outside the Lindsey plant strike committee member Phil Whitehurst said they were convinced of their case.

"People have said it's racist. It's not. We're not part of the BNP. I've shunned the BNP away from here," he said.

"It's about British workers getting access to a British construction site."

The CBI has backed the company at the centre of the dispute, while Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has said the country should focus on the economics of the recession, not on "the politics of xenophobia".

But Labour backbencher Jon Cruddas criticised the language being used by the government and said people should focus on the need for employers to respect local employment agreements as well as national pay deals.

"Unfortunately, over the last day or two, we have heard a lot of talk about xenophobia," he said.

"I am afraid that does not respect some of the issues that are at work here and that sort of language builds up the problem rather than acknowledges the nature of the problem."

Labour MP John Mann has put down a Commons early day motion "deploring" the use of foreign workers at the Lindsey refinery and praising unions for "exposing this exploitation and the absence of equal opportunities to apply for all jobs".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

OBAMA'S CABINET NOMINATIONS CRISIS

By James Coomarasamy BBC News, Washington

It was beginning to look rather awkward for President Obama.

Mr Daschle (L) has been a mentor to Mr Obama

To have one high profile nominee - Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner - reveal a tax problem was bad enough.

But when it emerged last Friday that his Health and Human Services Secretary-designate, Tom Daschle, had failed to pay around $130,000 (£90,000) in taxes on a car and chauffeur he had been provided by a business associate, a pattern of careless vetting seemed to be emerging.

And Tom Daschle was not just any nominee.

The popular former Senate Majority Leader was, in many ways, Barack Obama's Washington mentor.

It was Mr Daschle who persuaded the young man (who began his US Senate career just as Mr Daschle was ending his) not to delay his run for the White House.

And it was Mr Daschle who provided him with key inside knowledge and key members of staff - especially in the early caucus state of Iowa - to help him get there.

This closeness explains, perhaps, why the initial reaction of the President and Senate Democrats was to stand by their man.

On Monday, President Obama said he "absolutely" backed Mr Daschle.

The assumption was that - in the same way as Treasury Secretary Geithner - there would be an enquiry, an apology, but that the nomination would eventually be approved by the Senate.

It certainly looked that way after a chastened-looking Mr Daschle emerged on Monday evening from a meeting with his former Senate colleagues, who then queued up to play down his transgression and pronounce him the best man for the job.

But something changed overnight.

Just two weeks into the Obama presidency, a perception was beginning to form of a growing contradiction between the President's high-minded rhetoric on ethics and lobbying and the reality of his choices.

Having promised a new era of responsibility and trumpeted tough, new lobbying restrictions for his administration, exceptions were beginning to be the rule.

Aside from Timothy Geithner, there was an ethics waiver for William Lynn, the former lobbyist he had chosen to be Deputy Secretary of Defence.

And, as the media began to dig into Tom Daschle's own business dealings, an image was forming of someone who, while not a registered lobbyist, had inhabited a very lucrative grey area since leaving Congress.

The context was very different, but - in terms of perception, at least - there was an uncomfortable parallel between Wall Street bosses awarding huge bonuses - something dismissed by the President as "shameful" - and his own former political club of Senators closing ranks around one of their own; a man who had made millions of dollars, thanks to his political contacts.

It was starting to look not just careless, but hypocritical.

In an editorial calling for Mr Daschle to withdraw his candidacy, the New York Times referred to him as one of a long line of politicians who move "cosily between government and industry".

A president who had promised to bring change to Washington appeared to be endorsing what he repeatedly called on the campaign trail "business as usual".

And then came Nancy Killefer.

Her surprise withdrawal from consideration for the post of the government's Chief Performance Officer, because of her own tax transgressions, may have been the final straw; for the White House or Mr Daschle, it is not yet clear.

Whatever the case, just a few hours later, Tom Daschle surprised friends and foes alike by stepping down, even though only one Senator - Republican Jim DeMint - had publicly urged him to do so.

Mr Obama said he had accepted the decision with "sadness and regret".

And whatever relief there may be in the White House that a scandal has been nipped in the bud, Tom Daschle's loss is a big blow to the President, both personally and politically.

It is also a blow to advocates of health care reform - Mr Daschle's replacement is unlikely to have the same level of access to the Oval Office as he would have done.

The significance of Tuesday's decision may recede with time, but it was undoubtedly Barack Obama's worst day in office.

One that looks like the end of an initial honeymoon period for a President who has raised expectations to a level that is already proving hard to meet.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Zuma to face court after SA polls

Jacob Zuma has been in and out of court for the last few years

A high court in South Africa has postponed the corruption trial hearing for ruling African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma until 25 August.

Hundreds of people reportedly gathered outside the court in Pietermaritzburg to show their support for Mr Zuma.

Mr Zuma is favourite to become president after general elections expected around April.

Correspondents say it means he may emerge from the polls with a criminal prosecution hanging over his head.

But if he wins a separate challenge to the case in South Africa's highest court - the charges will be dropped.

Last year, Mr Zuma won a reprieve on the case on a technicality from a lower court, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling in January.

ZUMA TIMELINE June 2005: Sacked as deputy president October 2005: Charged with corruption December 2005: Charged with rape April 2006: Acquitted of rape charges September 2006: Corruption case collapses December 2007: Elected ANC president; re-charged with corruption shortly afterwards September 2008: Judge rules corruption case cannot proceed January 2009: Prosecutors win appeal, opening the way for Zuma to be recharged 2009: Elections due Zuma's unwelcome distraction Profile: Jacob Zuma

His lawyers are now applying to the Constitutional Court seeking permission to challenge that ruling allowing state prosecutors to reinstate charges.

The ANC leader's legal team will also return to the Pietermaritzburg court on 24 June to apply for a permanent stay of prosecution.

Mr Zuma denies the 16 charges of corruption, money-laundering and racketeering which stem from a controversial $5bn (£3.4bn) arms deal in 1999.

He has remained popular despite the shadow of corruption has been hanging over him for several years.

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 the arms deal.

Mr Zuma then went on trial, but that case collapsed in 2006 when the prosecution said it was not ready to proceed.

STRUGGLE TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO BAY

Political battles are predicted over the future of Guantanamo Bay

By Jonathan Beale BBC News, Guantanamo Bay

US President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order to start the process of closing down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within days.

But the experience of one senior Bush administration official suggests that this will be easier said than done.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, John Bellinger, who was Condoleezza Rice's legal advisor, spoke about the political battles that took place over its future.

For the last four years, Mr Bellinger had the unenviable task of defending America's treatment of terrorist suspects, while behind closed doors trying to bring an end to Guantanamo.

Without the burdens of office, he confesses that the prison camp has damaged America's reputation around the world. "It's certainly been a huge blackeye for the United States - an albatross round our neck."

It is easy to say it was a mistake in hindsight, he adds, though at the time he argues setting up Guantanamo was "perfectly logical".

Despite the endless debate about what to do - and a recognition by many that it was causing us real damage - we could simply not evolve into a position to close it down John Bellinger, advisor to Condoleezza Rice

What he considers to be the greater "tragedy" was that over time, when it became apparent it was such a problem, the Bush administration was unable to "pivot" to get it closed.

He says that despite his, Condoleezza Rice's and more recently Defence Secretary Robert Gates' best efforts, there were those who had "strongly-held views" who were still opposed.

I ask who? He replies "obviously the Vice President" (Dick Cheney), along with figures in the Department of Justice and the intelligence agencies.

"The real sadness," he says, "[was that] despite the endless debate about what to do - and a recognition by many that it was causing us real damage - we could simply not evolve into a position to close it down."

During his time in office, Mr Bellinger put forward proposals to empty Guantanamo.

These included transferring most detainees to other countries and sending the remainder - the most dangerous - to a military base on the US mainland.

It is likely that an Obama administration is now contemplating a similar plan. But Mr Bellinger warns that will not be easy.

He points out that nearly all of the 254 detainees still being held at Guantanamo come from countries with poor human rights records. And until now, few European countries have offered to take them instead.

Mr Bellinger says that as he travelled the world looking for countries to help he "secretly agreed" with many of their criticisms, but there was never any suggestion as how to close Guantanamo down.

Former detainee Moazzam begg and ex-guard Chris Arendt

"Not one" offered a solution, he adds, clearly frustrated.

He hopes that the new administration will have better luck. But he still thinks that it "will have a devil of a time" trying to close the camp.

He predicts "a political battle royal" if Mr Obama tries to transfer the most dangerous detainees to a US federal prison or military camp on the mainland. He says there are too many politicians and members of the public who will say "not in my backyard".

And then there is the question of how to try them. Mr Bellinger was a critic of the special military commissions set up at Guantanamo.

He says he gnashed his teeth as officials went "behind my back" to set them in process. Now though, he argues that after the intervention of the US Congress, the military commissions have become more workable.

Given the criticism, he says he would understand if Mr Obama felt the need to start all over again.

Greatest mistake

But there is still the thorny issue of what evidence would be admissible in a federal court. Namely the "enhanced" interrogations used to extract information by the CIA.

Mr Bellinger is clearly uneasy talking about torture. But he says it was "very unfortunate" that techniques like waterboarding - simulated drowning - were ever used.

In hindsight, he says the Bush administration's greatest mistake was going it alone.

Now out of office, he plans to continue a dialogue with other countries about how best to deal with and detain terrorist suspects.

He is clearly a man with a conscience. But his experience shows that Barack Obama's job will not be easy.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

GLASTONBURY TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT!

Jay-Z was a controversial choice to headline the festival last year Glastonbury's ticketing trauma

This summer's Glastonbury festival has sold out, nearly five months ahead of time and with no headliners confirmed.

Organisers launched an early ticket deposit scheme in October 2008 and say the majority of fans completed their payments by the deadline of 1 February.

Any cancelled or returned tickets will be re-sold on 5 April.

The sell-out is in stark contrast to last year's festival, when 3,000 tickets remained unsold just a day before gates opened to the public.

Emily Eavis, who runs Glastonbury with her father Michael, said: "We're chuffed to bits, especially when you look at the weather outside.

"It's shaping up to be another vintage year with a brilliant line up to be unveiled in June."

Headliners for the event, which runs from 26-28 June at Worthy Farm in Somerset, are rumoured to include Bruce Springsteen and recently re-formed Britpop band Blur.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

"Sayings"

"DONT WORRY ABOUT AVOIDING TEMPTATION ....

AS YOU GROW OLDER,

IT WILL AVOID YOU " !
________

SMITH HAPPY TO RETAIN GERS SQUAD!

Smith believes his squad will win silverware this season

Rangers manager Walter Smith says he is pleased none of his top players left Ibrox in the January transfer window.

The club had indicated they would have to sell one of their stars to ease their financial situation.

"We're obviously pleased from a footballing perspective that we have roughly the same squad for the rest the season," said Smith.

"Through necessity we were looking to sell. We'll still have to trim the squad, but it'll happen naturally."

The Rangers manager had been told to reduce his squad from 28 to about 20, as the club look to reduce their £25m overdraft.

Kris Boyd came close to making the switch to Birmingham City, but talks stalled after the striker failed to agree personal terms with the Championship club.

Captain Barry Ferguson, Allan McGregor, and Pedro Mendes were also linked with moves.

The Portuguese midfielder indicated he had little intention of leaving for Bolton Wanderers.

"To make it clear both from myself and the club there was a clear intention. Both of us were thinking the same way," he said.

"Now the transfer window is finished, there is just one thing we have to focus on now.

"We're looking forward to the rest of the season. We have a great chance to win the title, so the next four months or so will be very interesting."

Rangers chairman Sir David Murray has said he would prefer to sell fringe players in order to balance the books.

Murray said that losing to Kaunas and missing out on money generated by progress in either the Champions League or Uefa Cup meant that Rangers could not sustain their present size of squad.

And Smith said that apart from the revenues generated by European competition, the players miss testing themselves against the continent's top teams.

On Wednesday evening they host Italian giants AC Milan in a friendly match at Ibrox.

"I spoke to the players yesterday and they all want to play. I think that's a measure of how keen they are to come up against the very best," said Smith

"We've missed our European football this season and AC Milan are bringing a full squad packed with a mouth-watering array of players.

"So it's a game that everybody is looking forward to against some of the best players in the world."

Rangers are two points behind Celtic in the SPL and will face their Old Firm rivals in the final of the Co-Operative Insurance Cup next month.

The Ibrox side face Forfar in the fifth-round of the Homecoming Scottish Cup on Saturday.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.

UK TO 'KEEP UP SQUEEZE' ON MUGABE !

Robert Mugabe will stay as president under the power-sharing deal

Sanctions must be maintained on Zimbabwe to "keep the squeeze" on President Robert Mugabe's inner circle, a British cabinet minister has said.

Africa Minister Lord Malloch-Brown spoke to the BBC from an African Union summit, where leaders have called for the sanctions to be lifted.

This follows Friday's unity government deal between the MDC and Zanu-PF.

Lord Malloch-Brown said Mr Mugabe must show he had changed before Britain gave up "the stick" of targeted sanctions.

He told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "It is 'all in good time' as far as sanctions goes. We need to see real progress and results from this new government."

Speaking from the final day of the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, he added:

"There is a misunderstanding of what these sanctions are. They are aimed at the individuals - and the companies supporting these individuals - around Mr Mugabe.

"They are not aimed at the country of Zimbabwe or its people. To keep the squeeze on these people, to make sure they do really share power and perform properly in this new government, we need to keep this lever for a while."

Donors have said they would only provide aid once a unity government is in place.

AU leaders' push for the lifting of travel and financial sanctions against the leadership of Mr Mugabe has not been the only controversial call from the summit.

African heads of state meeting in the Ethiopian capital have also renewed calls for a suspension of moves to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

Aid diary: Fighting cholera

BBC world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle in Addis Ababa says African leaders tend to look after their own.

He says that while Africa has become much more democratic and open in recent years, when it comes to outsiders criticising individual leaders, the AU tends to close ranks.

Older African leaders remember Mr Mugabe as a hero of the anti-colonial struggle, he says.

And while some ordinary Africans believe any debt owed to liberation fighters does not excuse misrule today, they are not in charge, our correspondent adds.

Under last week's deal, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Mr Tsvangirai will be sworn in as prime minister on 11 February and Mr Mugabe will stay as president.

A power-sharing accord between the MDC and Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF was signed last September, but got mired in ever more bitter disputes.

The power-sharing government is intended to ease Zimbabwe's economic meltdown but correspondents say this is largely dependent on the restoration of foreign aid and investment.

Zimbabwe is enduring rampant inflation and an escalating food crisis.

Meanwhile the World Health Organization (WHO) says an outbreak of cholera, fuelled by the collapse of infrastructure, has now infected almost 65,000 people and killed nearly 3,300.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

US SKYDIVER LANDS DEAD INSTRUCTOR !

Daniel Pharr managed to steer the parachute using toggles

A US soldier on his first skydive has landed safely despite the death of his instructor during the descent.

Daniel Pharr steered himself and the instructor clear of a house and trees, touching down about 0.3 miles (0.5km) from the intended landing point.

They had jumped from 13,500ft (4,100m) in Chester, South Carolina.

Initial indications showed the instructor had suffered a heart attack after releasing the parachute, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Mr Pharr, 25, said that once on the ground he had tried resuscitate the 49-year-old instructor, but to no avail.

He also described the moments after the pair had skydived for about a minute.

"He pulled the chute," Mr Pharr was quoted as saying by AP.

"It got super quiet. It's eerily quiet up there. I made the comment to him, 'It's surprising how quiet it is.' And he's like: 'Welcome to my world.'"

After a few seconds Mr Pharr asked his instructor a question, but got no answer - even when he asked a second time.

"And then I just looked up at him and he looked like he was conscious, but just talking to him, I realised something was wrong," Mr Pharr said.

"So at that point I realised I was just going to have to do what I had to do to get down to the ground and try to help him."

Mr Pharr said he knew from TV that he had to pull the parachute's toggles in order to steer.

Instructors on the ground said that if he had pulled too hard the parachute may have spun out of control, and he too could have died.

"They told me afterward that it was amazing that I knew to do that. This is my survival instinct at that point."
BBC NEWS REPORT.

GAZA HOSPITAL BEARS HEAVY STRAIN !

By Aleem Maqbool BBC News, Gaza City

Yahya lost his right leg in an Israeli airstrike near his home

Twenty-year-old Yahya Abu Saif lies in his hospital bed looking wide-eyed, gaunt and scared.

He was lucky to survive an Israeli air strike. But, like so many others in Gaza, his life was transformed in an instant.

He lost his right leg in the explosion. The left side of his body is paralysed.

"I had just left the mosque near my home and was going home after prayers," he says, with a little difficulty.

"They dropped a bomb on the mosque and I was thrown in the air, but I don't remember what happened after that.

"My family told me 15 people were killed and 20 people injured, including me."

Yahya says he used to go to university and wanted to be a teacher one day.

"Now I will have a life of hospitals. I know I will just need medical care forever."

As we left the room, we found Yahya's elder brother outside, wiping away tears.

Al-Wafa Hospital, to which Yahya has been admitted, is the only one in Gaza which specialises in treating amputees.

We feel shy to tell patients that they can't come here; they have a right to come, but we have no choice Dr Tariq Dardas Al-Wafa Hospital

At a time when hundreds more people need its care, the hospital itself was shelled and damaged in the fighting.

"It was a miserable time for us and the patients," says Dr Tariq Dardas.

"From midnight on 16 January until 9am, there was constant shelling. We called the Red Cross and civilian defence to help us leave, but nobody would come to this area under those circumstances.

"All the staff members were scared but, of course, we could not leave our patients.

"Many of them had spinal injuries or were paraplegic. It was so difficult for us to move them all to the other side of the building, but thank God we did. One elderly patient sustained head injuries, but it could have been much worse."

Dr Dardas shows us parts of the building he says were hit by tank shells.

Hospitals have been damaged at the same time as many people need care

"Ninety percent of the windows have been broken, some rooms have been totally destroyed. About one-third of our new building has been destroyed. It has had a big impact on what we can do," he says.

"We estimate several hundred people have lost limbs and are in need of rehabilitation here. We feel shy to tell patients that they can't come here; they have a right to come, but we have no choice."

The health system in Gaza is under tremendous strain. Not just because of the thousands of injured following the Israeli offensive, but also because of the physical damage done to medical facilities like Al-Wafa.

There also continue to be the difficulties of bringing supplies into Gaza while the crossings into the territory are tightly controlled.

To ease the pressure, scores of patients were allowed through Gaza's border with Egypt for short-term treatment abroad. But most will soon return.

Al-Wafa Hospital is one of the few places in Gaza which could provide them with specialist psychiatric assistance to come to terms with their new realities.

Right now, Al-Wafa itself is appealing for help.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

SAUDIS ISSUE OVERSEAS WANTED LIST !

Two Saudis released from Guantanamo have resurfaced in Yemen

Saudi Arabia has issued a list of 83 wanted militants living overseas, calling on them to return to their home country and resume normal life.

All the suspects are Saudis, except for two men from neighbouring Yemen.

The kingdom has put many militants returning from the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay or from Iraq through rehabilitation programmes.

But officials have acknowledged recently that some of these have rejoined armed groups.

Last month al-Qaeda's wing in neighbouring Yemen named two Saudis released from Guantanamo as commanders.

Since 2003 Saudi Arabia has cracked down on those suspected of militant activity within the country, saying in October that it had charged 991 al-Qaeda suspects over attacks.

Most militants on wanted lists have been killed by security forces or arrested.

But correspondents say Saudi Arabia has been more cautious in pursuing people suspected of attacks outside the country, fearing a backlash from domestic sympathisers.

Interior ministry spokesman Brig Gen Mansour al-Turki told the Associated Press news agency that the men should turn themselves in to Saudi embassies.

"They will help them return to Saudi Arabia and unite with their families," he said.

"Reuniting with their families may not happen instantly. There may be a process that might include rehabilitation."

The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite news channel identified one of the 83 wanted as Saleh al-Qaraawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi TV cited an interior ministry official as saying 15 other men had gone back to their families, and "been helped to return to a normal life".

It said the men had "adopted the straying ideology", a reference to al-Qaeda.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

Snow prints aid burglary arrest

Police followed footprints in the snow and made an arrest following a robbery at a County Durham club.

Officers were called to the Ivy Leaf Club in Burnhope at 0130 GMT, when an alarm was triggered, and found cash had been stolen from the safe.

A police spokesman said officers were able to follow footsteps in the snow to a house in the village.

A man in his 20s has been arrested on suspicion of burglary and is being questioned by police in Consett.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE AID DIARY : FIGHTING CHOLERA

A boy cries at the funeral of his grandmother, who died from cholera

More than 3,000 people have died from the worst outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe's history, which has infected more than 60,000 people.

The epidemic has been fuelled by the country's economic meltdown, which has led to the collapse of the country's water, health and sanitation systems.

Matthew Cochrane, from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is travelling around Zimbabwe this week to see the situation for himself and is keeping a diary for the BBC News website.

Monday, 2 February, Kwekwe

The small clinic at Kwekwe has received 131 cholera patients since last Wednesday.

The clinic - set up to provide basic outpatient services - has been overwhelmed.

On Saturday, when the Red Cross Red Crescent arrived, the building was full to overflowing.

The ward was chaotic: severe cases lay alongside mild cases, and in the midst of it all lay three bodies wrapped in plastic.

One of them wasn't longer than 2ft (0.6m) - a child.

We arrived as the tent was being erected in the clinic's yard by a team of Zimbabwe Red Cross volunteers.

It'll be up and running on Monday, and will provide treatment and medication for the more serious cases.

We jumped back in the car and headed to Tiger Reef, a small mining town about 20 minutes west of Kwekwe.

Almost all of the cases seen at the clinic had come from here and the Zimbabwe Red Cross had decided to focus a lot of their public outreach efforts here.

Red Cross workers are trying to raise awareness about the disease

We met Helen Hawkings from the British Red Cross and joined her as she headed off to the bus stop - the local gathering point on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Information is the key in a cholera outbreak.

The illness is so easy to prevent - it's really just about basic hygiene.

So there is a huge amount of work being done by the Red Cross Red Crescent to sensitise communities to the risks they face, and share with them the simple steps they can take to dramatically reduce these risks.

But Tiger Reef is a mess.

The community hasn't had running water for months - not since the mining company failed to pay the electricity bill - and the only toilets are the modest public ones.

The deadly water-borne epidemic has infected more than 60,000 people

You can imagine what they look like.

A crowd of about 300 people gathered around Helen and two young Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers.

The frustration was palpable.

How, the community asked, can we deal with this cholera, when we don't have toilets and we have to walk 3km (two miles) to the river to get water?

"We know you are frustrated," said Helen. "We know that these frustrations didn't arrive last week. But last week, there was a serious outbreak of cholera.

"Right now, we can't fix the long-term problems, but we can make sure that you don't get sick."
BBC NEWS REPORT.

SOUTHERLY PTARMIGAN DELCINE FEARS !

A National Trust for Scotland (NTS) survey failed to find any ptarmigan on Goatfell and the Arran mountains - its most southerly outpost. This has prompted fears that the bird is no longer breeding there.

The conservation charity studied areas on its mountainous estates of Goatfell, Ben Lomond, Ben Lawers and Mar Lodge.

The work was carried out throughout 2008, with some specialist advice from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), to establish the population patterns of ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus), an important montane game bird of the Scottish Highlands.

Worryingly, there were no signs of breeding ptarmigan on Arran during the course of intensive surveys, sometimes involving up to 15 conservation experts and volunteers.

Stronger breeding numbers were recorded on Mar Lodge Estate

The ptarmigan population on Arran has fluctuated in the past.

A survey in 1981 confirmed 28 birds, however, information from the late 1960s suggested a similar situation to 2008 - if the birds are present at all, there are very few of them.

The findings suggest that Ben Lomond could possibly now host the most southerly breeding population in Scotland.

Mr Lindsay Mackinlay, nature adviser at the NTS, said: "Ptarmigan were found to be breeding on most of our mountains, which is good news.

"However, on Arran, very intensive survey work, sometimes with dogs, found no live bird sightings.

"The public have reported the odd sighting so we know they are still on Arran, but whether they bred in 2008 is another matter.

"This is a marked change from 1981, when 28 birds, including chicks, were seen in one season.

A total of 14 birds were recorded on the Kintail range

"Ben Lomond and Goatfell are excellent places to see if changing weather patterns will affect the ptarmigan.

"If predictions about climate change are correct, it is possible that the birds may disappear from Ben Lomond over the coming years."

Ptarmigan blend so easily into their mountainous background and with their seasonally changing plumage are hard to spot but are frequently seen by hill-walkers on mountain tops and ridges.

They look very similar to red grouse but are usually only seen above 700m on the southern Scottish mountains. They measure around 35cm from bill to tail.

In winter, their plumage is mostly white, in spring they are white and grey and in summer they become greyer with darker blotches. The under-body remains mostly white all year round.

There is concern over the long-term fate of the ptarmigan population in many upland locations due to the possible effects of climate change and changes in land management.

AREA INFORMATION SURVEY FOR 2008 Goatfell - No birds found during surveys - a member of the public saw one bird - a few field signs Ben Lomond - three pairs of birds, with young seen; many field signs Ben Lawers - eight pairs, with young seen - many field signs Mar Lodge - more than 70 birds (including young) seen in July, and more than 30 birds in September Kintail - not estimated, but 14 records of birds in 2008

This has led the NTS to seriously consider a long term-plan to closely monitor the ptarmigan and other upland birds on its mountain properties.

The reasons for the changes will be the subject of further monitoring and examination by the NTS, and conservation experts are working with the BTO to develop the best methods for doing this important work.

Lindsay Mackinlay explained: "We know that ptarmigan populations can be cyclical, but sightings of this hardy bird have been few and far between on Arran, and especially Goatfell, for a number of years now.

"This change could be down to a number of factors - it could be part of a long-term natural cycle and we're in a trough at the moment.

"Or it could be something more serious, relating to the health of the mountains or even a changing climate. We need to do more work on Arran to understand what is going on."

Mr Mackinlay is keen to engage with public assistance in their monitoring plans and is hopeful that more birds will be seen on Arran in the future.

"We would ask anyone walking on Arran, Ben Lomond or any of the NTS' mountains to get in touch with us this year if you do see ptarmigan.

"Such information is essential if we are to get to grips with what is going on with our ptarmigan."

Anyone interested in assisting with future surveys should contact Lindsay Mackinlay at the National Trust for Scotland, Wemyss House, 28 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, or e-mail lmackinlay@nts.org.uk.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

VOLCANO ERUPTS CLOSE TO TOKYO

Japan's Mount Asama volcano has erupted, spewing smoke almost 2km (1.3 miles) into the air and causing ash to drift over parts of the capital, Tokyo.

There were no reports of injuries or damage in the sparsely populated area around the mountain, 145km north-west of Tokyo.

Chunks of rock from the explosion were found about 1km from the volcano.

Residents living within a 4km radius of the mountain have been urged to be cautious.

Volcanic ash fell on nearby areas as well as parts of Tokyo, Japan's meteorological agency said.

TV reports showed neighbourhoods sprinkled with white flakes.

Mount Asama is 2,568m (8,425 ft) high, with snow-covered peaks. No lava flows could be seen.

The last major eruption of Mount Asama took place in September 2004, when it spewed ash and rock as far as 200km away.

A huge eruption in 1783 caused widespread damage and killed about 1,500 people.

With 108 active volcanoes, Japan is among the most seismically busy countries in the world.

The country lies in the so-called Ring of Fire - a series of volcanoes and faultlines that outline the Pacific Ocean.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

SWIMMER PHELPS REGRETS POT PIPE!

Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals overall, 14 of them gold

US swimming star Michael Phelps has admitted to "regrettable behaviour", after a UK newspaper published a photo of him apparently smoking cannabis.

Phelps, 23, who won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last year, was pictured by the News of the World inhaling from a glass pipe.

The picture was taken in November at a party in the University of South Carolina, the newspaper said.

Phelps apologised to fans and said the incident would not be repeated.

In a statement sent to the Associated Press news agency, the swimmer acknowledged the photo was authentic.

"I engaged in behaviour which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," he said. "I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. "For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."

The US Olympic Committee said it was "disappointed" with Phelps' behaviour.

"Michael is a role model, and he is well aware of the responsibilities and accountability that come with setting a positive example for others, particularly young people," it said in a statement. "In this instance, regrettably, he failed to fulfil those responsibilities."

USA Swimming said it hoped that "Michael can learn from this incident and move forward in a positive way".

Meanwhile, the head of America's anti-doping agency said Phelps' participation in a pilot test programme designed to increase the accuracy of doping tests could be at risk.

"For one of the Olympics' biggest heroes it's disappointing, and we'll evaluate whether he remains in that programme," Travis Tygart said.

Michael Phelps broke seven world records in Beijing, eight American records and eight Olympic records to become the most decorated male Olympian of all time with a total of 16 medals, including 14 golds.

In January he was named the United States Olympic Committee's sportsman of the year for 2008.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

"Sayings"

"He who laughs last

took a long time to get the joke" !

WOOLWORTHS TO BE RE-BORN ONLINE!

The closure of Woolworths prompted huge job losses

Woolworths is to be re-launched as an online retailer after being bought by the owners of the Daily Telegraph, Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay.

The much-loved, High Street chain went into administration in November and its more than 800 stores closed a month ago with debts of £385m.

It is thought only a fraction of the former total of almost 30,000 staff will get their jobs back.

Woolworths' children's clothing label Ladybird is also to be re-born online.

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme

The reclusive Barclay twins, who are based in Brecqhou in the Channel Islands, intend re-launching the brand alongside their other online retailers, including Great Universal and Marshall Ward.

The Woolworths' store closures followed a clearance sale which saw stock and fixtures and fittings being sold at discount prices.

Empty stores in prime High Street locations are tipped to be reopened by other businesses.

Debt-laden Woolworths saw its difficulties compounded last year when it was forced to pay cash while buying goods from suppliers because trade credit insurers were no longer prepared to cover its suppliers.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

HEAVY SNOW HITS MUCH OF U.K.

Heavy snow has fallen across large parts of England disrupting travel and closing schools as forecasters warned of the most severe snow for six years.

South-east England was hardest hit, with London buses pulled from service and airport runways closing.

The snow also resulted in jack-knifed lorries blocking the M1 and the M25.

The Met Office has issued an extreme weather warning for England, Wales and parts of eastern Scotland. More snow is forecast later and on Tuesday.

MeteoGroup, the Press Association's weather division, said up to 10cm of snow had already fallen in some parts of Greater London, with 13cm reported near Stansted and 6cm at Heathrow Airport.

A spokeswoman said: "The South West has escaped the worst of the snow, but we could see another 10cm in Greater London over the next 24 hours, and even more than that in Yorkshire and the Pennines."

Air travel has been badly affected.

• London City airport is closed, and a runway at Southampton airport has also shut.
• Heathrow Airport has had to shut one of its two runways and says it will take about two hours to reopen.
• BAA has warned passengers travelling to and from Heathrow and Stansted airports to expect "significant delays and cancellations". Leeds Bradford Airport is also experiencing long delays.
• Gatwick is open, although fewer aircraft are able to take off. Some 23 flights had to be cancelled and 18 diverted to other airports after Gatwick closed its runway for two hours on Sunday evening.
• There is no service on the Gatwick Express.

IMPACT OF THE SNOWFALL London buses withdrawn Gatwick Airport temporarily closed Passengers stranded at Gatwick Train services cancelled Jack-knifed lorries obstruct M1 and M25

Passengers due to fly out during the day are being urged to double-check their flights are not affected before they begin their journeys.

On the roads, motorists were being warned of dangerous driving conditions.

• There are warnings on the M6 in Greater Manchester, while the M60, M66 and M602 have also been affected by the snow.

• The M25 is closed clockwise between Reigate and Leatherhead, junctions 8 and 9 and there are reports of several vehicles becoming stuck in the snow.

• The London-bound M20 in Kent was temporarily closed between junction nine at the Ashford turn-off and junction eight at the Leeds Castle turn-off.

And there was more bad news for people trying to use public transport.

• All London buses have been withdrawn from service due "to adverse weather and dangerous driving conditions"

A BBC reporter said he saw many people left confused and distressed after waiting for long periods for buses, only to see them drive past without being in service.

The Highways Agency said people should only take essential journeys

There are also problems on the London Underground and rail network.

• Many Tube lines are partially suspended and the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines entirely suspended.

• South West trains is running a reduced service on most routes and passengers are advised not to travel unless their journey is essential.

Scotland Yard said it had reports of a number of crashes in the early hours, though no-one was seriously hurt.

'Flirting with hypothermia'

The Highways Agency said there have been too many minor accidents on the roads "to put a number on".

The agency recommended people should only make essential journeys.

One motorist, driving in the Midlands, told the BBC conditions were much clearer there, but highway officers told him they had responded to 1,735 incidents over a 24-hour period in the East Midlands alone.

The Highways Agency said the organisation was well prepared to deal with snowfall over roads after criticism over its reaction to severe weather in 2003.

It added that the number of traffic officer patrols had been increased, there were extra staff to control rooms across the country and gritters had been working through the night.

The AA has warned motorists to ensure they keep warm clothes in their vehicles if they were planning to go out, or else risk "flirting with hypothermia".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

UN ENVOY MEETS AUNG SAN SUU KYI !

Mr Gambari's previous visit to Burma attracted little praise

United Nations special envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari has met detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, government officials have said.

No details of the talks were released. Mr Gambari's visit is part of a mission aimed at promoting dialogue between Burma's opposition and military rulers.

Ms Suu Kyi declined to meet Mr Gambari during his last visit six months ago due to a lack of progress in reform.

She has spent much of the past 19 years under house arrest.

Mr Gambari, who arrived in Burma on Saturday, had talks with Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

It is unclear whether he will be allowed to meet the head of state, General Than Shwe.

The UN envoy told diplomats that his objectives are to urge the release of political prisoners, discuss the country's ailing economy and revive a dialogue between Ms Suu Kyi and the junta.

Mr Gambari's seventh trip to the country comes amid criticism that he has failed to achieve Ms Suu Kyi's release or any other discernible progress from his diplomacy.

Last week Win Naing, a spokesman for Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), told the Thailand-based magazine Irrawaddy:

"After the last six visits to Burma by the special envoy, we did not see any concrete results for political development in the country.

"But we hope there may be a solution to start a genuine dialogue on this trip."

BBC South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head says that even if Mr Gambari managed to meet Than Shwe, it was unlikely anything could be achieved.

The military is pushing ahead with a tightly-controlled election next year, which is guaranteed to leave it holding most of the levers of power. It has recently imposed long jail sentences on dozens of political activists.

Mr Gambari hopes he can discuss a possible future visit to Burma by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, but diplomats say that would be inconceivable under current conditions.

Burma's ruling generals have continued to suppress dissent since crushing pro-democracy protests led by monks in September 2007.

Rights groups say the number of political prisoners being held has doubled to 2,100 since then, with some given sentences of 65 years.

The NLD won a general election in 1990 but the junta refused to allow the party to assume power.

The junta says it will hold elections in 2010 under a revised constitution, a process which the opposition sees as fundamentally flawed.

In recent months, the generals have further consolidated their grip on power, pushing through a constitution which reserves 25% of the seats in any future parliament for the military.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

LEGENDARY BRITISH WARSHIP 'FOUND' !

An artist's impression of how HMS Victory may have looked

A US-based salvage firm is believed to have found remains from the wreck of a legendary British warship which sank in the English Channel in 1744.

Odyssey Marine Exploration is expected to announce on Monday that it has found HMS Victory, the forerunner of Nelson's famous flagship of the same name.

The valuables from the vessel, including brass cannons, could be worth millions of pounds, some experts say.

If confirmed, the find could trigger a row with the British government.

The remains from HMS Victory have been reportedly found in international waters.

But as a military wreck, they officially belong to the British state.

Ahead of the expected announcement at a news conference in London on Monday, Odyssey Marine Exploration's CEO Greg Stemm said the firm was negotiating with Britain over collaborating on the project.

"This is a big one, just because of the history," Mr Stemm was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

"Very rarely do you solve an age-old mystery like this."

Mr Stemm declined to reveal the exact location of the warship's remains.

"We found this more than 50 miles (80km) from where anybody would have thought it went down," he said.

HMS Victory has been described by some maritime experts as "the finest ship in the world" at its time.

It sank with more than 1,100 seamen aboard, including Admiral Sir John Balchen, in a fierce storm off the Channel Islands.

The ship's exact location has since remained a mystery, despite numerous attempts by salvagers to find it.

The vessel had 100 brass cannons and reportedly some 100,000 gold coins on board.

In 2007, Odyssey said it had salvaged 17 tonnes of gold and silver coins, worth $500m (£343m), from a shipwreck in the North Atlantic.

The Spanish government later sued the company, claiming the the sunken ship was a famous 19th-Century Spanish galleon.

The case is pending.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

THOUSANDS PROTEST ACROSS RUSSIA !

Thousands of people have held rallies across Russia protesting against what they describe as the government's mismanagement of the economy.

The biggest demonstration took place in the eastern city of Vladivostok, where protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

In the capital Moscow, police arrested a number of people at an unauthorised gathering by a radical party.

Meanwhile, government supporters also held their rallies across the country.

Protests on such a large scale were unthinkable just a few months ago as the economy boomed with record high oil prices and as the Kremlin tightened its grip over almost all aspects of society, the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says.

But now with the economy in deep trouble, there is real fear amongst ordinary people about what the future will hold, he says.

He adds that unemployment is rising rapidly, as are the prices of basic food and utilities.

In Vladivostok, the anti-government demonstration was called by the Communist Party.

In pictures: Russian demonstrations

"The crisis is in the heads of the authorities, not in the economy!" chanted protesters.

The protest was joined by a local group angered by higher tariffs imposed on cars imported to the city.

The region has thrived on the car import business and the government's decision has led to job losses, correspondents say.

In Moscow, police detained a number of members of the radical National Bolshevik Party, including its leader Eduard Limonov.

Separately, our correspondent says he witnessed a small group of supporters of former world chess champion Gary Kasparov - who is now an opposition figure - being attacked by unknown masked men before later being arrested by police.

Earlier, about 1,000 supporters of the Communist Party were allowed by the authorities to hold their demonstration in the capital.

Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said the economic crisis had exposed the bankruptcy of Mr Putin's policies.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

CATHY BUCKLE'S LETTER FROM ZIMBABWE!

A smudge of caramel

Saturday 31st January 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Early in the morning on the last day of January 2009 I witnessed the start of a new day over Zimbabwe and wondered if this was The Day, the one that would be remembered as our new beginning. A heavy bank of purple clouds lay on the horizon broken by a few wisps of startling white. A slight breeze stirred in the trees and the air was busy with early birds: fork-tailed drongoes, bulbuls and shrikes. A ruckus in the Mulberry tree in my garden meant the weaver birds were awake. Four pairs of birds are breeding in the tree, they stripped the leaves from many branches before they were satisfied with their nests but now their little colony is well established.

I couldn't resist walking barefoot in the dew laden grass and getting a close up view of two mushrooms that had shot up overnight. Thin stems, delicate creamy caps topped with a smudge of caramel, they had come from nowhere, grown two inches in a single night and then, as the sun got hotter they shrivelled up and were gone.

In amongst the snapshots of beauty like this, Zimbabwe is surrounded by sickness, hunger and extreme poverty. Thousands have died of cholera in the last few months and the epidemic continues to rage. It's often hard to believe that such horror can be happening in such a beautiful place and hard to see how we can ever get back to being a normal, productive, healthy, free people.

The decision by the MDC to take part in a unity government has blown a breath of clean air into our sick and stagnant country. It has given us hope again, a chance to test the trust that we put into the men and women we chose to lead our country when we elected them nearly a year ago. Despite all the negatives involved in this unity government, this is a chance for change for Zimbabwe. We are sceptical, suspicious and even doubtful that unity can be forged between perpetrators and victims, doubtful that this can work. It is not the clean sweep that we hoped for but it is at least somewhere to start.

Until next time, thanks for reading,

love cathy

FINES FRAUD HITS ITALIAN DRIVERS !

By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, Rome

Drivers who made mistakes were caught on camera and fined

Thousands of drivers in Italy are expected to seek compensation after it was revealed that a system to catch them jumping red lights was rigged.

More than 100 people, including police officers, are being investigated as part of the fraud.

The T-Redspeed system - a revolutionary camera technology - has been in use for two years in 300 areas across Italy.

Cameras linked to traffic lights capture 3-d images of vehicles if they jump the lights or are speeding.

It can also detect offences like illegal u-turns.

It is believed more than a million drivers have been trapped by the system.

But it is now claimed the lights were rigged to change from yellow to red in three seconds instead of the regulation five or six seconds.

The fraud was uncovered by a senior police officer who noticed an unusually high number of fines being issued.

Instead of an average 15 fines a day in some places, the figure jumped to more than 1,000.

The fraud may have netted as much as $170m (£116.4m) for those involved.

The scheme's inventor is now under house arrest, though his lawyers say he is innocent.

More than 100 other people including 63 police commanders are also being investigated as part of the scam.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CANCER PROTECTION SECRET REVEALED!

Zebrafish share the p53 gene with humans

Scientists say they have discovered a missing link in the way cells protect themselves against cancer.

They have uncovered how cells switch a gene called p53, which can block the development of tumours, on and off.

The researchers say the finding has important implications for cancer treatment and diagnosis.

The study, published in Genes And Development, was carried out by teams of scientists in Singapore and the University of Dundee.

The p53 gene, first discovered 30 years ago, plays a vital role in keeping the body healthy by ordering damaged cells to commit suicide, or by stopping them dividing while key repair work is carried out.

In half of all cancers the gene is either damaged or inactive, giving damaged cells a free rein to keep dividing and form cancer.

In the latest study, the scientists used a genetic trick to make zebrafish turn green when the p53 gene was switched on to explore the way it was regulated.

They found that the p53 gene makes not only the well-established p53 protein, but also an alternative "control switch" variation of the p53 protein - known as an isoform.

Normally zebrafish, which carry the same p53 gene as humans, can survive low doses of radiation, which causes damage to the DNA, because the gene steps in to repair that damage.

But no such repair took place in zebrafish without the isoform switch, and they died after radiation exposure.

The researchers said this proved that the switch played a crucial role in enabling p53 to do its repair work.

Lead researcher Professor Sir David Lane, said: "The function of p53 is critical to the way that many cancer treatments kill cells since radiotherapy and chemotherapy act in part by triggering cell suicide in response to DNA damage.

"So understanding more about how this gene is controlled in cells is really important in finding ways to prevent cells from turning cancerous."

Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK's director of cancer information, said: "This is a really exciting study which improves our understanding of how the p53 gene works.

"Discovering how it is regulated will have incredibly important implications in the development of better drugs and ways to diagnose cancer."
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CHINA BIRTH DEFECTS 'UP SHARPLY' !

The report suggests China's rapid development has a human cost

A senior family planning official in China has noted an alarming rise in the number of babies with birth defects, a Chinese media report says.

Jiang Fan, from China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, said environmental pollution was a cause of the increase.

The coal-mining heartland of Shanxi province had the biggest problem.

China has reported the trend before, and it was not clear if Mr Jiang was commenting on new or old statistics.

A 2007 commission report said the rate of defects had risen 40% since 2001, from 104.9 per 10,000 births to 145.5 in 2006.

Officials blame emissions from Shanxi's large coal and chemical industry for the problems there.

"The problem of birth defects is related to environmental pollution, especially in eight main coal zones," said An Huanxiao, the director of Shanxi provincial family planning agency.

Mr Jiang said a child was born with physical defects every 30 seconds because of the degrading environment.

Correspondents say the report suggests there is a human cost to China's rapid economic development.

Researchers also blamed exposure to nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulates for the increase.

"The number of newborns with birth defects is constantly increasing in both urban and rural areas," China Daily newspaper quoted Mr Jiang as saying.

"The rather alarming increase has forced us to kick off a high-level prevention plan."

The commission had introduced a screening programme in the eight worst-affected provinces, Mr Jiang said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

SYNAGOGUE DESACRATED IN VENEZUELA !

An armed gang has ransacked the oldest Jewish synagogue in the Venezuelan capital Caracas after occupying the building for several hours.

About 15 unidentified men broke into the building before daubing graffiti on the walls and desecrating scriptures.

They also called for Jewish people to be expelled from the country.

Jewish leaders say tensions have risen since Venezuela broke diplomatic relations with Israel this month over its recent military offensive in Gaza.

Elias Farache, president of Venezuela's Jewish Association, said the gang had tied and gagged security guards before destroying offices and the place where holy books were kept.

Anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli slogans were painted on the walls.

"Never in the history of Venezuela's Jewish community have we been the target of such an aggression," said Mr Farache.

"The climate is very tense. We feel threatened, intimidated, attacked."

Venezuela and Israel have had strained relations for some time, and Caracas has been fiercely critical of Israel's military operations in Gaza, which started in late December.

The Venezuelan ambassador and his staff were ordered to leave the country on 6 January, and President Hugo Chavez has urged Israelis to stand up against their government.

Israel responded by ordering Venezuelan diplomats to leave, declaring them "persona non grata in Israel" earlier this week.

But Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro condemned the "criminal act of vandalism" at the synagogue.

"We call all the Venezuelan people, the entire Venezuelan community, to reject these actions, with the same moral force with which we reject the crimes committed against the Palestinian people," he said.

Venezuelan Information Minister Jesse Chacon also condemned the attack and denied it had any connection with the government.

He said the government's "excellent relationship" with Venezuela's Jewish community was in no way affected by Israel's actions.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

CYBERCRIME THREAT RISING SHARPLY !

By Tim Weber Business editor, BBC News website, in Davos

Jonathan Zittrain says traditional law enforcement does not work online.

The threat of cybercrime is rising sharply, experts have warned at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

They called for a new system to tackle well-organised gangs of cybercriminals.

Online theft costs $1 trillion a year, the number of attacks is rising sharply and too many people do not know how to protect themselves, they said.

The internet was vulnerable, they said, but as it was now part of society's central nervous system, attacks could threaten whole economies.

The past year had seen "more vulnerabilities, more cybercrime, more malicious software than ever before", more than had been seen in the past five years combined, one of the experts reported.

But does that really put "the internet at risk?", was the topic of session at the annual Davos meeting.

On the panel discussing the issue were Mozilla chairwoman Mitchell Baker (makers of the Firefox browser), McAfee chief executive Dave Dewalt, Harvard law professor and leading internet expert Jonathan Zittrain, Andre Kudelski of Kudelski group, which provides digital security solutions, and Tom Ilube, the boss of Garlik, a firm working on online web identity protection.

They were also joined by Microsoft's chief research officer, Craig Mundie.

To encourage frank debate, Davos rules do not allow the attribution of comments to individual panellists

Threat #1: Crime

The experts on the panel outlined a wide range of threats facing the internet.

There was traditional cybercrime: committing fraud or theft by stealing somebody's identity, their credit card details and other data, or tricking them into paying for services or goods that do not exist.

The majority of these crimes, one participant said, were not being committed by a youngster sitting in a basement at their computer.

Rather, they were executed by very large and very well-organised criminal gangs.

One panellist described the case of a lawyer who had realised that he could make more money though cybercrime.

He went on to assemble a gang of about 300 people with specialised roles - computer experts, lawyers, people harvesting the data etc.

Such criminals use viruses to take control of computers, combine thousands of them into so-called "botnets" that are used for concerted cyber attacks.

In the United States, a "virtual" group had managed to hijack and redirect the details of 25 million credit card transactions to Ukraine. The group used the data to buy a large number of goods, which were then sold on eBay.

This suggested organisation on a huge scale.

"This is not vandalism anymore, but organised criminality," a panellist said, while another added that "this is it is not about technology, but our economy".

Threat #2: the system

A much larger problem, though, are flaws in the set-up of the web itself.

It is organised around the principle of trust, which can have unexpected knock-on effects.

Nearly a year ago, Pakistan tried to ban a YouTube video that it deemed to be offensive to Islam.

The country's internet service providers (ISPs) were ordered to stop all YouTube traffic within Pakistan.

However, one ISP inadvertently managed to make YouTube inaccessible from anywhere in the world.

But in cyberspace, nobody is responsible for dealing with such incidents.

It fell to a loose group of volunteers to analyse the problem and distribute a patch globally within 90 minutes.

"Fortunately there was no Star Trek convention and they were all around," a panellist joked.

Threat #3: cyber warfare

Design flaws are one thing, cyber warfare is another.

Two years ago, a political dispute between Russia and Estonia escalated when the small Baltic country came under a sustained denial-of-service attack which disabled the country's banking industry and its utilities like the electricity network.

Microsoft's Craig Mundie wants international action on cybercrime

This was repeated last year, when Georgia's web infrastructure was brought down on its knees during its conflict with Russia.

"2008 was the year when cyber warfare began.. it showed that you can bring down a country within minutes," one panellist said.

"It was like cyber riot, Russia started it and then many hackers jumped on the bandwagon," said another.

This threat was now getting even greater because of the "multiplication of web-enabled devices" - from cars to fridges, from environmental sensors to digital television networks.

The panel discussed methods that terrorists could use to attack or undermine the whole internet, and posed the question whether the web would be able to survive such an assault.

The real problem, concluded one of the experts, was not the individual loss.

It was the systemic risk, where fraud and attacks undermine either trust in or the functionality of the system, to the point where it becomes unusable.

What solution?

"The problems are daunting, and it's getting worse," said one of the experts. "Do we need a true disaster to bring people together?," asked another.

One panellist noted that unlike the real world - where we know whether a certain neighbourhood is safe or not - cyberspace was still too new for most of us to make such judgements. This uncertainty created fear.

And as "the internet is a global network, it doesn't obey traditional boundaries, and traditional ways of policing don't work," one expert said.

Comparing virus-infected computers to people carrying highly infectious diseases like Sars, he proposed the creation of a World Health Organisation for the internet.

"If you have a highly communicable disease, you don't have any civil liberties at that point. We quarantine people."

"We can identify the machines that have been co-opted, that provide the energy to botnets, but right now we have no way to sequester them."

But several panellists worried about the heavy hand of government. The internet's strength was its open nature. Centralising it would be a huge threat to innovation, evolution and growth of the web.

"The amount of control required [to exclude all risk] is quite totalitarian," one of them warned.

Instead they suggested to foster the civic spirit of the web, similar to the open source software movement and the team that had sorted the YouTube problem.

"Would a formalised internet police following protocols have been able to find the [internet service provider] in Pakistan as quickly and deployed a fix that quickly?" one of them asked.
BBC NEWS REPORT.