Week ending: Saturday 16th October 2004

Indymedia seizures: a trawl for Genoa G8 trial cover-up?
Updated Indymedia and other interested parties are to seek an injunction preventing the export of the contents of the servers that were seized last week. This content is thought to have included correspondence with lawyers involved in the case against Genoa police accused of grievous bodily harm, falsifying evidence, slander and abuse of police powers, during and subsequent to the 2001 G8 summit. The servers housed data belonging to a number of Indymedia journalists, including Mark Covell, who was beaten close to death by Genoa police, and is now involved in actions against them. One demonstrator was shot dead by police. Covell told The Register that email to his lawyers in Italy is likely to have been on the servers, and that a number of separate challenges to the seizures were pending. The injunction is likely to be sought by human rights solicitor Gareth Peirce within the next 24 hours.

The making of the terror myth
Since the attacks on the United States in September 2001, there have been more than a thousand references in British national newspapers, working out at almost one every single day, to the phrase 'dirty bomb'. There have been articles about how such a device can use ordinary explosives to spread lethal radiation; about how London would be evacuated in the event of such a detonation; about the Home Secretary David Blunkett's statement on terrorism in November 2002 that specifically raised the possibility of a dirty bomb being planted in Britain; and about the arrests of several groups of people, the latest only last month, for allegedly plotting exactly that.

The Poluted Planet: Global study finds one-third of amphibians face extinction
Alarm as global study finds one-third of amphibians face extinction. They were the first animals with backbones to walk on land. They witnessed the rise and fall of the dinosaurs and were present at the birth of a bipedal ape who went on to become the most destructive species the planet has ever known. Amphibians - frogs, toads, newts and salamanders - are among the longest surviving animals on earth, yet something dramatic now threatens that longevity. And mankind is responsible.

Google search becomes personal
Google is expanding the borders of its search empire into people's computers. The net giant has released a preliminary version of a desktop program that will search computer hard drives, as well as the web. 'We think of this as the photographic memory of your computer,' said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer web products. Others like Microsoft and Apple are planning similar search tools to find information buried in a hard drive.

Poll reveals world anger at Bush
George Bush has squandered a wealth of sympathy around the world towards America since September 11 with public opinion in 10 leading countries - including some of its closest allies - growing more hostile to the United States while he has been in office. According to a survey, voters in eight out of the 10 countries, including Britain, want to see the Democrat challenger, John Kerry, defeat President Bush in next month's US presidential election.

Bar code implant calls up medical data
FDA approval draws fire from advocates of personal privacy. A microchip that can be implanted under the skin to give doctors instant access to a patient's records was approved by the government Wednesday, a step that could revolutionize medical care but is raising alarm among privacy advocates. The tiny electronic capsule, the first such device to receive Food and Drug Administration approval, transmits a unique code to a special scanner that allows doctors to confirm a patient's identity and obtain detailed medical information from an accompanying database.

This week's casualty: the legal case for war in Iraq
It can only be a matter of time before the invasion is challenged in court. It is a characteristic of modern, aerial warfare that it leaves behind more casualties among civilians than among combatants; and in a developing country such as Iraq where half the population is under 14, many of them will be children. Any decision to go to war, in full knowledge of the casualties that will follow, therefore has to be born out of necessity and built on cast-iron certainty. The awful truth that is now clear is that the Iraq war was not necessary and was based, in the Joint Intelligence Committee's own words, on 'sporadic and patchy' intelligence which has turned out to be wholly false.

Vietnam's Christians persecuted as state sees hidden enemy
Amid the graceful pagodas, temples and French Colonial architecture, the Protestant church in Hanoi is a very ordinary building. The Vietnamese congregation sings enthusiastically, maybe unaware a government official is watching them. The pastor sits at the back of the church. 'I don't have government permission to give an interview,' he said, sweat running down his face even though it was a rare cold day in Hanoi. Foreign journalists are accompanied everywhere by government minders and it is dangerous for Vietnamese to criticise the government, especially during a visit to one of just 300 legal churches that service Vietnam's two million Protestants.

US planes step up Falluja attacks
US forces have been carrying out intense air and ground strikes on the rebel-held Iraqi city of Falluja. Hospital sources say at least eight people have been killed and several injured in the strikes, which residents described as the heaviest for weeks. They follow a call by Iraqi leaders for residents to give up the country's most wanted militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The strikes came as a suspected car bomb in the capital Baghdad injured five police and five civilians.

Insurgents strike at heart of America's power in Baghdad
Bombers in Baghdad took the war to the very heart of US power in Iraq yesterday when two blasts inside the supposedly impregnable Green Zone killed 10 people, four of them Americans, and injured 20. Tawhid and Jihad, a group led by the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility. Last night US forces launched a major offensive on Fallujah, where the militant leader is believed to be based. The town was pounded from the air by warplanes and helicopter gunships and heavy artillery and tanks on the ground. Two US Marine battalions began to advance into the town from the north and east.

Debate Inaccuracies Turning Into Classics
The last presidential debate highlighted words President Bush forgot he had spoken, a meeting John Kerry thought never happened, but did, and a refusal on both sides to back off questionable statements that have practically become classics through repetition. Kerry claimed once more that Bush has lost 1.6 million jobs, about twice as many as have actually disappeared. The persistent discrepancy comes from his not saying that the losses he speaks of are in the private sector, and are mitigated by job gains in public service. He let go of another regular misstatement, however, this time using an accurate figure on the cost of the Iraq war.

Judge tells Blunkett to relax restrictions on terror suspect
The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, was ordered by a judge yesterday to lift restrictions on the rights of access and movement of a foreign terror suspect held in prison and under house arrest for nearly three years without charge. The Algerian national, known only as G, was released from Belmarsh prison in April after a court accepted there were serious concerns about his mental and physical health.

Another Texas Chupacabra?
Local animal experts are having a hard time identifying a strange looking animal killed in Angelina County on Friday - an animal that looks eerily similar to the as yet unidentified 'Elmendorf Beast' killed near San Antonio earlier this year. 'What is that?' are the first words out of anyone's mouth when shown photos of the animal, according to Stacy Womack. Womack - who has more than 20 years experience working at Ellen Trout Zoo and for a local veterinarian - said she's seen and handled a lot of different animals, but that she's never seen anything like this one.
'It's not a dog,' she said. The animal's blue-grey skin is almost hairless and appears to be covered with mange. A closer look at the animal's jaw line reveals a serious overbite and four huge canine teeth, and a long, rat-like tail curls behind the animal's emaciated frame.

FBI returns seized news servers
Servers seized by the FBI from the alternative media network known as Indymedia have been returned. The servers in the outskirts of London were taken last week by the FBI which said it was acting on behalf of Italian and Swiss authorities. Indymedia hosts sites, news and radio feeds for anti-globalisation groups and other campaigners for social justice. The media group is now taking legal advice about what action it can take over the seizure of its hardware.

Bush’s civil rights record
This reeks, even for Washington’s toxic partisan hijinks. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will not discuss a 180-page report on President Bush’s abysmal record on the subject of civil rights until after the election. If you want to read the report, go to www.usccr.gov . Just don’t expect any one of the seven commissioners to talk about it. Republican members of the commission so objected to the report’s timing that the commission voted 6-1 to withhold comment until Nov. 12. “I think it’s an unfair report, and I think it’s a politically biased report, and I think its release at this time is politically motivated,” said Commissioner Jennifer C.

Israel 'worried over world image'
A secret Israeli report warns Israel's world image could fall as low as South Africa's during the apartheid era in the next decade, local media report. Israeli army radio said the report had been prepared by the foreign ministry. The station said the report's main finding was that Israel could end up being regarded as a pariah state. It said the report, which focuses in particular on Israel's relations with Europe, says Israel and the EU could find themselves on a collision course.Braceras.

Contest to break the billion dollar barrier
The US presidential contest is set to be the first billion dollar election in political history. According to the latest official figures, George Bush and John Kerry together have raised more than $500m, double the previous record set by Mr Bush and Al Gore in 2000. Allies and surrogates operating through a loophole in the campaign finance laws have amassed a further $330m and are still rapidly sucking in cash, most of which will be thrown into the Bush-Kerry duel in the form of attack advertisements.

Peace activists remain undaunted
A play based on the diaries of British peace activist Tom Hurndall has been broadcast by the BBC. Mr Hurndall was shot in April 2003 while working with children in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, and died after spending 10 months in a coma. An Israeli soldier has been indicted on charges relating to the shooting, including one of aggravated assault. Mr Hurndall had been working closely with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) - a Palestinian-led group which campaigns against the Israeli occupation using non-violence.

Tortured terror suspects have mental illnesses, say doctors
Eight foreign terror suspects held without trial for nearly three years in British prisons have experienced mental torture and are now suffering from serious psychiatric illnesses, a team of doctors revealed yesterday. Their findings showed that all of the men have self-harmed and considered suicide and one has attempted to take his own life by hanging himself. The men and three of their wives have been interviewed by a team of 11 eminent consultant psychiatrists and one leading consultant psychologist.

Hundreds of Kurds found buried in Iraq mass graves
US investigators preparing war crimes trials against Saddam Hussein and his deputies have uncovered the bodies of hundreds of Kurdish men, women and children in the first forensic exhumation of a mass grave in Iraq. The grave site, in Hatra, near the ancient city of Nineveh, is thought to hold the bodies of several thousand Kurds in nine separate trenches. One, named Grave 002, holds the corpses of around 300 women and children. 'It is my personal opinion that this is a killing field. Someone used this field on significant occasions over time to take bodies up there, and to take people up there and execute them,' said Greg Kehoe, a former US federal prosecutor.

Checking the Facts, in Advance
It's not hard to predict what President Bush, who sounds increasingly desperate, will say tomorrow. Mr. Bush's statements are fundamentally dishonest. He is insisting that black is white, and that failure is success. Journalists who play it safe by spending equal time exposing his lies and parsing whilst Mr. Kerry's choice of words are betraying their readers. Here are eight of Bush's lies or distortions you'll hear, and the truth about each:

Blair under fire on Iraq claims
Tony Blair has apologised for mistakes in pre-war intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction but has denied deliberately deceiving anyone. The prime minister came under further pressure from Tory leader Michael Howard who urged him to apologise for misrepresenting the intelligence. Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy accused him of waging an illegal war. The clashes follow the withdrawal of the claim Iraq could use the weapons at 45 minutes' notice.

Bush special envoy embroiled in controversy over Iraq debt
President Bush's special envoy, James Baker, who has been trying to persuade the world to forgive Iraq's crushing debts, is simultaneously working for a commercial concern that is trying to recover money from Iraq, according to confidential documents. Mr Baker's Carlyle Group is in a consortium secretly proposing to try to collect $27bn (£15bn) on behalf of Kuwait, one of Iraq's biggest creditors, by using high-level political influence. It claims Mr Baker will not benefit personally, but the consortium could make millions in fees, retainers and commission as a result.

Bush Sr brands Moore 'slimeball'
George Bush Sr dismissed Michael Moore's 'lies about my family'
Former US President George Bush, father of the current president, has attacked film-maker Michael Moore as a 'slimeball' for Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore's controversial documentary makes links between the Bush family and the Bin Laden and Saudi royal dynasties. Speaking to WCSH-TV in Maine, US, the former president said Moore was a 'total ass, slimeball'. He added it was 'outrageous, his lies about my family'.

Investigation into Trashed Voter Registrations
Federal, state, and local officials are gathering information about allegations of voter registration fraud. An employee of a private voter registration firm alleges that his bosses trashed registration forms filled out by Democratic voters because they only wanted to sign up Republican voters. The allegations have set off a political firestorm stretching from Las Vegas to Washington D.C., and beyond.

Cargo aircraft crashes in Canada
A cargo plane has crashed on take-off from Halifax, Canada, leaving all seven crew members feared dead. The Ghana-registered MK Airlines Boeing 747 plane crashed into a quarry at the end of the runway at about 0340 local time (0740 GMT), Canadian media says. Canadian radio said a local hospital had called off its code orange alert - suggesting no survivors are expected. An MK Airlines spokesman said the crew were Zimbabwean and South African, but some reports say they included Britons. The cause of the crash is unknown.

Scavenger Hunt
E. Howard Hunt is one of the most notorious spies of the 20th century. The son of an influential Republican leader in upstate New York, Hunt began his career as a founding member of the OSS, the precursor of the CIA in the 1940s. After beginning as an intelligence operative in China, Hunt trailblazed the path for the CIA in Latin America from 1950 to 1970, ever on the lookout for the Communist menace. By his account, he was the architect of the 1954 U.S.-backed coup ('Operation Success') in Guatemala that deposed democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz. Adept at psych ops (propaganda and subversion) and running 'black flights' (covert operations), he also played a role in the Bay of Pigs.

Bigley captors' UK 'funds' frozen
The Treasury says the move is not a direct response to Bigley's death
Any assets held in Britain by the group which kidnapped and murdered British engineer Ken Bigley are to be frozen. Chancellor Gordon Brown told the Bank of England to give the order to all financial institutions. News of Mr Bigley's murder broke last Friday amid reports he had tried to flee from his captors shortly before his death. He had been held by the Tawhid and Jihad group, led by Jordanian militant Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi.

Al Qaeda suspects have 'disappeared'
At least 11 al Qaeda suspects have 'disappeared' in U.S. custody, and some may have been tortured, Human Rights Watch said in a report..The prisoners are probably being held outside the United States without access to the Red Cross or any oversight of their treatment, the human rights group said. In some cases, the United States will not even acknowledge the prisoners are in custody.

Eight dead in Iraq's Green Zone
Eight people have been killed and four have been wounded in attacks on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, the US military says. A column of smoke rose above the zone after two loud blasts were heard. At least one is believed to have been a suicide attack. The blasts happened at a popular cafe and a souvenir bazaar. Insurgents have frequently attacked the Green Zone, where Iraqi government offices and US forces are based.

Terror Fears Only Card Bush Has To Play
Someday, President George W. Bush may have to explain why he really went to war against Iraq. But you won't hear it with his re-election at stake and his credibility on the line. Public opinion polls continue to show a tight presidential race, which suggests to me that voters have devalued the importance of credibility in top government officials.How else can one make sense of the fact that the president continues to do well in the polls despite the total collapse of his credibility about the reasons for invading Iraq?

Two held after grave desecration
Two men have been arrested over the theft of an 82-year-old woman's body from a graveyard, detectives have said. Police believe animal rights extremists may be responsible for digging up the remains of Gladys Hammond in Yoxall, near Lichfield. Her son-in-law helps to run a farm in Staffordshire which breeds guinea pigs for medical research.

Breaking Ranks
Mike Hoffman would not be the guy his buddies would expect to see leading a protest movement. The son of a steelworker and a high school janitor from Allentown, Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1999 as an artilleryman to “blow things up.” His transformation into an activist came the hard way—on the streets of Baghdad. When Hoffman arrived in Kuwait in February 2003, his unit’s highest-ranking enlisted man laid out the mission in stark terms. “You’re not going to make Iraq safe for democracy,” the sergeant said. “You are going for one reason alone: oil. But you’re still going to go, because you signed a contract.

Iraq says nuclear sites 'secure'
Iraq's interim government is playing down concerns over the disappearance of materials from nuclear sites that could be used to make atomic weapons. The UN nuclear monitoring agency says satellite imagery shows that entire buildings have been dismantled and specialised equipment is missing. Interim Technology Minister Rashid Omar said equipment was taken by looters soon after the US-led invasion.
But since then he has said that Iraq's nuclear facilities had been secured.

TV stations clear schedule for Kerry attack
The owner of the largest chain of television stations in the US and a huge contributor to Republican causes is to disrupt its regular programming schedules two weeks before the election to air a documentary highly critical of the Democratic challenger John Kerry. Officials from Sinclair Broadcasting confirmed that the company has ordered its 62 stations - many of them in the swing states of Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Iowa - to air Stolen Honour: Wounds that Never Heal, during primetime slots next week.

Bomb 'targets Gaza security head'
A car bomb has exploded near the convoy of a Palestinian security chief, Moussa Arafat, in what security sources say was an apparent assassination attempt. The blast happened as the convoy was leaving a Palestinian security headquarters building. Security officials and witnesses said Mr Arafat, a controversial relative of the Palestinian leader, was uninjured. Moussa Arafat's appointment earlier this year as overall commander of Gaza security was greeted by protests.

Report says U.S. wasted chances for Zarqawi
Reports have emerged that the United States missed three opportunities to kill Iraqi rebel leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi at his poison gas lab. The Jordanian-born militant who has ties to al-Qaida is blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq. In June 2002, U.S. officials said they had information suggesting he and al-Qaida were producing deadly ricin and cyanide at the newly-built laboratory at Kirma in the north. The Pentagon drew up an attack plan with cruise missiles and air-strikes, but the National Security Council at the White House decided against taking any action.

Moscow children ordered to wear ID tags
In the wake of the terror attack on a Beslan school, Moscow children will soon be ordered to wear state-issued ID tags. Yuri Popov, head of the Moscow city assembly's security and legislation committee, said the children will also have to carry a small document similar to a passport. The passport will give the child's name, address, telephone number, blood type, fingerprints and details of any allergies to medicines, he said. It will also include advice on how to act in the event of an emergency, such as a terrorist attack.

11 terror suspects 'disappear' in US custody
At least 11 al-Qaida suspects have 'disappeared' in US custody, and some may have been tortured, according to a report out today from Human Rights Watch. The prisoners are being held without access to their families, lawyers or even the Red Cross. They are probably being held outside the US, the report said. In some cases, US authorities will not even acknowledge the prisoners are in custody.

Straw: 45-min claim withdrawn
Jack Straw today revealed that the intelligence services have withdrawn the controversial claim that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction could be ready within 45 minutes, but insisted that 'the judgment was right' to go to war. Briefing MPs on the situation in Iraq - taking in the Kenneth Bigley hostage saga, the Iraq Survey Group report and the upcoming elections - the foreign secretary conceded that 'some of the intelligence was wrong' on Iraqi WMD.

Arafat blames Israel for Egypt bombing
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat hinted yesterday Israel was behind the massive suicide attacks in Sinai last week and said the PA is in discussions with the Egyptian government concerning the charge. The massive bomb attack on a Red Sea resort in Taba, just across the border in Egypt, left about three dozen people dead. Referencing Israel's Shin Bet head Avi Dichter's warning about the possibility of an attack on Israeli tourists in Sinai a few weeks before the bombings occurred, Arafat said last night, 'These are important statements. Why didn't he inform us and the Egyptians about the information? What happened in Taba is a big crime.'

Insiders Predict Bin Laden to Be Caught Before Election
There is growing speculation in Washington that alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden may be making a surprise appearance in U.S. custody just be fore the November election. Alan Abel son, the distinguished writer for Barron’s, a weekly publication of Dow Jones, noted in his column of Sept. 27, 2004, that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld let slip some classified information in a briefing at the National Press Club “that the man we are holding captive is not Saddam Hussein, who, indeed, was deep-sixed beneath the desolate sands, but none other than Osama bin Laden.

Mehdi army surrenders its heavy weapons
The battered pick-up truck was normally used for ferrying vegetables to market. But in Sadr City yesterday it arrived to collect a very different load - mortar shells, grenade launchers and machine-gun rounds. What was missing, however, was another kind of 'carrot', the promise made to Shia militiamen by the US and Iraq's interim government that they would be paid in cash for surrendering their arms. The officials with the money failed to turn up, so hastily written IOUs were being handed out to deeply unimpressed fighters.

Nine die in Japan 'suicide pacts'
Japanese police have found the bodies of nine people who apparently committed suicide after meeting via special suicide sites on the internet. A police spokesman said seven young people were found in a van in the Saitama mountains to the west of Tokyo. Minutes later, two women were found dead in a car south of Tokyo, in another apparent suicide pact. Japan has recently seen a wave of internet-linked suicides, as people seek companions to die with.

The madness of George
The evolution of George Bush's persona over the past few weeks is startling for even the most casual observers. Only a short while ago, Bush was a strong, decisive leader and Kerry was a weak, flip-flopping Massachusetts liberal. The Bush campaign expected those images to carry them through the November elections: it had cost them more than $200m (£112m) to build those caricatures and they had every reason to expect a solid return on their investment.

Afghan complaint deadline expires
The UN deadline for written complaints of irregularities in Afghanistan's presidential election has expired. A three-member panel will now scrutinise the objections, which follow a row on voting day over alleged fraud. Meanwhile ballot boxes are piling up in centres around the country for the count. In the north-east, a UN helicopter sent to collect votes has crash-landed in mountains, leaving the eight crew and officials on board stranded but unhurt.

US seizes independent media sites
The FBI has shut down some 20 sites which were part of an alternative media network known as Indymedia. A US court order forced the firm hosting the material to hand over two servers in the UK used by the group. Indymedia says it is a news source for the anti-globalisation movement and other social justice issues. The reasons behind the seizure are unclear but the FBI has reportedly said the action was taken at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities.

US seizes webservers from independent media sites
American authorities have shut down 20 independent media centres by seizing their British-based webservers. A court order was issued to Rackspace, an American-owned web hosting company in Uxbridge, Middlesex, forcing it to hand over two servers used by Indymedia, an international media network which covers of social justice issues and provides a 'news-wire', to which its users contribute. The websites affected by the seizure span 17 countries.

Rumsfeld's optimism silenced by bombing
Bombs in Baghdad killed 18 people as the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, declared during a visit to Iraq that America was winning the war against insurgency. The first blast, involving a minibus packed with explosives, came at just after 7am. It is believed to have detonated prematurely, en route to a police academy near by. Seventeen people, including seven women, died. Fifteen minutes later a second attack, on a US military convoy, killed a soldier.

Blast hits Pakistan Shia mosque
An explosion at a mosque used by Shia Muslims in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore has killed at least four people, including a 13-year-old boy. A suicide bomber detonated a device as people had gathered for evening prayers at the Husainia Hall mosque in an old part of Lahore, police said. Two security guards were among those killed - eight people were injured. A series of attacks blamed on Sunni and Shia militants have claimed more than 70 lives in Pakistan this month alone.

Climate fear as carbon levels soar
An unexplained and unprecedented rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere two years running has raised fears that the world may be on the brink of runaway global warming. Scientists are baffled why the quantity of the main greenhouse gas has leapt in a two-year period and are concerned that the Earth's natural systems are no longer able to absorb as much as in the past. The findings will be discussed tomorrow by the government's chief scientist, Dr David King, at the annual Greenpeace business lecture.

Islamic group condemns Egypt bombs
The Islamic group responsible for most of the violence in Egypt in the 1990s has condemned the bomb attacks in the Sinai which targeted Israeli tourists. Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya said the attacks had no religious legitimacy. Egyptian police are questioning at least 12 Bedouin tribesmen on suspicion that they smuggled the explosives. Israeli rescue workers are winding down their search for more survivors. At least 33 people died - Israelis, Egyptians, Russians, and Italians.

The CIA 'old guard' goes to war with Bush
A powerful 'old guard' faction in the Central Intelligence Agency has launched an unprecedented campaign to undermine the Bush administration with a battery of damaging leaks and briefings about Iraq. The White House is incensed by the increasingly public sniping from some senior intelligence officers who, it believes, are conducting a partisan operation to swing the election on November 2 in favour of John Kerry, the Democratic candidate, and against George W Bush.

Israel air strikes hit Gaza camp
A Palestinian man has been killed and six others have been injured in the latest violence in the Gaza Strip. The man - a schoolteacher - died on his way to work after an Israeli missile blew apart a home in the Jabaliya camp, Palestinian witnesses said. Israel has not confirmed the attack. But the army said it later struck at Palestinian militants who were preparing a bomb, injuring three.
Israeli troops have been operating in northern Gaza since late September.

Was Bush hearing voices during first debate?
The much maligned debating skills of George Bush are facing fresh ridicule after claims that he was wired to receive instant help during his first television debate with John Kerry. Rumours spread around the internet that a bulge protruding from the back of President Bush's jacket, captured on camera during the debate in Miami, was a radio transmitter. It was said to be feeding him answers from an aide.

Venezuela raises oil drilling tax
Venezuela has announced that it is increasing the royalties paid by foreign oil companies from 1% to 16.6%. President Hugo Chavez said it marked the second and true phase of the nationalisation of the country's oil. He made the announcement in his weekly television address, with the oil port of Puerto de la Cruz as his backdrop. The surprise measure will affect all foreign companies offering joint ventures in Venezuela's Orinoco heavy crude belt.

Egyptian group suspected over Taba bombings
Egyptian security forces investigating the resort bombings that killed at least 33 people were concentrating their hunt yesterday on a group of previously unknown Egyptian militants. An Egyptian security official involved in the search conceded that 'the perpetrators are Egyptians', but added that they had 'help from someone outside'. The Israeli government has blamed al-Qaida for the explosions rather than a Palestinian group.

Anti-Kerry film ignites new row
A US television company is planning to run a film attacking Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry just days before the election. Sinclair TV Group's programmes reach almost a quarter of US homes. Its move is highly unusual and may breach federal regulations requiring stations to give equal time to major candidates in an election campaign. The 45-minute film criticises John Kerry's opposition to the Vietnam war in the early 1970s.

Ex-DAFB commander says troops used as guinea pigs
A former Dover Air Force Base commander says military officials used his troops as guinea pigs in illegal medical experiments under the government's controversial anthrax vaccination program. After some of his troops in their 20s and 30s began developing arthritis, neurological problems, memory loss and incapacitating migraine headaches, Col. Felix Grieder took a drastic step. In 1999, he halted the vaccination program in Dover, a move he said ended his military career. Dover is now ground zero in the controversy because troops there were injected with anthrax vaccine containing squalene.

Cameroon votes for leader
Cameroonians have started to vote in presidential elections, marred by apathy and allegations of fraud. Three challengers pulled out of the contest over the weekend, while the election authorities have removed some 600,000 names from the electoral roll. One market was full of people who did not know, or care, that there was a polling station nearby. President Paul Biya is widely expected to win, with the opposition divided.

Electric fence at Palace
has been installed at Buckingham Palace. The unprecedented move - the first time such drastic security measures have been taken - comes in the wake of the 'Batman on the balcony' fiasco. Electric fences may also be erected around the perimeters of other royal residences like Windsor Castle. The new fence at Buckingham Palace blocks off the parapet and roof at the side where Fathers 4 Justice protester Jason Hatch, dressed as Batman, clambered on to a ledge last month.

Climate fears on sharp CO2 rise
An unexplained rise in levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere has raised fears global warming is speeding up, according to reports. In recent decades CO2 rose on average 1.5 parts per million (ppm) a year but went up by over 2ppm in 2002 and 2003. Scientists fear the Earth may be losing its ability to absorb the greenhouse gas, the Guardian and Independent say. One US physicist told the papers the rise could be the start of an 'unprecedented' natural process.

Iranian intel: Tehran harboring bin Laden
Iran's cleric leaders are harboring Osama bin Laden, according to two Iranian intelligence officials cited in a new book. The sources say they have seen the al-Qaida terrorist leader alive and well, although he no longer resembles the picture on FBI wanted posters. Author Richard Miniter writes in 'Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror' that bin Laden 'has trimmed his beard to fit the more traditional look of a Shi'ite cleric and he seemed to have put on weight, according to intelligence officials

Submarine crew back on dry land
The crew of a Canadian submarine have spent their first night ashore since a fire left it drifting in the Atlantic. One crewman died and two were injured in the blaze on board HMCS Chicoutimi, 100 miles off Ireland. The submarine and its 54 crew were towed to Faslane, on the Clyde, by two tugs from the naval base. Admiral Bruce MacLean of the Canadian Navy said despite the accident he was 'absolutely convinced' the Chicoutimi had been fit for use.

Millions face pensions misery
Millions of people in Britain face an impoverished old age unless urgent steps are taken to cope with a reported £57bn gap in pension provision caused by longer lives, earlier retirement and inadequate saving, a government report will warn tomorrow. The long-awaited findings of the commission headed by Adair Turner, former director-general of the CBI, will outline in stark terms that individuals have only four choices - work longer, save more, pay more in taxes or accept lower living standards when they retire.

Afghan election count postponed
Counting of ballots in Afghanistan's landmark election has been delayed after allegations the vote was flawed. A poll official said organisers were waiting to hear what form an inquiry into alleged irregularities in Saturday's presidential vote will take. An announcement is expected later on Monday following demands by 15 of the 18 candidates for a new poll. International observers have endorsed the vote. Ballot boxes have been arriving at centres around Afghanistan.

Iraqi Shia rebels surrender arms
Fighters loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr have begun handing over their heavy weapons in the Sadr City area of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The militiamen are receiving cash payments in return for rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and other weapons. Also under the deal, political prisoners are to be released and reconstruction money will be pumped into the area. US forces have agreed to end their air and artillery strikes on Sadr City.

Pakistan seeks release of Chinese
Pakistani authorities are continuing talks with kidnappers holding two Chinese engineers in a remote tribal area bordering Afghanistan. The hostage-takers have threatened to kill one of the men unless security forces lift a siege on their hideout in South Waziristan region. A deadline to carry out the threat has been extended. The group is being led by a local tribal leader.

Bigley's last message: I just want a simple life
Ken Bigley said he only wanted to live 'a simple life' moments before he was murdered by the Islamist militants who held him captive for three weeks, it emerged yesterday. Although he clearly realised he did not have long to live, Mr Bigley appeared calm as he addressed the prime minister in a video posted on a website yesterday: 'Here I am again, Mr Blair... very, very close to the end of my life.

EU poised to lift Libya sanctions
European Union foreign ministers are expected to approve the lifting of UN sanctions against Libya at a meeting in Luxembourg. They will also discuss an Italian proposal to ease an EU arms embargo on Libya - a move that could boost hi-tech efforts to curb illegal migration. EU ambassadors decided on 22 September that the sanctions on Libya - imposed in 1992 - should be lifted.

Iraq WMD: The final judgement
Now we finally know what we had long suspected. When US and British forces invaded Iraq, Saddam Hussein had no chemical weapons; he had no biological weapons; he had no nuclear weapons. In fact, he had no banned weapons at all. That is the considered judgement of the Iraq Survey Group, set up by President Bush to prove his case for removing the Iraqi dictator, and released in Washington last night.

Iraq WMD: Hans Blix: If you had seen what I have seen
With their report last week, the inspectors appointed by the Bush administration to search Iraq for weapons of mass destruction have had to acknowledge that the reality on the ground was totally different from the virtual reality that had been spun.

Iraq WMD: Scott Ritter: If you had seen what I have seen
It appears that the last vestiges of perceived legitimacy regarding the decision of President George Bush and Tony Blair to invade Iraq have been eliminated with the release this week of the Iraq Survey Group's final report on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. There were no stockpiles of WMD, or programmes to produce WMD.

Ken Bigley's desperate final bid to escape his murderers
A dramatic picture emerged yesterday of the desperate last hours of Ken Bigley, who evaded his captors only to be hunted down and beheaded. The Liverpool engineer may have spent as much as a night on the run before being recaptured by militants, according to extraordinary eyewitness accounts from the town where he was held. The Foreign Office last night refused to discuss reports of Mr Bigley's escape. However, Iraqi and US officials separately confirmed that the hostage had briefly evaded his captors.