Midterm vote may define Rove’s legacy MSNBC
Big losses could dim aura of Bush's senior adviserBy many calculations, Democrats are ready to make big gains in the midterm elections, enough to take over the House and possibly the Senate. But White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten says there is one reason he is feeling upbeat amid so much Republican gloom. "I believe Karl Rove," Bolten said in an interview in his West Wing office Friday. "Karl Rove, somewhere inside that massive brain of his, has figured out the political landscape more clearly than the entire collection of conventional-wisdom pundits and pollsters in the entire city of Washington." That was true for two elections in a row, in 2002 and 2004, and President Bush's senior adviser has insisted to West Wing colleagues and party faithful alike that it will be again. But Rove is just eight days from having his genius designation revoked -- or upgraded to platinum status. Even within Rove's own party, expectations are widespread that the Nov. 7 elections will mark a repudiation for the base-rallying, contrast-drawing brand of politics with which he and President Bush have been so closely aligned. But it's a mark of the particular place Rove holds in the Washington psyche that even the most exuberant Democrats are wondering why Rove seems so confident. There are two questions. Is Rove just acting cocky as a way of lifting GOP morale, or does he really believe it? And, if the latter, is he deluding himself, or does once again he know something that Democrats do not? The answers have implications well beyond Rove's reputation. Midterm congressional losses for the GOP, some analysts and Republican veterans believe, could effectively end the Bush presidency two years ahead of schedule. If Republicans were to lose control of at least one chamber, those in the party who have long seen Rove's approach as polarizing would feel emboldened. At the same time, a new panel co-chaired by the man that exemplifies the GOP establishment, former secretary of state James A. Baker III, is preparing to chart a new course on the Iraq war -- which polls suggest is the single largest reason for Republicans' current travails. "The architect may find his engineering plans were faulty," said one former senior official of past GOP administrations, who has watched the current one with increasing dismay. "Turning out the base this year may not be a winning or a governing strategy. America seems to be looking forward to making things work together, rather than dividing people across the board." Rove is dismissive of the idea that the Republicans will lose the 15 House seats or six Senate seats required to cede control to the Democrats. On Tuesday, when the White House hosted radio talk show hosts from around the country, Rove did at least 13 interviews. He was on the phone with Washington association executives with what one called "happy talk" about voter-turnout metrics, polling data and campaign funding.

White House ‘glue’
"I look at the individual races as clear-eyed as I can every single day, knowing what we are doing and knowing that we have the capacity to move the resources in if we need to do more," Rove said in a brief telephone interview from the road last week. "Incumbents are hard to defeat. Our candidates by and large have significantly more resources than they have. And we have succeeded in making these races choices between two local candidates." An object of fascination on both the left and right, Rove at age 55 counts as one of the most celebrated and notorious figures in modern presidential history. Inside the White House, he is a revered figure, known as something of a jokester who will show up at senior staff meetings bearing snacks and promising a coup if Bolten is absent. Ed Rogers, a prominent GOP lobbyist, calls him "the glue" that holds the White House together. Rove has also acquired something close to cult status among movement conservatives: After the president, Laura Bush and Vice President Cheney, Rove is the most powerful draw on the GOP fundraising circuit. Rove has headlined more than 100 fundraisers this campaign cycle, raising close to $13 million for Republican candidates and causes. And when he does show up to speak, as at the annual dinner of the Erie County Republican Party earlier this month at Buffalo, Rove is greeted like a visitor from Hollywood. Rove worked the room, posing for pictures, signing programs and making small talk with hundreds of GOP faithful, none of whom seemed disappointed that a deputy White House chief of staff was a last-minute substitute for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). The trip was arranged at the behest of embattled Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Republican campaign committee. Before the speech, Reynolds said, he made sure Rove inspected the damage from an unexpected snowstorm and received a briefing from Federal Emergency Management Agency officials. A few days later, Bush declared a federal emergency, making the city eligible for up to $200 million in disaster aid. The White House says Rove had nothing to do with the designation, but Reynolds was clearly happy with the visit. "He has recognized that all politics is local," Reynolds said. Referring to Rove's overnight visit in the middle of a busy campaign season, he said, "The guy did a real favor for me." The flip side of adulation is paranoia. Many Democrats are convinced Rove has some trick up his sleeve -- Osama bin Laden in the freezer, perhaps, ready for release just before Election Day -- that will save the Republicans from electoral disaster this fall. "Karl is an absolute figure of fascination," said Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute, which hosted Rove at its annual "Ideas Festival" this summer. "What stuns people who don't know him is how personally charming he is, especially people who consider him the devil or a strange genius." Isaacson said Rove not only answered questions for close to 90 minutes before a packed auditorium but also bantered for hours afterward with the high-powered attendees from the worlds of policy, politics and big business. For 40 minutes, he said, Rove engaged in the fine points of stem cell research with Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr. "It always astonishes me that he knows more details about policy than anyone else -- that's the source of his strength," said Isaacson, who has also dealt with Rove extensively on issues of Louisiana reconstruction. Rove was formally in charge of White House policy until this past spring, when he gave up the portfolio as part of reshuffling of responsibilities engineered by Bolten. The shake-up was widely seen in Washington as a rebuke to Rove, though Bolten said that he wanted to free up his friend for the big strategic thinking and politics he believes he does best. Rove reads and makes comments on virtually everything the president is slated to say, plays a pivotal role in shaping the overall White House message and still plays an influential role on policy, according to Bolten. His decades-old relationship with the president appears strong and deep, as the two confer every day, sometimes multiple times, on political developments and other issues. He works closely with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman to coordinate strategy, resource decisions and get-out-the vote efforts. Bolten, who says he holds only Bush in higher regard than Rove, said he felt that when he took over this spring, Rove's portfolio, "even with his extraordinary abilities, would be unmanageable, especially going into a campaign season." Being in charge of the policy process, he said, requires a more neutral hand. Rove "has very strongly held views," Bolten said. "He's best when he's liberated to assert his views and explain why."

‘Much weaker’
Soon after the shake-up, Rove was relieved of what was probably an even bigger distraction -- the long-running investigation by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald into his role in the outing of the name of a CIA agent. Though Fitzgerald cleared Rove, many conservatives believe the investigation played a role in the drift of the second Bush term. "Rove has been much weaker in the last year and a half, in large measure because of Fitzgerald, and Bush has not been as politically successful," said William Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard. Kristol voiced worry that moderates will try to "scapegoat" Rove after the election. Associates say Rove is privately frustrated that individual candidates have not been more aggressive drawing contrasts with Democrats on national security. In Buffalo, Rove dished out red meat with relish, pausing in the middle of an attack on Democrats for their votes against Bush's anti-terrorism policies to needle Senate Democratic Leader Harry M. Reid for a recent controversy in Nevada. "You may have read about his land swaps," Rove noted dryly. Rove sarcastically questioned Rep. John P. Murtha's plan for pulling troops out of Iraq and creating a rapid-response force to deal with contingencies in the Middle East, possibly at the American base in Okinawa. "I am from Texas -- I am a simple boy," Rove joked, before noting that Okinawa is close to 5,000 miles from Baghdad. "It is foolishness to suggest that this is a real plan for America," Rove said. "The real plan is this: Fight, beat 'em, win."

Role of independents
But there is little evidence that White House political efforts on Iraq have worked as Rove had hoped. Rove this summer signaled his desire that the war could be neutralized or even turned into an asset for Republican candidates who cast Democrats as defeatist. Instead, many candidates have been distancing themselves from Bush on the war. And while Bush in 2004 showed he could lose independent voters and still win the election, this years polls show swing voters even more powerfully against the GOP. "It has been clear for a long time that the independents are consolidating a view that is very anti-the-Bush-administration, very anti-the-Iraq-war," said Ruy Teixeira, a joint fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress and the Century Foundation. "Maybe they were believing their press clippings that all they need is their base." Rove voices impatience with the notion that his own reputation is on the ballot. "I understand some will see the election as a judgment on me," he said. "But the fact of the matter is that, look what has been set in motion -- a broader, deeper, strengthened Republican Party, and with an emphasis on grass-roots neighbor-to-neighbor politics, is going to continue." While Rove's confidence in the midterms does not waver, he said that the conservative changes that Bush has promoted do not hinge on just one election: "1938 was a huge wipeout for the Democrats -- do you think that was the end of the New Deal?"
By Michael Abramowitz - The Washington Post

Pakistan madrassa raid 'kills 80' BBC News
At least 80 militants have been killed in an air strike by Pakistani forces on a madrassa (religious school) used as a militant training camp, the army says.The army said the madrassa in the tribal area of Bajaur bordering Afghanistan was destroyed by helicopter gunships early on Monday. One eyewitness told the BBC that 70-80 students were inside. A leading local politician says the dead were innocent. Pakistan has deployed nearly 80,000 troops along the border.They are there to hunt militants who sought refuge in the rugged tribal terrain after the ousting of the Taleban in Afghanistan in late 2001. President Pervez Musharraf has pledged to reform madrassas after many were criticised for supporting Islamic militancy. Monday's attack took place near Khar, the main town in Bajaur.The leader of the madrassa, radical cleric Maulana Liaqat, was among the dead. He was a prominent member of a group of pro-Taleban tribal clerics, the BBC's Rahimullah Yusufzai in Peshawar says. "We received confirmed intelligence reports that 70-80 militants were hiding in a madrassa used as a terrorist training facility, which was destroyed by an army strike, led by helicopters," army spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan told the Associated Press news agency.

'Saddened'
However, an eyewitness told the BBC that the madrassa school was filled with about 80 local students who had resumed studies after the Muslim Eid holidays.People at the scene told reporters that body parts were scattered in the area after the attack. "We heard helicopters flying in and then heard bombs," villager Haji Youssef said. "We are all saddened by what we have seen." A cabinet minister from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, Siraj ul-Haq, has resigned in protest over the attack. "This is a very wrong action. They [the victims] were not given any warning. This was an unprovoked attack on a madrassa. They were innocent people," Siraj ul-Haq told the Associated Press before resigning. Journalists trying to get to the scene were being turned back as they tried to enter the Bajaur region. The attack came two days after local militants attended a rally in the area where they declared the al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and Taleban chief Mullah Muhammad Omar as their heroes. The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says Monday morning's attack coincides with peace talks between tribal elders and pro-Taleban militants in Bajaur.The government had already released prisoners in anticipation of a deal, possibly along the lines of an agreement signed in the neighbouring tribal region of North Waziristan, our correspondent says. But the army says peace talks would not be allowed to serve as a cover for militant activity. Bajaur, which borders Afghanistan's insurgency-plagued eastern province of Kunar, was the scene of a controversial US air strike in January, believed to be aimed at al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri. The 13 January raid killed at least 18 people, mostly civilians. In May, Pakistani authorities said a senior al-Qaeda figure, Abu Marwan al-Suri, had been killed in Bajaur during a clash with local police.

Many casualties in Baghdad blast BBC News
A bomb explosion in the Sadr City area of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, has killed at least 26 people and injured more than 60, officials say. The blast occurred early in the morning in Mudhafa Square, on the edge of the densely populated, predominantly Shia district. Those killed were said to be labourers looking for work. Meanwhile, the death of a US marine on Sunday took US losses in October to 100 - the highest total since January 2005. The marine was killed in combat in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the US military said. More than 2,800 US troops have died since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. November 2004, when 137 US soldiers were killed, remains the deadliest month so far. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has said his government plans to ask the UN Security Council to extend the mandate of the US-led forces in Iraq. In an interview with Reuters news agency, Mr Zebari said it was vital for Iraq's security that foreign troops continued to operate under the mandate for a further year. It is due to expire at the end of December. In other developments:[list][*]Three car bombings kill at least eight people and injure 20 in various areas of Baghdad[*]Two police officers die in a suicide attack on a passport office in the northern city of Kirkuk[*]Gunmen in Baghdad kill senior academic Isam al-Rawi, head of the university teachers' association in Iraq[*]US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley makes an unannounced visit to Baghdad, meeting Prime Minister Nouri Maliki[*]The trial of Saddam Hussein over the killing of more than 100,000 Kurds resumes, but his chief lawyer walks out after the court refuses to allow foreign lawyers to attend

US cordon
Iraqi authorities said Monday's blast appeared to have been caused by a device concealed in a rubbish bin by the roadside. "The bomb was hidden in a plastic bag. It's the third time that an attack has hit this place this year," a witness, Abu Zeinad, told the AFP news agency. Officials told the BBC 26 people had been confirmed dead, but some reports say as many as 36 were killed. There was no immediate indication who was responsible but suspicion will fall on Sunni extremists, the BBC's Hugh Sykes in Baghdad says. There have been several attacks like this before, killing dozens of casual labourers waiting for work, our correspondent says. Sadr City, with its population of about three million, is a stronghold of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who heads the Mehdi Army militia. Meanwhile, US forces are continuing to operate roadblocks and patrols around Sadr City as they hunt for a kidnapped American soldier. A raid carried out in the district on Friday triggered brief clashes with Mehdi Army militia members. Reports suggest the abducted soldier is an Iraqi-American translator who broke US Army rules to marry a local woman.

Two accused over 'fake' HIV tests BBC News
Two men have appeared in court in West Bengal over the alleged mis-selling of kits which were used to test people for HIV/Aids and hepatitis.Police say Monozyme India sold hundreds of thousands of the kits, originally designed to test for pregnancy or other conditions, under false pretences. Doctors say this led to infected people being given the all-clear, and going on to give blood and infect others. The company's owners deny charges of malpractice and forgery. Calcutta-based Govind Sarda and his brother Ghanshyam say the kits were mistakenly distributed after a consignment of what were believed to be HIV/Aids testing kits were delivered to India from China. The pair were denied bail at their court appearance on Monday.

'Past expiry dates'
Calcutta police detective Gyanwant Singh said nearly 90,000 blood diagnostic and pregnancy testing kits, all in use well beyond their expiry dates, had been seized from various blood banks and hospitals in West Bengal during the past 20 days.He added that police inquiries had revealed that the faulty kits may have been supplied to at least eight other Indian states. One official said he knew of at least 117 people who were given the wrong diagnosis as a result of these kits - but added there could be very many more. The kits were supplied between April - when Monozyme won the government contract to distribute them - and August, when large-scale complaints against them were first reported. By then, Monozyme is believed by police to have supplied nearly 200,000 kits to hospitals and blood banks in West Bengal alone.

HIV stigma
The BBC's Jill McGivering says the case may damage public confidence in HIV testing. The stigma associated with HIV already deters many people from being tested in the first place, she reports, making it more difficult for the government and international organisations to work out how widespread HIV/Aids really is. Blood banks in West Bengal are now reported to be running short of supplies as a result of the case. People like 22-year-old Shampa Das have been devastated. She was suffering from thalassaemia and needed regular blood transfusions. Doctors say that she was probably infected with HIV during one such transfusion at the Central Blood Bank at Manicktala in northern Calcutta. Monozyme is based in the state of Andhra Pradesh, and has 256 distributors across India - including 12 in Calcutta.

World 'failing on hunger pledges' BBC News
Little progress has been made in tackling world hunger despite pledges by leaders to halve the number who are underfed, the UN's food agency says.Some 820m people in the developing world were hungry in 2001-2003, only 3m fewer than 1990-1992, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said. Although the overall proportion of hungry people in the world has fallen, that is only down to population growth. FAO head Jacques Diouf said the "sad reality" was that little had been done.The promise to cut by 50% the number of underfed people by 2015 was made at the World Food Summit (WFS) in Rome in 1996. At that point the figure had fallen from the baseline of 823m to 800m - but the situation has since become worse."Far from decreasing, the number of hungry people in the world is currently increasing - at the rate of four million a year," said Mr Diouf, speaking at the launch of the annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report. He said failure to achieve reductions in hunger would be "shameful". However, he said the world could meet its target of halving hunger if efforts were made to improve agriculture in the developing world.

Africa's plight
According to the latest FAO report, there were 854m undernourished people in total in 2001-2003, of whom 820 million were in the developing world.The report reveals differing trends in the world's regions, with the worst situation occurring in Africa. While the number of hungry people has fallen in Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, the figure in the Near East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa has risen. The FAO now predicts that by 2015, sub-Saharan Africa will be home to 30% of the world's hungry, compared with a fifth in 1990-1992. The 3m reduction in hungry people shown in the latest figures also compares poorly with the achievements made in previous decades, the FAO points out. The number of hungry people dropped by 37m during the 1970s and 100m in the 1980s.

'Still attainable'
However, despite the lack of progress towards the WFS goal, the FAO said it would be wrong to see the 1990s as a "lost decade" in the fight to reduce world hunger. "Is the 2015 WFS target still attainable? The answer should be a resounding 'yes'," said Mr Diouf. The FAO report also states that big population increases mean the world is, at least, on track to reach the first Millennium Development Goal on hunger. By this target, the world must halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion (rather than number) of people who suffer from hunger. While one in five people were malnourished in 1990-1992, FAO projections suggest it could fall to 10% by 2015.

World 'failing on hunger pledges' BBC News
Little progress has been made in tackling world hunger despite pledges by leaders to halve the number who are underfed, the UN's food agency says.Some 820m people in the developing world were hungry in 2001-2003, only 3m fewer than 1990-1992, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said. Although the overall proportion of hungry people in the world has fallen, that is only down to population growth. FAO head Jacques Diouf said the "sad reality" was that little had been done.The promise to cut by 50% the number of underfed people by 2015 was made at the World Food Summit (WFS) in Rome in 1996. At that point the figure had fallen from the baseline of 823m to 800m - but the situation has since become worse."Far from decreasing, the number of hungry people in the world is currently increasing - at the rate of four million a year," said Mr Diouf, speaking at the launch of the annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report. He said failure to achieve reductions in hunger would be "shameful". However, he said the world could meet its target of halving hunger if efforts were made to improve agriculture in the developing world.

Africa's plight
According to the latest FAO report, there were 854m undernourished people in total in 2001-2003, of whom 820 million were in the developing world.The report reveals differing trends in the world's regions, with the worst situation occurring in Africa. While the number of hungry people has fallen in Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, the figure in the Near East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa has risen. The FAO now predicts that by 2015, sub-Saharan Africa will be home to 30% of the world's hungry, compared with a fifth in 1990-1992. The 3m reduction in hungry people shown in the latest figures also compares poorly with the achievements made in previous decades, the FAO points out. The number of hungry people dropped by 37m during the 1970s and 100m in the 1980s.

'Still attainable'
However, despite the lack of progress towards the WFS goal, the FAO said it would be wrong to see the 1990s as a "lost decade" in the fight to reduce world hunger. "Is the 2015 WFS target still attainable? The answer should be a resounding 'yes'," said Mr Diouf. The FAO report also states that big population increases mean the world is, at least, on track to reach the first Millennium Development Goal on hunger. By this target, the world must halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion (rather than number) of people who suffer from hunger. While one in five people were malnourished in 1990-1992, FAO projections suggest it could fall to 10% by 2015.

House arrest for Chile's Pinochet BBC News
Chile's former military leader, Augusto Pinochet, has been placed under house arrest for crimes committed at a detention centre in the 1970s. Judge Alejandro Solis had on Friday charged the 90-year-old general with kidnap, homicide and torture. The Villa Grimaldi centre was run by his secret police, where thousands were tortured between 1974 and 1977. More than 3,000 people were killed or "disappeared" when Gen Pinochet was in power from 1973 to 1990.

Immunity
Judge Solis questioned the general in connection with the Villa Grimaldi case and declared him "lucid and aware of the consequences of his words". He is being processed over 36 kidnappings (or disappearances), one murder and 23 cases of torture committed at the detention centre used by the secret police. Gen Pinochet enjoys legal immunity as a former president, but the courts can strip him of this privilege on a case-by-case basis. This has happened in a number of human rights and financial cases. The former leader was under house arrest for seven weeks last year, over the disappearance of three dissidents during his rule. He has yet to be cleared or convicted in any cases, some of which have been dropped because of his ill health. His lawyers have argued he is too infirm to stand trial.

Siberia ravaged by bootleg vodka BBC News
ourteen towns in the Irkutsk region of Siberia have declared a state of emergency, amid a dramatic upsurge in mass poisonings caused by fake vodka.Almost 900 people in the region are in hospital with liver failure, apparently after drinking industrial solvent. Officials say there has been an alarming pattern of localised mass poisonings in recent weeks. Last week, police and local authorities were given three days to ensure no poisons were being sold as vodka. But this weekend dozens more poisonings were registered. In several of the worst-affected regions, Russian officials have seized large quantities of hazardous liquids that authorities suspected were to be sold as alcoholic drinks. They say the most common substances are de-icers, anti-rust treatments and window-cleaning solutions.

Poisoning hotspots
In one of the largest seizures, 600 tons of solvent was seized in the southern Russian city of Voronezh. It is an indication of the scale of Russia's drink problem that during an average month 3,500 people die after drinking such liquids. But what has caused most concern among officials is the dramatic upsurge in concentrated poisonings in small towns across the country. In one of the worst cases, almost 1,000 people were poisoned in just two small towns in the Belgorod region in central Russia. Critics say the government's decision earlier this year to introduce a new and expensive system of state excise stamps led to the market being flooded with potentially lethal vodka substitutes. Genuine, certified vodka is now beyond the means of many of Russia's legions of poor. And Russian doctors point out that most of those suffering liver failure in the spate of poisonings are from disadvantaged sections of society. President Vladimir Putin has ruled out restrictions on the accessibility of alcohol, but radical solutions are being discussed. They include the possible re-introduction of a state monopoly on the production of alcohol, or even providing a cheap, but safe, so-called "people's vodka" to avoid mass poisonings.
By Steven Eke

Crime-hit Naples may get troops BBC News
The Italian justice minister, Clemente Mastella, says he is considering sending the army into Naples to deal with an upsurge of violent crime. "Before this was a taboo for me, but now I am open to discussing it," said Mr Mastella. The governor of Naples' Campania region, Antonio Bassolino, urged tough action against the "deadly cancer of the Camorra" - the Naples Mafia. The officials were speaking after three murders in Naples at the weekend. Correspondents say the number of people killed or wounded in the city in recent weeks is higher than usual. Some Neapolitans have been taking the law into their own hands. Last week a tobacconist shot dead a robber. The authorities are also worried about the effect on tourism - last month a Canadian was hit by a stray bullet while strolling in one of the city's squares. Mr Mastella said an army deployment in Naples would not involve soldiers going on sensitive missions. Their presence would allow police to concentrate on fighting violent crime, La Repubblica newspaper quoted him as saying. "There is a need to tackle the sense of insecurity and fear among many sections of the population," he said.

Pentagon boosts 'media war' unit BBC News
The US defence department has set up a new unit to better promote its message across 24-hour rolling news outlets, and particularly on the internet.The Pentagon said the move would boost its ability to counter "inaccurate" news stories and exploit new media. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said earlier this year the US was losing the propaganda war to its enemies. On Monday, Vice-President Dick Cheney said insurgents had increased attacks in Iraq to sway the US mid-term polls. The Bush administration does not believe the true picture of events in Iraq has been made public, the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says. The administration is particularly concerned that insurgents in areas such as Iraq have been able to use the web to disseminate their message and give the impression they are more powerful than the US, our correspondent says.

'Correcting messages'
The newly-established unit would use "new media" channels to push its message and "set the record straight", Pentagon press secretary Eric Ruff said."We're looking at being quicker to respond to breaking news," he said. "Being quicker to respond, frankly, to inaccurate statements." A Pentagon memo seen by the Associated Press news agency said the new unit would "develop messages" for the 24-hour news cycle and aim to "correct the record". The unit would reportedly monitor media such as weblogs and would also employ "surrogates", or top politicians or lobbyists who could be interviewed on TV and radio shows. Mr Russ said the move to set up the unit had not been prompted either by the eroding public support in the US for the Iraq war or the US mid-term elections next week.

'War of ideas'
Mr Rumsfeld said earlier this year that he was concerned by the success of US enemies in "manipulating the media". "That's the thing that keeps me up at night," Mr Rumsfeld said. On Monday, US Vice President Dick Cheney also made reference to the use of media, suggesting insurgents had increased their attacks and were checking the internet to keep track of American public opinion. "It's my belief that they're very sensitive of the fact that we've got an election scheduled and they can get on the websites like anybody else," Mr Cheney told Fox News. "There isn't anything that's on the internet that's not accessible to them. They're on it all the time. They're very sophisticated users of it." Mr Cheney's comments came as American forces suffered one of the highest death tolls in October - more than 100 troops killed - since the war began in 2003. President Bush has said recently that terror groups were trying to influence public opinion in the US, describing their efforts as the "war of ideas".

A Swiss on the Democratic campaign trail swissinfo
Swiss-American Vinz Koller, chairman of Monterey County Democratic Party, tells swissinfo about life on the political frontline ahead of the US mid-term elections.Koller criticises the Bush administration and the religious right, and explains why the Democrats now need tougher policies and a new direction.

swissinfo: Critical United States mid-term congressional elections are taking place on November 7, in which the Republicans risk losing their majorities in the two houses. How do you think the Democrats will fare?
Vinz Koller: I am reluctant to give predictions as they have proved to be wrong in the past. It's clear that the Republicans are running scared after the recent scandals and because their Iraq policy is no longer popular. The Democrats are working to see that this one-party nation gets a proper opposition. We hope to secure a majority in the House of Representatives and it's possible that we could even gain control of both chambers.

swissinfo: You are in charge of the Democratic election campaign in Monterey County in California. What kind of campaign is it – full of scandals about political opponents?
V.K.: We are definitely against smear campaigns. We don't want to get into that kind of politics. Our approach is to knock at people's doors and present our ideas to get them to come down and vote. We are trying to present new policies such as social justice and a withdrawal from Iraq. Although many Republicans now oppose the war in Iraq, they link it to their security fears. We are convinced that Iraq has not made the US a safer place.

swissinfo: What would you say to those Europeans who claim that there is not much difference between the Democrats and the Republicans?
V.K.: I can understand that for a long time people from outside and also from inside the US have not been able to differentiate. But it's clear that if Al Gore had been president the Iraq war would never have occurred and if John Kerry had beaten Bush in 2004 things would have turned out quite differently. Of course many Democrats also supported the war in Iraq because they were afraid to be thought of as unpatriotic. And they believed what our government told them about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction.

swissinfo: From Europe it sometimes seems that the Democrats are struggling with subjects such as the death penalty, abortion and gun laws. Is this a false impression?
V.K.: No. It's partly true, but political parties are not popular movements. The mood of the population must first shift before a party can include a theme in its election campaign. But Democrats now realise that we shouldn't hesitate when dealing with this administration. Things must be clear and politically to the point. Political campaigns are fought based on values as well as actions. For over 20 years the Republicans have used simple language to communicate in a down-to-earth, catchy and simple fashion. They talk about a culture of life when they mean abortion, and about the traditional family when it's about homosexuality. The Democrats must learn a new language, but not that of the Republicans, which smacks of moral double standards.

swissinfo: The current administration has introduced a kind of religious fundamentalism into US politics. Do the Democrats feel under pressure to embrace religious values?
V.K.: Democrats have to look carefully at the question of values; there are positive religious values, such as loving one's neighbour, helping the poor and peacemaking. The Republican Party has associated itself with the religious fundamentalists, and I feel they represent the wrong doctrine. It's terrifying that fundamentalist movements can have such an influence on US politics. As an American citizen who came here 20 years ago, it's worrying to think that people outside the US are afraid of the country where I live.

swissinfo: Is US politics able to function without religion?
V.Z.: Religion plays an important role. The Democrats believed for a long time that politics should be free of religion. But many voters decide according to their values. I can see the danger of a country being run according to Christian nationalistic values, which are actually contrary to the fundamental principles of the US. The present administration uses fundamentalist religious language to win voters. I consider that dangerous for the US.
swissinfo-interview: Gaby Ochsenbein

Emergency candidate alert: Five House races John Kerry
Dear Friend,
Their names are Paul, Carol, Leonard, John and Betty. They hold the future of the House of Representatives in their hands -- and with one final act of will, you can pull them through to victory next Tuesday.The final week of this dramatic campaign is almost here. And these five House candidates need one last, powerful infusion of funds to push their way past a vicious final week assault from running-scared Republicans. That's why we're issuing this emergency candidate alert. I know how much I've asked of you -- and how energetically you've responded. We've got to stay on the case for one more week. The Republicans are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at our candidates. We can't yield an inch -- not now. Not with victory at hand.

RUSH HELP TO OUR EMERGENCY SLATE OF HOUSE CANDIDATES!
Two of our candidates are running in New Hampshire. In the NH-01 district, Carol Shea-Porter has mobilized an army of active, fired-up volunteers to take on an attack campaign run by a close ally of Karl Rove. And in NH-02, Democrat Paul Hodes is facing a merciless barrage of special interest-funded attack ads. With your support, Paul and Carol can make both New Hampshire and the House of Representatives blue next Tuesday. But they've got to have your immediate support now.

RUSH HELP TO OUR EMERGENCY SLATE OF HOUSE CANDIDATES!
Our third candidate is Iowa's Leonard Boswell, who is facing more than $1 million in attacks from a group with direct links to the people who funded the Swift Boat attacks of 2004. Just this week, President Bush campaigned to try to kick Leonard out of the House. Also in need of your emergency help is John Cranley, running in Ohio's 1st district against one of the most far-right members of Congress. John has been a leading critic of the Bush "stay the course and pass the buck" policy in Iraq. Also in Ohio, our fifth and final emergency slate candidate is Betty Sutton. Her opponent has been relentlessly on the attack, challenging Sutton for her strong stances on Roe v. Wade and civil liberties.

RUSH HELP TO OUR EMERGENCY SLATE OF HOUSE CANDIDATES!
We're in the every-moment-counts stage of this campaign. The sooner your gift arrives, the quicker our candidates can put it to work in the final make-or-break days of these elections.
Act now. Act quickly. Go big.

John Kerry

North Korea talks set to resume BBC News
Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme are to due resume soon after a diplomatic breakthrough.Agreement came at an informal meeting in Beijing between North Korea, China and the US. The talks stalled a year ago after Pyongyang pulled out in protest at US financial sanctions imposed upon it. North Korea alarmed the world by testing a nuclear weapon earlier this month, prompting the UN to impose financial and arms sanctions. China's foreign ministry said on its website that envoys from China, the US and North Korea had met on Tuesday and "had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on continuing efforts to advance the process of the six-party talks".All three agreed the talks "be held soon at a time convenient to the six parties". The US negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, later said the talks could resume as early as next month. He added that North Korea had set no conditions for its return to the talks. President George W Bush hailed the agreement. "I am pleased and I want to thank the Chinese," he told reporters at the White House. He added that the agreement would not halt US efforts to enforce a UN Security Council resolution passed in response to the North's atomic test. The announcement was welcomed by both South Korea and Russia, which along with the US, China and Japan make up the partners in the talks with North Korea. But Japan has reportedly said it cannot accept North Korea's return to the talks unless the regime first renounces its nuclear weapons. Foreign Minister Taro Aso was quoted as saying that while Japan welcomed the prospect of a new round of talks, it "does not intend to accept North Korea's return to the talks on the premise that it possess nuclear weapons". Public broadcaster NHK said he insisted that a resumption of talks "is conditional on North Korea not possessing nuclear weapons".

Ongoing crisis
The talks began in 2003 to find a way to resolve the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear programme. They appeared to make an historic breakthrough in September 2005 when North Korea announced it would give up its nuclear activities and rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.But within months optimism crumbled as North Korea withdrew from the talks in protest at US financial sanctions, under which about $24m (£14m) of funds have been frozen. North Korea's decision to test seven missiles in July and then carry out a nuclear weapon test on 9 October drew international condemnation. China - Pyongyang's key ally - joined other UN Security Council members in agreeing to sanctions targeting North Korea's missile and weapons programmes as well as luxury goods and a travel ban. But Beijing has also been carrying out frantic behind-the-scenes negotiations to try to restart the talks, which appear now to have borne fruit, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in the Chinese capital says.

Bomb strikes Iraq wedding party BBC News
A bomb has ripped through a wedding convoy in Baghdad, killing at least 15 people, four of them children, the interior ministry says.The car bomb struck a procession of vehicles at dusk in Ur, on the outskirts of Baghdad's Sadr City. The bomb came as residents of Sadr City celebrated the lifting of a security cordon around the Shia stronghold. The blockade was imposed after the authorities suspected that an abducted American soldier might be held there. At total of at least 19 people were injured in the attack on the wedding party. Earlier, at least 30 bus passengers were kidnapped by an armed gang on a road north of Baghdad, police say.An official said the bus, carrying mainly Shia passengers to the town of Balad, was stopped at a fake checkpoint 40km (24 miles) from the capital. It is the latest in a spate of mass kidnappings, part of the growing sectarian violence in Iraq. According to police, the bus attack occurred when gunmen stopped the vehicle on its way to the northern town of Balad, the scene of bitter sectarian tensions recently. Two weeks ago, at least 30 Sunnis were killed by a Shia militia there in an apparent revenge attack for the murder of 17 Shias.

Checkpoint order
The two attacks came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki ordered all checkpoints around the Shia suburb of Sadr City to be lifted.US and Iraqi forces began lifting the blockade shortly ahead of a deadline imposed by Mr Maliki. Residents of the Shia district celebrated as the Iraqi troops removed coils of barbed wire and red traffic cones from the streets of the sprawling district. US forces had erected a security cordon around the area as they carried out searches for an abducted soldier. The week-long restrictions, checks and searches caused increasing resentment in the densely-populated neighbourhood. The decision to lift them came shortly after radical Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr, called a general strike in protest. The district is largely controlled by the Mehdi Army, a militia led by Mr Sadr.

Growing tension
The area has seen brief clashes between US forces and the Mehdi Army since the blockade was imposed. The BBC's regional analyst, Roger Hardy, says the Iraqi prime minister's announcement reveals the increasing tension between the Baghdad government and the US administration. He says they are at odds over security issues, what to do about militias, and how best to achieve national reconciliation - especially with the country's aggrieved Sunni Arab minority. The abducted man, an Iraq-born US serviceman was seized last Monday after leaving his base inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone to visit Iraqi relatives in the city.

Campaigner in chief has limited reach MSNBC
An unpopular president avoids many key races
When President Bush swooped down here late last week, Republican House candidate Jeff Lamberti was happy for the high-level attention -- and the roughly $400,000 in contributions -- the short stopover produced for his campaign. But the man Lamberti is trying to unseat, Rep. Leonard L. Boswell (D), was no less happy to see the president in his district. As Bush's entourage was heading for Michigan and another campaign event, Lamberti said he would welcome the president back anytime. He also made it clear he does not want the president to be the issue that decides his fate next week: "I trust the voters to be sophisticated enough to know it's between the two candidates." Boswell had another view, one that underscored the double-edged impact of a presidential visit this fall. Saying his challenger would be little more than a rubber stamp for the White House if he is elected, Boswell said Bush's visit might give both campaigns a boost. "If it ramps up their troops a little bit, it will ramp ours up, too," he said. His name is not on any ballot this fall, but George W. Bush is the central issue of campaign 2006. Tuesday's vote will deliver a referendum on six years of Bush's leadership -- bold and principled or radically divisive, depending on one's political ideology -- and the wartime policies he has championed. Other issues may come into play, congressional scandals and performance among them, but in the end, next week's verdict will be remembered for what it says about this president. With Bush's approval ratings hovering just below 40 percent, Republicans are braced for big losses.

Bush's challenge
GOP strategists know well that no political party has successfully weathered a midterm election with such an unpopular president in office. Bush's challenge as he campaigns in the final days of the election is to find a way to excite and mobilize a fractured Republican base without triggering an even bigger turnout among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents that could cost his party the House or Senate. As Election Day draws near, the president has taken on a new role for his beleaguered party, that of optimist-in-chief. On the stump, Bush is ebullient, defiant, humorous, partisan and totally focused on bolstering morale, mocking Democrats (and the pundits he says are in their pockets) for dancing in the end zone before they have scored a touchdown.
By Dan Balz, The Washington Post

US issues Lebanon 'plot' warning BBC News
The United States has said there is "mounting evidence" that Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are planning to topple the Lebanese government. The White House said Syria hoped to stop the formation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri. Spokesman Tony Snow said any attempt to destabilise the Lebanese government would violate UN resolutions. A UN team has been investigating who was behind Mr Hariri's death in 2005.

Hezbollah demand
The BBC News website's world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds says the White House statement appears to result from the tense situation in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is demanding one third of cabinet seats, thereby giving it a veto over decisions. Such a veto would enable it to block approval of the international tribunal to try suspects in Mr Hariri's assassination, our correspondent says. The Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has threatened street demonstrations in support of his demand. The US is concerned that this instability could result in the fall of the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The statement also casts doubt on any willingness by the Bush administration to consider Syria and Iran as potential partners over the future of Iraq, an idea that the Baker commission on Iraq is expected to suggest, our correspondent adds.

Hariri tribunal
The White House said it was "increasingly concerned by mounting evidence that the Syrian and Iranian government, Hezbollah, and their Lebanese allies are preparing plans to topple Lebanon's democratically-elected government. "There are indications that one goal of the Syrian plan is to prevent the current Lebanese government from approving the statute for an international tribunal that would try those accused of involvement in former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination," the statement continued. In March, the security council approved the formation of a international tribunal that would try those accused of involvement in the murder of Mr Hariri. The UN sent a draft plan for the tribunal to Lebanese authorities on 21 October but it has yet to be approved of by Lebanon's cabinet and parliament or by the UN Security Council. A leading anti-Syrian legislator, Walid Jumblatt, has pushed for US support for the tribunal. "If [Lebanese President Emile] Lahoud and Syria's allies in Lebanon don't want the international court, this issue will become dangerous," AFP news agency quoted Mr Jumblatt as saying. Rafik Hariri, a self-made billionaire, was killed on 14 February 2005, along with 20 others in a massive blast on Beirut's seafront. UN investigators said in September they had found new evidence that he was probably killed by a suicide bomber. The assassination was widely blamed on Syria, but Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly denied that his country had anything to do with the murder.

Gazprom to double Georgia charges BBC News
Russian energy giant Gazprom has said it will more than double prices of gas supplies to Georgia from 2007.Gazprom said it would charge Tbilisi $230 for 1,000 cubic metres of gas, compared with the $110 cost now. Russia has often been accused of using Gazprom, a state-controlled natural gas monopoly, as a political weapon to keep its neighbours in line. Georgia's foreign minister is in Moscow for talks in an effort to defuse tensions between the two nations. Gela Bezhuashvili will take part in the first high-level talks between Georgia and Russia since a diplomatic crisis soured bilateral relations in September.

Postal blockade
The crisis began when Georgia, which relies heavily on Russia for exports and imports, arrested four Russian officers for alleged spying. The Kremlin hit back with an air, sea and postal blockade on Georgia and a crackdown on Georgian migrants in Russia. A ban on key Georgian exports, such as wine and mineral water, has also been in place for months, with Russia citing health concerns. Last month, Georgia's biggest gas importer, Energy Invest, claimed that Gazprom was looking to raise 2007 prices to between $170 and $250. Georgia will buy 360 million cubic metres of gas from Gazprom next year, up from 250 million cubic metres this year.

'Political decision'
Gazprom has said it will stop subsidising economies in the former USSR and will look for payments closer to its European export prices, currently at around $230-$250 per 1,000 cubic metres. After the Gazprom announcement Georgia's state minister for economic reforms, Kakha Bendukidze, said the increase had been expected. "I don't know if this price is final but to me it is clear that this is not a market price, this is a political decision," Mr Bendukidze told the Reuters news agency. Mr Bendukidze said he would be observing what price Gazprom offered to Georgia's neighbours Azerbaijan and Armenia. Relations between Georgia and Russia have been rocky since the 2004 election of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who wants to boost ties with the West and join Nato in 2008. Last week, President Vladimir Putin accused the Georgian leadership of wanting to retake the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by force.

France to declassify Rwanda files BBC News
France says it will release classified documents on the Rwandan genocide, after claims that French troops were complicit in the 1994 massacre.Some 105 documents will be given to a magistrate investigating the claims by four genocide survivors. Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie took the decision on the recommendation of France's defence secrets commission. The plaintiffs accuse soldiers of rape, murder and complicity "in genocide and/or crimes against humanity". The Rwandan Tutsis, aged between 25 and 39, have brought their case against the French military in the French courts. During the genocide some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists. French troops were sent to Rwanda as part of a United Nations force. Rwanda has repeatedly accused Paris of complicity in the genocide. France has denied any role. The four survivors say French troops committed crimes themselves, and also let Hutu killers enter refugee camps under their protection. An inquiry began last month in Rwanda into alleged French complicity in training and arming the Hutu extremists. After hearing testimony from witnesses, the Rwandan panel will rule on whether to file a suit at the International Court of Justice.

Pollock work 'earns record price' BBC News
A work by Jackson Pollock has become the most expensive painting sold, at a price of about $140m, according to the New York Times.Unnamed art experts said that US media magnate David Geffen had sold the 4ft by 8ft work, No 5, 1948, to Mexican financier David Martinez. The reported price exceeds the $135m paid in June for a 1907 portrait by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The Pollock work features the US artist's famous drip-and-pour style. The deal is said to have been brokered by Sotheby's auctioneer Tobias Meyer. Jackson Pollock's work had a major influence on art in the latter half of the 20th Century, sparking the emergence of abstract expressionism. But the artist battled alcoholism and depression and is generally regarded as a self-destructive, tortured genius. He died in a car crash in 1956, aged 44.

German troops 'had Nazi symbol' BBC News, Berlin
A German magazine has published a photograph showing a Nazi-like symbol on a vehicle allegedly used by German troops bound for Afghanistan.The defence ministry is investigating the photograph, published on Thursday in the weekly magazine Stern. It follows the recent scandal of photographs of German soldiers posing with human skulls and skeletons. Six servicemen were suspended over the first case, and a total of 23 are being investigated in connection with it. At the end of last month, the German government announced a grand new role for the country's military. It decided that more troops would be sent abroad on peacekeeping missions and Germany would expand its efforts to maintain international security.

New scandal
But the army has been embarrassed and shamed by a stream of photographs in German newspapers. First were the images of German troops desecrating human remains, taken in Afghanistan. Now a new photograph in Stern shows a vehicle with a palm tree and an iron cross painted onto it. The symbol is reminiscent of that used by the Nazi commander General Erwin Rommel - the "Desert Fox" - in North Africa during World War II. The defence ministry has promised another investigation. The recent scandals have sparked a fierce debate in Germany about whether the army here is ready to take on a greater role abroad.
By Steve Rosenberg

Syria denies Lebanon plot claim BBC News
Syria has denied White House claims that, together with Iran and Hezbollah, it is planning to try to topple the Lebanese government.The "rumours" spread by the US were wrong, the foreign ministry said. A Syrian government newspaper described the comments as "pure vilification". The US believes Syria may be aiming to block a tribunal over the killing of Lebanese ex-PM Rafik Hariri, in which Syria has been implicated. On Wednesday, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the Bush administration was "increasingly concerned" by "mounting evidence" of a plan to bring the Lebanese government down. He did not give further information, saying it was classified. Damascus rejected the claims in a foreign ministry statement. "The rumours put about by the US administration according to which Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are seeking to destabilise the situation in Lebanon are wrong," the statement said. And an editorial in the government Baath newspaper said: "This pure vilification is meant to raise turmoil in Lebanon and cause fallout with Syria."

Veto fears
Hezbollah is backed by Syria and Iran, and has two ministers in Lebanon's government.The BBC News website's world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds says the White House statement appears to result from the tense situation in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is demanding one third of cabinet seats, thereby giving it a veto over decisions. Such a veto would enable it to block approval of the international tribunal to try suspects in Mr Hariri's assassination, our correspondent says. The Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has threatened street demonstrations in support of his demand. The US is concerned that this instability could result in the fall of the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

UK mission
The claim from the White House came as Britain held its highest level talks with Syria since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Prime Minister Tony Blair's foreign policy adviser, Nigel Sheinwald, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and senior ministers. Few details were given of the discussions, but the Financial Times newspaper reported that the visit was aimed at pressing Syria to cease its support for radical groups. As well as its relationship with Hezbollah, Syria is thought to have influence on some of the insurgent groups operating in Iraq. "Syria had always faced a choice: it can play a constructive role in international affairs or it can continue to support terrorism," Mr Blair's official spokesman said. "The key question is what choice does it make?"

Hariri tribunal
A UN team has been investigating who was behind the death of Mr Hariri in a massive blast on Beirut's seafront in 2005. Popular protests in response to the death led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon after a 29-year presence. The UN Security Council has approved the formation of an international tribunal to try those accused of involvement in the murder of Mr Hariri. The UN sent a draft plan for the tribunal to Lebanese authorities on 21 October but it has yet to be approved by Lebanon's cabinet and parliament or by the UN Security Council. The assassination has been widely blamed on Syria, but Mr Assad has repeatedly denied that his country had anything to do with the killing.

Somali talks fail amid war fears BBC News
Peace talks between Somalia's transitional government and Islamists have been postponed, mediators in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, say. The talks have been placed on indefinite hold after the two sides refused to meet face-to-face, a statement said. The mediators called for restraint but a government spokesman ruled out any early resumption of talks. Observers now fear a conflict which could engulf the entire region. Ethiopia backs the government while its rival Eritrea has been accused of arming the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). Both countries deny reports they have troops in Somalia.

'Nonsense'
Somali Foreign Minister Ismael Mohamoud Hurreh told the BBC that his government hoped to avoid war but warned that conflict would become inevitable if Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) continued on their current path. The minister said countries in the region were deeply concerned about the UIC's declaration of jihad, or holy war, on their neighbours. While the UIC has gained control of most of southern Somalia in recent months, Mr Hurreh said they were not as strong as many believed. "There is a lot of hyperbole and portrayal of the Islamic Courts being invincible, a strong military organisation. That is nonsense," he said. UIC delegate in Khartoum Ibrahim Hassan Adow told the BBC that the Islamists remained "committed to dialogue". "Our message is for the government not to invite enemies of the Somali people." Before arriving in Khartoum, the Islamist delegation said they would not take part in the talks unless Ethiopian troops left Somalia. Ethiopia admits having hundreds of military trainers with the government. These are the third round of talks the Arab League has organised in Khartoum.

Restraint
With neither side willing to accept the other's pre-conditions for talks, international mediators called on both parties to exercise restraint. "The parties are urged to commit themselves to previous agreements reached in Khartoum," their statement said. The two sides have previously agreed a ceasefire but the UIC has continued to gain ground. The UIC has rapidly taken control of most of southern Somalia since seizing the capital, Mogadishu, in June. The government only controls the territory around Baidoa, 250km (150 miles) north-west of Mogadishu. Somalia has been in the grip of warlords and militias for years and has not had a functioning national government since 1991.

Turkey gunman in 'Pope protest' BBC News
A man has been arrested in Turkey after firing shots outside the Italian consulate in Istanbul, reports say.No-one was injured in the incident, which reports said was believed to be in protest against a forthcoming visit to Turkey by Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope, due to arrive on 28 November, angered Muslims in September by quoting a medieval text which said the Prophet Muhammad had brought "evil" things. He has since expressed his regrets for offending Muslims. "We think that this is something that is an isolated incident and does not disturb the overall calm preparations for the trip," chief Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, told Reuters news agency. The protester threw his gun into the garden of the consulate after firing the shots, the Dogan news agency said. The man shouted, "I am happy to be a Muslim," the agency reported. Pope Benedict XVI will visit Ankara, Izmir, Istanbul and ancient Ephesus during his trip to Turkey, which will be his first visit to a predominantly Muslim country. The Pope was officially invited to visit the country by the Turkish government and will be there until 1 December.

Britain is 'surveillance society' BBC News
Fears that the UK would "sleep-walk into a surveillance society" have become a reality, the government's information commissioner has said.Richard Thomas, who said he raised concerns two years ago, spoke after research found people's actions were increasingly being monitored. Researchers highlight "dataveillance", the use of credit card, mobile phone and loyalty card information, and CCTV. Monitoring of work rates, travel and telecommunications is also rising.There are up to 4.2m CCTV cameras in Britain - about one for every 14 people. But surveillance ranges from US security agencies monitoring telecommunications traffic passing through Britain, to key stroke information used to gauge work rates and GPS information tracking company vehicles, the Report on the Surveillance Society says. It predicts that by 2016 shoppers could be scanned as they enter stores, schools could bring in cards allowing parents to monitor what their children eat, and jobs may be refused to applicants who are seen as a health risk. Produced by a group of academics called the Surveillance Studies Network, the report was presented to the 28th International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners' Conference in London, hosted by the Information Commissioner's Office. The office is an independent body established to promote access to official data and to protect personal details.The report's co-writer Dr David Murakami-Wood told BBC News that, compared to other industrialised Western states, the UK was "the most surveilled country". "We have more CCTV cameras and we have looser laws on privacy and data protection," he said. "We really do have a society which is premised both on state secrecy and the state not giving up its supposed right to keep information under control while, at the same time, wanting to know as much as it can about us." The report coincides with the publication by the human rights group Privacy International of figures that suggest Britain is the worst Western democracy at protecting individual privacy. The two worst countries in the 36-nation survey are Malaysia and China, and Britain is one of the bottom five with "endemic surveillance". Mr Thomas called for a debate about the risks if information gathered is wrong or falls into the wrong hands."We've got to say where do we want the lines to be drawn? How much do we want to have surveillance changing the nature of society in a democratic nation?" he told the BBC. "We're not luddites, we're not technophobes, but we are saying not least don't forget the fundamental importance of data protection, which I'm responsible for. "Sometimes it gets dismissed as something which is rather bureaucratic, it stops you sorting out your granny's electricity bills. People grumble about data protection, but boy is it important in this new age. "When data protection puts those fundamental safeguards in place, we must make sure that some of these lines are not crossed."

'Balance needed'
The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) said there needed to be a balance between sharing information responsibly and respecting the citizen's rights. A spokesman said: "Massive social and technological advances have occurred in the last few decades and will continue in the years to come. "We must rise to the challenges and seize the opportunities it provides for individual citizens and society as a whole." Graham Gerrard from the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said there were safeguards against the abuse of surveillance by officers. "The police use of surveillance is probably the most regulated of any group in society," he told the BBC. "Richard Thomas was particularly concerned about unseen, uncontrolled or excessive surveillance. Well, any of the police surveillance that is unseen is in fact controlled and has to be proportionate otherwise it would never get authorised."

Microsoft names Vista launch day BBC News
Microsoft has announced the date on which Windows Vista will be made available to businesses.From 30 November corporate customers of the software giant will be able to get their hands on the next version of the operating system. Also on that date Microsoft will make available Office 2007 - its suite of business programs. Home users will have to wait until January 2007 to get hold of a copy of the Vista software.

Opening Windows
Vista is the long-awaited update of the Windows operating system that was originally slated to be released in August 2006. The software has been under development for more than five years. The release will be a simultaneous global launch. The software is a major overhaul of Windows and updates many of the core technologies. New elements include improved security, an improved 3D interface, plus new sound and networking technologies. Vista, known as Longhorn during its gestation, will be available in six separate versions to match the differing needs of computer users. Three of these are tuned for businesses, two are for home users and one will be for developing nations. Microsoft has yet to give details of the prices of the different versions but it has released information about what PCs will have to do to run the software. Many PC makers are now selling "Vista-ready" computers. In the US the software will be unveiled by Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer at an event at the New York Stock Exchange.

Nigeria gets new Islamic leader BBC News
A new Sultan of Sokoto, the spiritual leader of Nigeria's 70m Muslims, has been announced. Colonel Muhammadu Sada Abubakar, 53, is the younger brother of Sultan Mohammadu Maccido, who was killed in a plane crash on Sunday, along with 95 others. Col Abubakar had been serving as Nigeria's military attache to Pakistan. Like all sultans, Col Abubakar is descended from Uthman Dan Fodio, who led a 19th Century jihad to spread Islam across northern Nigeria. The BBC's Ardo Abdullah Hazzad in the northern city of Sokoto, says that thousands of people have gathered to celebrate the appointment outside the imposing sultan's palace.

Easy-going
Col Abubakar is to greet the crowds after earlier going to thank Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa for naming him as the 20th sultan. Col Abubakar was chosen by a group of traditional rulers, known as kingmakers, who passed a shortlist of three to Mr Bafarawa for the final decision. "May he continue where the late sultan stopped," trader Muhammadu Bello told Reuters news agency. "I want to congratulate the state government for choosing a consensus sultan." Col Abubakar, who has also served with West Africa's peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone, was top of the list and so the governor was expected to select him. He is described as being relaxed and easy-going. The Sokoto Caliphate founded by Dan Fodio became one of the largest pre-colonial states in Africa. The sultan's role includes announcing the start and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Nigeria. The BBC's Alex Last in Nigeria says the sultan is meant to be a symbol of good governance and Islamic unity.

Crash
The late sultan was widely respected for trying to ease tensions between Nigeria's Muslim and Christians communities, which occasionally spill over into sectarian violence. His son and grandson were also killed when a Boeing 737 flight operated by ADC airlines crashed just after take-off from the capital, Abuja, on its way to Sokoto. Nigeria held three days of national mourning and President Olusegun Obasanjo went to Sokoto to pay his respects. It was the third major Nigeria plane crash in just over a year. ADC's licence has been suspended.

Ivorian leader hails UN 'victory' BBC News
President Laurent Gbagbo has welcomed the latest UN move on Ivory Coast as "a glorious victory". The BBC's James Copnall says this is because the UN resolution recognises the supremacy of the constitution, which his critics want to suspend. The resolution take some powers from the president and gives them to the prime minister, in an attempt to end Ivory Coast's political deadlock. Many diplomats accuse Mr Gbagbo of trying to block peace efforts. Rebels have controlled the north since 2002 and elections, due in October 2004, have twice been postponed.

Watered down
UN Security Council resolution 1721 extended the mandate of both President Gbagbo and Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny for another year. Mr Banny was appointed last year as a neutral figure, tasked with organising elections, but some observers feel Mr Gbagbo has stopped him from doing his job, often by referring to the president's powers as defined by the constitution. Our correspondent says the final version was watered down from earlier drafts, which envisaged the prime minister making key military and civilian appointments. Mr Gbagbo's supporters had said the earlier draft would have meant the UN was imposing regime change on Ivory Coast. "The members of the security council rejected the possibility of making the constitution of any state subordinate to a decision made by an international organisation, even the UN," the president said in a televised address to the nation. "We rejoice for ourselves, but also for all countries in the world who hold freedom dear," Mr Gbagbo said. France, which sponsored the resolution, had insisted that the new resolution would be more important than the Ivorian constitution.

Warning
The president made almost no direct mention of the new powers granted to the prime minister. However these powers do not appear in the constitution. Our correspondent says President Gbagbo made reference to the constitution on numerous occasions, hinting that he would not turn over his powers lightly. But if the president does not accept losing some of his powers to the prime minister, he would be going against the majority of the resolution, our correspondent says. Mr Gbagbo also warned Ivorian against taking to the streets to protest at the resolution. President Gbagbo's opponents will take that as a threat to their supporters, should they attempt to demonstrate, our reporter says. In March 2004, more than 120 opposition supporters were killed by the Ivorian security forces as they attempted to take part in a banned march. The Ivorian armed forces have deployed in large numbers throughout the main city, Abidjan, to ward off any potential trouble. There are more than 10,000 French and UN troops in Ivory Coast, most patrolling the ceasefire line between the northern and southern parts of the country. But plans announced last October to disarm militias and carry out a population census to prepare for elections have failed to get off the ground.

Scores of bodies found in Baghdad BBC News
Baghdad police say they have found 83 bodies, some showing signs of torture, in various locations around the city in the past 36 hours.The fresh killings came as the US said seven more US soldiers had died, and that troops had killed 13 insurgents. The Iraqi army has cancelled all leave and put troops on alert ahead of the verdict expected on Sunday in the trial of former leader Saddam Hussein. Defence lawyers have warned of violence if he is sentenced to death. The discovery of 56 bodies between Thursday and Friday mornings is the biggest in 24 hours since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan ended. Another 27 were found during Friday. Correspondents say some were probably victims of sectarian attacks, while others could have been targeted by criminal gangs seeking ransoms. The 56 dead were all men, estimated to be aged between 20 and 45, police Lt Mohammed Khayon told the Associated Press. They were all dressed in civilian clothing and found with their hands and feet bound, Lt Khayon added, saying that none of the men had yet been identified. In other developments:

• In the US, a website set up to make public Iraqi documents from the Saddam Hussein era has been closed following suggestions that it included information on how to build a basic atom bomb
• It has emerged that a US audit office in Iraq, which has brought to light several cases of large scale fraud and waste in reconstruction efforts, is to be closed in October 2007
• US intelligence chief John Negroponte has held talks in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki - issues discussed included building up the Iraqi security forces, the PM's office said.

US casualty figures have continued to rise in Iraq, following the deaths of more than 100 troops in October in one of the US's bloodiest months in Iraq. Three soldiers were killed on Thursday in Baghdad when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. The same day, three soldiers were killed in the western Anbar province and another died "due to non-combat causes", the US military said. The US military said troops had killed 13 insurgents during a raid involving both air and ground forces in Mahmoudiya, 30km (20 miles) south of Baghdad. It was carried out after intelligence suggested an al-Qaeda-linked suspect was hiding in a house, the military said in a statement. Five people were killed inside the building, including a man wearing an explosive vest, and eight were killed as they fled the area, the statement said. Explosives and hand grenades were found in a search of the area, the military added.

Verdict due
The developments come as the Bush administration prepares for mid-term elections next week, in which correspondents say public frustration with US policy in Iraq is threatening to cause Republican losses. Two days before the election, the Iraqi High Tribunal, which has been trying Saddam for crimes against humanity, is expected to deliver its verdict. Saddam Hussein and co-defendants are accused of ordering the deaths of 148 Shias in 1982 in the village of Dujail, following an assassination attempt on the former president. With a surge in violence during Ramadan, October was the fourth deadliest month for US troops since the US-led invasion in 2003. Recent days have seen a number of public disagreements between US and Iraqi officials about attempts to improve security. Mr Maliki has faced pressure to deliver on security, and take tougher action against sectarian militias. He has blamed the Americans for the deteriorating situation, criticising the quality of equipment and training given to the Iraqi government forces.

Gaza women killed in mosque siege BBC News
Two women have been killed as Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of women gathered to help besieged gunmen flee a mosque in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.One of the women told the BBC they had dressed the militants in women's clothes to help them escape. The Israeli military said the women were used as "human shields" and that there had been armed men in the crowd. Reports said at least 16 Palestinians were killed on Friday, the third day of a major Israeli raid on Beit Hanoun. Several of the dead were killed during a series of air strikes which took place after dark on sites across Gaza. At least one Palestinian died at a building used as a mosque in Beit Hanoun, another was killed close to nearby Beit Lahiya; two more were killed in the Jabaliya refugee camp, also in northern Gaza. In Rafah in southern Gaza, a member of a security force linked to Hamas was killed and three wounded when their vehicle was hit in an air strike. An Israeli military spokesman said five air strikes had taken place, targeting suspected militants who were planting explosives or involved in rocket attacks on Israel.

Hamas appeal
In the dramatic mosque rescue, Hamas radio issued an appeal to local women when a tense stand-off developed between Israeli forces surrounding the building and up to 15 militants who had taken refuge inside. One of the women, Nahed Abou Harbiya, described what happened to the BBC Arabic Service. "All the women headed to the mosque to get the Palestinian resistance men... But the Israeli occupation forces were firing heavily at us with their machine guns and also threw stun grenades at us. "We entered the mosque and indeed we got all the resistance men out and put female attire on them so that the Israeli occupation forces wouldn't arrest them," she said. Israeli troops had moved in and sealed the town off on Wednesday, in one of the biggest offensives in recent months, which Israel says is aimed at stopping militants firing rockets into Israel. Shots were fired as the women approached Israeli forces. As some of the women tried to pass the troops, further shots came and two women fell to the ground. At least 10 women and a Palestinian cameraman were injured. "We risked our lives to free our sons," Um Mohammed, a woman in her 40s, told the AFP news agency afterwards. Hamas radio reported that all of the militants in the mosque escaped and were uninjured.

Men 'disguised'
Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said: "Unfortunately, maybe one woman was killed - I don't know if it's by IDF or not. But our purpose is definitely not to hit the innocent ones. "We saw crowds of women. Behind the women hid some of the militants. Some of them were even dressed up as women: we have footage," she said. "Unfortunately because the militants shot at our forces, sometimes we had to respond."The BBC's Matthew Price in Jerusalem says that in television footage of the incident, some men are visible in the crowd, but there is no evidence that they were carrying guns. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, said the event was part of a "planned annihilation" of the Palestinians. He called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to come to see what he described as "massacres" committed against them. In other developments:

• An Israeli air strike on Gaza City killed four Hamas militants, with a local commander of Hamas' military wing reportedly among the casualties
• The Palestinian housing minister was arrested by Israeli troops in the West Bank town of Ramallah
• An elderly Palestinian woman was killed in the West Bank town of Bethlehem during an Israeli army arrest raid
• At least one Palestinian youth died during an Israeli operation in the West bank town of Nablus

Major raid
About 30 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have died in violence since the Israeli operation in Beit Hanoun began on Wednesday. Many of those killed were gunmen, but a four-year-old boy died from his wounds overnight. BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy says that Israel's most immediate aim is to prevent rocket attacks against its territory, but beyond that it wants to strike a decisive blow at Hamas. Israeli forces have made regular incursions into Gaza and the West Bank following the capture of an Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit, in a cross-border raid by Palestinian militants on 25 June. More than 300 Palestinians have been killed in army operations since then, according to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

Sex-row US pastor 'bought drugs' BBC News
The head of a US evangelical body who quit after being accused of paying for sex with a gay prostitute has admitted he bought drugs. The Reverend Ted Haggard, ex-leader of the 30m-strong National Association of Evangelicals, said he bought methamphetamine but "never used it". He denies having sex with the man but said he did receive a massage. Mr Haggard has also stepped down temporarily from his 14,000-strong, Colorado-based New Life Church. The issue is being played out against the backdrop of a vote in Colorado and seven other US states on Tuesday on whether to ban same-sex marriages. Mr Haggard, 50, has been a vocal opponent of the unions.

'Pastor Ted'
Mr Haggard told journalists outside his home that he had bought methamphetamine. "I bought it for myself but never used it. I was tempted but I never used it," Mr Haggard said. He said he threw it away. Denver man Mike Jones, 49, this week told a radio show he had been paid to have sex with Mr Haggard nearly every month over the past three years. Mr Haggard said he had not had sex with Mr Jones but did receive a massage after being referred to him by a Denver hotel. The man who has temporarily replaced Mr Haggard as head of the New Life Church, Ross Parsley, said in an email message on Friday: "It is important for you to know that he confessed to the overseers that some of the accusations against him are true. "He has willingly and humbly submitted to the authority of the board of overseers, and will remain on administrative leave during the course of the investigation." Mr Jones said he had stepped forward because of the gay marriage issue. "It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex," he said. Mr Jones said he was contacted by a man through the internet called Art. Mr Jones said Art, who he later recognised as Mr Haggard, used methamphetamine to heighten their sexual encounters.

Influential ties
Mr Haggard, who is also known as "Pastor Ted" and has five children, has close contacts with the White House. He became president of the National Association of Evangelicals in 2003. The BBC's Jane Little in Washington says he is one of America's most influential and politically well-connected religious leaders. His resignation comes as a blow for Republicans, who are hoping to energise a demoralised Christian base ahead of mid-term elections, our correspondent says.

US closes 'bomb secrets' website BBC News
The US government has closed one of its websites that contained documents found during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Weapons experts had complained that the site contained details on making nuclear bombs, the New York Times said. The US had set up the site to post documents that it hoped might reveal information about Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes. A US national intelligence spokesman said there would be a careful review before the site went online again. The website, Iraqi Freedom Document Portal, was set up in March after pressure from Republican legislators that intelligence experts were taking too long to comb through thousands of documents from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. They wanted public help in sifting through the mass of material.

'Nuclear cookbook'
In the last few weeks, the website had posted accounts of Iraq's secret research into nuclear bomb-making before the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the New York Times said. The documents reportedly contained detailed information on the radioactive cores of atom bombs and how to build nuclear firing circuits and trigger explosives. One diplomat told the New York Times that the documents were "a cookbook". Weapons expert Peter Zimmerman told the newspaper that the website material was "very sensitive, much of it undoubtedly secret restricted data".

Warning
US Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte had cautioned against posting the documents before the website went public, a former official said. ''John Negroponte warned us that we don't know what's in these documents, so these are being put out at some risk, and that was a warning that he put out right when they first released the documents,'' former White House chief of staff Andrew Card told NBC television. The website contained a warning that "the US government has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents... or factual accuracy of the information contained therein". Mr Negroponte's spokesman, Chad Kolton, said in a statement there were "strict criteria" governing what was posted on the website. "The material currently on the website, as well as the procedures used to post new documents, will be carefully reviewed before the site becomes available again," he said.

Sharon admitted to intensive care BBC News
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been moved to intensive care after developing an infection, the hospital treating him has said. Mr Sharon, 78, has been in a coma since suffering a major stroke in January. "Sharon contracted an infection that is affecting his heart and will receive intensive treatment to combat the infection," the hospital said. "At this point, his condition is stable," added the statement from the Sheba Medical Center, near Tel Aviv. Mr Sharon has not regained consciousness since undergoing brain surgery. His condition has fluctuated throughout the year. For several months Mr Sharon was treated by the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where he was rushed for emergency treatment in 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. He subsequently developed pneumonia, and has also undergone kidney dialysis.

Lengthy career
Mr Sharon 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. He served as housing minister in the early 1990s, expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but as prime minister he forced through the 2005 withdrawal of settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip. 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.

Turkish PM regrets EU 'obstacles' BBC News
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the EU of placing new obstacles on Turkey's bid to enter the bloc. "Don't ask us for things that aren't part of the programme," he said, adding that the EU should be "honest and sincere" in its approach. He was responding to a draft European Commission report, due to be released next week, that raises fresh doubts about Turkey's bid to join the EU. The draft, seen by the BBC, says the pace of reform in Turkey has slowed. It urges Turkey to guarantee greater freedom of expression and human rights. The report also says Ankara has made no progress towards normalising relations with EU member Cyprus. Turkey has not yet opened its air and sea ports to Cyprus, the north of which remains under Turkish occupation. Finland, which holds the EU rotating presidency, is continuing last-ditch efforts to break the deadlock over Cyprus, which many see as the biggest obstacle on Turkey's road to Europe.

'Sincere approach'
Responding to the report, Mr Erdogan said the EU should end the economic isolation of the northern part of Cyprus before Turkey meets a treaty obligation to open its air and seaports to Greek Cypriot vessels. He also said Turkey had met past treaty obligations set out by the EU and was moving to meet the latest ones. "You wanted us to do everything that was required by the Copenhagen political criteria and we did it," he said. "Now all of the Maastricht criteria chapters are in the open and we're doing those too. Ask us for these things and, if we do them, show us an honest and sincere approach."

Sensitive issue
The draft report calls for Turkey to ensure freedom of expression by repealing or amending a controversial article of the penal code under which Orhan Pamuk, the winner of the Nobel prize for literature, and other Turkish intellectuals have been taken to court for their political views. The report also highlights serious concerns about allegations of torture and ill-treatment, public statements by senior military figures, the rights of Kurds, women, religious groups and trade unions. The European Commission says it will intensify the monitoring of all these key political criteria for membership. Any serious breach could lead to a suspension of membership talks. But, according to the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels, a partial freeze of talks may become inevitable by the end of the year anyway, as Turkey shows no sign of keeping its promise over Cyprus. The draft report leaves blank the space for recommendations on this sensitive issue. Few European countries want to take the risk of a major crisis with their big Muslim neighbour, our correspondent says. But, she says, if things continue as they are, EU leaders will have little margin of manoeuvre when they discuss Turkey's membership bid at a summit in December.

Abu Ghraib man's Iraq tour halted BBC News
The US military has reversed plans to return a soldier to Iraq who had been convicted of abusing an inmate at the country's notorious Abu Ghraib prison. Santos Cardona, 32, had reached Kuwait with his unit when news of his planned redeployment to Iraq emerged. The US army dog handler was convicted in June of using his dog to abuse an inmate at the prison near Baghdad. He was sentenced to 90 days' hard labour, demoted one rank and had his pay docked by a military court. Specialist Cardona was ordered back to his unit's home base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, "where he will be assigned duties commensurate with his military occupation speciality and rank," the army said in a statement. Abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was brought to world attention after photographs of the incidents were released and published. The pictures showed US guards mistreating prisoners, some of them naked, and humiliating them. Spc Cardona is the 11th US soldier convicted in connection with abuse at Abu Ghraib.

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death BBC News
Saddam Hussein has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging.The former Iraqi leader was convicted over the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail following an assassination attempt on him in 1982. His half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Iraq's former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar were also sentenced to death. Former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan got life in jail and three others received 15-year prison terms. Another co-defendant, Baath party official Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted. Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants will be given the right to appeal, but that is expected to take only a few weeks and to end in failure for the defendants.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki hailed the conviction in a televised address, saying that the sentence was "not a sentence on one man, but a sentence against all the dark period of his rule". "Maybe this will help alleviate the pain of the widows and the orphans, and those who have been ordered to bury their loved ones in secrecy, and those who have been forced to suppress their feelings and suffering, and those who have paid at the hands of torturers," Mr Maliki said. US President George W Bush welcomed the verdict as a "milestone" in the efforts of the Iraqi people "to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law". But the European Union urged Iraq not to carry out the death sentence.

'Triumphant smile'
When called to court, Saddam Hussein, dressed in his usual dark suit and white shirt and carrying a Koran, walked to his seat and sat down. Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman ordered him to stand while he read out the verdict, but the former president refused to do so and had to be moved from his seat by court attendants. As the judge began reading the death sentence Saddam Hussein shouted out "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Great) and "Long live Iraq! Long live the Iraqi people! Down with the traitors!"The former leader looked shocked and furious as the sentence was passed, and continued to shout, denouncing the court, the judge and the US-led occupation force in Iraq. But the BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson said that after his tirade, which was clearly deliberate, Saddam Hussein seemed to have a small smile of triumph on his face as he was led away from the courtroom. "It was as if he was thinking 'I've come here and done what I intended to do,'" our correspondent said.

Hometown anger
Shortly after the verdict there were jubilant scenes in the Shia district of Sadr City, and in the holy city of Najaf. The Baghdad celebrations came in defiance of a 12-hour curfew on the city, amid fears of violence from Saddam Hussein's Sunni Arab supporters.Three nearby provinces are also under curfew, including Salahuddin, which contains Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Thousands also defied the measure in Tikrit - to voice support for Saddam Hussein. Almost three years since his capture, soaring sectarian violence has brought Iraq to the brink of civil war. Few Iraqis think the trial verdict will ease conflict, the BBC's Andrew North in Baghdad says. Even those who want to see their former leader dead do not believe his execution will make things better, our correspondent says.

'Trial flawed'
Many critics have dismissed the trial as a form of victors' justice, given the close attention the US has paid to it. Before the sentencing session began, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a note in which he called the trial a "travesty". Saddam Hussein's defence team have also accused the government of interfering in the proceedings - a complaint backed by US group Human Rights Watch. The process was marked by frequent interruptions by defendants and their lawyers and problems with security. The first judge assigned to preside over the case, Rizgar Amin, resigned after complaining of government interference and three defence lawyers were assassinated. And the former leader's lawyers have attacked the timing of the planned verdict, which comes days before the US votes in mid-term elections. Mr Bush's Republican Party is at risk of losing control of Congress, in part because of voter dissatisfaction over its handling of the Iraq conflict.

International resonance of Iraq verdict BBC News website

Analysis
The trial of Saddam Hussein was supposed to mark an important moment in a process of turning Iraq from dictatorship to the rule of law. However, it might turn out to be just another event in the catalogue of chaos that has engulfed the country. Its long-term importance might lie more in its effect on a growing body of international law trying to deal with government repressions.

Effect in Iraq uncertain
It appears unlikely that the outcome of the trial will materially alter the differing levels of warfare going on in Iraq - the jihadist attacks, the nationalist insurgency, the communal conflicts and the militia rivalries. These are too engrained and have too many deep causes to be changed by one event, however dramatic. From the survivors' and the relatives' point of view however - and in this case, there were 148 victims from the village of Dujail who died in retributions following an ambush on Saddam Hussein there - there is at least the knowledge that justice has been done. Of the power of the evidence there is no doubt. Villagers were able to come face to face with Saddam Hussein and tell of the torture and retaliation employed by the interrogators who sought to establish the extent of the opposition in that region. The methods showed in detail how Saddam Hussein managed to maintain control over the country. The former president's reaction was revealing as well. He justified the actions by wondering why the state should not take measures against a rebellion and at one moment said he had other, more important things on his agenda than to worry about what his subordinates were doing. He also of course dismissed the right of the court to try him anyway. The trial established that there was a chain of command to the top and that sets an important precedent for any future ruler who tries to avoid responsibility. Another important aspect of this trial is that Iraqis themselves have run it. That was one of the principles at stake here. Many other trials of dictators have been international interventions - the Nuremberg trials, the Rwanda trials and the former Yugoslavia trials. This one has perhaps set a trend that people who overthrow dictators - or who have their dictators overthrown by others, as in this case - can organise justice themselves.

Criticism of court
The quality of justice in the case has however been questioned by some outside bodies. Malcolm Smart, Director of the Middle East and North Africa for Amnesty International said: "Amnesty opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and we deplore the death penalty in this case. "It is because we consider that the trial was flawed in serious ways that it is more concerning that the death penalty should be imposed." He listed his group's concerns about the trials. "The independence and impartiality of the court was impugned. There was political interference. The first judge resigned, the second was barred for being a former member of the Baath party, the only political entity at the time, and the third judge had relatives who were killed in Halabje [where Kurds were gassed by Saddam Hussein's forces]. "The security of the court was also impossible to keep. Three defence lawyers were murdered. Saddam himself had no access to legal advice for a year. There were also problems with the defence's ability to function."

International legal pattern
The trial takes its place on the growing list of tribunals that are slowly but surely establishing a new body of international law that can be used against repressive rulers. And looked at from this perspective, the trial perhaps assumes an international legal importance greater than its impact in Iraq itself. One of the principles of the legal trend is that justice if possible should remain within the country affected. However, this is not going to be possible in all cases. It was not possible in the former Yugoslavia or in Rwanda and this is why special courts were set up. But in any event, pinning responsibility on someone is the key element.

Role of ICC
Now the International Criminal Court has been established. The ICC was agreed in a treaty in 1998 signed by 100 countries (not including the United States). It is seeking to exert its authority in three cases. These involve the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Sudan. The first case is that of Thomas Lubanga, leader of a militia known as the Union of Congolese Patriots. He was the first person to be arrested under an ICC warrant and faces charges in the first instance of using child soldiers. His would be the first ICC trial. In the second case, the main defendant Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, is still at large. He is accused of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and enslavement. The third case is at an earlier stage. It involves, following a referral from the UN Security Council, an investigation of Sudanese government officials and generals in Darfur. If the ICC can make a success of these cases, it will be on its way to showing that it will count. It already claims to be influential, with, for example, the Colombian army now having to take ICC concerns into account when planning operations against guerrillas. There is therefore much more of a legal thicket surrounding major crimes involving governments these days. The Saddam trial is part of that, whatever its successes or failures. Update: I have had an e-mail asking about the ICC and the invasion of Iraq. The court reported in February this year that it had received 240 complaints about the invasion and its conduct. Many related to the British involvement since Britain is a party to the court treaty. The US is not, so US citizens can only be prosecuted if the crime takes place on the territory of a treaty member or if the issue is referred to the ICC by the Security Council. The Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo replied that the crime of "aggression" had not yet been defined. He said the court had a mandate to examine conduct but "not whether the decision to engage in armed conflict was legal". As for the conduct of the war, he said that evidence presented about the number of wilful killings did not meet the "gravity threshold".
By Paul Reynolds, World affairs correspondent

Saddam: Showman without a script BBC News
From the moment, a year ago, when Saddam Hussein's chains were taken off and he sat down in the dock for the first time, he has dominated the court.At first he was still regarded with contempt by many of his natural supporters in Iraq and elsewhere. This was the man who had urged them to shed their life's blood in his defence, and had then meekly surrendered to the Americans. Slowly, though, his self-possession grew. He looked good in the dock, in clothes that were made especially for him by his old tailor, and he learned how to make his points successfully and well, with an economy of effort.

Weak prosecution
He was helped by the fact that in both his first trial, for the killings of Shia Muslims at Dujail, and in the second one, for the Anfal campaign against the Kurds, the prosecution seemed weak and ill at ease.The evidence was often poorly assembled, and the arguments ineffectual. Both the defence and prosecution lawyers had grown up in a legal system which the former Iraqi president himself had controlled. Under him, justice was often the last consideration. Whether from religious conviction or calculation, Saddam Hussein took to bringing a finely-bound copy of the Koran into court, and would occasionally quote from it.He would sometimes shout out verses from it in order to rebuke his judges or accusers. Other tactics were less effective. He announced more than once that he was going on hunger strike, but we would rarely hear any more about it. In the early stages of the Dujail trial, he refused to acknowledge the right of the court to judge him, then meekly pleaded "not guilty" when the question was put to him. It was only later, as his self-confidence grew, that he would shout out that he was the rightful president of Iraq, that the judges and prosecution should treat him with greater respect, that the invasion which overthrew him had been illegal under international law.

Sniggers
Yet he never seemed to have a coherent defence strategy. If he had persisted in attacking the questionable legal basis of the US-led invasion he would probably have had much more impact. But there has always been a rambling, inconsequential element to his speeches, as though the experience of being overthrown had somehow affected his intellect. In the middle of the Dujail trial, he made a dignified speech about the way his captors were treating him, only to lapse into bathos as his complaints became more and more trivial. It would no doubt have been more humane if the Americans had allowed him to lock his lavatory door, but it just raised sniggers in court when he complained about it. His two trials have fallen well short of the standard they should have aimed at. But Saddam Hussein himself has never managed the kind of aloof dignity that might have won over the people in Iraq whom he once terrorised.
By John Simpson, World affairs editor

Excerpts: Saddam's courtroom clashes BBC News
Saddam Hussein frequently clashed with presiding judges during the Dujail trial. Some of the sharpest exchanges occurred with Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman, who replaced Judge Rizgar Amin in January 2006. Excerpts follow.

SADDAM AND JUDGE RAHMAN: 5 November 2006

[Chief Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman orders Saddam Hussein to stand to hear the verdict. Two bailiffs force the former Iraqi leader to stand, one twisting his arm.]

Chief Judge: The court has decided to sentence defendant Saddam Hussein al-Majid to death by hanging until he is dead...

Saddam Hussein, shouting over the judge: Long live the people. Long live the nation. Down with the traitors...

Chief Judge, hammering his gavel and raising his voice: ...crimes against humanity, and found guilty in accordance with articles... Iraq's High Tribunal...

Saddam Hussein, shouting over the judge's words: Down with the invaders. God is great. God is Great. God is great... To hell with your articles and clauses...

SADDAM AND JUDGE RAHMAN: 22 MAY 2006

Saddam Hussein, objecting to the expulsion of one of his lawyers: I'm Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq. I am above you and above your father.

Judge, angrily: You are a defendant now, not a president.

SADDAM AND JUDGE RAHMAN: 1 MARCH 2006

Judge, shutting off Saddam's microphone as he makes political speech: Respect yourself!

Saddam Hussein, shouting: You respect yourself!

Judge: You are a defendant in a major criminal case, concerning the killing of innocents. You have to respond to this charge.

Saddam Hussein: What about those who are dying in Baghdad? Are they not innocents? I am talking to the Iraqi people.

SADDAM AND JUDGE RAHMAN: 14 FEB 2006

Saddam Hussein, shouting as he enters court: Long live the mujahideen!.. I say to all Iraqis: Fight and liberate your country!... [later addressing the judge] Hit your own head with that gavel.

SADDAM AND JUDGE RAHMAN: 13 FEB 2006

Saddam Hussein, entering court: Down with Bush. Long live the nation... [addressing judge] Why have you brought us here by force? Your authority gives you the right to try a defendant in absentia. Are you trying to overcome your own smallness?

Judge: The law will be implemented.

Saddam Hussein, shouting: Degradation and shame upon you, Raouf.

SADDAM AND NEW PRESIDING JUDGE RAHMAN: 29 JAN 2006

Saddam Hussein, after being ordered to leave the court for speaking out of turn: I led you for 35 years and you order me out of the court?

Judge: I am the judge, you are the defendant. You have to obey me.

SADDAM AND JUDGE AMIN: TRIAL OPENS 19 OCT 2005

Judge Mr Saddam, we want your identity. Full name, please...

Saddam Hussein: First of all, who are you? What are you? I want to know who you are. Are you judges?.. I have been here in this building... from eight in the morning.

Judge: Please sit down, Mr Saddam. Later. We'll get down the identities of the others, and later we'll start with you.

Saddam Hussein: And from nine AM I've been dressed.

Judge: Well, now so you can sit down and relax, give your identity and make yourself comfortable.

Saddam Hussein: You know me... I do not tire.

Judge: These are official matters, we have to hear from you your identity. These are formalities, so please.

Saddam Hussein: I don't have anything against any of you. But adhering to the truth and respecting the will of the great Iraqi people in choosing me, I say: I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect to its people, and I retain my constitutional right as the president of Iraq.

Judge:These matters can be put off until later. This is not the place.

Saddam Hussein: Neither do I recognise the body that has designated and authorised you, nor the aggression. All that is built on a false basis is false.
[Saddam Hussein finally sits down and the judge reads out his name, calling him the "former president of Iraq"]

Saddam Hussein: I said I'm the president of Iraq... I did not say "deposed"...

Bid to overhaul Europe power grid BBC News
Italy's prime minister has said Europe needs a central power authority to prevent the kind of blackouts that left swathes of West Europe without energy. An overload in Germany's power network triggered outages leaving millions without electricity on Saturday night. Romano Prodi said there was a "contradiction" in having a unified power network but no central authority. Power failed first in Cologne, Germany, before shutting down across parts of France, Italy, Spain and Austria. Belgium, the Netherlands and Croatia were also affected. "My first impression is that there is a contradiction between having European networks but not having a central European authority. It is somewhat absurd," Mr Prodi said.

Transmission failure
German utility provider E.ON said early investigations suggested the supply failures were caused by overloads in the power network in northwest of the country, according to Reuters. The power outages were quickly restored in most cases but in some of the worst incidences:

• In Paris, firefighters responded to nearly 40 calls from people stuck in lifts as the city lost power
• Scores of trains were delayed in Germany's industrial Ruhr region for up to two hours
• The Italian regions of Piedmont, Liguria and Puglia lost energy overnight between 2100 and 2200 GMT
• In Spain, power was lost in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza and parts of the Andalucia region.

European blackout risk
E.ON said the power failures may have been linked to a line across a river being switched off to allow a ship to pass through safely, Reuters reported. France was one of the worst affected, with five million losing power mainly in the east of the country and the capital, Paris, and its suburbs. "We weren't very far from a European blackout," a senior director with French power company RTE said. Most electricity supplies were restored within two hours of the outage, and so far no injuries or accidents have been reported. The worst recent power blackout struck Italy in 2003, plunging the country into darkness for 18 hours between 28 and 29 September.

US pastor admits sex 'immorality' BBC News
Disgraced former US evangelist leader Reverend Ted Haggard has confessed to his followers that he was guilty of "sexual immorality"."I am a deceiver and a liar," Mr Haggard said in a letter - a day after his New Life Church fired him for what it called "sexually immoral conduct". A vocal opponent of gay marriage, he earlier admitted buying drugs and having a massage from a gay masseur. But he denied using the methamphetamine or having sex with the man. "I am so sorry for the circumstances that have caused shame and embarrassment for all of you," Mr Haggard said in the letter that was read out to New Life Church followers in Colorado Springs. "There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark and I've been warring against it my entire adult life," the letter said.

'Pastor Ted'
The row erupted last week, after Mike Jones told a Colorado radio station that he had been paid to have sex with Mr Haggard nearly every month over the past three years.Mr Haggard denied the claims but said he did receive a massage after being referred to Mr Jones by a Denver hotel. Mr Haggard, 50, who on Thursday stepped down as the head of the 30m-strong National Association of Evangelicals, also admitted that he bought methamphetamine but "never used it". The issue is being played out against the backdrop of a vote in Colorado and seven other US states on Tuesday on whether to ban same-sex marriages. Mr Haggard, who is also known as "Pastor Ted" and has five children, has close contacts with the White House.

Deaths mount in Gazan offensive BBC News
Three Palestinians have been killed in Gaza on the fifth day of Israel's offensive in the territory. Palestinian officials said the deaths came in separate incidents - bringing the toll since Wednesday to nearly 50. Earlier, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert declined to say when the operation would end, but insisted Israel had no intention of reoccupying the Strip. Israel says it is targeting militants but Palestinian officials accuse Israel of a "massacre". Israeli forces have made regular incursions into Gaza and the West Bank following the capture of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid by Palestinian militants on 25 June.

'Necessary steps'
Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians, including two gunmen, on the fifth day of an operation which has killed nearly 50 people. Many are said to be militants. On Saturday at least seven people, including a 12-year-old girl, died in air raids and clashes. Israeli officials say the offensive in northern Gaza is aimed at destroying militant infrastructure and stopping Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. "We will take the steps necessary to significantly decrease this fire and to halt the terror activities," Mr Olmert said. Despite the crackdown, a rocket hit the Israeli border town of Sderot, but no-one was hurt. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has called the operation a "massacre" and urged the UN Security Council to convene to discuss the issue. At least 17 people died on Friday, including two women shot during the siege of a mosque in Beit Hanoun. A PA employee told the BBC it was the worst Israeli incursion they had ever had into the town. Ibrahim al-Za'anin, 55, said they had been without electricity or water since Tuesday night, and no longer felt safe in their own homes. A senior UN official given Israeli permission to enter described the atmosphere as one of death, destruction and despair.

Nicaragua poll points to Ortega BBC News
Early election results in Nicaragua suggest former Marxist revolutionary Daniel Ortega could return to power as president after 16 years.Results from just over 7% of polling stations show Mr Ortega with 40.8% of the vote - enough to avoid a second round of voting if that support holds. The main Conservative candidate Eduardo Montealegre is trailing with 32%. Mr Ortega says he has changed from the leader who seized property from the wealthy during a 1979 revolution. The poll is being watched by the US, which is concerned that its former Cold War enemy could be returned to power. Chief Nicaraguan election official Roberto Rivas struck out at a US embassy statement suggesting "anomalies in the electoral process". "We have promised the Nicaraguan people transparent elections, and that's what we've done," he said. Mr Ortega's opponents say he would take the nation back to the days of the civil war with the Contra rebels.

'Savage capitalism'
Turnout was reported to be high with some people having to join long queues to vote but election observers reported no major problems. Mr Ortega, who is making his fourth attempt to become elected president, will be hoping to secure 35% of the vote and a five-point lead over his nearest challenger to avoid a run-off. There are five candidates in all. Mr Ortega has seen 16 years of conservative governments and says he wants an end to "savage capitalism". But he says his revolutionary days are behind him - and his main priority is to secure foreign investment to help to ease widespread poverty. Mr Ortega has been endorsed by left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He was also hoping for support from the 80% of Nicaraguans who live on $2 a day or less. "He is the only one who looks out for the poor. All the others are just for the rich," said William Medina at a Managua polling station. As a Marxist revolutionary in the 1980s, Mr Ortega led the country through a decade of civil war in which his Sandinista forces fought rebels known as the Contras, who were financed by the US. About 50,000 people died in the conflict. The election was overseen by 17,000 observers, among them ex-President Jimmy Carter of the US. The incumbent, President Enrique Bolanos, has served the single five-year term allowed by the constitution.

Rioting by India police hopefuls BBC News
Hundreds of people who were applying to join the police force in India have gone on the rampage through the northern city of Ghaziabad.They began rioting on Sunday evening because many thought a written test given them was too hard, officials say. It took Indian security forces over an hour to bring the riots under control. The unrest comes as the government is trying to reform the police services. Complaints of police corruption and heavy-handedness are commonplace. The BBC's Damien Grammaticus in Delhi says most Indians have little faith in their police, viewing them as lazy, corrupt and inefficient. The riots will do little to change that perception, our correspondent says.

Women assaulted
About 20,000 hopefuls had turned up to take a written test assessing their suitability to be constables in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh police.The state's home secretary, RM Srivastava, told the BBC that the candidates were upset because they found the question paper too difficult. As they left the police headquarters in Ghaziabad, several hundred angry applicants began stopping cars and buses on the highway, breaking windows and demanding lifts. Passengers were forced from their vehicles, including several women who were hauled out and sexually assaulted. The mob of would-be police officers then ran out of control along a 5km (three-mile) section of the main highway to Delhi, smashing fences, looting food from kiosks and beating up shopkeepers. Security forces baton-charged the rioters to restore order. Almost 30 people were arrested. Uttar Pradesh Police say they have now obtained still photographs and film of the riots and are busy identifying those responsible so their applications to join the police can be rejected.

US parties poised for poll battle BBC News
The Republican and Democratic parties are gearing up for a final day of campaigning before the US votes in key mid-term elections on Tuesday.Both parties have welcomed the death sentence handed down to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Sunday. President George W Bush thanked US troops for making the trial possible. His Democratic Party opponents, whose lead has narrowed in the latest opinion polls, are set to continue attacking him over Iraq, our correspondent says. Monday will see the publication of an editorial in a military journal, the Army Times, calling for the dismissal of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A senior Democratic congresswoman, Nancy Pelosi, said the scope of the administration's failure in Iraq was not lessened by the Saddam trial. The Democrats are hoping to take control of at least one of the two Houses of Congress. But according to the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington, the final opinion polls before voting suggest that the Republicans are not beaten and may have gained ground in recent days.

'Courage and skill'
President Bush spent Sunday campaigning in districts of conservative states where Republican control appeared under threat.He told a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, that the death sentence awarded to Saddam Hussein marked a "landmark event". He urged his audience to thank "the men and women of America's armed forces". "Without their courage and skill, today's verdict never would have happened," he said. The Republicans have regularly accused the Democrats of cowardice over Iraq, saying the party was not prepared to take the risks necessary to make the US secure.

'Mount Everests'
Turn-out on Tuesday is not expected to be above 40% and both parties have spent the past few days trying to ensure their supporters are motivated to vote. Ms Pelosi told a crowd in the north-eastern state of Connecticut that the Democrats are "poised for success", but she warned against complacency. "We have two Mount Everests we have to climb - they are called Monday and Tuesday," she said. A third of the Senate, the whole House of Representatives and 36 governorships are up for election on 7 November. The Democrats need to pick up six seats to gain control of the Senate, and 15 House seats to have a majority there.

Man 'planned massive explosions' BBC News
A Muslim convert planned to detonate a dirty bomb and launch an attack on London's Tube, a court has heard.Former Hindu Dhiren Barot, 34, from London, planned "massive explosions" in a synchronised attack in the US and UK. Barot, who admitted conspiracy to murder last month, planned to pack limousines with gas cylinders and also use a radioactive "dirty" bomb. Lawyers for Barot have insisted that he had neither funding nor bomb-making materials at the time he was caught. Barot, from Kingsbury in north-west London, is to be sentenced on Tuesday. The would-be bomber planned attacks on various unspecified targets in Britain, prosecution QC Edmund Lawson said."There were plans for the detonation of a radiation dispersal device, more commonly known as a dirty bomb, the use of a petrol tanker to cause an explosion, and an attack on London's rail or Underground network, including the Heathrow Express, of an explosion on a Tube train while in a tunnel under the River Thames." The prosecution said Barot had written: "Imagine the chaos that would be caused if a powerful explosion were to rip through here [London] and actually rupture the river itself. "That would cause pandemonium, what with the explosions, flooding, drowning etc that would occur." Barot also planned to target the IMF and the World Bank in Washington DC. The New York Stock Exchange building and the Citigroup headquarters, as well as the Prudential building in Newark, New Jersey, were also among his targets. Barot admired the Madrid train bombings and wrote he was bent on creating "another black day for the enemies of Islam and a victory for the Muslims", Mr Lawson said.At the heart of Barot's plot was a scheme entitled "gas limos project", uncovered in a document signed by him and found in Pakistan, Mr Lawson said. Barot had planned to fill limousines with gas cylinders and detonate them in underground car parks near financial institutions. Mr Lawson said Barot had dubbed the Madrid attacks "the definitive accident" which "deserves to be emulated more than any other". The plotter had travelled to Pakistan to brief his "terrorist masters", the court heard. Barot's plans for bombings in the US were initiated before the 11 September attacks, then shelved, but worked on as late as February 2004, Mr Lawson maintained.

'Murderous plans'
These US plans were used in the planning of synchronised attacks in the UK, he added. "The gas limos project might be seen as the culmination of Barot's murderous plans. "There were various possible methods of attack raised for consideration, including part of what was to be considered for the UK. "They included parking limousines packed with explosives next to or underneath the target buildings, arson, by means of hijacked petrol tankers, or igniting gas cylinders and even possibly the use of an aeroplane." The court heard how Barot had used false identities, and at least one false passport, and had only been caught because of a "meticulous and impressive" police operation with input from British, American and Pakistani intelligence.

German firm admits blackout fault BBC News
German electricity company E.ON has confirmed it was to blame for the blackout that left swathes of western Europe without power at the weekend.E.ON said its grid had overloaded after it switched off an electricity line over the river Ems to allow a cruise ship to safely pass through. The knock-on power cut left millions without electricity across Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Despite politicians' anger, E.ON said Europe's power grid was in good shape.

'Knock-on effect'
"I am grateful that the situation was not worse than it turned out because E.ON caused it," said E.ON board member Klaus-Dieter Maubach."The trigger of the breakdown in supply was that we had to take a line out of operation and that the knock-on effect from that loss spread to other lines which later cut out." Mr Maubach added that European grid operators enjoyed good co-operation, meaning Saturday night's power cuts only lasted for about an hour. Yet politicians from the affected countries have called for the electricity companies to invest more in their networks. "We have known for a while that there are bottlenecks on the power grids and that the utilities have not ensured that the grids are being expanded," said German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel. Italy's prime minister has called for Europe to have a central power authority. Romano Prodi said there was a "contradiction" in having a unified power network but no central authority.

Past examples
Saturday's power cut started in the German city of Cologne before quickly spreading. Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Croatia were also affected, with the cuts even reaching as far as Morocco. The worst recent power blackout struck Italy in 2003, plunging the country into darkness for 18 hours between 28 and 29 September. The previous month, a similar power cut had struck the north-eastern US and Canada.

Corruption index hits Iraq and Washington International Herald Tribune
Iraq has emerged at the bottom of a survey that measures corruption around the globe. The Corruption Perceptions Index, conducted by Transparency International in Berlin and released Monday, also showed that the United States, the occupying power in Iraq, slipped three notches to 20th place in the survey of 163 countries. Iraq dropped 23 places to 160th and now ranks alongside Guinea and Myanmar. Haiti earned the lowest score, 1.8 on a scale of 1 to 10, making it the nation where bribery, kickbacks and embezzlement are regarded as most widespread. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand were all in first place with scores of 9.6, making them the nations regarded as the world's cleanest. The index measures perceptions of corruption by public officials and politicians for private gain. The data for 2006 were amassed from 12 surveys of business people and country experts over the past two years. That was a change from the methodology used by Transparency International in 2005, when the survey ranked 159 countries based on data gathered over three years. Since the survey began in 1995, Northern European countries regularly have ranked at the top of the list. Among the top-10 countries this year were Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands. Regularly appearing at the bottom of the list are poor African countries, which this year included Sudan, Congo and Chad. Huguette Labelle, chairwoman of Transparency International, said the data suggested a direct link between misdeeds by public officials and economic stagnation. She said misappropriated government money "feeds a vicious circle, where those with access to funds or bribes take what they can, because they can, locking the poor in poverty." But Transparency International also lambasted the role played by intermediaries from rich economies who help political elites to launder, store and profit from unjustly acquired wealth, such as looted state assets. Kenya, which slipped two places to 142, was a prime example of a country beset by scandals linked to the theft of public funds, and where shell companies and bank accounts in European and off-shore jurisdictions greased the wheels of wrongdoing. The chief executive of Transparency International, David Nussbaum, warned that "firms and professional associations of lawyers, accountants and bankers have a special responsibility to take stronger action against corruption." The survey said that bribery in Kenya costs citizens about $1 billion each year. The results were not just a disappointment for the world's poorest countries, all of which scored below 5 with the exception of two African nations, Botswana and Mauritius. The survey identified a number of developed and middle- income countries with a significant worsening in perceived levels of corruption, including Brazil, Israel and Jordan. The results also were a blow for the United States, the world's biggest economy, at a time when its global leadership is suffering because of the unpopularity of the war in Iraq. The United States scored 7.3 - the same as Chile and Belgium - and ranked two notches behind France. In 2005, the United States scored 7.6 and ranked 17th, a notch above France. Analysts have said that the failure by the U.S. authorities to detect the wrongdoing at companies like WorldCom and Enron damaged perceptions among the world's business leaders. More recently, the Democrats have portrayed President George W. Bush's Republican Party as awash in a "culture of corruption" - tainted by scandals over congressional pages, links to Jack Abramoff, the convicted lobbyist, and claims of financial wrongdoing.
By James Kanter, International Herald Tribune. PARIS
Best and worst states ranked in Transparency corruption index Monsters and Critics.com
[Anti-Corruption Campaign] ‘Korean Society Becomes Cleaner’ Korea Times
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Day Left: GOP Making Push, But Democrats' Lead Still Significant abc7news.com
The latest ABC News/Wash Post poll has Democrats leading Republicans 53 to 43 percent among registered voters. That advantage is the largest in any midterm election since the Watergate years. Democrats head to Election Day with a continued advantage in voter preference, fueled by discontent with the war in Iraq and broad unhappiness with George W. Bush and the Republican-led Congress alike. The president's party may have gained back some ground: The Democrats' lead among likely voters in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll is perhaps a bit narrower than its recent level, unseen in congressional elections since post-Watergate 1974 and 1976. Still, discontent remains impressive. Just 40 percent of Americans approve of George W. Bush's job performance, the lowest for a president heading into a midterm election since Harry Truman in 1950, when his party lost 29 seats in Congress. Ronald Reagan's rating in 1982 was 42 percent, similar to Bush's now; that year the Republicans lost 26 seats. Among registered voters, 60 percent disapprove of the way the Republican-led Congress is handling its job, 59 percent say the country is headed in the wrong direction and 53 percent say the war in Iraq was not worth fighting. A majority hasn't backed the war in two years. Fifty-three percent of registered voters in this poll support Democratic candidates for Congress, while 43 percent support Republicans. Among likely voters it's 51-45 percent, less broad than the Democrats' double-digit advantage in the last ABC/Post poll, but still sufficient for change: Republicans won the national House vote by seven points in 1994, the year they gained 52 seats and took control of Congress. The Democrats' advantage is remarkable in what has been mostly a 50/50 nation. The national vote for House, in the last four elections has been, stated as Democrat-Republican, 47-49 percent, 45-50 percent, 47-47 percent, and 47-48 percent. Republican candidates are doing better in groups where some late improvement might be expected -- for example, among married men, previously undecided independents and people who say their financial situation has improved in the last year. They also get some help from a sense, expressed by nearly half of registered voters, that the Democrats have not offered clear policy alternatives. Married women, a changeable group that House Republicans won by nine points in 2004, split about evenly now. Democrats lead among independents, classic swing voters, by a still-hefty 56-38 percent; it was 59-31 percent among independents in the last ABC/Post poll Oct. 22. Very few registered or likely voters -- just two or three percent -- are undecided in this survey. Undecideds are a product of polling technique; other polls in the past few days have had them as high as eight percent of likely voters. The generic congressional horse race captures attitudes nationally, but doesn't predict how candidates will fare in individual state- and district-level races. The mood is not broadly anti-incumbent; 56 percent of registered voters approve of their own representative's job performance. Fewer, as low as 49 percent, approved of their own representative shortly before the 1994 election. While 59 percent say the country's on the wrong track, this too was worse -- 69 percent -- just before Congress changed hands in 1994. It was worse still in 1992, when economic discontent pushed Bush's father out of office. One continuing trend is in the level of anti-Bush voting this year: Registered voters by nearly a 2-1 margin, 31 to 17 percent, say they're casting their vote to show opposition to Bush rather than to show support for him. (The rest, 50 percent, say he isn't a factor.) 1998 is a stark contrast: Then, even in the height of the Lewinsky scandal, just nine percent said they were voting to show opposition to Bill Clinton. Anti-Bush sentiment extends to his party; registered voters are nine points more likely to say most Democrats deserve re-election than to say most Republicans do. Still, the number who say most Democrats deserve re-election has ebbed somewhat; campaign criticisms may have taken some toll.

War
The public's most prominent complaint is the war in Iraq: Asked, open-ended, why they say the country's going in the wrong direction, three in 10 registered voters cite the war, putting it far and away first. About half as many, 16 percent, raise economic concerns; 12 percent mention corruption or general distrust of politicians; 11 percent cite problems with Bush. Similarly, 31 percent call the war in Iraq the most important issue in their vote; 21 percent say it's the economy; 12 percent health care; and about as many, 11 percent, cite terrorism. That's different than 2002, when the economy and terrorism shared top billing, and 2004, when it was terrorism, Iraq and the economy bunched together. The change hurts the Republicans. Among people who call terrorism their No. 1 issue, Republican candidates lead by nearly 60 points, 77-19 percent. Among the many more who call Iraq their top issue, by contrast, Democratic candidates lead, 73-26 percent. Although it doesn't seem to hurt them among Iraq voters, Democrats have slipped a bit on another Iraq gauge: Registered voters break evenly on whom they trust more to handle the situation in Iraq, the Democrats or the Republicans, 42-42 percent. It was a 48-40 percent Democratic lead last month. That may stem from the lack of consensus on whether the Democrats are offering the country a clear direction that's different from the Republicans: Registered voters divide, 49-47 percent, on whether that's the case. It matters: Leaving aside partisans, among independent voters who see a clear Democratic direction, Democrats for House lead by 72-23 percent. By contrast, independents who don't see a new course from the Democrats divide, 44-50 percent, in their vote preference. Another question is whether the Democrats were hurt by a comment last week by Sen. John Kerry that some took as disrespectful to veterans. In this poll military veterans split 42-51 percent (Dem.-Rep.) for House; in an early October ABC/Post poll, it was essentially the same, 40-51 percent. If the Democrats don't show direct damage from the Kerry remark, neither do the Republicans show direct damage from recent scandals that have touched their party. In this poll registered voters divide by 48-44 percent on whether the Democrats or the Republicans better represent their personal values. That compares with 51-39 percent in an early October poll and 50-41 percent in a poll done a year ago. Evangelical white Protestants, a core Republican group sometimes identified with the term "values," favor Republicans for House by 64-31 percent margin. That compares with a 74-25 percent vote for Republicans among this group in the 2004 exit poll.

Economy
Despite recent positive economic trends, the Republicans show little if any improvement among economy voters; they break by 54-42 percent for Democratic candidates in this survey, compared with a similar 57-39 percent last week. The GOP does much better, with 70 percent support, among the roughly one-quarter of Americans who say they're getting ahead financially. That is perhaps up, albeit within sampling error, from 64 percent last month. It's not necessarily surprising that the economy isn't providing more of a boost to the president's party. Clearly a bad economy is political poison; but a good one, much less a great one, doesn't reliably accrue to the in-party's benefit. (Ask Al Gore.)

Get Out the Vote, But Will It Count?
Another factor on Tuesday is the parties' get-out-the-vote efforts: Four in 10 registered voters say they've been contacted recently on a candidate's behalf, up from three in 10 two weeks ago. And it could be that the Republicans' vaunted machine is a bit better turned: Among those who've been contacted, three in 10 say they've been asked only to vote for a Republican, two in 10 only for a Democrat. The rest have been approached by both sides. Registered voters, finally, do not express broad doubts about the vote count on Tuesday, but neither is their confidence supreme -- perhaps not surprising, given news coverage of potential problems with new electronic voting systems. Eighty-four percent are confident their own votes will be counted accurately, but just 49 percent are "very confident" of that. Among likely voters more, 56 percent, are very confident in the vote count. This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Nov. 1-4, 2006, among a random national sample of 1,205 adults, including 1,037 who identified themselves as registered voters. The results have a three-point error margin. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS of Horsham, Pa.
ABC News polls can be found at ABCNEWS.com at http://abcnews.com/pollvault.html.
Parties Crank Up Voter Turnout Efforts Washington Post
Democrats tipped to regain House in US elections Mail & Guardian Online
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US parties' final push for votes BBC News
Republicans and Democrats have sent thousands of volunteers to the most contested US states to canvass support ahead of Tuesday's mid-term elections.President George W Bush is rallying support in the southern states of Florida, Texas and Arkansas on Monday. Democrats, whose lead has narrowed in recent opinion polls, are focusing on Iraq, saying Republicans have blindly followed Bush's "failed policy". Democrats hope to win control of at least one of the Houses of Congress.The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says that although the mid-terms are essentially a series of local elections, the president's low approval ratings and the high number of recent US casualties in Iraq have made many races less predictable. But the Republicans have been campaigning hard and may have had a boost in recent days, he adds. Hundreds of thousands of voters have already cast their ballots, taking advantage of an early voting system. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia allow in-person voting before election day in certain cases - either at a voting machine or by absentee ballot. However, turnout on Tuesday is not expected to be above 40%, and both parties are spending the last day trying to ensure their supporters are motivated to vote.

'Courage and skill'
Iraq has dominated the campaign season. Both parties welcomed the death sentence handed down to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Sunday. However, US policy in Iraq has been heavily criticised in an editorial published in an influential military journal on Monday. The Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times said Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the architect of the Iraq campaign, had "lost credibility with the uniformed leadership". It urged President George W Bush to install a replacement at the Pentagon. Mr Bush is canvassing support in three southern states on Monday, a fifth successive day on the campaign trail in areas judged vulnerable by Republican pollsters. On Sunday he spoke in Nebraska, saying the verdict of execution against Saddam Hussein was a "landmark event". He urged his audience to thank "the men and women of America's armed forces" for their courage and skill, without which the "verdict would never have happened". The Republicans have regularly accused the Democrats of cowardice over Iraq, saying the party is not prepared to take the risks necessary to make the US secure. The Democrats say they want a "new direction" to Iraq. Correspondents say the Democratic party could push to investigate the Bush administration preparations for the Iraq war and there are also those within the party who want to impeach the president for allegedly misleading Congress about Iraq's weapons programmes. A third of the Senate, the whole House of Representatives and 36 governorships are up for election on 7 November. The Democrats need to pick up six seats to gain control of the Senate, and 15 House seats to have a majority there.

Plan to create human-cow embryos BBC News
UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs. Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence. The hybrid human-bovine embryos would be used for stem cell research and would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days. But critics say it is unethical and potentially dangerous. Stem cell research is one of the most promising areas of medical science. Stem cells are the body's master cells and five-day-old embryos are packed with them - each with the potential to turn into any tissue in the body. It is this ability which scientists want to harness to treat diseases such as Parkinson's Disease, strokes and Alzheimer's Disease. To do that, they need to have access to thousands of embryos for research.

Short supply
The problem is that human eggs for research are in short supply and to obtain them women have to undergo surgery. That is why scientists want to use cows' eggs as a substitute. They would insert human DNA into a cow's egg which has had its genetic material removed, and then create an embryo by the same technique that produced Dolly the Sheep. The resulting embryo would be 99.9% human; the only bovine element would be DNA outside the nucleus of the cell. It would, though, technically be a chimera - part-human, part-animal. The aim would be to extract stem cells from the embryo when it is six days old, before destroying it. The quality and the viability of stem cells would then be checked to see if the technique had worked. The scientists also plan to examine the way the cells are reprogrammed after fusion to see if there are useful processes they could replicate in the laboratory. Lead researcher Dr Lyle Armstrong said: "If we can learn from the egg cell how to make embryonic stem cells without having to use an animal egg at all then some day we may be able to cure diseases such as Parkinson's disease, or better still some of the age-related diseases which are creating such a burden on society." Dr Stephen Minger, from King's College London, said: "The current state of the technology is such that literally hundreds of human ooctyes (eggs) from young women will be required to generate a single human embryonic stem cell line. "Therefore we consider it more appropriate to use non-human oocytes from livestock as a surrogate. "We feel that the development of disease-specific human embryonic stem cell lines from individuals suffering from genetic forms of neurodegenerative disorders will stimulate both basic research and the development of new medicines to treat these horrific brain diseases."

'Undermining humanity'
Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, head of developmental genetics, National Institute for Medical Research, said: "This is a very rational step: to learn what you can using animal eggs, which are readily obtainable, before moving on to valuable human eggs when or if this becomes necessary." But some will argue the end does not justify the means. Calum MacKellar, from the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, said the research undermined the distinction between animals and humans. He said: "In the history of humankind, animals and human species have been separated. "In this kind of procedure, you are mixing at a very intimate level animal eggs and human chromosomes, and you may begin to undermine the whole distinction between humans and animals. "If that happens, it might also undermine human dignity and human rights."
By Fergus Walsh, Medical correspondent