Australian PM drops asylum bill BBC News
The Australian government has withdrawn a controversial bill to process all future asylum seekers arriving by boat in offshore camps. The legislation was due to go to the Senate, but a revolt by ruling party lawmakers forced Prime Minister John Howard to cancel the vote. It was Mr Howard's biggest setback in a decade in power, correspondents say. The bill had sparked considerable debate, with three government lawmakers opposing it in the lower house. The legislation passed the lower house, where the ruling Liberal/National coalition has a comfortable majority. It was then due to go to the Senate, where the government only has a majority of one. Mr Howard said the government cancelled the vote because an unspecified number of government senators planned to oppose it. "It was clear that the legislation was going to be defeated," he told journalists.

Offshore
Refugee groups had spoken out against the proposed new laws. Under current legislation, only people who arrive on outlying islands or are intercepted at sea have their claims for Australian asylum processed off-shore. Those arriving on the mainland have their cases handled inside the country, under the Australian legal process. The new legislation would have meant that all arrivals by boat would be sent off-shore, mainly to the island state of Nauru. Even if their claims for refugee status were accepted, it would have been unlikely that any of the boat people would have been allowed to settle in Australia. Critics had also accused John Howard of using the bill to heal rifts with Indonesia. A recent decision to accept about 40 Papuan asylum seekers angered Jakarta, which said that by giving the group refugee visas, the Australians were showing tacit support for Papuan independence. Papua was granted self-rule by its Dutch colonists in 1961, but was then annexed by Indonesia. A low-level insurgency has been going on in the province ever since. But Mr Howard told journalists the bill was not aimed at appeasing Indonesia. "This bill was not designed to get a tick in Jakarta," he said.

Chinese typhoon toll passes 250 BBC News
Typhoon Saomai, the most powerful storm to hit China in 50 years, killed at least 255 people as it tore through the country's south-east, state media said.Another 160 people are still missing in the three provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, Xinhua news agency said. In Fujian's Fuding city 138 people were killed, mostly fishermen who stayed on their boats during last week's storm. Saomai, which brought high winds and torrential rain, was the eighth typhoon to hit China this season. Many of the Fuding deaths occurred in Shacheng town, after some fishermen chose to remain on their boats during the storm, Xinhua news agency reported. "The wind was so strong that it overturned many ships and a large number of people were killed or went missing," Xinhua said.By Sunday, 97 bodies had been found in the town, the agency said. A Shacheng resident told the AFP news agency that people were renting boats to search for their relatives. "They sail up to each body and turn it around in the water and see if they recognize the face," she said.

Collapsed
Shacheng borders Zhejiang's Cangnan county, where Typhoon Saomai made landfall on Thursday evening. Forty-three people died there, including 41 who were killed when concrete structures they were sheltering in collapsed. One man said he had lost eight members of his family.After some houses collapsed, we called the police and they told us to go to a newer concrete building," said the man, who gave only his surname, Yang. "When that building fell in, whole families died," he told Reuters news agency. The storm caused damage of at least $1.4bn (£760m), according to officials and destroyed more than 50,000 houses. Some 20,000 soldiers and paramilitary police have been mobilised to help with the clear up. Saomai, which is the Vietnamese for morning star, is the eighth powerful storm to hit China this year. Typhoon Prapiroon killed about 80 people. Tropical Storm Bilis killed more than 600 in July. Typhoons and tropical storms are common in the region between July and October, but this year they have been unusually frequent.

Seven killed in Colombo explosion BBC News
At least seven people have been killed and 17 injured in a explosion in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. A powerful mine exploded near the official residence of President Mahinda Rajapakse as a convoy, including a Pakistani embassy vehicle, went past. The Pakistani ambassador, Bashir Wali Mohamed, was travelling in the convoy but was unhurt in the incident. There has been fierce fighting between government forces and Tamil Tigers in the north and east in recent days. A Pakistani official said Mr Mohamed was returning from a flag-raising ceremony for Pakistan's Independence Day when the explosion happened. The blast shook the windows of neighbouring buildings and damaged an embassy vehicle, reports said.

Ceasefire 'unravelling'
The blast came after the Tamil Tigers accused government forces of bombing an orphanage, killing 43 school girls and injuring 60 in the rebel-controlled northern district of Mullaituvu. The military said there had been air raids, but denied any knowledge of the alleged incident. The government has also denied rebel accusations that its forces killed at least 15 people in an attack on a church in the predominantly Tamil village of Allaipidddy on an island just west of Jaffna. The Tigers have ruled out peace talks with the government while heavy fighting continues between the two sides. The recent flare-up in fighting has alarmed Sri Lanka's key foreign donors - the US, Japan, the European Union and Norway - who have called for an immediate end to the hostilities, which they said was "seriously unravelling" the 2002 ceasefire agreement. They also expressed serious concern about the humanitarian situation. The ceasefire aimed to halt more than two decades of war between the government and the rebels, who are fighting for an independent homeland for the country's minority Tamil people in the north and east. It remains officially in effect, despite months of violence.

Israel begins withdrawal from Lebanon as tense truce withstands early tests Canada.com
Israel began slowly pulling out forces from southern Lebanon and made plans to hand over territory Tuesday on the first full day of a tense ceasefire that already has been tested by skirmishes.But Israeli and Hezbollah forces held their ground and raised hopes that the United Nations-imposed pact could stick. Hezbollah guerrillas fired at least 10 rockets in southern Lebanon, but none crossed the border into Israel. On Monday, at least six Hezbollah militiamen were killed by Israeli troops waiting for a peacekeeping force before beginning a full-scale withdrawal. Lebanon was under intense international pressure to get soldiers moving south into Hezbollah territory - a key element in the UN Security Council plan to end the 34-day conflict that claimed more than 950 lives. Lebanon's defence minister, Elias Murr, said Lebanon's contribution of 15,000 soldiers could be on the north side of the Litani River by the end of the week. But they still must cross the river and try to enforce the central government's control over Hezbollah areas for the first time in decades. In Jerusalem, Israeli army officials said they plan to begin handing over some captured positions on Wednesday and hope to complete the withdrawal from Lebanon by next week. The plans for territory to change hands shows the complexity of the border zone: Israel transferring it to the UN force that then turns it over to Lebanese envoys. The Israeli army, meanwhile, said it had already begun thinning out its forces in Lebanon, but did not give figures. During a final ground offensive, about 30,000 Israeli soldiers were believed to be in southern Lebanon. The Security Council blueprint calls for Lebanese forces to join up with another 15,000 soldiers in a strengthened UN-backed military mission. Their job would be to patrol a 30-kilometre buffer zone from the Litani River to the Israeli border. Murr said "there will be no other weapons or military presence other than the army" after Lebanese troops move south of the Litani. But he said the army would not ask Hezbollah to hand over its weapons - which remains an extremely volatile issue that no one is yet ready to touch. Murr said international forces could begin arriving next week to bolster the current 2,000-member UN force in southern Lebanon, which watched helplessly as fighting raged over the past month. In Europe, Italy and France have pledged troops. Malaysia, Turkey and Indonesia were among the mostly Muslim countries offering help. The planning has raced into high gear. On Monday, the French commander of the UN force in Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, told The Associated Press that additional troops were needed quickly and any "stray act" could unravel the peace plan. The peacekeeping also must provide security for a huge reconstruction effort across southern Lebanon, where many villages were in ruins and even basic services such as water and electricity may take weeks to restore. Cars loaded down with salvaged possessions began pouring into the area just hours after the truce took effect on Monday morning. As they took stock of the wreckage, more refugees were expected to pour in from Syria, Cyprus and other havens during the war. Israel said it would continue its blockade of Lebanese ports but was no longer threatening to shoot any car that moved on roads south of the Litani. Relief agencies worried about how to move supplies across southern Lebanon over bombed roads and others clogged with traffic. UN officials said 24 UN trucks took more than five hours to reach the port of Tyre from Sidon, a trip that normally takes 45 minutes. Sweden plans to host an international donors' conference Aug. 31 to help fund the rebuilding. In northern Israel - hit by nearly 4,000 Hezbollah rockets - residents emerged from bomb shelters and slowly trickled back to their homes. A few bathers even lounged on the beach in Haifa, which was hardest hit by the guerrilla attacks. On Monday, both Israel and its main backer, the United States, portrayed Hezbollah as the loser - and by extension, its main backers, Iran and Syria. "There's going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon," Bush said. But Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, claimed a "strategic, historic victory." Much of the Arab and Muslim worlds would agree. Hezbollah's ability to withstand the vastly superior Israeli military - and hit back with deadly ambushes and cross-border rocket volleys - has given it heroic stature. This could complicate any attempts to disarm or sideline the guerrillas - who also have 14 votes in Lebanon's legislature and two in the cabinet. Nasrallah drove home the point by deriding Lebanese officials who have urged Hezbollah to give up its weapons. "This is immoral, incorrect and inappropriate," he said.
By Joseph Panossian, Canadian Press
Lebanon Truce Holds For Second Day Voice of America
Lebanese return to destruction amid shaky peace Knoxville News Sentinel (subscription)
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Japanese PM visits Yasukuni Shrine People's Daily Online
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gets in a car after he visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, capital of Japan, Aug.15, 2006. Koizumi, ignoring criticism from both home and abroad, visited the Yasukuni Shrine which honors Japan's 14 notorious class-A war criminals of World War II on Tuesday morning. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, ignoring criticism from both home and abroad, visits the Yasukuni Shrine which honors Japan's 14 notorious class-A war criminals of World War II, in Tokyo, capital of Japan, Aug.15, 2006. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi leaves the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, capital of Japan, Aug.15, 2006. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi©, ignoring criticism from both home and abroad, visits the Yasukuni Shrine which honors Japan's 14 notorious class-A war criminals of World War II, in Tokyo, capital of Japan, Aug.15, 2006.
Foreign ministry statement on Koizumi's shrine visit Xinhua
Japan PM to visit Yasukuni war shrine-aide Scotsman
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Syria hails 'a new Middle East' BBC News
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says a new Middle East has emerged as a result of what he called Hezbollah's victory over Israel in southern Lebanon.He said the vision of the region the US aspired to had become an illusion. His comments came as the truce between Israel and Hezbollah remains intact despite sporadic violence. Thousands of displaced Lebanese are returning home after a halt to the conflict, in which both sides claimed to have been successful. Mr Assad, speaking in Damascus a day after the UN-brokered ceasefire took effect, was giving his first speech on the crisis since it began more than a month ago. He praised the "the glorious battle" he said had been waged by Hezbollah, and said peace in the Middle East was not possible with the Bush administration in power in Washington. "This is an administration that adopts the principle of pre-emptive war that is absolutely contradictory to the principle of peace," he said. "Consequently, we don't expect peace soon or in the foreseeable future."The defiant speech is the clearest sign of how US opponents in the Middle East have been emboldened by the outcome of the conflict, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Damascus. Mr Assad said there was no more need for defeatism among Arabs - a feeling echoed across the Arab world, our correspondent adds. As Lebanese refugees continued to pour back to their homes on Tuesday, their government said it was ready to move forward with its part in securing the ceasefire. Defence Minister Elias Murr said that by the end of the week, the Lebanese army would deploy 15,000 troops on the boundaries of the southern Litani River, some 30km (19 miles) from the border with Israel. In the meantime, international troops currently in Lebanon would assume positions vacated by the Israeli army before handing them over to the Lebanese troops. He said it was not the job of the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah fighters but he was confident they would withdraw from areas in southern Lebanon as the troops moved in.

French visit
In Israel, army officers said they expected to start giving up captured Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon within a day or two.Overnight, Israeli troops left the southern Christian town of Marjayoun, Lebanese security sources said. Israel's army said Hezbollah militants fired several mortars southwards overnight but it did not respond as none landed over the border and no-one was injured. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is travelling to Lebanon to discuss the proposed deployment of an expanded United Nations force, in which France is expected to play a key role. Meanwhile, the presidents of US and Iran have blamed each other for fuelling the crisis. US President George W Bush accused Iran of backing armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq "in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold". Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed Washington for providing Israel with weapons which he said had been used to target women and children in Lebanon.

Heavy rain mars Ethiopia rescue BBC News
Bad weather is preventing helicopters from reaching thousands of villagers marooned by southern Ethiopian floods. At least 125 people died when the Omo River burst its banks on Sunday. Residents spent Monday night outside as houses in villages were submerged. Officials have sent five motorboats to help. A week ago, floods caused more than 250 deaths in eastern Ethiopia. Flooding often hits low-lying parts of Ethiopia between June and September, when heavy showers fall on dry regions. "As the weather is too difficult for helicopters, we were unable to fly," local police commissioner Tsegay Muluneh told AFP news agency. "We have dispatched more boats from the area and from the federal government with more personnel, medical teams, swimmers, divers and emergency food," he said. Local officials from the United Nations World Food Programme say about 14 villages are affected, with a total population of 6,000 people. It is mostly women, children and the elderly who are still trapped, surrounded by flood waters, WFP told BBC News. Over the past two years flooding has afflicted several areas of eastern and southern Ethiopia, killing hundreds and displacing hundreds of thousands. The flooding of the river and tributaries, which flow into Lake Turkana on Ethiopia's border with Kenya, also destroyed many homes and swept away hundreds of livestock.

Warnings
Weather forecasters say heavier than usual rains are expected in the coming weeks across much of Ethiopia. Officials have issued a fresh warning for people living near the Awash River, which is some 300 km (190 miles) east of Addis Ababa, and which flooded earlier this month. The authorities in Dire Dawa in the east have banned the rebuilding of settlements on the river banks and declared the areas a disaster zone. There are 256 confirmed deaths from last week's flooding, but some 250 people are still missing and 10,000 were displaced. WFP is distributing relief supplies there. "The extensive flooding was a cruel blow for already vulnerable people, many of whom have now lost everything, including their families," WFP's acting country representative Ebenezer Ngowi said in a statement.

Koizumi shrine visit stokes anger BBC News
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has paid his respects at a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, despite strong regional protests.The Yasukuni shrine honours 2.5 million war dead, including 14 people convicted as criminals by a 1948 war tribunal. It was Mr Koizumi's sixth visit as PM, but his first on 15 August, the anniversary of Japan's WWII surrender. China said Mr Koizumi's visit offended Asian war victims. South Korea also voiced "deep disappointment". Many of Japan's neighbours believe the shrine glorifies Japan's militaristic past, and that visits by the country's leaders show the country has yet to fully face up to past atrocities. But Mr Koizumi - who is due to step down next month - defended his visits, saying: "I go there to remember and reflect on past wars, and renew our resolve never to go to war again." "I do not go to justify the past war or to glorify militarism," he insisted.

Hurt feelings
This could not have been a more public event, according to the BBC correspondent in Tokyo, Chris Hogg.It was much more elaborate, and longer than Mr Koizumi's last visit. The prime minister arrived at the Yasukuni shrine in a limousine, and walked behind a Shinto priest in traditional robes. He spent about 10 minutes inside, and left white chrysanthemum flowers, signing the guest book as prime minister. Yasukuni supporters, including a number of right-wing activists in military fatigues, waved Japanese flags as Mr Koizumi walked past. But other Japanese were less happy about the visit. On Sunday, more than 1,000 people marched in Tokyo to protest against such trips, and others staged candlelight vigils. Mr Koizumi also faces the wrath of Japan's regional neighbours, who had previously warned that any more visits to Yasukuni would further damage ties - which have already been frayed by previous visits as well as other disagreements. "This move... seriously harms the feelings of those victimised by Japanese militarism during World War II," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on its website. The visit "will undermine the political basis for ties between China and Japan," the ministry statement said. South Korea's foreign ministry expressed "deep disappointment and anger" over the visit. "The Japanese prime minister's visit to the Yasukuni shrine is a total disrespect for the Korean government and people," Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon is quoted a telling Reuters news agency. Both South Korea and China have suspended summit meetings with Mr Koizumi since his last visit, in October. But Mr Koizumi brushed off the criticism, telling reporters that his visit had been "appropriate".After paying his respects at the shrine, he joined Emperor Akihito to attend a national memorial service in honour of Japan's war dead, where he apologised to the victims of World War II. "Our country caused huge damage and suffering to a number of countries, particularly people in Asia," Mr Koizumi said at the ceremony. "On behalf of the Japanese people, I sincerely express condolences to the victims with our deep remorse."

Future visits?
Mr Koizumi has visited the Yasukuni shrine every year since he became prime minister five years ago, but until now he has always stayed away on the highly symbolic 15 August anniversary. Correspondents say Tuesday's visit was made to fulfil a promise he made while trying to win the leadership of his party five years ago, when he said he would visit the shrine to mark the anniversary. This was the last year he could honour that promise, as he is due to step down next month. Attention is now focusing on whether potential contenders to succeed Mr Koizumi will decide to visit the shrine. The front-runner, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, has declined to say what he would do - but he has visited in the past. Leading rival Sadakazu Tanigaki has ruled out a visit and Foreign Minister Taro Aso, another contender, is also thought to be against one. Public concern over the shrine issue has been increasing, with recent polls suggesting that more than half the Japanese public do not want their next prime minister to continue the visits.

Heavy fighting in north Sri Lanka BBC News
There have been continued heavy clashes between Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lankan forces in the island's north. It follows a day of intense bloodshed in which seven people died in a bombing in the capital, Colombo, and government air strikes killed at least 19 people. The government has closed all schools for two weeks, in case of reprisal attacks following the deaths of Tamils. The Tigers say 61 girls were killed in an air raid that struck an orphanage, but the government denies it. The government says its jets hit a rebel training camp in the rebel-controlled northern district of Mullaitivu. International truce monitors and UN staff said they had found no evidence the site was used as a military base. However, they were unable to verify the number of people killed. They reported seeing the bodies of 19 people at a nearby hospital, most of them women around the age of 18. The government says rebels have infiltrated civilian areas in government-controlled territory and a massive search operation is under way. The Jaffna peninsula has become the centre of Sri Lanka's conflict. The Tamil Tigers and army have exchanged artillery strikes along their de facto border.

Cricket decision
Monday's bomb in the capital, Colombo, targeted the Pakistani High Commissioner's convoy, killing seven people. Bashir Wali Mohamed, who was uninjured, said he believed he had been targeted because of the Pakistani government's support of the Sri Lankan government in its war against terrorism. The Tamil Tigers' military spokesman, Irasaiah Ilanthirayan, told the BBC they were not responsible for the blast. The incident has raised fears the international community is being drawn into the violence. The first one-day international of the triangular series with South Africa and India has been postponed because of concerns over security, officials said. Sri Lanka were scheduled to play the South Africans on Monday but the game was rescheduled for Tuesday due to wet weather. The Tigers have ruled out peace talks with the government while heavy fighting continues between the two sides. Aid agencies say about 100,000 people have been affected by the latest fighting. The recent flare-up in fighting has alarmed Sri Lanka's key foreign donors - the US, Japan, the European Union and Norway - who have called for an immediate end to the hostilities, which they said were "seriously unravelling" the 2002 ceasefire agreement. The ceasefire aimed to halt more than two decades of war between the government and the rebels, who are fighting for an independent homeland for the country's minority Tamil people in the north and east. It remains officially in effect, despite months of violence.

Iraqi Kurdish party office bombed BBC News
Four Iraqis have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on an office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The PUK is Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's political party. Police officials have warned that the death toll could climb as rescuers search the rubble. More than 30 people were injured in the attack. Mosul is a religiously and ethnically mixed city 390km (240 miles) north Of the capital, Baghdad.

Mexico poll protests turn violent BBC News
Mexican riot police fired tear gas and used clubs to break up a protest by supporters of left-wing presidential challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Leftist lawmakers were among at least 30 people injured in the scuffles outside Congress in Mexico City. Mr Lopez Obrador's supporters have been camped out in protest at the 2 July election they say was stolen by conservative rival Felipe Calderon. This is the first time the authorities have used force on the protesters. Mr Lopez Obrador later told his supporters that the events showed the authorities are "taking off their masks and putting aside their talk of supposed legality and respect". Mr Lopez Obrador lost the election by 240,000 votes. He alleged fraud, and has since led a mass civil disobedience campaign to demand a full recount. A court-imposed recount of votes from 9% of polling centres has been completed but the result has not yet been announced. Mr Calderon told a news conference he was confident the recount would confirm his victory, and called on Mr Lopez Obrador to "reconsider his attitude". Violence broke out as left-wing protesters tried to set up a camp outside Congress ahead of the outgoing President Vicente Fox's last state-of-the-nation address on 1 September. Stones were thrown at lines of police who fired back with tear gas. "They hit us all, they fired gas at us. I still haven't recovered from the tear gas," Elias Moreno of Mr Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) said. The federal police said they had followed guidelines but that the protesters had been blocking access to Congress. They called on the protesters to "demonstrate within the bounds of the law".

Sharon suffering from pneumonia BBC News
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in a coma since January, is now suffering from pneumonia, hospital officials say.The condition of Mr Sharon, 78, has worsened this week. A brain scan earlier in the week showed a deterioration in his brain function, and his urine output was decreasing, officials had earlier said. The former leader has been in a coma since he suffered a major stroke in early January.After several operations on his brain, he was moved from Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital in May to a specialist centre for long-term care. In late July he was rushed into intensive care to undergo kidney dialysis. Hospital officials said they also noticed changes in his brain membrane at the time. His deputy, Ehud Olmert, assumed his powers in January before being elected prime minister in March. Mr Sharon has been a giant of Israeli politics. He was first elected to the Knesset in 1973 and held a number of cabinet positions before he became prime minister in 2001. A former army commander, as defence minister he masterminded Israel's disastrous invasion of Lebanon in 1982. As housing minister in the early 1990s, he presided over the biggest building drive in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza since Israel occupied the territories in 1967. But while prime minister, he went on to push through Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank, despite opposition from within his right-wing Likud party. He also presided over the building of the controversial West Bank barrier. Amid growing dissent, Mr Sharon left Likud in November last year to found a new party, Kadima (Forward), which scored a narrow win in the March parliamentary election under Mr Olmert.

German births decline to new low BBC News
Germany has seen another decline in its birth rate, which is Europe's lowest. Official figures show that the number of births fell by a further 2.8% last year. Meanwhile, the mortality rate rose by 1.5% compared with 2004. The birth rate is exceptionally low in the former East Germany, where the city of Chemnitz is thought to have the lowest birth rate in the world. Economists say Europe's population decline threatens to damage economic growth for decades. The data from Germany's Office for Federal Statistics show there were 686,000 births last year - half as many as in the early 1960s.Germany has had the lowest birth rate in Europe for some time and this trend has been confirmed. In 2005 it had 8.5 births per 1,000 inhabitants, compared with 12 in Britain, 12.7 in France and 15.2 in Ireland. The German cabinet approved proposals earlier this year for a new state allowance to encourage people to have children. Germany registered 830,000 deaths last year - an increase of 1.5% over the 2004 figure.

Overweight 'top world's hungry' BBC News
There are now more overweight people across the world than hungry ones, according to experts. US professor Barry Popkin said all countries - both rich and poor - had failed to address the obesity boom. He told the International Association of Agricultural Economists the number of overweight people had topped 1bn, compared with 800m undernourished. Speaking at an Australian conference, he said changing diets and people doing less physical exercise was the cause. Professor Popkin, from the University of North Carolina, said that the change had happened quickly as obesity was rapidly spreading, while hunger was slowly declining among the world's 6.5bn population. He told the conference at the Gold Coast convention centre near Brisbane: "Obesity is the norm globally and under nutrition, while still important in a few countries and in targeted populations in many others, is no longer the dominant disease." He said the "burden of obesity", with its related illnesses, was also shifting from the rich to the poor, not only in urban but in rural areas around the world. China typified the changes, with a major shift in diet from cereals to animal products and vegetable oils accompanied by a decline in physical work, more motorised transport and more television viewing, he added. And he urged governments to begin to develop better strategies to combat the problem. He said food prices could be used to manipulate people's diets and tilt them towards healthier options. "For instance, if we charge money for every calorie of soft drink and fruit drink that was consumed, people would consume less of it. "If we subsidise fruit and vegetable production, people would consume more of it and we would have a healthier diet." And University of Minnesota's Professor Benjamin Senauer, who has compared lifestyles in the US, which has high obesity rates with Japan, which has low rates, agreed. "The average Japanese household spends almost a quarter of its income on food compared to under 14% in the US."

'Cheap food'
While a direct tax on food in the US to reduce obesity would not be politically acceptable, agricultural subsidies which resulted in cheap food could be reduced, he added. But he said other factors, such as exercise, also played an important role. "Japanese cities are based on efficient public transport and walking. The average American commutes to work, drives to the supermarket and does as little walking as possible." Professor Tony Barnett, head of the diabetes and obesity group at Birmingham University, said: "It is becoming increasingly clear that the number of overweight outnumbers the malnourished. "What is also clear is that this is not just happening in developed countries, the developing world also has serious problems. "The biggest increases are being seen in parts of Asia with certain populations more susceptible than others. If we do not get to grips with this, problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are going to increase rapidly."

Campuses connect students online USA TODAY
Andrew Seaman has a few jitters about going to college for the first time. But upperclassmen already have made him feel better — and he has never even met them face to face. Seaman, who begins at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., this month, has inquired about student politics and dorm living on HelloWilkes, a private network the school created this year for incoming freshmen. "The other kids were able to put my mind at ease that the dorm rooms are livable," says Seaman, 18, of Forest Hill, Pa. They also have doled out advice on how to get involved in student government. Without the site, "I would've been more nervous," he says. To better communicate with a generation that socializes online on websites such as MySpace and Facebook, many colleges are launching into the social networking frenzy. More than a dozen have created private sites with features such as profiles, bulletin boards and information areas. "In a year or two virtually every college will have something like this," says Steve Jones, communications professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The reason is "obvious," he says. "This has become such a familiar mode of communication for teenagers; it's basically meeting them on their own turf. It makes it more comfortable to get information they might not otherwise get." Administrators say they use the sites both to market their schools to potential students and to put freshmen at ease. Students find out about the sites in a variety of ways, including e-mail, snail-mail invitations and orientations. Most schools feature prominent links promoting the sites on their main university websites. "We realized that in order to communicate truly effectively to students, we needed a medium that they are already accustomed to," says Mark Sikes, assistant dean of students at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. The school created a site for freshman this year. Along with message boards that allow students to connect, the site acts as a clearinghouse for all sorts of information on everything from classes to regional culture and events. College networking sites vary. Some are little more than message boards; others have areas where students can write full profiles and communicate with each other like they do on MySpace and Facebook. And judging by the traffic at some sites, students are using them. At William & Mary, for instance, 1,500 of the 1,600 newly admitted students have logged on in the past month, Sikes says. Other schools with new networking sites this year include Harrisburg (Pa.) University of Science and Technology; Marietta (Ohio) College; Wellesley (Mass.) College; Purchase (N.Y.) College and Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. "Universities need to be where people are," says Cheryl Brown, director of undergraduate admissions for Binghamton (N.Y.) University, which also has a new site. Seaman and his friend, Stephanie Gerchman, also an incoming Wilkes freshman, say HelloWilkes makes connections and answers questions. Gerchman, for instance, got advice that helped her to choose psychology as her minor. Some students like the idea of networking so much that they take a do-it-yourself approach. Gerchman says she prefers MySpace and Facebook because they allow her to directly contact friends. HelloWilkes has an area to post personal profiles and weigh in on designated topics, such as dorm living and studying, but there's no built-in spot for e-mail addresses or instant-messaging names. So she created her own group on MySpace, based on the HelloWilkes site, open to incoming Wilkes students. She also uses Facebook and already has a movie night planned for the beginning of the school year with another Wilkes student she met there. Some colleges use college-oriented Facebook rather than building their own sites. "Why reinvent the wheel?" says Christopher Oertel, director of residential life for the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. He created a Facebook page for his department to reach out to incoming freshmen. "We're taking advantage of what's provided for us." Some worry that creating their own online networks could create legal problems. "If we exercise prior review or censorship, we're going to invite a whole new series of litigations," says Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University in Ames. But by and large, setting up networking sites for students seems worthwhile, administrators say. "If you want the authenticity and true voice of the students, you have to be willing to take the bad with the good," Binghamton's Brown says. "On occasion, something sneaks in where we go, 'gulp.' And so far we have been pretty open about letting our students' comments stand as is. "For students, these really are social connections. If we want to connect with our students and have them connect with each other, we need to be taking advantage of this medium."
By Janet Kornblum, USA TODAY

Blogtronix Releases a Secure Enterprise Blogging, Wiki and Corporate Social Networking Platform Offered as a Software and On-Demand Yahoo! News
Blogtronix released today Blogtronix Enterprise, a secure enterprise blogging, wiki and corporate social networking platform, which is an upgrade of its core business communication and collaboration offering. The enterprise upgrade is offered as a software and on-demand and will be announced this week at Digital Hollywood, a leading trade conference for digital media professionals. Blogtronix is a pioneer in enterprise blogging services and integrates blogging with wiki, social networking, RSS feeds and other tools to improve the internal and external communication and collaboration needs of business, not-for-profit, government, and educational enterprises. "With the new release, Blogtronix extends its lead in the enterprise blogging, wiki and social networking,” said Mr. Vassil Mladjov, Blogtronix co-founder and CEO “Blogtronix Enterprise is based on the needs and feedback of our enterprise customers and it offers a number of Web 2.0 improvements designed for the enterprise. There is a number of blogging offers on the market today but none of them has been built as a solution for secure and scalable enterprise use like Blogtronix Enterprise” Blogtronix Enterprise is designed to make blog and wiki communication as well as user administration easy for deployment with virtually unlimited users and user groups. New features and tools include:

• LDAP real-time authentication and single sign on
• Unlimited blog communities and groups
• Microsoft SQL Express support
• Rich Media WYSIWYG editor for Windows and Mac
• Flash based video blogging
• Secure and private workgroups
• Integrated Corporate Social Networking
• Restore options for blog posts, comments and wiki
• AutoSave for blog posts
• Document management
• Integrated RSS reader
• Activity feeds and email alerts to users and administrators
• Powerful anti-spam protection with solid feedback management tools
• Client branding
• Usage dashboards
• Detailed blog and user statistics
• Integrated video tutorials

For maximum security behind a firewall, Blogtronix Enterprise is available as an Appliance. In addition, Blogtronix checks company blogs and comments against the corporate compliance blogging policy.

Pricing and Availability:
Blogtronix Enterprise introductory price of $20 per user per month is available through September 2006. The Blogtronix Enterprise appliance starts at $10,000 plus monthly user fees. FREE trial and an online demo are available on Blogtronix’s web site at http://www.blogtronix.com.

About Blogtronix:
Founded in 2005 by Vassil Mladjov and George Athannassov, and headquartered in San Francisco, Blogtronix is growing into a global company with offices in Colorado and Europe. Blogtronix is committed to serve enterprises with an integrated set of communication and collaboration services that are scalable and secure for enterprise use and that are offered at a fraction of the cost of traditional collaboration and content management systems. For additional information on Blogtronix, please visit http://www.blogtronix.com or contact us at 1.415.738.8841.

UN drive to agree Lebanon force BBC News
Intense negotiations are under way to form the UN peacekeeping force planned to back up the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.The UN hopes to get 3,500 troops on the ground in southern Lebanon within two weeks, mostly from France. No countries have yet formally pledged troops, although several have said they will. UN officials say there is concern about the force's rules of engagement. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is in Beirut for talks. He is expected to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to discuss conditions for the deployment of French troops. The ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel has entered its third day, and is continuing to hold, despite sporadic violence. But a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described it as "extremely precarious" and said the most urgent task was to get troops on the ground. The Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, is in New York for talks with Mr Annan about how to implement the ceasefire in full. The UN aim is to boost the limited existing force, Unifil, as soon as possible, enabling it to take over positions as Israel withdraws and a 15,000-strong contingent of Lebanese troops moves in. The multinational force would later be boosted to the full 15,000 soldiers agreed in the UN ceasefire resolution passed on Friday. Lebanon says it will start moving its own 15,000-strong force towards the south this week, while Israel says it could pull out within 10 days. But although 45 countries have attended UN meetings to discuss planned deployments, none have yet made formal commitments to send troops - including France, which the UN says it hopes will provide the backbone for the force. France, Italy, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia have indicated they will make significant contributions, and a dozen other countries have also expressed interest in helping. Foreign ministers from Turkey and Malaysia were expected in Beirut for talks on the issue. A senior UN official said all countries wanted clarification about the rules of engagement, the BBC's Bridget Kendall reports from the UN. There is clearly concern at the apparent reluctance to pledge soldiers, our correspondent says.

Sporadic violence
In south Lebanon, aid agencies are trying to deliver badly-needed food and medicine, while the UN has warned returnees of danger from unexploded ordnance. Tens of thousands of Lebanese have continued to return to their homes in southern Lebanon, although the Israelis say the area remains unsafe until Lebanese and UN troops are deployed. In a separate development, the Israeli Army said it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander moments before the ceasefire went into effect on Monday. The dead man was named as Sajed Dawayer, but no details were given about how or where he died. There was no immediate comment from Lebanon. Israel said it had shot dead three Hezbollah fighters on Tuesday, and injured two others as sporadic post-truce violence continued.

Iran wants new Mideast without US, British meddling Khaleej Times
TEHERAN - Iran’s president said he wanted a new Middle East—a phrase that echoes language used by the US administration—but said his idea of a new region was one without “the hegemony of America and Britain”. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during fighting between Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas and Israel that the violence marked the birth pangs of a new Middle East. “In fact our nations also want a new Middle East. The Middle East that our nations want is a free Middle East, free from the hegemony of America and Britain,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a rally in northwest Iran on Tuesday. The US failure to call for an immediate ceasefire early in the fighting in Lebanon—the line Britain also took—angered many in the Middle East, where there has also been strong opposition to the invasion of Iraq by US and British troops. Many in the region and Muslim world also view US policy as biased towards Israel. “They (Israel) attacked Lebanon as an introduction to the new Middle East plan. They were under the assumption that they can stabilize their power by breaking the unity and resistance of the Lebanese nation and expand their influence on the rest of the Middle East,” Ahmadinejad said. “I want to announce here that they should not assume that ceasefire means an end to the crisis,” he said, referring to the ceasefire between Lebanon and Hezbollah in place since Monday. Analysts say the Bush administration saw the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as a chance to disarm Hezbollah and punish their allies Syria and Iran. Iran severed ties with the United States after the 1979 Islamic revolution, which toppled the US-backed monarchy. The United States is often described as the Great Satan in Iranian political rhetoric. The Islamic Republic has diplomatic ties with Britain, but Teheran remains suspicious of the former imperial power, which it often accuses of meddling in Iranian affairs.
Exclusive: Iran was behind Hezbollah-Israel war Iran Focus
War and peace, exactly how genuine? Turkish Daily News (subscription)
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EU ministers in air terror talks BBC News
Interior ministers from several European Union countries are holding talks in London on last week's alleged airline bomb plot. Home Secretary John Reid is briefing his counterparts about the "emerging threat and current operation" according to a government statement. The ministers will agree to accelerate EU counter-terrorism action where necessary, the statement says. Twenty-four people are now in custody in the UK over the alleged plot. Mr Reid first held trilateral talks with the French and German interior ministers. The three were then be joined by interior ministers from Finland, Portugal and Slovenia, Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini, and EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator Gijs de Vries. "Investigation after investigation underlines the international nature of this current form of terrorism, and it is through working closely with our partners, both in Europe and beyond, that we are able to respond to the threat effectively," the Home Office said.

Veto powers
BBC European affairs correspondent William Horsley says the UK is looking into possible links between some of those arrested in the UK and individuals in mainland Europe. He adds that the talks in London will also discuss EU plans to counter the radicalisation of young Muslims. The 7 July bombings in London last year pushed counter-terrorism up the EU agenda, and helped former Home Secretary Charles Clarke clinch a deal to force companies to retain telephone and e-mail data for use in investigations. The European Commission is currently trying to persuade governments to give up their veto powers in the area of criminal justice, arguing that it will help the anti-terrorism effort. Mr Clarke was cautiously in favour, but Mr Reid was described as unconvinced before the latest arrests.

'Global threat'
The Commission said the pre-dawn arrests in the UK last Thursday showed that "terrorism is a continuous and global threat" which called for a concerted response. "The European Union's counter-terrorism policy in all its dimensions, including prevention, protection, prosecution and response, will be implemented with full vigour to this end," Mr Frattini said. A meeting of European aviation security and counter-terrorism experts which was due to have been held later in the week has been postponed. Finnish Interior Minister Kari Rajamaeki is attending because his government holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. The French, German, Portuguese and Slovenian governments will hold the presidency in 2007 and 2008. The UK security threat level was raised to "critical" last week amid fears of a plot. On Monday it was downgraded to "severe", meaning an attack is now considered highly likely but not imminent. Some European Union governments followed the UK in preventing passengers carrying drinks or gels into aircraft cabins.

Planets plan boosts tally to 12 BBC News
The number of planets around the Sun could rise from nine to 12 - with more on the way - if experts approve a radical new vision of our Solar System.An endorsement by astronomers meeting in Prague would require school and university textbooks to be rewritten. The proposal recognises eight classical planets, three planets belonging to a new category called "plutons" and the largest asteroid Ceres. Pluto remains a planet, but becomes the basis for the new pluton category. The plan has been drawn up by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) with the aim of settling the question of what does and does not count as a planet. Some 2,500 astronomers gathered at the IAU General Assembly in Prague will vote on the plan next Thursday.

New era
"For the first time in more than 75 years, we will be able to discover new planets in our Solar System. This is a fascinating prospect," said Richard Binzel, a member of the IAU planet definition committee which put together the proposal. Dr Andrew Coates of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Dorking said he thought the plan was "a good compromise".He explained: "It keeps the idea of eight classical planets, while Pluto is allowed to retain its status. But other objects are allowed in, which I suppose makes life more interesting." Experts have been divided over whether Pluto - further away and considerably smaller than the eight other planets in our Solar System - deserves the title. Since the early 1990s, astronomers have found several other objects of comparable size to Pluto in an outer region of the Solar System called the Kuiper Belt. Some astronomers believe Pluto belongs with this population of "icy dwarfs", not with the objects we call planets. Allowances could once be made for Pluto on account of its size. At just 2,360km (1,467 miles) across, Pluto is significantly smaller than the other planets. But until recently, it was still the biggest known object in the Kuiper Belt. That changed with the discovery of 2003 UB313 by Professor Mike Brown and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). After being measured with the Hubble Space Telescope, it was shown to be some 3,000km (1,864 miles) in diameter, making it larger than the ninth planet.

Kicked upstairs?
The IAU draft resolution recognises eight "classical" planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - three "plutons" - Pluto, Charon and UB313 - and the asteroid Ceres. Charon is currently described as a moon of Pluto, but because of its size some experts consider it a twin planet.Professor Owen Gingerich, who chairs the IAU planet definition committee, said: "In a sense we're demoting Pluto by taking it off the list of classical planets. But we're promoting it by making it the prototype of this new category of plutons." Dr Coates commented: "Something had to be done about the definition. It does change the textbooks somewhat, but it also demonstrates that this is a vibrant area of research. "The surprise is Ceres, because most people thought of it as an asteroid." Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and like a planet is spherical in shape.

Seeking endorsement
The basis for this re-evaluation is a new scientific definition of a planet which uses gravity as the determining factor. According to this definition, two conditions must be satisfied for an object to qualify as a planet:

• The object must be in orbit around a star, but must not itself be a star
• It must have enough mass for the body's own gravity to pull it into a nearly spherical shape

On whether he was confident the resolution would be passed, Professor Gingerich told the BBC News website: "It will be a very awkward situation if they don't. "On Sunday afternoon, we proposed it out of the blue for the division chairmen and they voted unanimously that they would be prepared to back it. That's a good cross-section of astronomers. "I'm sure it will be controversial to those with a stake in some other solution, but I hope we will get an overwhelming endorsement." More objects are likely to be announced as planets in the future. The IAU has a "watchlist" of at least a dozen other potential candidates that could become planets once more is known about their sizes and orbits. These include the distant objects Sedna, Orcus, Quaoar and 2003 EL61 and the asteroids Vesta, Pallas and Hygiea. The IAU spent two years debating the matter among its membership. A seven-member committee was set up to consider the findings and produce a draft proposal. The body has been responsible for the naming of planets and moons since 1919.
By Paul Rincon, Science reporter, BBC News

Germany to monitor Madonna show BBC News
German prosecutors are to monitor Madonna's concert to determine whether a mock crucifixion could be construed as insulting religious beliefs. The segment of her tour where she appears on a cross wearing a crown of thorns has provoked controversy in several countries. Prosecutors admit they will rely on media reports of the concert rather than send their own observers. Madonna will play in Dusseldorf on Sunday, following on from her UK dates. Religious leaders have objected to the performance, which Madonna says is part of an appeal for Aids charities.

'In context'
Vatican Cardinal Ersilio Tonino, who spoke with the approval of the Pope, called the concert "a blasphemous challenge to the faith" and a "profanation of the cross". He also called for Madonna, who was raised as a Catholic, to be excommunicated. Muslim and Jewish leaders in Rome also raised objections before the star's concert in the city on 6 August. However, the performance went ahead, including the segment on the cross. Madonna's New York-based spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, denied that the star's show was insulting. "The context of Madonna's performance on the crucifix is not negative nor disrespectful toward the church," she said.

Flood havoc spreads in Ethiopia BBC News
Thousands of Ethiopians remain stranded in the south as efforts continue to reach them after the Omo river burst its banks inundating villages. More than 190 bodies have been recovered and helicopters and motorboats have been sent to help. Some 700 people are feared to have died in floods affecting the north, south and east of the country this month. In the far north, thousands of people in Tigre province are battling floods along the Tegere river. Flooding often hits low-lying parts of Ethiopia between June and September, when heavy showers fall on dry regions.

Disaster zone
In the eastern city of Dire Dawa, local and international agencies are still providing food and help to thousands of people and to communities further north along the Awash river. The authorities in Dire Dawa have banned the rebuilding of settlements on the river banks and declared the areas a disaster zone. There are 256 confirmed deaths from last week's flooding, but some 250 people are still missing and 10,000 were displaced. The United Nations' World Food Programme is distributing relief supplies there. "The extensive flooding was a cruel blow for already vulnerable people, many of whom have now lost everything, including their families," WFP's acting country representative Ebenezer Ngowi said in a statement.

Trapped
In the south of the country, local WFP officials say about 14 villages are affected, with a total population of 6,000 people, when the Omo river broke its banks on Sunday. It is mostly women, children and the elderly who are still trapped, surrounded by flood waters, WFP told BBC News. "In one village alone, I was told that 25 people and many animals had been washed away. Time is of the essence. Stranded people have to be rescued, and rescued quickly from the flood waters," said WFP's Nega Ambago, who visited the area by boat. Over the past two years flooding has afflicted several areas of eastern and southern Ethiopia, killing hundreds and displacing hundreds of thousands. The flooding of the river and tributaries, which flow into Lake Turkana on Ethiopia's border with Kenya, also destroyed many homes and swept away hundreds of livestock. Weather forecasters say heavier than usual rains are expected in the coming weeks across much of Ethiopia.

US criticised for HIV aid effort BBC News
US policy is undermining the efforts of African countries to fight the HIV epidemic, a leading UN figure has said.Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy on Aids, said President George Bush's $15bn Emergency Plan for HIV/Aids was too focussed on promoting abstinence. He said Washington was practising "incipient neo-colonialism" by telling African nations how to fight Aids. He also accused the West of failing to deliver on funding commitments they had made to fight the disease. Speaking at the 16th International Aids Conference in Toronto, Dr Lewis said: "No government in the Western world has the right to dictate policy to African governments around the way in which they respond to the pandemic." Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicentre of the Aids pandemic, with two-thirds of all people living with HIV coming from the region. Two million people died of Aids in the region last year and there were 2.7m new infections. The Bush administration backs an "ABC" plan to fight Aids: Abstinence until marriage; Being faithful to one sexual partner; and if those conditions are not practised, the use of Condoms. In 2003, the US Government approved a $15bn package over five years to fight the spread of Aids.

Abstinence programmes
But the US Congress has stipulated that a proportion of the funds must be spent on encouraging abstinence-until-marriage programmes. Dr Lewis said abstinence programmes had been shown not to work. "That kind of insipient neo-colonialism is unacceptable. "We're saying to Africa: 'This is how you will respond to the pandemic' and that's not appropriate because African governments are eminently capable of deciding what their priorities are and what the response should be." "You do not provide money on the condition that they reflect your ideological priorities." Top US officials have rejected the criticism, denying it promotes abstinence to the detriment of other HIV prevention strategies, or that it is designed to appease conservative Republicans. Mark Dybul, US Global Aids coordinator, said only 7% of funding for 2005 had been spent on abstinence programmes. He said: "There is no evidence in support of what they are saying. "It is colonialistic to not support ABC. ABC was developed by Africans for Africans - we are supporting their strategies." Speaking to the BBC, Dr Lewis said the West had failed to provide sufficient funds to finance effective long-term prevention and treatment programmes. "The G8 countries could help to break the back of this pandemic if they viewed it as an emergency like no other emergency - as the worst scourge on the face of the planet since the Black Death of the 14th century. "That sense of urgency is not yet evident."

'Siege' warning to Mexico rival BBC News
Supporters of Mexico's left-wing presidential candidate have pledged to place his rival "under siege" if he is declared winner of the disputed poll. A spokesman for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's party said Felipe Calderon would not be able to operate outside his office if he was made president. Mr Lopez Obrador disputes the official results which give a narrow victory to his rival and wants a full recount. A partial recount has been completed, but the results are not yet known. Election officials have until 6 September to declare a president-elect or annul the election. If declared the victor, Mr Calderon "will be a president under siege... he will not be able to operate outside his office", said Gerardo Fernandez, of the left-wing Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). Protesters have also pledged to disrupt outgoing President Vicente Fox's last state-of-the-nation address on 1 September. The day "will not be a picnic", Mr Fernandez said. Mr Lopez Obrador's supporters clashed with police outside the Congress building on Tuesday, for the first time since they began camping out in Mexico City in protest at the election result. At least eight people were injured in the scuffles which only lasted a few minutes but saw police use batons and teargas to break up the crowd. Federal police have denied accusations that they were heavy-handed. Mr Lopez Obrador has alleged fraud after losing by some 240,000 votes, and has called for a full recount of the 41 million votes cast in the 2 July poll. Earlier this week, Mr Calderon - the candidate of President Fox's National Action Party - said he was confident the court-imposed recount of votes from 9% of polling centres would confirm his win. Mr Fox has said he will take all the necessary actions to ensure that whoever is declared president-elect in September is allowed to assume power.

Nigeria promises kidnap crackdown BBC News
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo has promised to act against those suspected of involvement in a string of kidnappings in the Niger Delta region. He said he had ordered 24-hour patrols in the Delta's creeks and swamps, and threatened action against oil firms who paid ransoms for their workers. "We are going to be firm and say no to violence and hostage taking," he said. Five groups of foreign oil workers have been seized in the delta in the past two weeks but no-one has been arrested. In a statement issued on Tuesday, shortly after four foreign workers were freed unharmed, Mr Obasanjo vowed to confront "force with force". "Wherever we find hostage-takers now, we will hunt them down. We will not accept this any longer," the statement read. The two Norwegians and two Ukrainians freed on Tuesday were seized on 9 August from a supply vessel moored in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. They were freed one day after four other workers were seized and five released.

Determination
Earlier this year, Mr Obasanjo pledged to create thousands of new jobs and construct a new motorway to the Niger Delta in an effort to calm tensions in the region. But continued violence and kidnappings have seen a change in the president's tone. A rise in attacks in recent months by militants, seeking more local control of the Niger Delta's rich oil resources, has cut Nigeria's oil production by 25%. "Wherever we find hostage-takers now, we will hunt them down. We will not accept this any longer," he reportedly said at a meeting in the region. "Nigeria is a signatory to international conventions which categorise hostage-takers and their accomplices in non-international conflict situations as terrorists to be hunted down wherever they go."

Confusion
Oil industry sources say hostage-taking has become an attractive business, as oil companies strike clandestine ransom deals. The Delta is awash with weapons, unemployment is high and communities feel aggrieved at the lack of development. Armed groups have proliferated, often linked to local politicians. Three Filipinos, a Belgian and a Moroccan were released on Monday. But four more workers, including two Britons, were seized on Sunday. Nigerian authorities say they still do not have full details on how many hostages remain in captivity, although reports say at least six are still being held.

NZ mourns death of Maori queen BBC News
A week of mourning has begun in New Zealand, to mark the death of the revered queen of the indigenous Maori population. Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu died on Tuesday at the age of 75, after a reign of more than 40 years. According to Maori protocol, the lavish ceremonies will culminate in her burial on the sacred mountain of Taupiri. She was the longest serving head of the Kingitanga movement - the royal line, which started almost 150 years ago. The movement was started in an effort to stem the loss of native lands to the flood of white settlers arriving in New Zealand.

'Quiet dignity'
Dame Te Ata, as she was popularly known, died in her ancestral home in the North Island town of Ngaruawahia late on Tuesday. Hundreds of mourners have already congregated in the area to pay their respects. Nanaia Mahuta, family spokeswoman for Dame Te Ata, told New Zealand media that Dame Te Ata was "tireless in terms of ensuring there was a good relationships throughout all peoples of New Zealand." New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said: "A mighty kauri (tree) has fallen." Dame Te Ata was the longest serving head of the Kingitanga movement, gaining the title of queen the day her father was buried in 1966. Though the position is largely ceremonial, she enjoyed huge respect among both Maori and other New Zealanders - and was often consulted by senior politicians. She was also recognised abroad as a cultural ambassador for the Maori people - and met many diplomatic and royal visitors. Her successor is expected to be named during the week of mourning. If tradition is followed, one of her seven children will inherit the post. In a rare interview, given in March 2003, she hinted that one of her sons would be chosen. "My feeling at the moment is that the people are ready for a male heir to take over," she said. The Maori people make up about 15% of New Zealand's four million people.

Japan fisherman killed by Russia BBC News
A Japanese fisherman has been shot dead by a Russian patrol boat near a chain of disputed islands, the first fatality in 50 years, media reports said. Japan's foreign ministry demanded the release of three other fishermen who were detained by the Russian boat. Russia expressed regret but said the boat had entered its territory and said such breaches should not happen again. Both sides claim the four islands, which Russia calls the southern Kurils and Japan the Northern Territories. The dispute has stopped the two nations signing a peace treaty to end WWII. The islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of the war in 1945. Russia has said it will hand over some of the islands to Japan, but Tokyo insists all four should be returned.

Rare shooting
The Russian patrol boat opened fire on the Japanese vessel after it was found in Russian waters and refused to stop, according to Russian media. The Russian coast guard insisted that the vessel defied several orders to stop and made dangerous manoeuvres, according to the Itar-Tass news agency. The boat and its three remaining crew have now been taken to one of the disputed islands. The BBC's Chris Hogg, in Tokyo, says fishing disputes are common in the area, and Russian border patrols often try to capture Japanese fishermen. But the last time a Japanese citizen was shot dead by a Soviet vessel was nearly 50 years ago.

Somalia's Islamists deny advance BBC News
The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) has denied reports that it has captured a port on Somalia's central coastline. Eyewitnesses in Hobyo town said earlier that heavily armed UIC militiamen moved in at dawn without any fighting. But Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told the BBC that neither he nor his fighters had entered the town. The Islamists have taken control of most of central and southern Somalia since seizing the capital in June after defeating an alliance of warlords. Attempts to get the transitional government and Islamic courts to go to Sudan for peace talks have so far failed.

'Welcome'
The town of Hobyo is close to the autonomous Puntland region, whose administration is hostile to the Islamic courts. It has warned its population against supporting the Islamist advance. The BBC's Somalia service editor, Yusuf Garaad Omar, says the town does not have an existing Islamic court, but it is likely that the UIC has supporters in the town. According to reports on the Somali Shabeelle website, the Islamist militia travelled on armed pick-ups into Hobyo at dawn. "We did not capture it but we reached the people of Hobyo to bring them our message of peace," an Islamic officer who wanted to remain anonymous told AFP news agency. "First, the Islamist army technicals surrounded the town, then they sent an envoy to negotiate, before their entry was accepted," local leader Hussein Jimale told Reuters news agency. But these reports were denied by Mr Aweys on the phone to the BBC Somali service.

Defections
At the weekend the UIC took control of Harardhere and Eldher ports - both of which have been used as a base for piracy. The internationally recognised interim government controls only the central town of Baidoa, but is supported by Ethiopia, which says it will intervene if Baidoa is attacked. The Islamists also claimed some 100 government fighters defected on Wednesday to Burhakba from Baidoa with seven armed pick-up trucks. Interim President Abdullahi Yusuf is from Puntland and is a long-time ally of Ethiopia. His prime minister, Ali Mohammed Ghedi, has said the government will now participate in peace talks, after earlier being reluctant to enter dialogue with the UIC, a stance that led to mass resignations from his government. But the UIC refuse to go to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, for talks unless all Ethiopian troops leave Somali soil - though Ethiopia denies any of its troops are in Somalia. A visiting Kenyan delegation recently urged the UIC to avoid any escalation of hostilities in Somalia and take part in talks. Somalia has had no effective central government since the ousting of dictator Siad Barre in 1991.

Crisis
Meanwhile, a United Nations agency has warned that a severe humanitarian crisis could erupt this year in Somalia, where insecurity could compound crop failures and livestock deaths during drought - with the central and southern areas worst hit. The UN's Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) said some 1.8m Somalis remain dependent on assistance but warned that the number could double if fears of widespread conflict are realised. It said supplies of aid and imported food stuffs were compromised by violence and could be reduced to a trickle by large-scale fighting.

Finns shaken out of complacency by increased competition from Asia nationnultimedia.com
Finland, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, will host the Asia-Europe Asem Summit, the EU-China Summit and the Asia-Europe Business Forum this September. The Finnish presidency will be burdened by bitter political wrangles, from the Middle East crisis to Russia as an energy supplier. Aside from these issues, the Finns want to focus on innovation - the crucial area in global competition where Europe is seriously challenged by Asia. This is an issue where the Finns have good credentials. Fifteen years ago Finland was the first OECD country to put in place a national innovation system, a seamless co-partnership between enterprises, government and research institutes. At the same time Nokia was emerging as a global networking engine for many smaller Finnish IT companies. New ideas were cultivated within a holistic national system. An internationally top-ranking education system has also provided an ideal base for learning the new competitive chain of creativity, innovation and design. Half a decade ago the international press built up a flattering cult-image for the country where, as the American magazine, Wired, put it, "the cultural mystery remains" and "the Finns have stolen the future". In his recent book, "Finland, the Cultural Lone Wolf", Richard D Lewis has continued the mystification theme of Finland. At the height of the country's "great knowledge society" fame, Finns were flattered also by Professor Manuel Castells' idea of "the Finnish model", marked by the successful combination of an affluent society and world-class competitiveness. The national psyche of the Finns is based on non-hierarchical thinking with daring and swift individual decisions and reactions. But there is also a remarkable social cohesion and mutual trust. In their management style, modern Finnish enterprises reflect this psyche. They have moved to a "jazz band" model, constantly improvising and creating something new while continuing to play and jam. When outsiders praised Finland as the world's most competitive country, there was a lot of backslapping among Finns. They felt superior. In 2002, they even established the mighty Millennium Technology Prize of ค1 million (Bt47.6 million), cash-wise the largest international acknowledgement of its kind. But everything was not picture-perfect. Finns were still complacent and content when experts told them that something is wrong when the most wired and competitive country cannot attract either talented immigrants or foreign investment. Finns want to keep their doors both closed and open at the same time. Social networking with foreigners still causes angst to Finns. A capacity for world-class innovation is not enough. Marketing skills are also crucial. Finland has to ensure that its capacity for innovation is globally networked, going beyond the EU. In its own survival strategies it has to find ways to cooperate with leading foreign innovation centres in the most dynamic areas of the world. East Asian competitors have forced Finns to learn that in the new global economy you have to run hard just to stay in one place, and even harder to stay on top. Last year the first Finnish innovation centre abroad, FinChi, was established in Shanghai. The networking vision has gone further than the Greater China area. Shanghai is seen as a future hub for the Pacific Rim knowledge-intensive activities, which run on the opposite North American coastline from Vancouver to San Diego. The latest conception is to establish another Finnish innovation centre in the Silicon Valley. The economic and innovative dynamism around the PacRim, the exchange of ideas, talents and capital across the ocean, has never captured the imagination of Europeans. Because their world map ends in Japan, they have difficulties in comprehending the almost mystical sense of community that exists among the PacRim countries. The Pacific psychology - a relaxed community spirit - is reflected in the Apec summit meetings where the heads-of-state wear barongs, batiks, silk jackets, Hawaiian shirts or some other casual outfit. The group photos look like happy class reunions. On the other hand, the often sombre looking and moody Europeans appear in the EU-Asia summit meetings mostly in formal attire. In the group photos they seem to carry all the problems, worries and agonies of the Earth on their shoulders. No wonder, because they tend to put the most painful and irritating political problems on the negotiating table right away. During the Apec meetings, sensitive issues are often discussed on golf courses. Even Vietnamese officials recently hired Australian pros to teach them golf, this great Asia-Pacific networking game. It has taken a long time for the inward-looking Europeans to realise the implications of the power shift that is moving the epicentre of the world's economic dynamism towards the Asia-Pacific region. Not only manufacturing, but also research and development activities are moving to East Asia. The simple truth is that R&D moves where production goes. Among the legions of reports written for the European Commission is the one titled, "Creating an Innovative Europe", which was published last January. It provided further evidence of how emerging Asian economies are challenging the R&D leadership of Europe and even the United States. The combined talent pools of "Chindia" could form a magic formula that might make Europe fall even more behind its self-imposed timetable to become the world's most competitive area by year 2010 - a target that has become a joke. The signals of profound global change and challenges were picked up by the OECD and multinational enterprises long before the EU or the bureaucracies of its member states recognised them. The new generation of corporate leaders in Finland also have a more sophisticated knowledge and understanding of global economics and politics than people generally imagine. They have access to the highest echelons of global political power. Their companies operate in their own economic space, in the spheres high above narrow-minded local politics. Consequently, the Asia-Europe business dialogue under the Asem umbrella has not been as attractive as Brussels had hoped. International business leaders have their own networks and clubs. Still the Finns expect 300 to 400 participants in the Asia-Europe Business Forum to be held in Helsinki September 10 and 11. At least the weather will still be good for golf and there are several excellent courses. The jazz is also first-rate. The unassuming and asocial Finns could create a relaxed ambience - after all, they shocked the timid and schmaltzy Eurovision song contest last May with the heavy metal horror band Lordi.
By Pasi Rutanen
Pasi Rutanen is the former Finnish ambassador to China and now retired as an OECD/International Energy Agency adviser in Paris.

Lebanese army crosses key river BBC News
Lebanese troops have crossed the strategically important Litani river, moving into some areas of southern Lebanon for the first time in decades. France has confirmed it is ready to head an expanded international force working alongside the Lebanese army. But France and other UN contributors want their roles clearly defined, including any disarming of Hezbollah. Israel, meanwhile, says it has passed control of half of its positions in the south to the current UN force there. Dozens of Lebanese army trucks, armoured personnel carriers and jeeps crossed the Litani using temporary bridges set up to bypass bridges damaged by Israeli shelling. The vanguard crossed at 0600 local time (0300 GMT), to be greeted by residents cheering and waving. About 2,000 Lebanese troops are in the initial deployment, which will rise to the 15,000-strong force approved on Wednesday by the Lebanese cabinet, which includes two Hezbollah members.

Disarmament dilemma
Senior Hezbollah and other Lebanese figures have made it clear there is no question of the army disarming Hezbollah fighters. Italy's foreign minister also said Italian troops, preparing to join the international force, were not expecting to be involved in disarming the group. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said that no weapons will be allowed outside the authority of the Lebanese state. But the BBC's Jon Leyne says there seems to be a tacit agreement for the fighters to hide their weapons and go underground. The disarmament question is sure to be high on the agenda of a UN troop contributors' meeting to be held in New York later on Thursday.

Handover
As the Israeli pullout continues, an Israeli military spokeswoman said the town of Marjayoun and its surrounding area were now in the hands of troops from Unifil, the 2,000-strong existing UN force. The spokeswoman said the handover would continue gradually but it was too early to say how soon Israeli troops would be able to pull out of Lebanon entirely. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said: "If it takes time until the international forces are organised, it takes time until Israel withdraws. This is the equation." French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has confirmed that France is ready to lead an expanded UN force in Lebanon but only with a clear mandate and sufficient resources. France's Le Monde newspaper said on Thursday that Ms Alliot-Marie was planning to send only a small, symbolic French force and that UN officials were trying to persuade her to send a far greater contingent. The expanded UN force's commander, Gen Alain Pellegrini, said he expected the first elements to start arriving early next week. "This Unifil will be very different from the previous one. The old Unifil is dead," he told AFP news agency.

Hard road home
Israeli aircraft have been dropping leaflets warning refugees to stay away from southern Lebanon. Despite these warnings, there has been a steady stream of displaced people heading home. The UN says around a quarter of a million have already returned but hundreds of thousands are still believed to be on the move. They face a tough journey with traffic jams and the threat of unexploded bombs, the BBC's Greg Morsbach reports. The UN found 200 cluster bombs near a hospital, in the village of Tebnin. Many of those who managed to escape days of heavy bombardment are now faced with rebuilding their villages and Hezbollah is offering assistance, our correspondent notes. In another sign of a return to normality, a commercial flight from Amman in Jordan arrived at Beirut airport on Thursday - the first since Israel bombed the runway on 13 July.

Suspect speaks on JonBenet death BBC News
A US man has been arrested in Thailand in connection with the death of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey 10 years ago in Colorado. John Mark Karr, 41, told reporters: "I was with JonBenet when she died. Her death was an accident." The six-year-old was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her home in a case that shocked the US public. JonBenet's father said he and her mother, who died of cancer in June, had both been aware an arrest was imminent.

US warrant
Mr Karr, a former teacher, was arrested at an apartment in the Thai capital, Bangkok. He was held on a US warrant after being tracked by police as he sought to find a teaching job in Thailand, officials said. Paraded briefly before reporters, Mr Karr, when asked if he killed JonBenet, said: "No, I did not. It was an accident." District Attorney Mary Lacey in JonBenet's home town of Boulder said the arrest had followed "several months of a focused and complex investigation". Mr Karr will be sent to Colorado within days to face charges of murder, kidnapping and child sexual assault, said US official Ann Hurst. The Ramsey family, who later moved to Atlanta, Georgia, have fought for years to clear their names of persistent accusations of involvement in the death of their daughter. Their lawyer, Lin Wood, said the Ramseys had learned about the suspect at least a month before JonBenet's mother, Patsy, died of cancer. "It's been a very long 10 years and I'm just sorry Patsy isn't here for me to hug her neck," Mr Wood said. Father John Ramsey said in a statement: "Patsy was aware that authorities were close to making an arrest in the case and had she lived to see this day, would no doubt have been as pleased as I am with today's development almost 10 years after our daughter's murder." Mr Ramsey later told US media that to the best of his knowledge he did not know Mr Karr. The Ramsey family lawyer told Associated Press news agency Mr Karr once lived near the family in Georgia before they moved to Colorado.

Settlement
Patsy Ramsay had called police on 26 December 1996 to say JonBenet was missing and that there was a ransom note demanding $118,000. After an initial police search of the home, officers asked John Ramsey to look again and he found JonBenet's body in the basement. The case captivated US media, which focused on the ransom note, the role of child beauty pageants in society and attempts by the parents to resist police interviews. In 1999, the Governor of Colorado, Bill Owens, told the parents to "quit hiding behind their attorneys, quit hiding behind their PR firm". The Ramseys showed they had passed lie detector tests in 2000 proving they were not attempting deception. In 2002 they agreed an out-of-court cash settlement with an ex-detective whose book said they had murdered JonBenet.

NY releases new 9/11 phone calls BBC News
New York City has released new tapes of phone calls and other transcripts of people trapped inside the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. They feature the last phone call of Melissa Doi as she is running out of air on the south tower's 83rd floor. Families of some victims gathered to listen to the tapes, which were recently found by the Fire Department of New York. Victims' relatives and the New York Times sued for the tapes' release. In the tape, Melissa Doi, a 32-year-old financial manager, can be heard asking the emergency operator not to hang up: "Can you stay on the line with me, please? I feel like I'm dying." She also says: "I'm going to die, aren't I?" "No, no, no, no, no," responds the operator. "Ma'am, say your prayers. You've got to think positive because you've got to help people get off the floor." The operator stays on the line for almost half an hour, urging Doi to keep breathing, even when her voice is no longer heard. In the end, one dispatcher says: "The line is now dead." "Oh my lord," says the operator. Most of the calls released involved firefighters and dispatchers. Calls made by 10 civilians inside the World Trade Center were edited out to protect citizens' privacy.

Moussaoui evidence
Relatives and the New York Times wanted to see whether the calls would reveal what happened inside the towers and whether operators misdirected the victims. "We need to have the truth. We need to save other mothers' sons... Allow us to learn from the deadly mistakes of the past, so we can help people in the future," Sally Regenhard, whose son - a firefighter - was killed, is quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. A portion of Doi's end of the conversation was played for jurors in April at the trial of 11 September conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, but this was the first time the operator's voice was heard. "Are they going to be able to get somebody up here?" Doi asks. "Of course ma'am, we're coming up for you," the operator replies. "Well, there's nobody here yet and the floor is completely engulfed. We're on the floor and we can't breathe and it's very, very, very hot." In March, the city released transcripts of 130 calls from people trapped in the towers, including only the voices of operators and other public employees. The New York Times initially sought the records in 2002 under the Freedom of Information Act, and later sued the city when it refused to release them.

'Bomb error' kills Afghan police BBC News
At least 10 Afghan policemen have been killed by a bomb dropped from a US-led coalition aircraft in south-east Afghanistan, officials say. The US military said it was aware of the reports and that the matter was under investigation but it could not give any more details at present. Deputy chief of border police Gen Abdul Rahman said the incident happened in Tarwa in Paktika province on Thursday. US and Nato forces are fighting the Taleban, mainly in the south and east. The incident came on a day when gunmen kidnapped at least 15 people, including a doctor and nurses, in the southern province of Kandahar.

'Friendly fire'
Gen Rahman said the coalition aircraft mistakenly dropped a bomb on a two-vehicle border police patrol. The bodies of the dead had been brought back to Paktika's capital, Sharan, he said. A second Afghan official said two people were also injured in the incident. US military spokesman, Col Tom Collins, said an investigation had been launched. The US-led coalition has suffered a number of so-called "friendly fire" incidents since its forces ousted the Taleban regime in late 2001. In 2002, four Canadian soldiers were killed by a US bomb dropped when the men were taking part in a live-fire training exercise near Kandahar. Former American football player turned soldier Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in 2004 when his patrol was hit by gunfire in Khost province. In October last year, US-led coalition troops killed four Afghan policemen after mistaking them for militants in Helmand province. Meanwhile, on Wednesday the coalition offered $90,000 (£48,000) in "family assistance, reconstruction and development projects" for a village in Kandahar province in which 16 civilians died in a battle between coalition forces and Taleban fighters.

Indonesia cuts Bali prison terms BBC News
At least 12 militants jailed in Indonesia over the 2002 Bali bombings have had their sentences reduced to mark independence day. It is an Indonesian tradition to reduce jail terms on public holidays, but the move sparked anger in Australia, where many Bali victims came from. But at least one Australian has benefited from the sentence reductions. Convicted drug-smuggler Schapelle Corby had her 20-year jail term cut by two months. Another drug smuggler, Renee Lawrence - one of the so-called Bali nine - is also likely to have a small sentence reduction.

'Good behaviour'
The 12 men convicted over the Bali attacks had their sentences cut by up to four months each. "They are entitled to remissions because they have behaved well," Bali's Kerobokan prison chief Ilham Djaya told Reuters news agency. The reductions mean that one man, Puryanto, has now been released. More than 30 people have been jailed for the 2002 Bali blasts, which have been blamed on the South East Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah. Those benefiting from Thursday's sentence reductions are thought to have played relatively minor roles in the bombings - such as sheltering the main suspects or helping to finance the attacks. Several people convicted of playing a more serious role in the attacks are serving life sentences, while three militants - Amrozi, Ali Gufron and Imam Samudra - are due to face the death penalty later this month.

'Painful'
There was anger in Australia, which lost 88 of its citizens in the attacks. David Stewart, whose son Anthony died in the bombing, spoke out at the reductions. "I want people to know that this is ridiculous, these short sentences," he said. A spokesman for Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said many people would find the news upsetting. "It is difficult for most Australians to comprehend that such prisoners have received reduced sentences," he said. "This is particularly painful for victims and their families."But granting remissions was a long-standing practice in Indonesia, he said. Under the Indonesian system, all prisoners are eligible for remission on independence day, so long as they have served at least six months of a sentence and they are not sentenced to either life in prison or death.

Lee slams Katrina rescue effort BBC News
Film director Spike Lee has criticised the Hurricane Katrina rescue effort ahead of the premiere of his documentary about the disaster. "The devastation here was not brought on solely by Mother Nature. People in charge were not doing their job," he said at a New Orleans press conference. "People are still in dire straits, we want to put the focus back here." When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts will air in two two-hour segments on US TV next week.

Cathartic experience
The premiere took place on Wednesday at the New Orleans Coliseum. One evacuee who was back in New Orleans to try to find a new home said she felt "spiritually drawn" to attend. "I wanted to come to this so bad. I needed to come," Mildred White, 59, told the Associated Press news agency. "I feel like I haven't had a good cleansing. I feel like this will be cleansing for me, like going to a funeral." Lee has been criticised by some who saw previews of his film for not including more representation from Mississippi Gulf Coast residents and New Orleans's white population. Lee said there was diversity in the film "but because of the historical significance, we chose to focus here. That was my vision. I wanted to concentrate on New Orleans". The film will be shown in its entirety on HBO on 29 August, the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Manila pledges probe into deaths BBC News, Manila
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo says she plans to form a commission to probe political killings in the country. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Mrs Arroyo was mulling a list of appointees to investigate killings of journalists and activists. The announcement comes amid international criticism of her administration's human rights record. On Wednesday, two more left-wing activists were killed in separate shootings by unidentified gunmen.

Warning
This week, Amnesty International released a report warning that the killings of activists in the Philippines could lead to spiralling violence. The report said the left-wing ideology of the victims and a climate of impunity showed the attacks were not an unconnected series of criminal murders but a politically-motivated pattern of killings. The government has intensified its campaign against the communist rebel group the New People's Army. Mrs Arroyo - who accuses the rebels of being involved in a coup plot in February - has ordered the military to crush the group within two years. Nearly 1,000 left-wing activists, community workers, lawyers and journalists have either gone missing or been murdered since Mrs Arroyo came to power in 2001, but she has denied police or military involvement in the killings. Earlier this month, Mrs Arroyo gave state prosecutors and police a 10-week deadline to solve the murders after she was criticised for failing to stop the attacks. But despite the government's promises and cash rewards, only a handful of the killings have been solved by police.
By Sarah Toms

'Cannibals' confess in Mozambique BBC News, Maputo
A husband and wife in Mozambique face multiple charges after confessing to exhuming corpses to eat the flesh and powdered bones, say police. They were arrested in the western village of Vanduzi last weekend in possession of human organs. In a confession, the couple said that eating human flesh strengthened their power to heal people, police say. Gorongosa district police say they are still investigating the case in an area where belief in witchcraft is strong. Gorongosa district police commander, Jose Cumbe, said that it was the first case of self-confessed cannibalism he had uncovered since he began working in Gorongosa two years ago. The husband, 50-year-old Neva Mafunga said he had been eating human flesh for more than 20 years, the police say. His 34-year-old wife, Nhanvura Faera, said she began eating human flesh on the orders of her husband.
By Jose Tembe

UN probes child prostitute ring BBC News
The United Nations is investigating allegations that some of its peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have used child prostitutes. It said there were reports that a child prostitution ring was operating in the east, close to a large concentration of UN troops and government soldiers. A UN probe last year found that peacekeepers in DR Congo had sexually abused girls as young as 13. Afterwards it banned its troops from having sex with locals. The investigation revealed that UN peacekeepers had used food and money to pay girls to have sex with them. There are some 17,000 peacekeepers serving with the UN mission in DR Congo (Monuc). It is the world's largest peacekeeping contingent charged with overseeing last month's elections, the results of which are due by this weekend. In the latest allegations from South Kivu province, the girls involved are reported to have said that most of their clients were government troops and civilians, but that they also included peacekeepers. "Monuc takes these allegations very seriously and has expressed extreme shock at the testimonies of the victims of this illegal activity," it said in a statement.

Hunt for Ethiopia flood survivors BBC News
Search and rescue teams are scouring flood waters in southern Ethiopia as bad weather continues to hamper a round-the-clock hunt for survivors. The number of deaths has risen to 364 after the Omo river and tributaries burst their banks - with fears the toll countrywide could now top 800. Local Ethiopian officials are appealing for assistance saying they cannot cope with the scale of the flooding. A southern relief official told the BBC that at least 6,000 were at risk. Disaster co-ordinator in the Omo region, Deftalgne Tessema, told the BBC's Network Africa programme that despite help from the federal government and the UN, so far just 14 motorboats were trying to evacuate people from islands cut off by the swollen waters. "The boats very small. We are trying our best," he said

Hunt
"The search and rescue teams have spent the night on the waters looking for survivors and bodies," Omo police chief Tegaye Mununhe told AFP news agency. "The search will continue day and night. We are now dispatching more boats with food, medicine, tents and health workers to evaluate the situation in places we have managed to reach," he said. Insp Daniel Gezahenge told AP news agency that the situation in the south was "getting out of control". There are fears of a deadly cholera outbreak. "We are preparing ourselves for up to 1,000 dead bodies from this flood alone. We need additional helicopters and boats for rescuing," he said. "There are dead bodies and animals in the water making the likelihood for a disease outbreak very high," Insp Daniel said. Flooding often hits low-lying parts of Ethiopia between June and September, when heavy showers fall on dry regions. But correspondents say the situation is much worse this year.

Disaster zone
In the far north, thousands of people in Tigray province are battling floods along the Tekezie river. In the eastern city of Dire Dawa, local and international agencies are still providing food and help to thousands of people and to communities further north along the Awash river. The national rescue services including the army and international agencies are said to be overstretched. The authorities in Dire Dawa have declared the area a disaster zone. There are 256 confirmed deaths from last week's flooding, but some 250 people are still missing and 10,000 were displaced. The UN's World Food Programme is distributing relief supplies there. Over the past two years flooding has afflicted several areas of eastern and southern Ethiopia, killing hundreds and displacing hundreds of thousands. Weather forecasters say heavier than usual rains are expected in the coming weeks across much of Ethiopia.

Lebanese army crosses key river BBC News
Lebanese troops have crossed the strategically important Litani river, moving into some areas of southern Lebanon for the first time in decades. The troops were warmly welcomed in southern villages, many of which were badly damaged in more than a month of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. France is to send 200 extra troops to bolster the UN force in the south. Israel says it has passed control of half of its positions there to the UN, which is set to enforce the ceasefire. Israel, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have all pledged to uphold a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution requiring the withdrawal from southern Lebanon of Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. n expanded international force is to work alongside the Lebanese army in the south. But despite France's initial commitment, Paris is still debating whether to send significant numbers of troops, and, along with other likely UN contributors, wants its role in the region clearly defined. Lebanese officials have indicated they will not disarm Hezbollah, and the issue is likely to be high on the agenda at a UN meeting later on Thursday that will discuss the composition of the international force. Israel's foreign minister Tzipi Livni said on Thursday that the speed of its full withdrawal from Lebanon would depend on how quickly UN peacekeepers were deployed to the region.

'New start'
The Lebanese army headed south early on Thursday, dozens of vehicles crossing the Litani river using temporary bridges set up to bypass bridges damaged by Israeli shelling. The 2,000-strong initial Lebanese deployment is due to rise to 15,000, as agreed by the country's cabinet - which includes two Hezbollah ministers. People in the town of Marjayoun, scene of heavy fighting, waved Lebanese flags, threw rice and held an official ceremony to welcome the troops. "Today is a new beginning for us in south Lebanon. We'll need some time to feel safe but it's a great start," George Najm, 23, told the Associated Press news agency. Lebanese Brig Gen Charles Sheikhani hailed the deployment: "Since 1968 the army has not come here. This is our first time since then," he told AP. Palestinian guerrillas, an Israeli occupation and Hezbollah fighters have by turns dominated southern Lebanon in the past four decades.

Disarmament doubts
But there were few signs that the new reality in the south would lead to the disarmament of Hezbollah. UN Security Council resolution 1701 does not compel the group to disarm, deferring the question to a second stage of negotiations. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said that the Lebanese army would have full authority the entire country, adding that there should be "no other apparent weapons except their weapons... no weapons outside the authority of the Lebanese state". The country's information minister said he foresaw no "confrontation" with the group, while Emile Lahoud, Lebanon's president, has praised Hezbollah and said it should not be disarmed. Italy's foreign minister also said Italian troops, preparing to join the international force, were not expecting to be involved in disarming the group. Israel government spokesman Mark Regev said the UN resolution called for the creation of a "Hezbollah-free zone" south of the Litani. But the BBC's Jon Leyne says there seems to be a tacit agreement for the fighters to hide their weapons and go underground.

Flights resume
As diplomatic manoeuvres continued at the UN and the military equation shifted on the ground, other parts of Lebanon began to emerge from the conflict. The first commercial flights in more than a month landed at Beirut's international, which was disabled early in the conflict. Two passenger flights from the Jordanian capital, Amman, landed at the airport, as well as a British aid flight. In the south, Israeli aircraft have been dropping leaflets warning refugees to stay away. Despite these warnings, there has been a steady stream of displaced people heading home. Officials from the World Food Programme said trucks carrying aid packages were heading into the worst-hit regions, such as Tyre, Sidon and the town of Bint Jbeil, near the Israeli border. Thousands of Lebanese returning home are finding their homes destroyed by bombing, as well as the threat of unexploded bombs.

US judge rules wiretaps illegal BBC News
A US programme to tap some phones without warrants is unconstitutional, and must be halted at once, a federal judge in Detroit has ruled.The scheme, approved by President George W Bush in 2001, involves tapping conversations between some callers in the US and people in other countries. Civil liberties campaigners brought the case against the programme, which was uncovered by the US media. The US government has previously insisted that the scheme is legal. Mr Bush authorised the Terrorist Surveillance Programme, as the secret interception scheme is known, after the 11 September 2001 attacks on Washington and New York and insists that it is a vital tool in the US war on terror.

Appeal expected
But after the programme was uncovered by the media a year ago, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit arguing that the secret interception of US phone calls was unconstitutional. In her 43-page ruling on the case, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor said that the surveillance programme violated protections on free speech and privacy. "Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our constitution," Judge Taylor wrote. Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director and the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said that "by holding that even the president is not above the law, the court has done its duty". The Bush administration is still examining the ruling, but the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says there is every expectation that it will lodge an appeal. This ruling is another setback for the president's self-proclaimed wartime powers, our correspondent says. He has already been rebuked by the US Supreme Court over his plans to try suspects being held in Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court stated that the president did not have a blank cheque.

People who live in white houses... John Kerry
Dear Friends,

People who live in white houses shouldn't throw stones. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove should know better, but it's no surprise they don't. For almost five years now, every time they've got their backs to the wall politically, they play "the fear card." The latest example: Dick Cheney claiming that Democratic candidates who dare to challenge the Bush White House on Iraq are "emboldening terrorists." What's worse, and startling, is that in Connecticut Joe Lieberman is now echoing their intolerable rhetoric attacking the Democratic Senate nominee. It won't work. We won't let it work.

HELP WIN THREE CRUCIAL SENATE RACES.
In Connecticut, New Jersey and Hawaii, this cynical Bush-Cheney strategy is running aground because our stand-up candidates are exposing the failed policies, botched strategies, and mind-boggling incompetence of the Bush White House that have squandered America's treasure, kept Osama Bin Laden on the loose, and cost the lives and limbs of our brave young people. If the Bush administration could plan and execute the war on terror as well as it executes its shameless pre-election fear-mongering, we'd all be a lot safer. That's what strong, principled Senate candidates like Ned Lamont, Bob Menendez, and Dan Akaka are making clear to voters in three of America's closest, high-stakes Senate contests.

HELP WIN THREE CRUCIAL SENATE RACES.
Our candidates are refusing to buckle or bend in the face of withering attacks by shameless politicians. I urge you to stand with these candidates now. Because when we help them win, the cynical tactics of the Bush-Cheney-Rove political machine will lose their power. There's only one way we can win. We've got to help our candidates give back as good as they get. We'll meet every shameless attack with more energy, every distorting ad with more passion, and every ugly appeal to fear with more determination. And 82 days from now, we'll celebrate the election of standup Democrats all across America. We'll teach them, once and for all, that people who live in white houses shouldn't throw stones.
Let's get it done.
Sincerely,

John Kerry

US airport in 'liquid bomb' alert BBC News
A West Virginia airport has been evacuated after a suspect bottle of liquid was discovered in a passenger's carry-on luggage, officials say. The bottle was subjected to a swab test and a sniffer dog examination and both tested positive for explosives. A security guard first spotted the bottle in the bag, Tri-State Airport authority chief Jim Booton said. Officials say the woman is of Pakistani origin and was travelling on a one-way ticket to Charlotte, North Carolina. Chris Yates from Jane's Aviation told the BBC that both tests were extremely sensitive. The likelihood that a container that had not come into contact with explosives would come up positive on both tests was extremely low, he said. The incident comes a week after UK intelligence officers say they foiled a plot to blow up planes using liquid explosives.

Three years' probation for Gibson BBC News
Actor Mel Gibson has pleaded no contest to charges of drink-driving in a plea deal and has been given three years' probation, California officials said. Gibson did not appear at the court hearing in Malibu but entered the plea through his lawyer, the district attorney's office said. The Oscar-winning director was charged with driving under the influence. During his arrest, Gibson made what he has said were "harmful" anti-Semitic comments. He subsequently apologised. Gibson said he had suffered a horrific relapse in his battle with alcoholism. He was arrested at the end of July after being seen driving at 87mph (139km/h) in a 45mph (72km/h) stretch of Malibu's Pacific Coast Highway, the local sheriff's department said. Authorities say his blood-alcohol level was found to be 0.12%. The legal limit in California is 0.08%. Gibson was not been charged with speeding or in relation to his anti-Semitic comments. Gibson, 50, won a best director Oscar for his 1995 film Braveheart, in which he also starred. His 2004 biblical epic, The Passion of the Christ, was recently named the most controversial movie to date by US magazine Entertainment Weekly.

Alert ahead of Congo poll result BBC News
Peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo are on high alert in case of unrest ahead of Sunday's scheduled provisional election results. Angola has confirmed sending extra troops to its border with DR Congo, but called it a routine security procedure. Partial results show President Joseph Kabila just below the 50% he needs to avoid a run-off with his nearest rival. Three TV stations have been suspended for 24 hours after broadcasting images that could incite violence. One is a state channel and another is owned by Mr Kabila's closest challenger - his vice president the former rebel, Jean-Pierre Bemba. According to the electoral commission site, with the votes of some 13m of the 25m registered voters votes counted, Joseph Kabila has 48.4% and Mr Bemba 16.2%. Diplomats say with so much at stake the mood is tense - fearing potential problems in the capital and Mbuji Mayi in particular. Many of the presidential candidates have complained of "massive irregularities" in the vote count. France's Foreign Ministry called on all Congolese political parties "to show responsibility and not to fan the flames of tension". Deputy spokesman Denis Simonneau also praised the presence of the 1,000-strong European Union and 17,000 United Nations troops in the DR Congo as "critical to allow the electoral process a peaceful conclusion". The 30 July polls are meant to put an end to a transition process established after five years of war that ended in 2003 and were the first democratic poll in 40 years.

Ivorian opposition meeting rebels BBC News
Leaders of rebel forces and the main opposition parties in Ivory Coast are meeting to try to agree on their response to possible election delays. New Forces leader Guillaume Soro, ex-PM Alassane Ouattara and ex-President Henri Konan Bedie are due to attend. On Monday, opposition parties rejected a plan by President Laurent Gbagbo to stay on if October's polls are delayed. The disarming of rebels and militias has still to begin and there are rows over the registering of voters. Last October, President Gbagbo had his mandate extended by a year by the United Nations as elections failed to take place. Some 10,000 French and UN peacekeepers monitor a buffer zone between the rebels who control the north and the government-held south. Smaller opposition parties are also expected to be represented at the talks in the eastern central town of Daoukro.

Indonesia cuts Bali prison terms BBC News
At least 12 militants jailed in Indonesia over the 2002 Bali bombings have had their sentences reduced to mark independence day. The reductions, of up to four months, were in sentences ranging from five to 16 years. The move sparked anger in Australia, where 88 of the 202 victims of the nightclub bombings came from. The reduction also benefited Australian drug-smuggler Schapelle Corby, who got a two-month cut in her 20-year term. Another Australian drug-smuggler, Renee Lawrence is also likely to have a small sentence reduction.

'Good behaviour'
The reductions in sentences for the 12 Bali bombers mean that one man, Puryanto, has now been released. "They are entitled to remissions because they have behaved well," Bali's Kerobokan prison chief Ilham Djaya told Reuters news agency. More than 30 people have been jailed for the 2002 Bali blasts, which have been blamed on the South-East Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah. Those benefiting from Thursday's sentence reductions are thought to have played relatively minor roles in the bombings - such as sheltering the main suspects or helping to finance the attacks. Several people convicted of playing a more serious role in the attacks are serving life sentences, while three militants - Amrozi, Ali Gufron and Imam Samudra - are due to face the death penalty later this month.

'Painful'
There was anger in Australia at the announcement. David Stewart, whose son Anthony died in the bombing, spoke out at the reductions. "I want people to know that this is ridiculous, these short sentences," he said. A spokesman for Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said many people would find the news upsetting. "It is difficult for most Australians to comprehend that such prisoners have received reduced sentences," he said. "This is particularly painful for victims and their families." But granting remissions was a long-standing practice in Indonesia, he said. Under the Indonesian system, all prisoners are eligible for remission on independence day, so long as they have served at least six months of a sentence and they are not sentenced to either life in prison or death.

Japanese PM to visit Central Asia BBC News
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is set to visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at the end of August, the foreign ministry has announced. Mr Koizumi, who steps down at the end of September, will discuss security and energy issues. He is due to meet Uzbek President Islam Karimov, spurned internationally since a bloody crackdown in May 2005. Uzbek officials say 187 people died when troops shot a dangerous group of Islamic extremists in Andijan. But witnesses say soldiers fired on anti-government demonstrators and put the death toll much higher.

Energy ties
Mr Koizumi will leave for Kazakhstan, where he will meet President Nursultan Nazarbayev, on 28 August and then go to on to Uzbekistan. A foreign ministry spokesman said regional security issues and economic ties would be on the agenda. Energy ties are also likely to be discussed, with resource-poor Japan looking to ensure a stable supply of oil and gas. Japan may also be keen to build its influence in Central Asia to counteract China's increasing involvement there. Beijing has been boosting ties with the region through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - a China and Russia-dominated Central Asian security grouping. China is also a competitor for Central Asian energy resources. In December 2005, Kazakh oil began to flow into China through a new 1,000km-long (620-mile) oil pipeline. Mr Koizumi may face criticism for meeting the Uzbek president. European Union sanctions are still in place over Uzbekistan's refusal to allow an independent investigation into Andijan. But a recent visit by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher earlier this month - the first visit by a senior US official since September 2005 - may indicate Western re-engagement with the Uzbek government. "Obviously the human rights issue will be touched on, as will democratisation," said a Japanese foreign ministry official, but he did not confirm whether the Andijan issue would be raised.

UN agrees Med oil spill plan BBC News
UN officials have drawn up an action plan to tackle a huge oil spill along the Lebanese and Syrian coastline.Experts estimate that the initial clear-up will cost 50m euros, with more funds required next year. The plan calls for immediate aerial surveys to assess the extent of the damage and a workforce of 300 people to tackle the worst-affected sites. The measures were agreed at a meeting in Greece attended by Lebanon, Syria, Greece, Turkey and the EU. The executive director of the environment programme at the United Nations, Achim Steiner, said it was a sad fact that the environment was a victim of the conflict. "Now the bombs have stopped and the guns have been silenced we have a chance to rapidly assess the true magnitude of the problem and finally mobilise the support for an oil clean-up and a restoration of the coastline," he said in a statement. "The experts are on standby and today the international community have agreed on an action plan. "I sincerely hope we have secured the financial backing to swiftly and comprehensively deliver on this promise to the Lebanese people, on this request to the UN for assistance from the Lebanese authorities."

Concerted effort
Up to 15,000 tonnes of oil poured into the Mediterranean Sea last month after Israeli forces bombed a power station.Marine experts were unable to visit the worst affected areas while the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continued, but Monday's ceasefire allowed them to begin on-the-ground assessments. Local environmental and conservation groups said that some of the oil had settled on the sea floor, threatening areas where tuna spawn. They also voiced concern that slicks on beaches would prevent young green turtles, an endangered species, from reaching the sea after they had hatched. The meeting in Piraeus, which was hosted by the Greek Maritime Minister Manolis Kefaloyannis, agreed on measures to tackle pollution affecting shorelines in Lebanon and Syria. Priorities include:

• Recovery of floating oil in ports, harbours and the most heavily polluted sites
• Testing of oil samples to see if they contain persistent organic pollutants, which are a potential risk to human health
• Protection of sensitive areas such as nesting sites for birds and turtles, World Heritage Sites and tourist locations

The talks were co-chaired by UN Environment Programme (Unep) executive director Achim Steiner and Efthimios Mitropoulos, secretary general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Mr Mitropoulos said the action plan set the stage for wide-ranging assistance needed by the Lebanese and Syrian authorities. "I sincerely hope that the damage to the environment is contained to the current level and that other Mediterranean Sea countries do not suffer as a result of the oil spill, also that we can all learn a lot from this tragic incident and take these lessons forward so we are better prepared in the future," he said. Computer models suggest that about 20% of the oil has probably evaporated, with almost 80% now on the coastline, and around 0.25%, or some 40 tonnes, remaining at sea. However, satellite images suggest that far larger amounts may remain afloat, with the potential to spread much further a field.

Secret police row grips Romania BBC News
Romania is in the grip of a political storm over the files of the Securitate, the former communist secret police. President Traian Basescu went on national TV on Wednesday to deny claims that he had worked for the Securitate. He also defended his decision to have the files opened, saying a failure to do so could jeopardise Romania's bid to join the European Union in 2007. A special commission is reviewing the Securitate files. Some politicians have been named as former collaborators. "I did not sign an agreement with the Securitate," Mr Basescu said, insisting that he had only written routine "travel reports" for his superiors when he worked as a ship's captain under communism. The communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena was overthrown in a bloody revolt in 1989, during which the couple were shot dead. Mr Basescu said it was vital for Romania to learn to what extent the Securitate had managed to survive and how much power it had now to influence political and economic decisions. He said "it would have been impossible to accept the idea of Romania joining the European Union with the Securitate archives untouched".

Plea for openness
Mr Basescu vowed to publish the file on himself. "Give me this file and I will make it public straight away," he said. Former President Emil Constantinescu and another politician, Dan Voiculescu, have accused Mr Basescu of having worked for the Securitate while he was a ship's captain. Six years ago Romania set up by law a special commission, the Council for Studying Securitate Archives (CNSAS), to review the millions of secret police documents. But it was only recently that the council started examining the past connections of prominent public figures. Last week Mona Musca, a member of parliament and former minister of culture, confessed publicly that she had collaborated with the Securitate since the 1970s. The media have not been spared the political scandal. A media organisation, the Civic Media Association, has called on journalists to declare publicly whether they had worked for the Securitate. And the Romanian newspaper Adevarul reports that many sports men and women were recruited by the Securitate. Former tennis star Ilie Nastase told Adevarul that "probably very many people co-operated". "All those who travelled abroad must be investigated. I know a category of such Securitate officers did exist, but I have no evidence," he said.

Political blackmail
On Basescu's orders, more than 1.3 million files have been handed over to the CNSAS since the beginning of the year. Previous administrations had kept them secret, saying their declassification would endanger national security. According to opinion polls, an overwhelming majority of Romanians support the opening of the archives. Romanian analysts say information from the dossiers has been used for political blackmail during the 17 years since the Ceausescu family's fall from power. "I believe we must see the system, because we are only just beginning to raise the curtain covering it," Mr Basescu said, urging Romanians not to get "distracted by games connected to people and party interests".