July 2001

Russian forces rescue bus hostages
Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2001

Russian special forces have stormed a bus in southern Russia, rescuing up to 30 hostages who had been held up by masked gunmen.
About a dozen members of an elite anti-terrorist force burst onto the bus after a flurry of shots and explosions.

A spokesman for the Federal Security Service in the regional capital of Stavropol, Valery Kavtosenkov, was quoted by AP news agency as saying that commandos set off two concussion grenades.

A hijacker stuck his head out of a window to investigate the noise and a sniper shot him dead, Mr Kavtosenkov said. [More]

Eight Palestinians killed by Israeli Blast
Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2001

Eight Palestinians, including the two senior members of the Islamic militant group Hamas, have been killed by Israeli fire in the town of Nablus in the West Bank.

The two Hamas leaders killed in the attack on the organisation's regional headquarters have been identified as Jamal Mansour and Jamal Salim.

Witnesses said two children who had been playing outside the building at the time were also among the dead.

Sheik Ahmed Yassin, Hamas' spiritual leader warned that the Israeli people would "pay the price" for the deaths, adding that Palestinian blood was not cheap. [More]

Earliest Americans Seen as More Diverse
Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2001

(Washington Post) Ancient peoples only loosely related to modern Asians crossed the Arctic land bridge to settle America about 15,000 years ago, according to a study offering new evidence that the Western Hemisphere hosted a more genetically diverse population at a much earlier time than previously thought.

The early immigrants most closely resembled the prehistoric Jomon people of Japan and their closest modern descendants, the Ainu, from the Japanese island of Hokkaido, the study said. Both the Jomon and Ainu have skull and facial characteristics more genetically similar to those of Europeans than to mainland Asians.

The immigrants settled throughout the hemisphere, and were in place when a second migration -- from mainland Asia -- came across the Bering Strait beginning 5,000 years ago and swept southward as far as modern-day Arizona and New Mexico, the study said. The second migration is the genetic origin of today's Eskimos, Aleuts and the Navajo of the U.S. southwest.

The study in today's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences adds new evidence to help settle one of anthropology's most contentious debates: Who were the first Americans? And when did they come?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7235-2001Jul30.html

Free speech lobby fails to impress Egyptian mainstream
Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2001

CAIRO (Reuters) - Many Egyptians remain surprisingly indifferent to local curbs on freedom of speech. Few were stirred by the recent legal attempt to forcibly divorce the outspoken feminist writer Nawal Al Saadawi from her husband on the grounds that she allegedly made declarations contradicting her Muslim faith and therefore became an "apostate from Islam," or someone who renounced the religion.
Some argue that the government is bowing largely to public pressure in its periodic clampdowns on free speech

Western outrage and concern voiced by Egyptian human rights activists over the banning of books and the jailing of sociologist Saadeddin Ibrahim for defaming Egypt have sparked little or no local reaction.

There have been no wider protests or campaigns for free debate on sex, politics and religion in the national press. [More]

Farrakhan UK ban overturned
Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2001

(BBC) Controversial US black political leader Louis Farrakhan has won his High Court battle for the right to visit the UK.
The Nation of Islam leader has been excluded from Britain since 1986.

Mr Justice Turner, sitting in the High Court in London, ruled on Thursday that the ban must be quashed.

Mr Farrakhan, 67, will not be able to come to the UK until after the judge outlines his reasons for his decision on 1 October.

The government is deciding whether to appeal against the ruling which overturns a ban imposed by successive home secretaries. [More]

Strike on Iraq would be suicidal for US interests
Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2001

The Pentagon is drawing up plans for a major strike against Iraq's air defense system, but US officials are concerned such a strike could end up hurting Washington

DUBAI (AFP)- US military action against Iraq would be suicidal for Washington’s interests in the Arab world in the current political climate, an Emirati government daily warned Tuesday.
"A military strike against Iraq will be suicidal for the United States and its interests in the region, with Arab resentment running high against its support for terrorism, racism and the Nazism of Zionism," Al-Bayan said.

"It is surprising that the United States threatens to attack Iraq's air defenses under the pretext that they are posing a danger to their planes," the newspaper said.

"One has to ask what these planes are doing in Iraq's air space... which they are violating without justification," said Al-Bayan.

It called on the US administration "to show proof of wisdom, to break with the threats and aggression against the Arab peoples and stop its blind support for the government of the terrorist" Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. [More]

Mugabe's party wins key Zimbabwe poll
Posted: Monday, July 30, 2001

(BBC) The Zimbabwe ruling Zanu-PF party, led by President Robert Mugabe, has won a by-election which is seen a key test of political opinion in the country.

Elliot Manyika of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) won the election with 15,864 ballots, beating Elliot Pfebve of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who won 9,456 votes.

Sunday's election in the northeastern rural constituency of Bindura, 56km (35 miles) north of the capital, Harare, was to replace Border Gezi, a late close aide to President Mugabe and a former minister.

The BBC's southern Africa correspondent, Rageh Omaar, says the result is a huge boost to the Zanu-PF, which will interpret the victory as a vindication of its policy of forcible redistribution of white farmers' land. [More]

U.S. Policy In The Middle East Abuts On Absurd
Posted: Monday, July 30, 2001

Amman - The "WARNING" issued by the US House of Representatives to the Palestinian National Authority to abide by the so-called ceasefire agreement brokered by the head of the Central Intelligence Agency is absurd.

Indeed, the move follows the US Congress' pattern of approach to the Middle East conflict, but one wonders how far injustice can go before truth and reason prevail in the US policy in the region.

The latest Congress "warning," coupled with the threat that American aid to the PNA will be withheld if it fails "to honour" the ceasefire, is adding insult to injury since it is clear that the conventional approach to truce between two feuding parties cannot be applied to the situation in Palestine.

The American people, from whom come the elected representatives in Congress, have never known foreign occupation. They have not been exposed to the suffering of war as we in the Arab world, particularly in Palestine, have witnessed. They do not seem capable of understanding that what is termed as a "benign" occupation of other people's territory and domination of their life is just not possible. They are simply unable to understand that the Palestinians are fighting for their legitimate rights, which are denied by Israel, and are facing the military might of one of the strongest powers which has at its disposal hi-tech equipment and weapons to subdue them by sheer brutality.

Even if some US legislators do understand what is going on in the region, they seem unable to comprehend or appreciate that it is the Israeli arrogance and intransigence that are keeping the situation at boiling point. But lack of understanding or inability to comprehend the realities on the ground cannot and will not serve as a justification for the lopsided approach the US has been and is following, adding to the growing despair among the Palestinians. [More]

Canada announces medical marijuana regulations
Posted: Monday, July 30, 2001

OTTAWA: Health Minister Allan Rock today announced that the Government of Canada's regulations governing possession and production of marijuana for medical purposes have been approved and will come into effect on July 30, 2001. Minister Rock also announced research funding and provided a progress report on efforts to establish a domestic supply of marijuana for medical purposes.

"Today's announcement is a landmark in our ongoing effort to give Canadians suffering from grave and debilitating illnesses access to marijuana for medical purposes," said Minister Rock. "This compassionate measure will improve the quality of life of sick Canadians, particularly those who are terminally ill."

The approved regulations, which reflect extensive consultation with stakeholders, contain two main components authorizations to possess marijuana and licences to produce marijuana. They are designed to address issues relating to transparency of the approved process and the need for a clearer definition of medical necessity. These issues stemmed from the decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in the case of Regina v. Parker, rendered on July 31, 2000. [More]

Israeli helicopters attack Gaza police
Posted: Monday, July 30, 2001

Violence in the Middle East escalates as Israeli helicopter gunships target a Palestinian police HQ in Gaza City. [More]

An explosion killed six Palestinian activists

An explosion killed six Palestinian activists in the West Bank. Palestinian security sources say an Israeli tank fired at the building in the village of Fara, deliberately targeting the men.

Palestinian militants have vowed a "rapid and painful" response to the blast which they say was an Israeli assassination.

Palestinian officials say the men belonged to the Aqsa Brigade, an armed faction of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and were on Israel's most-wanted list.

Last week, the group said it was responsible for killing an Israeli teenager near the Palestinian-controlled West Bank town of Ramallah.

Palestinian officials say Israeli forces have killed more than 40 Palestinian activists since the start of the current uprising last year.

Battle for racism conference
Posted: Monday, July 30, 2001

(BBC) The success of September's United Nations conference on racism is in the balance in Geneva as delegates from across the world sit down in a final attempt to thrash out their differences.
They have been given a special preparatory session to agree an agenda for the Durban meeting after their previous efforts ended in deadlock over slavery and Zionism.

Delegates will spend 10 days in Geneva but they share little common ground.

And a threatened boycott by the United States over possible attempts to equate Zionism with racism risked undermining the conference.

"If they don't come, people will read into it that they don't see the issues as important," said Sipho Pityana, director-general of South Africa's foreign affairs department.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson, meanwhile, urged humility and said the emphasis should be on the future rather than the past.

"Civil society will be taking the opportunity in Durban to remind every country that it has problems." [More]

US boycott signals indifference on racism
Posted: Monday, July 30, 2001

(Johannesburg) The United States risked appearing indifferent about racism if it were to boycott the upcoming United Nations conference on the subject, South Africa's director general of foreign affairs said on Sunday.

"If they don't come, people will read into it that they don't see the issues as important. It will send a signal to their own constituencies and the rest of the world," Sipho Pityana told the SAPA news agency.
Washington last week threatened to boycott the World Conference Against Racism if its agenda included talk of reparations for slavery and colonialism or a measure equating Zionism with racism.

Pityana said though South Africa was hosting the conference it was not its job to persuade countries to take part.
"It's not for us as South Africa to persuade anyone to come. We are providing a venue and hosting the conference." Pityana was speaking from Geneva where final negotiations on a draft declaration and programme of action to be adopted at the end of the conference will be held this week.
He said South Africa is trying to fulfill a UN resolution that the conference focus on "noticeable incidents of racism in the world."
"In doing that we would like to have everybody involved in that process," he added.

"There are problems of racism in the United States, in Europe, in South Africa and other parts of the world. What level of delegation and what decisions different countries take will project the way they view the issues around the congress.

Washington has skipped the two previous UN conferences against racism, in 1978 and 1983, because of the Zionism clause. Britain, France and Germany have also objected to slavery being addressed at this year's conference.
Whether the two issues remain on the agenda will depend on the outcome of the talks in Geneva.

Pityana said the South African delegation would spend "quite a lot of our time engaging key delegations" including those from United States, the European Union and Asia, which was responsible for putting Zionism on the agenda.

"We have a sense of where we are likely to find each other and where we are not," he added.
The conference is to be held in Durban on South Africa's east coast from August 31 to September 7. Delegations from 194 countries are expected to attend. - AFP http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/news.html

Gulf War vaccine row
Posted: Monday, July 30, 2001

(BBC) A scientist claims she has found stronger evidence that a alleged ingredient of vaccines given to Gulf War troops may have made them ill.
However, a UK defence minister has insisted that the ingredient, squalene, was never given to British personnel in vaccinations.

Research says veterans of the 1991 conflict appear more likely to suffer a variety of severe and long-lasting illnesses than soldiers who served elsewhere.

Many believe that the different combinations of symptoms, such as severe headaches, short-term memory loss, extreme fatigue and aching joints, are manifestations of one illness - "Gulf War syndrome".

However, despite theories about the origin of these symptoms, no single cause has ever been established.

And some doctors hotly dispute the idea that these different illnesses could be related to a single cause. [More]

Jordan's King Abdullah Goes Undercover
Posted: Monday, July 30, 2001

(Middle East Newswire) Keeping true to following in his father's foot steps, king Abdullah of Jordan went undercover as a commoner wearing a shabby white beard and a well worn traditional robe and headdress, visiting Amman's income tax department, as part of his attempts to check up on the country's bureaucracy, corruption and to explore what life is like as an ordinary Jordanian citizen.

In this latest attempt during his visit, he showed up at the tax office accompanied by his half brother Prince Ali, who submitted a form for a tax return.

King Abdullah at the age of 39 is one of the young leaders in the Middle East who have inherited power from their fathers, a trend that has many young people in the MENA region excited, hoping that fresh leadership will translate into modernization and positive change in the daily life of an ordinary citizen.

"When the King mingles with his people, we feel like he's a lot closer to us and we feel like he can listen and address issues of concern to us," said a Jordanian women. [More]

Child prostitution crisis in United Kingdom
Posted: Sunday, July 29, 2001

(BBC) An investigation for 5Live has found that child prostitution is in danger of spiralling out of control.

According to both the police and child care agencies, hundreds of children around Britain are being lured into the world of paid-sex.

They admit they are unable to keep track of the number of children involved, but both warn that sophisticated networks involving children of both sexes are being set up by ruthless criminals.

In Rotherham alone for example, 80 girls are said to be working as prostitutes.

And experts say prostitution is rife in every major town and city.

Mark Leigh of Barnardo's runs a project working with rent boys at London Bridge.

He said: "I think that the sexual exploitation of children is actually spiralling out of control as we speak.

"Of course child sex exploitation goes on in the developing world.

"It goes on in Bangkok but it's also happening in Birmingham and Bristol and Brixton.

Israeli Police Enter Jerusalem Mosque
Posted: Sunday, July 29, 2001

Seven Palestinians and six Israeli police were injured, according to police and Israel's army radio.

Hundreds of police entered the compound to pursue the Muslim stonethrowers, while Jews praying at the Western Wall down below fled the barrage of rocks, with some holding plastic chairs above their heads for protection, Israel radio said.

Hundreds of Israeli police stormed the Aqsa mosque compound after Palestinians threw stones down at Jewish worshippers by the Western - or Wailing - Wall.

A large Palestinian crowd had gathered earlier to stop a messianic Jewish group from placing a symbolic cornerstone on the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif - a complex holy to Jews and Muslims.

In the event, Israeli security forces prevented the group from getting anywhere near the site. Several women were injured after the stone-throwing began. More from BBC
More from Guardian UK

Links to Ancient Man in DNA Find?
Posted: Sunday, July 29, 2001

(All Africa) If the find at a local World Heritage Site is authenticated, it could be the oldest such sample yet extracted. Two researchers claim that they have extracted the DNA of a 1,8-million-year-old hominid from microscopic traces of blood found on stone tools excavated at the Sterkfontein Caves.
It is a discovery, scientists say, that could revolutionise the study of ancient DNA and the origins of mankind.

"The DNA we have found is something between a chimpanzee and a human, which suggests a hominid," explains Wits University micro archaeologist Bonnie Williamson.

Williamson and Professor Tom Loy of the University of Queensland believe that this DNA sequence is that of either our direct ancestor Homo habilis or Paranthropus robustus. If their findings are verified it would be the oldest DNA yet extracted.

The oldest DNA so far sequenced and independently verified is from a 50 000-year-old woolly mammoth.

"We strongly suspect that the DNA that we have is that of a hominid, but we still want to conduct more research to verify our claim," says Loy, who plans to publish the findings in a leading scientific journal soon. [More]

Peru's first president of native Indian origin
Posted: Saturday, July 28, 2001

(BBC) Peru's first president of native Indian origin, Alejandro Toledo, has taken the oath of office at a ceremony in Congress in Lima.

Mr Toledo, who started his working life as a shoeshine boy and later became a World Bank consultant, took an oath on "God, the nation and the poor of Peru".

"I have the firm determination to dedicate every minute of my life and of my government to initiating a head-on war on poverty. This is my pledge," he said.

"People want this government to deliver its promise of more work," he said, pointing to the presidential sash he inherited from acting President Valentin Paniagua.

In the hours before the ceremony, he made a point of serving breakfast to children in a Lima shantytown. [More]

Racism and the administration of justice
Posted: Saturday, July 28, 2001

(Amnesty International) In 1994 up to a million men, women and children were slaughtered in Rwanda in just 100 days. The genocide showed how quickly racism - in this case in the form of ethnic hatred - can erupt into bloodshed and despair, particularly when it is fuelled by those in power or those seeking power.

Racism, to varying degrees and in various forms, infects virtually every country of the world. The law and its administration, which should uphold the values of justice and equality, is one of the primary forces in opposing the effects of racism. Yet justice systems all too often fail in this purpose and instead mirror the prejudices of the society they serve.
This report illustrates how racial discrimination in the administration of justice systematically denies certain people their human rights because of their colour, race, ethnicity, descent (including caste) or national origin. Based on research conducted by Amnesty International in recent years, it shows that members of ethnic minorities often suffer torture, ill-treatment and harassment at the hands of the police. In many parts of the world they face unfair trials and discriminatory sentencing which puts them at increased risk of harsh punishments, including the death penalty.

Action to combat racism is needed urgently. This report concludes with recommendations on how governments can work to end racism in the administration of justice. [More]

Last Common Ancestor With Chimps?
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

(Connected) Recently, two candidates for the earliest known hominid have emerged, both tantalisingly close to the last common ancestor with the chimps. Last year, a Kenyan-French team led by Brigitte Senut and Martin Pickford unveiled "Millennium Man", a six-million-year-old chimpanzee-like creature whose existence was pieced together from 13 fossils. Remains from at least five males and females, including an arm, a fingertip, a jaw fragment and, crucially, a leg bone, suggested that Orrorin tugenesis walked on two legs.

According to its discoverers, from the Kenyan Palaeontology Expedition, its teeth were more like those of modern humans than any apes. Its strong femur suggested that it walked upright, but its powerful upper arm bone hinted that it might also have been at home in the trees.

Senut and Pickford, who made the finding in Kapsomin in the Tugen hills of Kenya's Baringo district, argued that its similarities with Homo sapiens made it a contender for the title of direct ancestor.

But as Millennium Man was being unveiled at a press conference, a rival team from America was working on another find, which also came from the dawn of humanity.

This time, the fragments of bones were found in the Middle Awash region of Ethiopia and were dated at between 5.8 million and 5.2 million years old. The finds, reported in Nature this month, included a piece of collarbone, several hand and foot bones and a jawbone with teeth, also with features more in common with hominids than any ape. [More]

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WASHINGTON: Judge Denies Abu-Jamal's New Evidence
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

(NNPA)- Those fighting for the life of Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal said they are planning to show their support for him when his lawyers appear in court next month.

The planned action comes in response to U.S. District Court Judge William H. Yohn's rejection of Abu-Jamal's request to hear the testimony of Arnold Beverly, who has confessed to killing Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

Abu-Jamal, convicted of Faulkner's murder in 1982, said he is innocent. Beverly, who calls himself a 'hit man,' said he believed he was hired by the mob to kill Faulkner, who had allegedly been interfering with organized crime on his beat.

The Death Row journalist's supporters will converge in state court Aug. 17, the date of a recently scheduled state court hearing on the acceptance of the former Black Panther's new legal team, said Pam Africa, coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Yohn, who said that Abu-Jamal - has failed to demonstrate good cause for deposing Beverly, - has still to decide if Abu-Jamal will receive a hearing to determine whether or not he will get a new trial. [More]

ANC officials clash over crisis in Zimbabwe
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

(Zimbabwe Daily News) - KEY African National Congress intellectuals have gone head to head to lobby for different approaches to the crisis in Zimbabwe.

MP Pallo Jordan favours the path of "quiet diplomacy", belittling debates in South Africa as "much ado about Zimbabwe", while ANC-aligned businessman Moeletsi Mbeki says the situation in South Africa's northern neighbour poses "the greatest threat to national security our young democracy has yet faced". Moeletsi Mbeki is a younger brother to the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, who favours quiet diplomacy on Zimbabwe's current crisis.

Mbeki outlines several polar options South Africa can take: "We could prop up the Zimbabwean economy and ask others to do the same in the hope that Zanu PF will in the meantime beat the population and the opposition into quiet submission." Or: "We could help the opposition to resist intimidation in the hope that this will persuade Zanu PF to respect democratic processes and, therefore, hold free and fair elections and accept their outcome."

The debate, in the latest edition of the ANC journal Umrabulo, is the most public signal of differences within the ruling party on what has become one of its most important foreign affairs challenges. [More]

Mt. Etna A Blast For Temple University Geologist
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

(Science Daily) Temple University geology professor Dr. Gene Ulmer sits in his home and closely watches the continued eruptions of Sicily's Mt. Etna volcano on his television. "I wish I were still there," he says, wistfully.
Ulmer was there, watching from an erosional valley only three miles from Mt. Etna's summit, when the volcano violently erupted and spewed forth ash and lava at 1:33 p.m. on June 19. "It was a very exciting moment," says Ulmer, who is now at home nursing an infection he picked up at Mt. Etna, but was in the nearby town of Nicolosi in June with one of his graduate students, Mark Manna, after attending an international meeting on geo-thermal and volcanic energy in Italy. "Within 10 minutes, there was such a dust cloud that everything was obscured. But what went on through the afternoon, it just sounded like continual thunder as the lava was booming its way out of the top of the volcano."

Ulmer and Manna are part of a team from Temple, Penn State, and Princeton Universities working on a National Science Foundation-funded research project to develop a sensor that can be used to monitor and predict such volcanic eruptions.

"That's why we were in Italy at this meeting," he says. "Mark was presenting a paper on his thesis research." [More]

Victims of Indian racism petition South Africa
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

(Africa Online) NEW DELHI, Representatives of India's 260-million untouchables who face segregation from higher castes, have petitioned South African President Thabo Mbeki ahead of the world conference against racism.

The untouchables said they were the victims of gross racial discrimination in India. This was in spite of the fact that the caste system had been officially abolished in the country.

Observers say the caste system in India is not unlike apartheid, whereby the lower castes, such as the untouchables, are dark-skinned people and the higher castes are privileged light-skinned people.

The world conference against racism will be held in Durban, South Africa at the end of next month.
(Channel Africa)
Special: Genes Confirm Origin of India's Castes

Monster flash flood kills 30 in northwest China
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

(Reuters) A monster flash flood, the biggest in 100 years in the mountainous area of China's northwestern province of Gansu, has killed at least 30 people, a local official said.

The flash flood, which left 16 people missing, was triggered by just 40 minutes of torrential rain on Tuesday and was of a size and ferocity "not seen in the last century", an official with the Min county government told Reuters.

"Min county is susceptible to sudden summer floods every year, but the scale of this flood was frightful," he said.

The semi-official China News Service said the flood had waves up to six metres (20 feet) high and swept away dozens of houses, cut communications and destroyed roads.

The official said it had caused an estimated 40 million yuan (3.5 million pounds) in direct economic losses to the moutainous county, some 300 km (190 miles) south of the provincial capital of Lanzhou. [More]

India nabs suspect in 'Bandit Queen' murder
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

(CNN) LUCKNOW, India -- Indian police are questioning a suspect in connection with the murder of notorious "Bandit Queen" Phoolan Devi.

India began a manhunt after bandit-turned-politician Devi was shot dead by masked gunmen outside her home in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Her death has sparked an outcry in a country where she was idolized by the poor as a horseback-riding heroine who roamed the countryside exacting retribution from wealthy upper-caste landowners.

Things got so heated that one person was killed after Devi supporters, angry over the government's failure to protect her, clashed with police at her cremation on Thursday.

Five policemen were injured as protesters fired shots at police, threw crude bombs and burned buses in Varanasi, southeast of New Delhi.

Police in the northern state of Uttaranchal told Reuters on Friday that a suspect, Sher Singh Rana, had been questioned in the provincial capital, Dehradun, earlier in the day. [More]

Bandit Queen suspect 'confesses'

(BBC) Police in India say a man arrested in the northern city of Dehradun has confessed to involvement in the killing of the "Bandit Queen" Phoolan Devi.
Sher Singh Rana gave himself up to police earlier on Friday.

He is alleged to have driven the vehicle used by the gunmen who shot Phoolan Devi outside her home in the capital, Delhi, on Wednesday.

Phoolan Devi, who spent her early life on the run as part of a gang of bandits before becoming an MP, was cremated on Thursday in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. [More]

Cocoa corruption traps Nigerians
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

(BBC) In Nigeria, two former ministers have been ordered to pay back the equivalent of more than $20m after being named by a commission examining corruption in Nigeria's cocoa sector.

A statement issued by the office of President Olusegun Obasanjo said that former Trade Ministers, Retired Major General Patrick Aziza and Retired Vice Admiral Jibril Ayinla, had wrongly appropriated money from the Nigerian cocoa fund.

Both men held senior positions under the previous governments of Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Barely a week seems to go by in Nigeria at the moment without a fresh report or dossier naming names and demanding reparations.

On taking office, President Obasanjo promised an all-out drive against corruption and appointed a series of commissions to probe and chase.

One of many areas of concern was Nigeria's cocoa sector - negligible when compared to the country's oil industry but clearly in need of investigation. [More]

Faces and races linked in brain study
Posted: Friday, July 27, 2001

Psychologists have known for decades that people are better at recognising the faces of people of their own race. Now, for the first time, researchers have linked that advantage to patterns of brain activation.
Jennifer Eberhardt and colleagues at Stanford University in California used functional magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain activity in European American and African American subjects as they viewed colour photographs of faces of people from both racial backgrounds.

Psychologist Elizabeth Phelps of New York University says the study is the first that attempts to understand the neural basis of cross-race face identification and the broader issue of social group membership.

But while the results are very suggestive, they do not prove that the brain region identified - the fusiform gyrus - plays a significant role in the same-race memory advantage, she says. "Very rarely do we answer a question that big with one study," she says. [More]

More deaths in fresh Jamaican violence
Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2001

(Jamaica Observer) APPROXIMATELY 40 families fled from Denham Town yesterday as fresh outbreaks of violence shattered the tense calm that hung over that West Kingston community for two weeks.

It was not immediately clear yesterday how many deaths have resulted from this new wave of gunfire. However, the Observer was able to confirm that:

* Renaldo Christie, 20, of Blake Road, Kingston was shot dead on Collie Smith Drive in Trench Town Wednesday morning;

* a man known only as "Nico" was shot dead at the intersection of Greenwich and Victoria streets Wednesday night;

* Sydney Brown, 49 year-old accountant of Rodney Road, Kingston 12, was murdered at the intersection of Brentford and Lyndhurst roads, also on Wednesday night. However, police are not sure if his killing is linked to the fighting; [More]

(BBC) Fresh violence has erupted in Jamaica, with five more people shot dead in the same area of the capital, Kingston, where 25 people were killed earlier this month, police said.

Local residents said the shootings were carried out by members of one gang seeking revenge from the followers of another group blamed for the previous disturbances.

Two houses have also been firebombed. Police have been deployed to the area - Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston - in an attempt to restore calm.

The latest violence comes as the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, prepares to depart on an official visit to Jamaica this weekend.

It also coincides with a multimillion dollar government campaign intended to restore Jamaica's international image as a safe tourist destination. [More]

Fighting fear itself
From: Jamaicans for Justice

The fear now is of gunmen, Dons, crime, speaking out, standing-up, going into certain areas, travelling after dark. The list goes on, and on.

Some of these fears lurk behind our fellow citizens' willingness to condone totally indefensible behaviour by public officials, and particularly the police. I have had a series of disturbing conversations relevant to these matters with persons I like, over roughly the last 18 months.

Good middle class folk all: each has been ready to tell me why that party of soldiers and policemen may have had to beat Michael Gayle to the point where death was inevitable; why the Jamaican approach to policing is absolutely necessary and, most recently, specifically why so many Jamaicans appear accepting of Mr Adams tough tactics. [More]

JAMAICA: Ganja study completed
Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2001

(The Jamaica Gleaner) THE NATIONAL Commission on Ganja has completed its hearings into arguments for the decriminalisation of the use of the herb and is to submit its report and recommendations to Prime Minister P.J. Patterson within the next two weeks.

"Unless we ask for (more) time we are to submit (the report) on or before the 6th of August," Professor Barry Chevannes, head of the Commission told The Gleaner yesterday. He said that date marked nine months from the time the Commission began hearings last November. The hearings were held in all parishes.

According to Professor Chevannes, most of the 250 persons who appeared before the Commission were in favour of decriminalising its use. He pointed out, however, that the seven-member Commission will not be swayed by "majority feeling". "What we are looking at are the issues that people raised both for and against and to use that to determine our recommendation," he stated.

The recommendations will also be guided by the numerous written submissions received by the Commission; the advice of legal experts; and from discussions that were held with officials of the Netherlands Government. [More]

Britons arrested in Thai shares 'scam'
Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2001

(BBC) A number of Britons are among 81 people arrested in Thailand on suspicion of being involved in a multi-million dollar share-selling fraud.

Thai police said telephone sales staff from two companies in Bangkok cheated investors out of more than £150m, selling stocks which customers often never received.

The arrests, which include an unspecified number of Australian, British and Irish nationals, were made after a two-year investigation.

BBC correspondent Gina Wilkinson in Bangkok says it is being described as one of the world's largest global stock-dealing scams.

The Australian, British and Irish nationals were reportedly hired in Bangkok to cold call overseas homes and businesses, particularly in Australia and persuade them to buy non-existent stocks. [More]

Scientists solve iceman mystery
Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2001

(BBC) Scientists in Austria say they have solved the mystery of how the famous Oetzi iceman died: he was shot with an arrow.

The 5,300-year-old hunter's perfectly preserved body was discovered in a melting glacier in the Italian Alps 10 years ago.

It was thought the man died from cold and hunger. But researchers now say they have discovered an arrowhead in the man's left shoulder.

They speculate that Oetzi may have fled his attacker before bleeding to death and being entombed in ice. [More]

Iran arrests 'spider' killer
Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2001

MASHHAD, Iran, July 26 (UPI) -- Authorities arrested a 39-year-old man suspected of killing at least 16 prostitutes in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Arrested Wednesday evening, the suspect has been dubbed a "spider" by the Iranian media because he used headscarves to ensnare the women like a spider uses a web to trap its victims. Iran's police chief, Brig. Gen. Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, said the suspect was a builder from Mashhad who was married with three children. The suspect's name was not disclosed.

Qalibaf said the man was responsible for the deaths of 16 prostitutes killed in Mashhad this year. The suspect allegedly began the killings after his wife was approached by a man who mistook her for a prostitute, the police chief said.

The body of his latest victim was discovered from a street in Mashhad. Like others, she was strangled with her own headscarf and wrapped in her chador, a traditional shroud worn by Muslim women. [More]

AOL to offer bounty for space on new PCs
Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2001

WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- AOL Time Warner Inc. is moving aggressively to take advantage of Microsoft Corp.'s tenuous legal standing, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The Post said the media giant is seeking deals with computer makers to target consumers with subtle and direct marketing pitches that would help AOL grab more control of the computer desktop.

"AOL's actions are unprecedented and completely anti-consumer," said Microsoft spokesman Vivek Varma. "AOL is paying [computer makers] to eliminate consumer choice, forcing people to select the most expensive service in the industry."

AOL's unlimited monthly service costs $23.90 a month; Microsoft's MSN service is $21.95.

In internal AOL documents, the company maps out a strategy that calls on manufacturers to build into new personal computers icons, pop-up notices and other consumer messages aimed at pushing aside Microsoft by giving AOL's products prominent placement on PCs. [More]

Philippine volcano erupts, alert level raised
Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2001

(CNN) MANILA, Philippines -- A central Philippine volcano has erupted for the second time in a month, raining pebbles and mud onto nearby communities, spewing giant clouds of ash and forcing thousands to flee, scientists said.

Rumbling could be heard as far as 10 kilometers (six miles) away as the Mayon volcano jetted a fountain of lava 60 meters (200 feet) high and ash clouds mushroomed 10 kilometers into the air, said volcanologist Julio Sabit.

He said a "big explosion" rocked Mayon at 7:56 a.m. (2356 GMT Wednesday). Sabit said scientists first learned of an imminent explosion from sudden lava flows and started an evacuation less than four hours before the explosion. [More]

UK: MPs to consider relaxing the law on cannabis use
Posted: Thursday, July 26, 2001

(Independent UK) The decriminalising of cannabis will be examined by MPs as part of an unprecedented investigation into Britain's drugs laws.

The Home Affairs Select Committee, in its first major inquiry of the new parliament, will consider the effectiveness of government policies in combating drug addiction.

The decision to venture into such politically contentious territory follows increasing pressure from politicians of all parties who want a fresh look at the laws on drug use.

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, marked a shift in government attitude this month by saying he was prepared to consider the arguments for decriminalising soft drugs. [More]

Phoolan Devi 'The Bandit Queen' shot dead
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

(India Times) NEW DELHI: Red alert has been declared in Delhi and the border sealed after Samajwadi Party MP Phoolan Devi was shot dead by three unidentified assailants in New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon at around 1.30 pm. She was 38.

She had just reached her house after attending the proceedings in the Lok Sabha, where she represented Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.

Her security guard Virendra Singh and a bystander were also injured in the shootout at 44, Ashoka Road, barely a kilometre away from Parliament, police said briefing reporters at her residence. All were rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where Phoolan Devi was declared brought dead at 1.40 pm.

Reports said Phoolan Devi received 5 bullets, three of which hit her on the head and two on the side.

Vivek Kumar, a distant relative of Phoolan Devi, who stays at her residence and one of the eye witness, said: "Bhua ko sar pe goli lagi. Jab tak hum bahar aate woh gir chuki thi. (My aunt was hit on the head. By the time we came out of the house, she had fallen down.)

He added, "We called the ambulance, but that didn't arrive, we stopped a car on the road and took her to the hospital where she was declared brought dead." He further said that he hadn't seen any assailants. He quoted Pandit Kalicharan, another eye witness, as saying that he saw three masked people running away. More from India Times
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,527406,00.html

The San people or the Bushmen battle for Kalahari
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

(BBC) The modern world has barely touched the Kalahari desert, in the middle of Botswana. Nature, not man, governs the daily pattern of life.

It is as bare, remote and harsh as life can get - and yet there is a natural, undisturbed order that gives this land its own sense of beauty.

But yet people do live here, as they have done for nearly 30,000 years. This is home to the San people - or the Bushmen of the Kalahari.

They have lived here as hunter-gatherers. Only several hundred remain on their ancestral lands. But now they face a battle to cling on to their way of life.

The Botswanan Government is urging - some would say forcing - them to move. Huddled around fires outside their huts in the cold early morning the villagers told me about their plight.

"It's up to us, we will stay here even if they try to kill us", said 28-year-old Gakemothowasepe Molapong. "We know this land. We are as free as birds and we will live as we want."

It is a competition between the indigenous rights of the San people, and the economic interests of Botswana.

The government says it wants to protect the wildlife, but many believe that they are motivated by the huge mineral wealth the Kalahari is believed to possess, including diamonds and possible uranium. And so, the government wants to relocate the San communities. More on this Story

South Africa's indigenous people, known as Khoisan,
are demanding better treatment from the country's government.

Country profile: Botswana

African press: G8 choir of hypocrisy and humbug
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

The rich are holding one of their meetings in Genoa, Italy. And it reminds me of an incident when I was a little guy. One day, one of the boys I used to sit near in class was accused of having broken into the sports store and stolen I don't know what. You will remember that in those days walking in a certain manner was such a serious crime that it would require a whole clan of teachers to cane the offender. Theft was so outlandish a crime, it is today's equivalent of taking a gun to school and shooting the matron.

The investigating officer in this particular atrocity was none other than my English teacher, the inimitable Mr Mariene, a fierce, bearded, handsome if shortish fellow who used to strike terror into my heart not just because he was known to be liberal with the cane, but also because of the keen edge of his wit.

So, in his investigations, Mr Milosevic Hitler Mariene, summoned me and another of my buddies for interrogation in the holy of holies – the office of Shaka The Zulu, our headmaster. I was a little guy and little guys are a little vain about their integrity and dignity, in my experience. [More]

Has Mexico Out-Foxed Bush?
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

(Standard) Let's make a better deal:
Give us your huddled masses...and your oil.
By Irwin M. Stelzer

Mexican president Vicente Fox barnstormed the United States last week, urging American businessmen to support some sort of amnesty for the three million Mexicans illegally working and living in this country. And to put pressure on his American counterpart, Fox addressed rallies of his countrymen now living in the United States to emphasize that Mexicans represent a political force here, and that those eligible to vote, particularly in the key states of Texas, Florida, New York, and California, feel solidarity with their non-voting illegal countrymen.

Fox contends that these illegals—at a Los Angeles rally a few months ago he called them "heroes"—make an important contribution to America's prosperity. Alan Greenspan agrees. The Fed chairman has acknowledged, without exactly endorsing illegal immigration, that immigrants have helped to prevent a wage explosion in the tight U.S. labor market. This has enabled the Fed to cut interest rates without worrying too much about triggering inflation. [More]

Family says Wahid to leave palace within 24 hours
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

(ABC) Reports from the Presidential Palace in Jakarta suggest deposed Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid will leave tomorrow, ending the uncertainty surrounding his sacking by Parliament.

According to the AFP news agency, friends close to the former leader say he may soon travel to the United States for medical treatment.

Mr Wahid, who is clinically blind, has suffered two strokes and is a diabetic.

He had initially refused to vacate the palace after being dismissed as president by the National Assembly, insisting the move was illegal. [More]

Archaeologists Find World's Earliest Paper Package Ads
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

Chinese archaeologists announced recently that they have found the earliest paper package commercial in the world.

The two pieces of wrapping paper, dating back to about 700 years ago, found in an ancient tomb in Yuanling County in central China's Hunan Province, are presumed to be the earliest paper package ads, much older than similar ads in the west. [More]

UNESCO recognises ancient theatre form
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

For the five gurus of Kutiyattam 'the oldest surviving form of Sanskrit theatre from Kerala' it was a historic and momentous occasion.

After being in existence as a living art form for almost two millennia (however, epigraphical and literary sources testify a continuous history of at least 1,000 years), Kutiyattam along with the oldest opera tradition of China, Japanese Ntgaku theatre, Sicilian puppet theatre, as well as the oral and musical heritages of several African communities, are among the 19 cultural spaces and forms of expression to which UNESCO gave the title of "masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity" recently. [More]

Heavy rains kill hundreds, 60 thousand displaced
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

(PNS) Due to the heavy rains more than 2000 houses collapsed and 60,000 people became homeless in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The District Administration declared emergency in different areas and started rescue works.

Seventy-nine people lost their lives and more than one hundred injured when floodwater washed away a small hillside village in Mansehra.

As many as twenty five persons died when lightening coupled with flooding rain water struck Bonier in district Swat Monday noon.

In first incident at Khazal Batmai the lightening led to killing of 14 persons of same family while four persons including Mula Umar, Bakhat, Habibullah, and an innocent girl Gul Nar were killed being swept away in flooding water. They all were taking refuge in the house of Layaz.

In other incident of lightening, six died in the area of Gawadra Gogand. One was identified, as Afzal Khan while the names of others could not be ascertained. [More]

Israel Assassinates Activist, Hamas Vows Revenge
Posted: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

(Middle East News Online) NABLUS, West Bank: Despite international efforts to halt the deterioration of the Middle East violence, Israel seemed unwavering regarding its assassination policy. A Palestinian activist known for his affiliation with the resistance group Hamas was killed in Nablus by anti tank missiles; Palestinians say that the newest assassination will only prolong their uprising.

Israel justified its killing of Saleh Darwazeh saying that the man is a "senior terrorist", an allegation that always accompany Israel's extra judicial killings of Palestinians.

Darwazeh was driving his red Volkswagen when he was gunned down by Israelis stationed on a hill overlooking the city of Nablus. The man was killed instantly and his vehicle was turned into a fireball of mangled metal. [More]

Global jobs and shares gloom
Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Tens of thousands of jobs across the world have been axed and global shares have tumbled as the economic slowdown continues to send company profits tumbling.
Within a few hours on Tuesday there were announcements of more than 35,000 job cuts, at firms ranging from US telecoms giant Lucent to European conglomerate ABB and media goliath Reuters.

As profits continue to plunge, there are expected to be more job losses to come as companies focus efforts on reducing costs, in particular their wage bills. More from BBC

90 feared dead after blast in Chinese mine
Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

More than 90 coal miners were feared dead last night in the latest of a series of industrial disasters which have exposed serious weaknesses in China's control of industry.
They were trapped 260 metres (850ft) underground by an explosion in an illegal mine in the south-east province of Jiangsu.

Mine officials in Xuzhou city said that 16 were confirmed dead and hope had been lost for a further 76. Thirteen miners, three of them women, had been brought out alive, they added.

Last year 5,300 people died in Chinese mine accidents. Already this year 3,000 mining deaths have been officially reported.

The prime minister, Zhu Rongji, who has repeatedly denounced incompetent and corrupt management, called yesterday for a greater effort to prevent loss of life. More from Guardian UK

The wrecking pound
Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Fasten your safety belts: the economy has entered a period of turbulence and no one knows what the true extent of it will be. That is the message behind a string of warnings from bodies like the National Institute (NI), the Institute of Directors and the Item Club.

The good news is that the nature of the problem has at last been agreed - the emergence of a dual economy in which services are growing far too fast and the manufacturing sector declining too rapidly, because of the strong pound. The bad news is they can't agree what to do. Professor Peter Spencer, adviser to Item, urges international intervention in the foreign exchange markets while the NI says drop interest rates.

Professor Stephen Nickell of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee says the Bank could raise the annual inflation target from the present 2.5%, or it could make a statement that the UK will join the euro (at a lower value for sterling). The danger, he says, is that the pound would fall instantly and by quite a long way. But, he warns that there is a danger of an uncontrollable fall anyway if the trade deficit gets even worse. And once the markets are convinced a currency will fall, it could be a long, hard drop. More from Guardian UK

Dot.co challenges dot.com empire
Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

An entire country's cyber identity is set to challenge the dot.com empire.
The University of the Andes in Bogota, which administers Colombia's country web suffix - .co - is inviting bids from firms to sell it around the world.

With catchy new Internet names ending in dot.com growing scarce, the plan may prove a winner. For example, if your business is called johnbraggs you could have this easy-to-remember internet address: www.johnbraggs.co

The university says it hopes to raise funds for hard-up students and new technology, the Spanish daily El Mundo said. But opposition has arisen in Colombia itself, the paper added.

Some argue that the suffix belongs to all Colombians, not to an elitist university in the capital, let alone global interests. The move would be hard to justify on social grounds, say official bodies and charities. [More]

Key whale hunting proposals defeated
Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

(Yahoo) The 53^rd annual International Whaling Commission meeting has opened with the rejection of two key pro-whaling proposals, following heated arguments between pro- and anti-whaling nations.
First, Iceland's plans to rejoin the commission while reserving the right to resume commercial whaling were dashed. Then, Japan's proposal that open ballots could be replaced by secret voting was defeated by a sizeable majority.

Both votes were seen as important for the credibility of the IWC and for the future of the international ban on commercial whaling, which has been in place since 1986.

The Iceland result was "the right decision," said Elliot Morley, the UK's IWC assistant commissioner. "This is not a ban on Iceland - it's a rejection of Iceland saying it's going to pick and choose what parts of the IWC it agrees with. The moratorium is a fundamental part of the IWC." [More]

Police caught on video "attacking" man
Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

LONDON (Reuters) - Two West Yorkshire policemen have been withdrawn from public duties after they were caught on video apparently making an unprovoked attack on a man on his doorstep.

Police say they are investigating the incident in Wakefield, captured on video by a neighbour from an upstairs window opposite the man's home.

The video appears to show a policeman kicking and then punching Chris Wilson three times on the head before leading him away with another policeman to a squad car. More at Yahoo News

BBC: Officer withdrawn over assault claim

Key Sri Lankan air base attacked
Posted: Monday, July 23, 2001

(BBC) Tamil Tigers are thought to be behind the attack

At least three people have been killed and several aircraft damaged in heavy fighting at a major Sri Lankan air force base.
Military spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne said that the base, 30km north of the capital Colombo, had come under attack from Tamil Tiger rebels using explosives and small arms.

He told the BBC that seven military and three civilian aircraft had been damaged as rebels attacked hangars in both the base and the nearby Bandaranaike international airport. [More]

Burundi rebels surrender
Posted: Monday, July 23, 2001

(BBC) The conflict has raged for nearly a decade

Rebel troops who staged a coup attempt in Burundi have given themselves up to forces loyal to President Pierre Buyoya.
The rebels had attempted to halt the approval of plans for a transitional government at peace negotiations in the Tanzanian town of Arusha.

After gunfire in the capital, Bujumbura, on Sunday night, about 100 army rebels were pursued in the north by loyalists before surrendering in the town of Ngozi.

Two soldiers were reported killed in the uprising.

The rebels, from the minority Tutsi ethnic group, are thought to be hardliners who fear a compromise deal will play into the hands of the ethnic Hutu majority. [More]

No record shows Native ashes scattered on East Campus
Posted: Monday, July 23, 2001

Native people felt shocked and hurt when they learned three years ago the bones of their ancestors had been burned in a University of Nebraska-Lincoln incinerator.

That the incineration occurred in an East Campus building more than three decades ago didn't lessen the pain. A university administrator also told them the ashes may have been spread on surrounding fields.

Now it appears more likely university workers collected the ashes in 55-gallon drums and dumped them in the former landfill on North 48th Street.

The revelation is the latest chapter in a legacy of insult to Native people, said Judi Morgan, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs. [More]

Officers of India Mutual Fund Arrested
Posted: Monday, July 23, 2001

(NY Times) BANGALORE, India, July 22 — India's federal anticorruption police, the CBI, arrested the former head of the country's largest mutual fund and three of its senior officials on Saturday on charges of defrauding the fund of millions of dollars.

In Bombay, the country's financial capital, the CBI arrested P. S. Subramanyam, the former chairman of Unit Trust of India; its executive directors, M. M. Kapur and S. K. Basu; and its general manager, Prema Madhu Prasad.

On Friday, the CBI raided their homes and carried out detailed investigations. The agency charged the officials with conspiring and cheating the mutual fund of 328 million rupees, or about $7 million, and also arrested a Bombay stockbroker, Rakesh Mehta, on charges of participating in the conspiracy.

The arrests came two weeks after Mr. Subramanyam resigned as chairman in the wake of the dismal performance of Unit Trust's flagship US-64 fund.

Mr. Subramanyam and the senior officials are accused of buying shares in a domestic software company, Cyberspace Infosys, at an inflated price of 930 rupees a share while its market value was estimated at less than 2 rupees. [More]

Indonesian president sacked
Posted: Monday, July 23, 2001

Wahid

(BBC) The Indonesian parliament has dismissed President Abdurrahman Wahid and sworn in Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri to replace him.

However, Mr Wahid is defying the highest legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), saying he will remain in the presidential palace.

Mr Wahid's sacking - in a unanimous, nationally televised open vote - came just hours after he had declared a state of emergency, in an attempt to suspend parliament and thwart the impeachment hearings.

But the Indonesian Supreme Court rejected the declaration as illegal and the MPR continued its hearings on allegations of corruption and incompetence against Mr Wahid, who took office 21 months ago.

Several hundred supporters of Mr Wahid are demonstrating in Jakarta - far fewer than expected. [More]

Explosions shake Indonesian capital
Posted: Sunday, July 22, 2001

(BBC) Explosions have gone off in or near two churches in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, as people were attending Sunday morning services.

More than 40 people are reported injured. Two are said to have lost limbs, and some were crushed when a church roof fell on top of them.

One eyewitness said that shortly before one blast he saw a man carrying a bag approach a vehicle parked outside a church, and then hurry away.

Police said there was a direct link between the explosions and the political crisis in the country, following President Abdurrahman Wahid's renewed threat to impose a state of emergency.

He has been summoned to appear before the upper house of parliament on Monday, for an impeachment hearing which could result in his removal as head of state.

Mr Wahid has declared that he will not appear before the assembly and has made veiled threats that his supporters will take matters into their own hands to prevent him being deposed. [More]

Poor nations warn WTO
Posted: Sunday, July 22, 2001

(BBC) Delegates from the world's 49 poorest countries are beginning a summit meeting in Zanzibar on Sunday to try to halt further liberalisation in the World Trade Organisation.

They are concerned that they are being forced to open up their markets while they are not strong enough yet to trade with the West.

This conference has more potential to derail globalisation than anything happening on the streets of Genoa.

The least developed countries have come together at the invitation of Tanzania. Trade Minister, Iddi Simba is trying to get agreement on a declaration blocking any further trade liberalisation.

After talks stalled in Seattle two years ago, the WTO is meeting again in November.

But the least developed countries are angry that their agriculture, which they depend on, is being opened up to competition while the agriculture of Europe and North America continues to receive subsidies. [More]

G8 resumes in shadow of death
Posted: Saturday, July 21, 2001

(BBC) The world richest nations are continuing their summit in the Italian city of Genoa, with tens of thousands of anti-globalisation protesters preparing to take to the streets again.

The first day of the G8 summit on Friday saw violent protests during which one demonstrator was shot dead by police.

Italian Interior Minister Claudio Scajola said the man, identified as 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani, was shot dead, apparently in self-defence, by an injured police officer. [More]

Protester shot dead in Genoa riot
Posted: Friday, July 20, 2001

(Guardian UK) An anti-globalisation demonstrator was killed today after being shot in the head by an Italian paramilitary trooper during riots close to the G8 summit venue in Genoa.
According to reports he was run over by a police jeep after being hit by at least two bullets.

The victim - his identity as yet unconfirmed - threw a fire extinguisher at a police van and the trooper retaliated with gunfire.

The body lay in a pool of blood, covered by a white sheet.

Police are also using tear gas and water cannons against protesters as the summit of the seven richest industrial nations and Russia opens amid the worst rioting in Europe for decades. [More]

Civil Rights Group Preps for World Conference on Racism
Posted: Friday, July 20, 2001

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - In an early media breakfast, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), led by Executive Director Wade Henderson and other civil rights groups, gathered recently to increase public awareness and action concerning the upcoming United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. The event is scheduled to take place in Durban, South Africa August 31 through September 7.

The conference will be one of the largest of its kind in history and it is being organized by prominent organizations from around the world via the UN, although it is still receiving relatively little recognition or support. As a coalition, many of the issues that will be addressed at the world conference reflect information and data on race and civil rights that individual groups have already gathered. [More]

Indonesia: Parliament moves to topple Wahid
Posted: Friday, July 20, 2001

(BBC) Indonesia's upper house of parliament has voted to begin impeachment proceedings against President Abdurrahman Wahid.

At a special session of the national assembly (MPR), an overwhelming majority of legislators backed a plan to demand that he give an account of his turbulent 20 months in office.

The move came despite Mr Wahid's announcement that he would boycott the hearing, which he described as unconstitutional and treasonous. In a nationally televised news conference just before parliament began proceedings, the president renewed a threat to declare a state of emergency. [More]

Coca-Cola sued over death squad claims
Posted: Friday, July 20, 2001

(BBC) Trade union leaders in the United States have said they are suing the soft-drinks company Coca-Cola for allegedly hiring right-wing death squads to terrorise workers at its Colombian bottling plant.

A spokesman for Coca-Cola in Atlanta said its Colombian bottling plants were run by business partners and denied any wrongdoing by the company.

Lawyers for the United Steel workers union say they will file the lawsuit in Miami on Friday on behalf of the Colombian union Sinaltrainal.

The suit alleges that Coca-Cola and Panamerican Beverages, its principal bottler in Latin America, waged what union leaders describe as a campaign of terror, using paramilitaries to kill, torture and kidnap union leaders in Colombia. [More]

US 'provoked clashes with Iraq'
Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2001

(BBC) A former United Nations weapons inspector has accused the United States of deliberately provoking confrontations with Iraq, which, he says, was almost fully disarmed by 1995.

Scott Ritter says the United States undermined the work of UNSCOM, the United Nations weapons inspection team in Iraq, and used the issue to push Iraq towards conflict with the West.

Mr Ritter has been an outspoken critic of US policy towards Iraq since he resigned from UNSCOM in 1998.

In his new documentary film, In Shifting Sands: The Truth About UNSCOM and the Disarming of Iraq, the UN and UNSCOM in particular are portrayed as American pawns in its dealings with Saddam Hussein. [More]

Libya to ease Zimbabwe fuel crisis
Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2001

(BBC) Zimbabwe's Government is reported to have secured a deal with Libya which could ease crippling fuel shortages.
The independent Financial Gazette newspaper quoted unnamed senior government sources as saying the deal was brokered between President Robert Mugabe and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who visited the country last week.

Under the arrangement, Libya is to supply fuel worth $360m a year in exchange for exports of Zimbabwean products.

Zimbabwe's economy is in deep recession, which has caused a shortage of hard currency to buy imports like fuel and medicine.

Zimbabwe needs about $40m of fuel imports each month, but supplies have been erratic for more than 18 months, since the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe had its credit lines cut over mounting debts. [More]

Bombs heighten tension as G8 city is sealed
Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2001

GENOA, Italy (Reuters) - Two letter bombs have exploded in northern Italy, heightening tension in the barricaded city of Genoa ahead of this weekend's Group of Eight (G8) summit.

Anti-globalisation demonstrators, many threatening to break through police security cordons, began pouring into the city to protest against what they see as capitalism's excesses.

U.S. President George W. Bush, target of protesters' scorn, flew to Europe and the summit after making clear he would not back down on two issues at which he is at odds with his allies -- a missile defence system and the Kyoto global warming pact.

A new U.S.-Europe clash appeared possible after Bush called for changes in the way the World Bank distributes cash to poorer nations.

The first bomb exploded at a Milan television station controlled by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who will host the three-day gathering of the world's most powerful men that begins on Friday.

It slightly injured a woman employee and sent jitters through Genoa -- a virtual ghost town following a massive security operation to seal it off from an expected onslaught by anti-globalisation demonstrators. [More]

Sierra Leone diamond mining ban
Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2001

(BBC) A mining ban has come into effect in Sierra Leone's eastern diamond region following agreement between rebels and the government, the United Nations says.
The agreement is intended to pave the way for the disarmament of the Revolutionary United Front rebels and other militias and the deployment of thousands of UN peacekeepers from Pakistan in the area.

Mining and smuggling in the rich diamond fields of eastern Sierra Leone have been one of the root causes of the devastating war which has spilled into neighbouring states and destabilised the entire West African region.

The UN, which has sent its biggest current peacekeeping force to Sierra Leone, has hailed the talks as a success and a sign of further progress in ending the horrific 10-year war.

But our West Africa correspondent warns that the ban will be extremely difficult to enforce. He says the mines are mainly in remote rural locations, and thousands of armed men know no other way of making a living there but mining, smuggling and fighting. [More]

India and Israel sign weapons deal
Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2001

(BBC) Israeli officials say India and Israel have signed a weapons contract worth $2bn. A spokeman from the Israeli defence ministry said Israel Aircraft Industries would supply India with aircraft, radar systems and surface-to-surface missiles.

The deal is reported to include three Phalcon early warning aircraft which Israel is said to have been prevented from supplying to China because of objections from the United States. There's been no confirmation of the deal from the Indian government. From BBC

Vajpayee reflects on summit collapse
Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2001

(BBC) Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is briefing his colleagues on the collapse of the Agra summit with Pakistan. Mr Vajpayee is to meet his alliance partners in India's governing coalition later on Wednesday after having briefed the cabinet late on Tuesday.

Both India and Pakistan have played down the differences over Kashmir which left the summit deadlocked and without a final declaration. But despite encouraging international reaction to the summit, there are fears of growing domestic pressure on Mr Vajpayee for his initiative. [More]

Israeli helicopter attack 'kills four'
Posted: Tuesday, July 17, 2001

(Guardian UK) Four men are reported to have been killed today in an Israeli helicopter gunship rocket attack on the Palestinian town of Bethlehem. Initial reports suggest that one of the victims was a senior member of the militant Islamist group, Hamas.
The helicopter attack came amid heightened security alerts throughout Israel, and growing public pressure on the government to mount an all-out assault on the Palestinian territories.

On Monday, a suicide bomber of the Islamic Jihad killed himself and two Israeli soldiers, one of them a woman. The organisation boasted that it would mount further such actions.

Yesterday another bomb was found and defused, while police combed the Tel Aviv satellite town of Petah Tiqvah after a tip-off about a second suicide bomber. There was also tight security in Jerusalem, where the Jewish Maccabiah games are being held. [More]

Chinese blast toll rises
Posted: Tuesday, July 17, 2001

(BBC) The number of people who died when an illegal Chinese explosives store blew up has risen to 47, the country's official Xinhua news agency has reported.
Police are said to have stepped up their search for the store's owner.

Nearly 90 others were injured and 10 are still missing beneath the rubble in the village of Mafang, in the north-western Shaanxi province.
Police said they were looking for a man in his 40s, who moved unsold explosives to his brother's house in the village after his illegal plant was closed in a government crackdown.

Officials say the explosives were used for quarrying in what the BBC Beijing correspondent says is an arid, poverty-stricken area.

Witnesses told Reuters news agency that the explosion ripped through several rows of cave houses in the village, destroying at least 30 of them.

They said the explosives had been stored in one of the houses to keep them cool. Local officials said rescue teams were still searching the rubble for victims. [More]

Smoking is 'cost-effective' says report
Posted: Tuesday, July 17, 2001

(BBC) The premature deaths of smokers has economic benefits, according to a controversial report commissioned by a leading US cigarette manufacturer.

The report, drawn up for tobacco giant Philip Morris Inc, found that the Czech Republic saved about $147m in 1997 through the deaths of smokers who would not live to use healthcare or housing for the elderly.

Compiled as a cost-benefit analysis and delivered to the Czech Government, the study weighted the savings against the income tax lost and cost of caring for smokers before they died.

However, tobacco industry opponents have attacked the report as an attempt to show that governments benefit from smoking related deaths.

"I think it's pretty egregious," said Richard Daynard, Chairman of the Tobacco Products Liability Project. [More]

India's Govt to issue ordinance on sex determination
Posted: Monday, July 16, 2001

(Times of India) NEW DELHI: Government is planning to come out with an ordinance to prevent misuse of the new chromosome separation technique (CST) which is being resorted to for ensuring birth of a male baby, union minister C P Thakur said on Wednesday.

Delivering the inaugural address of the conference of community and media experts here, Thakur said the new CST, which ensures birth of a male baby even before conception, was being misused with grave consequences to the country's sex ratio, adding the government would soon formulate laws to curb this deplorable practice.

Urging the media to help in ending ignorance on family planning issues, Thakur said, "Though male sterilization has become become simple, painless and effective, men are reluctant to undergo it largely because of misconceptions and misinformation." [More]

Levels of 'Anti-Pain' Brain Chemicals Vary Among People
Posted: Monday, July 16, 2001

(Scientific America) For the first time, researchers have examined in real time how different people feel pain in the brain. By monitoring healthy humans experiencing sustained pain, scientists at the University of Michigan got to watch the brain's painkiller system in action and determined that not all brains handle pain equally well. Their results appear in today's issue of the journal Science.

Thirteen men and seven women volunteered to undergo 20 minutes of constant pain, caused by an injection of highly-concentrated salt water into their jaw muscles. While they suffered, the scientists took brain scans using positron emission tomography (PET). The subjects also received a 20-minute injection of a placebo solution in the randomized, double-blind study. Patients recorded the level of pain they felt every 15 seconds during the injections and completed a pain questionnaire about their experience at the end of the experiment.

Using a small amount of a radioactive substance as a tracer, the scientists focused on the brain's mu-opioid system in which chemicals called endogenous opioids bind to receptors and hinder the spread of pain messages in the brain. The researchers saw the greatest change in brain regions involved in emotional responses and those responsible for processing sensations. They controlled the experimental conditions so that the subjects experienced similar levels of pain, but found that individuals showed different patterns of mu-opioid activity. There were differences in both the amount of chemicals released and the timing of the release. As it turned out, subjects who experienced the largest change in the mu-opioid system between the placebo injection and the painful one tended to report the least pain. [More]

Israeli troops move into Hebron
Posted: Monday, July 16, 2001

(BBC) Israeli tanks have moved into the flashpoint West Bank town of Hebron, the second such incursion in three days.
As the tanks rolled into the Palestinian-controlled area of the city, they destroyed five police posts.

Meanwhile, the bodies of two Palestinians who were apparently trying to plant a bomb have been found near the stadium where Israel's Maccabiah Games - or Jewish Olympics - are due to begin on Monday evening. [More]

Handgun crime 'up' in UK despite ban
Posted: Monday, July 16, 2001

(BBC) A new study suggests the use of handguns in crime rose by 40% in the two years after the weapons were banned.
The research, commissioned by the Countryside Alliance's Campaign for Shooting, has concluded that existing laws are targeting legitimate users of firearms rather than criminals.

The ban on ownership of handguns was introduced in 1997 as a result of the Dunblane massacre, when Thomas Hamilton opened fire at a primary school leaving 16 children and their teacher dead.

But the report suggests that despite the restrictions on ownership the use of handguns in crime is rising.

The Centre for Defence Studies at Kings College in London, which carried out the research, said the number of crimes in which a handgun was reported increased from 2,648 in 1997/98 to 3,685 in 1999/2000. [More]

Rwandan army captures rebel leader
Posted: Monday, July 16, 2001

(BBC) The Rwandan army has captured Colonel Bemera, a commander of extremist Hutu rebels in north-west Rwanda.

The Rwandan military says it has now crushed one of the two rebel armies attacking from neighbouring Congo and is ready to take on the second one.

Since 20 May, fighters from the Interahamwe, an extremist Hutu militia who carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, as well as soldiers of a now-defunct Hutu army have been trying to return to Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Rwandan military had been hunting Colonel Bemera down in the foothills of the Virunga volcano ever since they captured his head of intelligence there last week. [More]

Portugal legalises drug use
Posted: Sunday, July 15, 2001

(BBC) The Portuguese Government has voted to decriminalise the consumption of illegal drugs such as cannabis and heroin.
Drug users will now be treated as sick people in need of medical help.

Previously, drug users and those caught in possession of small amounts of banned drugs for personal use faced up to a year's imprisonment.

The sale and trafficking of illegal drugs remain crimes.

Under the new law police will report drug takers to special local authority commissions which will ensure addicts seek treatment. "The idea is to get away from punishment towards treatment," government spokesman Carlos Borges told Reuters news agency.

The ruling Socialist Party, which is one seat short of an outright parliamentary majority, was backed in the vote by the Communist Party and other left-of-centre parties. [More]

Alarm as China wins Olympics
Posted: Saturday, July 14, 2001

(Guardian UK) The International Olympic Committee yesterday made one of the most controversial decisions in its history when it awarded Beijing the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games, prompting criticism from around the world because of China's poor human rights record.
Of the 105 members of the IOC who had gathered at the World Trade Centre on the bank of the Moscow river, 56 voted for Beijing, 22 for Toronto, 18 for Paris, and nine for Istanbul. Osaka was eliminated in the first round.

Within moments of the results being read out by the IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, there were jubilant scenes in Beijing and Moscow, where dozens of officials from China's Olympic bid had gathered.

However, there was worldwide condemnation from protesters who claim that because of China's occupation of Tibet and other human rights abuses Beijing should not have been awarded the games. Opponents have compared China's bid to Nazi Germany staging the Olympic Games in 1936.

The Dalai Lama's government in exile claimed that the choice of Beijing would further encourage repression. [More]

UK genetic screening to go ahead
Posted: Friday, July 13, 2001

Doctors could soon be allowed to screen embryos for a range of genetic abnormalities.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) agreed in principle on Friday to allow a technique known as aneuploidy screening for the first time in the UK.

They said they were in favour of giving licenses to two UK clinics within a strict framework of monitoring and control.

But opponents have hit back at the decision claiming it bring the UK a step closer to allowing the creation of the "perfect" designer baby.

The HFEA said the aneuploidy screening could be of particular benefit for women who have suffered repeated miscarriages or IVF failures.

It would allow scientists to screen out any embryos that were aneuploid - carrying an abnormal number of chromosomes. [More]

British Men Said to Be Increasingly Suicidal
Posted: Friday, July 13, 2001

LONDON (Reuters Health) - More young men in the UK are committing suicide than ever before, according to official figures released Thursday.

A report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows the number of men taking their own lives has jumped dramatically in the past 30 years.

It found that suicide rates among men aged 15 to 25 have more than tripled since 1971, to 16 per 100,000 population. Meanwhile, suicides among those aged 25 to 44 have doubled to 26 per 100,000.

The report also reveals that suicide accounts for one quarter of all deaths among men aged 16 to 34. [More]

From football-crazy lad to 'martyr' No 510
Posted: Friday, July 13, 2001

(Guardian UK) Two facts are not in dispute. One is that a Palestinian schoolboy, Khalil al-Mugrabhi, 11, loved football more than anything else in life. The other is that on Saturday evening an Israeli soldier shot him through the head.
He died in a lousy place, on a sand-dune on the Gaza-Egypt border, near his home in the Palestinian refugee camp in Rafah. Almost a week after the shooting, his blood is still visible on the sand, a black-brown trail where his pals tried to drag him to safety. The dune is within sight of an Israeli army watchtower.

Four shots were fired, and three children were hit. As well as Khalil, the casualties were Ibrahim Abu Sousin, 11, who is still in hospital awaiting a second operation, and Suleiman Turky Abu Rjal, 13. [More]

US decries 'modern-day slavery'
Posted: Friday, July 13, 2001

(BBC) Human trafficking has reached staggering proportions, affecting more than 700,000 people a year, a US State Department report says.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the first annual report, Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, at a press conference on Thursday.

Most of the victims of trafficking are women and children, the report says. Some are duped, answering advertisements to work in a new country and finding themselves virtual prisoners once they arrive.

Others are coerced by criminals or are sold into a modern form of slavery by a relative, an acquaintance or even a family friend.

The report estimates that 45,000 to 50,000 people are trafficked annually through the United States, a transit rather than destination point. [More]

Report: Afghanistan's Taliban bans the Net
Posted: Friday, July 13, 2001

(CNN) ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) -- Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement has banned the use of the Internet in the war-torn country to stop access to vulgar, immoral and anti-Islamic material, an Afghan news service said on Friday.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Taliban Foreign Minister Maulvi Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil as saying the movement was not against the Internet as such but was opposed to obscenity, vulgarity and anti-Islamic "stuff" on it.

"We want to establish a system in Afghanistan through which we can control all those things that are wrong, obscene, immoral and against Islam," he said.

The ban also applies to government departments, AIP said.

It was not immediately known how many people or offices use the Internet in a country in which infrastructure is in ruins because of more than two decades of war. There are not many computers and most of areas do not have electricity. [More]

Huge Genetic Variation Found in Human Beings
Posted: Thursday, July 12, 2001

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The notion of a uniform genetic blueprint for human beings took a tumble on Thursday, as the most detailed examination yet of variations in the genetic makeup of people detected unexpectedly large individual differences.

Researchers with Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc. of New Haven, Connecticut, found astonishing variance at the genetic level in 82 unrelated people primarily from four racial backgrounds -- white, black, Asian and Hispanic.

In studying 313 genes -- out of the 30,000 identified by human genome scientists -- the Genaissance researchers found that for each gene, there actually are on average 14 versions that can be inherited by a given person from parents.

The researchers said their findings should cause scientists to rethink the definition of the human genome, or genetic map. [More]

Iranian adulteress stoned to death
Posted: Thursday, July 12, 2001

(BBC) Reports that a young woman has been stoned to death in Iran, the second in two months, have stirred widespread international concern.

The Iranian media reported that Maryam Ayyubi, in her early 30s, was put to death at dawn on Wednesday.

The Iranian judiciary has refused to confirm whether the stoning took place, but nor has it denied a series of detailed reports in the Iranian press, so the assumption is that they are true.

Amnesty International has expressed outrage at the reported event; western diplomats had already expressed concern to the Iranian authorities on the practice of stoning.

One newspaper said Mrs Ayyubi was washed, wrapped in a white shroud then carried on a stretcher to an open space in Teheran's Evin prison. In accordance with Islamic prescription, she was then buried up to her armpits and stoned to death in the presence of judicial and prison officials. [More]

Microsoft in Windows climbdown
Posted: Thursday, July 12, 2001

The software giant Microsoft has said it will revamp its next-generation Windows operating system to make it easier for rival companies' products to compete.
The move follows a recent US Court of Appeals ruling that Microsoft agreements with computer manufacturers had broken competition law, but it was not a court-ordered remedy.

The decision should mark an end to the practice of requiring computer manufacturers to display Microsoft products such as Internet Explorer on the desktops of new computers.

"We recognise that some provisions in our existing Windows licences have been ruled improper by the court," Microsoft said in a written statement. "So we are providing computer manufacturers with greater flexibility", and doing so immediately, it said. [More]

New early human fossils
Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2001

Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia

YOHANNES HAILE-SELASSIE

Department of Integrative Biology and Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 3060 VLSB, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

Molecular studies suggest that the lineages leading to humans and chimpanzees diverged approximately 6.5-5.5 million years (Myr) ago, in the Late Miocene. Hominid fossils from this interval, however, are fragmentary and of uncertain phylogenetic status, age, or both. Here I report new hominid specimens from the Middle Awash area of Ethiopia that date to 5.2-5.8 Myr and are associated with a wooded palaeoenvironment.

These Late Miocene fossils are assigned to the hominid genus Ardipithecus and represent the earliest definitive evidence of the hominid clade. Derived dental characters are shared exclusively with all younger hominids. This indicates that the fossils probably represent a hominid taxon that postdated the divergence of lineages leading to modern chimpanzees and humans. However, the persistence of primitive dental and postcranial characters in these new fossils indicates that Ardipithecus was phylogenetically close to the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans.

These new findings raise additional questions about the claimed hominid status of Orrorin tugenensis, recently described from Kenya and dated to 6 Myr. [More]

Power to be shared in Burundi
Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2001

(BBC) Burundi President Pierre Buyoya is to remain head of state for the first 18 months of a new three-year transitional government in a deal aimed at ending the country's bitter civil war.

The breakthrough comes after leaders of the country's 19 political parties attended peace talks in Pretoria chaired by former South African President Nelson Mandela, who is mediating in the conflict.

Mr Buyoya, a member of the minority Tutsi community, will have a Hutu politician as his vice-president, before the roles are reversed half-way through the three-year term.

He launched a coup in 1996 which triggered fighting between his Tutsi-dominated army and Hutu rebels in which thousands of people on both sides have been killed. [More]

Search for "White" Skin Darkens African Women's Lives
Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2001

For thousands of dark-skinned women in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa the quest to look fairer-skinned has led to suffering and even disfigurement. Their looks and health are damaged by the skin lightening creams produced by European and American manufacturers and sold on the continent with little regard for their dangerous side effects.

Just as upsetting, most African governments have been slow to respond to the devastating effects of these dangerous cosmetic products. Take the case of the Kenya government, which has just released an exhaustive list of banned beauty products that have been in circulation for donkey years, warning the public to avoid products containing "mercury and its derivatives, hydroquinone (dihydrobenezene, benzenediol, quionol), oxidizing agents and hormonal preparations that are harmful to human use." The notice, issued by the Kenyan Bureau of Standards (KEBS), went on to note that mercury's poisonous effects on the kidney, brain, mouth and liver have earned it a worldwide ban for use in cosmetics.

"It is a shame that the government took this long to realize the side effects of the dangerous creams," says Lorna Chebet, a news reporter with the government's Kenya News Agency. Chebet says she began using one of the banned creams upon the recommendation of a friend. But before she had finished the first tube, she had developed rashes that later turned into painful blemishes requiring the special care of a dermatologist. The black spots still have not disappeared from her face. [More]

Israeli demolition job triggers fighting
Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2001

(Reuters) Palestinian President Yasser Arafat condemned the house demolitions in Rafah on Tuesday after he returned from Amman where he held talks with Jordanian King Abdullah.

"(It is) a new crime among other crimes committed by the Israeli army," Arafat said, also condemning the demolition of 14 houses in a neighbourhood of Arab East Jerusalem on Monday.

"We will move on all levels, Arab and international, to stop these crimes," Arafat told reporters.

The battle erupted less than 24 hours after a Palestinian suicide mission, in which the bomber alone was killed, and mortar bombs were fired on two Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Abdel-Razek Al-Majaydeh, Palestinian security chief in Gaza, said Israel had launched "a savage attack against a Palestinian refugee camp under full Palestinian control in a new campaign to destroy more houses and to terrorise innocent residents". [More]

Hubble spies exotic double cluster
Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2001

(CNN) A prominent double cluster in a nearby galaxy, captured in stunning detail by the Hubble Space Telescope, represents a kind of object unlike anything in our own Milky Way galaxy.

The cosmic oddity, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way, is the star attraction in a new Hubble image released by international scientists on Tuesday.

The double cluster, known as NGC 1850, is a dense collection of juvenile, globular-like stars, and the second brightest star cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The celestial phenomenon has no equivalent in our galaxy, Hubble scientists said.

"These objects are different from what we find in our galaxy in that they are at the same time very compact, rather massive and recently formed," said Nino Panagia, one of the astronomers who studied NGC 1850. [More]

Children as young as six 'suicidal'
Posted: Tuesday, July 10, 2001

(BBC) Children as young as six are attempting suicide because of abuse, bullying, exam stress and other problems, according to the counselling service ChildLine.
The helpline receives 1,500 calls a year from children who mention suicidal feelings among other problems, according to a report analysing why so many young people ring up because they feel suicidal.

It estimates 500 of the calls are from children who want to kill themselves, or who intend to try. [More]

Cambodia witnesses rise in child prostitution
Posted: Tuesday, July 10, 2001

(Zee News) As Cambodia struggles to recover from three decades of genocide and war, a vicious combination of poverty, corruption and global tourism has produced a new threat -- sexual exploitation of children.

"The sexual exploitation of children is a very serious problem in Cambodia, and its perpetrated by both Cambodians and foreigners," Chanthol Ung, Executive Director of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center told mediapersons.

"But we're noticing a trend of more and more foreigners coming here to sexually exploit children," said Chanthol.

Cambodia is enjoying its longest period of peace and stability in 30 years following the surrender of the last of insurgent Khmer Rouge Forces in late 1998. As a result, its tourism industry is booming.

But among the 400,000 tourists expected to arrive in Cambodia in 2000, nearly twice the previous year, are what child protection workers say an increasing number of foreign child sex predators.

At risk are girls as young as 10 years old brought in from the Cambodian countryside or smuggled across the Vietnamese border to service a seemingly insatiable child sex industry centered in Phnom Penh.

Ignorance and a desire to escape the grinding rural poverty in which 40 percent of Cambodians subsist on less than 1 dollars a day helps feed the trade. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in southeast Asia. [More]

Singapore falls into recession
Posted: Tuesday, July 10, 2001

Singapore's economy shrank by 10.1% during the three months to June, its second successive quarterly contraction.
Two quarters of falling gross domestic product (GDP) means that the Singaporean economy is now technically in a recession.

The second-quarter contraction has turned annual GDP growth negative - a drop of 0.9% year on year - for the first time since the pan-Asian economic crisis of 1997.

The slowdown is blamed on exceptionally weak global demand for high-tech equipment, an industry on which Singapore is heavily reliant. Manufacturing, half of which is high-tech, accounts for one-quarter of Singaporean GDP.

And Singapore is particularly vulnerable to the ebb and flow of the global economy, since more than two-thirds of its industrial production is exported. The Singapore dollar has plumbed a series of 11-year lows, to about 1.835 against the US dollar, in trade over the last few days. [More]

Estrada in court showdown
Posted: Tuesday, July 10, 2001

Former Philippines president Joseph Estrada has arrived in a Manila court to face a charge of economic plunder, which carries a possible death sentence.
His lawyers have filed a late request to the Supreme Court to have the charge dropped and are currently arguing that the Sandiganbayan court should delay the start of the trial awaiting the decision.

A few hundred of his supporters and opponents mounted rival protests outside, faced by a heavy police presence called in to guard the court and ensure Mr Estrada's safety.

The authorities say they fear the ousted former president could be a possible target for assassination as he travels between the court and a military hospital where he is being held about 7.5km (4.7 miles) away.

The former movie star is accused of having illegally acquired a personal fortune of more than $80m while in office, and of using an alias to hide his ownership of a bank account. [More]

Eggs fertilised without sperm
Posted: Tuesday, July 10, 2001

Scientists in Australia have found a way to fertilise eggs using genetic material from any cell in the body - and not just sperm.
Theoretically, it could mean that lesbian couples could give birth to a baby without the need for a father.

The technique has been developed by Dr Orly Lacham-Kaplan, from Monash University in Melbourne. She told the BBC that her team had been able successfully fertilise mice eggs in lab cultures using other cells in the body known as somatic cells.

Until now this has not been possible because somatic cells contain two sets of chromosomes, while sperm cells only contain one set. The Monash team used chemical techniques to get rid of the spare set of chromosomes. [More]

Army acts to curb Jamaica violence
Posted: Monday, July 9, 2001

(BBC) The Jamaican army has been called in to restore order in the capital, Kingston, where two days of gun battles have left at least 20 people dead and 30 injured.

Prime Minister PJ Patterson, speaking hours after a policeman had been shot and burned to death in his car, said troops planned "cordons and curfews" in areas where the fighting has been taking place.

He is expected to address the nation shortly after an emergency cabinet meeting. The violence between security forces and opposition party members erupted over the weekend after a police raid on Saturday for illegal weapons in west Kingston. [More]

Jamaican Observer Kingston under seige
Cop meets savage death on Mountain View Ave

Pinochet charges suspended
Posted: Monday, July 9, 2001

(BBC) A Chilean court has suspended charges against former military ruler General Augusto Pinochet, ruling that he is too unwell to stand trial.

The three-judge panel at the Santiago Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to suspend the legal action. General Pinochet, aged 85, was charged as an accessory to 75 cases of politically motivated kidnapping and murder carried out at the beginning of his 1973-90 rule.

Technically, the process has been delayed until his condition improves, but given his age this is unlikely to happen. BBC correspondent James Reynolds says that Juan Guzman, the judge investigating the charges against the general, had previously dismissed attempts by the defence to have him declared unfit for trial.

But, he says, the panel which made Monday's decision had declared him unfit on the basis of the same report that Judge Guzman had seen. The general's mental condition was also cited as the reason for allowing him to return home last year from Britain, where he had been detained after a request for his extradition by a judge in Spain on similar human rights charges. [More]

DNA Evidence Frees Texas Man
Posted: Monday, July 9, 2001

July 6 -- A Texas man convicted of rape and murder in 1987 was released after DNA tests revealed that the blood found on his shirt was not that of the victim in the attack. He had served 14 years of a life sentence. The DNA tests were performed on a blood sample from a shirt seized from his residence at the time of the murder. Forensic DNA analysis is an increasingly important tool and provides key evidence in many criminal investigations. The National Academies' 1992 report DNA Technology in Forensic Science and the 1996 update The Evaluation of Forensic DNA Evidence address the technical and societal considerations of this investigative tool, as well as the reliability and admissibility of DNA evidence. [More]

African ministers back Mugabe reforms
Posted: Monday, July 9, 2001

(BBC) African ministers rallied behind Zimbabwe over its controversial land reform programme on Sunday, ahead of the annual summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

OAU foreign ministers accuse the UK of seeking to isolate and vilify its former colony in Europe and North America, according to diplomatic sources in Lusaka, where the summit opens on Monday.

The ministers propose that South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon, Kenya and Zambia make up a committee to support Zimbabwe in future talks with the European Union and other parties on land reform.

"It's very likely that it will go through in its present form. Zimbabwe was seen as victim and there was lots of sympathy. The feeling was that the EU and the United States were pressing too hard on Zimbabwe," one senior diplomat told Reuters. [More]

Fiji coup leader in court
Posted: Monday, July 9, 2001

(BBC) In Fiji, a preliminary hearing into charges of treason against coup leader George Speight and his accomplices has started in the capital, Suva. He was arrested with 12 of his close advisers after hijacking the elected government of Mahendra Chaudhry in what the rebels claimed was a nationalist revolt against the growing political influence of Fiji's ethnic Indian minority.

As expected, defence lawyers have argued that an amnesty offered by senior army commanders in return for the safe release of the hostages a year ago still stands.

The military, which took control of the country after the parliament was stormed, claimed the amnesty agreement was breached by the rebels' failure to return all weapons stolen from the army and used in the uprising. [More]

Williams retains Wimbledon title
Posted: Sunday, July 8, 2001

Venus Williams has retained her Wimbledon title with a three-set win over Justine Henin. The American second seed claimed the deciding set with a whitewash after the Belgian teenager had fought her way back into the match.

Williams powered to a quick 6-1 first-set win, but the gritty 19-year-old claimed the second set 6-3 before the champion surged ahead in the third.

Afterwards, a delighted Williams said her second Wimbledon championship had proved harder to win than the first. "This year was a lot more difficult to win," said Williams, "I thought a lot more."

It is the American's third Grand Slam title after her successes at Wimbledon and the US Open last year. Williams took the first set in convincing style, despite starting the match with two double faults. [More]

OAU moves to help Zimbabwe handle land crisis
Posted: Sunday, July 8, 2001

(PANA) The OAU Sunday named a six-nation committee to help Zimbabwe deal with its controversial land reform problem.

In a resolution, the Council of Ministers meeting in Lusaka, Zambia ahead of the OAU Heads of State Summit starting Monday, blamed former colonial power Britain for reneging on promised funding for Zimbabwe's land reforms.

"Recalling that the liberalisation struggle was essentially, ...a struggle by the people of Zimbabwe to reclaim the land which they were dispossessed of by British colonialism," the Council urged Britain to "fulfil the outstanding commitment it undertook during the de-colonisation process by honouring its obligations on the land question."

The resolution says the OAU Committee made up of Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia will promote international
understanding of Zimbabwe's land reforms, and securing support for them.

Nigeria will chair the committee, co-ordinating with Zimbabwe "at all fora wherever the Zimbabwe land issue is raised."

The resolution criticises Britain's opposition to Zimbabwe's land reforms, particularly London's "moves to mobilise European and North American countries to isolate and vilify Zimbabwe leading to the imposition of formal and informal sanctions against it."

Most big powers vehemently oppose Zimbabwe's land reforms, which involve the seizure of idle farms from white farmers to resettle landless blacks.

Just 4,500 white farmers own more than 70 percent of Zimbabwe's arable
land, leaving the majority blacks landless.

The resolution applauded Zimbabwe's ongoing resettlement programme, and the mediation efforts of Nigeria and South Africa in the stand-off between London and Harare on the land issue.

Globalization protesters asking serious questions
Posted: Saturday, July 7, 2001

(jsonline.com) When President Bush meets with the other leading industrial nations at the G-8 conference in Italy this month, weighty topics, including economic development, trade and Third World debt, will be high on the agenda.

What's equally interesting, however, is the agenda of tens of thousands of protesters from around the world who are expected to gather in Genoa. They want to talk about the various ways global corporations such as Monsanto, AOL-Time Warner and McDonald's are undermining cultural diversity and destroying the viability of local communities.

Protests are becoming a familiar part of world political and economic forums. But although the attention often goes to the relatively few violent protesters, there is a bigger message worth listening to. The fact is, we are witnessing the first stirrings of a cultural backlash to globalization whose effects are likely to be significant and far-reaching.

Local cultures are reawakening everywhere in the world. In India, consumers recently trashed McDonald's restaurants for violating Hindu dietary laws. In Germany, there is a heated debate over what is German culture in the era of globalization. In France, angry farmers uprooted Monsanto's genetically engineered crops, claiming that they are a threat to French cultural sovereignty over food production. In Canada, local communities are fighting to keep out the giant Wal-Mart retail chain for fear it will replace traditional small-town culture with suburban super malls. [More]

Exploring the Tombs of Two Egyptian Priests
Posted: Saturday, July 7, 2001

(egyptrevealed.com) The burial chambers of two priests at the Teti pyramid complex at Saqqara were decorated with funerary texts typically reserved for the tombs of Egyptian royalty. Exactly when and why that came about remains unclear, but a team sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Museum is exploring this and many other intriguing aspects unearthed in their nine years of excavations at the Teti complex.

The team’s 2001 season excavated a corridor associated with the tombs of Sekweskhet and Sahathor Ipi, priests during the Twelfth Dynasty 12 (1938-1759 B.C.) who were responsible for maintaining the funerary cult of Teti. Pharaoh Teti reigned from about 2350 to 2338 B.C., during the Old Kingdom’s Sixth Dynasty, but his cult persisted for centuries afterward, well into the Middle Kingdom. [More]

US rejects China's $1m plane bill
Posted: Saturday, July 7, 2001

The United States is refusing to pay China a bill of $1m to cover expenses incurred while a US spy plane was on Chinese soil.
A State Department official said the US Government had no intention of paying the bill, which covers costs over a period of three months.

The 1 April collision with a Chinese fighter jet and the subsequent detention of the EP-3 plane and its crew on Hainan island in southern China triggered a tense stand-off between the US and China.

The $80m plane was dismantled and flown back to the US this week. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the US official said China's expenses claim was "exaggerated". "It's nice to know they have a sense of humour," he said. [More]

Violence flares in Bradford UK
Posted: Saturday, July 7, 2001

Two people have been stabbed and 18 people arrested during violent clashes between white and Asian youths in Bradford.
The trouble started in the city centre and later spread to the Manningham area of the city, the scene of serious rioting six years ago.

Local people said up to 1,000 Asian youths were involved in the trouble but claimed most did not come from Bradford. Police have condemned the violence and appealed for calm. Chief Superintendent Phil Read, of West Yorkshire Police, rejected allegations that officers had dealt with the disorder in a heavy-handed manner.

He made a strong appeal to the people of Bradford to clear the streets. "Over the last four hours there have been sporadic but continuing outbreaks of disorder and violence involving predominantly young men," Chief Supt Read told a news conference. "A number of people have been injured and there has been damage to shops and other properties in and around the city centre."

Chief Supt Read said 18 people - 10 white men, a white woman and seven Asian men - had been arrested, mainly in connection with public order offences. Two white men had received knife injuries - one suffering a slash wound to his back and the other a stab wound to a leg. [More]

Dispute over number of human genes
Posted: Saturday, July 7, 2001

Two rival teams that cracked the human genome may have underestimated the number of human genes, according to a new computer analysis. Scientists in the United States claim humans are built from 66,000 genes, nearly twice as many as the current consensus.

Two draft versions of the human genome were published in February this year, in what was hailed as a landmark in scientific achievement. The publicly funded Human Genome Project and a private US firm, Celera Genomics, put the number of human genes at around 35,000.

Now a third team, based at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, has reanalysed the raw data, using a supercomputer, and come up with a higher estimate for the number of human genes.

"We ended up with a higher estimated number of genes than the other two teams because we compared 13 different gene databases to the DNA sequences in the draft genome produced by the Human Genome Project," said Bo Yuan of Ohio State University. [More]

U.S. to handover Okinawa suspect to Japan
Posted: Friday, July 6, 2001

OKINAWA CITY, Japan, July 6 (UPI) -- The United States agreed Friday to handover a U.S. serviceman accused of rape in Okinawa to Japanese
authorities, reports said.

Quoting official sources Japan's NHK television said Staff Sgt. Timothy Woodland could be turned over to Japanese officials by Friday evening.

Although avoiding a direct comment on the possibility, Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Japan was expecting a response from the United States by the end of Friday.

U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker would meet Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka later Friday to inform her of the U.S. decision to hand over Woodland, NHK reported.

Woodland, 24, of Okinawa's Kadena Air Base, is suspected in the rape of a local woman in her 20s last week at a popular tourist resort. Woodland has denied the allegations.

Call to legalise cannabis rejected
Posted: Friday, July 6, 2001

Downing Street says it will not change its policy on cannabis despite a former Conservative cabinet minister throwing open the debate on legalising the drug.
Former Tory deputy leader Peter Lilley called on Friday for the drug to be made legal, arguing the current law is "unenforceable and indefensible".

While drug pressure groups welcomed the comments and the growing debate on cannabis, the government said its policy to keep the ban remained unchanged.

Former cabinet minister Mr Lilley believes one of the biggest handicaps of the Tories' general election campaign was the perception that the party's policies were negative and punitive.

He is the most senior politician to come out in favour of legalising the drug, although former Cabinet Office Minister Mo Mowlam has called for it to be decriminalised.

Downing Street said people were free to express their views. It knew there was a debate but the government had made its view clear.

"Cannabis is dangerous, it does cause medical problems, cancer, hallucinations - therefore the position has not changed," the prime minister's official spokesman said on Friday.

Mr Lilley told BBC News earlier: "We are forcing cannabis users into the arms of hard drugs pushers. It is that link I wish to break." [More]

Study Examines Genetics In India's Caste System
Posted: Thursday, July 5, 2001

NEW DELHI, India - A team of leading U.S. and Indian genetic scientists have uncovered a strain of genes common to Europeans and upper caste Hindus. "Genetic Evidence on the Origins of Indian Caste Populations," a research paper published in a recent edition of the U.S.-based Genome Research Journal, concludes that higher caste Hindus are closer to Europeans, particularly East Europeans, while lower caste Hindus are more similar to Asians.

The study was conducted by a joint team of genome researchers and anthropologists from the University of Utah, and Andhra University, India. The team was headed by Utah professor Michael Bamshad. According to ancient Sanskrit texts, the rigid Indian caste system governing the Hindu population in India is divided into four broad categories: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (traders) and Shudras (servants).

The Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas are regarded as higher castes as they are considered to be "twice-born" while Shudras belong to the lower caste, born only once. Five different kinds of genetic methods were used by the Indian and American scientists, including DNA sequencing and Y-chromosome analysis. [More]

Cave reveals spectacular secrets
Posted: Thursday, July 5, 2001

Archaeologists in France have discovered a cave in the south-western Dordogne region that they believe to be almost 30,000 years old.

Experts describe a 12-metre-high (40-foot) cave, its walls covered in drawings of mammoths, rhinoceroses, horses, human beings and some strange beasts with long, gaping snouts, which scientists have yet to identify.

The major archaeological find, near the small village of Cussac, was made by an amateur cave explorer last September but it is only now that details of its contents have come to light.

The head of France's National Centre for Prehistory, Norbert Aujoulat, said what had impressed him most had been the monumental nature of the engravings, including a bison four metres long, and some scenes featuring up to 40 figures.

Human remains were also found in the cave, but it is not known if these date from the same period as the drawings. South-western France is well known for its ancient cave paintings, most notably in the famous Lascaux grotto nearby. But archaeologists say that what they have found at Cussac could be equally important. [More]

Clone danger warning
Posted: Thursday, July 5, 2001

Scientists have issued a further warning about the dangers of human cloning. New research suggests that even seemingly healthy animal clones may have subtle genetic abnormalities with unknown consequences.

The warning comes as a group that wants to clone a baby claimed it was close to achieving its goal. The first human clone is likely to be produced "very soon", the scientist leading the project told an American newspaper this week.

Brigitte Boisselier, the director of company Clonaid, told USA Today newspaper that the project was on schedule and the first clone would be produced in the near future. But she refused to be drawn on when that was likely to be and what stage the project was at. [More]

Most mammal species found in Peruvian Amazon
Posted: Wednesday, July 4, 2001

A remote area of rainforest in northeastern Peru defined by three large rivers appears to harbor more species of mammals than anywhere else on Earth. The mammal counts were published in two separate studies from different universities released at nearly the same time this week.

Michael Valqui, a doctoral student in the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences' wildlife ecology and conservation department, began studying the region defined by the Ucayali, Amazon and Yavari rivers in 1994. Since then, he has confirmed the presence of 86 mammal species, excluding bats. [More]

4th of July Earth is greatest distance from the Sun
Posted: Tuesday, July 3, 2001

On the 4th of July Earth will be at its greatest distance from the Sun this year. But don't expect any sudden relief from the heat, say scientists. Northern summer will continue unabated --perhaps even worse than usual-- despite our arrival at a distant part of Earth's orbit called "aphelion."

"Like all planets in our solar system, Earth travels around the Sun in an elliptical orbit," explains astronomy professor George Lebo, a Summer Faculty Fellow at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "We make our closest approach to the Sun (147.5 million km) in January, that's called perihelion, and we're farthest from the Sun (152.6 million km) in July, that's aphelion. This year, aphelion falls on Independence Day in the USA."

The eccentricity of our planet's orbit is mild; aphelion and perihelion differ from the mean Sun-Earth distance by less than 2%. In fact, if you drew Earth's orbit on a sheet of paper it would be difficult to distinguish from a perfect circle. "Seasonal weather patterns are shaped primarily by the 23.5 degree tilt of our planet's spin axis, not by the mild eccentricity of Earth's orbit," notes Lebo. "During northern summer the north pole is tilted toward the Sun. Days are long and the Sun is shining more nearly straight down -- that's what makes July so warm."

Does aphelion bring any relief from northern heat? Yes and no, answers Roy Spencer of the Global Hydrology and Climate Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

"Averaged over the globe, sunlight falling on Earth in July (aphelion) is indeed about 7% less intense than it is in January (perihelion)." That's the good news. The bad news is it's still hot. "In fact," says Spencer, "the average temperature of Earth at aphelion is about 4o F (2.3o C) higher than it is at perihelion." Earth is actually warmer when we're farther from the Sun!

How can that be? It's because our planet is --in a sense-- lopsided. Continents and oceans aren't distributed evenly around the globe. There's more land in the northern hemisphere and more water in the south. During the month of July --near the start of northern summer-- the land-crowded northern half of our planet is tilted toward the Sun. "Earth's temperature (averaged over the entire globe) is slightly higher in July because the Sun is shining down on all that land, which heats up rather easily," says Spencer. [More]

Why Americans Still Don't Vote
Posted: Sunday, July 1, 2001

Francis Fox Piven is professor of political science and sociology at the graduate school of the City University of New York. She is co-author with Richard Cloward of a number of award-winning books, including Regulating the Poor, The Poor People’s Movement, The Breaking of the American Social Compact, and Why Americans Still Don’t Vote. MORE

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