Week ending: Saturday 25th September 2004

How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power
Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany. Confirmation comes from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

Dramatic plea from al-Qa'ida suspect
One of 11 men still detained without trial under anti-terrorism measures drawn up by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, made a dramatic and unprecedented appeal last night to the Iraqi kidnappers of Ken Bigley to spare his life.

Falluja hit by US air strikes
At least eight people have been killed in US strikes on the volatile Iraqi city of Falluja, doctors say. They said 15 other people were injured, as US planes, tanks and artillery units shelled the city which lies about 40 miles (65km) west of Baghdad. Several buildings in the city centre were destroyed, witnesses said. The US military said it targeted a meeting place for fighters loyal to terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed for masterminding many attacks.

Six Egyptians kidnapped in Iraq
Gunmen have seized six Egyptian telecommunication workers, Iraqi officials say, the third in a series of kidnappings of foreigners in the Iraqi capital this month. The six were abducted in two incidents - four technicians Wednesday in a remote location near the Syrian border and two engineers from the company's Baghdad office late Thursday, said Naguib Sawiris, the president of Orascom, an Egyptian-owned cell phone company.

Muslims fear backlash
Government crisis team fears hostage drama could spark extremist attacks
The government's crisis command unit, Cobra, is monitoring tension levels around Britain to guard against extremists using the plight of the British hostage Ken Bigley as an excuse to attack Muslims. Efforts in Britain and Iraq intensified to secure the release of Mr Bigley, 62, who is being threatened with being beheaded by one of the most ruthless groups in Iraq, led by the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Israeli army destroys Gaza homes
Israeli army bulldozers have torn down the homes of more than 200 Palestinians in the Gaza refugee camp of Khan Yunis, United Nations aid officials say. The Israeli military says the operation - a day after mortars fired from Khan Yunis killed a Jewish settler - targeted buildings used by militants. An Israeli missile strike on the camp overnight killed a Palestinian man. The violence comes amid tight security as Israelis commemorate Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

Thousands Arrested, Few Convicted in U.S. Terror War
The United States has arrested thousands of people on terror charges since Sept. 11, 2001, holding some for years without charge, but has seen one high-profile case after another collapse. Critics say the government is paying for hasty, politically motivated accusations it cannot prove, while backers argue that the U.S. legal system is simply unsuited for the war on terror.

Keep power and sewage plants secret, media told
Newspaper editors and television producers are to be asked to avoid referring to such visible installations as sewage works and power stations on the grounds they are potential targets for terrorists. The request has been prompted by growing anxiety in parts of Whitehall, notably the Home Office, concerned not least by a spate of drama documentaries about terrorist attacks.

Pinochet set to face questioning
A judge is shortly due to question Chile's former president and military ruler Augusto Pinochet about allegations of political killings. The interview comes a month after Gen Pinochet lost his legal immunity. Judge Juan Guzman is to visit him at home to ask him about a campaign by South American military governments in the 1970s to kill their opponents. Defence lawyers say the 88-year-old general is too ill to stand trial or even be questioned.

Germany finally honours the 'traitor' spy who gave Nazi secrets to America
Few visitors to Berlin's vast concrete and glass foreign ministry building take much notice of the brass plate bearing the name Fritz Kolbe, affixed just three weeks ago to the door of one of its elegant wood-panelled conference rooms. Most Germans have never heard of Fritz Kolbe. Kolbe was described by the CIA as the most important spy of the Second World War.

UK Muslims seek hostage's release
Two members of the Muslim Council of Britain have landed in Kuwait en route to the Iraqi capital to press for the release of British hostage Ken Bigley. Dr Daud Abdullah and Dr Musharraf Hussain will urge Muslim leaders to put pressure on the kidnappers. The council's secretary general, Iqbal Sacranie, said even in this "dire situation" they still had to have hope. Jack Straw has telephoned Mrs Bigley in Thailand and former Beirut hostage Terry Waite is visiting his UK family.

Rabbi 'dismembered by rent boy'
A trainee rabbi was strangled by a "tattooed rent boy type" and his body dismembered after a night drinking in a gay bar, a court heard yesterday. Gifted linguist Andreas Hinz's limbs and head had been "sawn off", they were wrapped in bin liners and put out for the dustman. But refuse collectors failed to arrive, and a combination of summer heat, a "terrible smell" and a cloud of flies eventually led to the gruesome discovery, London's Southwark crown court was told.

Settlement raid leaves six dead
Three Israeli soldiers have been killed in a Palestinian militant attack on a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. The militants infiltrated the outpost at dawn, under cover of fog. Two of the Palestinians were killed during the gun-battle that followed, and the Israeli army said another who escaped was eventually killed. Hours later, the Israeli army blew up an abandoned house near Netzarim settlement in Gaza, from where it said militants had launched attacks.

Why scientists find diagnoses of 'x-ray' girl hard to stomach
Natasha Demkina has a lot of explaining to do. Sat with her mother and younger sister in a bright London office, the 17-year-old from Saransk, a rundown town 400 miles east of Moscow, seems the typical teenager. But less typically, Natasha claims she possesses an unusual gift. She can, she says, look deep inside people's bodies, watch their organs at work and spot when things are going wrong.

'Mr Blair, please, you can help. I think this is my last chance'
After a day of frantic diplomacy, British hostage Ken Bigley pleads for his life. Ken Bigley, the British hostage being held in Iraq, made a dramatic and emotional appeal last night, asking Tony Blair to intervene and save his life. The appeal was broadcast on an Arabic website. Mr Bigley, 62, looked drained and distraught as he made a plea for concessions from the British and American governments for the release of two women prisoners - a condition that has been demanded by the hostage-takers,

UK hostage's 'release sabotaged'
The brother of British hostage Kenneth Bigley says the US has "sabotaged" his brother's release by refusing to free a detained woman scientist in Iraq. Paul Bigley told the BBC there had been "a shadow of light" when Iraqi ministers said the woman would go free. But the US, which is holding the woman, ruled out any release, saying it would not give in to the kidnappers. Kenneth Bigley was seen in a video appealing to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to help save his life.

The enemy is us
The Army Field Manual describes information operations as the use of strategies such as information denial and psychological warfare to influence decision making. The notion is as old as war itself. With information operations, one seeks to gain and maintain information superiority - control information and you control the battlefield. And in the information age, in which almost anyone can instantly spread falsehoods far and wide, it has become even more imperative to influence adversaries.

Haiti flooding deaths top 1,000
The death toll from flooding in north-western Haiti in the wake of tropical storm Jeanne has risen to more than 1,000, local and UN officials say. Relief workers fear that many more bodies will be found, as waters recede near the stricken city of Gonaives. Rescuers are struggling to aid victims, and burying the dead in mass graves to try to prevent the spread of disease. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed for urgent international aid for Haiti.

CanWest, Reuters at odds over use of 'terrorist'
Reuters news agency says it's "just going to continue to clarify [its] policy" with Canada's largest newspaper chain after an editorial in the chain's flagship daily, the National Post, indicated it would continue to insert the word "terrorist" in stories from Reuters and other wire services.

Mugabe slams 'political God Bush'
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has accused US leader George W Bush of behaving as though he is God, with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair his prophet. He was speaking during a stinging attack on the US-led invasion of Iraq at the UN General Assembly in New York. He said the US and the UK were "raining bombs and hell-fire on innocent Iraqis, purportedly in the name of democracy." Mr Mugabe has long been at loggerheads with the UK, saying the former colonial power is trying to oust him.

Police Officer Detained Over Role in Double Terrorist Attack on Planes
Police captain Mikhail Artamonov has been detained on suspicion of being involved in the terrorist attacks on two Russian passenger jets that crashed almost simultaneously on August 24 of this year. Artamonov is the third suspect to be arrested since the probe was launched. His arrested was sanctioned by a court of law at the request of the transport prosecutor’s office, a source in law enforcement authorities told the Interfax news agency.

Iran warns Israel against strike
Iran has warned Israel it will react "most severely" if Israel uses force to try to destroy its nuclear facilities. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi was responding to reports that the United States is to sell Israel hundreds of "bunker-busting" bombs. Israel urged the United Nations Security Council to take action to stop Iran's nuclear programme. The US and Israel have accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.

Bush Again Confuses IDs of Two Terrorists
President Bush might have been able to say it was simply a slip of the tongue when he confused two terrorists in a campaign speech Monday in New Hampshire. He has made the same misstatement at least 10 times before. During remarks, Bush said the late terrorist Abu Nidal killed Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old Jewish American who died after being tossed - along with his wheelchair - off a hijacked cruise liner named Achille Lauro in 1985. He repeated the mistake at a campaign event in New York City. Actually, it was Abul Abbas, the leader of a violent Palestinian group, who killed Klinghoffer.

Cat Stevens 'shock' at US refusal
The singer formerly known as Cat Stevens converted to Islam in 1977
Yusuf Islam, the British singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, says he was "totally shocked" at being refused entry to the United States. Arriving back in London, Mr Islam said the decision to deny him entry on national security grounds was "crazy" and he wants an explanation. He was travelling to Washington when his flight was diverted to Maine and he was escorted off the plane. Mr Islam was detained by the FBI and told to leave the country.

RFID’s dark side
The devices that read RFID tags are called readers, as you would expect, but originally they had a more ominous name: 'Interrogators,' later changed for PR reasons. The problem with RFID tags was that they broadcast all their information indiscriminately to whichever reading device communicated with them. Thus there was a serious issue of privacy and security for people and organisations that owned that information. 

Iraq PM to address US Congress
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, is to address a joint session of the US Congress. He will also hold talks with President Bush and the two men will give a news conference. Mr Allawi's visit to Washington comes as the future of Iraq takes centre stage in the US election campaign. President Bush will use the prime minister's presence to break out of the defensive posture he's been forced into in recent days.

Device found on Australian plane
An crude incendiary device has been discovered on board a Virgin Blue Boeing 737 airliner at Sydney airport. The device was reported to be a cardboard roll stuffed with explosive and attached to a fireworks sparkler. Australian Transport Minister John Anderson said it was thought to be a hoax. Virgin Blue said a disgruntled airline worker probably planted it. It is the latest in a string of security scares for Australian aviation and comes ahead of a general election.

IMF warns on global house prices
The International Monetary Fund has warned that rising interest rates in some of the world's biggest economies may slow global house price growth. Most at risk are some of the world's richest countries, where the property market has boomed in recent years. Since 1997, house prices are up by at least 50% in nations such as the UK, Spain, Ireland and Australia. The IMF said it is hard to justify all the gains and should house prices dip, then the global economy may suffer.

The deafening sound of the seas
The world's oceans are now so saturated with noise that whales and other marine mammals are dying, biologists say. The UK's Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society is launching a campaign, Oceans of Noise, to tackle what it says is the increasing problem of noise pollution. It says key sources of undersea noise are the search for oil and gas, and the use of low-frequency military sonars. The WDCS is proposing an action plan to regulate submarine noise pollution, and says a worldwide treaty may be needed.

Iraq woman prisoner 'to be freed'
Iraq's justice ministry says one of two female scientists held in US custody will be released. It said the move was not linked to the demands of militants who have killed two Americans and threatened to kill Briton Kenneth Bigley. Militants beheaded the second American, Jack Hensley according to a statement on an Islamist website. The kidnappers have demanded the release of all Iraqi women held in US-run prisons, without naming names.

Photos and videos from inside New York's Pier 57 detention center
On 31 August 2004, during the Republican National Convention in New York City, around 1,200 people were arrested and sent to a makeshift detention/processing center, which used to house city buses, at Pier 57. (Over 1,800 were arrested during the entire RNC.) Images from inside the facility are rare.

Cat Stevens sparks US plane alert
A security alert involving the singer who used to be known as Cat Stevens has forced a London-to-Washington flight to be diverted to another US airport. The plane was already in the air when US officials identified that the singer, whose name is now Yusuf Islam, was on one of their 'watch lists'. United Airlines Flight 919 was diverted 600 miles (1000km), landing in Maine. After an interview, the singer - who converted to Islam in 1977 - was denied entry into the US.

Al Qaeda seen planning for 'spectacular' attackBy Bill Gertz
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded recently that al Qaeda - fearing its credibility is on the line - is moving ahead with plans for a major, "spectacular" attack, despite disruptions of some operations by recent arrests in Britain and Pakistan. Officials said recent intelligence assessments of the group, which is blamed for the September 11 attacks, state that an attack is coming and that the danger will remain high until the Nov. 2 elections and last until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

Car blast rocks western Baghdad
At least six people have been killed and dozens wounded in a suicide car bombing in western Baghdad. Shattered glass and debris littered the street in Jamiyah neighbourhood. The Iraqi capital has seen almost daily bombings in the past two weeks against US forces and their allies, but most of the victims have been civilians.

Classic guerrilla war forming in Iraq
Recent upsurge in attacks against authorities and US forces has parallels, and differences, with past insurgencies. War is never by the books. Adversaries learn and adapt. The political climate shifts on both sides. Loyalties and alliances couple and decouple. The civilian populace - caught in the crossfire - often remains passive just to survive.

Brazilians get tough new gun law
Tough new anti-gun legislation comes into force in Brazil on Wednesday, in a bid to curb what the UN says is the world's fourth-highest murder rate. Under the new rules, anyone carrying a gun without a licence will face a prison sentence. Permits will be issued only to police, security guards and others in high-risk professions - but they must be at least 25 years old. Anyone else caught carrying a firearm will face up to four years in prison.

'Voter terrorism'
For decades, Republicans have mounted highly organized operations to discourage minorities from voting. Experts say there's no reason to believe this year's presidential campaign will be any different.

Four nations launch UN seat bid
Brazil, Germany, Japan and India have launched a joint bid for permanent seats on the UN Security Council. 'The Security Council must reflect the realities of the international community in the 21st Century,' their joint statement said. The four states pledged to back each other's case and said similar status should be given to an African nation. The Council's five veto-wielding permanent members are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Republican senators sound the alarm over Iraq
Reflecting rising concerns, one senior Republican senator said Sunday that the United States was in 'deep trouble' in Iraq; another denounced administration 'incompetence' in Iraqi reconstruction, and two others said that credible elections cannot be held in January unless U.S.-led forces quickly retake several areas from insurgents.

Group 'kills second US hostage'
Militants in Iraq have killed the second of two US civilians they were holding hostage, according to a statement on an Islamist website. The murdered man is thought to be Jack Hensley, who was abducted from Baghdad last week with two other men. One of them, Eugene Armstrong, was seen in a video released on Monday being killed by a masked man - thought to be al-Qaeda suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. A threat to kill Briton Kenneth Bigley, the last hostage, has been renewed.

Bush defends Iraq policies at UN
US President George W Bush has strongly defended his decision to invade Iraq and has called on the United Nations to "do more" to help rebuild the country. Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Mr Bush urged members to support Iraq's interim government. He said every nation that seeks peace had an obligation to tackle oppression and violence. 'There is no safe isolation from terror networks or failed states that shelter them,' Mr Bush said.

Lord Razzall: 'We will be the next government'
The Liberal Democrats will form the first government after Labour loses power, one of the party's general election strategists predicted yesterday. Lord Tim Razzall, a close aide to Charles Kennedy, told activists that the Conservatives were "finished as a serious challengers for government in our adult lifetime" as delegates gave overwhelming backing to the pre-election policy document.

Iran's protest blogger numbers grow
The number of Iranians keeping online journals - weblogs or blogs - has surpassed the 10,000 mark as internet users in the country seek to protest against media censorship. Hundreds of the writers have renamed their blogs after newspapers and websites that have been shut down by the authorities. They have also posted news items from the banned websites on their personal weblogs.

Crime gangs fuel explosion in fly-tipping
Organised crime is working with the construction industry to illegally fly-tip tens of thousands of tonnes of building rubble around Britain, avoiding millions of pounds of landfill taxes and costing landowners large amounts to clear up. The gangs scout available land in advance, work with two-way radios, and may descend on a site with 30 or more unidentifiable lorries in a few hours, says the Environment Agency, which is increasingly concerned over a huge rise in fly-tipping incidents.

Iran converting nuclear material
Iran has begun converting raw uranium into gas which can be used in the process of making nuclear weapons. Iran's atomic energy chief said 37 tons of uranium mineral were converted into fuel used in nuclear centrifuges. The move defies calls by the UN's nuclear watchdog for Iran to suspend all enrichment-related activities. Iran's president said his country will continue developing nuclear technology, even if it leads to international inspections being cut off.

MPs can end the Iraq folly: Tony Benn
At the moment when the prime minister has announced his decision to intensify the war in Iraq and when more British troops may well be sent there, the time has come for new policies to be adopted since we know, in great detail, all the key facts from very authoritative sources.

Renewed appeals by hostage family
The family of a Briton held hostage in Iraq has renewed appeals to negotiate with the kidnappers after another death threat was reportedly issued. Statements on Islamist websites said Kenneth Bigley would die if Iraqi women prisoners were not freed and claimed a second hostage had been beheaded.

More than 600 die in Haiti floods
More than 600 people have died in Haiti after floodwaters raged through the island in the wake of tropical storm Jeanne, UN officials say. Aid agencies counted some 500 bodies in the northern coastal city of Gonaives alone, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti said. And the toll is climbing considerably, a Red Cross spokesman said. Two days of steady rain have washed away entire houses - sometimes reaching up to the third floor.

Iraqi militants kill US hostage
An Islamist website has published a video showing the killing of a US hostage in Iraq. A group said to be led by suspected al-Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it had beheaded the hostage. The Tawhid and Jihad group, holding two Americans and a Briton, had set a 48-hour deadline for Iraqi women prisoners to be freed which had expired. The US recovered the body of the man shown on the tape, naming him as Eugene Armstrong.

Kerry and Bush square off on Iraq
Iraq is again dominating the US election race after Democrat challenger John Kerry denounced President George W Bush's handling of the conflict. In a speech setting out his plans for Iraq's future, he accused Mr Bush of "colossal failures of judgement". President Bush immediately hit back, accusing Mr Kerry of again shifting his positions for political reasons.

Seroxat and Prozac 'can make people homicidal'
Evidence that antidepressant drugs like Seroxat and Prozac could make people homicidal is being ignored by the body responsible for regulating medicines in the UK, a leading expert said. The charge came from David Healy, an expert on psychiatric drugs from north Wales whose warnings that the drugs could cause suicide prompted a major inquiry. That investigation, by an expert working group of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority, led to the entire class of drugs except Prozac being banned last year from use in children.

US tobacco firms set for trial
America's largest tobacco companies go on trial on Tuesday as they face a $280bn (£156bn) government lawsuit. Opening arguments will be heard in the case, in which the Justice Department accuses the companies of deceiving the public about the dangers of smoking. The firms, including Altria Group and RJ Reynolds Tobacco, are also accused of targeting teenagers in advertising. The lawsuit, which is expected to take six months to conclude, was filed by the Clinton administration in 1999.

Moscow Car Bomb Suspect Beaten to Death by Police
Moscow police intercepted a car packed with explosives in central Moscow on Saturday and said they had thwarted a terrorist attack, Russian media reported.
Police found a 200-gram block of TNT, two anti-personnel landmines and a 20-liter canister with gasoline along with detonators and an electronic operating device in an old Lada.

Kennedy targets voters' anxieties
Charles Kennedy told his party conference yesterday that the Liberal Democrats' big idea for the coming election campaign would be to address the "big anxiety" which dominates so many voters' lives. During a question and answer session at the 2004 Bournemouth conference, the Lib Dem leader was rarely a few minutes away from an angry question about the Iraq war and the conduct of Tony Blair.

First Enron criminal trial nears
The first criminal trial involving former Enron staff since the firm's collapse is set to begin. Two employees of the failed US energy giant and four Merrill Lynch executives face criminal charges relating to an Enron transaction in Nigeria in 1999. The trial, one of three pending against Enron staff, could shed light on how the US Justice government will pursue its case against top Enron staff. 14 people have so far pleaded guilty to crimes relating to Enron's collapse.

Pardon for Russian officer would 'spit in the soul of Chechens'
The most senior Russian army officer to have been convicted of war crimes in Chechnya was put forward for a presidential pardon yesterday, less than 18 months after he was found guilty of strangling an 18-year-old Chechen woman.
The suggestion, by the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, a man who was Colonel Yuri Budanov's commanding officer at the time, drew angry protests from human rights groups and Moscow-friendly Chechen politicians.

Blunkett frees terror detainee
One of the 13 detainees interned for nearly three years as suspected international terrorists was released yesterday from a high security prison by the home secretary, David Blunkett, without any detailed explanation being offered. The release of the Algerian national, identified only as D, comes just three months after he was said by a special judicial commission to have a "long history of involvement in terrorist support activity" and the ability and commitment to resume that work were he at liberty in Britain.

Al-Qa'eda will vote for Bush, says envoy
The British ambassador to Rome, Sir Ivor Roberts, caused uproar in Italy yesterday after he accused President George W Bush of being the "best recruiting sergeant" for al-Qa'eda. His private comments were leaked in the Italian press yesterday and caused consternation at the Foreign Office, which said they "did not reflect government policy".

Howard terror plan gets brush-off
Malaysia has dismissed an Australian plan to create regional anti-terrorist police squads, saying it will not allow any violation of its sovereignty. Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said his country could deal with terrorist threats and would not allow "pre-emptive strikes" on its soil. Indonesia and the Philippines also rejected the plan, unveiled by Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Mr Howard faces a general election next month in which security is a key issue.

Poisonous detritus of the electronic revolution
Britain is throwing out more than 1m tonnes of electronic "e-waste" such as broken computer monitors and discarded mobile phones every year, and new government figures show that more than ever is going abroad. Last year, 23,000 tonnes of IT and electronic equipment was shipped out illegally, mostly to China, west Africa, Pakistan and India.

Criminals offered shorter sentences in return for guilty plea
Murderers and other criminals were encouraged to admit their guilt in return for shorter jail terms under new sentencing guidelines for judges and magistrates . Defendants who plead guilty and spare victims the ordeal of giving evidence in court can expect their sentence to be cut by as much as a third, Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, said.

The Lynching of Dan Rather: Greg Palast
"It's that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions," the aging American journalist told the British television audience. In June 2002, Dan Rather looked old, defeated, making a confession he dare not speak on American TV about the deadly censorship -- and self-censorship -- which had seized U.S. newsrooms. After September 11, news on the U.S. tube was bound and gagged. Any reporter who stepped out of line, he said, would be professionally lynched as un-American.

Leader rejects Blair 'second wave' claim
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, yesterday contradicted Tony Blair's claim that there was a new conflict inside Iraq and dismissed fears of a civil war. Speaking in London before flying to Washington, Mr Allawi told a small group of editors: "It's not a second war, as such. It's a big conflict, with people coming to Iraq from various parts - including the European Union, the Middle East and Pakistan - to fight.

Primary school children to use their fingers at meal times
Scottish primary schools are set to pilot a new device that will allow children to buy their lunches with the swipe of a finger. Developed over the past 18 months by Yarg Biometrics in Glasgow, the unit could in the longer term also eliminate the need for security ID cards and credit card PIN numbers. The company, which is a spin-out of Scottish multi media firm ADS Visual Group, hopes to target the fast- growing user-authentication device world market, predicted to be worth $2.6 billion by 2006.

Hundreds rally for peace in Nepal
Several hundred people have taken part in a rally in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, to press for an end to the country's long-running civil war. Buddhist monks and Hindu priests joined schoolchildren, rights activists, lawyers and ordinary Nepalis in lighting candles and singing hymns. The event was held to mark International Day for Peace. Some 9,000 people have died in Nepal since Maoists began an armed struggle for a communist republic in 1996.

Panorama team repudiates Dyke's view of his overthrow
Four BBC journalists have repudiated Greg Dyke's version of the events that led to his removal as director general earlier this year, warning their fellow staff not to become "misty eyed" about a story that does not stand up to scrutiny. John Ware, a reporter for Panorama, and three of his colleagues, accused Mr Dyke yesterday of "dining out" on ambiguities in Andrew Gilligan's original report on Today the programme claiming the government's Iraq dossier was "sexed up".

Grieving Beslan residents suspect death toll cover-up
Beslan residents, desperately searching for their missing relatives, have begun to suspect that the government has underestimated or tried to conceal the true casualty figures from the massacre. The official death toll from the siege 16 days ago has remained at 329. Yet Zhana Gasiyeva, a deputy to the transport minister for North Ossetia, told the Guardian that 1,347 people had been taken hostage - a figure that contradicts the ministry of interior's total of 1,189 and the general prosecutor's figure of 1,156.

Judge Orders U.S. to Release Files on Abu Ghraib
A federal judge in New York, complaining that the Bush administration "shows an indifference" to the freedom of information laws, has ordered the Pentagon and other agencies to produce a list of all their documents on the detentions at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by Oct. 15.

Deadline for Briton facing Iraq execution
Last-ditch attempts to save the life of a British man being held hostage by Iraqi militants were under way last night as a deadline set by his kidnappers loomed. The families of Kenneth Bigley and the two Americans being held with him begged the kidnappers not to carry out a threat to execute the men when the deadline was reached in the early hours this morning. The Foreign Office took the rare step of putting up an official to make an appeal for help on the Arabic satellite television station, al-Arabiya.

French hostages 'freed', claims website
French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has expressed cautious optimism about the fate of the two French journalists being held hostage in Iraq after a message purporting to be from their captors said they had been "freed" on condition that they stay in Iraq and write positive stories about the insurgents. The message, which appeared on an Islamist website, said Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot had "willingly agreed" to stay on and inform the west about the realities of the war and the "truth" about the Iraqi resistance.

Doctors raise doubts over suicide verdicts
Miscarriages of justice are "almost certainly" taking place because of a mistaken belief that it is possible to calculate from blood analysis at a postmortem examination how many tablets somebody swallowed before they died, a group of eminent scientists and doctors says. The article by the group in the British Medical Journal was written after the death of the Iraq arms expert David Kelly and says the measurement of toxic substances in the blood after death is a very inexact science.

Iraq 'on track for January poll'
Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has said elections will take place in January as scheduled, despite continuing violence in the country. Speaking after talks in London with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr Allawi called on the UN to do its utmost to make the election a success. More than 300 people have been killed in the past week in Iraq. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned that credible elections cannot take place if the violence continues.

Microwave gun to be used by US troops on Iraq rioters
Microwave weapons that cause pain without lasting injury are to be issued to American troops in Iraq for the first time as concern mounts over the growing number of civilians killed in fighting. The non-lethal weapons, which use high-powered electromagnetic beams, will be fitted to vehicles already in Iraq, which will allow the system to be introduced as early as next year.

The UK's new rubbish dump: China
When people give their bottles and paper for recycling, writes John Vidal, few realise much of it will end up 8,000 miles away. More than a third of the waste paper and plastic collected by British local authorities, supermarkets and businesses for recycling is being sent 8,000 miles to China without any knowledge of the environmental or social costs - and to the complete surprise of most consumers.

Hamas vows revenge for killing
Militant Palestinian group Hamas has threatened to avenge the killing of one of its members in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Khaled Abu Shamiyeh, 30, died when his car was destroyed by a missile in a northern district of the city. An unarmed Palestinian man was shot dead by the Israeli army in an incident near a Jewish settlement in the central Gaza Strip. His body was handed over to medics, according to Palestinian sources.

Leaks cast doubt on PM's motive
The Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, led fresh demands yesterday for Tony Blair to apologise for his handling of the Iraq war and its aftermath or risk having his reputation permanently tarnished by "bad faith as well as bad judgment". Mr Kennedy seized on weekend disclosures of Whitehall papers confirming pre-war doubts about the consequences of the March 2003 invasion which has resulted in at least 10,000 Iraqi deaths and more than 1,000 among coalition forces.

Kennedy keeps door open to post-election deal with Labour
A bullish Charles Kennedy made plain the scale of his ambition yesterday when he declared his willingness to work with Labour - with or without a formal coalition - if his current success produces a hung parliament at the next election. As the Liberal Democrats' 2004 conference opened in Bournemouth after a year of steady electoral gains, Mr Kennedy asserted that all three main parties would be operating on equal terms at the election, for the first time for at least a generation.

German far right makes poll gains
Far-right parties have made major gains in former communist eastern Germany, early regional election results show. The National Democratic Party (NPD) - which the government has tried to ban - surged to 9% in Saxony, well above the 5% needed to enter parliament there. In neighbouring Brandenburg, the German People's Union (DVU) polled about 6%.

9/11: a hierarchy of suffering
Since 9/11, America has used its victimhood to demand a monopoly on the right to feel and to inflict pain. Victimhood is a powerful, yet contradictory, force. Powerful because, once claimed, it can provide the moral basis for redress, retaliation and even revenge in order to right any given wrong - real or imagined. The defence of everything from the death penalty to affirmative action, Serbian nationalism to equality legislation, are all underpinned, to some degree, by the notion of victimhood. Contradictory because, in order to harness that power, one must first admit weakness. Victims, by their very nature, have less power than their persecutors: victimhood is a passive state - the result of bad things happening to people who are unable to prevent it.

Cannabis chemical pregnancy link
A cannabis-like chemical may be important for normal pregnancy, US researchers believe. Reactions to cannabinoid chemicals were important for the embryo to move along the fallopian tube towards the womb, animal experiments showed. The Vanderbilt University scientists told Nature Medicine their findings could be important for understanding why ectopic pregnancies can occur. This is when the embryo starts to grow outside the womb.

'Perfect storm' threatening press freedom, panelist says
High-profile scandals in the news media, legal challenges to reporters, an increasingly polarized society and blurred lines separating news, commentary and entertainment have created a “perfect storm” over the First Amendment’s protection of press freedom, Washington Post ombudsman Michael Getler said during a panel discussion sponsored by the Newseum.

Britons 'in favour of wind farms'
Three-quarters of Britons believe wind farms are necessary to help meet demand for energy, a survey by the British Wind Energy Association suggests. The body claims the vast majority of the public feels the need for clean sources of renewable energy. The study also suggests 70% of those polled would support the creation of a wind farm in their area. But opponents of wind farms say they are unsightly and point out that wind is an unreliable source of power.

India's 'PATRIOT Act' Repealed
After snaring thousands of politicians, teenagers, politicians, journalists, members of minority communities but few terrorists, India, this week, repealed its "PATRIOT Act" introduced in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. A government statement said the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had at a meeting Friday decided to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) with a new law.

Alice chatbot wins for third time
A computer chat program called Alice has won a prestigious prize for human-like conversation for the third time. It was judged to be chattiest bot out of the four finalists in the Loebner Prize for artificial intelligence held in New York on Sunday. British hopeful, Jabberwacky, came second in the annual competition. The event is based on the Turing Test, which suggests computers could be seen as intelligent if their chat was indistinguishable from those of humans. (see symbolism)

9-11 mysteries remain three years later public still doubts ‘official’ story
Three years after the events of 9-11, half of the residents of New York City believe U.S. leaders had foreknowledge and “consciously failed” to act to prevent the disasters, while two in three want a new investigation of the “still-unanswered questions”. In the first survey of public opinion about allegations of U.S. government complicity and whitewashing of the events of 9-11, a Zogby International poll found that fewer than two in five New Yorkers believe the official 9-11 commission “answered all of the important questions about what actually happened on Sept. 11.”

Net security threats growing fast
More than 30,000 PCs per day are being recruited into secret networks that spread spam and viruses, a study shows. Six months ago only 2,000 Windows machines per day were being recruited into these so-called bot nets. Experts say the numbers are growing quickly because the remotely controlled networks are so useful to people who profit from hacking and virus writing. The figures came to light in Symantec's biannual Internet Threat Report which traces trends in net security.

US hostage wife pleads for mercy
The wife of an American taken hostage with two others in Baghdad has appealed on television for their release. Patty Hensley said her husband Jack was "a simple, generous man" who was "there to help the Iraqi people". Militants have threatened to kill Mr Hensley, American Eugene Armstrong and Briton Kenneth Bigley unless all female Iraqi prisoners are freed.

Blow for Kerry as Nader wins Florida battle
Democratic hopes of winning the White House have suffered a blow after a court ruled that independent candidate Ralph Nader would appear on ballot papers in Florida. Nader has been blamed by many analysts for costing the Democrats victory four years ago after his leftist third-party campaign attracted many voters who would otherwise have backed Al Gore.

More bodies found at Lagos site
Rescuers in Nigeria have recovered more bodies from the site of a huge blast at a fuel pipeline on the outskirts of the commercial capital, Lagos. At least 60 people are now known to have died in the explosion in Ijegun, an island suburb north of Lagos. The blast happened as thieves tried to siphon off petrol from the pipeline. Correspondents say that explosions while people are stealing oil are fairly common in Nigeria.

Revealed: full scale of euthanasia in Britain
British doctors help nearly 20,000 people a year to die, according to one of the UK's leading authorities on euthanasia. The claim, the first public attempt by a credible expert to put a figure on 'assisted dying' rates, will reignite the emotive debate over the practice. Dr Hazel Biggs, director of medical law at the University of Kent and author of Euthanasia: Death with Dignity and the Law, calculates that at least 18,000 people a year are helped to die by doctors who are treating them for terminal illnesses.

New call to ban female mutilation
An international conference on female genital mutilation has ended in Kenya with a fresh call to ban the practice. Campaigners urged more countries to ratify the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa adopted in July 2003. The protocol says women should be protected from harmful customs. It has so far been ratified by just three states, Rwanda, Libya and Comoros. Activists say 90 million African women are victims of female circumcision and other forms of genital mutilation.

Far graver than Vietnam
'Bring them on!" President Bush challenged the early Iraqi insurgency in July of last year. Since then, 812 American soldiers have been killed and 6,290 wounded, according to the Pentagon. Almost every day, in campaign speeches, Bush speaks with bravado about how he is "winning" in Iraq. "Our strategy is succeeding," he boasted to the National Guard convention.

Soldiers say they are being threatened with Iraq duty
Soldiers from a combat unit at Fort Carson say they have been told to re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq. Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last week, two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity told the newspaper.

Iraqi car bomb kills 23 in Kirkuk
A suicide car bomb attack on the Iraqi national guard headquarters in Kirkuk has killed 23 people, officials say. The victims in the northern city were queuing to apply for jobs, said a general in the national guard. Bloodied bodies were strewn across the street, which was littered with twisted metal and shards of glass. Elsewhere, there were repeated attacks on US soldiers near Baghdad airport and US planes carried out fresh strikes on the restive city of Falluja.

Laura Bush heckled during campaign speech
The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq was arrested Thursday after interrupting a campaign speech by first lady Laura Bush. As police hauled her away, she shouted, "Police brutality." Wearing a T-shirt with the message "President Bush You Killed My Son," Sue Niederer of nearby Hopewell screamed questions at the first lady as the audience tried to drown her out by chanting, "Four more years! Four more years!"

US puts Lockerbie payouts in jeopardy
The families of people killed in the Lockerbie bombing are poised to lose millions of dollars in compensation because of the Bush administration's refusal to accept that Libya is no longer involved in terrorism. The US has until midnight on Tuesday to remove Libya from the State Department's "state sponsors of terror" list and lift a number of trade sanctions. If not, more than $1.5bn of outstanding compensation currently held in a special bank account in Switzerland, will be returned to Libya.

British TV documentary traces Illuminati insider to Hertford
A major regional newspaper in Britain reveals that an investigation as part of a forthcoming television documentary has traced a member of the Illuminati to Hertford, a small affluent town in the rural county of Hertfordshire, located on the northern boundary of London. The previous edition of the same weekly newspaper reported recently uncovered local connections with the Knights Templar, a powerful sect with roots dating back at least as far as the medieval Crusades.

Suicide bomb blasts rock Baghdad
Two suicide car bombs have hit central Baghdad within hours of each other, killing at least five people. The dead are reported to be from a police convoy targeted in the Rashid Street shopping district, after an earlier blast near a checkpoint.
Reports say the blasts came amid a massive security crackdown across the capital city. Earlier, dozens of people were killed in US air strikes on the restive city of Falluja, west of Baghdad.

Royal links of the Commons invaders
Two of the eight men believed to have stormed the House of Commons during the pro-hunt protests on Wednesday are close friends of the Prince of Wales and his sons. One of the men is considered by Prince Charles to be a "safe pair of hands" for William and Harry. Three other alleged protesters form part of the close-knit country set that dominates the upper echelons of society in Gloucestershire, home to the Prince of Wales's Highgrove estate.

Chechen rebel claims Beslan siege
Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev has said he organised the Russian school siege in which at least 320 hostages were killed, many of them children. In a letter published by leading rebel websites, he said a suicide battalion had carried out the Beslan attack. The letter also claimed bomb attacks on two Russian airliners and a Moscow metro station this summer.

BNP wins first London seat since 1993
The openly-racist British National party last night won its first council seat in the capital since 1993, with a landslide victory in an east London borough. In a byelection last night, the far-right party's candidate, Daniel Kelley, gained from Labour with a 470 majority at Barking and Dagenham Council's Goresbrook ward. The BNP had not fought the seat in the borough's last polls in 2002.

Who kidnapped the two Italian aid workers?
A leading British daily Thursday, September 16, cast heavy doubts on the identity of kidnappers that snatched two Italian aid workers in Baghdad days ago, citing clear differences in the style of carrying out the operation. The Guardian said the kidnapping of Simona Torretta and Simona Pari has the mark of an undercover foreign operation in a bid to discredit the unabated Iraqi resistance against US occupation forces.

Who seized Simona Torretta?
Nothing about this kidnapping fits the pattern of other abductions. Most are opportunistic attacks on treacherous stretches of road. Torretta and her colleagues were coldly hunted down in their home. And while mujahideen in Iraq scrupulously hide their identities, making sure to wrap their faces in scarves, these kidnappers were bare-faced and clean-shaven, some in business suits. One assailant was addressed by the others as "sir". This Iraqi kidnapping has the mark of an undercover police operation.

Woman wearing 'President Bush You Killed My Son' T-shirt arrested
A mother whose son was killed in Iraq has been arrested for protesting during a New Jersey campaign speech by first lady Laura Bush. The woman was charged with trespassing and later released. She wore a shirt that read, "President Bush, You Killed my Son" to the New Jersey rally. Sue Niederer of Hopewell, New Jersey interrupted Bush's speech demanding to know why her son (Army First Lieutenant Seth Dvorin) had to die. She continued shouting even as Secret Service and local police escorted her out of the event in handcuffs.

Candidate 'poisoned' in Ukraine
A Ukrainian opposition leader and presidential candidate is recovering in hospital in Vienna after an alleged attempt to poison him. Viktor Yushchenko arrived in the Austrian capital a week ago after falling ill with what was thought at the time to be food poisoning. But doctors found "chemical substances" inside the candidate, an aide said.

Proposal could make way for foreign-born presidents
Dana Rohrabacher’s proposal would allow anyone who’s been a U.S. citizen for 20 years to run for the nation’s highest office. That would include Arnold Schwarzenegger – bodybuilder, movie star and now governor of California. Schwarzenegger, who became a citizen in 1983, has said he supports amending the Constitution so foreign-born citizens can run for president.

DEA Agent’s Whistleblower Case Exposes the 'War on Drugs'
Former DEA agent Richard Horn has been fighting the U.S. government for the past 10 years trying to prove the CIA illegally spied on him as part of an effort to thwart his mission in the Southeast Asian country of Burma. After being removed from his post in Burma, Horn filed litigation in federal court in Washington, D.C., in 1994 accusing top officials for the CIA and State Department in Burma of violating his Fourth Amendment rights.

France says hostages still alive
Two French journalists taken hostage in Iraq are believed to be alive and safe, France's defence minister has said. But Sunni Muslim clerics in Iraq say efforts to free them are being hampered by the escalation of security operations led by US forces. Australia is investigating whether a body found north of Baghdad is that of one of its citizens.

'President Bush thwarted our attempts at every turn'
Over the last three years, the group of 9/11 widows turned activists dubbed the "Jersey Girls" have become a fixture on the Washington political scene. Some of them are Republicans, others Democrats or independents. But they are all determined to hold official Washington accountable for the attacks that killed their husbands and nearly 3,000 others.

Interview: Whistleblower Katharine Gun
Despite spending months feeling scared and facing prosecution and, perhaps worst of all, finding herself thrust into the media spotlight she says she has no regrets. That's not to say she doesn't have words of caution for would-be whistleblowers
"Hopefully it's a decision that no-one would take lightly," she said when we met at a fringe meeting organised by civil rights organisation Liberty at the TUC in Brighton.

U.S. Intelligence Shows Pessimism on Iraq's Future
A classified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush in late July spells out a dark assessment of prospects for Iraq, government officials said. The estimate outlines three possibilities for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst case being developments that could lead to civil war, the officials said. The most favorable outcome described is an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in political, economic and security terms.

Three foreigners 'seized in Iraq'
Three foreign nationals have been abducted in Baghdad, according to the Iraqi interior ministry. A spokesman said that gunmen seized the men - reported to be two Americans and a Briton - at dawn from a house in Baghdad's Mansour neighbourhood. They are all believed to be civilians. First reports said they were Britons. Shortly afterwards, a loud blast hit a residential area in central Baghdad. At least one person was killed and several were injured.

Insider suspected of worst security breach
A broken cardswipe machine was the weak spot that allowed pro-hunt demonstrators to achieve the most serious breach of Commons security in living memory. The fact that the Palace of Westminster currently resembles a building site also gave them cover for their audacious stunt. Four months after Tony Blair was struck by purple flour hurled from the public gallery, a fundamental overhaul of the Commons security operation was inevitable last night.

BBC tipped off about protest
The BBC last night revealed it had been alerted in advance about protesters' plans to storm the House of Commons, resulting in the worst breach of parliamentary security in hundreds of years. Introducing his report on the invasion of the Commons on the 10pm news, the BBC's political editor, Andrew Marr, said the BBC had been tipped off that the protest was going to happen but the person who received the information had dismissed it.

Armed guard for MPs after protest
Armed police are guarding the Commons chamber for the first time on Thursday after pro-hunt protesters burst in as MPs debated a hunting ban. Eight men were arrested and will be questioned by police on suspicion of forgery, burglary with intent to commit criminal damage and violent disorder. The head of the Metropolitan Police says the invasion seems an inside job.

Four Sue over GWB jailing on 9/11
Four young Israeli men arrested as terror suspects on the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 11, 2001, have filed a multimillion-dollar suit against the Justice Department. The plaintiffs - ages 22 to 26 - say they were held for two months without access to lawyers or family at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where they were roughly interrogated, assaulted, deprived of sleep and subjected to racist taunts from guards. The suit alleges civil rights violations.

Two Sue Feds Over Anti-Bush T-Shirt Arrest
A couple arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts to a July 4 presidential appearance filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday alleging their First Amendment rights were violated. Nicole and Jeff Rank were removed from the event at the West Virginia Capitol in handcuffs after revealing T-shirts with President Bush's name crossed out on the front. Nicole Rank's shirt had the words "Love America, Hate Bush" on the back and Jeff Rank's said "Regime change starts at home."

Karzai aborts visit after blast
President Hamid Karzai has cut short a visit in south-eastern Afghanistan after a suspected rocket attack near an air base where he was arriving. President Karzai's helicopters were landing at an air base near Gardez in Paktia province when an explosion was heard, a president spokesman said. He was due to open a new road and school in Gardez. President Karzai's American bodyguards decided to abort the visit and fly him back to the capital, Kabul.

Indonesia editor jailed for libel
The editor of a prominent Indonesian magazine has been sentenced to jail after a high-profile libel case. Tempo magazine editor Bambang Harimurty was found guilty of libelling a prominent businessman, Tomy Winata. The case has caused concern because the charges were brought under Indonesia's criminal code, not its press law.

Iraq war illegal, says Annan
The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told the BBC the US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter. He said the decision to take action in Iraq should have been made by the Security Council, not unilaterally. The UK government responded by saying the attorney-general made the "legal basis... clear at the time".

Decapitated bodies found in Iraq
Three unidentified beheaded bodies have been found on a road north of Baghdad, US and Iraqi sources say. They were discovered by members of the Iraqi National Guard, dumped in nylon bags near Dijiel, about 40km (25 miles) from the capital. There are conflicting reports as to whether the male corpses are those of Arabs or foreigners. Iraqi police were quoted as saying the bodies bore tattoos with Arabic or Turkish writing.

Iraq: a descent into civil war?
Lying amid the debris strewn near Al-Karkh police station was the photo of a young man in a blue T-shirt. The passport snap had been part of his application to join Iraq's police force. Yesterday, however, he and dozens of other recruits queueing outside the station in central Baghdad were blown to pieces by a car bomb. Near the photo, someone had heaped the shoes of the dead and injured into a neat pile.

Israelis kill seven Palestinians
Israeli forces have killed an 11-year-old Palestinian girl and six militants in the West Bank town of Nablus. The fighting began after troops from elite naval commando unit Shayetet 13 surrounded a building housing militants in Nablus's Old City before dawn. About 20 jeeps and tanks took part in the operation, with aerial cover from an Israeli helicopter. The dead men were from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It is not clear whether the young girl, Mariam al-Nahleh, was killed in the same house.

Sailors rescued after eight days in life-raft
Five people were rescued by coastguards today after spending eight days at sea in a life-raft. The survivors were picked up off the coast of Cornwall this morning and are being treated in hospital, a coastguard spokesman said. The five seamen and their vessel, which had left Ireland, had been reported missing after it did not arrive at its destination in France.

Spain arrests militant suspects
Spanish police have arrested at least 10 suspected Islamic militants in a series of pre-dawn raids in Barcelona. Spanish judicial authorities say that most of the detainees are of Pakistani origin. Police said they found no arms or explosives in the raids on several premises, including private homes.

Art show sees Europe as 'new Roman Empire'
The European Union is poised to overtake America to become the premier superpower, according to an EU exhibition launched yesterday in the heart of Brussels. The pop-art collage mounted in a tent outside the European Commission narrates 50 years of EU history and projects events into the future in an unusually frank display of European ambition.

Brazil is world 'hacking capital'
Brazil has become the global capital for computer hacking and internet fraud, according to experts meeting in the country's capital, Brasilia. Some 500 experts from around the world are attending the first international conference to combat electronic crime. Brazil is home to eight out of 10 of the world's hackers, according to federal police at the conference. Within Brazil, the amount of money lost in internet financial fraud outstrips that lost through bank robberies.

Hurricane onslaught may blow hole in US economy
As hurricane Ivan roared northwards yesterday through the Gulf of Mexico towards landfall in the US as early as this evening, Wall Street analysts warned that the damage could extend into the wider economy. It has been 40 years since three serious hurricanes struck the US in a season and the economic impact on this occasion could be marked. Most experts predict a storm-related drop-off in GDP figures in the third and fourth quarters.

Defence plea in 'vigilante' trial
The trial of three Americans accused of torturing Afghans has resumed in Kabul, with their lawyer demanding the charges be thrown out. Jonathan Idema, Edward Caraballo and Brent Bennett were arrested in July. Mr Idema, whom the US calls a bounty hunter, says he was working with the approval of the Pentagon. It denies having any ties with the men.

Corrupt' Zimbabwe officials accused of faking elephant tally
Senior Zimbabwean officials have inflated the official number of elephants in the country so they can benefit from the ivory trade, a conservationist said yesterday. Johnny Rodrigues of the Zimbabwean Conservation Taskforce said the elephant population had fallen to 60,000 at the most, yet the government put the figure at more than 100,000.

Americans flee as hurricane nears
Hundreds of thousands of people are evacuating their homes along the southern US coast, as Hurricane Ivan heads inland from the Gulf of Mexico. A state of emergency has been declared in Florida, Louisiana and Alabama, and nearly two million people have been urged to flee to higher ground. Major roads out are jammed with traffic and ports and airports have closed.

Fur flies over cat-killing film
Animal rights activists have held a protest in Canada at the premiere of a documentary about three artists who videoed themselves killing a cat. Demonstrators urged ticket-holders at the Toronto Film Festival to boycott Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat. The documentary shows interviews with artists, police and activists - but not the animal's mutilation and death.

Kidnapped Canadian journalist freed in Iraq
Canadian military writer and publisher Scott Taylor is safe after being held captive for five days in Iraq. Taylor, who was abducted in the town of Talafar by an unknown group of men, was released four days later. He said he and a Turkish journalist were taken by police and told to get into a car with some masked gunmen. He said he was turned over to a group linked to al-Qaeda.

Dozens killed by Baghdad car bomb
A car bomb has exploded close to an Iraqi police station in central Baghdad, killing 47 people, health ministry officials say. More than 100 people were injured in the huge mid-morning blast, which devastated a busy shopping area in Haifa Street. Witnesses spoke of body parts and twisted debris scattered across a wide area, and a large crater in the road. Meanwhile, police say gunmen have shot dead 12 policemen north of Baghdad.

Powell says US intelligence k