Dutch envoy flees Estonian abuse BBC News
The Dutch ambassador to Estonia, Hans Glaubitz, is leaving the country, complaining of persistent racist and homophobic abuse. Mr Glaubitz said he and his partner, a black Cuban man, were regularly insulted when they went out. An Estonian foreign ministry spokesman said the men had been well received at an official level, but expressed "regret" over any public abuse. Mr Glaubitz is to be posted to Canada to become consul-general in Montreal. He told Dutch newspapers: "It is not very nice to be regularly abused by drunken skinheads as a '"epithet deleted"' and to be continuously gawped at as if you have just stepped out of a UFO." While the Netherlands has a reputation as one of the most liberal countries in Europe, having legalised same-sex marriage in 2000, Estonia has "not really gone through the enlightenment revolution", according to Rainer Kattel, professor of political science from Tallinn University. "Estonia does have latent racism, but it is not violent like in other countries. If you are openly gay and of a different race people will make mean comments to you," he said.

Japanese shares hit six-month low BBC News
Japanese shares plummeted to a fresh six-month low on Thursday as ongoing fears about interest rate rises in the US continue to hit the global markets. The main Nikkei index ended down 463 points or 3% to 14,633, falling below 15,000 for the first time in 2006, and its biggest one-day drop in a year. Its decline followed three successive days of falls on Wall Street. The losses have been caused by concern the US is going to keep raising interest rates to tackle inflation. It follows after US Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke acknowledged earlier this week that the central bank did have inflation concerns.

'Tough time'
Global investors fear that an interest rate rise in the US will slow the American economy and that this will have an immediate knock-on effect on global business. The Nikkei's Thursday declines were led by exporters such as Honda. "We're going through a tough time because we're not sure when the Fed will stop raising interest rates," said Han Yo-Seop, an analyst at Daewoo Securities. The Nikkei has now lost some 2,800 points since hitting a five-year high of 17,563.37 just two months ago. Its Thursday decline was mirrored by similar falls across Asia. By late afternoon trading, Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index was down 279 points to 15,538.

US hopeful on impact of al-Zarqawi death San Jose Mercury News
The death of al-Qaida in Iraq's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, allowed US counterterrorism officials to breath a sigh of relief when reached in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday. But several still cautioned that, while his death was a significant development, it wouldn't end the terror operations or violence in Iraq. "It shouldn't cause anyone to have unrealistic expectations," said one official, who requested anonymity while details of al-Zarqawi's death were still unfolding. The impact of al-Zarqawi's death is nonetheless symbolic: The U.S. has not seen the elimination of such an iconic figure since former President Saddam Hussein was found in an underground bunker in late 2003. Al-Zarqawi was considered the most dangerous terror plotter and foreign fighter in Iraq, coordinating a loose coalition of militants numbering at least in the hundreds. Osama bin Laden calls him the "emir," or prince, of al-Qaida in Iraq. The U.S. government was offering up to $25 million for information leading to al-Zarqawi's killing or capture, putting him on par with Hussein, bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. During a speech in April, Gen. Michael Hayden, the newly appointed CIA director who was then serving as the No. 2 U.S. intelligence official, said the war in Iraq motivates jihadists, but their failure there would weaken the movement globally. "The loss of key leaders like bin Laden, Zawahri and Zarqawi - especially if they were lost in rapid succession - could cause the jihadist movement to fracture even more into smaller groups, and would probably lead to strains and disagreements," Hayden said. Al-Qaida in Iraq has taken responsibility for numerous mortar attacks, suicide bombings, beheadings and other violence against U.S. and Iraqi targets. Scores, including many ordinary Iraqis, have died. Yet even into 2004, al-Zarqawi was considered a shadowy figure whose followers were known simply as "the Zarqawi network." He operated under the names of various jihadist groups, and began emulating bin Laden with recordings fraught with anti-Western rhetoric and calls to arms. U.S. intelligence veterans have said he craved attention and saw an expanded role for himself in the al-Qaida organization. But the U.S. government has misunderstood him at times. The Bush administration cited al-Zarqawi's presence in Iraq before the April 2003 collapse of Saddam's government among its evidence of contacts between al-Qaida and the former regime - and part of its justification for the Iraq war. While al-Zarqawi is believed to have been in Iraq, he was not operating as part of al-Qaida then. The July 2004 report from the Sept. 11 Commission found no evidence of a collaborative relationship between Saddam and bin Laden's terror organization before the invasion. But by October 2004, al-Zarqawi pledged his allegiance to bin Laden. Al-Zarqawi was also known for a time as the "one-legged terrorist," because U.S. authorities believed was fitted for an artificial leg in Baghdad in 2002. The assessment was later revised. Over time, a more vivid picture of al-Zarqawi emerged. Born in Jordan in 1966, al-Zarqawi developed ties to mujahedeen, or holy warriors, while fighting alongside them during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Intelligence officials believe al-Zarqawi has cells or links to Muslim extremists worldwide, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan and Kuwait. In the United States, FBI and other government officials did not believe al-Zarqawi had operatives under his command, but they had said it's likely that he has ties to some U.S.-based militants or sympathizers from his years of work in the extremist community. U.S. officials have said bin Laden contacted al-Zarqawi last year to enlist him in attacks outside Iraq. Al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for deadly bombings at three hotels in Jordan in November, including a wedding, which drew fierce condemnation. At a rally, hundreds of angry Jordanians shouted "Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!" after the terrorist's group claimed responsibility for the blasts.
Analysis: Will Zarqawi's death ease woes? BBC News
Zarqawi: the face of Al Qaeda in Iraq ABC Online
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Baby rapist's sentence increased BBC News
A man who raped a 12-week-old baby has had his six-year jail term increased to eight by the Court of Appeal. The five-year-sentence originally imposed on Alan Webster's accomplice Tanya French will remain, judges said. Webster, 40, was sentenced to life in January but was eligible to apply for parole after six years. French, 19, was jailed for five years. Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC said sentences of the pair, from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, were "unduly lenient". He said their offences were of the "gravest depravity", which was the driving force behind the review of the sentences.He also said they should not have received discounts for pleading guilty. A panel of five senior Appeal Court judges, headed by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, ruled that Webster's six-year minimum term was too short. He said: "His sentence was life imprisonment and such was his depravity that it was questionable whether the parole board would ever consider that he should be released." The court ruled that having regard to French's youth and the fact she had been corrupted by Webster, her sentence fell within the range that was properly open to the sentencing judge "and should not be disturbed". Lord Goldsmith earlier said the crimes committed by Webster and French had "shocked and outraged public opinion". Webster and French raped and indecently assaulted the baby and took photographs of the abuse, their trial heard. The baby's mother has described the sentences given to the pair as a "joke". She was unaware of the abuse until detectives visited her after finding photographs detailing the horrific abuse at Webster's home.

Oil prices fall on Zarqawi death BBC News
Oil prices have dropped sharply to below $70 a barrel on news of the death of the militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. Two key oil prices, for July delivery of US light sweet crude and UK Brent, fell to $69.54 and $68.35 respectively. Prices had already been on the slide because of healthy oil stocks in the US and an easing of tensions with Iran. On Wednesday former US central bank chief Alan Greenspan had warned that oil prices were hurting the US economy. Jordanian-born Zarqawi was seen as the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and a figurehead of the Sunni insurgency. His group has been blamed for numerous kidnapping of both Iraqis and Westerners. "The hope is that with the removal of the terror leader in Iraq, the Iraqi situation will stabilise faster and future oil supply could increase," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz. The insurgents had frequently targeted Iraqi oil installations, and Iraqi oil output has still not recovered to anywhere near the level the government was hoping for.

Roadside bomb hits Afghan troops BBC News
Three soldiers of the Afghan National Army have been killed and three injured by a roadside bomb in the province of Ghazni, Afghan military officials say. They say that the bomb went off 10 kms (5.5 miles) south-east of the town of Ghazni on Thursday morning. Eyewitnesses say that the bomb completely destroyed the vehicle that the soldiers were travelling in. The army said the attack was the work of "enemies of Afghanistan", a phrase used to the denote the Taleban. Correspondents say that the Taleban and their allies have increasingly used roadside bombs against the US-led coalition in Afghanistan. A roadside bomb is also reported to have wounded four US-led coalition soldiers when it blew up near their vehicle in southern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the force said on Thursday. He said that the attack occurred on Wednesday in Zabul province, about 300 kms (185 miles) south of the capital Kabul. The US military said earlier this week that two US soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday. In other violence on Tuesday, four died in a bomb attack in a mosque in Ghazni province, officials said. Three Afghan soldiers died in a separate bombing.

Indian stock markets drop again BBC News
Indian share prices have fallen by 4% in the wake of steep declines in other Asian markets. The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex fell by more than 400 points to 9,397.93, the lowest since January. Indian shares have fallen by more than 25% over the past month after hitting a record high of 12,612 points. Shares across Asian markets have fallen as ongoing fears about interest rate rises in the US continue to hit the global markets. Shares on the National Stock Exchange also tumbled, with the 50-company S&P Nifty index down 3.4% to 2,765 points. The falling share prices have led to heavy selling by mutual funds and retail investors.

Opportunity
Many middle-class Indians have made money on the stock markets over the past few years, but analysts say the era of making quick gains is over. However, they stress that the markets still present an opportunity for long-term investors. Kevin Grice, an emerging markets specialist at American Express bank, believes the share prices on India's markets have fallen to reasonable levels. "India is looking very attractive... The Sensex in this kind of area is now a buying opportunity," he told the Associated Press news agency.

Key Iraq ministers get approval BBC News
The Iraqi parliament has approved Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's nominees for the key government posts of defence and interior ministers. The two posts had remained vacant for nearly three weeks due to wrangling between the main parties in the governing Shia alliance. Jawad Bulani, a Shia, is the new interior minister and Abdul Qadir Obeidi, a Sunni, the defence minister. Shirwan Waili has also been approved as minister of national security. The nominees were approved by an overwhelming majority and sworn in by the parliamentary speaker after brief questioning by members of parliament. Filling the posts was seen as vital in furthering the government's efforts to fight the insurgency.

Saddam opponent
Mr Obeidi, a general in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein, told parliament that he had been demoted for opposing the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. He said that he was forced to retire in 1992 and detained two years later. He faced a military court which ordered the confiscation of his house and other assets. Mr Obeidi insisted that he had no links to any Iraqi political faction. Mr Bulani was a member of Iraq's interim Governing Council in 2004. He became a member of the Iraqi parliament in 2005. During the rule of Saddam Hussein he was an air force engineer but left the armed forces in 1999.

Bosnia in major anti-drug drive BBC News
A major anti-drug campaign is launched on Thursday in Bosnia-Hercegovina, involving police from across the country as well as EU advisers. Bosnia suffers badly from being on a major smuggling route. One of the commodities being traded is heroin, coming from Afghanistan, through Turkey, then through the Balkans on the way to western Europe. The division and misery left behind by the Bosnian war, just over a decade ago, have made the problem even worse. Some of the drugs never makes it to western Europe, but ends up here - on the streets of towns and cities like Sarajevo. A small bag can cost as little as a couple of dollars. The anti-drug boss for the Sarajevo area said the sharp increase is because of young people having no job and no life. But there are other reasons - Bosnia is still divided into two separate halves, with separate and often underfunded police forces. They are no match for organised criminal gangs which flourished in the chaos after the war. Sometimes there are successes - such as almost 40kg of heroin found in two apartments in the capital last year. But one official estimate suggests that only 10% of heroin coming into Bosnia is intercepted.
By Nicholas Walton, BBC News, Sarajevo

E Timor violence hits second town BBC News
A provincial office of East Timor's ruling Fretilin party has been torched south of the capital, a lawmaker said. Youths looted and burned the office in Gleno, Ermera district, Parliament's Speaker Francisco Guterres said. It was the first reported violence outside the capital, Dili, since a wave of unrest erupted last month. The UN has said more peacekeepers will be needed to end the unrest, which has left over 20 people dead. More than 2,000 foreign troops, mostly from Australia, are already in Dili. The crisis was triggered by the sacking of 600 striking soldiers in March. It spread to different factions of the security forces and led to gang violence in Dili.

More troops
Mr Guterres said the house of a party official in Ermera, which is about 40km (25 miles) south west of Dili, was also attacked and that there had been gunfire in the streets. "I condemn those who attacked my representative in Ermera district and burned down our office," he said. Rebel troops based in Gleno denied any involvement in the violence, with one of them questioning whether the incident was merely propaganda. The government has been blamed for the violence and many protesters are calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. But a spokesman for Mr Alkatiri told AFP that the prime minister was not intending to meet a deadline set by the protesters for his resignation. On Wednesday, a United Nations official said that Secretary-General Kofi Annan felt more UN peacekeepers were needed to control the unrest in East Timor. "The council will have to make some decision as to what the UN posture in East Timor will look like in the months ahead, but it is pretty clear already from here that that will have to be increased," spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. The violence is the worst since East Timor's bloody separation from Indonesia in 1999.

Japan's emperor visits Singapore BBC News
Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko have set off for a week-long tour of South East Asia, beginning with a state visit to Singapore. It is the first visit by a Japanese emperor to the city state since Japan invaded Singapore during World War II. The imperial couple will mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. They will also visit Malaysia and Thailand as part of a visit seen as aiming to heal historical scars. Emperor Akihito, 72, said that he hoped the visit would strengthen mutual understanding and friendship. He was speaking as he boarded the plane at Tokyo's Haneda airport.

'Never forget'
On Tuesday, he addressed the subject of the country's wartime history at a press conference. "I repeatedly feel pain in my heart about the fact that many people, including the Japanese, lost their lives during the war," he said. "We should never forget about this history," he said, adding he was deeply concerned that the younger generation lacked knowledge of the subject. Japan invaded Singapore in 1942 and occupied it until 1945, its three-year rule marked by severe brutality in which thousands of civilians and allied prisoners died. But the historical issue has not come to dominate the bilateral relationship, as it has with China, and ties between the two countries are cordial. The imperial couple, who visited Singapore in 1970 and 1981 as Crown Prince and Princess, will attend a banquet hosted by Singaporean President S.R. Nathan, where the emperor is due to give a speech. The couple will then visit Malaysia, before attending the celebrations in Bangkok to mark the Thai king's 60 years on the throne.

European stocks follow Japan fall BBC News
European stocks have fallen sharply in early Thursday trading, after the main Japanese index plummeted in Tokyo. With fears continuing that interest rate rises in the US will hit global growth, Japan's Nikkei ended the day down 463 points, or 3%, at 14,633. This was the Nikkei's biggest one-day drop in a year, and the first time it had fallen below 15,000 in 2006. London's FTSE 100 opened down 98 points at 5,608, while both France's Cac and Germany's Dax were down more than 2%.

Inflation concern
The declines follow three successive days of falls on Wall Street. The losses have been caused by concerns that the US will need to keep raising interest rates to tackle inflation. Earlier this week US Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke acknowledged that the central bank did have inflation concerns.

Global investors fear that an interest rate rise in the US will slow the American economy and that this will have an immediate knock-on effect on global business. The European Central Bank is also widely tipped to raise eurozone interest rates by one quarter of a percent later on Thursday.

'Tough time'
The Nikkei's Thursday declines were led by exporters such as Honda. "We're going through a tough time because we're not sure when the Fed will stop raising interest rates," said Han Yo-Seop, an analyst at Daewoo Securities. The Nikkei has now lost some 2,800 points since hitting a five-year high of 17,563.37 just two months ago. Its Thursday decline was echoed by similar falls across Asia. India's benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange fell by more than 400 points to 9,398, its lowest level since January.

Court hears Argentina-Uruguay row BBC News
The International Court of Justice is holding two days of hearings on a row between Argentina and Uruguay over two giant paper mills on their border. Argentina argues that the plants will cause pollution and wants construction halted until further studies are done. Uruguay says the mills will adhere to the strictest environmental rules and will stimulate the area's economy. The row has sparked months of protests by Argentines against the mills and strained traditionally warm ties. The mills are being built on the Uruguayan side of the river that separates the two South American neighbours. Argentina wants the court in The Hague to issue a provisional measure halting construction while the judges consider the Argentine claim that the project violates a treaty on joint use of the river. The Argentine government, which argues that the mills will pollute a region dependent on agriculture and tourism, also wants further environmental studies to be carried out. Uruguay argues that the Spanish and Finnish companies building the mills will use the latest technology to avoid pollution. It also says the $1.7bn project will provide badly needed jobs. There have been mass protests in Argentina against the mills, including in April when thousands blocked traffic crossing the bridge between the two countries. Environmentalists have also demonstrated in Uruguay. The ICJ, the United Nations' highest court, will not analyse Argentina's claim in detail but will decide whether interim measures should be taken to suspend construction. That decision could take three to four weeks, correspondents say. It is not known when the ICJ will examine Argentina's claim in full, the AFP news agency reports. A ruling can take several years.

BP faces Alaska oil spill probe BBC News
British oil company BP could face a criminal investigation in the US over a massive oil spill in Alaska in March. The Financial Times newspaper has obtained internal emails which show it is under investigation by a grand jury. The emails reveal BP has been ordered to hand over a number of documents and other data relating to the leak thought to be caused by a corroded pipe. A spokesman for the company said BP would provide information showing it had acted properly. The spill of some 267,000 gallons (1m litres) discovered at Prudhoe Bay field, is the largest ever on Alaska's North Slope region. BP Alaska, which operates the pipeline, has denied claims it failed to maintain it properly. Such an investigation by a grand jury could lead to criminal charges and ultimately fines and prison sentences.

Second probe
The spill was detected on 2 March and plugged. Local environmentalists have described it as "a catastrophe". BP is already facing a probe into a blast at a Texas refinery in March 2005 in which 15 people died and 170 were injured. BP said "management failures" and "employee mistakes" were responsible. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez shipping disaster spilled 11m gallons (42m litres) of oil onto the Alaskan coast.

US cool on Somali terror denial BBC News
The United States has said it will "reserve judgement" after the Islamist militia in charge of the Somali capital strongly denied supporting terrorism. A US State Department spokesman said the Union of Islamic Courts was not a "monolithic" group. The Islamist leader on Wednesday tried to calm western fears by sending a letter to foreign diplomats saying they were not "harbouring any terrorists". The courts seized Mogadishu from warlords believed to have US backing. The US has neither confirmed nor denied reports that they supported the Anti-Terror Alliance of warlords. But on Tuesday, US President George W Bush said he would ensure that Somalia did not become a safe haven for al-Qaeda.

Popular
Meanwhile, Islamic courts chairman Sharif Shaikh Ahmed has told Reuters news agency that his forces have no plans to attack the town of Jowhar, some 90km (58miles) north of the capital, where some of the remaining warlords have fled. "We are monitoring the coalition militia movements. If they attack us, we will of course answer them," he said. On Wednesday, they were reported to have ordered a halt to any flights from the airport there to prevent any warlords fleeing. BBC Somali Service editor Yusuf Garaad Omar says the Islamists are generally far more popular than the warlords, who are hated for their role in Somalia's 15-year civil war. On Wednesday, a senior interim minister said he expected the Union of Islamic Courts to eventually join them in government. The deputy head of the government based in the town of Baidoa, Ismail Mahmoud, said contacts had been taking place. The transitional government only controls a small part of Somalia, which has not had a functioning national authority for 15 years.

Arrest
Mr Ahmed's letter to diplomats said: "We categorically deny and reject any accusation that we are harbouring any terrorists or supporters of terrorism in the areas where the courts operate... "We share no objectives, goals or methods with groups that sponsor or support terrorism." Mr Ahmed is seen as a relative moderate, while at least two senior figures are considered to be more radical - Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on the US list of terror suspects, and Afghanistan-trained militia commander Adan Hashi Ayro. One of the Somali warlords was arrested and deported from Kenya, after it said it would no longer host those who "destabilise" its lawless neighbour. Abdirashid Shire Ilgayte, a member of the alliance defeated by an Islamic militia in recent fighting, was led from his Nairobi hotel by police. Kenya has played host to Somali peace talks involving almost all faction leaders, for the past three years.

Nigeria oil workers 'to be freed' BBC News
Five South Koreans kidnapped during a raid on a Nigeria oil field in which five soldiers were killed are to be freed, a group of oil militants says. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said it would release them on Thursday, following an appeal from a detained militant leader. Mend has staged several attacks in Nigeria's main oil producing region to demand more oil wealth for locals. Eight oil workers were freed on Sunday, two days after they were seized. Attacks on oil facilities have become increasingly common in Nigeria's lawless, impoverished Delta region, leading to a 25% cut in oil production by Africa's biggest exporter. Armed groups have long complained that oil wealth has not been distributed equitably among the local population. The BBC's Alex Last in Nigeria says there are fears that the violence will only get worse as next year's elections approach.

Prisoner exchange?
Mend said the attack, in which they sunk an army boat near Port Harcourt, was a response to a court decision to deny bail to militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari. Mr Dokubo-Asari was arrested on treason charges last year. Mend has long demanded his release. One of the other groups that took part in the kidnappings, the Joint Revolutionary Council, says Mr Dokubo-Asari has called for the release of the hostages, according to Reuter news agency. When it announced responsibility for the kidnappings, Mend suggested that the hostages could be exchanged for Mr Dokubo-Asari. Three of the kidnapped workers are from South Korean engineering firm Daewoo. The others work for the Korea Gas Corp. Our correspondent says that many armed groups in the Niger Delta have links to competing local politicians and have been used to help win elections in the past. So the fear is that violence in the Delta will rise as armed groups, political or otherwise, strive to exert their power, as campaigning starts for elections due next year.

S Korea abductee 'to meet family' BBC News
North Korea has confirmed the whereabouts of a South Korean who was allegedly abducted three decades ago. It said it would arrange a meeting between the man, Kim Young-nam, and his family members later this month. Seoul has recently increased pressure for information about citizens thought to have been kidnapped by the North. It believes around 500 South Koreans have been taken over the years, but it has been cautious of pushing the issue for fear of upsetting the North. However a recent appeal during inter-Korean talks appears to have borne fruit.


Kim Young-Nam disappeared from a beach on the west coast of South Korea in 1978, when he was 16 years old. Pyongyang said it would permit a meeting with his 82-year-old mother during a round of family reunions later this month.A report on the North's state news agency warned the South not to obstruct the meeting - a hint that conditions could be attached. The case has attracted attention because of evidence that Mr Kim fathered a child with a celebrated Japanese kidnap victim, Megumi Yokota.


She was abducted by North Korean agents at the age of 13, and the North claims she later committed suicide. DNA samples taken from her daughter were found to match DNA from Mr Kim. The North admits that 13 Japanese citizens were kidnapped in the 1970s and 80s. Their role was to teach Japanese language and customs to North Korean spies. However, Pyongyang refuses to acknowledge that many more South Koreans were also abducted.
By Charles Scanlon

Germany urged to bar Iran leader BBC News
The newly elected leader of Germany's main Jewish body has said the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, should be barred from the World Cup. Charlotte Knobloch described him as "a second Hitler". "He denies the Holocaust - that is illegal in Germany," she told the newspaper Bild. Mr Ahmadinejad has said he might go and support the Iranian team in Germany. Germany has already granted a visa to an Iranian Vice President, Mohammad Aliabadi, to attend the World Cup.

Demonstrations
Mrs Knobloch, elected leader of Germany's Central Council of Jews on Wednesday, said the German government should not invoke diplomatic immunity for Mr Ahmadinejad, but rather should "investigate and charge him". Denial of the Nazi extermination of Jews in World War II is a serious offence in Germany, punishable by up to five years in prison. Mr Ahmadinejad has described the Holocaust as a "myth" and said Israel should be "wiped off the map". The far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) has plans to hold a march in Leipzig during the World Cup, to show solidarity with him. Iran opens its World Cup campaign with a match against Mexico on Sunday in Nuremberg. Several groups plan to participate in a demonstration against Mr Ahmadinejad on Sunday, including the Israeli cultural organisation and exiled Iranian dissident groups. Bavaria's Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein plans to join the demonstration. "If he were to come, we, as Germans, must make it very clear that he is not wanted here," Mr Beckstein said. He said it "would be for the best if Iran's president were not to come".

Sri Lanka sides hold key meeting BBC News
The Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels are meeting in Norway to discuss security for truce monitors. It follows last month's rebel attack on a navy convoy carrying the observers. Norwegian officials praised both sides for agreeing to come to Oslo to discuss the issue, but said this meeting was no substitute for proper peace talks. The two sides last held peace talks in February, but since then there has been an escalation in violence. On Thursday, an army officer was killed by a mine. Sri Lanka's government has blamed Tamil rebels for the attack, in the north-east of the country. For its part, the rebels accused the military of shelling their positions near the north-eastern town of Trincomalee, the Reuters news agency reports. Clashes have killed more than 300 people in the last two months. On Wednesday, at least 10 Tamils were killed and 13 wounded in a mine explosion in rebel-held territory near the town of Batticaloa, in the east. Norwegian aid ministry spokesman Espen Gullikstad said the two days of talks in Oslo would focus on "security and operations of the monitors". "These are not peace talks, addressing the core political issues," he said. The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Colombo says success will be if the two sides reaffirm their commitment to the truce. If international ceasefire observers cannot monitor the truce, then it is hard to see how the situation in Sri Lanka can be saved from worsening, she adds. The rebels are also expected to raise the issue of the European Union placing the Tamil Tigers on a terrorist list last week. Three of the four countries providing truce monitors are part of the European Union.

Violated truce
Wednesday's blast, killing 10 Tamils, occurred as local people were travelling to market near Vadamunai, a village about 70km (45 miles) north-west of Batticaloa. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) told the BBC the victims were civilians, and a statement blamed the army for the blast. The military, dozens of whose personnel have died in mine blasts blamed on the Tamil Tigers this year, denied its forces had been operating behind rebel lines. "The security forces do not go into those areas," army spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe told Reuters. "We totally reject these accusations." Suspected rebel attacks on security forces and killings of Tamils blamed on the army and others have soared in recent months. Scandinavian ceasefire monitors have accused both sides of violating a truce agreed in 2002.

Al-Zarqawi Is Killed by US Air Raid Near Baghdad Bloomberg
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist who led al-Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a US air raid north of Baghdad, removing the figurehead of the middle-eastern nation's bloody three-year insurgency. "Today al-Zarqawi has been killed,'' Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a televised press conference from Baghdad. "This is a message to all those who take violence as a path to reconsider and to go back to their senses before it is too late.'' Seven other people were killed in the raid, he said. Al-Zarqawi, 39, was the most wanted man in Iraq, with a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head. The Jordanian's group has claimed responsibility for dozens of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of foreign hostages across Iraq since the March, 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Intelligence led to the deadly air raid, which was carried out yesterday at about 6:15 p.m. local time on a safe house near Baqubah, north of Baghdad, General George Casey, who leads coalition forces in Iraq, said at the press conference. Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, a spiritual adviser and lieutenant to al-Zarqawi, was also killed in yesterday's raid, he said. "Tips and intelligence from Iraqi senior leaders from his network led forces to al-Zarqawi and some of his associates who were conducting a meeting approximately eight kilometers north of Baqubah when the air strike was launched,'' the general said. "Coalition Forces were able to identify al-Zarqawi by fingerprint verification, facial recognition and known scars.'' Al-Qaeda in Iraq confirmed al-Zarqawi's death in a statement posted on the Internet, and vowed to continue its "holy war,'' the Associated Press reported.

`Godfather' of Killing
U.S. President George W. Bush was informed of the killing at 4:35 p.m. Washington time yesterday, White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters today. The president "made it clear that it certainly wouldn't be the end of things,'' Snow said. U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's biggest supporter during the war, hailed the killing as a ``strike'' against global terrorism. "Al Zarqawi's death was a strike against Al-Qaeda in Iraq and therefore a strike against al-Qaeda everywhere,'' Blair said today in a televised briefing in London. ``But we should have no illusions. We know that they will continue to kill.'' The military had been homing in on al-Zarqawi for at least a month. Major General Rick Lynch, a U.S. military spokesman, said on May 4 that material found in five recent raids, including documents, maps, sketches and video footage, was helping the coalition gain an insight into "his plans and mind.'' The terrorist's "focus'' was Yusufiyah and Baghdad, he said.

Sectarian Violence
The deaths will boost al-Maliki's attempts to establish security and may diminish a wave of sectarian killings that has beset Iraq since the Feb. 22 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, which is sacred to Shiite Muslims. Zarqawi, a Sunni Muslim, in a September audiotape broadcast by al-Arabiya declared an "all-out war'' on Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims. "The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi marks a great success for Iraq and the global war on terror,'' U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said. "Zarqawi was the godfather of sectarian killing and terror in Iraq. He declared a civil war within Iraq and a global war of civilizations.'' The terrorist's death was a "good omen'' for the government, he said. Thousands of Iraqis have been killed in sectarian violence since the Samarra blast, with bombings, kidnappings and shootings a daily occurrence in Iraq. The violence took place amid a power vacuum, as political parties representing all Iraqi groups bartered over the formation of a new government. Al-Maliki on May 20 won parliamentary approval for his new cabinet, and told lawmakers at the time that his government would make security a priority. "We will defeat terrorism,'' he said.

Al-Qaeda Still a Threat
"It would be wrong to suggest the insurgency began or ended with al-Zarqawi,'' Sajjan Gohel, an analyst with the Asia Pacific Foundation, said in a telephone interview in London. *It doesn't belong to one person, it is broad-based and one person killed or arrested is not going to remove the insurgency because it is beyond one man.'' A roadside bomb today killed 3 people and wounded 28 in a market in southeastern Baghdad's al-Jadida district, Agence France-Presse reported. Casey also warned that al-Qaeda would remain a threat. "Although the designated leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq is now dead, the terrorist organization still poses a threat as its members will continue to try to terrorize the Iraqi people and destabilize their government as it moves toward stability and prosperity,'' the general said.

Ministers Named
Al-Maliki today filled the three remaining posts in his cabinet, naming Jawad al-Bulani, a Shiite Muslim, as interior minister, Abdel Qadir al-Obeidi, a Sunni Muslim, as defense minister, and Shirwan al-Waili, a Shiite, as national security chief, according to the Iraqi government's Web site. The appointments were approved by parliament. "The election of the new government and its full formation today, shows a new spirit to succeed,'' Blair said in London. Disagreements among political parties over the nominees meant the Cabinet's security posts were the last to be filled following the December election of a permanent government. The U.S.-led coalition, which has more than 150,000 troops in the country, has linked the start of any withdrawal to the training of Iraqi forces who can take over the country's security.

Jordan, Afghanistan, Iraq
Al-Zarqawi's group began as Tawhid Wal-Jihad, or ``Unity and Holy War,'' before the Jordanian declared allegiance in October 2004 to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network. The group claimed responsibility for some of the bloodiest atrocities committed by the insurgency in Iraq, including the assassination of Iraqi Governing Council leader Izzedine Salim in May 2004, and the beheadings of U.S. hostages Nicholas Berg, Eugene Armstrong, and Jack Hensley and the Briton Kenneth Bigley. Born as Ahmad Fadil Nazal al-Khalayleh on Oct. 30, 1966, al- Zarqawi took his later name from the town of al-Zarqaa, in Jordan. After dropping out of school, he spent time in prison for drug possession and sexual assault, according to the New York- based Council on Foreign Relations. The Jordanian made his way to Afghanistan in 1989 following his release from prison, and then spent time in Peshawar, Pakistan, where he may have met bin Laden for the first time, and where he adopted his fundamentalist Muslim Salafist beliefs, the council said on its Web site.

Attack on UN
Prior to the 2003 war in Iraq, al-Zarqawi's group had conducted some attacks in Jordan, including the murder of U.S. aid official Lawrence Foley in Amman in 2002. Al-Zarqawi in April 2004 was sentenced to death in his native country for the murder of Foley. Last December, he received another death sentence for an attempted bombing carried out in 2004 on the border with Iraq. The first prominent attack carried out by al-Zarqawi's group in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion was the bombing in August 2003 of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad. Less than two weeks later, the terrorist's group bombed the United Nations headquarters in the Iraqi capital, killing Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative to Baghdad, and 22 other people. That blast prompted the withdrawal of most UN staff from Iraq. The bombing campaign continued through 2004, with attacks on the fortified "Green Zone,'' home to ministries and embassies, and the blast that killed Salim. A spate of kidnappings of foreign hostages also began, with al-Zarqawi releasing graphic videos showing the beheading with knives of hostages including Hensley, Armstrong and Bigley.

`Difficult Days'
The U.S. military and Iraqi government said in May 2005 that they believed al-Zarqawi had been injured, in response to reports that the Jordanian had been hurt during U.S. air strikes. al- Zarqawi himself said in a voice recording posted on the internet that he had "light'' injuries. Also last year, Al-Zarqawi's group increased operations outside Iraq, with its most notable attack being the Nov. 9 suicide bombings that killed 57 people in three hotels in Amman. The Jordanian continued to issue audiotapes and video messages, including one on April 25 this year in which he urged Iraqis not to cooperate with the new government. Images showed the fugitive speaking, training recruits, firing a machine gun and appearing for the first time without a mask. "Zarqawi's death will not by itself end the violence in Iraq,'' Khalilzad said. "There will be difficult days ahead as we continue together, Iraq and Coalition forces, to fight terrorists and those who want Iraq to fail.''
Terrorist Zarqawi 'dead in airstrike' Bangkok Post
Al Qaeda chief Zarqawi killed in Iraq ABC Online
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Former Majority Leader DeLay Says Goodbye TurnTo23.com
Tom DeLay of Texas has brought a 22-year congressional career to a close by telling his colleagues he served "honorably and honestly.". The former House majority leader said that if given the chance to do it all again, he would change only one thing. He said he would "fight even harder" for the issues in which he believes. At least two dozen Democrats walked out on DeLay as he took a final shot at liberals. He said they stand only for "more government, more taxation, more control over people's lives and wallets." DeLay's departure comes as his majority party struggles with a series of scandals and low approval ratings for President George W. Bush. He also faces legal and ethical troubles. DeLay is to stand trial in Texas on campaign money laundering charges. But he said those charges are politically motivated and insisted he'll be exonerated.
DeLay Bids the House a Torrid Goodbye New York Times
DeLay remains unrepentant as he exits House San Jose Mercury News
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Zarqawi raids uncover new leads BBC News
The US military says a series of raids conducted following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has yielded a "treasure trove" of new information. A spokesman said the death of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq freed investigators to pursue new targets.

Zarqawi was killed when US planes dropped two 500lb (230kg) bombs on a site near Baquba. His death was welcomed by George W Bush and Tony Blair, though both warned it was unlikely to end the daily violence. The US struck after receiving specific tip-offs from within Zarqawi's organisation, officials said. The militant's body was identified by fingerprints, tattoos and scars. The news came shortly before the Iraqi parliament approved the key posts of defence and interior ministers.

The two crucial roles had remained unfilled despite the formation of a coalition government last month. In the space of 24 hours, the Iraqi government was able to announce the capture of its arch nemesis and fill important cabinet positions with responsibility for security, says the BBC's Ian Pannell in Baghdad. But he says Iraqis remain ambivalent about the prospects of the future, aware that Zarqawi's group is just one of many insurgent groups active in the country, and concerned that revenge attacks could follow.

Zarqawi 'eliminated'
Zarqawi's "safe house" about 8km (five miles) north of Baquba was struck at 1815 (1415 GMT) on Wednesday by F-16 jets, officials said.
Jordanian-born Zarqawi was said to have been in a meeting with associates at the time. At least five other people were killed in the raid, including spiritual adviser Sheikh Abd-al-Rahman and an unidentified woman and child. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki announced the news on Thursday, telling a news conference in Baghdad: "We have eliminated Zarqawi."

The news sparked sustained applause. The strike was the "painstaking, deliberate result" of intelligence over "many weeks", US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said. He said that 17 simultaneous raids conducted in and around Baghdad following the strike had yielded "a treasure trove... of information and intelligence". "And we had identified other targets we had previously not gone after, to allow us to continue staying focused on getting Zarqawi. But now that we have got him, it allows us now to go after all these other targets," he said. A Jordanian government spokesman said Jordanian agents had contributed to the operation against Zarqawi. Zarqawi was known for his particularly gruesome techniques, such as his trademark videotaped beheadings. His group was also blamed for many of the worst attacks on civilians, both inside Iraq and in neighbouring Jordan. He was a bloodthirsty and violent thug - says the BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner - who made enemies and several mistakes that might have contributed to his downfall.

'No illusions'
US President George W Bush described the news as a "severe blow to al-Qaeda" and "justice" for Zarqawi. Zarqawi's death was an opportunity for the new government to "turn the tide", Mr Bush said. British PM Tony Blair described it as "very good news", but both leaders said Zarqawi's death would not end violence."We should have no illusions. We know they will continue to kill, we know there are many, many obstacles to overcome," said Mr Blair. On the streets of Baghdad, most people greeted the news. "We consider this a great delight to the people because right must prevail," said one man.

"Thanks are due to God for ending our ordeal."
But a statement on an Islamist website, purportedly from al-Qaeda, said: "The death of our leaders ... only makes us more determined to continue the jihad." However reports suggest Zarqawi's savage tactics had lost him the confidence of leading al-Qaeda figures, including Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, says the BBC's Jon Leyne. Several sources close to the insurgency had suggested in the last few weeks that Zarqawi's role had already been downgraded. The US state department says it is not yet clear who will receive the $25m bounty on Zarqawi's head. The violence in Iraq continued on Thursday, with at least 35 people killed in a spate of bombings in Baghdad.

• Jordanian intelligence reportedly assisted the US-led operation
• Zarqawi traced to isolated safe house approximately 8km north of Baquba, north east of Baghdad
• US aircraft launched air strike at about 1815. The militant leader was reportedly holding a meeting with associates, including spiritual adviser Sheikh Abd-al-Rahman, at time of raid
• Several others were reportedly killed
• Iraqi police were first on the scene, followed by troops from the Multi-National Division North
• Zarqawi's identity confirmed by fingerprints, facial recognition and known scars

US approves cervical cancer drug BBC News
The US has licensed the first vaccine against cervical cancer, which kills at least 290,000 women worldwide a year. The new drug Gardasil - manufactured by Merck & Co. - is designed to be given to girls and women between the ages of nine and 26. "This vaccine is a significant advance in the protection of women's health," said Andrew von Eschenbach, acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner. A course of treatment over six months is expected to cost about $360. But conservative groups in the US argue that treating young girls before they become sexually active will encourage promiscuity. 'Nearly 100% effective' The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gardasil after a six-month clinical testing programme, involving 21,000 women around the world. The trials showed that Gardasil was "nearly 100% effective" in preventing the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes genital warts that can lead to cancer, the FDA said. It said the new drug was effective against four key types of HPV. Three injections will cost $360, with Merck saying the vaccine would be available within weeks. "Fortunately, we can now include the worst types of HPV and most cervical cancer in the list of diseases that no-one need suffer or die from ever again," said Alex Azar, Deputy US Health and Human Services Secretary. HPV infections are believed to cause at least 70% of cervical cancer - the second most common cancer among women worldwide after breast cancer. Most death occur in developing countries, where early screening is not as developed as in wealthy nations.

Wanted militant dies in Gaza raid BBC News
A senior Palestinian official in the Gaza Strip has died in an Israeli air strike in the town of Rafah. Jamal Abu Samhadana founded the Popular Resistance Committees, which regularly launches home-made rockets into Israel. Samhadana, a senior security chief in the Hamas-led government, was one of four killed in the attack on a training camp, which injured seven others. He was one of Israel's most wanted men in Gaza, and was thought to be involved in a 2003 attack on a US convoy.

Revenge calls
A training camp in Rafah - on the Egyptian border - was shaken by four explosions close to midnight local time (2100GMT). It soon became clear that Samhadana was one of the four killed. Hospital officials said despite serious injuries Samhadana's face was recognisable, according to the Associated Press news agency. The Israeli military confirmed the strike, saying it targeted militants who were planning an attack on Israel. Samhadana had narrowly escaped four previous assassination attempts, once being so badly injured that he lost a leg, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza says. Samhadana had become close to the Hamas movement which now controls the Palestinian government, our correspondent says. His appointment to the interior ministry recently infuriated Israel and the Palestinian opposition faction, Fatah. The move was also bitterly condemned by the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) expressed their anger over Samhadana's death. A spokesman for the PRC vowed to "open the gates of hell" in response. As word of Samhadana's death spread, hundreds of angry militants converged on the hospital where his body was lying. They fired their weapons in the air and swore that they would strike back at Israel, our correspondent says.

Baghdad curfew after Zarqawi raid BBC News
Vehicles have been banned from the streets of Baghdad for several hours, amid fears of bomb attack reprisals for the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The death of the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader was announced on Thursday. The vehicle ban coincides with Friday prayers and is in force both in the capital and in nearby Baquba, where Zarqawi was killed in a US air raid. Thousands of worshippers go to mosques for Friday prayers and have often been targeted by bombers linked to Zarqawi. Two car bombs exploded in mainly Shia areas of Baghdad on Thursday evening, killing 15 people. "The curfew is a measure to keep people indoors as there could be more bombings like the ones last night, following Zarqawi's death," said an Iraqi defence ministry official. See a map of where Zarqawi was killed. The US military said the operation against Zarqawi had given them a "treasure trove" of new information.

The US struck after receiving specific tip-offs from within Zarqawi's organisation, officials said.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said the $25m bounty on Zarqawi's head would be honoured. News of the militant's death has given a massive boost to the Iraqi government and the Bush administration, says the BBC's Middle East analyst Roger Hardy. Shortly after the death was announced, the Iraqi parliament approved the key posts of defence and interior ministers, which had lain vacant despite the formation of a coalition government last month.

Challenges
The new government has an ideal opportunity to persuade nationalist elements within the insurgency to join the political process, our correspondent says. But, he says, it will have to perform better than its predecessors in its approach to divisive issues such as the constitution, corruption, the rising power of militias and failing basic services. In an interview with Britain's Times newspaper, Mr Maliki promised "an initiative to secure Baghdad and confront the ethnic cleansing taking place... around the capital". "We believe we will soon reach a tipping point in our battle against the terrorists as Iraqi security services increase in size and capacity," he said. Zarqawi was known for his particularly gruesome tactics, including videotaped beheadings of hostages and synchronised bomb attacks on civilians.

'Utter nonsense'
Unrest has continued in Iraq with several attacks targeting workers and installations used by the oil industry:

• A senior official from Iraq's state oil company is kidnapped near his home in Baghdad
• Three oil engineers are reportedly shot dead on the road from Baiji to the oil production centre of Kirkuk
• Gunmen in Kirkuk attack an oil pipeline, reportedly killing one civilian and injuring three soldiers

On the streets of Baghdad, most people welcomed the news of Zarqawi's death. "We consider this a great delight to the people because right must prevail," said one man. "Thanks are due to God for ending our ordeal." But a statement on an Islamist website, purportedly from al-Qaeda, said: "The death of our leaders ... only makes us more determined to continue the jihad." US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has dismissed as "utter nonsense" fears that Zarqawi's death will lead directly to more violence. "These things tend to get planned well in advance," he said, after a Nato meeting in Brussels. "You could have an upswing [in violence] but I think linking it to that would surprise me."

World Cup 2006 set for kick-off BBC News
Hosts Germany will kick off the 18th football World Cup on Friday after the opening ceremony in Munich. They face Costa Rica in the opening game of the tournament at 1700 BST at the 59,000-capacity Allianz Arena. More than one-and-a-half billion people are expected to watch the opening of the tournament on television. The winners will be crowned after the final in Berlin on 9 July, with England, who face Paraguay on Saturday, among the favourites to win. The first match will be preceded by an opening ceremony at 1520 BST in which more than 150 players who have won the World Cup, including Pele and Diego Maradona, will be on display. Pele, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970, will carry the trophy on to the pitch of the futuristic Munich stadium, and he will be accompanied by German supermodel Claudia Schiffer. Excitement is building in Germany ahead of the opening ceremony.Our man in Munich, Mandeep Sanghera, reports: "The Costa Rica arrived early at the stadium to take photos and mingle with their German counterparts. "Inside the ground - which looks stunning - the final preparations have been taking place. "Four large pieces of green cloth have been laid over the turf to resemble a pitch, while protecting the surface from damage during the opening ceremony. "Some fans have already taken their seats in anticipation of the opening ceremony, while others have got here early to proudly stick up their banners and flags." The second game of the competition, alongside the Olympics the biggest sporting event in the world, is Poland v Ecuador which will take place after the Germany match on Friday, kicking-off at 2000 BST in Gelsenkirchen. They will be expected to overcome the outsiders Costa Rica, but will be well aware of previous opening game shocks in 1990 (when cup holders Argentina were beaten by Cameroon) and 2002 (when the defending champions France lost to Senegal). World Cup organisers are expecting about one million people to visit Germany for the tournament, with as many as 100,000 of those from England. More than one billion people worldwide watched the last World Cup final in Yokohama, Japan in 2002, where Brazil beat Germany 2-0. The cumulative worldwide television viewing figures for the tournament are expected to top 30 billion.English fans have an official allocation of about 5,300 tickets for the opening game with another 14,000 likely to have bought tickets on the internet. But Frankfurt mayor Petra Rogh expects about 30,000 supporters in all to flood the city, with many hoping to buy tickets off touts or watch on big screens. All police leave has been cancelled across Germany as security forces brace themselves for a massive operation. Frankfurt's police chief Achium Thiel insists their hope is for fans to be happy and said that exuberant England supporters singing songs about World War II will not face action from his officers. Rogh added: "We are ready for our British guests. I am certain we will commemorate a great and peaceful party in the best English tradition." BBC News' Laura Smith-Spark reports there has only been one arrest so far - a Costa Rican for selling fake tickets for the game who released after paying a fine. She added: "There haven't been any arrests related to drinking or trouble. "At the moment, about 500 fans are gathered at the Olympic Park, where the opening ceremony and game will be shown on the big screen. "Many thousands more are expected there later. "Germany's President Horst Koehler is attending a ceremony at Munich's Frauenkirche, the Gothic cathedral at the heart of the city, before heading to the main square." Five-time winners Brazil - the only team to play in all 17 of the previous World Cups - are the favourites to win again this time round. They will need to emulate their cup-winning side of 1958, who lifted the trophy by beating Sweden - the only time a non-European team has won the competition in Europe. England, captained by David Beckham, are many people's second favourites and are expected to perform well. But Argentina, Holland, Italy, Spain are among the other fancied teams, while the hosts have an excellent World Cup pedigree and can never be discounted.

• BBC Sport's TV coverage includes Saturday's England's match against Paraguay, with all BBC live games also broadcast live on the BBC Sport website to UK broadband users. Radio Five Live will have live commentary of all 64 games in the tournament.

Al-Qaeda urges Abbas vote boycott BBC News
Al-Qaeda ideologue Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged Palestinians to reject a referendum on a future state. The vote has been proposed by the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, allowing Palestinians to accept or reject a two-state solution. The referendum is opposed by the Hamas party, which won elections in January and is committed to destroying Israel. In a video broadcast on al-Jazeera TV channel, Zawahiri said: "Palestine is not for bargaining or bidding." He adds: "Palestine was a land of Islam, and its liberation is the duty of every Muslim." He called on Muslims everywhere to support the Palestinian people. The video also made references to political tensions in his homeland, Egypt, and to Sudan's strife-torn region of Darfur. It also praised the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose death was announced on Thursday, after the tape had been recorded. Zawahiri was last seen in a video in April, saying Iraqi insurgents had trounced US forces.

Get Ready For $100 Oil and $1,600 Gold Forbes
Commodity bull markets last 15 to 20 years on average, and the current bull phase is but six years along. Commodities always go to new highs once a bull market starts. Studies have shown that the best-performing assets during the first five years of the decade are the best-performing assets during the last five years of the decade as well. Conversely, the worst-performing assets during the first five years of the decade are the worst-performing assets during the last five years of the decade.Grasp these thoughts. They should be your guiding light. Furthermore, following the recent corrections in metals and energy issues, this may be one of the better times to make tangible asset investments. I have a stopgap--a fail-safe, if you will--model. It is the Annual Asset Allocation Model that we calculate each October. This model tells us which of three asset classes offers the best risk-to-reward potential for the next year. In October 2000, it shifted from bonds to tangible assets, and it has remained solidly in that mode ever since. If I were to calculate the model today, it would still tell us to invest in commodities. I often talk of balancing risk to reward. What does that mean? There was a time in the Middle Ages when you could shoot dice and get the same payoff no matter what number you bet on. You could win 10 Flanders on a 2 or on a 7. Well, there is risk and reward. The 7 is the most likely outcome. But there is only one way a 2 can come up out of 36 possibilities--a 1 on each die. There are six ways a 7 can occur - 6 on one die and 1 on the other, 5 on one die and 2 on the other, etc. Some bets are clearly better. In this case, the rewards are inadequate--equal payoffs will kill you. Successful investing, then, requires that you assess both risk and reward. Today's stock investors are obsessed with imagined potential rewards, but they have no regard for risk. Special Offer: The pullback in energy and precious metals stocks has opened up a buying window for savvy investors. Click here to download Curtis Hesler's "Oil & Gold: Slam Dunk Investing for Income and Capital Gains," a special report detailing specific buys, from Professional Timing Service. Stock market investors and bond buyers are betting on a 2--lots of risk for little reward. Commodity buyers are betting 7's, but the reward potential is enormous. The commodity naysayers are essentially arguing that higher commodity prices will cause a worldwide recession...then, raw material demand will fall and, thus, commodity prices will fall. This ignores the dynamics at work. China's economy alone is growing at over 9% annually. If it were growing at 7%, it would essentially double in the next ten years; quantitatively, that is a huge double. China's consumer class currently amounts to about 300 million people, which is equal to the entire population of the U.S. Already, there are shortages of raw materials and energy. A doubling of Chinese demand will not relieve the pressures we are seeing on commodity prices. Don't ignore India and the rest of Asia. Global commerce is expanding in areas where the numbers are enormous, and this growth is energy intensive. In ten years, the number of people demanding goods and services will easily double, but the amount of available energy and raw materials will diminish. We will see crude oil production peak, as well as a peak in production of other basic commodities, such as copper. A lack of new investment has left the world with a lack of new supply. The next ten years are going to be a whole lot like the 1970s, with a global bent. Special Offer: Emerging markets are hot. Play the strength of "BRIC" markets with names like this Chinese oil company and this Brazilian bank--both up more than 20% since John Christy told subscribers to buy them earlier this year. Click here for details in the Forbes International Investment Report. Betting on higher commodity prices during the next five to ten years is as close as you will ever come to placing a bet on a sure thing. The potential rewards far outpace the risk. The asset class that performs the worst in the first five years of the decade tends to do the worst in the last five years of the decade. That should bring the Nasdaq to mind. This should not be surprising, as commodity bull markets are always accompanied by bear markets in the popular averages. The Nasdaq has made a decent recovery from its first bear market leg, and it is now beginning its next decline. The other popular averages will follow suit. How far will they fall? Look for the Nasdaq to drop to 1,100 and the Standard & Poor's 500 to go under 775. A secular (long-term) bear market began in 2000, and a cyclical correction, which launched from lows in October 2002, is ending. The next leg in the secular bear is beginning. The U.S. Federal Reserve is targeting housing prices, and the housing market is already slowing in many parts of the country. Phoenix and San Diego are particularly soft. Higher energy prices are beginning to affect consumer behavior, and consumer spending is directly related to stock prices. As consumer spending slows, the stock market will fall. Bottom line: You should only hold stocks that are advantaged by higher commodity prices. Due to the recent corrections in metals and energy, this is an excellent time to be using weakness to accumulate commodity-related investments. Special Offer: Click here for three junior gold miners recommended by Professional Timing Service that you should have in your precious metals portfolio right now. Here is the most recent look at our Energy Forecaster, a model designed to measure the potential in the energy sector. It looks great. Something wicked this way comes, and it is Iran. The little rhetoric episode on June 5 is a preview. Iran will convert threats into action--you can count on that. They want oil denominated in euros; they want to decrease production to increase prices; they want to use oil as a weapon against the West while they develop other, more deadly weapons; they want political control in the Middle East; and they want to hurt the West. They will accomplish most of these goals. Crude oil settled back to $71.45 per barrel December basis, which is in line with the support level I was looking for. Currently, crude oil is looking stronger, and the next stop should be $81 basis December--probably this summer. It will not be long before the oil guys will be talking about a floor at $70, and I expect to see crude over $100 during the year. As for gold, I think the recent correction in precious metals is all but over. At least, the worst is behind us. The near term is setting up an excellent low in among precious metals. From a long-term standpoint, we are looking at a time that we will look back on as the last best place to buy gold and silver stocks. Gold is going to go to $1,600, and at least double its 1980 high, regardless of whether it goes to $600 or $580 first. The key here is to augment your future rewards and minimize risk by accumulating mining shares during weakness. In terms of recommendations, I still am bullish on Goldcorp and Gabelli Global Gold & Natural Resources Income Trust . I also think energy investors who buy into Canetic Resources Trust will be richly rewarded. A word of caution: As energy and the metals take more of the spotlight, the scams will come out of the woodwork. In the 1960s and '70s, when the space program was all the rage, sheet metal companies were going public with names like Space Age Metals. Stick with solid, proven enterprises and avoid the fly-by-nights. Excerpted from the June 2006 edition of Curtis Hesler's Professional Timing Service. For more information and to subscribe, click here.
Curtis Hesler, Professional Timing Service

Hamas military calls off truce after 10 killed CTV.ca
The Hamas military wing called off its truce with Israel, after 10 Palestinians were killed by shells fired into a crowded beach in the Gaza Strip where a family was picnicking. All of the dead are believed to be related. The Hamas declaration raised the prospect of a new wave of bloodshed. "The earthquake in the Zionist towns will start again," said a leaflet distributed by the militants at a Hamas. "The resistance groups ... will choose the proper place and time for the tough, strong and unique response." The truce -- which Hamas has largely honoured -- was declared in February 2005. Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, speaking at a hospital where victims were being treated called the deaths a "war crime." He urged Jordan and Egypt, both mediators in past Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, to step in. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also condemned Friday's fatalities as a "bloody massacre" and urged the international community to intervene. "There was quite a lot of blood. People are running around in confusion, children have been taken to the hospital," The Israeli army said its attacks targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip used by Palestinian militants to fire homemade rockets at Israel. "They regularly and routinely will target sites that are used by militants for rocket attacks," said CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer, reporting from Jerusalem. But one artillery strike appeared to go dramatically off course on Friday. The army said it had determined that aircraft and gunboats had not fired the artillery that struck the picnic, but that ground forces might have been the source. Israel carried out at least three air strikes, including one attack that killed three militants, after they fired a rocket into Israel. The militants were identified as members of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a small group that is responsible for much of the rocket fire. Israeli military chief Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz ordered a temporary halt on artillery strikes in the area while an investigation was conducted. "We regret any harm caused to innocent civilians," said Capt. Jacob Dallal, an army spokesman. He said Israel was offering medical support to the wounded. The attack comes one day after Jamal Abu Samhadana, a top Palestinian commander and leader of the PRC, was killed in an Israeli air strike. He recently led the Hamas government's private militia. Hamas, sworn to the destruction of Israel, considered the Thursday attack to be an assault on its government, and warned Israel that Samhadana's death would be avenged. "His funeral was held today. Thousands of people packed into a soccer stadium, so what happened on the beach today has only inflamed the sense of rage there," Mackey Frayer said. Hundreds of gunmen fired thousands of bullets into the air, chanting, "God is great'' and "Revenge, revenge.'' The mounting death toll stoked tensions as Haniyeh made a last-minute appeal to Abbas to abandon a proposed referendum in which Palestinians will decide whether they want a two-state solution with Israel. Haniyeh wrote that the referendum would divide the Palestinian people and "carries many dangers." "I'm afraid it will cause a historic rift that will hurt the Palestinian cause for decades to come," Haniyeh wrote. But Abbas, who is eager to restart peace talks with Israel, was expected to announce on Saturday that July 31 had been set as the date for a national referendum. "This would recognize Israel and its right to exist," Mackey Frayer said. However, public opinion polls show the two-state proposal has widespread support.
Hamas Military Wing Calls Off Israel Truce ABC News
Palestinian PM urges end to Israeli offensive People's Daily Online
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Wheelchairs given design makeover BBC News
A designer who has spent most of his career working on parts for Formula One cars has come up with a new, off-road wheelchair. The Trekinetic K2 dispenses with the old tubular chassis and uses a carbon fibre monocoque instead. Designer Mike Spindle was inspired to create the off-road chair when he saw someone wheeling through an airport lounge. The K2 was launched at the Mobility Roadshow in Gloucestershire.

Design ideas
Mr Spindle has spent the past five years designing the wheelchair from scratch. After the designer spotted a man in an airport departure lounge, in a metallic purple wheelchair, it occurred to him that somebody ought to be able to do an awful lot better. "Much to my wife's disappointment, I started sketching this out on the back of an airline boarding pass," he told the BBC News website. Five years later - a development phase that Mr Spindle describes as "extremely difficult" - Trekinetic chose the Mobility Roadshow to unveil a radical new design. The K2 has three wheels - two large ones at the front that can take mountain bike tyres - and a smaller one at the back. The company says it is ideally suited for off-road use but can be just as useful in towns and cities too. The wheels have an easily adjustable camber so that the chair can have a slimmer profile for going through doorways and a wider - and more stable - 24 degree camber for outdoor activities.


The wheel tilt can be easily altered by rotating a cross shaft underneath the seat: at its slimmest, the K2 is 710mm wide and when fully adjusted it broadens out to 870mm. Trekinetic had originally set out to design a new, modern and different design: the chair's off-road potential came after prototypes were shown to a group of wheelchair users who said they were unable to tackle more difficult surfaces in their current chairs. The company thinks the K2 will appeal to relatively active people with good upper body strength, although push bars are available as an option. Marketing information for the K2 stresses designer chic and desirability with black being the predominant colour. The K2 owes a good deal to automotive innovation in its own design.

Sculptured seat
Mr Spindle compares the tubular chassis used by most wheelchairs to the one found on vintage cars. "In fields of engineering such as F1, they have dispensed with the chassis idea and gone to what they call a monocoque," he explained. "With a car you now have a very strong basic shell and you bolt all the components to that. With this, we've made the seat a sculptured shape to suit the user's body and we've made it out of carbon fibre which is extremely strong." The K2 is consequently extremely light - with the quick-release wheels removed it weighs about 9kg. Weather-proofing is by means of a golfing umbrella which attaches to the base of the seat. And Trekinetic says that the K2 can be folded up in about eight seconds. Mr Spindle says the three-wheeler design lends itself much better to off-road use: with four wheels on an uneven surface, one wheel ends up losing contact.


"Then, you're pretty much beached until someone comes along." Trekinetic plans to produce about 10 chairs a week from its plant at Uxbridge, Middlesex. In spite of the fact that its website was launched a month ago without any publicity, the company says it has already had 1,600 hits and has received enquiries from as far away as South Africa and the USA.
By Geoff Adams-Spink, Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website

Robot device mimics human touch BBC News
A device which may pave the way for robotic hands that can replicate the human sense of touch has been unveiled. US scientists have created a sensor that can "feel" the texture of objects to the same degree of sensitivity as a human fingertip. The team says the tactile sensor could, in the future, aid minimally invasive surgical techniques by giving surgeons a "touch-sensation". The research is reported in the journal Science. "If you look at the current status of these tactile sensors, the frustration has been that the resolution of all these devices is in the range of millimetres," explained Professor Ravi Saraf, an engineer from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, US, and a co-author of the paper. "Whereas the resolution of a human fingertip is about 40 microns, about half the diameter of a human hair, and this has affected the performance of these devices."

Nano-device
But Professor Saraf and colleague Dr Vivek Maheshwari, also from the University of Nebraska, were able to attain this high level of sensitivity by creating a very thin film made up of layers of metal and semiconducting nanoparticles flanked at the top and bottom by electrodes. When the film touches a surface any pressure or stress squeezes the layers of particles together. This causes the current in the film to change and light is emitted from the particles, an effect known as "electroluminescence". The visible light is then detected by a camera. "The beautiful thing is that we have managed to make the device in such a way that the amount of current change, or light, that you get out is exactly proportional to the stress that you apply," added Professor Saraf. To demonstrate the high sensitivity of the device, the scientists pressed a US one cent coin against it. The sensor revealed the wrinkles in President Lincoln's clothing and the letters TY in liberty.

Detecting cancers
Professor Saraf said the film, as well as matching the sensitivity of a human fingertip, was also flexible and robust enough to be used repeatedly. He also said the device could have medical applications. "The hope is that if you have the resolution close to a human finger in applications like minimal invasive surgery, where the surgeon could actually "touch" while he or she doing the procedure and tell if the tissue is cancerous or abnormal etc, that would increase the success of these surgeries." Dr Richard Crowder, a robotics expert from Southampton University, commented in an accompanying article in the journal: "The development of tactile sensors is one of the key technical challenges in advanced robotics and minimal access surgery. "The unique sensor developed by Maheshwari and Saraf could prove to be a key advance in technology, for reasons including relatively simple construction, apparent robustness, and high resolution." Professor Saraf added that now he would like to see if he could create a device that can detect temperature changes as well as texture, enabling it to closer mimic the sensations humans can feel.
By Rebecca Morelle, Science reporter, BBC News

Who creates a tipping point? bizjournals.com
Every now and then a gifted writer comes along who helps us better understand human behavior. Perhaps the most talented -- and engaging -- writer today who explains how society and individuals interrelate is Malcolm Gladwell. A former business and science writer with The Washington Post and The New Yorker, Gladwell is one of those exceptionally smart people who doesn't just look at situations, he analyzes them. And the reason that his two books, The Tipping Point and Blink, are simultaneously on the The New York Times bestseller lists is that Gladwell has the ability to open readers' eyes, and do it in a way that feels as if you are sharing his discoveries firsthand, rather than listening to a lecture. The Tipping Point is an exploration of how trends or "epidemics" in ordinary life occur. For example: Why did New York's crime rate fall? Why did Hush Puppy shoes inexplicably become popular? And why do certain movies, restaurants, vacation destinations, and yes, books, become wildly popular, while others languish? Gladwell identifies three kinds of people who have the ability to influence us and effect sweeping change. He calls them Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. Since all three personality types are essential in creating social change, it helps to recognize the people in your work environment who fit each category. Let's start with Connectors. Gladwell researched a 1974 study called Getting a Job by Mark Granovetter and found that half of employed people found their jobs through a personal connection. But when the "quality" of these connections was analyzed, the studies proved that people don't get their jobs through friends, they get them through acquaintances. Gladwell makes a strong case for the fact that "Weak ties are always more important than strong ties." And the reason is that your friends tend to occupy the same world you do, i.e., they probably go to the same school, stores, social gatherings, etc. But your acquaintances are more likely to know things -- like job openings, let's say -- that you don't. As Gladwell points out, "Acquaintances, in short, represent a source of social power, and the more acquaintances you have, the more powerful you are." People who have the most intricate web of acquaintances are the Connectors. Mavens, on the other hand, are information brokers because they share and trade what they know, and for the trend or "social epidemic" to get rolling, someone has to be persuaded to do something. Mavens, according to Gladwell, "have the knowledge and the social skills to start word-of-mouth epidemics … It's not so much what they know, but how they pass it along. The fact that Mavens want to help for no other reason than they like to help, turns out to be an awfully effective way of getting someone's attention." So when it comes to starting a trend -- whether it's at the office or at the gym -- we know that we need a Connector who will spread the word, we know that we need a Maven whose word will be trusted, but we also need a Salesman who has the skills to persuade us in case we are unconvinced of what we are hearing. Good salesmen seem to have an X-factor. Attractiveness and optimism are givens, but Gladwell points out just how persuasive nonverbal and even subliminal messages can be. Gladwell dissects persuasion in a way that makes the wheels of society seem like a well-orchestrated -- if unconscious -- dance. He helps us better understand, for example, why Baltimore's syphilis rate skyrocketed in 1995 and why Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood became a bestseller. Gladwell's book explains how changes that affect us all happens. "Simply by finding and reaching those few special people who hold so much social power, we can shape the course of social epidemics. In the end, tipping points are a reaffirmation of the potential for change and the power of intelligent action. Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push -- in just the right place -- it can be tipped."
By Connie Glaser

Webbys 2.0 Forbes
Win a Grammy and you might see CD sales increase. An Oscar might boost DVD sales. But winning a Webby can shut down your company. After the Montreal-based Web-design company Dream Studio Design won a Webby award for "Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics" last month, curious Web surfers flooded the company's site, crashing five of its servers. A Webby can provide a more benign boost, as well: Paint company Sherwin-Williams (nyse: SHW - news - people ) says it has seen a (manageable) traffic spike to its "color visualizer" feature since winning their award in May. The fact that the ten-year-old Webby, which will honor this year's winners on Monday in New York City, has any clout at all is a testament to the renewed vitality of the industry it honors. Throughout the past decade, the size and tone of the Webby awards has closely mirrored that of the dot-com sector. In 1997, the first year a Webby awards show was held, 700 people showed up at Bimbo's night club in San Francisco to celebrate sites like bezerk.com and suck.com--both now defunct--and IMDB.com and Salon, both which survive as popular destinations today. By 2000, the peak of the dot-com bubble, the Webby awards show at San Francisco's Nob Hill Masonic Center drew 3,000 netizens, who watched as representatives from relatively nascent search portal Google.com retrieved awards for technical achievement by roller-skating victoriously across the stage. Awards were presented by celebs like Alan Cummings and Sandra Bernhardt. As the bubble began to burst, Webbys founder Tiffany Shlain says the award show's organizers were in denial. "We had our biggest show ever in 2001, because we wanted to make a statement that we didn't believe this industry was really going away." A preshow hosted by Emporio Armani and an awards ceremony featuring drag queens and a gospel choir ensured the mood was as upbeat as 1999. But by 2003, there was no money left for a lavish awards ceremony. Awards were still chosen but were announced online that year, as they were in 2004. In 2005, as the tech industry recovered, the Webby Awards were sold to IDG, a technology media and events company, and the show was back on--this time in New York. The Webby awards now employ a new strategy of scale, inviting only 500 attendees to an exclusive dinner show and securing The Daily Show with Jon Stewart comedian Rob Corddry as emcee. To keep the evening short, winners in 65 categories are allowed to make acceptance speeches no longer than five words. Today, digital content is thoroughly mainstream--so much so that the long-standing television-awards show, the Emmys, has begun to recognize programming designed for consumption via computer, iPod and cell phone. The first new-media Emmy was granted in April at the Daytime Emmy Awards to Time Warner's AOL for its Internet broadcast coverage of "Live 8," an international concert and poverty fundraiser. While the Emmy may not have changed AOL's fortunes as a digital-content provider--after all, its brand is already one of the most well known of the Internet-era--a nomination in this new category could mean everything to a startup. The "new media" Emmy is so new that it is too soon to tell whether the tech industry or consumers will give the category clout comparable to an "Outstanding Comedy Series" Emmy nod. But Chris Tyler, chief executive of Riddle Productions, says his company's nomination in that category for interactive Web-based episodes of Stranger Adventures' Helen Beaumont has resulted in enormous recognition, including phone calls from movie studios, networks and cable channels interested in giving his firm work. Some even offered to buy him out.
Special Report: The World's Best Companies
By Rachel Rosmarin

New shark discovered in US waters BBC News
A new type of hammerhead shark has been discovered in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, marine scientists say. The shark resembles a common species called the scalloped hammerhead but has not yet been classified or named. US researchers say the animal appears to be rare, breeding only in waters off the South Carolina coast. They believe the shark is at risk of extinction and conservation efforts are needed to protect females when they are raising their pups. The shark was discovered by a biology professor at the University of South Carolina. Dr Joe Quattro became curious about a common coastal shark called the scalloped hammerhead shark while studying coastal fish. Genetic studies revealed that there was a second "cryptic" species - that is, "genetically distinct" from the scalloped hammerhead.

Nursery grounds
The shark appears to breed only in waters off South Carolina, although adults swim into waters off Florida and North Carolina."If South Carolina's waters are the primary nursery grounds for the cryptic species and females gather here to reproduce, these areas should be conservation priorities," said Dr Quattro. "Management plans are needed to ensure that these sharks are not adversely impacted so that we can learn more." Scientists plan to tag the shark so they can understand more about its range. Ali Hood, director of conservation at the Shark Trust in the UK, said with only 454 recorded species of shark in the wild, it was exciting to discover another one. "It shows how small areas of coastline are significant to certain species and it is so important to consider shark conservation on an area by area basis," she said.

US trade deficit reaches $63.5bn BBC News
The US trade deficit increased in April by 2.5% to $63.4bn (£35.4bn), as oil prices surged to nearly $71 per barrel. The figure was below that expected by analysts, who had feared that the deficit could soon reach $65bn. The trade gap was $252bn for the year to date, leaving it on course to exceed the record $716bn recorded in 2005. The high US trade deficit is leading to pressure on the US dollar, which has been falling in international markets, amid worries about financing the gap. Analysts said that the April figure may help ease some of the negative feeling that has surrounded the dollar in recent months, even if only for a short time."It's a pretty good number for the dollar all around," said Clyde Wardle of HSBC. The dollar gained against the euro and the yen on Friday after the US Commerce Department released its trade figures.

Major factor
Most of the trade deficit's widening can be put down to an $1.44bn increase in oil costs after crude prices climbed to record levels in April. The trade gap would have been even bigger but for near-record US exports to China and Canada. But, the US also imported more goods from China, leading to an increased deficit of $17bn with that country alone. US service exports - including things like travel, banking, and professional services - also surged to a new record. "The trade deficit, along with higher gasoline prices and the flagging housing sector, will slow GDP growth in the second and third quarters," said Peter Morici, trade economist at the University of Maryland. "All of this makes more difficult the challenges faced by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke." Earlier this week, Mr Bernanke said that the central bank was worried about the rate of inflation, prompting a global sell-off in equities as investors worried that interest rates would have to rise to keep a lid on price growth. A separate report from the Labor Department on Friday showed that import prices rose by 1.6% in May, fanning inflation fears further. "When you are in a period of inflation phobia, this is not good news," said Keith Hembre, chief economist with FAF Advisors in Minneapolis.

Pipelines damaged in India blasts BBC News
Suspected rebels have blown up oil and gas pipelines and rail tracks in northeast India, police say. The blasts late on Friday follow a series of explosions in Assam state that have killed seven people and wounded nearly 50 others. Two pipelines carrying crude oil and gas in the Namrup and Duliajan areas were damaged. Police suspect rebels of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) are behind the attacks. The rebels denied involvement in the earlier blasts and have not commented on Friday night's incidents. They have been fighting for independence since 1979 in a struggle which has claimed 10,000 lives.

Peace talks
Railway tracks were damaged in an explosion in the oil town of Naharkatiya, affecting services in the state. On Friday, a bomb explosion at a busy market in the state capital, Guwahati killed six people and injured 13. Later, three explosions Naharkatiya and a grenade was thrown at the home of a politician. Ulfa is currently holding peace negotiations with the Indian government through a committee of civil society leaders called the People's Consultative Group (PCG). The PCG has twice met Indian government officials but Ulfa has yet to announce a formal ceasefire, although it says it wants an end to military operations in Assam. The federal government informed the group on Friday that the next round of talks would be held in the Indian capital Delhi on 22 June.

Pakistan strikes 'militant camp' BBC News
Pakistani security forces have attacked a militant hideout near the Afghan border, killing at least 15 guerrillas, the military says. It says rockets and helicopters were used in Saturday's pre-dawn attack in the tribal region of North Waziristan. Pakistani security forces have been battling Taleban and al-Qaeda supporters in the area. An army statement said the targeted guerrillas had carried out recent attacks on security forces. The attack on a suspected training camp was carried out in a highly co-ordinated operation, the military says. According to a spokesman, 15 to 20 local and foreign militants died. He said the attack followed intelligence that pro-Taleban militants were using the compound as a base for attacking military convoys.

Attacks on military
In recent weeks a series of grenade and rocket attacks on military convoys in North Waziristan has killed or wounded a large number of troops. In one such attack last week two suspected suicide bombers rammed their vehicle into a military truck, killing three soldiers. The BBC's Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal regions of North and South Waziristan have remained the biggest support base for Afghan insurgents. Since the start of the military operation three years ago the Pakistani security forces have managed to kill or drive out most of the Arab and other foreign militants from the area. But in recent months most of the local tribesmen have turned against the authorities and many of them are now fighting along the side of the Afghan Taleban, our correspondent adds. Over the last three years, over 2,000 people have been killed in the region, including more than 300 troops.

Abbas announces July referendum BBC News
The Palestinian Authority president has set 26 July as the date for a controversial referendum on a statehood plan that implicitly recognises Israel. Mahmoud Abbas made the announcement in an official decree. The Hamas movement, which leads the government has rejected the proposal, saying such a vote would be illegal. The plan sets out formal Palestinian claims to an independent state on land occupied by Israel in 1967, and implicitly adopts a two-state solution. "It was a declaration of a coup against the government," said leading Hamas politician Mushir al-Masri in remarks quoted by Reuters. "Whoever announced the referendum should shoulder the responsibility for the dangerous consequences that may result," Masri said, adding that Palestinians should boycott the vote.

Spain smashes Grapo terror group BBC News
Spanish police say they have practically "decapitated" the leadership of far-left militants Grapo with the arrest of three key suspects. Juan Garcia Martin, the alleged supreme chief of the terror group, was detained along with two women during a dawn raid in the north-eastern town of Reus. Grapo is blamed for dozens of deaths in Spain since the 1970s. Police are investigating possible links between the suspects and the killing of a woman in Zaragoza in February. Mr Garcia Martin is also suspected of involvement in an attack on a bank branch in Castellon in February, which left an employee injured. A police spokesman said Grapo, which stands for October First Anti-Fascist Resistance Group, had been virtually dismantled by the security forces in Spain and France between 2000 and 2002. But they had regrouped to carry out terrorist activities, as was demonstrated by the attacks this year, he said.

Russian 'torture dungeon' found BBC News
A leading Russian human rights group says it has found evidence of a former Russian dungeon in the Chechen capital Grozny where prisoners were tortured. The Memorial group has published details of the abandoned prison on its website, including photos and graffiti scrawled by inmates and their captors. Former inmates told Memorial they had been tortured there. The pro-Moscow Chechen authorities said their own investigators had "found no evidence of torture". Separatist rebels have been fighting Russian forces and Moscow's Chechen allies in the devastated North Caucasus republic since 1994.

Beatings
The dungeon was in a former school for deaf children occupied by Russian interior ministry troops until late last month, Memorial reported. Memorial activists visited the site in Grozny's Oktyabrsky district last week and photographed it. Alavdi Sadykov, who spent three months in the prison in 2000, is missing his left ear. He told Memorial that his captors had cut it off. Memorial says official investigations into his illegal detention and torture and disappearances of three other captives have dragged on for years and nobody has been punished yet. "They would put you face down on a bench... then they placed a board on you and hit it with a hammer, beating your internal organs," Mr Sadykov said. He said the idea was to avoid leaving external marks from the beating.

Official denial
The Chechen prosecutor-general has launched several criminal investigations in connection with the alleged disappearances and torture at the Oktyabrsky prison. Human Rights Watch and other international human rights groups have accused Russian and pro-Moscow Chechen security forces of widespread abuses in Chechnya. A human rights official working for the pro-Moscow administration in Chechnya, Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, rejected Memorial's allegations about the Oktyabrsky detention centre. He told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency that the republic's investigators had "checked the temporary remand centre" and "found no evidence of torture". "Had the allegation of Memorial corresponded to the facts, under no circumstances would this matter have been ignored by Chechen President Alu Alkhanov or Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov. But someone wants to create tension here, and I note this with regret," he said.

New raids hit al-Qaida Advertiser Adelaide
The US military has intensified its offensive against al-Qaida in Iraq, staging 38 more raids based on information uncovered during the hunt that led to the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in an air strike. The fresh raids came as al-Qaida issued urgent appeals for money and volunteers to fight American forces, after al-Zarqawi's death left it without a clearly recognised leader. The US military also gave details of the Wednesday evening air strike that killed al-Zarqawi, saying he initially survived the blast from two 226kg bombs dropped on his hideout in the village of Hibhib, 85km north of Baghdad. The al-Qaida appeals suggested al-Zarqawi's network may be feeling the heat from the US raids, which have extended beyond Hibhib to include a series of locations in and around Baghdad. In a video news conference relayed from Baghdad to the Pentagon, spokesman Major General William Caldwell displayed a suicide belt, explosives and Iraqi army uniforms uncovered in 17 raids conducted in the immediate aftermath of al-Zarqawi's death. The raids targeted people whom the US had been monitoring in the build-up to the strike, which was delayed until al-Zarqawi had been pinpointed because they were giving "indicators at different points in time as to where Zarqawi might be," he said. In the next two days another 38 raids were conducted, some directly related to information obtained in the earlier raids, General Caldwell said. Two official statements posted on the website used by al-Qaida urged Muslims to volunteer to fight in Iraq, saying al-Zarqawi's death should remind them of their "duty" to fight infidels. "Iraq is the front line of defence for Islam and Muslims. So, don't miss this opportunity to join the Mujahidin and the martyrs," said one signed by Abdullah Rasheed al-Baghdadi, who succeeded al-Zarqawi