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28 February 2002
Thursday, 28 February, 2002, 16:45 GMT Berlusconi wins interests
law vote Opponents want Berlusconi to pick business or politics EU launches democratic
drive A major new body has begun work in Brussels to develop ways to shake up the European Union and bridge the gulf between the Western club and its citizens. direction the EU will take
Many Muslims polled think unfavorably of U.S. PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Residents of nine Muslim countries called the United States "ruthless and arrogant" in a new poll, with most describing themselves as "resentful" of the superpower. The Gallup poll found that by a 2-to-1 margin, residents in these nations express an unfavorable opinion of the United States, and a majority also indicated their displeasure with President Bush. Pearl kidnap
suspect remanded Under heavy security the suspects -- with sheets over their heads -- were brought to the court The key suspect in the kidnapping and murder of American reporter Daniel Pearl is remanded in custody for 14 days to allow prosecutors to gather more evidence KARACHI, Pakistan (CNN) -- The key suspect in the kidnapping and murder of American reporter Daniel Pearl has been remanded in custody for 14 days to allow prosecutors to gather more evidence. FULL STORY Olympic farewell
Sergio Chiamparino, mayor of Turin, Italy -- host city for the 2006 Winter Games -- waves the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony. The 2002 Winter Olympics came to a close Sunday night, ending more than two weeks of athletic excellence, judging controversy and off-field fun. An eclectic cast of entertainers -- from Kiss to the Osmonds, from Willie Nelson to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir -- helped close the Games, along with more than 50,000 fans and 2,000 athletes. FULL STORY »
Israel to
consider lifting Arafat travel ban JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Relative quiet returned Saturday to the Middle East, and Israeli government sources said the possibility of dropping travel restrictions on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be on the Israeli Cabinet's agenda Sunday. Colombia rebels
condemn government A crucifix hangs from the vest of a soldier patrolling the outskirts of San Vicente del Caguan on Friday SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia (CNN) -- Colombia's largest rebel group issued a communique Friday condemning President Andres Pastrana's "unilateral decision to break off peace talks." Bush: Deepened resolve President Bush said Thursday that "barbaric acts" like the murder of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl deepen his resolve to fight the war against terrorism. "The United States of America will rid the world of these agents of terror," Bush said in Beijing, where he was concluding a trip to East Asia.
Latest Comedy legend
Milligan dies Author and comic Spike Milligan, famed for his work on the Goon Show, dies aged 83 at his home in Sussex.
ShootShootings raise Mid-East tensions Monday, 25 February, 2002, 12:56 GMT Palestinians have denounced Israel's move as a sham A pregnant Palestinian woman has been wounded and her husband shot dead by Israeli troops at a checkpoint on the West Bank. The woman, who was on her way to hospital, gave birth a short time later. Full Story
Film world prepares for Baftas Gosford Park has nine nominations The UK film industry is preparing for its most important awards ceremony of the year, the Baftas. Lord of the Rings and Moulin Rouge are going head-to-head in the nominations, with 12 nods each including best film. The Baftas are one of the last major set of awards before the Oscars next month, and give an idea of who might do well in the Hollywood ceremony.
Angola rebel leader's
death 'confirmed' The civil war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives
Veteran Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi - a key figure in one of Africa's longest wars - has been killed, the first eyewitness report says Veteran Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is dead, according to the first eyewitness report from the region where the army said they killed him on Friday. A reporter for Portugal's state television - quoted by Reuters news agency - said he had seen Mr Savimbi's bullet-riddled body. Daniel Pearl
murder 'barbaric' US President Bush condemns the "barbaric" murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, as Pakistan police pledge to find the killers. Also:
Investigators have been told to increase their efforts Palestinian 'bomber' killed in
supermarket Dialogue seems further away than ever A Palestinian is shot dead after allegedly trying to set off a bomb on the West Bank, following Ariel Sharon's pledge to create buffer zones.
EUROPE First witness confronts Milosevic The first witness at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic accuses him of persecuting Kosovo Albanians
Conflict of
interest bill passed by Italian parliament Italy's lower house of parliament has approved a controversial new conflict of interest bill, which opposition politicians claim is tailor-made to protectPrime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his media empire. The news was greeted with cheers from government supporters, while the bill's opponents failed to take part in the final vote, carrying out their threat to walk out in protest. Their angry departure followed yesterday's scuffles between rival deputies in the chamber. Feelings have been running high throughout the debate over the legislation which involves the creation of a watchdog to alert parliament to any conflict of interest problems it identifies. Before leaving the building, opposition leader Francesco Rutelli said he was defending freedom and accused those on the government benches of being freedom's enemies. The watchdog will have limited powers to sanction, which means Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's richest man, would probably not be obliged to give up any of his assets. Nevertheless, government deputies say it will be effective in sorting out any conflict of interest problems. The convention on the future of the
European Union has opened in Brussels Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar presided over the inaugural meeting of the 105 member convention made up of representatives from the EUs 15 national parliaments, the european commission, the european parliaments and candidate nations. Convention president Valery Giscad D'Estaing said the first task of his team would be to listen. We must be open and attentive, he said, we must ask questions amongst ourselves, the members of the convention and we must questions of those around us to find out what europeans expect of europe at the beginning of the twenty first century. It was a message echoed by Pat Cox, the president of the European parliament.who said it was necessary that the people of Europe felt part of the consultation process. Commission president Romano President said that we must give Europe a political constitution without losing site of the originality of the European construction, while for Giscard D'Estaing the convention should be an inspiration for the European people: Battles over Italian conflict of interest
bill There has been a rowdy debate ahead of an important
vote in the Italian parliament. The leader of the opposition Democratic
Left accused the government of presenting a conflict of interest bill
that merely protects its personal interests. The deputy speaker tried
to cool things down, but some on the opposition benches had to be physically
restrained. The crux of the issue is how to stop Italy's richest man
from taking advantage of his role as Prime Minister. Silvio Berlusconi
owns the country's largest private TV network and oversees a commanding
majority in Parliament. But he insists he will lead the country with
a clear vision, telling a press conference, 'We have several targets
in our government he said, but five of them are the most important.
I signed a contract on television to fulfil them by 2006. If I don't
reach these objectives then I will return to private life.' The conflict
of interest bill should pass comfortably in a vote sche Suicide bombing lends urgency to Middle East peace initiative Another suicide attack in the Middle East provided evidence, if it were needed, that the latest peace initiative is a long way from ending violence in the region. The bomber was a Palestinian woman. She detonated explosives strapped to her body after getting out of a car at a West Bank checkpoint near the Israeli border. Three Israeli policemen were wounded. In response Israeli helicopters attacked the West Bank city of Nablus. The incidents have lent an urgency to the peace plan formulated by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, and endorsed by the European Union and Washington. After a meeting in Jeddah E.U. Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said the Crown Prince would begin consulting Arab leaders soon on the land-for-peace deal. As the EU's latest Middle East diplomatic mission was underway, Palestinians were keeping the pressure up in Brussels. They want the EU to take a more active role in efforts to resolve the conflict. Zimbabwe Supreme Court rules election
decision unfair With a little more than a week to go to elections in Zimbabwe the country's Supreme Court has dealt a potential blow to President Robert Mugabe's hopes of holding onto power. It has ruled that, the parliament, which is dominated by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, improperly passed a law banning independent election monitors and depriving millions of expatriot Zimbabweans of voting. However, it is not yet clear of the decision has come in time to allow those living abroad to vote. The legislation had been criticised by the international community and Mugabe's rival in the election Morgan Tsvangirai. He has accused the president's supporters of stepping up a campaign of intimidation. Tsvangirai was charged with treason on Monday on the basis of a videotape allegedly showing him plotting Mugabe's assassination. Against this background the outcome of the election is far from certain. Recent polls show many people are reluctant to indicate their voting intentions. Third front in Georgia Is this the third
front? This delegation of US military personel is in Tbilisi today to talk to their Georgian counterparts about sending elite forces to the former Soviet Republic. The aim would be to help train the country's troops and to open up a third front in the United State's war against terrorism. The main area of interest for the Americans is the Panksi Gorge region. This is squeezed between Georgia and Chechnya. This mountainous border area acts as a conduit for Chechen refugees fleeing the fighting. However, it is also being being portrayed as a lawless stronghold which offers a haven for Chechen rebels and that has become infiltrated by Ossama Ben Laden's Al Quaida and Taliban suspects fleeing Afghanistan. But the Georgian government is playing down America's involvement in the country. But the news of an imminent arrival of US troops in Georgia has set military moustaches twitching in Moscow. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is none to happy about it either. Serguei Ivanov says the arrival of US troops in Georgia would further complicate already difficult situation in the region. A situation, says Ivanov, that Washington already knows full well. Moscow is suspicious after Georgia refused Russian aid to make Pankisi more secure and is worried Georgia wanting to marginalise it in its natural sphere of influence. Moscow also sees alteria motives behind America's war against terrorism and its decision to get involved in such a sensitive and oil rich region. Torched train in India leaves 56 dead
56 Hindu activists were burnt alive on Wednesday after the train they were travelling on was deliberately set alight. An official said the Sabarmati Express was stopped just outside Godhra station in the west where a number of unidentified men then set fire to one of the coaches. The entire town of Godhra was immediately placed under curfew, with police ordered to shoot any troublemakers. The Hindu activists had been returning from the controversial site of a razed mosque when the attack happen. Its destruction a decade ago, sparked riots in which more than 3000 died. There are plans to rebuild the mosque, but the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has appealed to the World Hindu Council to shelve its plans, and help the government maintain peace and brotherhood in the country. However the council has rejected the pleas and called a national strike on Thursday to protest against the attack. It said it would begin building the new temple as planned next month.
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The
convention will decide which 
Wednesday,
27 February, 2002, 14:58 GMT 
Sunday,
24 February, 2002, 00:46 GMT 
Saturday,
23 February, 2002, 14:24 GMT 
Friday,
22 February, 2002, 09:58 GMT 
Friday,
22 February, 2002, 10:29 GMT 
duled
for Thursday afternoon. 
27 February 2002
EU's Solana to
meet Saudi prince on Middle East peace
Hopes for peace may be rising in the Middle East, but people are still dying. Early Wednesday morning a Palestinian shot dead an Israeli in a factory on the outskirts of north Jerusalem. The attack was an apparent reprisal after Israeli troops shot dead a 25-year-old Palestinian and injured five others overnight during an exchange of fire at the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus. It is all putting increased pressure on the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who is in Saudi Arabia for talks with Crown Prince Abdullah, aimed at advancing a surprise Saudia peace initiative. France has been doing its bit as well. President Chirac underlined his belief to Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres that the war against terrorism can never be won, without peace in the Middle East.
Death toll in Austrian crash revised
The final death toll from a train crash in Austria has been put at six. It was earlier thought seven people had been killed in the accident, the country's worst for over thirty years. Two freight trains collided head on 30 km south of the capital Vienna. The cause of the disaster is still unclear. Rescue teams were able to pull some survivors out of the wreckage. Fourteen people were injured, two are said to be in a critical condition. One of the trains was carrying trucks and their drivers from Hungary. It is believed the dead were all foreign nationals, three Hungarians, two Yugoslavs and a Turk.
Initial foot-and-mouth tests negative
British farmers are breathing a sigh of relief as initial tests on suspected cases of foot and mouth have proved negative. Two sheep in Hawnby, northern England, were slaughtered on Tuesday when they showed signs of the highly infectious disease. It could take up to four more days for the final result. As a precautionary measure, a ban on animal movements has been put in place in an 8-kilometre radius around the farm. The scare comes six weeks after the country was declared free of foot-and-mouth. Last year livestock exports were temporarily halted during a devastating outbreak. The tourism industry was also hard hit as much of Britain was declared a no-go area. For months clouds of smoke filled the countryside as millions of animal carcasses were burned on giant pyres.
France accused of hiding post-Chernobyl risks
The French government stands accused of hushing up risks to public health after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. France's Independent Commission on Research and Information on Radioactivity is starting a civil case against the state for involuntary physical injury. The allegations are based on documents seized by examining judge Marie-Odile Bertella-Geffroy. She is probing the effects in France of a radioactive cloud that drifted west after the Ukrainian reactor exploded in April 1986. Unlike many of its neighbours, France did not advise people to take precautionary measures like avoiding fresh milk. One of the seized documents suggests sheep's milk on the French island of Corsica was 200 times over the legal radioactive limit. A handwritten note made during a government crisis meeting in May 1986 reads: "We have figures which can not be released." Last October, more than 100 people with thyroid cancer filed lawsuits against the French state, accusing it of failing to warn them of the risks.
Queen flies into Australian envoy row
Queen Elizabeth II has arrived to a warm welcome in Adelaide as she continues her Golden Jubilee tour. However she has not only flown into Australia, she has also flown into controversy. It surrounds her local envoy, Governor-general Peter Hollingworth, who has denied allegations he tried to conceal child sex abuse complaints during his eleven year tenure as the arch bishop of Brisbane, which spanned the 1990s. He has rejected calls from politicians, welfare groups and abuse victims to resign, and has the backing of Prime Minister John Howard. As Australia's head of state, Queen Elizabeth will open a Commonwealth leaders summit on Saturday in tropical Queensland state, during her 14th Royal visit
UN investigates sex abuse in African refugee
camps
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has sent a team of investigators to West Africa, following the revelation that a large number of children have been sexually exploited by aid workers. The UN refugee agency, along with Britain's Save the Children charity, jointly commissioned the report covering Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The scale of the problem has surprised relief agencies. Of the 1,500 people interviewed, many said they or their children had to have sex in order to get food, medication or land. 67 individuals, employed by 40 different agencies, were implicated. Most of those named were local aid workers. Two Save the Children volunteers and one staff member have now been dismissed. Some under-age girls in Sierra Leone said UN peacekeepers were also involved in sexual abuse.
"Toll zone" for London 
London's Mayor announced costly plans to rid the city centre of traffic jams on Tuesday. Drivers in the capital may soon have to pay up to eight euros a day (five pounds) if they pass through a "toll zone" from Monday to Friday. The tax is due to be introduced in 2003 The proposed fee formed a major part of Mayor Ken Livingston's electoral campaign. He believes the scheme will prove a success and describes it as "the first serious attempt to crackdown on chronic traffic congestion." The new charge is expected to raise over 240 million euros (150 million pounds), which will be used to improve public transport. However critics have called on the government to block the move. They argue it is ineffective, as traffic will increase on streets around the taxed area.
26 February 2002
Few clues in bomb attack on Italy's Interior
Ministry
Police in Italy are still trying to establish who was behind a bomb attack in the centre of Rome. The device exploded around 4am in a side street adjacent to the Interior Ministry. No one was hurt in the relatively small blast but damage was caused to cars, motorbikes, and buildings in the area. It is thought the explosive was hidden in a moped, which had been propped against a wall. Detectives have been interviewing a Dutch tourist who said he saw three young men leaving the scene seconds before the blast. He described them as acting "nervously". The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the attack was "a worrying signal". Claudio Scajola, Italy's Interior Minister, said after September 11th it was necessary to remain on high alert for such acts. There was no warning before the explosion and police appear to have little to go on. Similar explosions have occurred in Venice, Milan and Rome in the past few months. Domestic political extremists are being linked to the attacks.
Spanish police continue clampdown on ETA 
Spanish anti-terrorist police have been piling the pressure on the Basque separatist group ETA with more arrests. Another suspected member, Arturo Fernandez Garces, is in custody following his detention yesterday in Navarre. Two others were seized as they visited an inmate at a prison in Castellon on Sunday. Spain's Interior Minister, Mariano Rajoy, said there would be no let-up in the campaign against ETA. "In the house where these two people had been staying we found a lot of information about potential targets, so it's clear they were collaborating". Garces is suspected of belonging to the same ETA cell targeted by police last week in Pamplona. Six people were arrested in the raid, three men are still being held. Investigators said a quantity of arms and explosives was recovered, indicating the group was preparing for another attack. Recent months have seen have seen a wave of police operations against the group in Spain and France, a reflection of closer cooperation between the two countries.
French watchdog sues mobile operators 
Are mobile phone users in France being ripped off? The country's main consumer association says they are. Now it has launched legal action against French mobile operators. Users often experience the network cutting out. That means they have to redial, in effect making a new call. With even calls of a few seconds being rounded up to one minute on the bill, the cost soon adds up. "I called for five seconds," explained one frustrated user, the network failed so I called again and it cut out after two seconds. So I used the phone for seven seconds and got charged for two whole minutes. My phone bill is for six hours of connection but I've really only used the phone for four and a quarter hours." The Federal Consumers' Union accuses the operators- Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom- of coming to an illicit agreement over how to charge customers. The situation is different from most other European countries, where phone bills more closely reflect the actual time used. The French operators maintain they have always made it clear to customers how their bill is calculated.
Colombia's army locates hostage but will not
free her yet
Colombia's Army said on Tuesday it had located Ingrid Betancourt, the Presidential candidate kidnapped by Marxist rebels. However there was to be no immediate operation to free her, as it was feared such steps could put her life at risk. Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) captured Betancourt at one of their checkpoints on Saturday. President Andres Pastrana condemned the abduction. "To kidnap members of congress," he said, "to kidnap a candidate for the Presidency, to kidnap Colombians is to kidnap democracy." Betancourt travelled to FARC's enclave despite government warnings not to. When she entered the area troops had just begun ground and air raids to flush out the rebels. Peace talks to end the 38-year war were halted after the hijacking of a plane with a senator on board. The guerrillas say they would hand over hostages including Betancourt if Bogota released FARC prisoners.
Security talks planned as violence continues
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has met Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Arafat agreed to Solana's request for further Israeli-Palestinian security talks. It comes as Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah was invited to Jerusalem to discuss a Saudi peace initiative, a move given a cautious welcome by both sides. But despite the talk of peace there has been little let up in violence. A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Monday night, injuring ten people. It happened next to the Israeli army's central command headquarters. Earlier a pregnant Jewish settler was shot in an ambush by Palestinian gunmen. She later gave birth by Caesarian section, despite being shot in the stomach. It comes after a pregnant Palestinian woman was injured in a similar incident just before giving birth. Her husband was shot dead by Israeli soldiers as he drove her to hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus. The army said its men opened fire when the driver tried to go through a checkpoint and ignored orders to stop. On Sunday a similar incident had happened at the same checkpoint, a third pregnant woman suffering gunshot wounds before giving birth several hours later.
Lovers of the smoke head to Cuba 
The fourth annual Cigar Festival began in the Cuban capital Havana on Monday night. Throughout this week thousands of tourists, buyers and distributors from around the world will celebrate the smoke. On Monday night over 600 aficionados gathered at San Carlos de la Cabaqa fortress overlooking the capital for an opening gala dinner hosted by Fidel Castro's son. The President himself was instrumental in promoting what has become one of Cuba's most important exports. But he gave up the habit in 1986 for health reasons. In the words of one distributor at the festival "Cuba is to cigar lovers what Mecca is to Muslims."
Acid threat to historic ship
The ancient warship, the Vasa, stands proud in a museum in the Swedish capital Stockholm- but for how long? The vessel, dating back to the seventeenth century, has a new modern-day enemy, namely sulphuric acid, which is eating away at the oak panels. The inside of the Vasa has been temporarily treated with a bicarbonate solution to counter-act the acidity. It is part of a project set up by Stockholm University after mysterious deposits were found on the ship. Apparently, sulphur in the form of organic contamination penetrated the Vasa during its 333 years on the seabed. Recently, moisture from rain-soaked museum visitors had drawn out the sulphur deposits, which combined with oxygen to produce sulphuric acid. An appeal has now gone out for more funding so this maritime masterpiece can be saved.
25 February 2002
Killings continue in Mideast amid Israeli
tank withdraw
l Israeli efforts to lower tension in the Middle East appear to be foundering amid a spate of shootings in the West Bank that has left two Palestinians dead. A 24-year-old Palestinian man was killed and his pregnant wife and father wounded when Israeli troops opened fire on a car at checkpoint near Nablus. The young woman was being driven to hospital to give birth. Hours later the baby was born. Elsewhere, a woman was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers when she reportedly ran at a checkpoint wielding a knife. The incidents come amid a rising tide of Palestinian anger at what was intended to be a conciliatory gesture by the Israelis. They withdrew their tanks from around Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah in response to the arrest of three militants wanted in connection with the killing of an Israeli minister in October. The EU's Foreign Policy chief, Javier Solana, has added his voice to complaints that the Palestinian President should be entirely free to leave Ramallah.
Judge orders further detention for Sheik Omar
The prime suspect in the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl appeared in court in Karachi, Pakistan on Monday. British-born Sheik Omar will remain in police custody for another two weeks. The judge also extended the detention of two other men accused of sending e-mails in connection with Pearl's disappearance. Sheik Omar was arrested on February twelfth and confessed to planning to kidnap the journalist, although he now claims he was forced to sign the confession. Pearl was abducted on January 23rd while he was researching a story on possible links between the accused shoe bomber Richard Reid and Islamic extremists in Pakistan. Last Thursday authorities received a videotape showing his throat being cut. A manhunt is under way across the country find at least four people believed to have carried out the murder. There are reports that a federal grand jury could be convened in the US to hear evidence but that decision depends on Pakistan's handling of the case.
Prisoner exchange demand for kidnapped Colombian
election candidate 
The release of rebel prisoners is the price being demanded by Colombia's FARC guerrillas in exchange for the freedom of presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. They kidnapped her as she travelled towards the enclave they had been driven out of by government troops. The Greens candidate, an outsider to win, said she wanted to check on the welfare of civilians trapped in the combat zone. The guerrilla army may have been routed but the capture of Betancourt proved they still have the capacity to menace the country. Kidnapping is a much-used tactic of the Marxist group. They currently hold around eighty hundred captives, including many politicians and public figures. But Colombian President Andres Pastrana is unlikely to consider their demands, especially after his troops' success in retaking their enclave in the centre of the country. The area had been granted to the rebels in 1998 to facilitate a peace process. But amid the fraught talks the conflict continued, culminating in last week's military operation. Attitudes in Colombia seem to be hardening. Pastrana's main rival in the May elections, Alvaro Uribe, who is fiercely opposed to dialogue with the guerrillas is riding high in the polls. While opposing government contact with the rebels, he has called for a U.N, mission to be despatched to the region to try to secure Betancourt's release.
Anti-government protests in Moldova 
"Down with the communists" was the chant by some 70,000 Moldovans who are hoping people power will force the collapse of their government. Protesters fear the communists, who control more than two thirds of parliament and all ministerial posts, are actively pursuing pro-Russian policies, and want the former Soviet Republic, back in the Kremlin's orbit, One woman said, "I came here together with my colleagues to protest against making the Russian language an official language as if Moldovan history never existed". The majority of Moldovans are keen to preserve cultural links with Romania, whose language they share, and from which Moldova was created by Moscow during the Second World War. Protesters have vowed to continue until the government falls. The government has said extremism and nationalism is sweeping the country.
Lord of the Rings picks up five BAFTA awards
The creme de la creme of cinema has been gathering in London for the British Academy Film Awards in what is widely seen as a foretaste for next month's Oscars in Hollywood. Australian actor Russel Crowe and Britain's Dame Judi Dench were rewarded with the top acting prizes. Dench won her award for playing a damaged genius with her memorable portrayal of writer Iris Murdoch in the film "Iris". But the great winner was the first in a trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's classic "The Lord of the Rings" by New Zealand director Peter Jackson, which landed five top prizes, including Best Film.
Cuba celebrates the cigar 
Smokers from around the world are heading to Cuba for this year's fourth annual Cigar Festival. Tobacco shops have everything for those with money to burn during the five-day festival, a box of cigars can cost up to four hundred euros. With the country's average monthly wage around 10 euros most of the cigars are sold abroad, primarily in Europe, which accounts for 70% of exports. The Cuban cigar rose to fame thanks to a host of statesmen and world leaders puffing in public. Cuba's President Fidel Castro was rarely seen without one, but he's now quit the habit before his health goes up in smoke. Due to a drought in Cuba and worldwide anti-tobacco campaigns exports dropped slightly last year, but it's hoped that trend can be reversed with the help of this week's Festival.
24 February 2002
Italian magistrate wages war on Berlusconi
Thousands of people have been forced to stand outside a Milan stadium where a rally was being held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Italy's anti-corruption operation "Mani Pulite". Leading the movement was Antonio Di Pietro, the former corruption-busting prosecutor in the so-called "clean hands" campaign of 1992. Ten years on, opinion is still divided in Italy over the operation. Many from the left say it was a justified battle against high-level corruption, while right-wing politicians denounce it as biased, saying it spared the left. Di Pietro's new target is primo minister Silvio Berlusconi. He is being attacked over what is described as a conflict of interest over his huge media empire. Berlusconi already owns all three private TV networks, and was accused this week of influencing the choice of the new board at Italy's state broadcaster RAI. He rejects the allegations.
Berlusconi under fire once again
A new board has been appointed to run Italy's state broadcaster RAI. The decisions have drawn sharp criticisn against prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who owns RAI's only competitor, Mediaset, and is accused of influencing the decisions. Antonio Baldassarre, former head of the constitutional court and regarded asclose to Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, is one of the five new members. The left has slammed the appointments saying they clearly show the conflict of interest between Berlusconi's political power and his business interests, calling into doubt the future of media freedom in Italy. Leader of the centre-left Olivo Francesco Rutelli has denounced the decisions saying they are not representative of his coalition, and the leader of the Communist Refoundation party Fausto Bertinotti said the worst that could happen has now happened. "If this is pluralism, then I am the king of Italy", he said. Berlusconi himself has defended the appointments: "It is not part of our culture to use public TV and radio services as in a totalitarian regime, to denigrate and defame dissidents." Mass demonstrations are expected in Milan following the appointments. A bill aimed at resolving the conflict of interest is due to go before the lower house on Monday. Opposition leaders have branded it a joke and quit parliamentary commissions this week in protest.
Thousands demonstrate in Spain against ETA
violence
At least 50,000 people have taken to the streets of Bilbao in Spain's Basque region to protest over ETA violence. Several youth groups marched in support of Eduardo Madina, a member of the opposition Socialist party's youth wing who lost a leg in a car bomb attack blamed on the Basque separatist group. Both the ruling centre-right Popular Party and the opposition Socialists are united against ETA, which has targeted politicians from both sides. The Young Socialists' Secretary General Daniel Diez read out a letter written by Madina before the attack, which said: "We must use words as weapons against fascism, to create a model of society where we can all live in harmony, each with their own ideas." ETA, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and the European Union, has killed more than 800 people since 1968.
Colombian villagers welcome newly-found freedom
Villagers recently freed from rebel rule have given Colombian president Andres Pastrana a hero's welcome. Residents in San Vicente, the largest town in what used to be a rebel enclave, mobbed the smiling president: "We will continue working with all of you, said Pastrana, we will continue working towards a peaceful and just country." The Switzerland-sized enclave in the southwest of the country was handed over to the Marxist FARC rebels in 1998 in an attempt to spur peace talks. But negotiations collapsed and Pastrana angrily ordered his troops to recover the territory following the kidnapping of a senator earlier this week. Ten thousand troops were deployed in the mission. Local residents are the first victims of the take-over as rebels have started attacking surrounding villages using various methods, including the poisoning of vital water supplies. Though they are celebrating the rebels' departure, many are demanding government protection, afraid that paramilitaries could come back and kill civilians they suspect of collaborating with the FARC.
No end to Angola's civil war despite death
of rebel leader 
A quick end to Angola's long-running civil war is unlikely despite the death of veteran rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. The 67-year-old guerrilla boss has been confirmed dead by his UNITA movement after his bullet-riddled body was shown on television. The Luanda government has sent a message to the UNITA fighters urging them to surrender and "contribute to the consolidation of democracy and national reconciliation". But the rebel movement is now facing an internal fight for a new leader, which could see it, splinter into rival factions. A million people have died in the southwest African country since civil war broke out in 1975, when revolution in Portugal brought an end to five centuries of Portuguese colonial rule. The country has been bled dry of its diamond and oil wealth used to finance the conflict. Many diamond-producing areas are still in rebel hands and despite recent setbacks against government troops, UNITA's capacity to wage war is far from diminished.
Protests as Russia celebrates the Day of Defender
of Fatherland 
Thousands of Communists have taken to the streets of Moscow to mark the Day of Defender of Fatherland. The official holiday was established during Soviet times. It marks the 1918 clash with German troops, which went down in history as the birth of the Red Army. When the Soviet Union broke up, the name was changed. President Vladimir Putin paid homage at the tomb of the unknown soldier. The President was criticised two days ago by the hard-line Communist newspaper Sovietskaya Rossiay. He was attacked for not fulfilling his election promises. The unofficial celebration of Defender of Fatherland day was a left-wing rally in Moscow, led by Communist party leader Gennady Zuganov. Protesters expressed support for the army and drew attention to its problems. Young officers are trained on 15 year-old equipment, over the past five years they have only been given 1 new fighter plane and 2 new tanks. Some made their case using posters and portraits of Stalin. They also attacked Putin for siding with America in its war against terrorism, by allowing US forces to be based in Central Asia, Moscow's traditional sphere of influence.
Trouble-free Haj winds down Muslim 
Haj pilgrims in their thousands have been crossing the Jamarat Bridge in Mena. Muslims believe the devil appeared to Abraham at the site near Mecca, the native city of the prophet Mohammad. The crowds performed a ritual symbolising the stoning of "satans", a day before the end of the annual pilgrimage. Each pilgrim threw 21 pebbles at three concrete pillars, to the Arabic cry of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Greatest." Loudspeaker announcements in a variety of languages guided them, under the watchful eyes of hundreds of police officers and paramedic teams. Saudi officials have reported no accidents at what is traditionally the most troublesome part of the Haj. Last year, at least 35 people died in a stampede during the stoning ritual. In 1998, a similar incident killed 119. Saudi authorities say slightly more people are performing the Haj this year, nearly 1.9 million in total. Performing the Haj at least once is a religious duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.
Animation legend Chuck Jones dies
Chuck Jones, the animator whose achievements have been compared to Walt Disney's, has died of heart failure at the age of 89, at his home in California. Jones made over 300 animated films and won three Oscars as a director. Bugs Bunny was one of the much-loved characters he helped bring to life at Warner Brothers during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. He personally created Wile E. Coyote and his endless hunt for the Road Runner. In 1996 he was presented with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
23 February 2002
Angola rebel leader killed
The Angolan Unita rebel leader Jonas Savimbi has reportedly been killed. The Angolan government said he died during fighting in the eastern Angolan province of Moxico, where the army has been waging war against Unita since last October. Unita has been fighting against the Luanda government since 1975. Elections were held during a ceasefire in 1992, but Unita refused to recognise the result. A second attempt for peace in 1994 broke down five years later. There hasn't been any immediate confirmation of the death from Savimbi's Unitarebel movement, although the Angolan army said it intended to put the body on display in the next few hours. Loved by his supporters and loathed by his detractors, Savimbi was seen as a man who wasted many chances to bring a lasting peace to his country, and play a major part in its future. The fighting since 1975 has claimed an estimated 1 million lives. On news of the death, a government spokesman said a major problem has now been removed.
Madagascar's opposition supporters defy state
of emergency 
In Madagascar, thousands of people have gathered at the house of the opposition leader, Marc Ravalomanana, as a precaution against any move to arrest him. Yesterday he declared himself President, before a crowd of around 100,000 in a stadium in the capital Antananarivo. The government reacted by imposing a state of emergency, giving it the power to take total control over the media and banning demonstrations. But Ravalomanana's supporters have been dancing and singing in the streets, defying the security measures. Analysts say it is unclear who really holds power on the island, which lies in the Indian Ocean off south-eastern Africa. Ravalomanana won December's presidential elections but officially he did not get enough votes to take power without a second round of voting. He claims the poll was rigged and has refused to take part in a second round, to the annoyance of the government and the international community.
"Progressive" leaders gather in Sweden 
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is one of eleven centre-left government leaders gathered for the Stockholm Progressive Summit. The meeting's host, Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson, stressed that he did not know when the country would hold a referendum on joining the single currency, the euro. He said he would decide some time after September's general elections. But he would not be drawn on whether Sweden or Britain would be first to call a vote. Britain's Minister for Europe has said the necessary economic tests could be judged this autumn, ready for a referendum in spring next year. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who is contesting the forthcoming Presidential elections, called on other centre-left leaders to re-examine their attitude towards the United States. He said he wanted more, not less, US intervention, particularly in the Middle East.
Animation legend Chuck Jones dies
Chuck Jones, the animator whose achievements have been compared to Walt Disney's, has died of heart failure at the age of 89, at his home in California. Jones made over 300 animated films and won three Oscars as a director. Bugs Bunny was one of the much-loved characters he helped bring to life at Warner Brothers during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. He personally created Wile E. Coyote and his endless hunt for the Road Runner. In 1996 he was presented with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.
British parents given go-ahead for "designer
baby" 
Zain Hashmi from Leeds in northern England suffers from the rare genetic blood disorder thalassaemia. His parents Shahana and Raj have been given the go-ahead to use fertility treatment to create a test tube sibling whose blood could cure him. Opponents have been quick to condemn the ruling on ethical grounds. Doctor Vivienne Nathanson from the British Medical Association says: "The concern is whether in future there would be applications to take samples of tissue from an infant itself with the distress and potential risks associated, and secondly, whether children will be created not because they are wanted in themselves, but simply to be donors for an older child." The procedure was first used on Molly Nash from Colorado who suffered from a rare type of anaemia. In October 2000, cord blood from her brother Adam was transplanted into the little girl, who is said to have made a near perfect recovery. Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority says the decision doesn't set a legal precedent because treatment will only be approved in very rare circumstances where there is a serious risk of genetic disease which couldn't otherwise be treated.
Palestinians angry
at Sharon's "buffer zones" plans 
Israeli helicopters have fired missiles into Palestinian security compounds in Gaza City overnight, part of the heaviest sustained attacks yet in response to the 17 month Palestinian uprising against Isreali occupation. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has now announced plans to create special "buffer zones" to protect Isrealis from Palestinian attack. He gave few details, but it is believed the zones could see some Palestinian areas sealed off while others may be put under Israeli military control. Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the zones were a flawed plan: "If he speaks in the language of one winner then I am afraid that we are going from a situation of bad to worse. Occupation will not work, buffer zones will not work, settlements will not work and I had hoped to hear Mr Sharon admit that his policy plans had failed." UN secretary general Kofi Annan said dealing with security issues on their own would not work: "It has to be addressed alongside key political issues, particularly the question of land and the economic and social issues; including the increasingly desperate conditions of the Palestinians." Annan warned that the conflict was sliding close to a fully-fledged war, and urged both sides to return to the negotiating table.
22 February 2002
Euronews
Palestinians angry
at Sharon's "buffer zones" plans
Israeli helicopters have fired missiles into Palestinian security compounds in Gaza City overnight, part of the heaviest sustained attacks yet in response to the 17 month Palestinian uprising against Isreali occupation. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has now announced plans to create special "buffer zones" to protect Isrealis from Palestinian attack. He gave few details, but it is believed the zones could see some Palestinian areas sealed off while others may be put under Israeli military control. Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the zones were a flawed plan: "If he speaks in the language of one winner then I am afraid that we are going from a situation of bad to worse. Occupation will not work, buffer zones will not work, settlements will not work and I had hoped to hear Mr Sharon admit that his policy plans had failed." UN secretary general Kofi Annan said dealing with security issues on their own would not work: "It has to be addressed alongside key political issues, particularly the question of land and the economic and social issues; including the increasingly desperate conditions of the Palestinians." Annan warned that the conflict was sliding close to a fully-fledged war, and urged both sides to return to the negotiating table.
Bush upbeat after Asian visit, despite differences
with China 
A message for a future generation of Chinese leaders. President Bush has said he welcomes the emergence of a "strong peaceful and prosperous China" at the end of his visit to the country. But he urged Beijing to embrace liberty, tolerance and religious freedom. His visit to the Great Wall accompanied by his wife and by Chinese President Jiang Zemin followed a speech to university students. In the address broadcast live across China, he said the United States was proof that freedom did not bring chaos. He avoided explicit criticism of China's political system. Bush faced tough questioning over the sensitive subject of Taiwan. He repeated official Washington policy- there's only one China and Taiwan is a part of it. That earned him applause. But he also promised to stick by the Taiwan Relations Act. Bush said that agreement committed the US to helping the breakaway province defend itself if provoked.
Ceasefire in Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels have signed a permanent ceasefire, paving the way for the first direct peace talks in seven years. The decision was announced by the Norwegian foreign Minister Jan Petersen. Both sides have asked Norway to help bring about negotiations to end the civil war that's killed around sixty thousand people over the last two decades. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting for a separate ethnic Tamil state in the north and east of the country. In their early years the Tigers were trained and armed by India. They've since established offices in London and Paris and have raised funds among the large Tamil diaspora.
Andalucian lawsuit against big tobacco 
The local government of Andalucia has filed a lawsuit against several big tobacco firms to try to recover the cost of treating the region's sick smokers. The southern Spanish province is the first in Europe to take such legal action. With one third of residents smoking cigarettes Manuel Chaves, president of the local government, said it is a simple necessity. "We think the illnesses linked with tobacco have caused a great deal of expense for our health department. Logically we would like this money back." Ten thousand people die in Andalucia every year from smoking related illnesses. Treatment costs are estimated at 300 million euro. Francisco Vallejos from the health authority says tests have revealed the presence of ammonia in cigarettes, something he believes is used to increase addiction. But it will be a difficult case to prove in court. Virtually all suits by smokers in Spain have failed - a sharp contrast to the US where tobacco firms have faced multimillion euro judgements.
Islam is not synonymous with terror, say Muslims
in Mecca
It is one of the most important moments in a Muslim's life: the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. In a ritual marking the climax of the sacred journey, two million people from all over the world gathered to spend the night on Mount Arafat, where Prophet Mohammed gave his last sermon 14 centuries ago. But there were loud protests by some pilgrims who defied a Saudi ban to protest over the backlash against Arabs and Muslims since the September 11th attacks. Thousands of Iranian pilgrims called for the death of Israel and the US, angry that the US has labelled Iran as part of an "axis of evil". Saudi Arabia's supreme religious authority, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz al-Sheikh, said Islam was a peaceful religion and that it was a "great injustice" to link it to terrorism. He called on the Islamic nation to unite in defending its faith. Huge sums have been spent on improving safety at the holy site, which has been marred by tragedy in recent years following fires and stampedes.
John Thaw dies of cancer 
The much-loved British Actor John Thaw has died at the age of 60. Married to actress Sheila Hancock, who herself fought illness, he had battled with oesophagus cancer for nearly two years. He won awards for almost everything he touched. Last summer he picked up a coveted BAFTA. He was determined to continue working. As late as last week he was discussing new projects with his producer. Thaw was best remembered for long-running television productions "the Sweeney" and "Inspector Morse". For the past four decades, John Thaw was one of the UK's most successful television actors.
Gnome conference
Garden gnomes of the world unite, because someone is campaigning for their cause. The first ever-German congress of the fat little red-faced lawn decorations is underway in the Saxony city of Chemnitz. The mission- to get a better deal for all garden gnomes. It is the brainchild of Fritz Friedmann, chairman of the international association for the protection of garden gnomes, who feels they are undervalued, as well as under height. The town's mayor is no doubt looking forward to the list of demands that they have promised to deliver to him at the end of the conference. Top of the bill, the call for a licence to operate lawnmowers to be made obligatory- this after a number of fatal decapitations, and un-called for amputations. They are also demanding a change in the weather, more sunny days, and more action to combat acid rain, which is vital if you are exposed to the elements.
21 February 2002
Latest
Israel hits Gaza and Arafat HQ 
Thursday,
21 February, 2002, 05:02 GMT
The explosion could be seen across Gaza City
Israeli forces destroy the TV station in Gaza City and strike
at Yasser Arafat's West Bank base in attacks which leave four Palestinians
dead. --Israel stepped up military pressure on the Palestinian territories
early on Thursday, blowing up the Gaza Strip's TV and radio station and killing
four Palestinians in a clash at a refugee camp
.
Latest
Israelis strike Arafat officesUpdated:
03:37 a.m. EST (0837 GMT) -- 20 February 2002
Israeli military personnel block an area near an army
checkpoint where gunmen shot and killed six Israelis.
Israeli forces pounded the Gaza offices of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat early Wednesday, killing six members of his guard, hours after an attack on a military checkpoint on the West Bank killed six Israelis.
Egyptian train fire kills 100 
At
least 100 people have died in a fire which broke out overnight on a passengertrain
south of Cairo, Egyptian police said
Many of the bodies found by rescuers had been badly charred, while others died when they jumped from the still-moving train.
Muslims mass for Hajj 
Wednesday,
20 February, 2002, 06:08 GMT
The pilgrimage takes place under the shadow
of 11 September
By the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Mark Duff
Some two million Muslims have gathered in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca to begin the rites of the Hajj. The annual pilgrimage, which takes them to the barren plain of Mina and the slopes of Mount Arafat, is the biggest yearly mass movement of people on the planet.
Euronews
Israel steps up reprisal attacks 
Israeli tanks have destroyed the Gaza Strip broadcaster The Voice of Palestine, blowing up the offices of the TV and radio station. They claim it incited Palestinians to hatred, a charge they denied. The attack forms part of a significant increase in raids on Palestinian targets after the death of six Israeli soldiers on Tuesday, shot by militants at an army checkpoint in Ramallah. Since early on Wednesday at least 26 Palestinians have been killed in fierce Isreali air, sea and land strikes. Dozens have been injured. Amid the attacks on refugee camps in the Gaza Strip there have also been two missile attacks on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's headquarters compound in Ramallah. He was unhurt. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon approved the increase in scale and variety of military reprisals. He told a meeting of American Jews in Jerusalem it was time for a new Palestinian leader. Outside Sharon's home nearby hundreds of right wing Israelis took part in a demonstration calling for further action to stop Palestinian terror attacks. It is a situation that has left the international community concerned the conflict could spiral out of control.
Bush arrives in China US
President George W.Bush met his Chinese Counterpart Jiang Zemin in Beijing Thursday. The leaders brushed aside their differences to concentrate on their future relations. President Bush thanked Jiang for his support in America's war against terror. But he expressed his wish that the communist state would oppose the proliferation of missiles and weapons technology. The US accuses China of arming Iran and North Korea, nations Bush has labelled as part of an "axis of evil." While no deal was reached on that issue Jiang said that China and the States had agreed to consultation and cooperation to combat terror. Jiang also accepted an invitation to visit the US in October. At the moment relations between the two former cold war enemies certainly seem to be warm.
Jospin announces he will run for French Presidency
French Socialists are breathing a sigh of relief now that their candidate for the Presidential election has finally announced he's running. Prime Minister Lionel Jospin confirmed on Wednesday he would challenge current Gaullist President Jacques Chirac for the post. Chirac announced his candidacy a week ago. Jospin declared his bid in a statement sent to press agencies, a statement he describes as "a letter to the French people." He promises them less crime and more jobs if re-elected as well as a drive to give Europe a stronger voice in the world. But the parliamentary head of Chirac's RPR Party was quick to criticise Jospin's campaign pledges. "He (Jospin) talks about security," Jean Louis deBré said, "but we have seen an increasing lack of respect for the state's authority in this area. He talks about a modern France but in the past eight months alone we've seen a rise in unemployment." The National Front's candidate, Jean Marie le Pen commented "now that both rabbits are out of the hutch, let the hunt begin." He added that "the two will now have to show the public the results of their terms in office." While the two are neck and neck in opinion polls, in the personality stakes Jospin is lagging behind Chirac who describes himself as a "candidate of passion". Many in France believe Jospin may win over more voters if he too can show a little more "joie de vivre."
Students demand return of grant 
Thousands of British students have called for a free education in a noisy march through Westminster. Walking past the Houses of Parliament they chanted, 'Tony Blair, shame on you, shame on you for turning blue' The students are angry at the Blair government's imposition of tuition fees, claiming it leaves many students living below the poverty line. The National Union of Students argues that many would be better off on unemployment benefits than studying at university. The government has branded that claim irresponsible, arguing graduates can command much higher wages in later life. The students' voices have not gone entirely unheeded. The Welsh Assembly is planning to reintroduce grants for low income families. A similar system is in place in Northern Ireland.
Over 350 die in Egyptian train inferno 
Charred and smouldering wreckage was all that was left of train 832 travelling from Cairo to Luxor. For over three hundred and fifty people, it was the final journey they would ever make, burnt to death as fire tore through the carriages in the early hours of Wednesday morning. It took several hours for firefighters to bring the blaze under control. It is thought to have started when a passenger tried to light a small gas stove, which is commonly used by Egyptians to brew their own tea and coffee on board. Over three thousand people had been packed onto the train, many travelling to meet families for the biggest Muslim holiday of the year. One survivor said, "The smoke was coming at us and we started screaming and knocking on the doors and at this point the fire broke into the carriage, so we opened the door and jumped while the train was in motion". The death toll is still expected to rise. But whatever the final total, it will make little difference to the fact this is already the worst ever disaster in Egypt's entire rail history.
Italian police foil US embassy attack 
The U.S. embassy in Rome is a symbol of American power, and therefore a likely target for attack, which it seems could well have happened, if it was not for Italian police. They have arrested four Moroccans in possession of large quantities of cyanide and maps of Rome, highlighting the location of the embassy. In a statement released to the press the U.S. embassy praised the work of the police and security forces. The men were arrested in a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Milan. They were found with about 4kg of cyanide and a map pinpointing the embassy, charts of Rome's water network, and around one hundred fake resident permits. At least two of the men were illegal immigrants. Italy has come into the spotlight in the fight against international terrorism, after U.S. investigators said they believed Milan's Islamic cultural centre was al-Qaeda's main European logistics base. Seven Tunisians are currently on trial in Milan as part of a crackdown on groups suspected of having links to the world's most wanted Osama bin Laden, and his terror network. They are also suspected of plotting their own attack on the U.S. embassy at the start of the year. All seven on trial have been charged with intent to commit crimes.
War and Peace 
Instead of completing compulsory national service with the military, some young Russian men have decided to tackle the action on the frontlines of their country's health service.The work, cleaning floors or slopping out bedpans, is menial, but forms a productive alternative to fighting armed separatist groups in dissident regions like Chechnya. One young worker, Vladimir Korochkin is a pacifist by conviction and has no desire to support miltary conscription. A determining principle that led him to take up alternative service.He is lucky to live in Nizhny Novgorod, one of the first regions to offer civilian work as an option. But protest groups formed by young conscripts'mothers say the choice is being used as a punishment. Young men avoiding their two years military service have to serve four years in civilian work. However, the extra time may be a price worth paying. Army pay is poor and the conscripts are often subjected to systematic bullying. Even so, the Russian government still appears to prefer military discipline to community action.
20 February 2002
Latest
Israelis strike Arafat officesUpdated:
03:37 a.m. EST (0837 GMT) -- 20 February 2002
Israeli military personnel block an area near an army
checkpoint where gunmen shot and killed six Israelis.
Israeli forces pounded the Gaza offices of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat early Wednesday, killing six members of his guard, hours after an attack on a military checkpoint on the West Bank killed six Israelis.
Egyptian train fire kills 100 At
least 100 people have died in a fire which broke out overnight on a passengertrain
south of Cairo, Egyptian police said
Many of the bodies found by rescuers had been badly charred, while others died when they jumped from the still-moving train.
Muslims mass for Hajj Wednesday,
20 February, 2002, 06:08 GMT
The pilgrimage takes place under the shadow
of 11 September
By the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Mark Duff
Some two million Muslims have gathered in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca to begin the rites of the Hajj. The annual pilgrimage, which takes them to the barren plain of Mina and the slopes of Mount Arafat, is the biggest yearly mass movement of people on the planet.
EUROPE
First witness confronts Milosevic 
Tuesday,
19 February, 2002, 20:07 GMT
The first witness at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic accuses him of persecuting Kosovo Albanians
Euronews
Israel hits Arafat's compound in land, sea, air
onslaught
After a night of attacks by land, sea and air the Middle East appears a region engulfed in full-scale war. Israeli warplanes pounded targets in Gaza city. And in a dramatic escalation a missile is reported to have been fired into the compound of the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. He was said to be unhurt. There has been no confirmation of the incident from the Israelis. The air strikes on Gaza were accompanied by shelling from naval gunboats. The onslaught left four dead. Elsewhere, in Nablus, up to five Palestinian policemen were killed in a battle with Israeli tanks. The onslaught is the severest response so far by the Israelis to a Palestinian attack in the current eruption of violence. It came hours after the killing of six Israeli soldiers by gunmen at an army checkpoint near Ramallah. The Israeli security cabinet was due to meet today to discuss the mounting death toll. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is likely to be encouraged by hardline ministers to maintain the military action.
Saudi authorities ready to clamp-down on political
demonstrations at Haj
Exhausted but relieved - these are among the last Afghan pilgrims to arrive in Saudi Arabia for the annual Haj or pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. Some 15 thousand afghans had been stranded in Kabul after paying for the trip but finding no planes to take them. In the end several countries including Britain, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan pitched in to provide transport. For Muslims around the world, the Haj is the most important religious pilgrimmage. One said that the Haj is a religious ritual and that here, there is no place for anything else. The Haj officially begins Wednesday, and the Saudi government says some two million devotees from 120 countries will gather in the holy city of Mecca. This year the journey in the footsteps of Islam's prophet Mohammad, has added significance as it's the biggest muslim gathering since september 11th. According to Saudi's Interior Minister, Prince Nayef Ben Abdul Aziz the government is hoping to avoid violent or political demonstrations. We are ready to deal with such things, he says. His words are being backed with the heightened security offered by more than 20thousand soldiers and 10 thousand policeman. Pilgrims without the right papers are being turned away. But despite the measures, there have already been reports of militant gatherings by Iranian pilgrams supporting the Palestinian intifada movement. Around the city, however, Saudi authorities want to keep a lid on such demonstrations. But politics is the least of their worries. Their main concern will be preventing the repeat of past tragedies, such as stampedes from overcrowding in a city that outside of the Haj normally houses just 500 thousand people.
Spaniards make a united stand against ETA
eople from across the Spanish political spectrum gathered in Bilbao to express their outrage at the latest suspected attack by ETA, the Basque region's bloody separatist movement. A prominent member of the Young Socialist group was badly injured when his car was blown up north of the city. The party's General Secretary, Paxi Lopez, called on Basques to stage a peaceful and civilised rebellion against the men of violence. "We must reconquer the streets of our country", he said. The blast left Eduardo Madina fighting for his life. One of his legs has had to be amputated and doctors fear he may lose the other. ETA has targeted political opponents in the past but it is thought this is the first time it has tried to kill a member of the Young Socialists.
Chirac pledges zero-tolerance if re-elected
French President Jacques 
Chirac pledged to crack-down on crime on Tuesday as part of his campaign for a second term in office. To shouts of approval from his supporters Gaullist Chirac promised to create a new internal security ministry to boost the powers of the police and judiciary. "Violence is changing the face of our republic," he said " it creates fear and undermines the very foundations of society." In response to a rise in crime and delinquency Chirac wants to set up neighbourhood courts to try petty offenders. After his speech he visited the suburbs of Garges-les-Gonesse, north of Paris, where last year a thirteen year old boy stabbed his teacher to death. The ruling Socialists however question how the President can lecture on law and order when he refuses to answer questions in a string of corruption investigations. Their candidate for the election, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has yet to declare he's running, but he's expected to do so when the current parliamentary session ends later this week.
Bush doesn't rule out talks with North Korea
US President George W.Bush gave his backing to South Korea's "Sunshine Policy", a process of reconciliation with the North. During a visit to Seoul on Tuesday he said he wouldn't invade the communist state but sounded a warning note promising to speak out against the North until President Kim Jung Il gave him reason to change his views. "I support the Sunshine Policy," he said during a press conference with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung, "I'm disappointed that the other side, the North Koreans, will not support the Sunshine Policy." He added: "I'm willing to have a dialogue with North Korea. I've made that offer before yet there has been no response." Demonstrators angered by Bush's tough approach to North Korea, took to the streets of the southern capital to protest against his visit. They disagree with his labelling of the North, along with Iran and Iraq as a so-called "axis of evil." There was even a minor scuffle in South Korea's parliament with one politician describing Bush himself as "evil incarnate
Gunman kills 3 in German shooting spree
A man who went on a shooting rampage in Germany, killing three has been found dead. It is thought he committed suicide. Police discovered the corpse of the gunman inside a college he had attacked. It is believed the twenty two year old killed himself with a grenade. Shortly before, hundreds of police and special forces troops had been laying seige to the campus. The man was believed to have been armed with a heavy calibre weapon. All those in the area were quickly evacuated. Police said the drama began when the gunman went to the decorating firm where he used to work in the Bavarian town of Eching, and killed his former manager and another colleague. It is believed he had recently been sacked. He then fled to nearby Freising, where he entered a training college, and shot and wounded a teacher who later died. Two other teachers suffered serious injuries after they were shot in the face. He also set off the two homemade pipebombs in the school. Tuesday's incident is the latest in a series of shootings in Germany, where compulsory military service means many people are trained to handle firearms.
19 February 2002
Latest
Bush to talk 'evil axis' in KoreaFebruary
19, 2002 Posted: 5:01 AM EST (1001 GMT)
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush has arrived in South Korea, the second and potentially most sensitive stop on his six day, three-nation tour of Asia. The visit will give the U.S. president his first look at North Korea -- one of three countries, along with Iran and Iraq, that he has dubbed as forming an "axis of evil."
EU imposes Zimbabwe sanctionsUpdated:
3:01 PM EST 2001 GMT -- 19 Feb 2002
EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agree to impose "smart sanctions" on Zimbabwe following President Robert Mugabe's decision to expel the head of a mission to observe next month's presidential election. All other EU observers are to be pulled back
Israel retaliates after suicide bombers kill
four February
18, 2002 Posted: 9:59 PM EST (0259 GMT
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Four Israelis, one of them a woman settler, were killed Monday as Palestinian suicide bombers set off blasts in Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli air force F-16s retaliated early Tuesday by attacking a Palestinian police building in Ramallah in the West Bank, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. The agency said there were no casualties
EUROPE
First witness confronts Milosevic Tuesday,
19 February, 2002, 20:07 GMT
The first witness at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic accuses him of persecuting Kosovo Albanians
Euronews
Basque bomb injures top socialist
A prominent Spanish politician's been seriously injured in a car bomb explosion in the Basque country. The device went off underneath Eduardo Madina's vehicle as he was driving north of Bilbao. A second person was injured in the blast in the town of Sestao. Police say the attack bears all the hallmarks of Basque separatist group ETA. Thirty-year-old Madina was the leader of the Socialist party's youth wing. Fellow politicians have described him as 'one of the best' and 'an extraordinary Socialist'. It is believed he may lose a leg after the explosion. It comes after an ETA bomb injured two people on January 12th. Twenty-five kilogrammes of dynamite went off under a car in the centre of Bilbao. ETA has been responsible for the deaths of 800 people since it began its campaign for Basque independence in 1968. The attack bears the hallmarks of Basque separatist group ETA.
US pledges protection for Asian allies 
US President George W.Bush pledged to protect America's allies in Asia on Monday. Speaking in the Japanese parliament, the Diet, Bush said he would keep a military presence in the region and develop a missile defense system. "We stand more committed than ever to a forward presence in this region," Bush said, "We will continue to show American power and purpose in support of the Philippines, Australia, and Thailand. We will deter aggression against the Republic of Korea," However in South Korea hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Seoul. Many oppose the US-led war on terror and in particular the President's labelling of North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "axis of evil." Around twenty students barricaded themselves into an office of the American Chamber of Commerce to protest against Bush's visit to the country later on Tuesday.
First Witness in Milosevic trial 
prepares
to be cross- examined
The first witness in Slobodan Milosevic's War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague is preparing to be cross-examined by the former Yugoslav President on Tuesday. Mahmut Bakalli, a Kosovo Albanian politician, met Milosevic for talks in Spring 1998 to defuse tension after clashes between Serb forces and Albanian guerillas. On Monday he accused Milosevic of inflicting "apartheid" on the Albanian minority in Kosovo. One of the ousted President's top officials apparently told Bakalli of a Serb plan "scorched earth" which the witness described as a policy to destroy Albanian people and their property. Milosevic has declined to enter a plea to charges of crimes against humanity and genocide, describing the accusations against him as an "ocean of lies". On Monday he concluded his two and a half day address to the Tribunal by claiming a moral victory. "I feel superior here," he said, "because the truth is on my side."
Israel responds to a wave of attacks 
Israel responded to a wave of suicide attacks by Palestinian militants on Monday night with warplanes destroying a Ramallah police station. While there were no casualties there, two Palestinians died in an incursion into the Balata Refugee Camp near Nablus in the West Bank. Nine people were injured in the ensuing battle between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops. The strikes were in retaliation for the earlier killing of four Israelis. At the Kissufim crossing in the Gaza Strip a Palestinian bomber attacked a convoy of vehicles killing himself, a Jewish settler and two Israelis. Hours earlier another militant prematurely detonated explosives near an army checkpoint in a Jewish settlement close to Jerusalem. Again he and an Israeli policeman died in what Israel described as the fifth attempted suicide attack in 24 hours The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claim responsibility for both attacks. One of the bombers recorded a video message setting out the reasons for his suicide mission. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is apparently considering a new approach to end the violence. He's reportedly decided to step up the retaliation.
Kostunica criticizes War Crimes Trial 
The current President of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica, has expressed severe misgivings about how the War Crimes trial in the Hague is being conducted. He said in the prosecutors has so far presented a "superficial" version of events. He said: "There has been politicking, hypocrisy and strange inconsistencies." Kostunica was not involved in the handing over of Milosevic to the UN Court. That was ordered by other members of Yugoslavia's ruling reform alliance. The Yugoslav President also rejected claims that General Ratko Mladic, who is wanted in connection with war crimes in Bosnia is being shielded in Yugoslavia. The War Crimes Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte recently said the Bosnian Serb was hiding out in Belgrade. Kostunica said Mladic was not in the country, and neither was he being protected by the Yugoslav army.
War Crimes Tribunal hears first witness. 
The Hague War Crimes Tribunal hearing the case against former Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, today took evidence from the first witness. Kosovo Albanian politician, Mahmut Bakalli, met President Milosevic for talks in Belgrade in the spring of 1998 - in an attempt to defuse tension after Serb security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas had clashed in the southern Serbian province. Just days after the meeting, Serb forces detained and threaded Bakalli and other members of his mission in southern Kosovo. Bakalli also described how the Milosevic purge on Albanians inside Kosovo saw people thrown out of their jobs and education, or ejected from government offices and cultural affairs. He described it as an imposed apartheid. Earlier, Slobodan Milosevic had concluded his two and a half day address to the Hague Tribunal by claiming a moral victory, saying: the truth is on my side.
troops advance into Abu Sayyaf land.
As part of the biggest expansion of the war against terrorism outside the Afghanistan campaign, U.S. special forces have moved ever closer to Abu Sayyaf guerrilla hideouts in the Philippines, in an ongoing bid to counter those it believes are linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. A convoy of American troops travelled to a Philippine marine attachment in the hills of Basilan island. Scores of Abu Sayyaf rebels are holed up on the island along with an American missionary couple and a local nurse they kidnapped eight months ago. The US troops, who were scouting the area, will be part of some 160 special forces who will train their local counterparts in counter-terrorism operations, jungle warfare and other ways to counter the Abu Sayyaf.
Murder trial, but no bodies
Murder, rape and incest are the key features of charges leveled at Hungarian born preacher, Andras Pandy, as his trial opened in Brussels. Pandy is accused of shooting or bludgeoning to death two of his former wives and four of his eight children. Seventy four year old Pandy is also accused of raping his 44-year-old daughter Agnes, who has confessed to assisting her father with five of the killings.The bodies were allegedly dissolved with drain fluid or mixed with abattoir waste. Pandy's lawyer says his defense is clear. There is no evidence to support the charges." Pandy played his role as pastor within Belgium's Hungarian community without ever having completed his theological studies. The purported killings began in 1986, when Pandy allegedly murdered his second wife and one of his daughters and Agnes helped him dispose of the bodies. She is now the main prosecution witness.
Kursk probe nears conclusion
The mystery of the Kursk will soon be solved, according to the public prosecutor leading the investigation into the sinking of the Russian submarine in August 2000. As the first images from inside the salvaged wreck are revealed Vladimir Oustinov says he's done a thorough job: "There have been a lot of questions over the Kursk. But we worked hard to reconstruct what happened to get a clear idea of the chain of events". A hundred and eighteen sailors died when the sub sank: 94 of 92 bodies so far recovered have been identified. Oustinov has ruled out the theory that the Kursk hit another vessel or an old World War Two mine. Instead he believes the explosives inside a torpedo on board went off, sending it to the bottom of the sea.
French Franc counted out 
In a dignified ceremony of fanfare, fireworks and flags, the final flourish for the French franc took place at midnight on Sunday, in front of an invited audience of six hundred dignitaries at the Finance Ministry in Paris. From that moment the national currency ceased to be legal tender for general trading. First introduced by King Jean the Second in 1360, the franc survived the Revolution, two World Wars and five French republics. Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, paid his respects to the old currency, noting its six hundred and fifty year longevity and hoping that its good management would extend to the new euro. For a proud nation that dislikes change being imposed from outside, the currency transition has been a smooth one. Already, 95 percent of cash payments are in euro and opinion polls indicate that only 40 percent of shoppers miss the franc. There has been no last minute rush to dump francs and many retailers haven't seen francs for several weeks. Banks and post offices will continue to accept the old currency until June and should any hidden franc hoards be discovered, the Bank of France will exchange franc notes for another ten years.
President Bush rattles the yen 
It was gift exchange day on President George W.Bush's visit to Japan and he received a picture of a Samurai archer, reputedly with similar facial characteristics to the President, from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. But President Bush shot wide of the mark at a news conference on Japanese economic reform plans, when he confused deflation with devaluation. Sensing a shift in economic reform policy, the value of the yen dipped briefly on the international currency markets, before the gaffe was confirmed. Having stampeded international exchange traders, President Bush, then enjoyed a samurai rodeo. But both he and Prime Minster Koizumi face rough rides on the back of their own economies. Both countries experienced a sharp slowdown last year, but although the US looks likely to resume growth this year, Japan is looking forward to zero growth at best, as it continues to battle deflation, weighed down with massive levels of bad debt.
Saudi Arabia steps up security in
Mecca for annual pilgrimage More than a million Muslims from 160 countries have arrived in Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the annual Haj pilgrimage. Haj is the fifth pillar of Islam. It must be performed once in a lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim provided they can afford it. Saudi Arabia has vowed to prevent any political spillovers following September 11th. Every year the event is hit by tragedy as hundreds of pilgrims are killed in stampedes during the over-crowded ceremonies. This year has seen a rise in political tension amid growing Muslim anger over a backlash against them following the September attacks. Extra security is being put in place this year: Saudi Arabia has deployed around 2,000 police and troops and installed cameras in and around Mecca's religious sites to try to maintain order.
St Mortiz enjoys horseplay 
At the picturesque alpine resort of St Moritz its time for some horsing around. Thoroughbred racehorses from around the world are competing in the annual White Turf race, held on the frozen lake. The Swiss version of Wacky Races is a high horsepower event with fast racing action. Jockeys ride behind the horses on skis, with powdered snow flying in every direction. Wealthy locals bet on the outcome of a competition dating back to 1907. The trotting race is a frenzied sprint to the line over a two-kilometre course, Swiss jockey Martin Staub taking home the honours this year.
18 February 2002
Latest
Bush arrives in JapanUpdated:
01:05 p.m. EST (1805 GMT) -- 18 February 2002
President George W. Bush has arrived in Tokyo at the start of a three-nation East Asian trip that will focus on many tough issues including Japan's struggling economy, North Korea's weapons programs and U.S.-Sino relations.
Bush meets barrage of protests in Japan 
It has been a noisy welcome for US President George W Bush as he begins a six day tour of Asia. Over 100 left-wing Japanese demonstrators called for an end to friendly relations with Washington. They condemned the so-called "war on terrorism" and specifically any extension of military operations from Afghanistan to Iraq. The Japanese defence minister, who expressed reservations over aligning Japan with US foreign policy, has echoed that note of caution. Stepping off Air Force One into the drizzly Tokyo afternoon it is clear Bush faces a tough week. His branding of North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "axis of evil" has raised eyebrows in Japan. It maintains friendly relations with Iran and wants to normalize diplomatic ties with North Korea. Bush will also address the issue of the failing Japanese economy - calling for it to deal with bad loans and restructure.
Israel foils Palestinian attack 
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are in: World: Middle East
The attempted bombing followed Israeli air strikes on Nablus
Israeli police have foiled an apparent bombing attempt in the northern town of Hadera after a shoot out and car chase left two Palestinians dead and three Israeli policemen injured. Police said they had stopped a car carrying two Palestinians near the entrance to the Mahane Shmonim (Camp 80) army training base, believing it had been stolen.
Bidding farewell to the French franc 
It survived the revolution and two world wars, but today was the last day as legal tender for the French franc. At the baker's shop customers are using their last few coins to buy baguettes. The French have switched to the euro with unexpected ease, abandoning the franc with a Gallic shrug. "I'm fed up with the euro already, but I know I've got to deal with it" said one old lady. "Franc sounds better than euro when you say it, but there you go," offered another. Most French people began using the euro in the first weeks of January, only hoarding a few coins for old time's sakes. Polls reveal they are happy to see their 641-year-old currency follow the guilder and punt into the furnace.
Italians rally in support of anti-corruption
drive 
Thousands of people have taken part in a demonstration in Rome calling for more to be done to combat corruption in public life. The protest marked the tenth anniversary of a judicial campaign to route out corrupt politicians, civil servants and judges. But many like Antonio Di Pietro, the prosecutor in the first high profile case, believe there's still a long way to go. "If the situation now is like it was before it's because of the failure of the politicians. The campaign didn't get to all of those who were guilty of corruption. For example you can't become a policeman or even a school janitor now if you have been a thief. But if you have been convicted you can still get into parliament." Others invvolved in what became known as the "Clean Hands" anti-corruption drive believe it was too easily swayed by political considerations. Judge Italo Ghitti: "The problem with the inquiries was they looked to much for popular consensus ....there was too much exhibitionism." Since the first case in 1992 there have been five thousand investigations. More than 1,200 people have been convicted while 800 have been acquitted. A further 3000 inquiries are still going on. 75 million euros has been has been recovered by the state, a fraction, critics say of the money that exchanged in corrupt deals.
Upsurge in Middle East violence 
A deadly shooting has taken place near an Israeli army base. A Palestinian gunman has been killed after he opened fire at a checkpoint close to Hadera. His accomplice is believed to be dead after driving off in their car, which later blew up. Three people were wounded in the incident, which caps a weekend of violence. In Gaza hundreds of mourners laid to rest a Palestinian man killed in a gun battle with Israeli soldiers on Saturday. On the same day a Palestinian suicide bomber killed two Jewish teenagers at a settlement near Nablus. Then Israel launched retaliatory air strikes on Palestinian Authority targets in the West Bank. Meanwhile near Tel Aviv it was the funeral of an Israeli solider, killed north of Jenin on Friday night. He was shot by a Palestinian at an army checkpoint. Right-wing Israeli politicians are now calling for a stronger military response to the current escalation in violence.
Libyan court downgrades charges against foreign
medics
Not a question of national security - the ruling of a Libyan People's court on the case of a group of foreign medics accused of deliberately infecting children with HIV. Prosecutors had claimed the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor were part of a conspiracy by western powers, and had demanded the death penalty. The Libyan people's court usually rules on issues of state security. It has ordered the case to be considered by a lower tribunal where the charges carry less harsh sentences. The trial began after 393 children at a hospital were infected with contaminated blood products. Relatives of the accused where in Tripoli for the much-delayed verdict. It has raised hopes that the medics might soon be acquitted. The Bulgarian government has thanked a son of Libyan Leader Colonel Gaddaffi for his role in the affair. Seif-al-Islam agreed to act as an observer in the trial.
17 February 2002
Israel hits back in West Bank 
Sunday,
17 February, 2002, 08:58 GMT
Nablus was last targeted by Israel 10 days ago
Israeli missiles hit targets in the West Bank town of Nablus, hours after a Palestinian bomber killed two at a Jewish settlement
. Israeli F-16 jets and helicopter gunships went into action over the West Bank town of Nablus early on Sunday. The missile attacks came just hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up, killing two Israeli teenagers and injuring 27, at a Jewish settlement on the West Bank.
Mideast: Twenty four hours of retribution
Israel has launched air strikes against Palestinian government targets in the West Bank in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed two teenagers and wounded 20 people in a Jewish settlement. The missile attacks in the city of Nablus capped 24 hours of death and retribution. The events have made German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer's appeals for peace, issued after high-level talks on Saturday, look like an exercise in diplomatic futility. Nablus was hit before dawn, just hours after a Palestinian bomber strapped with nail-studded explosives blew himself up outside a pizzeria in the nearby settlement of Karnei Shomron. The blast killed two Israelis- a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy. Medical officials said at least 20 people were wounded, six of them seriously. It was the first time in the current Palestinian uprising that a suicide bomber had caused such carnage inside one of the settlements that dot the West Bank.
Asylum seekers feared dead after fire 
British police say that 25 asylum seekers are still missing after a fire ripped through Europe's largest immigrant detention centre. Fifteen people who had run off amid the chaos at Yarl's Wood centre, 65 kilometres north of London, had been found. A Bedfordshire police spokeswoman says it is impossible to tell whether anyone died in Thursday night's blaze "We've had no information to suggest anyone was trapped in the fire, but until we search the building, which will be in several days' time, we can't rule that out as a possibility." Police believe the fire- which caused damage estimated at nearly 50 million euros- may have been started deliberately by detainees trying to escape. Figures for the year 2000 showed more than 80,000 people applying for asylum in Britain in 2000, a rise of 13 percent on the previous year. Many asylum-seekers spend long periods in detention centres as their applications are processed. Those who are turned down face deportation.
Veiled Muslim girl could be banned from school
in Spain
Spain is facing an embarrassing dilemma: a young Moroccan girl could be refused entry into school because she will not remove her veil or "hidjab". 13-year-old Fatima, who arrived in Spain with her family last year, has been offered a place at a local state school starting on Monday, but will only be allowed to attend classes if she takes off her veil. Her father insists it is her right to wear it. He says there are girls who wear trousers, adding that Spain is a free country, and people should be allowed to dress as they chose. Fatima already had to leave a Catholic school she was attending in November after her father forbade her from wearing the uniform. In Spain, it is up to each school or locality to decide what the pupils should wear. But Education and Culture minister Pilar del Castillo says everyone who goes to school must follow the same basic rules, regardless of their beliefs or religion. For some the debate is not so much about the veil, but about the belief held by some Muslims that a woman's place is in the home, not at school.
Romanian's JFK security breach 
A man has been detained by police at Timisoara International Airport, in western Romania after trying to enter the country with a safe box containing a Baretta pistol and 20 bullets. Sorin Dragoi, a US citizen of Romanian origin, says he left his house in a hurry, forgetting to take the pistol out of the box. Customs officers at the airport also found devices for producing electric shocksand jewels. Mr. Dragoi says he knows he was wrong, but insisted he had an American license for his gun. He had travelled directly from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and says he cannot understand how the security system there failed to detect his weapon. Last month there was a major security breach at San Francisco airport when a man whose shoes appeared to contain traces of explosives was allowed to wander off.
Giuliani dedicates German prize to NYC
The former Mayor of New York, Rudoplh Giuliani, has been awarded the German Media Award for 2001. He was in the southern spa town of Baden Baden to pick up the 10th annual award. He was chosen for what the organisers called his "courage, unique personality and patriotism," in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The outgoing mayor said, "It's for the people of New York City because their initial heroism helped to create a lot of the resiliency and the very, very strong response from America to the rest of the world and I accept it in order to say thank you to the German government. I was enormously appreciative of the support that we received." The ceremony was attended by 25 New York students. Their two-week trip follows an invitation by the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder- himself a former Media Prize winner along with figures such as Nelson Mandela.
Somalias in Sweden challenge U.S. terrorism
allegations 
Three Somalis with Swedish nationality have begun a legal battle to clear their names of charges of helping to finance Ossama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. Abdirisak Aden and two others have been placed on a list of suspects by U.S. authorities. "I have been in prison, not physically but pscyhologically, and this is very terrible. I get a lot of support officially from the Swedish citizens and the government. This is very good and I am very proud to live in a democratic country." Lawyer Leif Silbersky says the only evidence presented against his clients are pages of graphs, fact sheets and speeches from American officials. "I have a lot of papers from the Swedish government that they have got from the U.S. government but in those papers I can assure you there is nothing to say my three clients can be suspected of anything at all, especially terrorism." Meanwhile in the U.K. an Algerian pilot accused of training the September 11th hijackers has called on the FBI to drop its investigation of him. Lofti Raissi was released on bail this week after spending five month in prison on the basis of allegations made U.S. federal authorities. "The law says a person is innocent until proven guilty. In my case, I feel as though the world perceived me as a guilty man and that I had to try and prove my innocence." A high court judge ruled the charges against him of links to terrorism were unsubstantiated.
Tension rises as Afghanistan buries murdered
minister
The first top Afghan official to be killed since the new interim government came into power has been buried in Kabul. Transport and tourism minister Abdul Rahman was beaten to death in mysterious circumstances at the city's airport on Thursday. The country's leader Hamid Karzai knew it wouldn't be an easy task rebuilding his nation after 23 years of war. He has blamed members of his own cabinet for the killing, which he says was the result of a personal vendetta, and has promised to bring them to justice. The murder underscores the problems facing the new leadership as it struggles to reconcile warring ethnic groups and rebuild the volatile nation. Old tribal rivalries have exploded in bloodshed in parts of the country and aid agencies are warning that a rising tide of crime is threatening their work. Saudi authorities have promised to return three Afghan ministers suspected of being involved in the affair, after they fled to Saudi Arabia
. Several killed and dozens injured in Philippines
bomb attacks 
At least five people have been killed and dozens have been injured in two explosions in the southern Philippines. The latest took place Saturday morning in a cinema at a shopping centre in downtown Zamboanga, the region's main city. A grenade hurled from the balcony injured at least four people below. Just hours earlier, two bombs ripped through a market on the southern island of Jolo, killing at least five people and injuring around 50. None has claimed responsibility for the attacks but the police are suspecting the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. The rebel group, which Washington has linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, are the target of a six-month military exercise involving hundred of US forces in the southern Philippines. They are fighting for an independent Islamic homeland in the mainly Catholic south.
16 February 2002
Refugees escape after riot and fire
Friday,
15 February, 2002, 12:48 GMT
Damages are estimated at £35m
Police and security company officials are trying to discover how many asylum seekers escaped from the Yarl's Wood detention centre during a major fire.
Milosevic: NATO attacked civiliansFebruary
15, 2002 Posted: 8:23 AM EST (1323 GMT)
Milosevic has accused NATO of having played a savage game
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic accused NATO of deliberately bombing civilians, as he began the second day of his opening statements. Milosevic, 60, mainly ignored the prosecution's case against him at the U.N. war crimes tribunal, and outlined his own argument against NATO and the U.S. government
Today's Top Stories EURONEWS
15 February 2002
Milosevic resumes self-defence in 
The Hague Slobodan Milosevic continues his opening statement at the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague today, after yesterday ridiculing the prosecution's case against him as an "ocean of lies". During a robust defence lasting four hours, the former Yugoslav President tried to portray the proceedings in court as a trial of all Serbs who supported him. Like the prosecution in the first two days of the trial, Milosevic made use of video footage and photographs. The court was shown a German documentary which cast doubt on the 1999 massacre of around 45 ethnic Albanians by Serb forces in the village of Racak in Kosovo. The incident was the catalyst for NATO's decision to start bombing the province. Milosevic argues the killings were in fact clashes with terrorists. He faces charges of crimes against humanity in Croatia and in Kosovo, as well as genocide in the Bosnian war between 1992 and 1995. Milosevic insists that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo were not driven out by Serb forces but fled NATO bombing and attacks by rebels from the Kosovo Liberation Army. He concentrated on Kosovo but also said Serbia had not started the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, and claimed he knew nothing about violence there against non-Serbs. Prosecutors have accused him of masterminding a systematic campaign of mass murders, deportations and rapes, part of a plan to create an ethnically pure Serb state. He has told the tribunal that Serbia was the most tolerant state in the former Yugoslavia.
Five arrested after immigrant detention centre
fire in UK
British police have arrested five men who were being held at Europe's largest immigrant detention centre after it was extensively damaged in an overnight fire. The blaze, at Yarl's Wood north of London, was still being fought early this morning. The cause isn't known yet but there were reports that it had broken out after a disturbance involving inmates and staff. Emma Ginn, a campaigner on behalf of immigrants, said the detainees were angry with the security firm which runs centre. She said the trouble started after one women refused to be handcuffed before being taken away for medical attention Group Four for denies mistreating people at the facility, which is designed to hold nine hundred people. The fire has refocused attention on an increasingly controversial issue in the UK. Applications for asylum rose by 13 per cent last year, many face lengthy periods in holding centres across Britain.
Americans extend military cooperation with
Philippines troops
U.S. troops fanned out across a remote island in the southern Philippines in the latest stage of Washington's war against terrorism. The joint operation with the Philippines army is still officially only a training exercise. But U.S. officials have admitted their soldiers could become involved in action against Muslim rebels of the Abu Sayaff group. The guerrillas say they are fighting for an independent Muslim state in the southern Philippines and there are frequent battles with local troops on the island of Basilyan. The Pentagon claims Abu Sayaff has links to Ossama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. This is the first expansion beyond Afghanistan of America's campaign against the suspected perpetrators the September 11th attacks. For the Philippines government the operation is a boost to its counter terrorism offensive.
First swings in French election campaign 
With French elections just over two months away, current President Jacques Chirac promised to cure the nation's ailing health system on Thursday. In a speech at a doctors' conference in Paris, Gaullist Chirac criticised the changes brought about by the government of Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, his main rival in the race for the Presidency. "The amount of work medical staff have creates tension," he said, "it leads to strikes, we've seen talks to solve the problems and money offered at every meeting but never a long term solution." Jospin, who still hasn't officially declared he is running for the presidency (he continues to describe himself as a "probable candidate") did not immediately react to the criticism, but Employment Minister Elisabeth Guigou struck back. She recalled the uproar caused by changes to health care when Chirac himself was Prime Minister. She asked "who's talking?.... a President who wishes to apologise for the mistakes of the past or a candidate full of election promises?" In the last election in 1997 doctors' movements were partly responsible for the fall from power of the Gaullists. Socialists want to avoid the same fate this time round.
World's first cloned cat As it plays in a scientific
laboratory in Texas,
USA, "cc" may seem like a normal kitten but she's the world's first cloned cat. Scientists in Texas created the "copycat" using the same technique that made Dolly the sheep. However CC isn't quite as "purrfect" as had been hoped, her coat differs from that of her donor clone. While the researchers claim she has no abnormalities they have let the cat out of the bag as regards one genetic hitch. They have revealed that out of 87 embryos cloned only one resulted in a successful pregnancy. Despite that it is thought there may be a market for identical companion animals. Wealthy customers may be willing to pay for replicas of their beloved pets. Thanks to "cc" that dream is now just a whisker away from reality.
Bush outlines alternative to Kyoto 
After rejecting the Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gas emissions last year, US President George Bush has produced an anti-pollution programme of his own. It includes reducing polluting gases, but without obligation. Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of capping carbon dioxide emissions, or of greenhouse gases. "We must foster economic growth in ways that protect our environment," the President said, "We must encourage growth that will provide a better life for our citizens while protecting the land, the air and the sea that sustain life. In pursuit of these goals we have set two priorities: clean our air and address the issue of global climate change." Environmentalists lashed out at Bush's proposal, saying it would do nothing to curb US greenhouse gases. Greenpeace said it looked as if the US would allow emissions to rise 29% above 1990 levels by the end of the decade. The United States emits around one quarter of the world's man-made greenhouse gases.
Shake up to Russian military service. 
A massacre in Russia earlier in the month, shocked the country, and raised serious questions about the make up of the country's army. Two army deserters were shot dead in central Russia, but not before they killed seven others. It was the latest in a series of desertions, shootings and suicides, which have become increasingly common in the demoralized Russian military. The incident provoked a wave of condemnation, and sparked a growing call for an end to military service, and the creation of a professional army. Although not quite going that far, the government has now approved an alternative national service project. Those opting for it, will be allowed to stay close to their homes, and even continue university studies in the evening. However it is not all good news, the initial draft says it will be twice the length of the normal two years military service. The plan is not yet final. It will still have to win approval from the Duma.
14 February 2002
Thursday, 14 February, 2002, 05:53 GMT
Milosevic to answer war crimes
charges 
Milosevic has poured scorn on the tribunal
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is expected to open his formal defence before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague shortly. Mr Milosevic is likely to give a detailed response to the prosecution case against him, presented during the first two days of the trial. He is accused of orchestrating a systematic campaign of mass murders, deportations and rapes as part of a plan to create an ethnically pure Serb state out of the ruins of former Yugoslavia.
The charges against Milosevic 
The indictments are mounting up against Mr Milosevic
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic faces three indictments at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, one relating to atrocities carried out in Kosovo in 1999, another for crimes in Croatia between 1991 and 1992, and the third - and most serious - alleging genocide in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995.
Milosevic set to take centre stage at trial
Another stormy session at the UN War Crimes Tribunal is in prospect, with Slobodan Milosevic set to launch his opening address, giving his side of the story following two days of accusations that he masterminded massacres, persecution and mass deportation. On Wednesday, the former Yugoslav leader repeated his refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the court, where he faces charges including genocide and crimes against humanity. "I challenge the very legality of this tribunal because it was not set up on the basis of law," he said. Milosevic argues that the UN Security Council, which created the institution, did not have the right to do so. He also launched a tirade against those presenting evidence against him, accusing them of mounting a "lynching" and turned on Chief Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, accusing her of being biased. Arguing that she has already proclaimed his sentence and judgement, Slobodan Milosevic told the court that a media campaign had been waged from the prosecutor's office, something he described as a "parallel lynching." The outburst came on the day veteran Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova announced that he would give evidence at the epic hearing, which is set to last for at least two years. The Hague court has already been told of a gruesome litany of incidents in Kosovo in which Serb forces are said to have burnt women and children alive, shot men or hurled them alive down wells and raped women in front of their families.
Switzerland gives Italy a slap in the face
Switzerland gave Italy a slap in the face on Wednesday, at least that is how Italian opposition parties described it. Berne decided to postpone ratification of an anti-crime treaty with its neighbour because of a new law approved by the parliament in Rome. The controversial law sets out strict guidelines for Italian magistrates wishing to gain financial information from Swiss authorities. Italy's opposition centre-left claims the law is designed to protect Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who faces a string of corruption charges. But Berlusconi is taking it all in his stride. "Nothing has changed" he said, "the Swiss want to study the technical consequences of our parliamentary measures." The opposition has launched a petition against the law. "The government has made a grave error" said Piero Fassino of the Democrats of the Left, "it will damage the image of our country and has serious consequences for the fight against crime." The ruling centre-right responded to that saying in any case Switzerland has always had "a tendency to isolate itself."
German election challenger slams Schroeder
Among friends and full of fighting spirit, German conservative Edmund Stoiber has stepped up his campaign to unseat Gerhard Schroeder in September's election. His latest challenge to the Chancellor came in a fiery speech in his home state of Bavaria, in which his description of Herr Schroeder as a man with no vision or ideas for Germany was greeted with a suitably rapturous reception. Ahead of the Chancellor in several recent opinion polls, Edmund Stoiber, the state premier of Bavaria, was keen to contrast its booming economy with the slump affecting much of the rest of the country. And Germany's economic woes seemed, almost visibly, to be weighing on the mind of Gerhard Schroeder, as, somewhat sombre-faced, he toured a Volkswagen plant, thousands of miles away in Brazil. With German unemployment at over 4 million and Berlin only narrowly escaping a formal warning from the EU this week over the size of its budget deficit, it is no wonder the Social Democrat Chancellor has little to smile about. Though, with 7 months to go, political analysts say Germany's election contest is still too close to call.
Scotland bans fox hunting 
Scotland is leading the way on what could one day become a total ban on blood sports in the UK. The Scottish Regional Assembly voted on Wednesday to ban fox hunting, making Scotland the first part of Britain to ban the centuries old sport. The move came despite demonstrations from countryside campaigners opposed to the ban on hunting with dogs, a sport enjoyed by Britain's heir to the throne, Prince Charles. In the past, attempts to ban hunting in England and Wales have faced resistance from peers in Britain's House of Lords. But now that Scotland has passed the bill, many believe there will be extra pressure on the government in London to finally outlaw hunting south of the border. .
Danish police investigate immigrant death
A tragic death, or a vicious murder? That is what police in Denmark hope to find out, after the discovery of the body of a fourteen-year-old Iraqi girl in a harbour in southern Zealand. Sonay Ashraf Ahmad Mohammad, who called herself Freja, was last seen alive on Saturday night, and she sent an SMS text message to her friend at 11:30pm asking to meet up the next day. She was found dead nine hours later. Police say they have not ruled out the possibility of her father's involvement in the death. Two years ago he had strangled her until she fainted, when he discovered a photo of a Danish boy in her diary. He claimed she had brought dishonour on her family. Since then she had been living with her foster parents. The case draws worrying parallels to a murder, which shocked Sweden two weeks ago, and drew thousands onto the streets in protest. Her father killed a young Kurdish woman because she was having a relationship with a local woman. A tragic death, or a vicious murder? That is what police in Denmark hope to find out, after the discovery of the body of a fourteen-year-old Iraqi girl in a harbour in southern Zealand. Sonay Ashraf Ahmad Mohammad, who called herself Freja, was last seen alive on Saturday night, and she sent an SMS text message to her friend at 11:30pm asking to meet up the next day. She was found dead nine hours later. Police say they have not ruled out the possibility of her father's involvement in the death. Two years ago he had strangled her until she fainted, when he discovered a photo of a Danish boy in her diary. He claimed she had brought dishonour on her family. Since then she had been living with her foster parents. The case draws worrying parallels to a murder, which shocked Sweden two weeks ago, and drew thousands onto the streets in protest. Her father killed a young Kurdish woman because she was having a relationship with a local woman.
Giuliani knighted by the Queen 
He may have lost his title as mayor of New York, but on Wednesday Rudolph Giuliani gained another: "Knight of the British Empire". Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who bestowed an honorary knighthood on him, rewarded the man at the helm of the Big Apple during its darkest hours, on the other side of the Atlantic. Giuliani accepted the vote on behalf of what he called the real heroes, such as the police and the fire services. Prime Minister Tony Blair nominated the former Mayor for the award. Giuliani said his city had no better friend than Great Britain, after the support it had shown, following the September 11th attack on the World Trade Centre.
13 February 2002
Prosecutors must prove Milosevic gave orders
Back in 1987, Slobodan Milosevic vowed to defend angry Serbs complaining of harassment by Kosovo's majority Albanian community. His impassioned speeches became rallying calls, stoking Serb nationalism, and, by 1989, he had become Serbia's President. But, 10 years on, Milosevic's crackdown on Albanians in the province would prompt NATO air strikes and the beginning of the end for the man dubbed the Butcher of the Balkans. His rise and fall may be easy to trace but what prosecutors will find more difficult is proving categorically that this one man was the author of so much bloodshed in three separate Balkans conflicts. Their job is to find concrete documentary evidence that he gave direct orders behind notorious events like the shelling of the historic Croatian walled city of Dubrovnik in 1991, the massacre in Vukovar in the same year, when hundreds were beaten and killed as the strategy of ethnic cleansing got underway and atrocities in Bosnia during its three year inter-ethnic war, including the Srebrenica massacre. Establishing Slobodan Milosevic gave the command to the men on the ground is the challenge of Chief Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte. Meanwhile, there is mounting speculation that the former strongman will call top Western figures as witnesses in his trial, in a bid to prove that he only acted with their blessing.
D-Day for Milosevic as trial begins
Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic begins his trial at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague today. He will begin hearing evidence over a trio of blood-soaked conflicts, and all the world will be watching him. UN prosecutors expect to call nearly 100 witnesses. Spokeswoman Florence Hartman, "It will be a very long trial because there are many charges combined against Milosevic on Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia. It is important to explain them on an everyday basis with evidence and testimony." Milosevic has refused to recognise the court so far. But one of his lawyers, Dragoslav Ognjanovic, expects him to speak freely, "He is going very strongly to use his chance to speak about so many things about the crisis in the Balkans in these 12 years and about that so many people were involved." The biggest European war crimes trial since Nuremberg sees Milosevic charged with crimes against humanity in Croatia from 1991-92, genocide in the 1992-95Bosnian war and crimes against humanity in Kosovo in 1999. The epic case could last two years.
France's election race hots up 
He may not yet have officially declared himself a candidate in the battle to become French President, but Lionel Jospin, the country's Socialist Prime Minister, seems to have entered into the spirit of the campaign, robustly defending his government's economic policy in parliament, after criticism from the current head of state, the conservative Jacques Chirac. Jospin said France was resisting the economic slowdown better than its neighbours and predicted that the country would profit from future growth in the European economy. Jacques Chirac announced on Monday that he will stand for re-election in the spring, to the delight of his supporters. He is currently neck and neck in the polls with Lionel Jospin, with whom he has shared power in an awkward system of "cohabitation" since 1997.
No survivors in Iranian plane crash 
One hundred and seventeen people have been killed after a passenger plane attempting to land in the western Iranian city of Khorramabad crashed into a nearby mountain. Four Spaniards working for a Basque electricals firm were among the victims. The accident happened in foggy conditions. 'It was early in the morning' said this villager 'There was a big explosion. We ran out and saw the flames. We were told that it was a plane.' The Tupolev 154 jet was being flown by Iran Air Tours from Teheran and although bad weather conditions are the most likely cause, the accident has served to put the focus on the sorry state of the Iranian fleet. A US embargo on technical exports has left the country dependent on ageing Russian planes.
Daniel Pearl "alive, unharmed and in Karachi
." The prime suspect in the kidnapping of the "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl said on Tuesday that the journalist was alive and still in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Pearl was abducted on January 23rd while he was investigating possible links between Al Qaede and the accused shoe bomber Richard Reid. British-born Sheik Ahmed Omar Saeed was arrested in connection with Pearl's disappearance. He was jailed eight years ago for his role in another kidnapping but was released in exchange for hostages on a hijacked airliner which landed in Kandahar. He is also is accused of funding the September 11th suicide hijacker Mohammad Atta. Three other suspects were also taken into custody for allegedly sending e-mails threatening to kill Pearl and demanding a ransome. They also wanted the US to free top Taliban prisoners from the war in Afghanistan. The messages contained photographs of the journalist apparently supplied by Sheik Omar.
Gaddafi junior trains with Juventus 
Al-Saadi Gaddafi, the son the Libyan leader, has taken part in a practice training session with Juventus, the most successful football club in Italian history. What his famous dad would make of his offspring's knockabout with the Serie A giants, no-one seems to know, but the 28-year-old himself certainly appeared to enjoy the experience. A keen fan of the beautiful game, Al-Saadi has already played for the Libyan national side and two years ago was on the verge of playing in Italy for Perugia. Libya's government owns a 5.3 per cent stake in the top-class Turin-based team.
Lord of the Rings emerges as leading 
Oscars contender Lord of the Rings has emerged as the leading contender for this year's Oscars contest with 13 nominations, but Moulin Rouge and A Beautiful Mind are close behind with eight a piece The runners were announced earlier today in Hollywood. Sir Ian McKellern was nominated as best supporting actor in the adaptation of Tolkein's classic novel, which is also in the running in several technical categories. Nicole Kidman is nominated for her starring role in Moulin Rouge, Judi Dench is also in contention for her portayal of philosopher Iris Murdoch in 'Iris'. Three European film's Amelie, Elling and No Man's Land are among those which have been nominated for best foreign film. The comic fantasy Amelie has been a big success in the United States, breaking the box office record for a French film, set more than twenty years ago by 'La Cage Aux Folles'.
12 February 2002
FBI warns of new terror
attack 
Tuesday, 12 February, 2002, 07:50 GMT
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation issues an urgent warning about a possible attack on an American target as early as Tuesday
FBI warns of new terror attack 
Tuesday,
12 February, 2002, 05:35 GMT
US forces abroad could be targets
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a new terror alert, naming a Yemeni man it believes could be plotting an attack
Milosevic set for landmark trial 
Tuesday,
12 February, 2002, 08:04 GMT
Some 250,000 people are thought to have died
The trial of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president
accused of genocide and war crimes in the Balkans over a period of nearly 10 years, is due to begin in The Hague.
Bright students 'to skip' GCSEs 
Pupils
will be able to take GCSEs in engineering
High-flying students will be able to by-pass GCSEs and go straight to AS levels before the age of 16, under new plans published on Tuesday. The new fast-track approach is part of the government's Green Paper on secondary education, which aims to give students in England greater freedom from the compulsory curriculum.
D-Day for Milosevic as trial begins
Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic begins his trial at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague today. He will begin hearing evidence over a trio of blood-soaked conflicts, and all the world will be watching him. UN prosecutors expect to call nearly 100 witnesses. Spokeswoman Florence Hartman, "It will be a very long trial because there are many charges combined against Milosevic on Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia. It is important to explain them on an everyday basis with evidence and testimony." Milosevic has refused to recognise the court so far. But one of his lawyers, Dragoslav Ognjanovic, expects him to speak freely, "He is going very strongly to use his chance to speak about so many things about the crisis in the Balkans in these 12 years and about that so many people were involved." The biggest European war crimes trial since Nuremberg sees Milosevic charged with crimes against humanity in Croatia from 1991-92, genocide in the 1992-95Bosnian war and crimes against humanity in Kosovo in 1999. The epic case could last two years.
Terror warning puts US on high alert
America is on high alert after a terrorist warning from the FBI. A statement from Washington says an attack on the United States or US interests in Yemen may be possible as early as Tuesday. No targets were specified. It comes as top US military commander General Tommy Franks is in Yemen for talks with the government. In an unexpected step the FBI has named a suspected ringleader in the possible attacks. He is Fawaz Yahya as-Rabeei, a 23-year-old born in Saudi Arabia. They also named 16 possible associates, all believed to be Yemeni nationals. The FBI has issued several alerts since September 11th, but few have been so detailed.
Chirac launches bid to hold on to French presidency
Throwing what can only be described as his substantial hat into the ring, French President Jacques Chirac has announced his candidacy for the fight to hold on to the top job. The move certainly won the backing of his supporters. He will now have until April to try and win round the country.. He has done it once before but can he do it again? It will not be easy. A recent series of major sleaze allegations have left his poll ratings in something of a downward trend. His biggest challanger is likely to be the man he narrowly beat to the job back in 1995, Lionel Jospin. He went on to become prime minister, and has made little secret of the fact he still desires the presidency. Jospin has yet to officially declare. If he is going to, he will have to do it soon. The first round of the election is due on 21st April, with the two highest polling candidates going on to the second run off round on 5th May.
Tit for tat violence in Middle East
A prison full of sitting targets was precisely the reason why Palestinian demonstrators wanted the inmates released. Around two hundred thronged the gates of a security compound, home of a number of suspected militants, and under attack from Israeli helicopters. Police were forced to fire into the air to dispearse the crowds, as they led only some of the prisoners out of the burning jail. It had been targeted by Israeli warplanes and helicopters in retaliation for what the army said was the Palestinians' first use of a new rocket that could open a deadlier stage in a 16-month-old conflict. At least thirty seven people were hurt in the reprisal, which was the second time the jail had been hit in as many days. The United Nations' Middle East envoy Terje Road-Larsen, whose own office was damaged in yesterday's Israeli strike, deplored the continued attacks. Larsen said bombs simply produce more bombs, and urged both sides to give up the fight and get back to the negociating table.
Self-confessed serial killer on trial in France
The trial of self-confessed serial killer Patrice Alegre has opened in Toulouse. 33-year-old Alegre admits raping then strangling five young women. A sixth victim was sexually assaulted but escaped with her life after pleading with Alegre to let her go. Relatives of the victims were in court to witness proceedings. Alegre, a hall porter by profession, faces life imprisonment. Defence lawyers say Alegre was scarred by his difficult upbringing - the product of an unwanted pregnancy, he grew with a deep sense of isolation. "He had no reference point, no god, no masters, he didnt know what the limits were. Thats how he started getting involved with crime. On top of this he had psychiatric problems" said one. Alegre lured his victims from bars and discoteques. Police fear there may be more cases to be uncovered and are working through their missing persons files. One woman was assaulted but managed to escape. "I said what happened could happen to anyone," she explained. "I promised to say someone else was responsible for my injuries. He turned his back, began to cry and begged me not to denounce him."
New shots in old war of East and West 
A crack has appeared in relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church. Ancient rivalries have been reignited by the creation of four fully-fledged Catholic dioceses across Russia. The Vatican says it is merely taking the next logical step in strengthening the religious structure for the country's 1.3 million Catholics. But an Orthodox Church spokesman said there was more to it than that, "It's clear this decision from the Vatican is a blow to relations between the Orthodox and Catholic churches just as we had been developing a good rapport." Since the fall of communism the Russian Orthodox Church has accused Catholics of using their new freedoms to poach believers. But the Pope says he wants peace, making no secret of his desire to visit Moscow and push for unity.
Romantics prepare to celebrate in the city of
Saint Valentine
It's Saint Valentine's day on Thursday - a special day for lovers across the world and especially in the Italian city of Terni. It was here in the year 273 that Valentine, Bishop of Terni, was put to death by order from Rome. His crime was to have officiated at the marriage of mercenary soldiers, defying a ban from imperial authorities who wantedyoung men to preserve their energies for the defence of the empire. Some 200 couples have gathered this week in Terni to remember St Valentine and receive a special blessing in the name of eternal love. It's a tradition whose reputation spreads worldwide. The secular authorities are doing their bit too to atone for the errors of the past:they're organising a special banquet for all the participating couples.
11 February 2002
rafat defiant amid fresh Israel
raidAs
Monday,
11 February, 2002, 10:53 GMT
Arafat defiant amid Israel attacks The Palestinian leader insists Israel must deal with him as elected leader, as fresh Israeli raids hit security targets in the centre of Gaza.
Israel retaliates after
Palestinian attacks
Israeli warplanes bombed targets in Gaza last night amid threats of more retaliation for attacks by Palestinians. They struck at a security compound in Gaza and hours later Israeli tanks rolled into the West Bank city of Nablus, sparking fierce gun battles. The raids were ordered by the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon shortly after he returned from the U.S. They were in response to the shooting of two Israeli women soldiers in southern Israel, and the firing of a new kind of improvised rocket from Gaza into Israel. Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah accused Sharon of escalation. "This continuation of escalation is a dangerous policy. It will lead to instability, will lead to more violence in the area and we hope the world community will interfere before it becomes too late". A response to terrorism is how Sharon described it. He came back from Washington with little to show for his efforts to get the Americans to cut ties with the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The two gunmen who carried out the shooting at a cafe near an Israeli army base were themselves killed. But it is the firing of an upgraded version of the Qassam rocket, which landed harmlessly in a field, which is likely to lead to further retaliation. An Israeli security source said "special attention" would now be paid to the West Bank where it is thought the devices are being made.
Milosevic defiant on eve of
war crimes trial 
Sound in mind and body but not expecting justice - the last defiant message of Slobodan Milosevic before the opening of his trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague tomorrow. The former Yugoslav President stands accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo from the early to mid-1990's. Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has been successful in her attempts to get three indictments heard in one trial. She expects the trial to last two years. When he was handed over by Belgrade in June last year he became the first ex-head of state to answer to charges of genocide at the U.N. court in the Netherlands. The trial will open with evidence relating to the bloodshed in Kosovo. It was a massacre in the village of Racak three years ago that triggered events that led to Nato's bombing campaign. Milosevic will later be called to account for mass killings in Vukovar in Croatia and Srebrinica in Bosnia. How exactly he intends to respond is anyone's guess. He has refused to appoint a defence counsel and does not recognise the tribunal.
Ground Zero workers
complain of health problems 
US Senators are holding a hearing today into air contamination at Ground Zero, the site of New York's World Trade Centre. Since the September 11 attacks, people who work and live in the area have developed respiratory problems, but the long-term effects of breathing the air rising from Ground Zero is still under debate. Experts say some fire-fighters could develop cancer decades from now. Among the substances that have escaped from the debris are asbestos and cancer-causing PCBs. The fire-fighters' association says several hundred members are already on medical leave or working light duty. It says more and more people are reporting respiratory problems, such as difficulty breathing and tightness in the chest. A mobile clinic for workers who cleaned buildings near the World Trade Centre has now opened. One worker from Ecuador says the site is contaminated and that people earning just seven euros per hour are working without any protective equipment. A lung specialist says some 25 per cent of the 11,500 fire-fighters who have spent time at the disaster site have some health problems.
Juice on the loose at
Italian carnival 
Come carnival season, there is nothing the people of Ivrea in northern Italy like better than to pelt each other with oranges. The spectacle is apparently based on a 12th-century rebellion to overthrow a feudal lord. As battle commences, the king's men drive through town in carts throwing oranges at commoners on the ground. It is not clear why the fruit, which has to be shipped in from Sicily, is their chosen weapon. "We're all friends but if we can hurt each other we'll definitely try," said one combatant. Being an orange-thrower or "aranceri" can be a dangerous business whichever side you are on, with a number of people suffering eye injuries every year.
Britain remembers the
"party" Princess 
Londoners have been paying their respects to Princess Margaret a day after she died at the age of 71, victim to years of ill health. Many came to lay flowers in tribute to the well-liked British royal outside the gates of her official home, Kensington Palace. At St James's Palace, where her body will rest in the Queen's Chapel next week, she was remembered fondly as a generous and fun-loving companion to the stars. One man said, "She was very friendly. Had a lovely sense of humour. She was nice to us and everybody else." Another woman remembered, "She reminded me of my youth, we used to see those pictures of her in the papers, and we loved them". Princess Margaret enjoyed a vibrant youth - a time when she injected a post-war style into the House of Windsor with a glamorous image that enthralled and at times scandalised the nation. Her private funeral will be held at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle on Friday.
Spanish police reveal
stolen artefacts
Spanish police have seized a massive collection of archaeological artefacts. They uncovered a network of private collectors near Seville who had hoarded thousands of items of tremendous artistic, historical and scientific importance. The city's deputy culture secretary Isabel Montano said it was difficult to assess the real value of each piece at such an early stage, but as a collection they were extremely valuable. Some items date from up to 3000 B.C., others are more recent Roman sculptures, Greek or Phoenician ceramics. Spanish historians are now helping police determine the exact identity of each piece.
Countdown to the Chinese
New Year begins 
Thousands of people took part in a march to Beijing's Temple of Heaven on Sunday in a ceremony dating back to the Ming dynasty. A performance of Chinese drummers kicked off the celebrations; according to tradition the louder the festival is the more luck the participants will have. Over the next few days around one million people are expected to take part in the lunar New Year's celebrations. On Tuesday the Chinese will mark the start of the year of the Horse. The next twelve months are considered ones of action, enterprise and achievement. Across the country models and pictures of horses are being bought; a Chinese proverb says the arrival of the horse is the arrival of success.
10 February 2002
Iran's Khatami backs
protest Iran's
president Mohammad Khatami
Nearly two weeks after President Bush lumped Iran into an "axis of evil," the Middle Eastern country's reformist president Saturday urged Iranians to turn out in force for an upcoming anti-U.S. demonstration. FULL STORY »
Another step towards
reconciliation in Afghanistan 
Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai on Saturday released around 300 Taliban prisoners in a ceremony in Kabul. The prisoners from all over the country are rank and file conscripts and as Karzai put it "do not have a bad record." At the presidential Palace Karzai joked with the detainees, "do you want to be soldiers" he asked, they replied "no", "do you want to go back to prison?" he said, and they laughed. With an allowance of around 20euro the men were sent home to find work. But there may be problems ahead. In Gardez around fifty people have been killed in a battle for control of the city. A fragile ceasefire is holding in the city and in Kabul tribal elders from both sides of the conflict are meeting for talks with the interim government to resolve the crisis, but the violence shows there are still hurdles to lasting peace and stability in the country.
New evidence in Afghan
murder inquiry. 
Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said on Sunday it had uncovered new evidence in an inquiry into the deaths of four foreign journalists. Two suspects were arrested last week in connection with the murders of Spaniard, Julio Fuentes, Italy's Maria Grazia Cutuli, Australian cameraman Harry Burton and the Afghan-born Pakistani photographer Azizullah Haidari. Intelligence officials said they had documents which could prove the detainees were behind the killing. Interim Interior Minister Yannis Qanuni believes several others could also have been involved. The journalists were travelling on the main road from Jalalabad to Kabul last November. When they were about 90km from the capital, they were stopped by gunmen and shot dead.
Ireland bids farewell
to Punt 
A second of the European Union's national currencies has been consigned to the past. As from midnight last night the Irish pound, the punt, ceased to be legal tender. Its replacement, the Euro, has been in circulation since January 1st when it was introduced across the 12 E.U. countries participating in the common currency. The Netherlands was the first state to relinquish its national notes and coins, the French franc will go next. At the end of the month the euro will become the only legal tender across the whole of the eurozone. The passing of the punt has generated little remorse in Ireland. The Irish were quick to adopt the euro from day one, conducting most of their transactions in the new money at an early stage.
G-7 issues cautiously
optimistic report on global economy 
The world's richest nations have sounded a a note of optimism for the world economy. Finance Ministers from the Group of Seven leading industries, meeting in Canada, are predicting a quick turn around in an economic slowdown exacerbated by the Setptember 11th attacks. In a draft communique the ministers said "since we last met in October prospects have strengthened for resumed expansion in our economies". But there are clouds on the horizon. The G7 remains worried about the situation in Japan, which is mired in recession and plagued with tumbling stock prices. Concern was also expressed about Germany which is looking for a recovery in the second half of the year but remains a drag on European growth. There was no sign of the large-scale protests by anti-capitalists that often accompany these conferences. Just a handful of demonstrators braved the cold outside the government retreat near Ottawa where, in addition to growth and recession, the delegates were discussing Argentina's financial crisis.
EU calls for more emphasis
on politics in Middle East peace drive
There were rowdy protests outside a meeting of E.U. Foreign Ministers in Spain. Anti-globalisation campaigners inflicted a water-bombing on living effigies of the delegates meeting inside a church in the town of Caceres. But it was the Middle East rather than worldwide capitalism which was dominating the ministers' talks. They agreed there should be less emphasis given to security and more to politics in efforts to end the conflict. The Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique said "it's very important to put political policies on the table again in discussion on the Middle East, and not only talk about security. We need to achieve a political solution, which cannot be accompanied by 100 per cent absolute security" The EU position differs from that of the U.S. which wants to see an end to violence before negotiations can resume. But the ministers insist they are not trying to come up with their own Middle East initiative now. If nothing else there are still too many contrasting approaches within the member states for that to become a reality.
Rome dig for German
soldiers' remains
In Rome, excavations have begun to try and solve the mystery of a number of German soldiers believed to have been buried alive after an Allied bombardment during the Second World War. Last October, human remains and two bombs were found by workers who had gone to lay fibre optic cables. Now a judge has heard the testimony of Riziero Aquilante. Aquilante says that in 1944, when he was just 19, he saw a group of German troops trying to flee the Italian capital, and that underground tunnels were the only way out. The director of Rome's Museum of the Resistance says the story is plausible and that the likely victims were young soldiers serving in the Wehrmacht. Riziero Aquilante, now 76, says he could hear cries of suffering coming from the site, near his house, but could do nothing because of the tonnes of rubble. The site in a northwest suburb of Rome is now closed to the public after treasure hunters looking for World War Two weapons and uniforms flocked to the area.
9 February 2002
U.S. hopes for safe
GamesUpdated:
01:25 p.m. EST (1825 GMT) -- 9February 2002
CNN
Vault-like. Whatever conjures images of impenetrability or extreme defense, the Pentagon has provided it in Salt Lake City, Utah, to make the Winter Olympics as safe as possible. The Games open tonight with President Bush attending the Opening Ceremony.
Britain's Princess Margaret
dies
Princess Margaret, the fun loving sister of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, has died at the age of 71. She passed away peacefully in her sleep at a London hospital early this morning. Margaret, a heavy smoker, had suffered a series of health problems since middle age. Appearing at her mother's 100th birthday celebrations she retained the glamorous style that had captured the public's imagination in her youth. But Margaret spent much of her later life as a recluse on the tropical island of Mustique. She was an independent spirit who was married to photographer Anthony Armstrong Jones in 1960 but divorced him sixteen years later. In the 1950s she had fallen in love with a divorced man but was forced to renounce him after coming under pressure from the establishment. She had a stroke four years ago and her health deteriorated rapidly in recent years. Her two children Lord Lindley and Lady Sarah Chatto were at her bedside when she died.
Portugal closes the
floodgates of controversial damn
Portugal has begun a controversial bid to create Europe's largest artificial lake by closing the floodgates of its new Alqueva damn in the south of the country. The 2-billion euro project has been in the making since the 1950s. Authorities claim it will save the poverty-stricken region from perpetual drought and poverty. Incumbent Prime Minister Antonio Guterres officially closed the floodgates this morning. He said the damn will contribute to the richness of the area and has now become reality. But the project has drawn much criticism: from displaced inhabitants of the nearby village of Aldeia da Luz, environmentalists who say it will throw the ecological balance into chaos, and archaelogists who have tried to save a fortified Roman settlement in the area. The new artificial lake will cover an area of 250 square kilometres within two years. A network of channels and pipes is meant to transform the barren land into one of Europe's major market gardens of vegetables, most of which Portugal currently has to import from Spain. But while authorities rub their hands in anticipation, critics will continue to denounce it as the European Union's biggest ever public works folly.
Paris and London's fight
to save Africa 
French president Jacques Chirac has launched talks with 13 African countries to discuss development plans for the world's poorest continent. Opening the meeting in Paris, Chirac denounced the decline in international aid to Africa as unacceptable, saying he hopes to raise pressure on other G8 members to increase donations. Along with its partners in the Group of Eight, France pledged its support for a so-called "Plan for Africa" during last summer's summit in Genoa. The aim is to increase aid and trade, help end conflicts and tackle diseases such as AIDS. Concrete proposals will be put forward at the next G8 meeting in June. African leaders have also produced their own New Partnership for Africa's Development or NEPAD targetting a yearly investment of 64 billion dollars to revive their countries' ailing economies. While France hopes the Paris summit will underline its commitment to the Plan for Africa, Britain too is conducting its own African politics.
Britain and Iran in envoy row
Britain's Foreign Office has predicted a cooling of relations with Iran after Tehran turned down its choice of ambassador. The Iranian government in turn expressed surprise at the British reaction to its rejection of David Reddaway as new ambassador. Hardline Iranian newspapers said Reddaway was Jewish and had links to British intelligence. British officials deny both claims about the veteran diplomat who served in Iran in the 1970s and the 1990s. The development came as former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned the Islamic Republic would have no calms about using nuclear weapons if it succeeded in developing them. The US has called Iran part of an "axis of evil" along with North Korea and Iraq. Today Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States that it would regret any military action against his country. . Meanwhile Britain has refused to nominate anyone in place of David Reddaway and has put Iran's London ambassador on equal footing to the British charge d'affaires in Tehran. The Foreign Office says it does not mean a reversal of its policy of critical engagement.
Carnival explodes across Europe 
It is carnival time across the EU, but there is nothing very traditional about the festivities taking place on the holiday island of Tenerife, with many dancers stripping off their clothes to the bare minimum on stage. The outlandish costumes were meant to recreate the atmoshpere of Paris, New York and San Francisco in the roaring twenties, although the link was not immediately clear to many onlookers who could only see colourful and skimpy outfits in manmade fabrics. The queen of the carnival was 19-year-old Lorena Diaz, who dressed in a costumer designed to look like a bonfire, with fiery plumes rising above her arms. Meanwhile the German city of Cologne has staged its traditional open air party and parade. The carnival is an important event in the country's predominantly Catholic west and south. The beer drinking revellers lent the festival a special German flvour with folk songs and old fashioned music.
8 February 2002
Let the Games begin Updated:
06:25 a.m. EST (1125 GMT) -- 8February 2002
Salt Lake City is ready to get on with the Games, which commence with the Opening Ceremony on Friday. The torch arrived Thursday in the host city, where an unprecedented security force will guard the Games from the threat of terrorism.
Patriotic start to Winter
Olympics 
After travelling nearly 14,000 kilometres across the United States, the Olympic Flame has arrived in Salt Lake City. The first events in the 19th Winter Olympic Games start tomorrow, but tonight sees the opening ceremony, with a performance called "Light the Fire Within", a celebration of the American Wild West. 5,000 actors, singers and musicians will be taking part in the ceremony, watched by 2,531 competing athletes as well as President George W. Bush. But the real star of the show is likely to be a flag- not just any flag but the Stars and Stripes recovered by New York firemen from "Ground Zero", the site of the World Trade Centre attacks. The flag has already been carried in Afghanistan by US servicemen. The International Olympic Committee initially refused a US request for the flag to be taken around the Rice-Eccles Stadium after the athletes' parade. But it has now given the go-ahead for the display of patriotism at the world's first major sporting event since September 11th. The Games are the most heavily guarded in history; 4,500 military personnel have been drafted in an a no-fly zone has been established in the skies above Salt Lake City.
Differences have emerged between
the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and
the U.S. President George Bush over the future of the Middle East peace process.
In a meeting at the White House Sharon made it clear he has lost faith in the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's interest in ending violence. He said that he regarded Arafat as an "obstacle to peace", accusing him of "choosing a strategy of terror". He also stated his preference for dealing with a new Palestinian leadership. But Bush insisted Arafat had a vital role to play and urged him to do more combat violence by Palestinian extremists, "it's going to be hard to have a peace process as long as there's terror". Hours before the meeting the Whitehouse rebuffed Sharon's demand that the U.S cut ties with the Palestinian President. ù
Second night of Israeli
reprisals 
A Palestinian Authority compound in the West Bank city of Nablus was hit for the second time in twenty-four hours on Thursday night, injuring one Palestinian. It was ordered in response to the killing of three Israelis by a Palestinian gunman in a raid on a Jewish settlement on Wednesday night. Eleven Palestinians had been injured in the first strike on the intelligence service building. As security officers examined the wreckage a Palestinian cabinet minister said the strike showed Israeli leader Ariel Sharon's "determination to destroy the Palestinian Authority and the peace process".
Blair calls for peace
in African tour
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has arrived in Ghana on the second leg of a four-nation West African tour. His aim was to agree plans to tackle conflicts that are preventing the poorest countries from developing. He is pulling together ideas for the G8 summit of the world's richest nations this June when African development will be high on the agenda. Increasing trade and tackling AIDS are key targets. On Thursday in Nigeria Blair said greater international efforts could end long-running civil wars in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He said achieving peace would serve the self-interest of the West in stifling the conditions that have bred terrorism, crime and drug trafficking in the past.
Geneva Convention status
guaranteed to some Guantanamo captives 
As a further planeload of detainees arrived at Guantanamo Bay from Afghanistan, the United States has announced it will apply the Geneva Convention to some of those being held at the base. Taliban Prisoners will be covered though not members of al Qaeda. In reality, though, the move will make little difference to the daily treatment of the captives. And it does not mean Taliban inmates will be given Prisoner of War Status. White House spokesman Arie Fleischer explained the conditions the US sees as necessary for that to have applied. "They would have had to have been part of a military hierarchy. They would have had to have worn uniforms or other signs visible at a distance. They would have had to have carried arms openly. They would have to have conducted their military operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. The Taliban have not effectively distinguished themselves from the civilian population of Afghanistan," he said. The Third Geneva Convention of 1949 was designed to protect prisoners from inhumane treatment at the hands of their captors in conflicts covered by the treaty, ensuring they receive such things as proper nutrition and medical care. The US, however, maintains it is already treating captives humanely.
Germany ordered to pay Second
World War slave labourer 
Germany has been ordered to pay some 90,000 Euros compensation to a Nazi-era forced worker. A French labour tribunal has made the ruling, in the case of Roland Bucheron, now 78, who was deported from the town of Fontainebleau, south of Paris, during the Nazi occupation. He was forced to work for ten months in a factory in northern Germany, making submarine parts. He has spoken of how there was nothing to eat and how workers slept in bunk beds, full of cockroaches and fleas. German authorities have dismissed the ruling but Roland Bucheron's lawyer says it sets an important precedent and is an important victory for modern-era slaves across the world. Germany has already made efforts to compensate war-era slaves. Two years ago, Berlin agreed to pay much smaller sums to more than a million people forced to work, unpaid, in the Third Reich.
Venezuelan President
undermined by colonel's speech
Rumblings of discontent from within the Venezuelan military have undermined the stability of President Hugo Chavez. A large crowd gathered in the capital Caracas to demonstrate their support for an Air Force officer who made a public call for the left wing leader to stand down. Chavez has repeatedly maintained he has the backing of the armed forces. But in a televised and highly provocative address Colonel Pedro Luis Soto accused Chavez, of ruling the country undemocratically. "How were we to think that a system with an ideology that has not worked in some parts of Venezuela, and of the world, would be implemented", he asked. The speech has dealt another blow to the standing of Chavez, who is accused by his opponents of trying to install a Cuban style authoritarian regime in Venezuela. Opinion polls show his support has fallen sharply since he won an election in 1998, six years after failing to take power in a botched coup.
UK government defends
language test for citizenship British Home
Office minister David Blunkett has said immigrants passing new language and culture tests will be welcomed in a special ceremony - giving them to celebrate when they achieve UK citizenship. Blunkett has been defending plans for a so called 'Brit test' - which would also include an oath of allegiance to the country. It would be imposed on immigrants seeking to gain full UK citizenship. Blunkett has insisted that the aim is not to stem the flow of immigration into Britain, but rather to aid the integration of those who do arrive. He said he wanted to avoid a situation in which economic and political refugees finished by resenting their host nation. Tens of thousands of people seek to come and live in Britain each year - some seek passage via the Eurotunnel. But a recent report on unrest in the North of the country highlighted the divisions exist between host and immigrant communities.
Belgium's food safety regulator
admits mistake
The head of Belgium's food safety agency has stepped down, following the discovery of new cases of pig feed which had not been tested for cancer-causing chemicals. The Health Ministry found that 26 samples of locally-produced feed had not been checked for traces of the chemicals known as PCBs, although no pigs were contaminated. The Ministry has now confirmed the resignation of Luc Beernaert, the Federal Food Agency boss, who was suspended on Tuesday along with Etienne Cobbaert, the engineer who admitted forgetting to check the samples. Five of the samples of pig feed, made at a factory in the west of the country,had traces of PCBs which exceeded the legal limit. Last month, the Belgian Health Minister Magda Aelvoet came in for criticism for a delay in informing consumers when PCB traces were found in pig and chicken feed. Animals which ate the feed were slaughtered and the meat entered the food chain but then, as in this latest scare, Aelvoet stressed there was never any danger to the public.
Prince keeps guest house
promise
There was no room at the inn in one Lake District bed and breakfast after it was taken over by a royal party. Prince Charles had told the owners of one Borrowdale B+B that he would be back to stay when the foot-and-mouth restrictions were lifted. And he kept that promise. All three rooms were taken by Charles and his security entourage. He spent the two-day break exploring the rugged terrain in the north west of England. He hopes that thousands of tourists will follow his lead back into the countryside.
Waltzing the night away
in Vienna 
The limousines drew up for the highpoint of the Austrian social calendar - the Vienna Opera ball. Politicians and celebrities donned their gowns and tuxedos and waltzed the night away with some five thousand other guests. Away from the cameras around a thousand anti-capitalist demonstrators made their presence felt but it did not disrupt the evening. The lavish affair is mocked by Vienna's counter culture as a symbol of luxury and excess. For others, that is those who can afford it, the ball has huge appeal. The event sells out months in advance. And that is with ticket prices ranging from 210 euros for the basic entry fee to 16,000 euros for a box.
7 February 2002
CIA chief: Al Qaeda not only
dangerUpdated:
02:34 a.m. EST (0734 GMT) -- 7 February 2002
CIA Director George Tenet testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee
CIA Director George Tenet told Congress on Wednesday that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network remain the most serious threat to U.S. security, but stressed there are other dangers that should not be ignored. Tenet also found himself defending his agency over al Qaeda's ability to carry out an attack on the U.S. FULL STORY »
Irish bank says it'll
weather storm of huge fraud
A heavy blow but not a fatal one, so says AIB, group owner of America's Allfirst, a bank left reeling from the discovery it has lost 750 million dollars in a suspected major fraud. Allied Irish Banks, says it does not know yet whether the fraud was intended to be for the financial benefit of those involved or whether it was just a "right royal mess". The man at the centre of it all is John Rusnak. He had been helping with an internal enquiry into the trading losses, but failed to turn up to work on Monday. However his lawyer claims Rusnak has not run away and has not been charged with any offence. News of the fraud sent the bank's shares into freefall with a near 23 percent dive, although they later recovered. It is the biggest fraud connected to a rogue trader since Singapore dealer Nick Leeson brought Barings bank crashing to its knees with 1.4 billion dollar losses.
Language exams in Britain
for asylum seekers
Do asylum seekers have what it takes to pass the Brit test? If the answer is no, then under new plans expected to be announced today by the British government, they will be refused citizenship. Immigrants will have to swear allegiance to their newly adopted country, as well as pass a test on basic English language and customs. Britain's Interior Minister David Blunket will present his proposals to parliament this afternoon. News of the English language test provoked fury in December, but Blunket insists it is not about keeping people out, but giving a better start to those who want to come in. Immigration is a highly contentious issue in Britain, not helped by the constant reports of would-be asylum seekers trying to make it through the Channel Tunnel.
Gay priest given marching
orders 
A Catholic clergyman in Spain has been stripped of the priesthood after "coming out" in a gay magazine. Father Jose Mantero caused a sensation by declaring "Thank God I'm Gay," in the glossy publication, "Zero." According to news reports, he did not appear in his parish in the days following the interview and now the church says its has acted against him for abandoning his post and breaking his vow of celibacy. Speaking before being sacked, Father Mantero was unrepentant. He said he wanted to continue working as a priest and had not intended to create a scandal. The Catholic Church still wields considerable influence in Spain, especially in rural areas like Father Mantero's parish, Valverde del Camino, in the south. In an open letter, the Bishop of Huelva province said the priest had placed himself "outside the discipline of the church on a subject of extreme gravity and scandal for the faithful."
Queen marks 50th anniversary
of succession 
The Royal Horse Artillery has fired the traditional 41-one gun salute to Queen Elizabeth II in London's Hyde Park to mark the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne. Usually a quiet affair for the Queen, this year she has chosen not to stay at home but to visit a cancer centre in Norfolk in eastern England, to talk with sufferers about the illness, which took away her father King George VI half a century ago. Propelled to the throne at the tender age of 25, Elizabeth returned to London from a trip in Kenya to be formally welcomed to her new role by then Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1952. It took more than a year before the formal ceremonies could take place and Elizabeth was crowned queen on 2nd June 1953. In a message to the nation over the internet earlier, the Queen said the anniversary was an occasion to acknowledge her people's loyalty and support since she came to the throne. Major events are planned in June to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. One of the highlights will be on 3rd June, when a rock concert will be held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, the Queen's London home. Many believe this summer's celebrations are unlikely to see a repeat of the scenes of adoration at Her Silver Jubilee in 1977. Polls indicate most Britons simply don't seem to care much anymore about the royal family. But despite the general despondency with the royals, plagued by scandal and divorce in recent years, Elizabeth's popularity endures, 50 years after she became Queen.
New damn to flood Portuguese
village 
As Portugal's biggest ever damn nears completion, the controversy that has surrounded Alqueva damn since it was first imagined more than 40 years ago is growing. Its floodgates will be officially closed on Friday, submerging thousands of properties as well the small village of Aldeia da Luz to the great despair of its inhabitants. The project has cost the government 430 euro so far. It is equipped with a hydraulic power station which can serve the needs of around 180 000 people. Construction of the damn started in the mid-eighties, but was interrupted because of a lack of funds. It resumed in 1998. Many of the doomed village's inhabitants, most of whom are elderly and have lived there all their lives, are refusing to leave. The government needs to get them out by winter, by which time it will be completely submerged. But whether they want to or not, the residents will eventually all have to move to a new village built by the government 15 kilometres north of Aldeia da Luz.
Berlin film festival
gets underway 
The Berlin Film Festival, one of the top three film events in Europe, along with Cannes and Venice, has opened its doors for the 52nd year. The festival's new director, Dieter Kosslick, has been promoting German films for 20 years and has every intention of continuing to do so. German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, attended the opening ceremony, along with a number of celebrities and the capital city's mayor Klaus Wowereit. There are four German films in this year's competition, as well as a number of German co-productions, one of which is Heaven, the festival's opening movie. It is one of 23 films in line for the top accolade, the Golden Bear. The film's German director, Tom Tykwer, was at the opening, along with Australian actress, Kate Blanchett, who plays the lead role of a woman who plants a bomb in a high rise building.
6 February 2002
Walker Lindh indictedFebruary
6, 2002 Posted: 3:54 AM EST (0854 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted John Walker Lindh on 10 counts, charging him with being a terrorist trained by al Qaeda who conspired with the Taliban against Americans, Attorney General John Ashcroft said.
Lay quits Enron; senators
threaten subpoenaUpdated:
05:50 a.m. EST (1050 GMT) -- 5 February 2002
Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay resigned from his seat on the Enron board of directors Monday as lawmakers threatened a subpoena to force Lay to talk to a Senate committee investigating the collapse of the energy company. Lay had on Sunday abruptly canceled a Monday appearance before the panel.
British Queen marks 50th anniversary
of accession to throne 
Queen Elizabeth II marks the 50th anniversary of her accession to the British throne on Wednesday. However the Golden Jubilee will begin as a low-key affair with the major celebrations taking place later this year. Accession day also falls on the anniversary of the death of her father King George VI. The King died suddenly of cancer while the 25-year-old Princess was on a tour of Kenya. On Wednesday she will open a cancer centre at a hospital in Norfolk. There are no plans for any street parties partly due to the notorious British weather but there will be gun salutes throughout the capital and public buildings will raise the Union flag. The Queen is the best-known monarch in the world and also the most widely travelled head of state. In 1982 she met with Pope John Paul II. It was the first such meeting between the heads of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church for over 450 years. But in recent years public support for the Royal family has been falling. Several scandals have rocked the monarchy, including the divorce of the Queen's eldest son Prince Charles from Lady Diana. Five years later the Princess died in car crash in Paris. The present relationship between Charles and his partner Camilla Parker-Bowles could prove a constitutional headache should he become King after Elisabeth's death. Recently Charles and Diana's son and third in line to the throne has confessed to smoking cannabis. But for the moment the Queen is looking forward to celebrating what British Prime Minister Tony Blair has described as "half a century of devoted service to the people of the United Kingdom."
Italy's exiled royals
could soon return home 
A new day, and yet another spent in exile for Italy's royal family, but possibly not for much longer. They have spent 56 years in the wilderness, banished for collaborating with Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. However a time to forgive and forget is firmly on the horizon, after senators voted overwhelmingly to modify two constitutional clauses to clear the way for the Savoy family's return. Not everyone is delighted though. Some Greens have been left seeing red. One said, "The Italian parliament may pledge reconciliation with the heirs to the crown, but still the heirs won't give access to the historical archive of the kingdom, including the pages of its most shameful past, and they won't give back the art masterpieces that they took with them". Out on streets there seemed to be something of a mood of indifference. One man said, "what's wrong with letting them come back, they let just about everyone into the country these days so why not them". The man who would be king, 64 year old Prince Vittorio Emanuele and his 29 year old son have been living in Switzerland and Portugal. Even if they do return to Italy, there is absolutely no suggestion that the country will change its status as a republic.
Revolution in Europe's car industry
The European Commission has endorsed new reforms which some say will revolutionise the way cars are sold in Europe and could lead to lower prices. The long-awaited plans, which aim to break the dominance of major European car-makers, have drawn criticism from the industry and some politicians. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder believes dropping existing regulations could greatly disadvantage the German car industry, and says Germany will seek to resist some of the reforms. Competition Commissioner Mario Monti says he hopes the new rules will help open the European market and give consumers a real chance to buy cars abroad. Under the new rules, a car dealer should be allowed to open a garage closer to where the consumers live, in his own or other member-countries. For example, a Volkswagen dealer from Amsterdam will be able to open a shop in the UK and sell a Golf at Dutch price, i.e. 23% cheaper than in the UK. The Commission says the idea is to put the consumer in the driver's seat, and enable people to buy cars as they please and wherever they chose, including from supermarkets or over the internet.
Germany up in arms
over liberalisation of car industry
Sparks are flying between Berlin and Brussels over the European Commission's new plans to liberalise the car industry. At the opening of a new Opel plant in Ruesselsheim in central Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder clearly indicated he was not impressed with the changes. He said anyone who tampers with a system that functions should be aware of how this could have a negative impact on this system. Opel's mother firm General Motors has invested around 750 million euro in the new factory, which will provide 5,000 jobs, a ray of hope for Ruesselsheim's 25,000 employees who have been facing uncertainty in recent times. It is hoped the new state-of-the-art plant, which will produce more than a quarter of a million cars a year, will help bring Opel out of crisis.
groups associated with
ETA declared illegal 
Declaring war on terrorists and their supporters, the Spanish authorities have decreed two political parties associated with the Basque separatist group ETA, illegal. It means it is the end of the legal line for Askatasuna, and the same goes for Seg - the organisation of the Basque radical youth. Both groups have been associated with violent activity, with a number of demonstrations turning nasty. However if it is hoped the move will sweep away the problem that seems unlikely. Judge Baltasar Garzon, who made the order, has done the same before. In December he outlawed the activities of Hakai, but it is widely thought the party simply relaunched itself as Askatasuna, and many feel it will do the same again.
American Taliban fighter
indicted on ten charges 
The going is looking increasingly tough for John Walker Lindh. The captured American Taliban fighter has now been indicted on ten separate charges, including conspiracy to kill Americans in Afghanistan. The indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Virginia, added four more charges to a criminal complaint filed against the 20 year old Californian. The charges carry penalties of three life terms plus six additional ten-year sentences and thirty years in jail, although none of them carry the death penalty. Lindh's lawyers say he has no criminal record, no record of drug or alcohol abuse, and no history of violent or dangerous conduct, and deny he conspired to kill Americans in Afghanistan. y relaunched itself as Askatasuna, and many feel it will do the same again.
Concern over demoralised
Russian military 
Two army deserters who killed at least seven people in a day-long rampage across central Russia have been caught and killed. Officials say they were shot dead during gun battles with the police. The two twenty-year-old paratroopers fled their base near the city of Ulyanovsk on Monday carrying Kalashnikovs and 135 rounds of ammunition. The military commander for the region, Vladimir Vitryashok said "Our main goal now is to find out what's behind it. Why soldiers deserted taking guns causing so much trouble and grief. Investigators are working hard to get to the bottom of this." The deserters commandered a succession of vehicles and fired on police who tried to stop them. Finally, after a long chase police managed to pen them in at a railway station. The incident has gripped Russians across the country and inflamed concern about desertions, shootings and suicides which have become increasingly common in the demoralised Russian military.
The High Security Olympics
The winter Olympics at Salt Lake City are due to start on Friday, and it is now clear they will take place under security so tight it squeaks. These Olympics have the uneasy distinction of being the first major international sporting event after September 11th, and as such, will be the most heavily guarded games in history with 4,500 military personnel being drafted in for the job. The media attention the Olympics attract have made it the crown jewels of terrorist targets. Ever since 11 Israelis were killed at the 1972 Munich Games, security has almost become an Olympic discipline in its own right. 350 million Euros have been spent on making Salt Lake City safe. And according the Olympic Committee's Francois Carrard the aim has been to make the measures effective but unobtrusive. "As far as the look of the city and the games, I think it has not shocked me, certainly at least. And I don't hear many people complaining about that. Everybody knows that there must be top security at any Olympic games and particularly these." Soldiers in Salt Lake City will be bristling with M16 rifles and wearing combat gear. Along with the national guard, there will be thousands of federal agents mingling with the crowds and some 15,000 security men. Obviously those attracting some of the tightest security are the competitors themselves. The chief of the French delegation says that the security measures have put a cramp on free movement around the city. "Instead of taking thirty minutes, trips can now take two hours he says," he says. He believes that while they are an inconvenience, the security measures are also reassuring. The organisers will hope that by freezing security threats out from Salt Lake City, the only risks the athletes take will be in competition, and the games will go someway towards distancing America from the horror of September 11th.
5 February 2002
Peaceful world economic
forum comes to a close 
The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has closed the World Economic Forum in New York- a meeting of the top business and political minds. While warning delegates that they ignore the billions of poor in the world at their peril, he said those opposed to globalisation were mis-guided. He said, "I believe that perception is wrong, and that globalisation, so far from being the cause of poverty and other social ills, offers the best hope of overcoming them". Annan said the poorest nations deserve greater aid and trade, as well as debt relief. Meanwhile protests continued outside, as they had for the entire five days of the conference. However despite the noise, they remained peaceful, a sharp contrast to last year's forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, which was marred by violent clashes.
Gibraltarians furious over
London-Madrid talks
The United Kingdom and Spain announced on Monday they hoped to conclude negotiations on the future of Gibraltar within six months, but Gibraltarians are having none of it. On the border of the tiny colony thousands protested against the talks. Joe Bossano, the opposition leader, told the crowd Britain was not free to discuss the future of "the Rock" with Spain. Gibraltar's Chief Minister is refusing to attend the talks claiming that London and Madrid have already agreed to share sovereignty over the Mediterranean territory. British Foreign Minster Jack Straw has appealed to him to join the negotiations. Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Pique said on Monday there had been progress in the talks so far. "We are trying to find solutions to a contentious and complex subject" he said, "which has been affecting our relationship over the past three hundred years". Straw reiterated that whatever agreement may be made in the future, the people of Gibraltar will have the final say.
Workers "run" from radiocative
containers 
A mission to remove radioactive material from a remote forest began this weekend in Georgia. Two containers of strontium 90 were discovered by woodmen in the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia 2 months ago. They have since been hospitalised for radiation sickness. It is believed the containers were used as part of a battery during the building of a hydro-electric plant thirty years ago. Members of a rescue team picked up the containers with metal rods and then ran away from the deadly radiation. Others then ran back loaded them into trucks and ran away again. The containers will be taken away and stored safely, but the controversy has renewed fears of nuclear material getting into the wrong hands. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 substances like plutonium have been discovered in several of its former Republics. The International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that since September 11th attacks using nuclear material are far more likely than was previously thought. The battery parts recovered in the forest would not have been powerful enough to make a nuclear bomb but it is feared that terrorists may use something like them to make a "dirty bomb", by attaching explosives to nuclear material to spread radiation.
Ex-Enron
chief steps down from board
So many questions, and so few answers for those investigating the world's biggest corporate collapse. Now the former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay has resigned from the company's board. He said the multiple inquiries, many centred on him personally, were a distraction to Enron's salvage plans. The world's business community is still waiting to hear Lay's explanation for what went wrong after he cancelled his scheduled appearance before a senate committee. Its members have vowed to legally force him to appear in front of them, in a bid to fill in some major missing parts of a very large and complex jigsaw. Meanwhile protesters have been making their feelings about the collapse known. Some two hundred demonstrators gathered outside the New York offices of Enron's accounting firm Arthur Andersen. They claim the scandal is conclusive proof of the failings of globalisation.
4 February 2002
Britain and Spain to share Gibraltar
?
With fresh talks today on the future of Gibraltar, speculation is mounting that Britain and Spain are to share sovereignty of the Rock. The two sides have set themselves a summer deadline to resolve the centuries-old dispute but many believe an agreement between Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Pique and his UK counterpart Jack Straw has already been reached. Britain has, however, promised not to cede sovereignty without Gibraltarians' consent. The rocky peninsula at the southern tip of Spain was transferred to Britain under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. And most of the 30,000 people who live on the outcrop want it to stay that way, despite Madrid laying claim to the tiny territory. Many residents now fear they are being sold out in the talks. Over the years, Spain has used different tactics in pursuit of its sovereignty claim, including closing the border with Gibraltar. And, even now, though the frontier has been reopened, anyone seeking to cross it has to be prepared to wait.
Ex-official claims Chirac's party took kickbacks
Corruption allegations from a former close aide are the last thing French President Jacques Chirac needs, just weeks ahead of his expected bid for re-election. But they are exactly what his party, the conservative RPR, is facing, courtesy of one of its former elected officials. Didier Schuller has told a newspaper that the RPR benefited during the 1990s from kickbacks from building firms in return for public contract awards. Schuller was speaking as France pursued its attempts to extradite him from the Dominican Republic over his role in the alleged affair. For Jacques Chirac's political ally and former French Prime Minister, Alain Juppe, the whole thing is part of an organized campaign by the left to soil the reputation of the President. He claims an anti-Chirac smear campaign is being waged across the ranks of the Socialist party, from Prime Minister Lionel Jospin downwards. Opinion polls put the President only narrowly ahead of Jospin, his expected major rival in April's election. Further allegations from Didier Schuller, who has said he will not fight the extradition request, look set to make the campaign more closely fought than ever. Judges, meanwhile, have already said that Jacques Chirac himself, as a sitting head of state, is immune from investigation in separate sleaze investigations targetting the RPR and other parties.
Tragic toll of Turkey's deadly earthquake
The people of Turkey are counting the cost of a devastating earthquake that has torn apart hundreds of people's lives. For many, little remains of the place they once called home. Scores have been injured, while 45 people were killed, all victims of a tragedy that has brought back bitter memories of two huge quakes in 1999 in which some 18,000 died. Search and rescue teams have now abandoned efforts to find survivors of Sunday's devastation. The earthquake, measuring 6 on the Richter Scale, thundered through the mainly agricultural province of Afyon, some 250 kilometers southwest of Turkey's capital, Ankara. Now, many in the region, are fully reliant on aid. "Our house was demolished," said one man. "It was a cold day. We spent the night in the tent. My wife had had an operation. I brought her from the hospital and we spent the night here, in the cold." The authorities, under fire for responding too slowly last time around, say they have got it right this time, urgently dispatching help to those who so desperately need it. But, whatever is done in the wake of the disaster, for Turkey's homeless hundreds, yet another earthquake here has already taken its toll.
Superbowl watched by U.S troops in Afghanistan
Courtesy of a huge television screen set up inside a tent, U.S troops in the Afghan desert have watched one of the most dramatic Superbowl matches in history! They may be in a combat zone thousands of miles from home but that was not going to stop the soldiers sharing in one of America's biggest sporting occasions. It was, as it turned out, a thrilling season finale with underdogs, the New England Patriots, pulling off a memorable 20-17 victory against firm favorites the St Louis Rams. The big match, for just a few moments, allowed the troops to forget more serious endeavors, enabling them to put all thoughts of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the war on terrorism to one side.
Argentina unveils crisis strategy 
Announcing a financial plan to pull Argentina out of crisis, economy minister Jorge Remes Lenicov said he is going to sever all ties with the US dollar, fully float the devalued peso and partially lift a savings freeze. He said, "We are going to make the peso the main currency of Argentina. Here we are doing what other countries do. All countries have their own currency and we want our independence and our own currency too." In Buenos Aires Argentineans bear the midday sun in the hope of withdrawing their savings. The new plan will see money held in dollars converted to pesos at the unfavourable government rate. Only those with loans in dollars will benefit - their value will be converted at the old rate before December's devaluation. Argentineans make no secret of their anger at four years of recession, poverty and unemployment. It now remains for the world's financial markets to give their reaction to the new economic plan.
Israeli strike casts shadow on peace hopes
A suspected Palestinian mortar bomb factory has gone up in flames after coming under attack from Israeli helicopters. There are no reports of casualties after the late night air raid on the edge of the Gaza Strip. Israel says the strike was a response to mortar bomb attacks on Israeli civilians. It comes as Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres told the World Economic Forum in New York that Israel was trying to build a bridge with the Palestinians. He said recent talks had been positive. "I think we went through a very difficult period of time, I think we are now beginning again to build that bridge, we try to hope it will be successful. We are talking to the Palestinians." His coalition counterpart Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was cautious about making peace. In a live TV interview he said there had been no political negotiations but he had asked Palestinian officials to renew security committee meetings, both bilaterally and with occasional American participation. Sharon is due to meet US President George W Bush in Washington on Thursday.
Russia expresses concern over western "double
standards" 
In a clear sign of growing tensions between Russia and the U.S. over Washington's war on terrorism the Russian Defence Minister has accused the West of double standards. Sergei Ivanov was speaking at the international defence conference in Munich. "Our greatest concern today is the existence to the present time of double political standards with regard to separatism, religious extremism an fanaticism. If those who blow up apartment houses in Moscow or in Dagestan are declared freedom fighters while in other countries such persons are referred to as terrorists one cannot even think of forging a united anti-terrorist front". His comments come amid growing unease in Russia and western Europe over speculation that Washington will next target Iraq. The summit was marred by clashes between anti-war protestors and police who were trying to enforce a ban on demonstrations.
3 February 2002
Gore ends silence, rejoins 'national debate'
Former VP says he hasn't decided on 2004
February
3, 2002 Posted: 2:35 AM EST (0735 GMT)
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- More than a year after conceding the presidential election, Al Gore ended his self-imposed political silence Saturday, criticizing the Bush administration and touting his favorite issues in a speech to fellow Tennessee Democrats
By
Kenneth L. Woodward NEWSWEEK
In the Beginning, There Were the Holy Books
The Bible and
the Qur’an both reveal the word of God. Both speak of prophets, redemption,
heaven and hell. So why the violence? Searching the sacred texts for answers
Feb. 11 issue — He was a pious family man, a trader from Mecca who regularly retreated into the hills above the city to fast and pray. In his 40th year, while he was praying in a cave on Mount Hira, the angel Gabriel spoke to him, saying, “Muhammad, you are the Messenger of God,” and commanded him to “Recite!” Muhammad protested that he could not—after all, he was not gifted like the traditional tribal bards of Arabia. Then, according to this tradition, the angel squeezed him so violently that Muhammad thought he’d die. Again Gabriel ordered him to recite, and from his lips came the first verses of what eventually became the Qur’an, regarded as the eternal words of God himself by some 1.3 billion Muslims around the world.
2 Febraury 2002
Reporter's fate uncertain
cnn--
Kidnapped American journalist Daniel Pearl's Wall Street Journal editor and the government of Pakistan each said early Saturday they did not believe an e-mail claim that Pearl had been killed and his body dumped into one of Karachi's 200-plus cemeteries.
Duhalde's Economic Recovery plans dealt a new blow
3 February 2002
Earthquake deaths in Turkey
At least 25 people have been killed in an earthquake in western Turkey. The tremor, measuring 6 on the Richter scale, brought down hundreds of homes and several industrial buildings. At least 150 people are reported to have been injured. Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, was due to visit the disaster zone. The quake was felt as far away as Ankara, though its epicentre was close to the town of Bolvadin in the Afyon province. The worst hit regions are Sultandagi and Cay. As part of Ankara's crisis management, civil defence teams are being sent to the area. Makeshift hospitals have also been set up. Earthquakes are common in Turkey and a huge quake in 1999 killed 18,000 people.
Peaceful protests at
New York summit 
Thousands of activists have gathered on the streets of New York to protest against globalization, war and corporate greed. The U.S city is hosting the annual World Economic Forum. Despite a few scuffles with police, there were only a handful of arrests, with American authorities not forced to face up to the sort of violence that brought the 1999 World Trade Organisation summit in Seattle to a standstill. A police spokesman summed it up, saying of the protesters "They have been wonderful." Organisers are said to have decided on peaceful protests in the wake of the September 11th attacks, though their message, aimed at the world's business and political elite, is designed to be as hard-hitting as ever. While demonstrators were having their say on the streets, talk has been continuing around the table at the five day gathering, held for the first time in its history away from Davos, Switzerland. And the forum, itself, heard calls for rich nations to offer poor countries a better path to prosperity.
Bush wants more defence spending U.S.
President, George W. Bush, is to press Congress for a large increase in defence spending, as he pursues his war on terrorism. In his State of the Union speech last week, the President emphasized the ongoing terrorist threat to America, saying that diagrams of U.S. nuclear power plants and public water facilities had been discovered during the military campaign in Afghanistan. The President's message, delivered in the presence of Afghan interim leader, Hamid Karzai, was that the war against terror is only beginning. The US-led campaign in Afghanistan, triggered by the suicide strikes of September 11th, is already costing Washington more than $1 billion a month. George W. Bush is now expected to ask for an increase in defence spending of $120 billion over the next five years. Excerpts from Monday's budget proposal indicate he will say that it is "a plan to fight a war we did not seek, but a war we are determined to win."
Duhalde set to announce economic
plan 
Outraged Argentinians have lined up again outside banks in the hope of taking out their savings. A court ruling on Friday overturned a freeze on withdrawals. But the banks have stayed closed, fearful the high demand for cash to buy dollars could put them out of business. The decision kicked up a storm of protest, not just in the street, but in the cabinet as well. President Eduardo Duhalde is planning to go ahead with a new economic plan for the recession hit country, with the details announced later. But he branded the judges' decision to overturn the savings freeze as tantamount to blackmail. The IMF says it will only "complicate" the situation for Duhalde as he aims to restart the economy.
Royal wedding party
continues for Dutch 
The day after the most famous newly-weds in the Netherlands said "I do," royal wedding fever in the country is still going strong. The Dutch people have been partying all weekend, doing their utmost to share in the happiness of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his bride, Argentinean Maxima Zorreguieta. The 30-year-old former banker wept after she exchanged vows with the 34-year-old Prince of Orange and the royal couple's obvious affection for each other has captured the public's imagination. Their kiss on the balcony has become the key image of a day when all controversy over Maxima's father, a minister in Argentina's former military dictatorship, who stayed away from the ceremony, seemed to finally disappear.
The Others beats the
rest at Goyas Hit thriller 
The Others has swept the board at Los Premios Goya, dubbed the "Spanish Oscars". Director Alejandro Amenabar took home eight prizes for his movie starring Nicole Kidman. Among them were some of the prized gongs, including best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Kidman failed to grab the best actress prize though. That honour went to Pilar Lopez de Ayala. She caught the eyes of the judges in Spanish drama Juana la loca, a historical epic tracing the turbulent life story of the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella.
2 Febraury 2002
Reporter's fate uncertain
cnn--
Kidnapped American journalist Daniel Pearl's Wall Street Journal editor and the government of Pakistan each said early Saturday they did not believe an e-mail claim that Pearl had been killed and his body dumped into one of Karachi's 200-plus cemeteries.
Duhalde's Economic Recovery plans dealt a new blow
2 Febraury 2002
Reporter's fate uncertain
cnn--
Kidnapped American journalist Daniel Pearl's Wall Street Journal editor and the government of Pakistan each said early Saturday they did not believe an e-mail claim that Pearl had been killed and his body dumped into one of Karachi's 200-plus cemeteries.
Duhalde's Economic Recovery plans dealt a new blow
Argentina's
Supreme Court on Friday overturned the government's bank deposit freeze.
President Eduardo Duhalde criticised the move which he said coincided with
an inquiry into judges accused of cronyism.
Missiles rain down on Palestinain targets
euronews--
Isreali helicopter gunships fired missiles at Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday night. The raid on the naval police headquarters was in retaliation for two alleged attacks hours earlier.
Search continues for kidnapped US journalist
euronews--
Police in Karachi searched for the kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl on Friday night.
Abortion referendum could divide Ireland
euronews--
Ireland is to hold a potentially divisive referendum on abortion on March 6. It will be the third time in two decades that voters in the largely Catholic republic are asked to ratify changes to abortion law, and it comes ahead of a general election widely expected in May...
Bush questioned over "axis of evil"
euronews--
George W Bush has enjoyed applause at home as he repeated his assertion that Iran, Iraq and North Korea constitute an "axis of evil" by building links between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism networks.
Speculation over price rounding up as inflation rise registered for month of euro cash advent
euronews--
Crews rescued as storms batter UK
bbc--
Rescue teams carry out dramatic sea rescues as storms leave boats in trouble, ferries stranded and two men missing, feared dead.
euronews--
Argentina's Supreme Court on Friday overturned the government's bank deposit freeze. President Eduardo Duhalde criticised the move which he said coincided with an inquiry into judges accused of cronyism.
Missiles rain down on Palestinain targets
euronews--
Isreali helicopter gunships fired missiles at Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday night. The raid on the naval police headquarters was in retaliation for two alleged attacks hours earlier.
Search continues for kidnapped US journalist
euronews--
Police in Karachi searched for the kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl on Friday night.
Abortion referendum could divide Ireland
euronews--
Ireland is to hold a potentially divisive referendum on abortion on March 6. It will be the third time in two decades that voters in the largely Catholic republic are asked to ratify changes to abortion law, and it comes ahead of a general election widely expected in May...
Bush questioned over "axis of evil"
euronews--
George W Bush has enjoyed applause at home as he repeated his assertion that Iran, Iraq and North Korea constitute an "axis of evil" by building links between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism networks.
Speculation over price rounding up as inflation rise registered for month of euro cash advent
euronews--
Crews rescued as storms batter UK
bbc--
Rescue teams carry out dramatic sea rescues as storms leave boats in trouble, ferries stranded and two men missing, feared dead.
1 February 2002
WAR AGAINST TERROR
Bin Laden interview
aired
Bin Laden's sole post-September 11 TV interview aired
Fugitive al Qaeda leader vows fight to the death
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden said "the battle has moved to inside America" in the only television interview he's granted since the September 11 attacks -- now airing for the first time. Full Story
World Economic Forum gets underway in
New York 
The first big meeting of the movers and shakers of the world's economy since the September 11th attacks on the US has begun. It's being seen as a chance to discuss how to put right some of the problems caused by that defining moment in history. the New York forum is being attended by some 2,700 delegates. Many expressed cautious optimism that the bruised world economy could rebuild at the end of the year, fuelled by a U.S. rebound. In a show of support for the US, the being held in Manhattan for the first time, after 31 years in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. But while that meant all the delegates were in New York, it also meant some protests. Amid a heavy police presence, around 1000 anti-globalisation demonstrators took to the streets, and they plan to do the same for the remaining four days of the meeting. Organisers insist their protests though loud, will be peaceful.
World Social Forum in Brazil
opens with mass march. 
Banging drums, waving banners, and generally making themselves heard, forty thousand people marched through the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre protesting at what they call the "imperialist agression" displayed by the World Economic Forum. The alternative summit being held here kicked off with a mass march followed by seminars and workshops to discuss economic and political alternatives. Around 850 police officers were on hand but apart from minor distrubances, they had no work to do. At the summit was the former portuguese president Mario Soares. He said "We are here to talk about alternative globalisation. But what is alternative globalisation ? A globalisation that is interested in the human being." The forum will run for another five days, with discussion groups covering topics from third world debt to workers rights. Not all of those involved oppose capitalism per se.
Munich authorities ban pacifist
demos ahead of defence conference
Munich has been declared a no-go area for pacifist demonstrators by city officials ahead of an international defence conference this evening. Up to three thousand police officers have been deployed to ensure a ban on protests is not broken Some traders in the city are taking no chances, however. Around the venue of the conference shopkeepers have been boarding up windows in anticipation of trouble. More than a hundred organisations had planned to target the summit, which will be attended by senior U.S., Russian and Nato officials. The police said they decided to ban all protests after reading the websites of some groups, which, they claimed, indicated a willingness to use violence. Lawyers for the pacifists said they would appeal against the ban issued by the city council. Representatives of the groups said they would demonstrate whether their legal appeal was successful or not.
The
battle to run Germany begins
There may be over eight months to go, but the gloves are off and the fight is underway. At stake is the chance to run Germany. The Christian Democrats are hoping their man will be elected for the role. Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber has kicked off the conservative challenge with an attack on Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder's management of the economy and a promise of tax cuts. He also gave a hint at radical new anti immigration policy. "With four million unemployed there's no great need for a generous level of immigration in the near future". he said. In an apparent move to show the Conservatives have put aside their recent wrangle over who would be the party's challenger to Schroeder, Angela Merkel featured prominently in the party rally. She said Stoiber was the man to turn Germany's fortunes around.
US contacts Europe over
Guantanamo detainees 
The CIA has contacted Spain for information about a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay,Cuba. Ahmed Abderraman claims to be a Spaniard from the North African enclave of Ceuta. Spanish police are sending copies of fingerprints to US authorities. Abderraman's family denies he has any links to terrorism. Spain's Foreign Ministry says that if Abderraman is confirmed a Spaniard he will be offered diplomatic assistance. Two other detainees at Guantanamo Bay had claimed to be Spanish but were later identified as Pakistanis. Nizar Sassi is also being held at Camp X-Ray. The twenty-two-year old with Tunisian roots grew up in a suburb of Lyon, in southern France. He was a practicing Muslim and worked nights as a security guard in a car park to raise money for his family. His brother says he often went to Tunisia for holidays. Last summer he decided to go to Saudi Arabia to learn Arabic and study the Koran. Sassi and Abderraman are believed to be just two of several European nationals at Guantanamo Bay accused of supporting the Taliban and Al Qaede terrorist network.
Fire
at Kuwaiti oil plant kills four
A huge explosion killed at least four people at an oil-gathering centre in Kuwait on Friday morning. The blast was apparently caused by a leak from a pipeline. Officials ruled out a terrorist link. The fire near the Iraqi border also spread to a gas booster station. An investigation has begun to discover the cause of the accident. Kuwait is one of the world's largest oil producing countries. Oil prices rose to a peak after news of the fire but pulled back following reports that the blaze will not affect supplies.
German
film legend Knef dies at 76
Hildegard Knef, one of the great stars of European cinema has died. The German actress, who was seventy-six, died in a clinic in Berlin where she was being treated for cancer. Knef came to prominence in several controversial films made in post-war Germany. She was at the centre of a scandal over the 1951 film "The Sinner", which featured the first nude scene in German cinema. Knef was also noted for her interpretations of the songs of Brecht.
Excitment grows over
Dutch royal wedding 
We do not know if she kissed a frog, but she certainly got her Prince, as final preparations are underway for the Netherland's wedding of the year- the marriage of Argentine beauty Maxima Zorreguieta to Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. Guests have been arriving ahead of tomorrow's ceremony, and at the same time, attending the 64th birthday celebrations of Queen Beatrix. Italian fashion designer, Valentino was amongst them. He is the man responsible for Max's dress. Making it a right royal affair, the prince and princess of Belgium will also be there, along with their Norwegian counterparts. It is an occasion to make the whole country proud according to Amsterdam's mayor, the man who will marry the happy couple. He said, "I think it is very important for Amsterdam. It is a very special occasion, it is once in thirty or forty years that a crown prince has his marriage". The daughter of a minister from Argentina's military dictatorship, it has taken a while for the Dutch to accept Maxima into their hearts, but they have and now they are even accepting her into their homes. They have been snapping up all wedding plates, cups and dolls currently on offer.