Flying underwear causes power cut !

A power cut which brought part of a Lincolnshire village to a standstill has been blamed on discarded underwear.

More than a dozen houses and a set of traffic lights in Leadenham were affected on Wednesday, with police being called to direct traffic.

Engineers traced the fault and found a thong had short circuited a power line.

It is believed the clothing was carried by a helium balloon from a nearby party. It became lodged in the wires and caused a fault when soaked by rain.

Andrew Barrow, from Central Networks, said: "Flying objects do occasionally cause us problems but in this case it was more risque than risky.

"What we think happened in this case was the offending article was on the line for some time but it was the heavy rain yesterday - wet things conduct electricity - which led to the short circuit."

He added: "The main thing to say here is that if people do see something on the lines, don't try and get them down yourselves, that is when it becomes dangerous."

The finger of suspicion has been pointed at the local polo club's annual ball.

Emma Rose, from Leadenham Polo Club, said: "It may never be proven exactly where this came from but it could have been our party.

"We think it may have been a joke, with someone taking the item from an overnight bag and setting it on its way."

India's family battle over gas!

By Shantanu Guha Ray, Delhi

The brothers have been called the 'squabbling siblings'

The world's richest brothers are locking horns yet again - and this time, it is over natural gas.

The latest spat between Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, who control India's Reliance group of industries, could turn out to be the most unsavoury yet and hinder efforts to solve the country's chronic energy shortage.

This week, Anil Ambani, the 50-year-old younger brother, described the government as "partisan and biased" towards his elder brother, Mukesh.

At the heart of the latest battle between the siblings is the natural gas that was discovered by Reliance Industries in the Krishna Godavari basin off India's eastern coast in 2002, three years before the brothers parted ways.

The Reliance empire was divided between the two brothers in 2005 after a bitter seven-month feud.

In a family pact vetted and supervised by the brothers' mother in 2005, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) was to supply 28 million cubic meters of gas a day at $2.34 per million units to Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL) for 17 years.

This price was lower than $4.20 per million units set by the government in 2006 for all buyers of gas from the basin.

Anil Ambani has not accepted the higher selling price set by the government, citing the agreement with his elder brother.

On 15 June, his company won a case in the Bombay High Court, asking his elder brother's company to honour the family agreement.

Mukesh Ambani has appealed against the judgement in the Supreme Court - the court will hear the dispute on 1 September.

India's oil ministry has also become embroiled in the controversy - federal oil minister Murli Deora has been criticised by Anil Ambani for allegedly siding with his elder brother.

In return, Mr Deora has said gas is a national property and belongs to the people of India - "It really doesn't belong to them [Mukesh and Anil Ambani]," he told reporters.

India has a huge shortage of energy

The dispute is impeding efforts by the government to harness India's natural gas reserves to help tide over its energy crunch.

Three companies - RIL, the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) - are investing $30bn to produce gas from the Krishna Godavari basin.

All the three companies have discovered gas - and some oil- in three different blocks.

RIL plans to spend $12 billion on producing and transporting the gas across the country while the state-owned ONGC has announced a $3 billion investment.

The Krishna Godavari basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast is described as the North Sea of India due to its immense gas prospects.

The basin is likely to produce 120 million cubic metres per day (mcmd) of gas, four times the gas and 30% cheaper than the gas India would have received through the much-delayed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline.

Once the entire gas comes on stream, it will have a huge impact on the country's fertiliser and power companies.

India, Asia's third largest oil importer, could easily save at least $20 billion off its surging oil import bill that crossed a whopping $80 billion last year.

Power and fertiliser plant owners, which consume 70% of the available gas in India, are optimistic that the Krishna Godavari basin gas will help them operate at full capacity.

India's energy needs are soaring

Currently, they mostly operate at 50-60% of their capacity because of inadequate gas.

The fertiliser industry, which has not seen any new investments in the last decade, could increase capacity to 22 million tonnes in two years from the current 20 million tonnes once more gas becomes available. Presently, the industry needs 41 mcmd of gas, but gets only 28 mcmd.

Once the gas from Krishna Godavari basin begins to flow - possibly after 2013 - it can add at least 10,000MW to India's power output. The figure is more than half the country's current peak power deficit.

The World Bank estimates that power shortages deter the development process in India where more than 400 million people lack electricity and supplies fall short of peak demand by 16.6%.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Zimbabwe: The price of reconciliation

Some Zimbabweans remain sceptical about the 'unity' government

By Andrew Harding BBC News, Harare

As Zimbabwe launches a debate about "national healing" after years of political violence, the country's prime minister has told the BBC that those found responsible for a wave of killings and torture should "not necessarily" be sent to jail.

At the same time, some victims have expressed concern they will never see justice or compensation.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was speaking in Harare where the new unity government has just unveiled an "Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration" or ONHRI.

Mr Tsvangirai, who has himself been severely beaten by members of President Robert Mugabe's security forces, stressed that he was "not just saying - forgive, heal and reconcile".

But he said "justice needs forgiveness… and if we do retributive justice, the danger is that we may slide back" towards violence.

John Nkomo, a senior figure in Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF, and chairman of ONHRI, said that "anyone who has broken the law should be put on trial".

But he also argued against a rush to judgment.

"Yes, people were killed; yes, people fight; yes, they may still be fighting, but… this nation is going through a process and these tensions, unless properly managed, could create more tensions for us and we don't want that."

Emmanuel Chiroto says the people who killed his wife are still at large

None of this seems likely to reassure Emmanuel Chiroto.

One year ago, a group of Zanu-PF militia abducted his wife, Abigail, from their home on the edge of Harare.

Mr Chiroto, an MDC activist, had just been elected the city's deputy mayor. His wife's badly beaten body was found on a roadside soon afterwards.

"I've got the names of six people responsible," said Mr Chiroto, wandering round the ruins of his home, which was firebombed during the attack.

"They live round here. I see them often. But none of them have even been picked up for questioning."

Last week he says he received two threatening phone calls from a male voice saying: "You're forgetting what happened to your wife. Our intention was to kill you."

"We're told things are changing," Mr Chiroto said. "The unity government is in place. But personally I find it very difficult to forgive people who are still boasting about it."

Another MDC activist, Josphat Chidindi, was attacked with an axe on 25 June this year by two men who, he says, were the same Zanu-PF militants who had nearly killed him a year earlier.

His right arm was nearly severed and remains heavily bandaged.

"They wanted to silence me at all costs," he said, dismissing talk of reconciliation in Zimbabwe as "nonsense".

"I want these men to face trial, but I don't think justice will be done as long as Zanu-PF is part of this inclusive government… There is no future to talk about," he said.

Many human rights activists also appear to be sceptical about ONHRI's work.

Maria Mache, from the Crisis Coalition, dismissed it as "a farce".

"We want the perpetrators of violence, those who abducted others, who did so many atrocities in Zimbabwe to be brought to book. We can't talk about reconciliation until there has been transitional justice," she said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

China has 13m abortions each year !

By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing

Many Chinese couples are restricted to just one child

There are 13 million abortions each year in China, according to research published in a Chinese national newspaper.

Researchers believe the real figure could be even higher because there are many abortions at unregistered clinics.

Young single women are most likely to have abortions in a country where there are 20 million births each year.

China imposed strict family planning rules in the 1970s in an attempt to limit the growth of its population.

Many pregnant women who have had their full quota of children have abortions to prevent unwanted births.

This research has been published by the China Daily newspaper.

Other Chinese media outlets have published similar figures, although it was not immediately clear when the research was carried out.

In a front-page story, China Daily said the high number of abortions was "cause for concern", adding that many women who have abortions are single and aged between 20 and 29.

"Sex education needs to be strengthened, with universities and our society giving more guidance," Li Ying, a professor at Peking University, told the newspaper.

An official from China's National Population and Family Planning Commission told the newspaper that most sex education was directed at married couples.

Another official at the commission said the 13m figure was based on its own research and on information gathered from hospitals over the last few years.

China began restricting the number of children each couple can have in 1978. Officials say this has prevented 400 million extra births.

In many cases women are restricted to just one child, although in rural areas some couples can have two children if the first is a girl.

These rules mean abortions are used in some places to ensure the population growth is kept low.

Some women even complain that they are pressured into terminating their pregnancies.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Single malt has £10,000 price tag

The distillery said its 50-year-old single malt was "flawless"

A single malt Scotch whisky is to go on sale for £10,000 a bottle, its distiller has announced.

The Glenfiddich Distillery described the 50-year-old single malt as "the pinnacle of our whisky-making excellence".

It will release just 50 bottles every year for the next decade.

They will be sold in selected airports across the world for the next few months, before being made available through a small number of retailers.

The whisky has been kept in two casks in the Banffshire distillery's warehouse for 50 years.

Each hand-blown, numbered bottle will be decorated in Scottish silver and presented in a hand-stitched, leather-bound case.

The bottles will be accompanied by a leather-bound book which details the history of the whisky. It will also have pages for the owner to make their own tasting notes.

Buyers will receive a certificate signed by four of the distillery's long-serving craftsmen.

Peter Gordon, chairman of Glenfiddich distillery owner William Grant & Sons, said the whisky was "flawless".

Mr Gordon, the great-great-grandson of distillery founder William Grant, said: "We're happy to wait as long as we need to - up to 50 years in this instance - to produce the perfect whisky.

"The Glenfiddich 50 Year Old is the pinnacle of our whisky-making excellence and epitomises my great-great grandfather's vision of creating the very 'best dram in the valley'.

"Every new year is important when it comes to making exceptional whisky - and Glenfiddich 50 Year Old is the ultimate expression of this pioneering foresight."

In 2006 a bottle of whisky believed to be the oldest in existence was auctioned in London.

The Glenavon Special Liqueur Whisky is said to have been bottled about 150 years ago at the Glenavon Distillery in Banffshire and was bought for £14,850.

BBC NEWS ERPORT.

Schumacher makes shock F1 return !

Michael Schumacher will make a shock return to Formula 1 to replace injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.

The seven-time world champion retired at the end of 2006 but will drive at the European Grand Prix on 23 August.

Ferrari said the 40-year-old will stand in for as long as Massa is sidelined by the serious head injuries he sustained in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.

"For team loyalty reasons I can't ignore this unfortunate situation," said the former Ferrari driver.

His spokesman Sabine Kehm had told the BBC on Tuesday that although Schumacher - who was working as a consultant for Ferrari - was not willing to make a full-time return to F1, he would not rule out standing in for Massa.

ANDREW BENSON BLOG Schumacher is not a man who makes these sort of decisions lightly, and he will have taken a long, hard look inside himself before making this decision

And the German racing legend has now decided to come out of retirement and make a sensational return to the sport.

"It is true that the Formula 1 chapter has long been closed for me," added Schumacher, who won five world titles for Ferrari.

"The most important thing first: thank God, all news concerning Felipe is positive and I wish him all the best again.

"This afternoon I met with team principal Stefano Domenicali and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and together we decided that I will prepare myself to take the place of Felipe. "As the competitor I am, I also very much look forward to facing this challenge."

Schumacher has not driven an F1 car since April 2008 and competed in the last of his 249 grands prix in October 2006. And the most successful F1 driver of all time now has slightly more than three weeks to prepare himself for the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The ban on in-season testing means Schumacher will not be able to turn a wheel of the 2009 specification Ferrari before first practice on Friday 21 August.

SCHUMACHER'S F1 RECORD 1991: Makes F1 debut for Jordan, switches to Benetton 1992: First Grand Prix win (Belgium), finishes third in the championship 1994: Wins first world title with Benetton, winning eight races 1995: Retains world title, winning nine races 1996: Joins Ferrari 1997: Finishes season second but is disqualified from championship 1999: Breaks leg at Silverstone when leading world championship 2000: Ends Ferrari's 21-year wait for a world title, winning nine races 2001: Retains world title, again winning nine races 2002: Quickest ever world title win, with 11 race wins 2003: Breaks Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five world titles 2004: Wins seventh and final world title 2006: Retires at the end of the season 2009: Announces comeback to fill in for injured Felipe Massa

Nevertheless, the team have chosen Schumacher - who won 91 grands prix in a glittering career - ahead of reserve drivers Marc Gene and Luca Badoer.

"Ferrari intends to entrust Michael Schumacher with Felipe Massa's car for as long as the Brazilian driver is not able to race," read a team statement.

"Michael Schumacher has shown his willingness and in the next few days he will undergo a specific programme of preparation at the end of which it will be possible to confirm his participation in the championship, starting with the European Grand Prix."

There are six more races to go after Valencia, including trips to Belgium, Italy, Singapore and Japan.

Schumacher will undergo an intensive training programme to determine whether he is fit enough to return to the rigours of F1 racing.

Since retiring from the sport, Schumacher has occasionally taken part in motorcycle events but in February he suffered neck and back injuries in a motorbike accident.

Those injuries could affect his ability to drive an F1 car, with huge pressures placed on the neck because of the varying G-forces.

Massa could be out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a fractured skull sustained when a spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn hit him on the helmet when he was travelling at more than 160mph during qualifying in Hungary on Saturday.

The Brazilian is set to leave intensive care and is making progress, although there is also concern about damage to his left eye.

Schumacher is close to Massa, who was his team-mate in his final season, and has taken a close interest in the Brazilian's career.

BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator David Croft believes Schumacher is coming back partly because of that close relationship.

Schumacher will have huge impact - Jordan

"I think he's coming back because it is to replace Felipe Massa, temporarily. He is very close to Felipe, they've had a great relationship over the years," stated Croft.

"I think it's his way of doing something to help Felipe, and doing something to help Ferrari at the same time, because if you look at the alternatives Ferrari had, they weren't really alternatives.

"Who else is there who could come into Ferrari and hit the ground running, who knows the car, who knows the team, who could give them a podium?

"The European Grand Prix, which was not one we were looking forward to at the start of this year, has now got a real spice to it.

"Lewis Hamilton against Michael Schumacher for the first time ever? Jenson Button up against Michael Schumacher? How will Kimi Raikkonen respond? It's going to be fascinating."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

PERFUME SPRITZ SPARKS MASS EXIT !

Thirty-four people went to hospital and dozens were treated for sickness after strong perfume was sprayed by a woman in a Texas bank.
Two workers initially complained of having chest pains and headaches.
The bank then announced that anyone who felt ill should leave the building, prompting around 150 people to take up the offer.
Twelve people were taken to hospital by ambulance, after they complained of feeling short of breath and dizzy.
"When the two employees reported their illness to a supervisor, an announcement was made over the building's PA system saying that anyone feeling these symptoms should exit the building," fire department spokesman Kent Worley said, according to a local newspaper report.
Emergency services initially feared that there may have been a leak of carbon monoxide leak but having checked the building, decided that a strong perfume was to blame.
Investigators do not know what kind of perfume was sprayed.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Taser stops armed man at Gatwick !

A man who was spotted carrying a handgun gun has been shot with a Taser stun gun by police at Gatwick Airport.

The man, in his 40s, was disarmed by officers after he arrived at South Terminal in the early hours.

The alarm was raised after a passenger on a bus he boarded in Crawley, West Sussex, saw him with a gun, Sussex Police said.

Gatwick Airport said there was no suggestion that threats had been made to passengers or aircraft.

Sussex Police said the man was arrested and is currently being questioned.

Ch Supt Paul Morrison said: "This incident was dealt with promptly by my officers.

"Such incidents are rare and the speed and professionalism in which it was resolved meant that no-one at the airport was harmed."

Head of security at Gatwick Airport, Geoff Williams, said: "The joint security arrangements between the airport and the police worked effectively to resolve the situation promptly and without injury.

"There is no suggestion, at this stage, that threats were made to passengers or aircraft."

Sussex Police have asked anyone with information about the incident to contact them.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

China protests over Uighur tour !

Mrs Kadeer's tour, and the publicity it has received, has angered China

China has complained to Australia about the forthcoming visit of exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, officials say.

Mrs Kadeer is to attend a film festival in Melbourne next week, and will give a televised speech.

Meanwhile, China summoned Japan's ambassador in Beijing to protest about Mrs Kadeer's visit to Tokyo, where she has met members of the governing party.

China accuses the World Uighur Congress leader of inciting ethnic violence this month that left nearly 200 people dead.

Mrs Kadeer, 62, who lives in exile in the US, denies the allegation.

An Australian official said China had made repeated representations about Mrs Kadeer's visit, and that it had been discussed in both Canberra and Beijing.

In Australia, Mrs Kadeer is to attend the Melbourne International Film Festival, which is screening a documentary about her life, 10 Conditions of Love, on 8 August.

The festival's director, Richard Moore, says a Chinese official had urged him to withdraw the film.

And he told ABC radio that someone had hacked in to the festival's website.

"This little Chinese flag sort of popped up and went ding-da-ding-ding-ding and there was a message on it that said basically they objected to the presence of this film.

"They were a concerned Chinese citizen and Rebiya Kadeer was a terrorist."

Mrs Kadeer's supporters greeted her on her arrival in Japan on Tuesday

On Wednesday, the Chinese foreign ministry said it had summoned Tokyo's ambassador to demand that the Japanese government "take effective action to stop her anti-China, splittist activities in Japan", Reuters news agency reports.

Earlier in the day, Mrs Kadeer had met members of Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at the party's headquarters.

She told the Kyodo news agency: "I received the impression that they will not accept China's continued oppression of the Uighurs."

At a news conference, she said that "nearly 10,000 people" disappeared in one night in the city of Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region.

"If they are dead, where are their bodies? If they are detained, where are they?"

She was alluding to violence which broke out in Urumqi on 5 July, between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese. The clashes continued for several days.

Other sources put the number of those detained in Urumqi at 1,400.

Japan says it does not expect Mrs Kadeer's visit to affect its relations with China.

A spokesman said she was invited by civil society organisations rather than the government.

Mrs Kadeer says she came to Japan to tell people about what she described as the terrible conditions being endured by the Uighur minority in north-west China.

Many Uighurs there resent the influx of Han Chinese immigrants. They feel economic growth has bypassed them and complain of discrimination and diminished opportunities.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'Don't tell women how to give birth' !

VIEWPOINT Cathy Warwick General Secretary, Royal College of Midwives

Debate rages over how babies should be born

How a woman gives birth provokes strong views, with impassioned arguments for normal births, and for Caesareans.

But in this week's Scrubbing Up health column, Cathy Warwick of the RCM says the most important thing is for women to be able to choose.

The use of technology in birth - such as the development of epidurals for pain relief and Caesarean sections - has long been a cauldron into which divisive and conflicting issues and opinions have been poured.

This is particularly relevant at the moment.

A recent UK study which looked at how and why women chose the birth they did found mothers-to-be preferred to keep an open mind and, as their pregnancy progressed, became increasingly confident in the advice they received from health professionals.

They tended to be more open-minded regarding choice of type of birth at the end of pregnancy.

It seems important to remember that since the 1970s, there has always been a vocal and active lobby against home birth.

Thirty years ago it was virtually impossible to have one in this country, and women and many midwives and doctors have fought actively and hard to challenge this and give women choice.

Women can be left deeply scarred by a birth which may have been physically safe but has ignored the emotional aspect of it Read your comments

When the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was considering guidance on giving birth in the NHS, the large number of midwives who sent in comments were only too aware of how the home birth option was once again nearly lost.

They had to challenge the appropriateness and interpretation of the evidence being considered on the safety of place of birth.

There is a fundamental question needing to be asked here; why do some doctors and midwives devalue the choice of home birth, despite the lack of evidence against it?

The continued polemic around it also remains uncomfortable.

It has been suggested that many midwives see childbirth as an essential "rite of passage".

The implication is that this is an illogical position in a technological age.

We know however that childbirth is a life-changing experience for all women however it happens, and midwives' and women's groups have worked hard to support the joy of this from every viewpoint.

Water births are increasingly popular

We also know that women can be left deeply scarred by a birth which may have been physically safe but has ignored the emotional aspect of it.

The charge that there is a "macho bullying group" directing women towards a less interventionist birth is simply not based on evidence.

What there are though, are midwives fighting for real and informed choice for women.

Labelling midwives and women as members of two groups - either "pro" or "anti" technology - is also not helpful.

Women often change their views on birth during pregnancy, and there are many factors that influence that change.

What we do know is what women want at all times, is good and unbiased information from the health professionals caring for them, so that they can make the appropriate choice about how technology can help them.

One high-profile obstetrician recently relating the birth experience to the advances in agriculture, transport and energy production reminding us alarmingly of the language previously used in the "active management of labour", when women's bodies were viewed as machines that were frequently "inefficient" and in need of acceleration.

It has seemed that the health professionals that care for women today had largely moved on from this strange and controlling discourse, and it's disappointing this may not be the case.

The bottom line here is that what women want is to be able to make a real choice, for the health service to offer them that choice, and for that choice to be based on having all the information needed to make an informed decision.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS"

"EACH MAN IS THE ARCHITECT OF HIS OWN

DESTINY" !

_____

'No doubt' sunbeds cause cancer !

Sunbeds emit ultra violet radiation

There is no doubt using a sunbed or sunlamp will raise the risk of skin cancer, say international experts.

Previously, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) assessed sunbeds and sunlamps as "probably carcinogenic to humans".

But it now says their use is definitively "carcinogenic to humans".

Campaigners believe the move, announced in the journal Lancet Oncology, will increase pressure for tighter industry regulation of sunbed use.

K

The new assessment puts sunbed use on a par with smoking or exposure to asbestos. However, the Sunbed Association in the UK said there was no proven link between the responsible use of sunbeds and skin cancer.

The IARC is an expert committee that makes recommendations to the World Health Organization.

It made its decision following a review of research which concluded that the risk of melanoma - the most deadly form of skin cancer - was increased by 75% in people who started using sunbeds regularly before the age of 30.

In addition, several studies have linked sunbed use to a raised risk of melanoma of the eye.

The charity Cancer Research UK warned earlier this year that heavy use of sunbeds was largely responsible for the number of Britons being diagnosed with melanoma topping 10,000 a year for the first time.

In the last 30 years, rates of the cancer have more than quadrupled, from 3.4 cases per 100,000 people in 1977 to 14.7 per 100,000 in 2006.

Proposals to ban people under the age of 18 from using sunbeds are under consideration by the government in England.

A similar ban has already been approved in Scotland.

The Sunbed Association (TSA) supports a ban on under-16s, but argues there is no scientific evidence for a ban on young people aged 17 or 18.

Jessica Harris, Cancer Research UK's health information officer said: "The link between sunbeds and skin cancer has been convincingly shown in a number of scientific studies now and so we are very pleased that IARC have upgraded sunbeds to the highest risk category.

"This backs up Cancer Research UK's advice to avoid sunbeds completely for cosmetic purposes. They have no health benefits and we know that they increase the risk of cancer."

Ms Harris called for ministers to implement a ban on under-18s using sunbeds immediately, and to close salons that are not supervised by trained staff.

Kathy Banks, chief executive of the Sunbed Association, said: "The relationship between ultraviolet exposure and an increased risk of developing skin cancer is only likely to arise where over-exposure - burning - has taken place.

"However, research has shown that over 80% of sunbed users are very knowledgeable about the risks associated with over-exposure to ultraviolet and the majority of sunbed users take 20 or less sunbed sessions a year."

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "Sunbeds can be dangerous - we must ensure that people who use them do so safely. If necessary we will look at new laws to protect young people."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

England will host 2015 World Cup!

England have fought off rival bids from South Africa and Italy to win the right to stage the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

It will be the second time England have hosted the competition, the last time being in 1991.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) also announced that Japan will be hosts for the event in 2019.

The IRB voted 16-10 in favour of rubber-stamping the recommendation from Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWCL) that England and Japan should be named hosts.

The announcement by IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset had been widely expected after RWCL, the IRB-controlled company that oversees the tournaments, last month endorsed England and Japan as the strongest bidders.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) chairman Martyn Thomas called the decision "a relief, and also great joy for England".

PREVIOUS WORLD CUP HOSTS 1987: New Zealand (co-host with Australia) 1991: England 1995: South Africa 1999: Wales 2003: Australia 2007: France 2011: New Zealand

"We have been trusted with making a great competition and providing a great spectacle, and delivering what the IRB needs in terms of host revenue," said Thomas.

"Australia did an immense job [in 2003], France raised the bar [in 2007] and we have got to raise it again. We have got some very iconic stadia and it will be tremendous for world rugby and immense for participation in England."

The RFU says England will lay on the biggest World Cup to date, generating a surplus at least £60m larger than that of the other bids. It says three million people will watch the games live at stadiums such as Wembley, Anfield, Old Trafford and Twickenham.

The only stadium outside England to host matches will be Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, which will stage two quarter-finals and some pool matches.

However, IRB chief executive Mike Miller confirmed England's plan to use the Millennium Stadium must still be ratified by the RWCL board - and that may not happen until next March.

606: DEBATE Well done IRB you made the right decision OnlyJoeQuin

The RFU must make a proposal to the IRB and provide compelling reasons that meet specific criteria that are in the best interests of the game globally for taking matches outside of England.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was a "fantastic achievement" to win the bid and congratulated the RFU on their success.

"I'm sure the whole country will want to play their part in making this the most memorable of Rugby World Cups," he added.

The event will form part of what Brown has labelled a "golden decade" of sport in the UK.

"The Rugby World Cup is yet another tremendous event to add to the country's decade of sport and another chance to show our nation's passion for sport and what world class facilities we have to offer. I'm sure it will be a tournament to remember," said Brown.

THE UK GOLDEN DECADE OF SPORT 2010: Ryder Cup, Celtic Manor 2011: Champions League final, Wembley 2012: Olympic Games, London 2013: Rugby League World Cup 2014: Ryder Cup, Gleneagles; Commonwealth Games, Glasgow 2015: Rugby World Cup 2019: Cricket World Cup ADDITIONAL BID 2018 Football World Cup

RFU chairman Thomas also offered his condolences to unsuccessful rival bidders South Africa and Italy.

"We have been there before [to France for the 2007 RWC], we know how they are feeling," said Thomas.

South Africa, in particular, were upset at losing out on the recommendation of the RWCL, and had been lobbying hard ahead of Tuesday's meeting.

They had pressed home the fact they had secured government support totalling £130m - £50m more than the tournament fee - compared to the £25m Westminster has made available to the RFU.

England's package is projected to generate £300m for the IRB, who rely on the tournament for 98% of their income.

On top of the £80m tournament fee, the UK market would attract a further £220m in commercial returns from broadcasting, sponsorship and merchandising, which is understood to be at least 20% more than the bids from either South Africa or Italy.

England's Martyn Thomas (L) and Japan's Noboru Mashimo (R) celebrate the vote result

The IRB hope 2015 will bolster revenues from the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand - which is currently estimated to make an operating loss of between £20-30m.

The extra revenue will then be used as a springboard to take the sport into the emerging market of Japan four years later.

Japan's bid leaders expressed delight at winning Tuesday's vote to stage the 2019 event and become the tournament's first Asian hosts.

They narrowly missed out to New Zealand for the right to stage the event in 2011.

"The God of rugby smiled on us today," said Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) president Yoshiro Mori. "I am filled with emotion to be a part of this historic day for Japan and for rugby around the world.

"Japan has much to offer the rugby World Cup. We have a superb transport system, strong infrastructure and world-class stadiums.

"We are honoured to welcome the global rugby family to our country and for the first time ever to Asia."

BBC SPORTS REPORT.

Madonna erotic tapes go on sale !

Madonna and Jimi Hendrix items are expected to fetch thousands

Jimi Hendrix's first recording contract and erotic audio tapes sent by Madonna to her former bodyguard have gone on sale in an online memorabilia auction.

Hendrix's contract, which the musician had signed, is expected to fetch up to $250,000 (£151,287).

The tapes, recorded by Madonna in 1992 and 1993, have been estimated to sell for up to $40,000 (£24,205).

Items once belonging to John Lennon and Elvis Presley are also lots in the auction, which runs until 5 August.

The two Madonna cassette tapes each hold 17 minutes of material.

The messages recorded by the singer were left for James Albright, the bodyguard who eventually became her lover.

An intimate home video featuring Madonna, which she also sent him, has an estimated value of up to $14,000 (£8,461).

A life-size prop of Schwarzenegger's terminator is among the lots

The Gotta Have It! auction house, based in New York, described the video as "very personal and intimate", but refused to say exactly what was on it.

A life-size prop of Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 terminator, which was used in various action sequences in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, is also up for sale.

It is expected to fetch between $150,000 (£90,644) to $200,000 (£120,871).

Among the other lots in the auction are Bob Dylan's original 1962 working lyrics for his song A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall, jackets worn by Lennon and jewellery once owned by Presley.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

US troops back on patrol in Iraq

Despite progress on security, Mosul still looks like a city at war

By Gabriel Gatehouse BBC News, Mosul

Nearly a month after American troops officially withdrew from urban areas in Iraq, they are quietly going back in again, patrolling the streets of towns and cities where, despite improvements in security, violence remains an everyday occurrence.

By the US military's own reckoning, Mosul and its surrounding region is the most dangerous area in Iraq.

On average they calculate there are four attacks here every day - explosions, shootings, suicide bombings. That is down from six per day in January - progress, of sorts.

Since 30 June, Iraqi forces have been entirely responsible for maintaining security in urban areas. But the Americans want to keep a close eye. So they are maintaining a limited number of joint patrols inside cities like Mosul.

Lt Joel Brown was going into Mosul for the first time since the handover. When he and his platoon were last in the city, they came under attack - a grenade was thrown at their convoy from one of the many narrow alleyways along their route.

"The grenade thrower was right behind that red car," Lt Brown said, pointing out of the window of his armoured Humvee. "It bounced off the Humvee and blew up on the ground."

On the roof of the vehicle, a gunner swept the road from right to left, watching for similar threats. Many of the buildings on the way into town had either been reduced to rubble or were pockmarked by bullets. Six years after the US-led invasion, Mosul still looks like a city at war.

The convoy consisted of five heavily armed vehicles: three American and two Iraqi, one each at the front and back - our escort, required under the terms of the handover agreement.

The Iraqi security forces were maintaining a highly visible presence on the streets of Mosul: checkpoints at almost every corner, watchtowers and more armoured vehicles.

Our destination was a large area of wasteland in the south-west of the city. Officially, the reason for the US patrol was to oversee a project to clear rubbish from the area.

"What we're trying to do is to is get all these wrecked vehicles, trash, get that all moved out of here," Lt Brown said. "It'll help stimulate the economy as well as accomplish a major project here in the west side of Mosul."

There was plenty to do. An open sewer ran along the street, as goats and geese nosed around in the rubbish, discarded shoes, bottles and plastic bags. A dog with three legs barked mournfully as it sat in the blazing sun outside a house built of concrete breeze-blocks.

But Lt Brown and the roughly 130,000 other US troops still stationed in Iraq are more than just heavily armed garbage men. In Mosul, the threat of violence is never far off.

Suddenly a shot rang out from the direction of a sandbagged watchtower at the end of the street. A warning shot, Lt Brown said, fired by one of the Iraqis manning a checkpoint.

No one was injured in the shooting, but the Americans didn't stay to find what had prompted it.

The patrol was attracting increasingly unfriendly-looking attention from many of the local residents in the area, unused by now to the presence of US forces in town. So they got back in their Humvees and headed back to base.

Following the handover, patrols to monitor reconstruction projects are a good way for the Americans to get their boots, eyes and ears back on the ground inside the cities.

But there are new rules in place - they have to ask for permission and an escort from the local Iraqi security forces.

Lt Gen Abbas negotiates the details of a convoy from a position of strength

Co-operation is not always smooth, involving patient persuasion and impassioned gesticulation - plenty of head-scratching, the comparing of maps and a little bargaining.

"How many vehicles do you have?" Lt Gen Majed Abbas of the Iraqi Police Force asked Lt Brown before they set off. When he was told they had four, he told the Americans could bring only three. One would have to be left behind.

The whole process took place with the help of interpreters, and the traditional glasses of sweet black tea.

Everyone was friendly, but the Iraqis were clearly keen to emphasise that they were now in charge.

The smaller towns and villages just a few kilometres south of Mosul present a different picture from the city itself. Here US troops are freer in their movements, though they still bring an Iraqi escort when they go out on patrol.

In one such village, Cpt Brian Panaro and his men were soon surrounded by local children, asking for their watches and sunglasses. The problems people complain about here are often not matters of security, but of infrastructure - dirty water, bad roads, no jobs.

Ali Mustafa, an elderly man dressed in white, was sitting on the doorstep of his home.

Joint patrols in Mosul are now relatively rare compared to before the end of June

"The Americans invaded our country," he said, "so they should be responsible for these things too, not just security."

But in a little over two years' time, the Americans don't want to be responsible for any of it. They want out.

"The Iraqi police have come a long way since the beginning of our deployment here," Capt Panaro said. "Their proficiency, their ability to get the job done, is going to work me out of a job, which is good, which I'm looking forward to."

Many of the soldiers stationed at Forward Operating Base Marez, the US military's main camp outside Mosul, are effectively out of a job already, confined to barracks.

Joint patrols in cities like Mosul are relatively rare compared to what they were before 30 June. If the Pentagon has its way, they will soon cease altogether.

As the Americans shift their attentions towards Afghanistan, they are hoping that the security gains they've achieved in Iraq will hold once they do finally pack up and leave.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Policeman takes 'big cat' video

Pc Swallow has no doubt that the creature he spotted was a big cat

An off-duty Ministry of Defence police dog handler has taken a video of what he claims is a panther-sized big cat.

Pc Chris Swallow was helping a friend with their garden in Helensburgh, Argyll, when he spotted the black creature on a nearby railway line.

The officer, who is stationed at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, said the cat was as big as a Labrador dog.

Big cats have been reported in the area in the past, with several sightings of the so-called Coulport Cougar.

Pc Swallow said he saw the animal on 30 June while working in the garden at Kildonan Drive, Helensburgh. He could tell it was not a Labrador, as he first thought, because of the way it was walking, and because its tail was about twice the length that a dog's would have been.

He said: "My friend's house is next to the West Highland Line and at one point I looked down and saw what I first thought was a black Labrador on the tracks.

"There were trains coming and going throughout the day and I was a bit concerned, but when I looked again I saw that the animal wasn't moving the way I expected a dog to.

"It was then I realised that what I was seeing was a big cat and I shouted on my friend to come and have a look. We were stunned."

After running to his car to grab his camera phone, Pc Swallow stood on the rail bridge at Winston Road and got a still photo and a couple of minutes of footage of the animal moving up the railway line.

Pc Swallow is a dog handler with the Ministry of Defence

He added: "It was remarkable. I've heard stories about creatures like this moving about the countryside, but never really believed them before. Looking back at the video I don't think there's any doubt that it's a big cat."

The Coulport Cougar was first reported in June 2004. The creature was described as being tan and prowling the woods and hills around Loch Long, Portincaple, Whistlefield and next to the Coulport access road.

However, another creature, described as being black in colour, was also spotted at the nearby Garelochhead Training Camp, leading some people to believe that there may also have been a panther in the area.

John Belshaw, pest control officer at the Faslane naval base, said he had spoken to people in the past who had been "quite shaken" by seeing a big cat cross the road in front of them during the night.

Mr Belshaw said: "I have had a look at Chris's footage and have to say that I do not believe it is a domestic cat or a dog.

"At one point in the video it seems to walk on the railway line and a dog simply wouldn't have had the balance to do this.

"Also, you can tell from the size of the track that it is much larger than a house cat."

There have been regular reports of big cat sightings across the UK, leading to speculation that they may have escaped from a private zoo or collection.

Shaun Stevens, a researcher with the Big Cats in Britain group, said: "We have regular sightings reported every year of large black cats in the Helensburgh area and it appears to be a favourite haunt of these animals.

"In Argyll, I probably get to hear of maybe 20 or 30 sightings in a year. In the UK we get a sighting practically every day."

Mr Stevens said he believed the cats could be a hybrid species, or possible an entirely new species.

"I myself have photographed a black hybrid cat of over 3.5ft in length," he said.

"Knowing the width of the rail tracks in Chris's video is 4ft 8.5in, the animal photographed by him is clearly in excess of 4ft and as such is certainly not a domestic cat.

"Initial first impressions are very exciting, as I think this could be one of the best pieces of footage of a big cat in the UK ever."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MoD seeks to cut soldiers' payout!

There have been 191 British fatalities in Afghanistan since 2001

The Ministry of Defence will go to the Court of Appeal later to try to significantly reduce the compensation awarded to two injured soldiers.

One, who was shot in the leg in Iraq, received £46,000, while the other, injured in training, got £28,750.

Both had their payouts increased due to complications, but the MoD is arguing that they should only be compensated for their "original injuries".

The stance has attracted criticism amid mounting casualties in Afghanistan.

The court appeal comes after two more soldiers were killed in Helmand province, bringing the total number of UK fatalities since operations began in Afghanistan in 2001 to 191.

Military officials said on Monday that the first phase of a major offensive - Operation Panther's Claw - had been completed in Helmand.

The injured soldiers were initially awarded £9,250 and £8,250 respectively, but they appealed to a tribunal to have those sums increased.

Both men argued they had suffered a number of subsequent health problems during their treatment and that these should not be regarded as separate from their original injuries.

Three judges agreed with them and increased their compensation, but the MoD is now seeking to overturn that ruling.

Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson was severely hurt in Afghanistan

It claims it is trying "to clarify an earlier judgment about how the armed forces compensation scheme is administered, and to protect the key principle of the scheme: the most compensation for the most seriously injured".

A review of the compensation scheme is currently being carried out by the MoD following a number of appeals from, or on behalf of, former servicemen.

One of the most high-profile came from the mother of Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, who lost both legs and suffered severe brain damage in Afghanistan.

Initially he received just £152,000, but following widespread criticism that was increased.

The MoD points out that it has doubled the maximum lump sum payment to £570,000 for the most severely injured soldiers, in addition to an index-linked monthly income for life.

But the BBC's defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt says that, with more badly-injured soldiers surviving than ever before thanks to improved medical treatment, the Court of Appeal's decision could have wider implications.

Last week, former prime minister Sir John Major said the current system of armed forces compensation "does not adequately address lifelong disability and, particularly, disabling mental conditions".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

DEATH AFTER SOUP AND WATER DIET !

A woman died after living on a diet of soup and water, an inquest has heard.
Helen Anderson, 26, weighed 9st 2lb when she was found dead by her mother at her home in Shelley Avenue, Cleadon Park, South Shields, in April.
She had lost almost six stone after dieting to lose weight she put on as a side effect of medication.
South Tyneside coroner Terence Carney recorded a verdict of accidental death and said he was certain she had no intention to cause herself harm.
The inquest in South Shields heard Miss Anderson's body was so starved of sugar it began to eat into its own fat reserves.
It caused a metabolic chemical reaction called ketoacidosis, which eventually killed her.

Mr Carney said: "This phenomenon - this poison if you like - which developed within her body was made by her body itself.
"It arises as a result of the body reacting to a lack of sugar within itself and that was in part a consequence of the intensive diet with which Helen was attempting to balance her weight.
"The sad truth of the matter is there has been a development within her body, a natural phenomena, which has set up this poisoning of her body's system and has led to her death.
"It is a problem which can develop very rapidly and without the individual appreciating the consequences."
Miss Anderson, who was 5ft 9ins, had been 15st but weighed 9st 2lb when she died and was at the lower end of the Body Mass Index scale.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Iced coffees 'a meal in a drink' !

For every Starbucks's Venti Dark Berry Mocha Frappuchino....

Some iced coffees being sold on the high street contain as many calories as a hot dinner, a cancer charity warns.

The chief offender had 561 calories, others contained more than 450, and the majority had in excess of 200.

It is the combination of sugar, full-fat milk and cream which appears to push some of the cool coffees into the upper echelons of the calorie scale.

The World Cancer Research Fund, which identified the drinks' calories, noted healthier versions were available.

The "venti" or largest version of Starbucks' Dark Berry Mocha Frappuccino, a limited offer for the summer, contains 561 calories - more than a quarter, WCRF notes, of a woman's daily calorie intake.

...you could have had one of these, and even a few fries

Take away the whipped cream and it has 457 calories. The smallest version, without whipped cream, provided 288.

But even some options with skimmed milk are high in calories. At Caffe Nero, the skimmed version of a Double Chocolate Frappe and a Mocha Frappe Latte contain 452 calories, WCRF said.

Costa Coffee's summer offerings are rather more modest but may still contain more calories than a chocolate bar. The Massimo Coffee Frescato contains 332 calories, while the primo-size, the smallest available, just under 200.

WCRF said it was highlighting calorie content, because after not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight "is the most important thing you can do to help prevent cancer".

In fact it suggests people should become as lean as possible without being underweight.

Earlier this year it estimated that 19,000 cancers a year in the UK could be prevented if people lost their excess weight.

Dr Rachel Thompson, Science Programme Manager for WCRF, said: "The fact that there is an iced coffee on the market with over a quarter of a woman's daily calorie allowance is alarming.

"This is the amount of calories you might expect to have in an evening meal, not in a drink.

"As a general rule, if you want to have a coffee, go for an unsweetened version with skimmed or semi skimmed milk as this is likely to contain fewer calories. It is also worth steering clear of ones that contain lots of cream or sugary fruit syrups as these tend to be higher in calories."

A spokesperson from Starbucks said its Dark Berry Mocha Frappuccino was only one "of over 87,000 beverage variations".

It noted these others included an ordinary coffee, containing four calories, an iced Americano, containing 11 calories, an iced caffe latte with skimmed milk, containing 68 calories "to more indulgent options on offer which our customers may choose from time to time".

In a statement, Costa said it took "the nutritional balance of all its food and drink very seriously.

"Currently we provide a nutritional breakdown for consumers on packaging. Full nutritional analysis of all our food and drink products is also available in all of our stores and on the Costa website.

"Costa seeks to provide customers with a choice of products across its drink and sandwich range, meeting all key health trends; allowing them to choose healthy options if they so wish."

Caffe Nero was not available for comment.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Thousands strike in South Africa!

Striking workers are demanding a 15% wage increase

Central Johannesburg has been brought to a halt as hundreds of South African workers marched as part of a strike to demand higher wages.

Many commuters were stranded because buses failed to run. Rubbish has also not been collected.

About 150,000 workers in the country have stopped work. Unions say most public services are disrupted.

Analysts say the strikes and recent unrest are the first major challenges for new President Jacob Zuma.

He has called for understanding from workers, but the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Johannesburg says crowd-pleasing promises he made during his election campaign are proving hard to keep.

Our correspondent says a pledge to create 500,000 new jobs has already been retracted.

In recent weeks, there have been violent protests over the lack of housing, water and electricity in the poorest townships.

Dale Forbes, from the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), said most members had gone on strike from 0700 (0500 GMT).

He said he was confident the public was backing the strike.

Townships residents have been protesting at the lack of basic services

"They want to see dramatic improvements in service delivery - which must start with improvements in the conditions of the workers," he said.

Services such as Johannesburg's Metro Bus service are not operational.

The Metro Police who are in charge of traffic policing in the country's major cities are also taking part in the strike.

Members of Samwu and other unions walked out after being denied a 15% wage increase. They rejected an offer of 11.5%.

The country has already faced a major strike by construction workers, which threatened stadiums being built for next year's football World Cup.

That strike was ended earlier this month after workers and employers agreed a 12% pay rise.

Mr Zuma took power in May after an election campaign in which he pledged to ease poverty.

He was supported by the main union federation, Cosatu, and the South African Communist Party which wanted a change in the previous administration's economic policies, which they said were too pro-business.

However, South Africa has since entered its first recession in 17 years, making it more difficult for Mr Zuma to increase state spending.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Injured Massa no longer critical !

Felipe Massa is attended to by F1 medical officer Gary Hartstein

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa's condition is "severe but not critical" after surgery on his fractured skull.

Surgeon Robert Veres said Massa, 28, suffered damage to his left eye when he was hit by a spring from Ruben Barrichello's car in Hungary.

"He has suffered some damage to the eye. We don't know if he'll be able to race again. It's too early to say about his future," added Veres.

"But the immediate life-threatening condition has been averted."

Massa is able to communicate "actively" and move his hands and legs but cannot speak.

A Ferrari spokesman said: "Felipe had a quiet night. He is OK, and he is due to have another CT scan today (Monday)."

A Hungarian hospital spokesman said they are "optimistic" that a "slow recovery is beginning".

"He's woken up [from sedation] more often and is able to communicate actively," added Istvan Bocskai, a spokesman for the Hungarian defence ministry, which administers the Budapest hospital where Massa is being treated.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo flew to the AEK military hospital on Monday to be at Massa's bedside, alongside the driver's father, mother and pregnant wife, who have all flown in from Brazil.

Di Montezemelo staged a joint news conference with Massa's doctors and said the team were focused on their driver's recovery, and not on considering any possible replacements.

"For us, the first priority is to find out Felipe's recovery progress and situation he is a very important member of the Ferrari family not just the Ferrari team.

"First we will find out the situation with Felipe and then we will see and we will think, without pressure.

"Only at that moment will we make a decision and if we have to take a decision we will make a good decision."

Massa was injured when a spring from fellow Brazilian Barrichello's car struck his helmet during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver then hitting a tyre wall.

Following Kimi Raikkonen's second-place finish at the Hungaroring on Sunday, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali dedicated the result to Massa.

Massa's engineer reflects on crash (UK only)

"At this time all our thoughts are with him and his family, and I think this sentiment also applies to those who are close to him and to fans all over the world," said Domenicali.

"We got the best result we were capable of but please allow me on behalf of everyone at Ferrari to send our best wishes to Felipe. We love you and we are all thinking of you."

Race winner Lewis Hamilton extended his goodwill to Massa following the Briton's first victory of the season.

"Maybe I can speak for all the drivers but Saturday was quite a sad day and we missed Felipe," said the defending world champion.

"I'm just glad the surgery went well and we're just going to keep him in our thoughts and prayers, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

"He's got a child coming, so he needs to get back into top shape so when he's finally a dad he can do the job well."

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After being struck on the helmet by the 1kg spring from Barrichello's car, Massa's feet are believed to have come to rest on both the throttle and brake and his car ploughed head-on into a tyre wall at about 125mph.

Massa was swiftly attended to by trackside medics before being taken to the circuit's medical centre, after which he was airlifted to hospital.

Meanwhile, Barrichello revealed his thoughts were with Massa, even during the race.

Barrichello reassured by Massa's doctors

He conceded: "I would love to see him because he is a friend, not just because the spring came from my car.

"It is for the fact that I know he would have done the same for me. But at the same time I have to think of my kids, of my family, and to be there for them, so it is a bit of an emotional moment.

"It is burning a little bit in my stomach, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't thinking of him in the the middle of the race."

Massa's accident came days after Formula Two driver Henry Surtees, 18, was killed in what was described as a freak accident during a race at Brands Hatch.

The son of motorsport legend John Surtees was struck by a wheel that flew off a competitor's car.

Barrichello has led the calls for more stringent safety measures to be looked into. Referring to Surtees, the veteran refused to believe the two incidents were coincidental.

"I honestly don't believe in coincidences in life," he said on Saturday. "Things happen for a reason and I think this is the second message.

606: MASSA TRIBUTES Thank goodness Massa, having made it through the night, looks like he his winning The Legend that is PhilSlocombe

"Imola [where Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger died in 1994] was a message and the cars were improved. Unfortunately, we lost a boy [Surtees], which is tremendously sad.

"It is not a coincidence something happened right now. In the Grand Prix Drivers' Association we talked quite a lot about it yesterday - and something needs to be done. Absolutely.

Button and Barrichello's team boss Ross Brawn said the team are still investigating why the spring came loose from the car.

"We had a problem with the back of the car and we are still investigating," explained Brawn.

"We haven't had the piece back from [motorsport governing body] the FIA yet so once we get it back we can understand what occurred.

"It's the first time we've really had a problem with the car as it has been so reliable."

BBC SPORTS NEWS !

Lumley greeted as 'daughter of Nepal'

By Joanna Jolly BBC News in Nepal

A high profile campaign led by the actress Joanna Lumley in May won many Gurkha veterans the right to settle in the UK.

The case was followed keenly by their families in Nepal as the BBC found out when the actress arrived in Kathmandu.

Joanna Lumley found herself mobbed by Nepalis and swathed in scarves

Joanna Lumley's visit to Nepal was originally intended to be a private affair.

But such was the level of gratitude towards the former model and actress, her imminent arrival in Kathmandu fast became the main event in town.

"We're so excited to meet her, she's been so good to us," said Sorala Thapa, 42, wife of a former Gurkha soldier who was one of hundreds of Nepalis travelling to Kathmandu's airport to welcome Joanna Lumley.

Sorala arrived with forty other Gurkha wives, all wearing traditional green saris bearing the Gurkha emblem of two crossed Khukuri knives.

As they waited for Ms Lumley's plane to touch down, they handed out placards bearing the slogans "daughter of Nepal", "goddess" and "thank you".

Prem Rai, chairman of the United British Gurkha Ex-Servicemen Association Nepal, said: "Gurkha wives and Gurkha widows are especially grateful to Joanna.

"They can now qualify for British settlement visas."

But Mr Rai said all Nepalese people were thankful for what she has done for the Gurkhas.

"We are very pleased to welcome her in Nepal," he said.

Elderly Gurkha veterans were among the throng

Many of those who turned up were elderly. As monsoon rain showers swept across the airport car park, they waited patiently, placards and flags in hand.

Finally Ms Lumley emerged from the terminal building. Flanked by Peter Carroll, the Liberal Democrat councillor who began the Gurkha Justice Campaign, she looked delighted to see the crowds waiting to meet her.

Leaders of the Gurkha ex-servicemen organizations draped orange garlands and traditional white khata scarves - usually given as a token of love - around her shoulders.

But, as Ms Lumley moved slowly past lines of well-wishers, the Nepalese press pack broke through the barriers and surrounded her.

The result was chaos as local police pushed back cameramen and photographers as everyone tried to get a shot of the actress.

"I'm absolutely thrilled, it's extremely sweet and warm," said Ms Lumley as her minders pushed her through the mob.

"Quite close contact," she added with a smile.

Undeterred by the scrum surrounding Ms Lumley, small and elderly former Gurkhas attempted to break through the crowd to reach her.

Despite their size and their age, they did surprisingly well - many of them managing to get close enough to drape more scarves around her neck.

The actress gave a speech shielded from the crowd by a car door

Using a car doorway as a platform, Ms Lumley was finally able to stand above the mob and deliver an impromptu speech.

"I want to thank you so much for your warm welcome," she said.

"I want to say the time-honoured cry, Ayo Gorkhali!"

On Monday the actress is scheduled to meet the Nepalese president and prime minister before addressing a crowd of former Gurkhas at Kathmandu's city hall.

"Everybody will be there to meet her," said 53-year-old Gyanendra Rai, a Falklands veteran who will be one the first to benefit from Ms Lumley's campaign to secure UK settlement rights for Gurkha ex-servicemen.

"We don't have any word to describe her, because she's like an original goddess for the Gurkhas. So we'll heartily welcome her to Kathmandu.

"It is a homecoming for her," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS"

"NOTHING IS HARDER ON YOUR LAURELS

THAN RESTING ON THEM" !

_________

Palin resigns Alaska governorship!

Sarah Palin takes swipe at media

Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has formally resigned as Alaska governor, 18 months before the end of her term in office.

She announced her resignation abruptly on 3 July, leading to speculation of a bid for the presidency in 2012.

She handed over to Alaska's Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell at a picnic ceremony in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Mrs Palin, who is dogged by ethics probes and legal bills, gave few clues about her political future.

But she reiterated her commitment to "keep championing Alaska".

"When I took the oath to serve you, I promised... to steadfastly and doggedly guard the interests of this great state like that grizzly guards her cubs. As a mother naturally guards her own," she said.

"And I will keep that vow wherever the road may lead."

In pictures: Palin's highs and lows

Mrs Palin also took aim at the media, who she has accused of treating her and her family unfairly.

"How about, in honour of the American soldier, you quit making things up?" she said to the gathering of television camera crews and reporters at the event.

She added that her replacement, Mr Parnell, "has a very nice family too, so leave his kids alone!"

Mr Parnell, 46, has promised to pursue many of Mrs Palin's initiatives, including a controversial natural gas pipeline.

"We share the same core values," he told the crowd, saying the main focus for his administration would be the economy.

The BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington says Mr Parnell is far more experienced and low-key than Mrs Palin.

This will come as a relief to Alaskan officials, as they can focus on the issues without the distraction of having a superstar running the show, she adds.

Although Mrs Palin's next steps remain unclear, reports say she is working on an autobiography and could host a television chat show.

But a spokeswoman for the Palin family earlier dismissed the claims.

"I cannot express enough there is no plan after July 26. There is absolutely no plan," Meghan Stapleton told the Associated Press news agency.

"[On Monday] we'll sit down and say, 'OK, here are your options. How do you now want to effect that positive change for Alaska from outside the role as governor?'," Ms Stapleton added.

Mrs Palin, 45, shot to fame as John McCain's Republican running mate in the election of November 2008, becoming a lightning rod for praise and criticism alike.

She said a major factor in her decision to quit as Alaska's governor was the mounting legal cost she and the state faced in fighting nearly 20 ethics charges.

But she has insisted her opponents would not "find any dirt".

However, an independent state investigator says her legal-defence fund - formed to help pay more than $500,000 (£304,000) in lawyers' fees - is itself an ethics violation because it uses her government job for personal financial benefit.

Her popularity rating has fallen to 40% in the wake of her resignation, a Washington Post-ABC poll showed.

But her supporters defend her as an outstanding leader with a strong Christian faith and unwavering support for her family.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

German minister in stolen car row!

Mrs Schmidt could be summoned before the budget committee

The German health minister, Ulla Schmidt, has been criticised after her official car was stolen in Spain, where she was using it during her vacation.

The 90,000 euro (£78,000) Mercedes S-class was stolen in Alicante.

Mrs Schmidt flew there at her own expense. Her chauffeur drove 2,400km (1,500 miles) to meet her so she could carry out some official business.

But opposition politicians want to know why she needed her car in Spain, when embassy vehicles are available.

A German taxpayers group also weighed in, telling the Bild am Sonntag newspaper: "Taxpayers' money should not be wasted on the comfort of a minister".

Officials at her ministry said Mrs Schmidt, like all cabinet members, has a car at her disposal at all times for official and private use.

They said she was meeting on Monday with Germans living in Spain, and that the minister would reimburse the cost of private use, in accordance with the rules.

Thieves stole the keys from the chauffeur's accommodation near Alicante, a popular retirement and holiday destination for Germans on Spain's Costa Brava.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Suicide attack at Chechen concert!

A suicide bomb attack at a concert hall in the Chechen capital, Grozny, has killed at least five people and wounded several more, officials say.

Four of those killed were police officers, authorities in the southern Russian republic said.

There has been a recent upsurge in violence in Chechnya, along with the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Correspondents say it is linked to Islamist opposition to Moscow's rule.

Regional officials said the attacker had tried to enter the concert hall minutes before the start of a play.

When police stopped him, he detonated his explosives, killing himself and four police officers immediately. One other person died on the way to hospital, the Itar Tass news agency reported.

A spokesman for the interior ministry said at least 10 people had been wounded, and about 800 spectators inside the hall were evacuated.

The area around the concert hall was immediately sealed off.

Russian forces have fought two wars against separatists in the mainly Muslim republic since 1994.

In April, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the end of a decade-long "counter-terrorism operation", intended to pave the way for the withdrawal of thousands of troops.

But since then several attacks have taken place.

Fighting has also spread to neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia, where correspondents say a violent Islamist insurgency is growing.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Sarkozy falls ill while jogging !

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is a regular runner

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been taken to hospital after becoming ill while jogging.

Mr Sarkozy's chief of staff said the president was "doing well" and talking normally with medics at the military hospital, AFP news agency reported.

The 54-year-old president is remaining there overnight for what officials said were "routine" tests.

He was flown to the hospital earlier after suffering what was described as a "minor" nerve complaint.

Mr Sarkozy was taken ill while jogging during a humid afternoon at a weekend retreat at the Chateau of Versailles, outside Paris.

The incident occurred after 45 minutes of "intensive physical exercise", his office said in a statement.

It denied earlier statements that he had lost consciousness. Mr Sarkozy lay down and received immediate treatment from a personal doctor.

He was flown to the Val de Grace hospital by helicopter, where he was later joined by his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

A spokesman said he had also summoned aides to his bedside to keep him up to date with world events.

AFP said Mr Sarkozy had suffered a problem relating to his vagal nerve.

It said a condition known as vasovagal syncope could involve a brief loss of consciousness, and changes in the heart rate or blood pressure, especially if the person is dehydrated.

The vagal nerve is a major nerve that runs from the abdomen to the brain and controls many functions.

French member of parliament Patrick Balkany, an ally of Mr Sarkozy, said everything was "going well" and blamed the problem on a diet he said the president was following to lose weight.

"He's fine. He's hungry. He's complaining," he told French radio.

"The president is going to have to take more care, work a little less hard and eat a little bit more," he added.

Mr Sarkozy has cancelled an event on Monday but had not as yet changed his schedule for Tuesday.

The president is regularly seen running and is a keen cyclist.

The Elysee Palace said earlier this month that his last medical examination - on 3 July - showed normal results for cardiovascular and blood tests.

Shortly after his election, his first medical bulletin showed him to be in "good" health.

He campaigned for greater transparency of presidential health bulletins during his presidential campaign, yet a brief hospital stay in late 2007 was not revealed until three months after it happened.

Several French presidents have been accused of glossing over health problems, notably the late Francois Mitterrand, who concealed that he was seriously ill with cancer.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe !

BABY IN A BOX !

25th July 2009.

Dear Family and Friends,

Late in the afternoon a friend got a call on his mobile phone. The
words were garbled and broken up, the call lasting just a few seconds
before cutting off. The musukuru (grandson) is serious, come now. You
have to be a Zimbabwean perhaps to know that the word 'serious'
usually means very sick. What would be a problem, even an emergency
in the "normal" world was destined to be a nightmare in our broken
country.

Again and again my friend tried to phone for more information about
his grandson but after numerous attempts gave up. He was wasting
time. His grandson is in a rural village, it was almost dusk and he
knew he must go. A fifteen kilometre bicycle ride got him to the
village. It was completely dark when he arrived. By the light of a
candle he looked at his precious little musukuru. Teeth clenched,
face in a grimace, body curled in taut foetal position, the two year
old boy obviously needed help. He had been vomiting copiously,
shaking and arching his back and now the slightest movement caused
him to scream in pain.

The nearest clinic is 3 kilometres away. There is no transport,
private or public. No telephones. No electricity, not even any
running water to wash away the vomit. An ambulance will not come from
the nearest town, not unless you can pay cash, in advance, up front:
50 US dollars.

As gently as possible the musukuru was laid in a box which was lifted
onto the back of the bicycle and tied securely with strips of old
car-tyre inner tubing. Blankets underneath and on top of the musukuru
in the freezing cold winter darkness, the journey from hell began.
Every stone, bump and gully on the disintegrating gravel road caused
a scream of agony from the child. Words of comfort were measured
against the urgency of the journey. At the clinic at last, there was
no sign of attendance. Calling, shouting, knocking finally produced a
youngster: No nurses here, he said.

The next clinic is another 7 kilometres away. The grandparents
finally arrived, pushing their grandson in the box on the bicycle at
2 in the morning. Shivering and with frozen fingers their lifted
their precious musukuru into the hands of the nurse. They knew what
to expect and had bought a small sheet for the bed, their own
blankets, a towel and even maize meal and a small pot to make
porridge for the child. A drip went in, that's 14 US dollars, payable
immediately. An intravenous antibiotic was given, that's 12 US
dollars, payable immediately.

Two days later my friend was back in town and stone broke. The
musukuru is still in the clinic, still on a drip and still has a
problem. There are no doctors there. The nurses say that sekuru must
pay for more drugs. His cell phone is flat. He has no money, no
airtime left and back there, down the dusty pot-holed road the life
of his little grandson is in his hands.

Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy

Getting a grip on Greenland's future

By Stephen Sackur Presenter, HARDtalk programme, Greenland

The Ilulissat glacier has retreated by approximately 15km over the past decade

There are few places in the world where the effects of global warming appear to be more dramatic than the Ilulissat ice fjord.

This is probably why green-tinged politicians and celebrities are routinely spotted posing for pictures close to the vast icebergs calved from the glacier at the head of the fjord.

"Look," they say, "the ice is melting. Unless we dramatically cut our emissions now, the Greenland Ice Sheet and our planet are in peril."

Are they right? Do scientific studies of the Greenland Ice Sheet indicate that catastrophe is around the corner?

There is uncertainty over how much Greenland's ice sheet will melt

The answer does not seem to be entirely straightforward.

The Ilulissat glacier has indeed retreated dramatically in recent years - more than 15km in the last decade alone - but plenty of evidence suggests such rapid change in the ice is not unprecedented.

In fact, over the last 10,000 years (a period of long-term warming since the end of the last Ice Age), the glaciers on Greenland's west coast have been through many periods of advance and retreat.

Four thousand years ago, the Earth was significantly warmer than it is now, and accordingly the glacier retreated; but the evidence suggests it was perhaps only 20km back from its current position.

In other words, the Ilulissat glacier may reach a point in its retreat where the dynamics of the ice sheet make further regression very difficult, and very slow.

So when the more excitable climate campaigners claim that Greenland's ice sheet - which contains roughly 10% of the world's fresh water - is "melting" and that catastrophic rises in sea level can be expected within a century, it is advisable to take a deep breath and ponder the complexities of the ice.

Ilulissat is a popular destination for "green-tinged politicians and celebrities"

The increased speed of flow of the Ilulissat glacier - from 7 to 14 km in a single year - means that an extraordinary mass of ice is indeed being disgorged into the sea.

Glaciologists reckon as much as 35 cubic kilometres of ice each year is being shed from this one outlet alone. But there is a countervailing trend.

Increased precipitation over the ice sheet, ie more snow, means at least some of the loss of mass in the ice sheet is being made good.

The sea level is going to rise, but by how much in the coming century?

It may even be that the ice in the middle of the Greenland sheet is becoming thicker while it is retreating at the margins.

Even the experts are not entirely sure how to explain the dramatic speeding up of ice movement and melt inside the Illulisat fjord.

Danish glaciologist Andreas Ahlstroem believes a significant warming of the sea is a crucial factor. But glacier movement is quickening far into the ice sheet, suggesting that increased meltwater underneath the ice is also having a major impact.

Could the retreat of Greenland's glaciers be a harbinger of a much bigger change: the disappearance of the entire ice sheet?

Given even the most gloomy temperature projections for the next century that is extremely unlikely.

The ice in the middle of Greenland is some three kilometres thick and, deep down, it is hundreds of thousands of years old.

Indeed this core ice provides an invaluable record of conditions that prevailed during the last great interglacial period, which came to an end more than 100,000 years ago.

Greenland has not always been icebound. Two and a half million years ago it was covered in forest and heath, but even the worst-case scenario of man-made climate change is unlikely to reduce the northern hemisphere's greatest mass of ice to a pathetic pile of slush in the foreseeable future.

The series of HARDtalk programmes from Greenland will be broadcast on BBC World and the BBC News Channel on 28-30 July 2009. Please check local listings for broadcast times

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Price 'flattered' by fan support!

Price has said it was Peter Andre's decision to end their marriage

By Fiona Pryor Entertainment reporter, BBC News

Dressed in a sequinned leotard, complete with tutu and not one but two crowns, Katie Price knows how to turn heads.

The former glamour model turns up to a London store flanked by four semi-naked male models to sign copies of her latest novel, Sapphire.

"It's unbelievable how many people are here," says Price.

"It's really flattering," adds the relieved 31-year-old, who had earlier told BBC Radio 1 she was worried no one would turn up.

"It just goes to show I still have fans out there who don't believe what they read in the papers."

Security is tight, with hundreds of people jostling to get a glimpse of the reality TV star.

At one point the crowd surges forward, causing a couple of children to fall to the ground.

One member of staff claims they have never seen it so busy at a book signing event.

Price: "I would never trust a man"

Media interest is at an all-time high too, with journalists desperate to ask Price about the recent breakdown of her marriage to pop singer Peter Andre.

"It's sad. We've got children, it was a fairy-tale wedding and marriage, and I didn't want it to end," says Price.

The couple, who met on ITV1 show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2004, announced their split in May.

They have been married for three-and-a-half years and have two children together.

Within days of the announcement Price made it clear it was Andre who had asked for a divorce, not her.

In recent months Price claims she has been "battered" by the press over the way she has dealt with the break-up of her marriage.

Pictures of her clubbing in Ibiza were splashed across the tabloids.

It's sad. We've got children, it was a fairy-tale wedding and marriage, and I didn't want it to end Katie Price

On her return the star gave a TV interview to former tabloid editor Piers Morgan, in which she revealed she had a miscarriage shortly before Andre asked for a divorce.

Despite all the negative press, though, Marie Wilson, 35, says she is still a massive fan.

"I love Katie Price because she reminds me of me," she tells the BBC at the London book launch.

"Today has shown, despite the media backlash, she is still loved. Look at the turn-out."

Ms Wilson took her 17-year-old daughter along to meet Price and says she is a great role model.

"She's got good business sense, she doesn't take any rubbish from guys and she's beautiful.

"Who cares about the boob jobs? I was contemplating getting one, it's not a big deal - look where it's got her."

Angela, who declined to give her surname, claims she used to look after Price and says she has been unfairly treated.

"I think she's a great girl. I feel sorry for her, she's really heart-broken."

Despite spending a large amount of their married life in front of the cameras for their ITV2 reality show, Angela reckons both Price and Andre "absolutely" deserve a private life.

Some publications since have suggested Price's reinvention from glamour model Jordan to wife and mother is now over and that fans are turning against her.

If the crowds at Selfridges on Thursday are anything to go by, though, she still has a strong following.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Lumley setting off on Nepal trip!

Joanna Lumley fronted a high profile campaign supporting veterans

Actress Joanna Lumley is flying out to Nepal to meet former Gurkha soldiers and their families in a week-long trip.

She was the public face of a campaign - launched in Kent where there is a large Gurkha community - to secure UK residency rights for all veterans.

Accompanied by members of her family and Peter Carroll, who started the campaign, Ms Lumley will meet Nepal's prime minister and president.

Large crowds are expected to greet her on her arrival in Kathmandu on Sunday.

"I understand there will be a huge, huge reception at the airport," Mr Carroll said.

"It's almost like a head of state visiting."

On Tuesday Ms Lumley will visit Jhapa and Dharan to meet Gurkhas.

Mr Carroll said some people were expected to walk for three days just to be there.

"I think it's going to be an amazingly emotional experience," he said.

In May, the government said all retired Gurkha soldiers - originally from Nepal - with at least four years service in the British Army, could stay in the UK.

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. Winston Churchill's wartime command bunker was not bomb-proof.
More details

2. David Beckham likes wine tasting.
More details (Daily Telegraph)

3. The popular saying "finders keepers, losers weepers" dates back to the 19th Century when it was first recorded as "No halfers-findee keepee, lossee seekee".
More details

4. Football score announcer James Alexander Gordon suffered from slurred speech as a child.
More details

5. It's always "esq" and never "esquire" as a written honorific.
More details

6. Until being revamped this week, the Bill's theme tune was called Overkill.
More details (the Stage)

7. The first known maize maze was in Pennsylvania in 1993.
More details

8. The UK's oldest working TV set is from 1936.
More details

9. Before the 20th Century, classical music audiences clapped between the movements. Now it's not the done thing.
More details

10. Toucans use their large bills to keep cool.
More details

BBC NEWS MAGAZINE.

Tweeting prayers to Western Wall!

New technology is being used to offer alternative ways to send prayers

Jewish people outside Jerusalem wishing to post a prayer on the Western Wall now have a new way of doing so - using the social networking service Twitter.

The prayers, sent as so-called tweets, are printed off and posted on the wall to sit alongside the thousands of other notes placed there by visitors.

Since the service began three weeks ago, hundreds of people have taken advantage of it.

The founder of the service says he has been stunned by its success.

On Thursday night, Alon Nil had more than 1,000 unread messages.

"I'm swamped. I can't keep up with all the tweets," he told the Associated Press.

"It started as a hobby, and I can't keep maintaining it by myself. But I'm determined to not lose even one prayer."

Mr Nil said he realised the potential of Twitter after seeing how it was used by Iranians to share information and photos with the outside world during the recent post-election unrest in the country.

"There are an infinite number of uses for Twitter, and I thought 'What can I do that is new and creative and might benefit the people of Israel?'," he said.

The Western Wall, sometimes referred to as the Wailing Wall or simply the Kotel (wall), in Jerusalem's Old City is Judaism's holiest prayer site.

Thousands of believers come to place their prayers on handwritten notes between the 2,000-year-old stones in the hope their request will find a short-cut to God.

In recent years, people from overseas have been able to email and fax their prayers.

With the success of his Twitter service, Aron Nil is now looking for sponsorship to pay someone to help maintain the site or a programming service that can do some of the work for him.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Iran accused of 'Zionist' tactics!

Protests demanded the release of those detained in Iran

One of the defeated moderate candidates in Iran's presidential election, Mehdi Karroubi, has accused security forces of using harsher methods than Israel.

"The behaviour of Iran's security agents is worse than those of the Zionist in occupied Palestine," a statement on his website said.

Hundreds have been arrested following protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election last month.

Activists around the world demonstrated against the crackdown on Saturday.

Mr Karroubi and other moderate candidates say the 12 June election was marred by massive fraud.

Iran's top election body, the Council of Guardians, has said the poll was free and fair. Officials results gave Mr Ahmadinejad more than 62% of the vote.

Days of streets protests against the election results were violently suppressed, drawing international condemnation.

A letter to Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei posted on Mr Karroubi's website says that "women were attacked with clubs and beaten and thrown in the gutters" during the protests.

"This is more painful in comparison to crimes committed by the Zionists against the oppressed people of Palestine... The Zionist aggressors have some reservations when it comes to confronting women."

Meanwhile activists have taken part in a "global day of action" on Iran.

Protests supported by leading groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International were held in many cities - including Sydney, Seoul, Geneva London, Brussels, Berlin, Dublin.

The demonstrators urged the Tehran authorities to free those arrested. Many held pictures of people they say remain in jail.

Some placards showed Neda Agha Soltan, the 27-year-old woman whose death was captured on a video that was posted on the Internet.

In Amsterdam, Iranian Nobel Peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi called on the international community to reject the outcome of the election.

In Bishkek, the capital of the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, nine human rights activists marching towards the Iranian embassy were detained and fined for illegally protesting.

Two days ago Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev won a second presidential term in an election criticised by foreign monitors.

ZIMBABWE - LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA !

24th july 2009

Dear Friends,

However bloody the battle, be it in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, the DRC or Ruanda, sooner or later the opposing sides have to sit down and talk to each other. One of the excuses that Africa and the west have used for not intervening in Zimbabwe has been that there is not a situation of outright conflict. There has been no war they say - unless you call the long, slow war of attrition waged by Zanu PF against innocent civilians a war - and, I would argue, there is no real peace. Misguided, or just plain deluded politicians may argue otherwise but reality tells a very different story. Up and down the country we have documented cases of violence still going on; that violence takes many forms and we cannot exclude wrongful arrest, the misuse of the police and the courts whose political allegiance appears to be stronger than loyalty to their oath of office. The state under Robert Mugabe's misrule has become an instrument of violent repression against any citizen who dares to disagree with the Zanu PF. With complete disregard for the fact that is his own party that has been primarily responsible for the continuing violence, Robert Mugabe has declared a period of National Healing. The Extraordinary Government Gazette declares that July 24-26 will be days when "Zimbabweans at home and abroad renounce and report all forms of political violence in an effort to restore peace and stability in the country." And to compound the hypocrisy of this nonsensical declaration, Mugabe's 'partners' join him in this call for 'National Healing'. While their own MDC supporters, including MPs are being arrested on patently trumped up charges, or beaten up like the young woman in UMP, the MDC leaders blithely ignore their plight and join the President in his call for three days of National Healing.

It all sounds very worthy but several questions spring to mind. Apart from the sickening hypocrisy of Mugabe's call, I ask whether it is remotely possible that 'healing' can take place when the Zanu PF perpetrators of the violence are still at large and the police steadfastly fail to prosecute the wrong-doers? Appeals to the churches to participate in this process of National Healing may well be heeded on the grounds that it is the 'Christian' thing to do but I for one cannot see how there can be genuine healing without justice and truth. It is Gordon Chavunduka, the leader of the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association, who best sums up the reality. "It is too early for such a process," says Chavunduka, "the wounds from the 2008 violence are still too fresh and those who committed such violence must take responsibility." That is the nub of the matter. From Robert Mugabe himself right down to his thugs on the ground there has been no acceptance of responsibility for their crimes, no sorrow expressed for the victims of the barbarous cruelty and inhumanity that has been meted out on innocent men, women and children. Instead we are offered three days of 'National Healing' as if that alone could do any more than draw a veil over unpardonable crimes against humanity.

Just to be absolutely sure I understood exactly what is meant by the term 'Healing', I checked the word 'heal' in the dictionary. This is how it is defined: 'to restore or be restored to heath; to repair (of a wound) by natural processes, as by scar formation; to cure a disease or disorder; to restore or be restored to friendly relations, harmony etc. The word 'heal' derives from the Old English 'haelan' meaning 'whole'. It follows then that national healing implies that what was hurt or wounded in the nation would be made whole again. Does anyone seriously believe that can be done in three days? One look at the ongoing violent situations around the world tells us that healing may take a very long time. Indeed, Mugabe himself is hardly an example of Christian forgiveness and healing. Despite his stirring words at Independence, we have seen little 'healing' of the wrongs done over the years to Zimbabwean citizens. Mugabe has had nearly thirty years to demonstrate the spirit of national healing and forgiveness but all we have heard from him is hatred and intolerance towards anyone who disagrees with him. Healing takes time apparently, longer for some than others. I was vividly reminded of that by a piece in the UK Independent this week. The article dealt with an incident which took place 25 years ago. In October 1984 a thirty-pound IRA bomb blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton, an English seaside resort on the south coast, where the ruling Conservative party was holding its Annual Conference. Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister was there, of course and was the probable target. She was unharmed in the massive explosion that followed but Norman Tebbit, a senior minister in her government, was buried under tons of rubble. He was rescued after hours of digging and eventually recovered from his injuries. His wife, Margaret, has been in a wheelchair ever since, paralysed from the neck down. Norman Tebbit said he can never forgive Patrick Magee, the IRA man who planted the bomb. "The only way he would ever want to bump into Patrick Magee" Tebbit said, " would be with a heavy truck." As I said, it takes different people in different ways, this healing process. Another victim of the bomb-blast was Sir Anthony Berry and it is his daughter who has befriended Patrick Magee who was released from prison under an amnesty when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. Together these two unlikely allies have worked tirelessly for peace in the troubled land. Magee has set up a charity called Building Bridges for Peace and has publicly expressed his sorrow for the loss of life that his action caused. He has, however, defended his reasons for planting the bomb. Whether one agrees with the IRA cause or not, the fact is there is now peace of a sort in Northern Ireland and a genuine power-sharing government is in place.

From where I'm standing, the same cannot be said of Zimbabwe and three days of National Healing will do little more than produce a whole lot of pious platitudes from the politicians who all have their eyes on the next election. At the risk of repeating myself, I still say that until I hear Robert Mugabe himself come out on national radio and television ordering his followers to immediately cease and desist from violence and for the police to vigorously prosecute all offenders, I will not believe that the President's call for National Healing is any more than a clever PR trick. Clever because, after all, what political leader could come out openly and say he didn't agree with 'National Healing'? Once again, Mugabe comes up smelling of roses, except for the cynics among us who definitely detect something 'fishy' about the whole exercise. On another continent, Patrick Magee served a prison sentence for his horrendous crime, expressed genuine sorrow for the suffering he had caused but maintained his cause was a just one. What 'cause, I wonder, other than silencing all dissenting voices, would Robert Mugabe put forward to excuse his crimes against the Zimbabwean people?

Yours in the (continuing) struggle, PH.

Outcry over disowned US rape girl!

Offers for help are pouring in for an eight-year-old Liberian girl disowned by her own family in Phoenix, Arizona, after being raped by four boys.

The girl is under the care of the Arizona Child Protective Service (CPS) because her parents said she had shamed them, and they did not want her back.

Phoenix police said calls had come in from all over the US offering money, or even to adopt the young girl.

The boys, Liberian immigrants aged nine to 14, have been charged with rape.

The case has sparked outrage across the US and even drawn condemnation from Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an outspoken anti-rape campaigner.

"I think that family is wrong. They should help that child who has been traumatised," Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf told CNN.

"They too need serious counselling because clearly they are doing something, something that is no longer acceptable in our society here," she added.

Media reports said the girl was lured into a shed on 16 July with promises of chewing gum by the four young boys.

There, they held her down and took turns assaulting her for 10 to 15 minutes, before her screams alerted officers nearby.

The oldest suspect, a 14-year-old boy, will be tried as an adult on charges of kidnapping and sexual assault, police said on Friday. He is being held in police custody until trial.

The other three - aged 9, 10, and 13 - are charged as juveniles with sexual assault and kidnapping.

But the police said no charges will be filed against the parents.

"They didn't abandon the child," Phoenix police sergeant Andy Hill told AFP news agency. "They committed no crime. They just didn't support the child, which led to CPS coming over there."

Sgt Hill said people from eight or nine US states had called wanting to adopt the girl or donate money.

"It has been unbelievably fantastic in terms of support for the child," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"Sayings"

"WHEN A GOAL MATTERS ENOUGH TO A PERSON,

THAT PERSON WILL FIND A WAY TO ACCOMPLISH

WHAT AT FIRST SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE" !

___________

Expats describe 'volcano of fire' !

Hundreds of British expatriates have been evacuated from homes and hotels in south-east Spain as wildfires cut a swathe through the countryside.

The area around the town of Mojacar in Andalucia is worst hit and several expats have told the BBC News website about their frightening experiences.

BENJAMIN JACKSON

Twenty-three-year-old Benjamin Jackson rushed to the aid of a friend when he realised his home was in the fire's path.

"We're just fighting to protect the house and thankfully I think we're winning now," he said on Friday.

"But the pool house is gone and all of my friend's peacocks have been burned. He's very upset.

It was like a volcano was erupting. There were flames pouring down the mountainside in rivulets Val Rodgers Wildfires rage in southern Europe

"We shouldn't really be here. They evacuated us but we came back to try and save the house.

"It's just a cauldron and we don't want to risk the house burning down, so we're staying here."

Spanish authorities have cut off public water supplies to conserve them for the fire-fighting effort, but that is making Mr Jackson's job even harder.

"I guess it's because they don't want people panicking and using water if they don't really need to," he said.

"But my friend has got hundreds of eucalyptus and pine trees and once they start burning you just can't stop them. The hot ashes of the pool house are smouldering and every time we leave them they catch fire again.

Fires have also devastated parts of north-eastern Spain

"We're just having to go with buckets to neighbours' pools to get water. It's a terrible job because it's still so hot.

"My friend has had to take his neighbour to hospital because she's got bad asthma and the smoke is affecting her.

"Her car blew up last night when the fire reached it."

Mr Jackson said he understood that both the campsite and cemetery in Mojacar had been badly damaged by the fire.

"Yesterday was about 44 degrees," he said.

"It's like a horror film round here.

"As far as you can see basically everything has burned down."

JOAN OULD

"As I speak to you now, things have calmed down a bit, but last night they were catastrophic," 76-year-old Joan Ould told the BBC.

"We had three fires raging right behind our urbanisation. It's the second time in 10 days."

We were just hoping and praying it didn't come any closer Joan Ould

Mrs Ould and her husband live in a community of about 30 apartments on a hillside above Mojacar.

Both elderly, they have relied on younger neighbours for help.

"The fire was so close last night, it was getting really dangerous," she said.

"Unfortunately, our house is on the end and we've got a piece of waste ground beside us that's as dry as a tinder box. Our neighbour spent hours dousing it with water to try to stop it catching fire.

"We were just hoping and praying it didn't come any closer. It was very frightening.

"Our neighbour stayed up all night keeping watch in case we needed to get out of the building."

Mrs Ould said the temperatures on Thursday were unprecedented.

"It's just been so hot. When you went outside it was like sticking your head in an oven," she said.

"And the wind. It was so hot and it was blowing the fire towards the beach and the hotels. They all had to be evacuated - people spent the night on the beach.

"Mojacar was absolutely engulfed in smoke, there are probably people suffering from smoke inhalation.

"Right now, there are still helicopters overhead all the time and the sound of ambulances.

"There's a slightly cooler breeze today, so we're just keeping our fingers crossed. It really was scary."

VAL RODGERS

Sixty-eight-year-old Val and her husband Terry, 72, live in an area opposite the fire, but it still came close enough to leave them shaken.

"It started about three o'clock, and by later in the evening it was like a volcano was erupting," she said.

"There were flames pouring down the mountainside in rivulets, just like a volcano.

"It was heartbreaking, seeing so much destroyed.

"People are definitely frightened. Some of them only just got back in to their homes after the last time they were evacuated."

The Rodgers were due to stay at a favourite hotel next month, but it was destroyed by the flames.

"We were only staying there last week," she said. "It's sad, it was 300 years old, a beautiful building.

"Temperatures have just been incredible.

"I've been here 14 years and it's the hottest I've ever known it. It's unbearable, everything you touch is burning."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Shanghai urges 'two-child policy'!

China's only children are often spoiled "little emperors"

Officials in Shanghai are urging parents to have a second child, the first time in decades the government has actively encouraged procreation.

A public information campaign has been launched to highlight exemptions to the country's one-child policy.

Couples who were both only children, which includes most of the city's newly-weds, are allowed a second child.

The move comes as China's most populous city becomes richer and older, with the number of retired residents soaring.

"Shanghai's over-60 population already exceeds three million, or 21.6% of registered residents," said Zhang Meixin, a spokesman for the city's Municipal Population and Family Planning Commission.

He said the current average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime was less than one.

ANALYSIS Micky Bristow, BBC News Chinese and foreign experts have been saying for some time that China needs to change its strict family planning rules. If the country continues as it is, the proportion of elderly people in society will continue to increase. This is a problem because it will leave a smaller group of workers paying for the country's retired population. But central government officials have consistently ruled out changing the national family planning policy. They still believe that China has too many people - an opinion shared by almost everyone in the country. That has left individual cities, such as Shanghai, to think up ways of coping with their own ageing communities.

"If all couples have children according to the policy, it would definitely help relieve pressure in the long term," he added.

Decades of a strictly enforced one-child policy has produced new strains across the population and prompted exceptions in some family categories. Rural parents are also allowed to have a second child, if the first-born is a girl.

In Shanghai, family planning officials and volunteers will make home visits and slip leaflets under doors to encourage couples to have a second child if both grew up as only children.

Emotional and financial counselling will also be provided, officials said.

By 2020, the country's most populous city is expected to have more than a third of residents aged 60 or above.

According to the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, by 2050 the country will have just 1.6 working-age adults to support each retired person, compared to 7.7 in 1975.

The state-controlled newspaper China Daily quoted one salesman who said he was cheered by the new attitude.

CHINA'S ONE-CHILD POLICY Written into the constitution in 1978 Government says has prevented about 400 million births Many rural couples allowed second child if first is a girl Parents who are themselves only children can have two children Ethnic minority couples allowed two or more children Has the one-child policy worked? China's 'perfect child' generation Grey areas in one-child policy

"I'm not sure, but such policy really gives us one more option. If family finance permits, I want to have two kids with my wife in the future," said 25-year-old Xiao Wang, who works at a local company.

Others were less enthusiastic.

"I don't think we will have a second kid," said 26-year-old Xiao Chen, an office worker. "After all, it is stressful work raising a child."

Couples who ignore China's birth control policies usually pay fines and may face discrimination at work.

The many only children of China have earned the nickname of "little emperors" for the love and treats lavished upon them.

China's birth-control policies have been hugely controversial at home and abroad, as enforcement has involved forced abortions and other abuses.

It has also been blamed for a gender imbalance, as a traditional preference for boys has persuaded some parents to abort girl foetuses.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Finders keepers, losers weepers? !

By Lucy Rodgers BBC News

Who should legally keep the winnings from a lost lottery ticket - the woman who mislaid it, or the married couple who found it?

It is an age-old dilemma.

What should you do when you stumble across cash in the street - a £1 coin or even a £5, £10 or £50 note? And how about if you discover something worth hundreds or thousands of pounds, such as jewellery or a winning lottery ticket?

People are more likely to give back a wallet containing money if someone's cards are inside Dr Natalie Gold

While some may hand lost property in to the authorities, many others seek justification in the playground chant "finders keepers, losers weepers".

Yet, although the adage is often quoted by those who claim rights over their discoveries, the recent case of Wiltshire couple Amanda and Michael Stacey shows it holds little sway in a court of law.

The husband and wife have been handed 11-month suspended sentences for cashing in a £30,000 lottery ticket found on a shop floor, and spending half of it. And on Friday they were ordered to repay the remaining £15,000, plus £111 in interest, to Dorothy McDonagh, who was able to prove she had bought the ticket.

At a hearing in April, defence lawyer Rob Ross told the court: "It is important for the public to know that 'Finders keepers, losers weepers' is not true and never was true."

So, why do we continue to take inspiration from the phrase, and is there ever legal justification for keeping what we find?

Finders keepers, losers weepers - the loser has to pay the score Elvis Presley

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the saying "Finders keepers (losers weepers)" dates as far back as the early 19th century, recorded as "No halfers-findee keepee, lossee seekee".

And almost 150 years later, Elvis Presley put it to music in 1963.

"Finders keepers, losers weepers. The loser has to pay the score," he crooned.

It is because the adage is so widely known that people may decide to use it as a rule for behaviour, says Dr Natalie Gold, who specialises in moral psychology at the University of Edinburgh.

But, she argues, although it allows people to think they are not stealing, just because someone recalls the phrase, it doesn't mean they will act on it.

An individual's decision to claim what they find will be greatly influenced by whether they consider the item to belong to someone else.

"People are more likely to give back a wallet containing money if someone's cards are inside. If it's just the money they are more likely to keep it."

However, if finders want to abide by the law, they need to think carefully about who owns lost property - including cash, says Robert Chambers, professor of property law at University College London.

Finders hoped to keep cargo washed up on Branscombe beach

While losers may no longer have physical possession of an item, they still retain legal entitlement to it.

Therefore, in England and Wales, as well as in most other countries across the world, the onus is on the finder to take what the law describes as "reasonable steps" to track down the loser.

"And that depends on where it has been found," says Professor Chambers. "In the airport you should go to the authorities, if it is in the street you should go to the police."

In the same way, those claiming ship-wrecked goods are obliged to notify the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's Receiver of Wrecks, and those finding buried treasure must notify the local coroner.

And in the case of winning lottery tickets, finders should advise organisers Camelot.

But what action is required often depends on what's found, says John Spencer, professor of law at the University of Cambridge.

"If you pick up a £1, you can keep it unless you saw someone drop it, as you would not be able to find the owner by taking reasonable steps.

LOTTERY TICKET FINDERS ADVICE Make adequate steps to reunite ticket with original owner Send ticket to Camelot, stating circumstances of the find If no prize claim or lost ticket notice made within 180 days, Camelot can decide to pay finder But if claimant fails to state ticket is lost property, and original owner disputes the claim, it may become a police matter Source: Camelot

"But if you found four or five £20 notes in a gutter - as I once did - you probably will find the owner as they are likely to contact the police, as they did in my case."

Yet, despite these legal requirements, there are certain circumstances in which a finder can legally become a keeper.

For example, someone can retain something if it has been abandoned, says Professor Spencer.

"You are only guilty of theft if you appropriate the property of another. If someone has abandoned it, the property is yours," he says.

"For example, if I throw something away in the street and someone else picks up the litter, that is not theft."

Furthermore, a finder may eventually earn the right to keep discovered property if they take the correct steps to find whoever lost it, says Professor Chambers.

"If you find something in the street, the law says you have more right to it than everyone else - except the owner. If the true owner doesn't turn up, you can take ownership."

In this sense, he says, "finders keepers" does have some legal foundation, but only if "something has no owner anymore".

So rather than "finders keepers, losers weepers", a more legally accurate adage might be the rather less succinct "finders may become keepers if they try to find the owner, but losers still have the best claim unless they have abandoned the item".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Wildfires rage in southern Europe !

At least seven wildfires are raging across south and east Spain

Thousands of firefighters are battling to bring under control summer wildfires that are spreading across parts of southern Europe.

At least seven people have died in fires that have struck Spain, France, Greece and the Italian island of Sardinia in the past few days.

Spain has been the hardest hit with at least seven major fires raging in the south and east.

Strong winds have fanned the flames during the hot dry weather.

A European Union monitoring agency has warned that the risk of fire along the Mediterranean coastline remains high with soaring temperatures predicted for the coming days.

Spain's interior ministry has put the country on maximum wildfire alert and is urging citizens to avoid starting fires in the current intense heat.

About 1,500 people - including many British expatriates and holidaymakers - were evacuated from the Mojacar region of south-east Spain as flames threatened the area.

"It's like a horror film round here," said Benjamin Jackson, a 23-year-old British expat. "As far as you can see basically everything has burned down."

Spain has suffered the heaviest death toll from the fires, losing five firefighters in the last four days.

Four were killed in Catalonia on Tuesday, and the driver of a firefighters' truck lost his life in Teruel province on Thursday.

Expats describe 'volcano of fire'

In Sardinia, a series of bush fires claimed two lives, including that of a shepherd who was trying to rescue his flock.

Helicopters and civil protection boats were used to rescue more than 120 people trapped on a beach at Capo Pecora in the south-west of the island.

The penitentiary complex of Is Arenas had to be evacuated, and the inmates temporarily transferred to the beach, Ansa news agency reports.

In Greece, firefighters continue to tackle blazes that have hit the southern Peloponnese region and the island of Evia.

Strong winds coupled with high temperatures had caused the fire to spread rapidly, fire officials in Evia said.

Five French firemen were injured battling flames from three fires on the island of Corsica, the AFP news agency reports.

The fires, which have destroyed some 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of forest and bush, are believed to have been started deliberately, the regional government said.

Meanwhile, an inquiry is under way in France after a military exercise sparked a major wildfire on the outskirts of Marseille.

The fire, which threatened homes and destroyed 1,300 hectares (3,211 acres) of brush, provoked an angry reaction from both officials and residents.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon called it a "professional mistake" and local prefect Michel Sappin accused the military of "imbecilic" actions.

The officer in charge when soldiers fired tracer bullets during a training exercise has been suspended.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Paralysed girl's story reflects Gaza's plight!

Christian Fraser reports

Four-year-old Samar Abed Rabbu lost her two sisters during Israel's offensive in Gaza last December and January.

The BBC's Christian Fraser has been following the plight of Samar and her family - now divided across two continents, as Samar receives treatment in Belgium with her mother.

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Throughout these months of gruelling therapy Belgian doctors say Samar Abed Rabbu has demonstrated remarkable courage.

Samar has lost the use of her legs but has shown remarkable spirit

She is desperate to walk again - she even simulates it on the bed with her fingers - but there is nothing the Belgian doctors can do to repair Samar's broken back.

"She has had two operations so far," said physiotherapist Pierre Van Lierde. "One in Gaza and one here in Brussels. But the bullets are lodged too deeply. It's too dangerous to remove them and at least one of them is embedded in her spinal cord."

I first met Samar in January in a hospital in Egypt. She had been evacuated from Gaza for emergency surgery, just one of scores of children who were injured as the Israelis searched out their Hamas targets.

But there was something particularly shocking about this story.

The family alleged that Israeli soldiers had opened fire at close range - as they lined up outside the house and while Samar's grandmother waved a white flag.

When the war ended we travelled to Jabaliya, northern Gaza, to find Samar's father. He told us that Samar's two sisters - Soad, 7, and Amel, 2 - had been killed in the assault. We brought him news that his only surviving daughter was now paralysed.

Today, after months of treatment - paid for by the Belgian government - Samar is at least upright and learning to balance.

She must wear a plastic brace to correct the position of her spine.

Every day she undergoes intensive physiotherapy to move her legs and to build the strength in her upper body. On the day we visited her custom-built wheelchair had just been delivered.

But these are all things that will all need to be replaced as she grows - and the question is how this family will cope when Samar is eventually sent back to Gaza.

The neighbourhood of Jabaliya looks exactly as it did when I was last there just over six months ago.

With the Israeli blockade still in place there is no concrete or steel to rebuild it. At the moment there is precious little to come back to.

In Gaza there is still no sign of the aid that was promised by the outside world.

In Jabaliya people are so desperate to salvage some respectability that they spend their days scavenging for broken bricks and metal, which they drag away on donkey-drawn carts.

In place of his home, Samar's father Khaled has been given a prefabricated hut - which feels like a sauna in Gaza's summer heat. It is without any running water or electricity.

"I miss my daughter terribly," he said. "I am desperate to see her again. But I don't want her to come back here - not to this. What can I offer her? She is much better where she is."

Khaled spends what little money he has on phone calls to Brussels.

Samar's family now live in a hut next to the ruins of their former home

Samar sings to him down the line.

So imagine the emotion as he had the chance to see her face in the pictures we had brought from Brussels.

The entire family gathered around as we showed Khaled the film - including Samar's young brother.

"It's been tough for all of us," said Khaled. "The family has been split for almost seven months - and we are still coping with the trauma and the grief. This little boy needs his mum."

The Israeli Defence Force has told the BBC that their inquiry into the family's allegations had found no evidence of such an incident. They stressed they have never targeted innocent civilians.

The Israeli blockade has meant little rebuilding in Gaza

But the morals and behaviour of the army have been called into question by a number of serving soldiers who took part in the Gaza offensive - although the military has dismissed their testimonies as based on hearsay.

Back in Belgium, Samar's mother Kawtar says she wants to stay in Europe, even though the family has been split.

"I want Samar to get better," she says. "I am just hoping that she won't stay like this.

"The doctors say she is very smart and she performs well. I don't want to take her to Gaza because I don't want her to lose her mind like she lost her legs."

In the orderly surroundings of a Belgian hospital Samar has all the attention she needs. But it is tough enough dealing with a disability like this, never mind coping with it, amid the chaos and destruction of Gaza.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

US rabbis arrested in crime probe!

Two mayors, rabbis and politicians are among some 30 people arrested in a major corruption and money-laundering investigation, say US authorities.

Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, and Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt are among those said to have been arrested in New Jersey.

Federal prosecutors said several rabbis were also detained in the states of New York and New Jersey.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said it had been "an unbelievable morning so far".

Cars were said to be backed up four deep with suspects outside the FBI's office in Newark, New Jersey's largest city.

A news conference is scheduled for later on Thursday.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

South Africa vows to stop riots!

There have been riots in townships across the country Enlarge Image

South Africa's government has vowed to crack down on riots in townships where residents are demanding better basic services, such as water and housing.

"We are not going to allow anybody to use illegal means to achieve their objective," a local government minister said on South African radio.

The warning came as the leader of unemployed protesters in Durban said the anger "was the tip of the iceberg."

The riots are being seen as a major challenge for new President Jacob Zuma.

He promised to improve services when he came to power in May, and said fighting poverty was his priority.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and I myself cannot stop the people because they are angry SAUPM's Nozipho Mteshane Township reports Foreigners live in fear Zuma's challenges as president 'One house, one vote'

"We are saying this is a government that is legitimate, has been elected democratically," Co-operative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka said on Talk Radio 702.

"Anything that is to be done, must be done within the law and the constitution," he said.

On Wednesday, police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators in Johannesburg, the Western Cape and the north-eastern region of Mpumalanga.

In Durban, 94 members of the South African Unemployed People's Movement (SAUPM) were arrested after raiding two supermarkets in the city centre and helping themselves to food without paying.

"They were angry and some of them even ate the fried chicken and pies," a woman at one supermarket told South Africa's Witness newspaper.

Another eyewitness told the paper that the looters were shouting that they did not have food to eat.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg and I myself cannot stop the people because they are angry," SAUPM's chairwoman Nozipho Mteshane told South Africa's Star newspaper.

There is anger in some of South Africa's poorest areas

"We want the government to provide the unemployed people of this country with a 1,500 rand ($195) basic income grant," she said.

South Africa announced in June that it was facing its worst recession in 17 years.

Fifteen years after the African National Congress won its first election, more than one million South Africans still live in shacks, many without access to electricity or running water.

The provision of housing has long been controversial - nearly three million have been built, but the allocation has been prone to nepotism and corruption, correspondents say.

The rising tensions in the townships have revived memories of xenophobic attacks on foreigners last year in which more than 60 people died.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

German language adds 5,000 words!

German has 5,000 new words - many inspired by English

Around 5,000 new words have been officially added to the German language - many of them from the English-speaking world.

The newcomers appear in the latest edition of the respected German dictionary, Duden.

Germans can now go to "eine After-Show-Party", as long as it is not "eine No-Go Area", and meet "das It Girl" - if she does not have "der Babyblues".

Fans of social networking can also "twittern", which means to Twitter.

The financial crisis has inspired many of the new entries in the 135,000-word dictionary.

Appearing for the first time are "Kreditklemme" (credit crunch), "Konjunkturpaket" (stimulus package) and "Abwrackpraemie" (car scrappage bonus).

The word "Ehrenmord" (honour killing) also makes it into the dictionary, which was published on Wednesday.

The German language is known for its extremely long compound nouns.

And the new edition includes a 23-letter example: "Vorratsdatenspeicherung", which means telecommunications data retention.

The first Duden dictionary was produced in 1880 and consisted of just 27,000 words.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Top Porsche managers stand down!

Mr Wiedeking became Porsche chief executive in 1993

German luxury car maker Porsche has said chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking and financial director Holger Haerter have resigned "with immediate effect".

The news comes as the boards of Porsche and Volkswagen (VW) meet over competing plans for takeovers and new investors.

Earlier Porsche, which owns 51% of VW, said it would increase its capital by at least 5bn euros ($7.10bn; £4.3bn).

And Porsche's board endorsed negotiations for the sale of a stake to Qatar to bolster its balance sheet.

The statements came after an all-night meeting on the future of the company.

In a statement the Stuttgart-based carmaker said Mr Wiedeking - one of the top-paid executives in Germany - will get a leaving package worth 50m euros.

Half of that money will go to a "social foundation". Meanwhile Mr Haertner will get a payoff of 12.5m euros.

Mr Wiedeking will be replaced by Michael Macht, the management board member responsible for production, and personnel chief Thomas Edig will serve as his deputy.

"Wiedeking and Haerter came to the conclusion in the last week that the further strategic development of [parent firm] Porsche SE and Porsche AG would be better when they were no longer the responsible people on the board," the statement said.

Porsche would not say if the 5bn euros capital increase would come from Qatar.

There has been talk of a possible takeover of Porsche by Volkswagen, and the boards of the two firms are holding separate meetings on Thursday.

Mr Wiedeking, 56, joined Porsche in 1983. He left in 1988 but returned to Porsche in 1991 and became chief executive in 1993.

In June Porsche said demand for its cars was hit by the worldwide recession.

Global sales at the German carmaker declined 28% to 53,635 vehicles between August 2008 and the end of April, compared with a year earlier.

Mr Wiedeking was credited with turning around the automaker in the 1990s but it now has some 9bn in debt following his attempts to acquire more shares in Volkswagen.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Jackson doctor's clinic raided !

Dr Murray's lawyer said he had been helping police with inquiries

The Houston clinic of Michael Jackson's physician, Dr Conrad Murray, has been raided by officers from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Dr Murray's spokeswoman told the BBC the raid "was a surprise to us and it was a surprise to the attorneys".

The doctor was at the singer's mansion and tried to revive him before he died on 25 June.

DEA spokeswoman Violet Szeleczky confirmed a search was carried out but said it was not technically a raid.

Officers "did not raid" the clinic, she told the AFP news agency.

"What this is is the Los Angeles police department have an investigation and they came to the Drug Enforcement Agency, and they asked us to help them effect a state search warrant here," she added.

Dr Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, said earlier his client had been helping police with their inquiries.

Mr Chernoff said investigators had asked for medical records in addition to those already provided by Murray.

"The coroner wants to clear up the cause of death; we share that goal," said Mr Chernoff in a statement on his law firm's website on Tuesday.

Speaking a few days after Jackson's death, Mr Chernoff denied Dr Murray administered painkilling drugs that could have contributed to the singer's death.

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Any drugs his client may have given to Jackson were in response to a specific health complaint, the lawyer added.

He said the star still had a faint pulse and was warm when Dr Murray found him in bed.

Mr Chernoff said: "He just happened to find him in his bed, and he wasn't breathing."

Paramedics were called to Jackson's Los Angeles mansion while Dr Murray was performing CPR, according to a recording of the 911 call.

Mr Chernoff said in Tuesday's statement that Dr Murray had since received unwelcome attention from those angry over the singer's untimely death.

"Dr Murray was the last doctor standing when Michael Jackson died and it seems all the fury is directed toward him," Mr Chernoff said.

He added: "Dr Murray is frustrated by negative and often erroneous media reports - he has to walk around 24/7 with a bodyguard.

"He can't operate his practice. He can't go to work because he is harassed no matter where he goes."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

South Africa discontent spreads

There is anger in some of South Africa's poorest areas

Violence in South Africa's townships has spread as residents protest about what they say is a lack of basic services, such as water and housing.

Police have fired rubber bullets at demonstrators in Johannesburg, the Western Cape and the north-eastern region of Mpumalanga.

In Mpumalanga, there were reports of foreign-owned businesses being looted as foreigners sought police protection.

More than 100 people have been arrested during the past week.

The rising tensions in the townships have revived memories of xenophobic attacks on foreigners last year in which more than 60 people died.

ANALYSIS Jonah Fisher BBC News, Johannesburg What we are seeing is a combination of a series of different factors. South Africa is in the grip of its first recession for 20 years. People in the townships, the poorest people in South Africa, complain that after 15 years of ANC rule they still don't have basic housing, electricity or water. Jacob Zuma put service delivery at the heart of his election campaign and that's in part why he won a big mandate. But a lot of people look at the local level ANC and say they need to start delivering, and they will be looking to Mr Zuma to root out the corruption and nepotism which have prevented service delivery being expanded throughout South Africa.

The latest protests over service delivery come less than 100 days after Jacob Zuma took office as president, following a resounding election victory for the governing African National Congress (ANC).

They are a reminder of the impatience felt in the most deprived areas of the country, says BBC world affairs correspondent Peter Biles.

On Tuesday, police cars were stoned in Thokoza near Johannesburg during a demonstration about living conditions that turned violent.

Nearby township Diepsloot saw cars and houses being burnt last week in protest at plans to tear down makeshift shacks to make way for a sewage pipe.

President Jacob Zuma promised to improve service delivery when he came to power in May, and said fighting poverty was his priority, highlighting the huge economic and social challenges facing South Africa.

However, South Africa announced in June that it was facing its worst recession in 17 years.

Fifteen years after the ANC won its first election, more than one million South Africans still live in shacks, many without access to electricity or running water.

Township reports Foreigners live in fear Zuma's challenges as president

The gap between rich and poor is also wider than it was 15 years ago, our correspondent says.

The slow provision of replacement housing has long been controversial - nearly three million have been built, but the allocation has been prone to nepotism and corruption.

In addition, the global economic climate has banished any hope of South Africa maintaining record levels of economic growth, and reducing unemployment.

In the midst of this latest unrest, Mr Zuma is embarking upon a tour of the country to thank voters for returning the ANC to power in the elections last April.

Our correspondent says he will now be under even greater pressure to explain how the ANC is going to meet its plethora of election promises.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

SAYINGS"

"OBSTACLES ARE THOSE FRIGHTFUL THINGS YOU SEE
WHEN YOU TAKE

YOUR EYES OFF YOUR GOAL" !

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Mumbai accused says ready to die !

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab opened fire on commuters, it is alleged

The main suspect in last year's attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai has told court he is ready to be hanged after admitting his role in the violence.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab's outburst came as prosecutors said he had changed his plea to guilty to secure leniency.

Prosecutors want the trial to proceed but the defence says it should end if the court accepts his plea. A decision from the judge is now due on Thursday.

More than 170 people were killed in the November attacks, nine of them gunmen.

Mr Qasab, who is a Pakistani, faces 86 charges, including waging war on India, murder and possessing explosives.

In May, he had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Chief public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked the court to keep Mr Qasab's confessional statement on record and allow them to continue with the evidence and trial.

If anyone believes that I am doing this [pleading guilty] to get mercy, then go ahead and hang me Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab Profile: Mumbai suspect Excerpts from confession

He said the statement was "inconsistent with the prosecution evidence".

Mr Nikam said by making the confession, the accused was putting the larger blame on his accomplice [Abu Ismail] who was already dead.

"Very shrewdly, very cleverly Qasab has tried to save his own skin by showing he was acting as a subordinate to Abu Ismail," the lawyer said.

"He knows that by denying a major role, no Indian court is going to award him the death penalty."

At this point Mr Qasab said: "If anyone believes that I am doing this [pleading guilty] to get mercy, then go ahead and hang me."

He also told special judge ML Tahiliyani: "Since I have committed the crime in this world, I should be punished in this world. I do not want to be punished by Allah."

MAIN QASAB CHARGES Waging war on India Murder Conspiracy to murder Destabilising the government Kidnap Robbery Smuggling and possessing illegal arms and explosives Media see early end to trial Attackers' bodies still unclaimed Tears and smirks in court

Defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi told the court: "I'm not prevailing over my client's wishes. If the trial has to continue, then this statement cannot be on record."

But, if the court accepts the statement, then it must pronounce the judgement in the case, he said.

After hearing both sides, the judge said he would announce his order on how to proceed in the case on Thursday.

Earlier, Judge Tahiliyani said the court had taken "all precautions and safeguards before recording" Mr Qasab's statement and he was convinced that the accused understood the implications of his statement.

"The accused has been following what is transpiring in the court. He said he wasn't looking for lesser punishment. He said even if the death penalty was awarded, he would not mind. So further clarification is not needed," the judge said.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, 21, was arrested on the first day of the attacks and has been in Indian custody ever since.

He is alleged to be the only one of 10 gunmen to have survived. The others were all killed by Indian security forces.

The attacks led to a worsening of relations between India and Pakistan.

India accused Pakistan-based fighters from the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of carrying out the attacks.

In the immediate aftermath of the killings, Pakistan denied any responsibility, but later admitted the attacks had been partly planned on its soil. Islamabad also eventually confirmed that Mr Qasab was a Pakistani citizen.

That admission, Mr Qasab said on Monday, was what had prompted him to confess. He said his decision to do so had been taken voluntarily. The move took everyone by surprise, most notably his own lawyers.

He could face the death penalty if the judge agrees to impose the maximum penalty.

BBC NEWS REPORT

Quake moves NZ towards Australia!

A massive earthquake last week has brought New Zealand closer to Australia, scientists say.

The 7.8 magnitude quake in the Tasman Sea has expanded New Zealand's South Island westwards by about 30cm (12in).

Seismologist Ken Gledhill, of GNS Science, said the shift demonstrated the huge force of the tremor.

But correspondents say that with more than 2,250km (1,400 miles) separating the countries, the narrowing will not exactly be visible.

Nor, as the New Zealand media have observed, is it likely to bring cheaper air fares.

The quake was powerful enough to generate a small tsunami with a wave of one metre (3ft) recorded on the west coast of New Zealand.

People in coastal areas were for a time advised to move to higher ground.

While the south-west of the South Island moved about 30cm towards Australia, the east coast moved only one centimetre westwards, Dr Gledhill said.

The earthquake causes some landslip in the Fiordland region

"Basically, New Zealand just got a little bit bigger is another way to think about it," he told AFP news agency.

Although it was New Zealand's biggest earthquake in 78 years, it caused only slight damage to buildings and property when it struck in the remote Fiordland region west of Invercargill last Thursday.

"For a very large earthquake, although it was very widely felt, there were very few areas that were severely shaken," Dr Gledhill said.

GNS Science is a research organisation run by the New Zealand government.

New Zealand frequently suffers earthquakes because it sits on the meeting point of the Australian and Pacific continental plates.

BBC NEWS REPORT

Asia set for total solar eclipse!

Stargazers will travel long distances to see the eclipse

Millions of people in Asia will see the longest total solar eclipse this century on Wednesday as swaths of India and China are plunged into darkness.

Scores of amateur stargazers and scientists will travel long distances for the eclipse, which will last for about five minutes.

The eclipse will first appear in the Gulf of Khambhat just north of Mumbai.

It will move east across India, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China before hitting the Pacific.

The eclipse will cross some southern Japanese islands and will last be visible from land at Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati.

Elsewhere, a partial eclipse will be visible across much of Asia.

The previous total eclipse, in August 2008, lasted two minutes and 27 seconds. This one will last six minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.

Alphonse Sterling, a Nasa astrophysicist who will be following the eclipse from China, scientists are hoping data from the eclipse will help explain solar flares and other structures of the sun and why they erupt.

"We'll have to wait a few hundred years for another opportunity to observe a solar eclipse that lasts this long, so it's a very special opportunity," Shao Zhenyi, an astronomer at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China told the Associated Press news agency.

Solar scientist Lucie Green, from University College London, is aboard an American cruise ship heading for that point near the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, where the axis of the Moon's shadow will pass closest to Earth.

"The [Sun's] corona has a temperature of 2 million degrees but we don't know why it is so hot," she said.

"What we are going to look for are waves in the corona. ... The waves might be producing the energy that heats the corona. That would mean we understand another piece of the science of the Sun."

The next total solar eclipse will occur on 11 July next year. It will be visible in a narrow corridor over the southern hemisphere, from the southern Pacific Ocean to Argentina.

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE

In the area covered by the umbra (the darkest part of the shadow), a total eclipse is seen

In the region covered by the penumbra (where only some of the light source is obscured) a partial eclipse is seen


BBC NEWS REPORT.

'Spy scandal' hits Deutsche Bank !

Deutsche Bank is Germany's largest bank

Deutsche Bank has confirmed it faces a possible criminal investigation into spying allegations.

Germany's largest lender is accused of spying on two board members it suspected of leaking sensitive details, as well as one critical shareholder.

State prosecutors are now trying to establish whether to launch a formal criminal investigation.

The bank refused to comment on reports that it had dismissed two of its staff members in connection with the claims.

The bank began its own inquiry into the spying allegations in May.

ANALYSIS Tristana Moore, BBC Berlin correspondent For Germans, who have painful memories of state-sponsored surveillance, the new spying allegations touch a raw nerve. Prosecutors have confirmed they're now considering whether to launch a criminal investigation in Deutsche Bank. The bank has refused to comment on the details of the allegations, which date back to 2001, until its own inquiry is finished. So far, it appears that the alleged surveillance involved a few isolated cases. But all the same, the allegations are damaging. Questions are being asked about internal controls within Deutsche, and it still remains to be seen whether the giant bank will have to face a criminal investigation.

This independent investigation is now continuing, and a Deutsche Bank spokesman said it would not be commenting on the spying allegations until it was completed.

State prosecutors are looking at evidence handed to them by the German data protection office. It can take them two to three weeks before deciding whether to launch a formal investigation.

According to reports, Deutsche Bank has parted company with its former head of security and its head of investor relations.

Germany is no stranger to cases of corporate spying, with examples at telecoms group Deutsche Telekom, railway group Deutsche Bahn and retailer Lidl in recent years.

Last year, Deutsche Bank reported its first annual loss for more than 50 years after it was forced to write down million of euros of bad debts linked to the US mortgage market.

However, the firm returned to profitability in the first three months of 2009, thanks primarily to record sales of corporate bonds.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Medieval battle records go online!

The new website reveals which medieval soldiers rode the furthest

The detailed service records of 250,000 medieval soldiers - including archers who served with Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt - have gone online.

The database of those who fought in the Hundred Years War reveals salaries, sickness records and who was knighted.

The full profiles of soldiers from 1369 to 1453 will allow researchers to piece together details of their lives.

Thomas, Lord Despencer is the youngest soldier on the database, whose career began when he was aged just 12 in 1385.

Elsewhere, the career of Thomas Gloucestre, who fought at Agincourt, can be traced over 43 years and includes campaigns in Prussia and Jerusalem.

The website is the product of a research project by Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton and Dr Adrian Bell of the University of Reading.

Dr Bell said: "The service records survive because the English exchequer had a very modern obsession with wanting to be sure that the government's money was being spent as intended.

"Therefore we have the remarkable survival of indentures for service detailing the forces to be raised, muster rolls showing this service and naming every soldier from duke to archer."

He said accounts from captains showing how funds were spent and entries detailing when the exchequer requested the payments can be found.

The free-to-use website, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, also shows which soldiers rode the furthest.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Paper releases Berlusconi 'tapes' !

Silvio Berlusconi says there is nothing in his private life he is ashamed of

An Italian newspaper has released audio recordings and transcripts of what it says was a night Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi spent with an escort.

Patrizia D'Addario told L'Espresso she had made the tapes during a visit to Mr Berlusconi's official Rome residence.

In one conversation, a man can be heard telling a woman to wait for him in "Putin's" bed after having a shower.

Mr Berlusconi has not denied Ms D'Addario attended a party at his home, but insists he did not pay for sex.

A spokesman for the 72-year-old's political grouping, People of Freedom, said L'Espresso was merely trying to revive an "already dead" scandal.

Mr Berlusconi's personal life has been under scrutiny since his wife filed for divorce in May, saying she could "not remain with a man who consorts with minors" after he attended the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model, Noemi Letizia.

The prime minister initially said he had only gone to Ms Letizia's party because she was the daughter of a family friend, but photographs later emerged of them together at social events last year, when she was 17. He also confirmed she had stayed at his villa in Sardinia.

He faced further scandal when photos were published of topless women and a naked man at his villa on Sardinia, and also of a celebrity using the prime minister's official jet to fly to the island.

The recordings of conversations purportedly between the prime minister and Ms D'Addario were published several weeks after the former model gave them to magistrates investigating Giampaolo Tarantini, a businessman from the southern Italian city of Bari, who is suspected of corruption and abetting prostitution.

Ms D'Addario says she spent the night at the Palazzo Grazioli in Rome

In one exchange, a male voice said to be Mr Berlusconi's can be heard saying: "I'm going to have a shower too... So wait for me in the big bed if you finish first."

A woman's voice, purportedly that of Ms D'Addario, asks: "Which big bed... Putin's?", reportedly a reference to a four-poster bed which Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin used during a recent official visit.

"Putin's," the man says, to which the woman replies: "Oh, how sweet... the one with the curtains."

Ms D'Addario, 42, says she made recordings of her encounter with Mr Berlusconi "so that nobody could deny I had been there".

Last month, she said she had been paid more than 1,000 euros (£862; $1,420) to attend a party at the Palazzo Grazioli in October, in the company of other women.

She alleged that she had been asked to return the following month and had spent the night with the prime minister, but was not paid.

Mr Berlusconi responded to the allegations by insisting he had never paid for sex.

"I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest," he told the gossip magazine, Chi.

And he attacked Ms D'Addario, saying she had been "extremely well paid" by someone to produce false accusations against him.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Malay prince sues Indonesian wife !

Manohara Odelia Pinot, a model, has not been scared of the limelight

A Malaysian prince is suing his Indonesian wife and her mother over their claims he tortured his teenage bride during their year-long marriage.

Tengku Temenggong Tengku Mohammad Fakhry, has filed a defamation suit in Malaysia's High Court.

He is seeking $30m (£18m) in damages from Manohara Odelia Pinot and her mother, the prince's lawyer said.

Ms Pinot returned to Indonesia in May and said Mr Fakhry had slashed her with razor blades and sexually abused her.

The 17-year-old alleged she had been held captive in her room and drugged whenever she complained.

She told Indonesian media that she escaped while accompanying the state royal family on a trip to Singapore and filed a police report in Indonesia shortly afterward.

The scandal has captured widespread media attention in both Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Fakhry's lawsuit accuses Ms Pinot and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, of concocting the allegations "out of spite... motivated by a desire of financial gains," the prince's lawyer, Mohamad Haaziq Pillay, said.

"They have made my client out to be a monster and his reputation has been tarnished. My client is keen to get to the truth of the matter and clear his name," he told the Associated Press.

"Anyone can say anything but do they have proof? This is the time for them to come forward and prove their allegations," Malaysian state news agency Bernama quoted Mr Pillay as saying.

The two women, who are in Indonesia, have 21 days to respond to the suit, or the case could go on in their absence.

The prince married the teenager last year after she turned 16, but her mother has said Ms Manohara was kidnapped.

The prince has since petitioned for a divorce.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

MP fury at 'racist' Nigeria boat !

Athol Trollip said he was proud of the solidarity shown by fellow MPs

A group of Commonwealth MPs has cancelled a trip in Nigeria after a boat company refused to carry its white members, citing security reasons.

The governor of Rivers State apologised and undertook to close the ferry company jetty until they change policy.

The trip was to Bonny Island in the oil-rich Niger Delta, where foreigners are often kidnapped by militants.

Black MPs refused to travel out of solidarity and condemned the "heinously racist policy."

The ferry company argued that having white passengers on board would compromise the safety of other passengers.

Five members of the group were barred from the trip - four white South Africans and a mixed-race MP from Namibia.

But the South African delegation, supported by parliamentarians from Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, Gabon and Tanzania, protested that the policy was unacceptable.

The deputy-speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, Mtholephi Mthimkhulu, of the African National Congress, said: "Emotions became quite heated at one stage."

His colleague, Athol Trollip, of the opposition Democratic Alliance, told the BBC that the solidarity displayed by the South African delegation made him proud.

"It is such a tragedy that white South Africans didn't show similar solidarity with our black brothers 100 years ago," he said.

The incident took place during a two-week visit to Nigeria organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Alliance.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe !

BRICKS AND HUNEY

Dear Family and Friends,

On the side of the main highway near Harare there's a hand painted
sign on a piece of battered tin. 'Bricks 4 Sale,' it says, the
message wedged into a forked stick. Standing in a forlorn heap
alongside are the very bricks. Its a sad little assortment of rubble:
lumps of red, odd sized, second hand bricks with eroded edges, cracks
and chips and some even with splotches of white paint on them.

A few kilometres away a very battered blue pick up truck with no
number plates and a seriously twisted chassis is below a bridge
across the main road collecting water from a stream. The stream bank
is full of litter - plastic bags and drinks bottles, broken glass and
beer tins. In the back of the truck there's a huge white plastic
container that must hold a thousand or more litres. Three women and
four men are working in a line with buckets, pouring murky water from
the polluted stream into the water tank.

A little further along the road a crooked tree branch is propped up
with chunks of cement, a thin plank nailed onto the top. Standing in
a line along the plank are six old plastic jam jars. They have no
lids and are half filled with a murky brown liquid. "HUNEY" is the
sign that's written in charcoal on a stone nearby.

A group of soldiers stand right in the road trying to wave down a
lift and as you swerve to avoid them you see how very young they are,
almost children still and yet wearing army camouflage. No private cars
stop, no one knows who's who these days. The big 4x4's flick past,
windows closed, doors locked, huge aerials swinging. On their car
doors are the stickers announcing that they are the people keeping
Zimbabwe alive, the international aid organizations.

Strange scenes are everywhere in our broken country after a decade of
collapse, even in upmarket suburbs. Rounding a corner in a quiet
residential neighbourhood its not unusual to come across a great
gathering of people. At the hub is whichever house in the street is
fortunate enough to have a borehole, and whose owner is gracious
enough to share. A hosepipe over a wall fills countless buckets, tins
and twenty litre plastic containers. Patiently men and women wait for
a share, some carrying their containers in aching hands, others
pushing wheelbarrows and hand carts.

Even with such abnormality around us, not to mention the disgusting
scenes of hooliganism at the constitutional conference recently,
there are little glimmers of light coming into view. The removal of
20 US cents worth of government levies from fuel is one, the lifting
of import duty on newspapers, mobile phones and computers is another.
A breath of fresh air is blowing into our country and lets hope it
turns into a gale and blows away what newspaper owner Wilf Mbanga
calls Yesterday's Men.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love
cathy

"SAYINGS"

"TO WIN WITHOUT RISK IS TO TRIUMPH WITHOUT GLORY" !

Saudi princess 'given UK asylum' !

Public executions are held in Justice Square in the Saudi capital Riyadh

A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has been granted asylum in the UK, the Independent newspaper has reported.

It said the married woman was allowed to stay after telling a judge that her affair left her at risk of being stoned to death in her home country.

The woman, who has been given anonymity by a court, is married to a member of the Saudi royal family, the paper said.

The Home Office declined to comment on the case.

The Independent says the woman is one of a small number of Saudi Arabian citizens whose asylum claims are not acknowledged publicly by either country's government.

Sharia law

The woman reportedly began a relationship with a British man - who is not a Muslim - during a visit to London and later became pregnant.

After giving birth secretly in the UK, she took a case to the Immigration and Asylum tribunal, it is claimed.

Under Saudi Arabia's Sharia law system, adultery is punishable by public flogging or execution.

In 2008, the country's courts ordered the execution of 102 people, according to human rights group Amnesty International.

The latest case appears to echo that of another member of the Saudi royal family, 19-year-old Princess Mishaal bint Fahd, who was executed in 1977 after admitting adultery.

When a controversial film about the case, Death of a Princess, was shown in the UK, Saudi authorities responded by expelling the British ambassador in Riyadh.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

German pile-up involves 259 cars!

Rescue workers were busy throughout the night clearing the motorway

At least 66 people have been injured in a mass pile-up involving 259 cars on a motorway in north Germany, police say.

Ten people are said to be fighting for their lives in hospital after the series of crashes on the A2 between Hanover and Peine on Sunday evening.

Police said the pile-up was believed to have been caused by a combination of heavy rain and excessive speed.

Rescue workers were busy throughout the night treating the injured and clearing damaged cars from the motorway.

"I have not seen anything like this before. I have seen many accidents but never a pile-up this size," said firefighter Klaus Wulfes.

One of the drivers said his car had been hit from behind and pushed into a ditch, from which his family were able to escape unharmed.

"All I did was turn around to check on my little son, our son. That was my only thought," he told the Reuters news agency.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Thousands flee Canada wildfires !

Evacuees talk about their ordeal

Two wildfires near a western Canadian city have forced the evacuation of around 17,000 people, officials say.

One of the fires near Kelowna, British Columbia, started on Saturday. It quickly grew to 300 hectares (740 acres) and destroyed up to nine homes.

A second seemingly unrelated fire broke out on Sunday some 10km (6 miles) away and has already consumed 100 hectares.

The cause of the fires are not known. A 2003 fire in the same area destroyed more than 240 homes.

No injuries or deaths have been reported in the latest fires.

More than 150 firefighters are battling the blazes, with support from 10 helicopters and eight water bomber planes.

Firefighters said they were facing difficult conditions, with more hot and dry weather to come.

Local media said human activity was suspected to have sparked the blazes because there had been no lightning storms in the area.

Some residents told the Province newspaper that the larger fire may have started near a lumber mill which was also being threatened by the flames.

One resident said big, hot embers were falling all around his home.

Officials closed down a 19km (12-mile) stretch of the highway leading in and out of Kelowna, which is located 350km (217 miles) east of Vancouver.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Tourists warned of Thailand airport scam

By Jonathan Head BBC News, Bangkok

Bangkok's showcase new international airport is no stranger to controversy.

Built between 2002 and 2006, under the governments of then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the opening date was repeatedly delayed.

It has been dogged by allegations of corruption, as well as criticism of the design and poor quality of construction.

Then, at the end of last year, the airport was shut down for a week after being occupied by anti-government protesters.

Now new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting, and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom.

That is what happened to Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin, two IT experts from Cambridge, as they were about to board their flight to London on the night of 25 April this year.

They had been browsing in the duty free shop at the airport, and were later approached by security guards, who twice asked to search their bags.

Mr Ingram and Ms Xi were told they had to pay £7,500

They were told a wallet had gone missing, and that Ms Lin had been seen on a security camera taking it out of the shop.

The company that owns the duty free shop, King Power, has since put the CCTV video on its website, which does appear to show her putting something in her bag. However the security guards found no wallet on either of them.

Despite that, they were both taken from the departure gate, back through immigration, and held in an airport police office. That is when their ordeal started to become frightening.

"We were questioned in separate rooms," Mr Ingram said. "We felt really intimidated. They went through our bags and demanded that we tell them where the wallet was."

The two were then put in what Mr Ingram describes as a "hot, humid, smelly cell with graffiti and blood on the walls".

Mr Ingram managed to phone a Foreign Office helpline he found in a travel guide, and was told someone in the Bangkok embassy would try to help them.

The next morning the two were given an interpreter, a Sri Lankan national called Tony, who works part-time for the police.

They were taken by Tony to meet the local police commander - but, says Mr Ingram, for three hours all they discussed was how much money they would have to pay to get out.

Mr Ingram and Ms Xi were taken to meet the local police commander

They were told the charge was very serious. If they did not pay, they would be transferred to the infamous Bangkok Hilton prison, and would have to wait two months for their case to be processed.

Mr Ingram says they wanted £7,500 ($12,250) - for that the police would try to get him back to the UK in time for his mother's funeral on 28 April.

But he could not arrange to get that much money transferred in time.

Tony then took them to an ATM machine at the police station, and told Ms Lin to withdraw as much as she could from her own account - £600 - and Mr Ingram then withdrew the equivalent of £3,400 from his account.

This was apparently handed over to the police as "bail", and they were both made to sign a number of papers.

Later they were allowed to move to a squalid hotel within the airport perimeter, but their passports were held and they were warned not to leave or try to contact a lawyer or their embassy.

"I will be watching you," Tony told them, adding that they would have to stay there until the £7,500 was transferred into Tony's account.

On the Monday they managed to sneak out and get a taxi to Bangkok, and met an official at the British Embassy.

She gave the name of a Thai lawyer, and, says Mr Ingram, told them they were being subjected to a classic Thai scam called the "zig-zag".

Their lawyer urged them to expose Tony - but also warned them that if they fought the case it could take months, and they risked a long prison sentence.

After five days the money was transferred to Tony's account, and they were allowed to leave.

Mr Ingram had missed his mother's funeral, but at least they were given a court document stating that there was insufficient evidence against them, and no charge.

"It was a harrowing, stressful experience," he said.

The couple say they now want to take legal action to recover their money.

The BBC has spoken to Tony and the regional police commander, Colonel Teeradej Phanuphan.

They both say Tony was merely helping the couple with translation, and raising bail to keep them out of prison.

Tony says about half the £7,500 was for bail, while the rest were "fees" for the bail, for his work, and for a lawyer he says he consulted on their behalf.

In theory, he says, they could try to get the bail portion refunded.

Colonel Teeradej says he will investigate any possible irregularities in their treatment. But he said any arrangement between the couple and Tony was a private affair, which did not involve the police.

Letters of complaint to the papers here in Thailand make it clear that passengers are regularly detained at the airport for alleged shoplifting, and then made to pay middlemen to win their freedom.

The Danish Embassy says one of its nationals was recently subjected to a very similar scam, and earlier this month an Irish scientist managed to flee Thailand with her husband and one year-old son after being arrested at the airport and accused of stealing an eyeliner worth around £17.

Tony told the BBC that so far this year he has "helped" about 150 foreigners in trouble with the police. He says sometimes he does it for no charge.

The British Embassy has also warned passengers at Bangkok Airport to take care not to move items around in the duty free shopping area before paying for them, as this could result in arrest and imprisonment.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

'Facebook party' ends in arrests !

Seva Nurueva has apologised for the disorder caused by party crashers

Five youths were arrested after 100 people were involved in a street fracas near a house party which was advertised on the Facebook website.

Hampshire Police and Surrey Police's helicopter and dog section attended the scene in Chapel Lane, Farnborough, Hampshire, on Saturday night.

Seva Nurueva, 15, apologised after her friend Jordan Wright placed their joint party on the site.

The five being held are aged 17 to 19 and from Farnborough and Aldershot.

Miss Nurueva added: "We are really sorry for all the damage we caused.

"It was scary - I did not really know what to do. All I did was cry."

Sherry Wright, mother of Jordan, said: "It [the party] was quite peaceful to start off with but then it all got out of hand.

Jordan Wright (r) posted details about the party on Facebook

"I do not know what happened."

The party was held in two converted flats in a house.

A neighbour, Deborah Hunter, said: "We came home after an evening out and were confronted by hundreds of youths - male and female - spilling out onto the street from a party that was being held at the two houses.

"It escalated into a riot."

A police spokesman said: "Officers dispersed the crowd after approximately an hour and a half."

Det Insp Steve Cook, of Hampshire Constabulary said: "Police from Hampshire and Surrey responded swiftly and effectively with extra officers to prevent a large public order situation from escalating within the community.

"The violence reported was contained and there have been no reports of serious injuries or further calls about disorder in the area.

"Our investigation is continuing with suspects being questioned in custody."

Police are appealing for witnesses.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Iran bails UK embassy employee !

The election sparked weeks of protests by critics of President Ahmadinejad

Iran has released on bail the last of the British embassy employees arrested in Tehran in connection with last month's election protests.

He was one of nine local embassy staff originally held, and has been charged with inciting the unrest over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election.

The man - the embassy's chief political analyst - is due to stand trial soon.

Britain has denied Tehran's accusations that embassy staff had been involved in instigating mass demonstrations.

Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, a lawyer for the released employee, said he had left Tehran's Evin prison, and that bail had been set at about $100,000 (£61,000).

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has welcomed the release, but said the detention of the embassy staff was "completely unjustified".

Violent street protests broke out after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in the 12 June vote.

At least 20 people are thought to have died during weeks of clashes.

IRAN UNREST 12 June presidential election saw incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected with 63% of vote Main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi called for result to be annulled for electoral fraud Street protests saw at least 17 people killed and foreign media restricted Britain and Iran's fraught history

All gatherings were banned and the protests have died down in recent weeks.

Iran has repeatedly accused foreign powers - especially Britain and the US - of stoking the demonstrations.

Opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi says the vote was rigged in favour of Mr Ahmadinejad.

The president and Iran's main election body, the Council of Guardians, have rejected the charge.

On Friday former President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani called for the release of jailed protesters.

Speaking at Tehran University, he also said many Iranians still doubted the election results, and that the media should be allowed to discuss the dispute openly.

"It is not necessary to pressure media. We should allow them to work freely within the law," he said.

As Mr Rafsanjani spoke, thousands of opposition supporters rallied near the university - the first opposition demonstration for more than a week.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Afghan helicopter crash kills 16 !

Russian media say the aircraft was an Mi-8 similar to this

A civilian helicopter has crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 16 civilians and injuring five, Nato officials have confirmed.

The helicopter crashed at Kandahar airfield apparently as it was trying to take off, though Nato has ruled out the involvement of insurgents.

Reports from Moscow say the helicopter was a Russian-built Mi-8.

The crash is the second in a week. Six passengers died when a helicopter came down in Helmand province on Tuesday.

Russia's Interfax agency quoted a spokesman for Russia's Federal Air Transportation Agency (Fata) as saying the aircraft was a Russian-built Mi-8 transport helicopter.

Fata said it was owned by the Russian air company Vertical-T.

The nationalities of the dead are not yet known.

A statement from Nato's International Security Assistance Force said: "A civilian contracted helicopter crashed during take-off from Kandahar airfield.

"Emergency personnel are on the scene. There was no indication of the cause of the accident but insurgent action has been ruled out."

Kandahar airfield is Nato's largest air base in southern Afghanistan but the BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says a lot of civilian aircraft fly in and out so there is no surprise this was a civilian crash.

A Nato spokeswoman, Lt Cmdr Sam Truelove, told the AFP news agency it had been confirmed that all the dead were civilians and no military personnel were involved.

RECENT HELICOPTER CRASHES 14 Jul 2008: Six Ukrainian civilians and Afghan girl die in crash in Helmand. Suspected enemy fire 6 Jul 2008: One UK and two Canadian soldiers die in crash in Zabul province. Enemy fire not suspected 15 Jan 2008: Afghan general and 12 other soldiers die in crash in Herat province. Bad weather blamed 30 May 2007: Seven killed as Nato Chinook crashes in Helmand. Cause unclear

The condition of the injured was not known, she said.

Vertical-T was founded in 1992 and started to work abroad in 1998 in Italy. It has worked in countries including Germany, East Timor, Cyprus, Yemen and Greece, according to the company's website.

The company's helicopters are currently carrying out operations in the interests of the UN in Afghanistan and a number of other countries including Congo, Sudan and Pakistan.

The dead in Tuesday's crash in Helmand were all civilians.

That helicopter crashed near the Sangin military base, with local people saying it had been shot down by insurgents.

Six Ukrainian crew members of the Mi-26 helicopter died, along with an Afghan girl on the ground.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Five bludgeoned in Sydney attack !

Five people have been found bludgeoned to death at a home in the Australian city of Sydney, police say.

The group - thought to be a couple, their two children and a female relative - were found on Saturday morning by a relative.

Police said they were killed by blows to the upper body and head with a blunt instrument.

They said it appeared the group, who lived in the suburb of North Epping, were the victims of a targeted attack.

Homicide squad Detective Superintendent Geoff Beresford said a number of possible motives were being explored.

"At this stage it appears that this particular murder does not bear the hallmarks of a typical home invasion," ABC news quoted him as saying.

"Whilst we can't totally rule out robbery, robbery does not seem to be an issue in this case," he said.

He said no link had been established to a recent armed robbery witnessed by the father.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

New escalation in Mexico drug war !

Federal officials remain vulnerable in the state of Michoacan

Ten Mexican police officers have been detained in connection with the torture and murder of 12 federal agents during a major escalation in the drug war.

The arrests come as more than 5,000 troops and federal police are deployed in the western state of Michoacan.

The troop surge, one of the biggest in the anti-drugs campaign, comes after a local drug gang launched co-ordinated attacks in 10 cities last week.

The state governor has protested against the "military occupation".

The federal authorities say they are investigating links between the municipal police and drug traffickers in the murder of the agents, whose bodies were found bound and gagged and shot through the head next to a major highway.

In a statement, prosecutors said the detentions would enable them to strengthen evidence that the officers "undertook criminal acts" in support of the Michoacan drugs gang and to "determine their responsibility for the murder of federal agents".

Earlier this year 10 mayors in the state were arrested by the federal authorities on suspicion they were working with the drug gangs.

Troops with automatic weapons and ski masks to shield their identity have set up roadblocks across Michoacan, President Felipe Calderon's home state, in a major show of force.

Nineteen police were arrested in one small town, 10 of whom are still being held in custody while alleged links with drug gangs are investigated.

The federal government believes that local police and officials have long been in the pay of the drug gangs.

The Michoacan gang, known as the "Family", announced itself as a terrifying new force three years ago when its hitmen tossed the severed heads of five victims onto a dancefloor in a city nightclub.

Despite the roadblocks, analysts say federal agents remain highly vulnerable in a region where drug gangs can easily get intelligence about their movements.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"Sayings"

"YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING,

APPLAUD THIER EFFORTS,

AND ENCOURAGE THEM IN THEIR PURSUITS.

WHEN WE ALL HELP ONE ANOTHER,

EVERYBODY WINS" !

_________

Nepal child soldiers being freed !

The UN says 3,000 child soldiers are in camps holding former rebels

Nepal has begun the process of freeing thousands of child soldiers from camps holding former Maoist rebel fighters.

Officials visited one of the camps in southern Nepal to brief the young people ahead of their planned transfer to rehabilitation programmes.

The release of the child soldiers - estimated at about 3,000 - is a key part of Nepal's peace process.

The UN welcomed the move as a "significant milestone" for the Himalayan nation.

Maoist rebels ended a 10-year armed insurgency in November 2006, signing a peace deal that brought them into the government.

They won the most votes in elections in 2008, but then left the government earlier this year in a row over their leader's attempt to fire the army chief.

About 24,000 former fighters have been confined to UN-monitored camps since the peace deal was agreed.

Of these, the UN has identified about 3,000 as being under the age of 18, as well as 1,000 as having joined the Maoists after the peace process began.

In a statement, the United Nations mission in Nepal said it welcomed the government's move to begin the discharge and rehabilitation process for these two groups.

It said it was ready to provide support to the programme, and urged the Maoist leadership to work with the government to ensure it was successfully completed.

A spokesman for Nepal's Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction said a team had begun meeting young former fighters at one of the camps.

The BBC's Joanna Jolly, in Nepal, says the young people will be offered a rehabilitation package that includes vocational training and psychological support.

They will also be allowed to stay in specially-built transit camps for up to 45 days before returning home, our correspondent says.

The government says it wants all the child soldiers to be released by the beginning of November.

The question of what to do with the adult fighters - and whether to integrate them into the national army - remains a more difficult question and a key stumbling block in the peace process.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Rights group halts Chechnya work !

Natalia Estemirova had documented cases of abuse in Chechnya

The Russian human-rights group Memorial has suspended its activities in Chechnya following the murder of its prominent activist Natalia Estemirova.

"We cannot risk the lives of our colleagues even if they are ready to carry on their work," senior Memorial member Alexander Cherkasov said.

Ms Estemirova, who investigated alleged abuses by Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, was shot dead on Wednesday.

The Kremlin condemned the murder, which has caused international concern.

Ms Estemirova was abducted from her home in the Chechen capital Grozny and her bullet-riddled body was found dumped in a forest a few hours later.

Memorial has accused the government of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed President, Ramzan Kadyrov, of responsibility for the murder.

Mr Kadyrov denied any involvement and promised to investigate the killing personally.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

US ship in ancient Tower ceremony !

The crew were marched through the Tower of London

A US Navy vessel has become the first non-British ship to take part in a ceremony at the Tower of London that dates back hundreds of years.

The USS Halyburton was involved in the Constable's Dues ritual, which involved the crew being challenged for entry into the capital.

It mirrors an ancient custom in which a ship had to unload some of its cargo for the sovereign to enter the city.

The ceremony dates back to the 14th Century.

Saturday's recreation of the ceremony began when the captain of the USS Halyburton, Commander Michael P Huck, led his crew to the Tower's West Gate.

There they were challenged for entry to the Tower by the Yeoman Gaoler armed with his axe.

The keg of wine represents the vessel's 'dues'

They were then marched through the Tower of London to Tower Green, accompanied by the Beefeaters in scarlet and gold state dress and a corps of drums.

The commander then delivered a keg of wine, representing the dues, to the Tower's Constable, Sir Roger Wheeler.

The constable was the sovereign's representative and would have been been amongst the most powerful men in the city.

The USS Halyburton is currently moored in South Dock at London Docklands where it arrived on Thursday for a three-night stay.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Sharia trial for Somalia hostages !

Somalia's Islamists are accused of links to al-Qaeda

Two French security advisers seized in Somalia will be tried under Sharia law, an official from their captors, the Islamic al-Shabab militia, says.

The unnamed spokesman said they would be tried for spying and "conspiracy against Islam".

The two, who were training government troops, were kidnapped by gunmen in a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday and later handed over to al-Shabab insurgents.

Al-Shabab and its allies control much of southern Somalia.

The al-Shabab official said no date had been set for the trial of the two men.

Meeting al-Shabab Somali justice, Islamist-style

They were on an official mission to train the forces of the interim government, which has recently appealed for foreign help to tackle Islamist insurgents.

Moderate Islamist President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was sworn in in January after UN-brokered peace talks.

He promised to introduce Sharia law but the hardliners accuse him of being a western stooge.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Brazil demands return of UK waste !

The contents of the containers were clearly of UK origin

Brazilian authorities are demanding that more than 1,400 tonnes of hazardous British waste found in three ports be returned to the UK.

The Brazilian environment agency, Ibama, says that international treaties have been violated.

An investigation into how and why the waste was sent to Brazil has been launched by the British government.

It has emerged that two companies named by Brazil as suspected exporters of the waste are owned by a Brazilian.

The waste, which included syringes, condoms, nappies and bags of blood, was found in about 90 shipping containers on three Brazilian docks in recent months.

The latest 25 containers found in a port near Sao Paulo were put on show for journalists on Friday.

The BBC's Gary Duffy said that inside them was everything from leftover food to cleaning products, creating a foul-smelling mess.

Among the rubbish were the names of many British supermarkets, and UK newspapers were also clearly identifiable.

Ibama officials say they want the waste sent back to the UK.

"We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage," said Roberto Messias, Ibama president.

"Clearly, Brazil is not a big rubbish dump of the world."

Reports in the UK media say the waste was sent from Felixstowe in eastern England to the port of Santos, near Sao Paulo, and two other ports in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The Brazilian companies that received the waste said they had been expecting recyclable plastic, The Times reported.

Ibama has named two British companies it suspects as being involved in the shipments.

The Brazilian director of those companies, who is based in England, told BBC Brazil that anything in the containers that was not plastic for recycling was the responsibility of his suppliers.

The British Embassy in Brazil said in a statement that it was investigating and would "not hesitate to act" if it was found that a UK company had violated the Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous waste.

Both the UK and Brazil are signatories of the treaty, which came into force in 1992.

UK Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told The Times he had ordered an investigation.

"If, having looked into this particular case, there are lessons that need to be learnt about enforcement, then we will do that," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

ZIMBABWE - LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA !

17th July, 2009.

Dear Friends.

"The lion called Zimbabwe is about to roar." declared Nelson Chamisa when he heard that the Minister of Finance had lifted the import duty on cell phones and computers. Chamisa was talking about the effect freeing up communications would have in the rural areas where every son of the soil would have a cellphone and access to the world wide net of information technology. It's hard to believe that people who are barely surviving will be rushing out to buy the latest model computers and cellphones when they do not even have electricity most of the time - if at all. I have been trying to reach a cellphone in Murehwa for a week now only to be told, the number you have dialled cannot be reached. 'Pigs might fly' seems a more appropriate metaphor but the 'lion' image has a nice poetic ring about it.

The events of this last week, however, suggest that the only roar we are likely to hear is from the mob that invaded the Constitutional Stakeholders' Conference on Monday 13th July. The noise made by the likes of Joseph Chinotimba and his bunch of so-called war veterans was certainly enough to drown out the voice of reason. The BBC captured the whole debacle on camera and watching it just confirmed my worst fears that this charade of a Unity Government could ever succeed in the face of such blind intolerance and stupidity. Blood and bullets seems to be the only language they understand. Speaker Lovemore Moyo had no chance and was forced to sit down as the mob chanted and hurled missiles at the official delegates. It was all there on the BBC video including one memorable shot of Minister Tendai Biti as he remained firmly in his seat while most of the other delegates fled from the chaos in the hall and the police stood by.
The fact that the three principals to the GPA did not turn up at all surely suggests that they knew in advance what was going to happen. So who gave the go-ahead to the rowdy demonstrators? Are we really supposed to believe that Ministers and Zanu PF MP's, war veterans and the police themselves acted without their Dear Leader's approval? It is no secret that Mugabe is in favour if the Kariba Draft Constitution that gives him unlimited tenure; neither he nor his followers want a new constitution. After the Rumble at the Rainbow Towers was all over, Mugabe predictably expressed his 'abhorrence' at what had happened and Prime Minister Tsvangirai said he could only agree with what the President had said. As the Zim Independent's Muckraker commented "He (Tsvangirai) seems to be doing an awful lot of that recently."

Meanwhile, the MDC activist, who tried to restrain the Zanu PF MP Patrick Zhuwawo from beating up another MDC MP, is in prison while Zhuwawo, of course, walks free. He is the President's close relative, after all. It is all sickeningly familiar to Zimbabweans and even the most naïve of us have to admit that this Unity Government is going nowhere fast. Robert Mugabe is still firmly in the driving seat and, even if it means taking the whole country over a cliff into the abyss, he will not budge. Unlike The Zimbabwean in this week's editorial, I cannot find it in my heart to give Mugabe the benefit of the doubt – again. "For the sake of our beloved Zimbabwe, we are always prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt." says the editorial. Surely that is stretching credulity too far? Is it not time to face the facts head on and admit that this so-called settlement has been a terrible mistake, for Zimbabwe and all her people. Yes, there has been a short-term advantage in the improving financial situation but in terms of human rights, media freedom and justice for all there has been almost no progress. Is it really in Zimbabwe's best interest to allow this 85 year old man to be given the benefit of the doubt again? This is the man who has repeatedly demonstrated over nearly thirty years his contempt for the democratic process, who has time and again rigged elections, denied the voice of the people and caused immense human suffering. What other reason do we all have to be here in the world-wide diaspora, if it is not Robert Mugabe's intransigence?

For me, there was a tiny glimmer of hope this week that perhaps the light is beginning to dawn in the minds of some of the MDC 'partners' in this Global Political Agreement. It was enlightening to hear in Minister Biti's Supplementary Budget Statement this week the following comment, "I urge our principals to ensure the credibility and integrity of the GPA is respected not in terms of having tea together." Apparently, the ZTV, acting on the directive of George Charamba, the Presidential spokesperson, decided to black out Biti's budget statement and show a cartoon instead. Was it an animal cartoon, I wonder, where the lion was roaring at a bunch of silly sheep?

Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.

10 THINGS !

10 things we didn't know last week !


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

1. A new element cannot be named after a living person.
More details

2. Plants that smell of almonds or marzipan are more likely to be poisonous.
More details

3. The UK's median gross annual salary is £20,801.
More details

4. The best Italian saffron is made from crocus flowers picked at dawn.
More details

5. The world's longest bench is 613 metres.
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6. Testicular cancer only accounts for 1-2% of male cancers.
More details

7. Brahms liked his audience to clap in between movements.
More details

8. Zoos in China use female dogs as surrogate mothers for baby tigers, lions and bear cubs.
More details

9. Some lizards are so light they fall to the ground like a feather.
More details

10. Buzz Aldrin received Holy Communion on the moon.
More details

BBC NEWS MAGAZINE.

Facebook 'breaches Canadian law' !

Facebook is one of the world's most popular social networking sites

Popular social networking site Facebook is breaching Canadian law by holding on to users' personal information indefinitely, a report has concluded.

An investigation by Canada's privacy commission found the US-based website also gave "confusing or incomplete" information to subscribers.

Facebook says it is aiming to safeguard users' privacy without compromising their experience of the site.

More than 200 million people actively use Facebook.

They include about 12 million in Canada, more than one in three of the population.

Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart laid out the findings of the report at a news conference in Ottawa.

She accepted that Facebook regarded privacy issues as a top concern "and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates".

Jennifer Stoddart has the power to take Facebook to a federal court

Facebook's policy of holding on to subscribers' personal information, even after their accounts had been deactivated, was one area that breached Canada's privacy laws, she said.

The law requires organisations to retain such information only for as long as it necessary to meet appropriate purposes, she was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

The report said Facebook's information about privacy practices was "often confusing or incomplete", and urged the site to make its policies more transparent to users.

Facebook was also criticised for failing to adequately restrict access of users' personal details to some of the 950,000 developers in 180 countries who provide applications, such as games, for the site.

In response, Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly told AFP it was working with the commission to resolve the issues.

"Overall, we are looking for practical solutions that operate at scale and respect the fact that people come to share and not to hide," he said.

"We continue our dialogue and have every confidence that we will come to acceptable conclusions. I think the concerns are fully resolvable".

Ms Stoddart said she would review Facebook's progress in 30 days.

Under Canadian law, she can take the case to a federal court to have her recommendations enforced, the BBC's Lee Carter in Toronto says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Woman gave birth before flu death !

The NHS has been deluged with calls and demands for consultations

A 39-year-old woman gave birth shortly before dying with swine flu, the BBC understands.

The mother died in London's Whipps Cross Hospital on 13 July. A baby under six months old is also among the latest victims.

Both are thought to have had underlying health conditions.

So far 29 people have died in the UK - 26 in England and three in Scotland - with 55,000 new cases in the past week alone.

Meanwhile, doctors have criticised the government for not doing enough to reassure people.

British Medical Association GP leader Dr Laurence Buckman said people were "scared stiff" when they did not need to be.

Dr Buckman said swine flu for most was a nasty but relatively mild illness, however he said people were panicking and swamping doctors with calls.

Graphic: Rates of flu-like illness in the UK

The government has been forced to launch the National Pandemic Flu Service in England after a surge in requests for information and consultations in the NHS.

THE AT RISK GROUPS People with lung disease People with heart disease People with kidney disease People with diabetes Those with immunosuppression problems either because of treatment or disease Patients who have had drug treatment for asthma Pregnant women Children under five

The web and phone service, which will be able to dispense anti-flu drugs will go live by the end of next week.

It will not cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as demand for services is not as high there, but they will be able to opt in if they need to.

Ministers said it should relieve the pressure on the NHS in England.

Every region of England has seen a dramatic rise in demand over the last seven days with all areas except Yorkshire and the Humber reporting "exceptional" levels of activity.

GPs have been particularly hard hit with the weekly flu consultation rates now above winter levels with some surgeries seeing demand at twice and even three times the epidemic level.

But Dr Buckman said: "The problem is that we have 60m people who are scared stiff. Certainly there is a risk, but for most people it is the fear rather than a reality.

"The mortality rate is pretty similar to seasonal flu, although it is hitting younger age groups. For most it will be a nasty, but relatively mild illness.

"But we are getting so much information that people are getting worried.

"The risk is that people who are ill do not get through and that includes people who have not got the flu, but have diabetes, heart disease or asthma. That would be disastrous."

Dr Buckman said he was not suggesting the government should not be open with the data, but that officials should be stressing the mild nature of the illness more.

But he also said the media had a responsibility to handle information responsibly. "Some of the newspaper headlines have not helped."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "The chief medical officer has consistently reiterated that it is a mild illness for many. He has said that every single time.

"We have tried to be open and honest and put it in context all the time we have given information."

AREAS WITH HIGHEST WEEKLY DEMAND FOR GPS Tower Hamlets - 759 flu consultations per 100,000 City and Hackney - 392 Islington - 306 Newham - 293 Luton - 272 Epidemic levels are classed as 200

Meanwhile, NHS London also sought to reassure people about the most recent deaths.

As well as the baby who died at the Royal Free Hospital and the 39-year-old mother, a 70-year-old man died at Royal London Hospital as well as another patient at St Thomas' Hospital.

Dr Simon Tanner, regional director of public health at NHS London, said: "We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to each of the families affected at this very difficult time.

"It is also important that these deaths be kept in perspective.

"All four had underlying health conditions and these upsetting cases should be kept in context with the many people who have had swine flu and recovered just a few days after experiencing a mild illness."

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Fiji freemasons held for sorcery !

Fijian villagers are not the first to puzzle over Freemasonry's rituals

A group of freemasons have had to spend a night in jail in Fiji, after local villagers complained they were practising witchcraft.

The 14 men, including eight Australians and a New Zealander, had been holding a night-time meeting on Denerau island.

The New Zealand man told reporters he had spent a "wretched" time in jail, and blamed the mix-up on the actions of "dopey village people".

Police also seized wands, compasses and a skull from the freemasons' lodge.

Freemasonry is a centuries-old club that practises secret rituals and has more than five million members worldwide

The New Zealander, who did not want to give his name, told the New Zealand Herald that Tuesday night's meeting was "interrupted by a banging on the door, and there were these village people and the police demanding to be let in".

Nothing sinister was going on, he claimed, but "such is the nature of life in Fiji" they were taken to a nearby police station.

The freemasons insist they had a permit for the meeting and were released after spending an uncomfortable night there.

Police director of operations Waisea Tabakau told Legend FM News in Fiji that the group was being investigated for "allegedly practising sorcery", the Fiji Village website reported.

The New Zealand man said that when they were freed the following morning, they were told their release was on the orders of the prime minister's office.

Emergency regulations imposed by Fiji's military regime allow police to detain people for up to 48 hours without charge.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels !

Eyewitnesses tell of the blasts in Jakarta

At least nine people, including some foreigners, have been killed in two bomb blasts at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police say.

One explosion hit the Ritz-Carlton, ripping off its facade, and the other the Marriott Hotel. At least 48 people were injured.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has visited the scene and condemned "the cruel and inhuman attack".

Indonesia suffered a number of bomb attacks - mainly linked to the militant group Jemaah Islamiah - in the first years of the century, but has been relatively peaceful since 2005.

President Yudhoyono said Friday's attacks were carried out by a suspected terrorist group and he vowed to catch those responsible.

In pictures: Jakarta hotel blasts Man Utd tour at risk Eyewitnesses: Jakarta attacks

"This undermines the security situation in the country," he said.

Officials said there were indications that suicide bombers had carried out the attacks.

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key confirmed that a New Zealand national was among the dead.

Reuters news agency named him as Tim Mackay, president director of PT Holcim Indonesia, quoting the company's marketing director Patrick Walser.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd condemned the attacks as "barbaric". "Any attack anywhere is an attack on us all," he said.

There were reports of a third explosion in northern Jakarta a few hours later but it was not immediately clear what the cause was.

The Manchester United football team was due to arrive in Indonesia on Saturday and was booked to stay at the Ritz-Carlton.

The team have now called off the Indonesian leg of their tour, saying they "cannot fulfil the fixture in Jakarta" against an Indonesia Super League XI on 20 July.

The first two blasts, in Jakarta's central business district, occurred at about 0730 (0030 GMT).

INDONESIA ATTACKS Dec 2000 - Church bombings kill 19 Oct 2002 - Bali attacks kill 202, many Australian Dec 2002 - Sulawesi McDonald's kills three Aug 2003 - Jakarta Marriott Hotel bomb kills 12 Sept 2004 - Bomb outside Australian embassy in Jakarta Sept 2005: Suicide attacks in Bali leave 23 dead, including bombers

Police said another, unexploded, bomb had also been found at the JW Marriott.

Presidential adviser Djali Yusuf told the AFP news agency that the unexploded bomb had been found in what he called the "control centre" of the attacks - room 1808 in the Marriott - where other explosives material was discovered.

Security guard Eko Susanto told AFP: "I heard two sounds like 'boom, boom' coming from the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton. Then I saw people running out."

Businessman Geoffrey Head, who was in the Ritz Carlton, told the BBC he did not hear the blast but that his colleagues had called him after it happened to tell him to leave the building.

"I looked out of the window - I could see down to ground level and I saw there was a lot of broken glass. I thought it was time to actually get out."

Mr Head said there had been no warning to evacuate the building.

"The surreal thing was going down in the elevator and walking through the lobby and looking across to my left and noticing the cafe was completely blown out," he said.

Myra Junor, who witnessed the blasts from a nearby building, told Reuters that windows on the lower floors of the Ritz-Carlton had shattered.

A 50-year-old South Korean man, Cho In-sang, was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

"I don't remember exactly but suddenly the ceiling is falling down and the sound was big," he said.

Consular staff are trying to track their nationals, and Australia issued a warning against unnecessary travel to Indonesia.

The attacks come just weeks after the peaceful presidential elections.

The country of 240 million people has been praised in recent years for maintaining a pluralist democracy while finding and punishing radical Islamists responsible for a series of bombings more than five years ago.

Attacks on two nightclubs in Bali in October 2002 killed 202 people, most of them Australian.

The Marriott Hotel was the target of a bomb attack in August 2003 in which 13 people were killed.

Since then, a combination of new laws, anti-terror training, international cooperation and reintegration measures have kept Indonesia peaceful, analysts have said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Islamists 'share French hostages'

Somalia's Islamists are accused of links to al-Qaeda

Two French security advisers seized in Somalia this week have been split up and are now being held by two different hard-line groups, reports say.

The pair were snatched by gunmen from a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday and were being held by the Hizbul-Islam group.

But officials say the al-Shabab group wanted them and after a row, Hizbul-Islam handed one of the men over.

Al-Shabab has recently carried out several beheadings, amputations and stonings in the areas it controls.

They are allied with Hizbul-Islam against the UN-backed interim government and together control much of southern Somalia.

Both groups are said to have links to al-Qaeda and have been reinforced by foreign fighters.

The BBC's Somali Service editor Yusuf Garaad Omar says al-Shabab is known for being the more radical of the two groups.

He says the hostage held by al-Shabab fighters is likely to face greater problems because they care little for their public image and have carried out killings on camera.

Meeting al-Shabab Somali justice, Islamist-style

A group of gunmen dressed in military uniform seized the men on Tuesday morning and handed them over to Hizbul-Islam.

The move apparently sparked a row with al-Shabab, which managed to persuade the other group to hand over one of the hostages.

An unnamed al-Shabab militant told Reuters the two men had been shared "to avoid clashes between Islamists".

Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omar urged the rebel groups not to politicise the situation.

"So far, it remains a monetary issue, not a political one," he told AFP news agency.

Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, meanwhile, warned Hizbul-Islam they would "bear responsibility for any harmful action taken against the hostages".

The French advisers were reportedly helping to train the forces of government, which has recently appealed for foreign help to tackle the Islamists.

The US last month confirmed that it has sent weapons to the government, which is also being protected by some 4,000 African Union troops in Mogadishu.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991.

Moderate Islamist Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was sworn in as president in January after UN-brokered peace talks.

He promised to introduce Sharia law but the hardliners accuse him of being a western stooge.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Kremlin tribute to dead activist !

A small rally was held in Moscow in honour of the dead woman

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has paid tribute to human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, whose murder has caused international concern.

Speaking in Germany, as her funeral was being held in Chechnya, he promised a thorough investigation and pledged those responsible would be caught.

Ms Estemirova was abducted in the Chechen capital Grozny and shot dead.

Russia's leader said it was "obvious" to him that her murder was linked to her professional work.

She gave a very open and sometimes very tough evaluation of what's happening in the country Dmitry Medvedev Russian president Obituary: Natalia Estemirova Remembering Natalia

The UN has urged a transparent investigation into the killing on Wednesday, while the White House says it is "disturbed and saddened" by the crime.

Memorial, the Russian human rights group which employed Ms Estemirova, has accused Chechnya's Kremlin-backed President, Ramzan Kadyrov, or his close associates of responsibility for the murder.

Mr Kadyrov denied any involvement and promised to investigate the killing personally.

"It is obvious to me that this murder is linked to her professional work and this work is necessary for any normal state," Mr Medvedev said after talks outside Munich with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"She did something very useful. She spoke the truth, she gave a very open and sometimes very tough evaluation of what's happening in the country.

"And that is the value of human rights campaigners, even if they make those in power feel uncomfortable."

Unlike his predecessor Vladmir Putin, President Medvedev has moved fast to publicly and explicitly condemn the murder of another prominent Russian human rights worker, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes reports from Moscow.

He is perhaps aware of the wave of international outrage generated by her killing, our correspondent says.

Ms Estemirova was abducted from her home in Chechnya and her bullet-riddled body was found dumped in a forest a few hours later.

For years she had documented appalling human rights abuses carried out by the Moscow-backed regime in Chechnya, our correspondent says.

About 100 mourners gathered outside Memorial's Grozny office on Thursday, some of them weeping.

Mr Kadyrov took power in Chechnya after his father was assassinated

The dead woman's daughter Lana, 15, said she was stunned by her mother's killing.

"I can't imagine [she] won't be around any more and that I won't be making a morning coffee for her any more," she was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

Taus Dzhankhotova, 50, said she had been unaware of the killing when she showed up at the office carrying a pizza and melon she wanted to give to Ms Estemirova in thanks for legal help she had provided.

"What for? What for?" she said, crying. "They kill only the good people here. If she was bad, they wouldn't have touched her."

Later, about 50 men and women walked in a slow procession along Prospekt Putin, a central Grozny street, to accompany the dead woman's body, which was being carried in a yellow minivan to a cemetery in western Chechnya.

While Mr Kadyrov denies he had anything to do with her killing, many of her colleagues in Russia's human rights community are unconvinced, our correspondent says.

Oleg Orlov, Memorial's chairman, blamed the Chechen president personally in a statement on the group's website.

Mr Kadyrov had, he said, "already threatened Natalia, insulted her, considered her a personal enemy".

The Chechen leader condemned Ms Estemirova's killers on Thursday saying they "must be punished as the cruellest of criminals".

BBC NEWS REPORT.

"SAYINGS"

"TO DO SOMETHING, HOWEVER SMALL,

TO MAKE OTHERS HAPPIER AND BETTER,

IS THE HIGHEST AMBITION,
THE MOST ELEVATING HOPE,

WHICH CAN INSPIRE A HUMAN BEING" !

__________

US smoker chokes on cost of habit !

Josh Muszynski: 'I thought someone had bought Europe'

A man in the United States popped out to his local petrol station to buy a pack of cigarettes - only to find his card charged $23,148,855,308,184,500.

That is $23 quadrillion (£14 quadrillion) - many times the US national debt.

"I thought somebody had bought Europe with my credit card," said Josh Muszynski, from New Hampshire.

He says his appeals to his bank first met with little understanding, though it eventually corrected the error.

It also waived the usual $15 overdraft fee.

"It was all back to normal," Mr Muszynski told his local television station, WMUR. "They reversed the negative balance fee, which was nice."

His nightmare began when he checked his online bank account a few hours after buying the cigarettes.

He thought he would be a couple of hundred dollars in the black. But his overdraft had pushed him into the red - by an amount equivalent to many times the entire US national debt.

"It is a lot of money in the negative," he said. "Something I could never, ever, afford to pay back.

The 17-digit amount on his online bill shocked Mr Muszynski

"My children could not afford it, grandchildren, nothing like that."

In panic, Mr Muszynski rushed back to the petrol station, but they were unable to help. He says he then spent two hours on the phone with the Bank of America.

Eventually, it assured him it would be fixed - and the next morning, it had been.

But no-one has yet explained to Mr Muszynski how such a astonishing error could have been made.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Mandela show continues amid row !

The gallery insists the works are genuine

A London art gallery has refused to end a sale of prints by ex-South African leader Nelson Mandela, despite a long-running legal dispute.

Lawyers for Mr Mandela say he did not sign the works on display. They are taking legal action against Mr Mandela's former lawyer.

But Belgravia Gallery owner Anna Hunter said the prints were signed.

She said the legal case had nothing to do with the gallery and the show, which opened on Sunday, would continue.

"The matter is one between Mr Mandela and his former lawyer and has nothing to do with the gallery," she told the BBC.

The gallery previously planned an exhibition of Mr Mandela's artwork in 2005, but because of the legal furore in South Africa they decided to take the artworks down.

The original artwork sold for millions of dollars in 2003

"Four years later it still hasn't been resolved," said Ms Hunter.

"We put them back up on Sunday. There has been an incredible response to them. We are honoured to have Mr Mandela's artworks here."

She insisted the prints were authorised, saying she was present when Mr Mandela, now 90, signed the works.

But Mr Mandela's lawyer Bally Chuene told the Associated Press the pictures were unauthorised reproductions and the gallery was being "opportunistic".

"Mandela did not sign the artworks, it is important for the public to know that are being deceived," he said.

The lawyer said he had written to the gallery last week asking for them to halt the sale - but Ms Hunter said she had received no letter.

Fifteen works are currently on display at the gallery, including lithograph prints and copies of his autobiography Long Walk To Freedom.

The original signed works were sold in 2003 and the proceeds reportedly went to charities associated with Mr Mandela.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Al-Jazeera closed in West Bank !

Al-Jazeera denies allegations of bias in its reporting from the region

The Palestinian Authority has closed down the West Bank offices of Arabic satellite news channel al-Jazeera.

The self-rule body said al-Jazeera promoted a negative view of its work and that the coverage is biased.

It comes a day after a guest on the station accused Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of collaborating with Israel to have Yasser Arafat killed.

The channel - based in Doha - said it was "stunned" by the Palestinian Authority's decision.

But the BBC's Arab Affairs Analyst, Magdi Abdlehadi, says the controversy surrounding al-Jazeera's broadcast reveals more about the crisis within Mr Abbas's group than about the satellite channel's often rocky relationship with Arab states.

The al-Jazeera bureau chief in Ramallah, Walid al-Omary, said the station firmly rejected the accusations of bias.

"We regret this decision, which harms the freedom of expression and the press in this country," Mr Omary said.

In the Ramallah office, al-Jazeera employees were seen removing equipment before Palestinian security officials arrived to close it, Associated Press reported.

The BBC's Katya Adler, in Jerusalem, says relations between al-Jazeera and the Palestinian Authority - dominated by political party Fatah - soured some time ago.

In a statement announcing the decision, the information ministry said the station's coverage was "unbalanced".

"Despite our repeated calls to remain neutral when it covers the Palestinian issue and to be balanced when it comes to the internal Palestinian situation, the channel continues to incite against the PLO and the PA," the statement said.

It said it was taking the satellite channel to court and its operations would be suspended while this process was under way.

In a letter to the channel it said al-Jazeera had broadcast "false news" on Tuesday night.

The accusation appeared to relate to a programme in which Farouk Kaddoumi - one of Fatah's founding members - alleged that Mr Abbas had collaborated with Israel to kill Mr Arafat.

Mr Kaddoumi has released what he says were the minutes of a meeting between former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mr Abbas as evidence.

Other Fatah officials have denounced the document as a forgery, saying Mr Kaddoumi's behaviour was an attempt to split Fatah, the oldest political organisation among the Palestinians which was, until the emergence of Hamas, the dominant force.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

RUSSIAN ACTIVIST 'FOUND MURDERED' !

A prominent Russian human rights activist, Natalia Estemirova, has been found dead in the North Caucasus.
She was bundled into a van and abducted as she left her home in Chechnya on Wednesday morning, a colleague said. Her body was found in Ingushetia.
The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed "outrage" at the murder, and ordered a top-level investigation.
Ms Estemirova had been investigating human rights abuses in Chechnya for the independent Memorial group.
Memorial is one of Russia's best known rights groups, working to document Soviet-era abuses and those taking place more recently, especially in Chechnya.
Ms Estemirova, described as a single mother in her early 40s, had worked in the past with the activists Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in 2006, and Stanislav Markelov, who was killed in January this year.
In 2007 she was awarded the inaugural Anna Politkovskaya Prize, and had also received awards from the Swedish and European parliaments, Memorial said.

In a statement the group said she "was forcefully taken from her house into a car and shouted that she was being kidnapped" at about 0830 local time (0430 GMT).
Her body was found in woodland near Nazran, the main city in neighbouring Ingushetia, about nine hours later. She had bullet wounds to the head and chest.
The New-York based human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Ms Estemirova had been working on "extremely sensitive" cases of human rights abuses in Chechnya.
"There is no shred of doubt that she was targeted due to her professional activity," said Tanya Lokshina, HRW's Russian researcher in Moscow.
Ms Estemirova was engaged in very important and dangerous work, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow, investigating hundreds of cases of alleged kidnapping, torture and extra-judicial killings by Russian government troops or militias in Chechnya.
Memorial says it believes that government security services of some nature must be involved in her killing.
Our correspondent says no evidence of that has emerged so far, but that it was the government sponsored militias that had most to fear from her work.
She is the most recent in a long line of human rights activists and lawyers to have been killed or attacked in Russia. The history of these sorts of cases over many years is that very rarely are their killers ever brought to justice, our correspondent says.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

World's oldest mum dies in Spain !

A Spanish woman who became the world's oldest new mother when she gave birth in 2006 to twin boys at the age of 66 has died, her family has said.

The brother of Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara told the paper Diario de Cadiz she passed away on Saturday, aged 69.

It said she had been diagnosed with cancer shortly after giving birth.

In 2007, Ms Bousada de Lara said she had lied about her age to doctors at a fertility clinic in California to get IVF treatment, telling them she was 55.

Ms Bousada de Lara argued that there was no reason to believe she would not have as long a life as her mother, who died at the age of 101. She even joked that she might live to see her grandchildren.

She also insisted that if she died prematurely her sons Christian and Pau, who are now two years old, would never be alone.

"There are lots of young people in our family," she added.

When the twins were born in Barcelona on 29 December 2006, Ms Bousada de Lara was aged 66 years 358 days, 130 days older than Romanian Adriana Iliescu, who gave birth in 2005 to a baby girl.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

Anti-piracy ad for Roses blogger !

Chinese Democracy was Guns N' Roses' first new album in 17 years

A US blogger who leaked part of Guns N' Roses' latest album has been ordered to appear in an anti-piracy commercial.

Kevin Cogill was also sentenced in a Los Angeles court to a year's probation and two months of home confinement.

Cogill admitted copyright infringement last year after posting nine songs from the Chinese Democracy album online.

His public service announcement for the Recording Industry Association of America is expected to air during the Grammy Awards next January.

Cogill had faced a maximum of one year in federal prison, a $100,000 (£61,000) fine and five years' probation.

He apologised for his actions in court on Tuesday, saying he had not meant any harm by posting the tracks on the Antiquiet website.

"I never intended to hurt th