Weekly Round Up: Civil War in Iraq, Israel Raped By UN, Iran Have No Nuclear Arsenal, Chaos Around The World -But Who Cares, We Might All Die In 2036!

It’s been another busy week in the world of politics. Where do I start? It was reported that the CIA had no conclusive evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons and at the same time another report said that the US had been exaggerating China's nuclear clout in a process that could lock the two into a Cold War-style arms race - Wow what next? Keeping with the American theme it was revealed that EU nations knew about the CIA rendition flight but kept it secret from the EU and the public. Also in the news was the Popes visit to Turkey. It went well but the question remains what was his reasons for going there?Keeping close to the Middle East the UN General Assembly said that Israel Must withdraw from all illegal occupied territory (East Jerusalem, Golan etc) - as these resolutions are not legally binding I doubt anything will be done. The UN Human Rights Inquiry also said that Israel Should Compensate Lebanon for its recent war - again nothing is likely to happen. The people of America received a letter from pen-pal Ahmadinejad that demand the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and reject what he called the US government's "blind support" for Israel and its "illegal and immoral" actions in fighting terrorism. Sticking to I-raq, Prime Minister Al-Maliki is facing revolt within his government. President Bush's insisted that Mr. Maliki is "the right guy for Iraq" but Mr. Bush's national security adviser had sent him a memorandum three weeks ago describing how Iraq was being pulled apart by sectarian hatreds and warning that Mr. Maliki was either "ignorant of what is going on" or unwilling or unable to stop it - Nice! It was also the first time US media had been using "civil War" terminology of the violence that has been happening in Iraq. In the UK, the issue surrounding the death of the ex-KGB spy looks to have taken a twist with the illness of Mario Scaramella, a 36-year-old Italian security consultant. Scaramella, who had been working for the Italian Parliament's Mitrokhin Commission investigating KGB activity in Italy, met Litvinenko at a central London sushi bar on November 1. Everything is pointing away from Putin - this all sounds like a case for Mulder and Scully than James Bond. In Latin America, It week was Castro's birthday party but he was too sick to attend, meanwhile comrade Hugo Chavez is hoping for re-election in Venezuelan elections today and hopes to continue the shift to the left of politics in Latin America. In Asia, a Red Cross official in the Philippines said that he thinks 1,000 people or more have been killed by Typhoon Durian. With all the rubbish happening in the word, we have another thing to worry about - a smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036. NASA is looking for a “Bruce Willis” to land on the killer asteroid and gently nudge It from Earths path – any applications should be sent to NASA directly.

Here’s all the other news from around the world…

North America
1 in 32 Americans in jails, on parole
A record 7 million people — or one in every 32 American adults — were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday.

More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more.

Men still far outnumber women in prisons and jails, but the female population is growing faster. Over the past year, the female population in state or federal prison increased 2.6 percent while the number of male inmates rose 1.9 percent. By year's end, 7 percent of all inmates were women. The gender figures do not include inmates in local jails.

From 1995 to 2003, inmates in federal prison for drug offenses have accounted for 49 percent of total prison population growth.

US man allegedly spied for Israel, China
A federal grand jury in Honolulu has indicted a leading former military engineer for allegedly transferring classified information to Israel, China, and other countries.

Noshir Gowadia, a 62-year-old Indian-born former engineer with US defense giant Northrop Grumman, was indicted on 18-counts of federal charges and is suspected of trying to sell Israel "top secret" data about US weapons systems, according to the Washington Times. He could face the death penalty.

According to the indictment, Gowadia sent e-mails to Israel, Germany and Switzerland in 2002 and 2004 that continued data labeled "secret" and "top secret" that was related to US stealth technology intended for use in the TH-98 Eurocopter. The indictment was handed down on November 15.

Gowadia was one of the lead engineers on the B-2 stealth bomber project, and was originally indicted in November 2005 for allegedly selling information about the B-2 to China.

Justice Department officials told ABC News that Gowadia was paid about $2 million for the secrets he compromised on the B-2. The scientist was provided top secret access while he worked for Northrop, the designer of the B-2, from 1968 to 1986. He then later worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory before establishing his own consulting company.

Latin America
Venezuela's Chavez says plot was foiled
President Hugo Chavez said Thursday during a marathon news conference that authorities had foiled a planned sniper attack against his main opponent in this weekend's elections.

As campaigning ended ahead of Sunday's vote, Chavez said "fascist" militants had planned to use a rifle with a telescopic sight to shoot Manuel Rosales during a speech and then blame it on Chavez's government in hopes of derailing the balloting.

"It was to say that Chavez sent them to kill him, and generate chaos," Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace.

The Venezuelan leader used the 3 1/2-hour news conference to laud achievements of his "people's revolution" — citing statistics on lowered unemployment, a deep drop in poverty and petroleum-fueled economic growth.

He even quoted analysts from major foreign banks as saying the most dangerous scenario for this politically polarized country would be a Chavez election loss.

Chavez also said that upon re-election he would immediately convene a special commission to propose constitutional reforms to be approved by voters, likely including an end to presidential term limits. The current constitution would bar Chavez from running again in 2012.

Venezuela receives Russian jets
Venezuela has received its first two of 24 Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia, a key component of a hefty arms build up by President Hugo Chavez's government.

The first two SU-30 jets landed at the Luis Del Valle Garcia naval base in Barcelona, some 230 kilometers east of Caracas, late Thursday, the air force press office said. Russia has become the largest weapons supplier to Venezuela with recent deals to sell 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles, 24 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets and 53 Russian helicopters.

Chavez, who accused the US government of plans to invade his oil-rich country, has signed military deals with Moscow worth some US$3 billion (€2.27 billion).

The US government has voiced concern that the sales would upset the military balance in the region but denies allegations that it plans to invade or unseat Chavez.

Costa Rica moves Israeli embassy to Tel Aviv
Costa Rica opened its embassy in Tel Aviv Friday, relocating its diplomatic mission after 24 years in Jerusalem, the foreign minister said in a statement. President Oscar Arias has said the move was needed to bring the Central American nation into line with international law and mend relations with Arab nations.

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, but most nations don't formally recognize it as such. Since 1982, Costa Rica and El Salvador have been the only two countries with embassies there. In August, both countries announced their decisions to relocate to Tel Aviv.

"It's time to rectify a historical error that damages us on the international level and deprives us of any friendship with the Arab world," Arias said at the time.

Israel criticized the decision, saying it could be interpreted as a surrender to terrorism.

Israel captured the eastern section of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed it a few days later, declaring that the city Israel's capital. Palestinians, meanwhile, want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state.

Costa Rica's decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem led the nations of the Arab League to break off relations. Costa Rica has since re-established relations with Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain and Yemen. The move is expected to give a boost to Costa Rica's aspirations to be named in 2007 to a seat on the UN Security Council, a post it previously has held three times.

Europe
'London's bridge is falling down'
In a devastating verdict on Tony Blair’s decision to back war in Iraq and his “totally one-sided” relationship with President Bush, a US State Department official has said that Britain’s role as a bridge between America and Europe is now “disappearing before our eyes”.

Kendall Myers, a senior State Department analyst, disclosed that for all Britain’s attempts to influence US policy in recent years, “we typically ignore them and take no notice — it’s a sad business”.

He added that he felt “a little ashamed” at Mr Bush’s treatment of the Prime Minister, who had invested so much of his political capital in standing shoulder to shoulder with America after 9/11.

Speaking at an academic forum in Washington on Tuesday night, he answered a question, saying: “It was a done deal from the beginning, it was a onesided relationship that was entered into with open eyes . . . there was nothing. There was no payback, no sense of reciprocity.”

Dr Myers, a specialist in British politics, predicted that the tight bond between Mr Bush and Mr Blair would not be replicated in the future. “What I think and fear is that Britain will draw back from the US without moving closer to Europe. In that sense London’s bridge is falling down.”

But Denis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham and a former Foreign Office minister, who supported the Iraq war, said: “After the Republican defeat in the midterm election, every little rat who feasted during the Bush years is now leaving the ship. I would respect this gentleman, who I have never heard of, if he had had the guts to make any of these points two or five years ago.”

US pressured Blair into arms bribery inquiry
A bribery investigation threatening the future of 50,000 British jobs followed heavy pressure on Tony Blair from George Bush's administration, The Independent on Sunday revealed.

Saudi Arabia says it will scrap an order with BAE Systems for 72 Eurofighter Typhoons worth around £40bn unless the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) stops probing previous arms deals with the company. The Arab nation has reportedly set a deadline that expires this week for the investigation to be called off.

Now documents released under US freedom of information laws reveal how the probe followed arm-twisting by the Bush administration.

A memo, setting out his "MUST DO" items, declared: "Ask what the British government has done to investigate allegations of bribery by BAE, not only in connection with recent projects, but in connection with older contracts for which bribe payments may still be ongoing ... In the US, this volume of allegations would have triggered a Department of Justice Criminal Division investigation long ago".

The SFO bribery investigation into the giant Al Yamamah arms deal, struck in 1985, started in July 2004 after detectives were shown evidence suggesting kickbacks had been paid. Detectives are reported to be investigating allegations of a £60m "slush fund".

UK MPs call for inquiry into government's role in CIA flights
The Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National party jointly attacked the UK government for its "complicity" with the US government over the practice, whereby secret CIA flights transferred detainees to locations where they risked being tortured.

The Lib Dems' foreign affairs spokesman, Michael Moore, said: "It is damning to learn that the Foreign Office believes using information extracted under torture is not banned under international law, particularly when the House of Lords has ruled otherwise.

The SNP, which compiled a dossier detailing intelligence flights through Scottish airports, called on both Tony Blair's government and the Scottish executive to come clean over the issue. "It is ironic that in the week that the EP [European parliament] inquiry has made these damning findings the Crown Office in Scotland has concluded against pursuing this issue.

Conservative Central Office declined to comment on the report, insisting that they "do not comment" on rendition.

Pope Backs Turkey’s Bid to Join European Union
Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Turkey on Tuesday armed with a surprise gesture of good will aimed at blunting Muslim anger toward him: he backed Turkey’s long-stalled desire to join the European Union, reversing a statement he made two years ago.

Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told reporters after a brief meeting with Benedict at the airport here that he had asked the pope to support Turkey in its attempt to become a member of the European Union.

“He said, ‘You know we don’t have a political role, but we wish for Turkey’s entry into the E.U.,’ ” Mr. Erdogan said the pope told him. “His wish is a positive recommendation for us.”

Although the Vatican does not play a formal role in the European Union, or delve publicly into domestic matters of other states, the pope’s gesture was nonetheless a piece of political stagecraft at a delicate time both in relations between Muslims and the West and in Benedict’s own damaged reputation among Muslims.

Long before he angered the Muslim world two months ago with a speech criticized as equating Islam with violence, Benedict was disliked here because of comments he made, as a cardinal in 2004, opposing Turkish membership in Europe. As the successor to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey had always stood, he said at the time, “in permanent contrast to Europe.”

Barenboim condemns 'Palestinian suffering'
Germany's best-known Jewish musician has used a prestigious awards ceremony to demand that Israel recognize the "sorrow" of the Palestinians and withdraw from the West Bank.

Famously left-wing conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, an Israeli expatriate who was born in Buenos Aires, made his comments while accepting the Award for Understanding and Tolerance from German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Berlin's Jewish Museum Saturday night, for promoting reconciliation between Israel and its neighbors.

Barenboim conducts a multi-faith orchestra made up of Israelis and Arabs that tours the world. Barenboim said Israel needed to show more tolerance toward its neighbors. "We cannot forget the values that were respected in the whole of Jewish history, namely dignity, generosity and intelligence," said. "We must acknowledge the sorrow of the Palestinians. This doesn't make us weaker. We must remember that Israel at its foundation promised all citizens equality, including the non-Jewish ones."

He also said, "We, the Jewish people, have no right to occupy the territories, and we must find the intelligence and strength to fight for peace - in fact, with at least double the intensity with which we led war. That is our Jewish heritage."

UK Christian Aid head attacks 'pro-Israel lobby'
Baroness Jenny Tonge has stepped down as a trustee of the charity Christian Aid, a move believed to be related to comments she made about the "financial grips of the pro-Israel lobby" in September.

Speaking last week at Edinburgh University, as reported in The Jerusalem Post, Tonge stood by her earlier comments, saying there had been "extensive" research in the US supporting her argument that the Israeli lobby has a disproportionate voice in Anglo-American foreign policy.

The charity refused to say whether Tonge was pushed out of her position or left of her own accord. Nigel Varndell, intercommunity and interfaith manager at Christian Aid, said she offered her resignation at the charity's annual general meeting last week. He said her resignation was immediately accepted by the chair but declined to say whether she was pushed following her controversial comments.

Dr. Daleep Mukarji, director of Christian Aid, confirmed that Tonge chose to resign and said this would be formally reported to the next board meeting.

At a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat Party conference in September, Tonge said: "The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the Western world, its financial grips. I think they have probably got a certain grip on our party."

Spanish woman prompts euthanasia debate
Inmaculada Echevarria has spent much of her life watching muscular dystrophy ruin her body. She's been in a hospital bed for 20 years, her movements are now reduced to wiggling her fingers and toes and she wants to die.

"For me, life stopped having meaning a long time ago. I want them to help me die because I have spent my whole life suffering," said 51-year-old Echevarria, whose case has triggered debate in Spain on the rights of people with incurable diseases to seek help in dying.

Euthanasia is illegal in Spain and people who help someone else die can be punished with at least six months in prison. But Spain's Socialist government wants to legalize it as part of a wave of liberal reforms that have largely transformed this traditionally Roman Catholic country.

Under Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain is one of only a half-dozen countries in the world that have legalized gay marriage. He has also made it easier for Spaniards to divorce, eased laws on stem cell research, stiffened laws on violence against women and ended direct government financing of the Catholic church.

If Spain does legalize euthanasia, it would join the Netherlands and Belgium in allowing the practice, although Switzerland allows some cases of assisted suicide.

Amsterdam to shut prostitution 'windows'
City officials say they will turn off the red lights and shutter a third of the prostitution "windows" in Amsterdam's famed Red Light District, where scantily-clad ladies of the night have beckoned customers for hundreds of years.

The move is part of a crackdown on crime in the area. "We're not knights on a morality crusade, and this is intended to target financial crime, not prostitution per se," city spokesman Martien Maten said Thursday. "But we do think it will change the face of the Red Light District."

The Dutch government legalized prostitution in 2000 to make it easier to tax and regulate. Maten said the city was now making use of a new law to revoke brothels' licenses when it suspects operators have used them for money laundering or other illegal financial activity.

But advocacy groups for prostitutes said the move was misguided, since it will hurt the women who act as independent contractors renting space behind the windows. Brothel owners said they would appeal the decision in court.

The narrow streets near Amsterdam's center have been known as a hangout for hookers since the city was the hub of a global trading empire during the Netherlands' 17th century Golden Age.

Middle East
Tutu to head UN rights mission to Gaza
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has in the past compared Israeli policies with those under apartheid, has been named to head a United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun, where an IDF artillery barrage killed 19 civilians earlier this month, UN officials said Wednesday.

The Nobel Peace laureate will travel to Gaza to "assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors, and make recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli assaults," according to the president of the UN Human Rights Council, Luis Alfonso De Alba.

The mission will report its findings to the Geneva-based body by mid-December, the statement said.

The Beit Hanun tragedy on November 8, which the IDF said was caused by stray shells, came after troops wound up a week-long incursion aimed at curbing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from the town.

The 47-state council earlier this month approved a resolution that condemned "gross and systematic" human rights violations by Israel in the occupied territories" and ordered an investigation into the Beit Hanun incident.

Germany refuses to alter Israel ties
The German Embassy rejected on Thursday a call made by 25 German academics for the country to abandon its "special relationship" with Israel in favor of a stance recognizing Palestinian suffering as an outcome of the Holocaust.

In a lengthy petition published in the Frankfurter Rundschau regional newspaper Wednesday, the scholars said that, "The roots of this bloody 60-year confrontation in the Middle East are German and European. The Palestinian population doesn't have the responsibility to take on European problems in the Middle East," according to translations in English-language media.

The signers also questioned whether German backing for Israel was causing tension within German society, and objected to German sales of hi-tech weaponry to Israel despite its actions against the Palestinians.

In addition, the petition also requests a "friendship free from past burdens" between the two countries, in which Israel could be criticized, and, according to news accounts, states that "a large part of the German society has turned the shame and grief of the Holocaust into a ceremonial matter. That is how a problematic philo-Semitism has developed in Germany."

A German Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv, however, dismissed the petition. "It in no way reflects the position of the German government. The position of the German government regarding the special relationship with Israel will not change."

U.S.: No point for Israel to talk to a Syria that supports terror
There is no point for Israel to hold negotiations with Syria as long as the latter continues to support and facilitate terrorism, United States National Security Adviser Steven Hadley said on Tuesday.

"Here is Syria, which is clearly putting pressure on the Lebanese democracy, is a supporter of terror, is both provisioning and supporting Hezbollah and facilitating Iran in its efforts to support Hezbollah, is supporting the activities of Hamas," Hadley said during a visit to Riga alongside President George W. Bush for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit.

"This is not a Syria that is on an agenda to bring peace and stability to the region, and I think Prime Minister Olmert said, under those circumstances, with that kind of Syrian policy, how can you talk about negotiating on the Golan Heights? Seems to me that's a sensible position."

Syrian President Bashar Assad has called on Israel numerous times to renew talks, but has simultaneously hinted that Syria would be willing to take military steps if talks did not succeed. Syria seeks the return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. But peace talks between the two countries broke down in 2000.

Meanwhile, a Market Watch poll released last week revealed that 57 percent of Israelis support holding negotiations with Israel, but 54 percent said they would be opposed to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

Iraq, Iran reach agreement on security
Iraq's president said Wednesday he had reached a security agreement with Iran, which the United States accuses of fueling the chaos in the war-torn country. Iran's president called on countries to stop backing "terrorists" in Iraq and for the Americans to withdraw.

Tehran is believed to back some of the Shiite militias blamed in the vicious sectarian killings that have thrown the country into chaos. The United States has said the Iraqi government should press Iran to stop interfering in its affairs in a bid to calm the violence.

Presidents Jalal Talabani of Iraq and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran held talks Wednesday hours before U.S. President George W. Bush was due to meet with the Iraqi prime minister in Jordan in talks aimed at finding a solution to Iraq's spiraling bloodshed.

Talabani gave no details on the security agreement with Iran, and Ahmadinejad made no mention of any deal at a joint press conference in Tehran. "We discussed in the fields of security, economy, oil and industry. Our agreement was complete," Talabani told reporters. "This visit was 100 percent successful. Its result will appear soon."

Huge protest brings Beirut to a standstill
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Christians waving Lebanese flags poured into central Beirut this week as opposition leaders gave impassioned speeches calling for the resignation of the cabinet and the formation of a new, more inclusive government.

A tent city was set up for the thousands who vowed to stay outside the government offices where the prime minister, Fouad Siniora, and most of his ministers were holed up behind barbed wire and barriers until the cabinet stepped down.

"I call on the prime minister and his ministers to quit," said opposition leader Michel Aoun, to roars of applause. Mr Aoun, who fought a 15-year campaign to rid Lebanon of Syrian influence and commands the largest Christian following, led the opposition speeches. The Hizbullah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, seen by many as a driving force of the opposition, did not make an appearance.

"Our government are in their offices hiding from us - the Lebanese people. We will stay on the streets until they leave," said 22-year-old Ali.

Many protesters believe the government is corrupt and has failed to address the country's nearly £20bn debt. The government also came under fire over its relationship with Washington and its conduct during the summer's 34-day-war between Israel and Hizbullah.

Iranian actoress in sex video scandal says ex-fiance faked footage
Zahra Amir Ebrahimi, one of Iran's best known television performers, is facing social ostracism, a wrecked career and a possible lashing after police seized copies of the footage, which appears to show her having sex.

The film, which has been distributed in street markets and posted on websites, has caused profound shock at a time when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Islamist government is trying to banish the "corrupting" effects of western culture.

It has been given added impact by Ebrahimi's reputation for playing religious, morally upstanding characters in Iranian state TV soaps. One highly successful series, Narges, was watched by an estimated 68% of the population. Police interrogated Ebrahimi at length after being alerted to the film's existence. She has not been charged but investigations are continuing.

However, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian newspaper, Ebrahimi, 25, denied being the woman in the film. She dismissed it as a fake made by a vengeful former fiance who used studio techniques to form a montage of incriminating images designed to destroy her career.

"I watched the film after I heard about the fuss from colleagues and the girl in it is not me," Ebrahimi said. Legal experts say Ebrahimi's denial may be sufficient to avoid punishment. Under Iranian law, video footage must be corroborated by supporting evidence or a confession. According to the legal code, sex between two unmarried people carries punishment of up to 99 lashes.

Ebrahimi's ex-fiance, an assistant film producer who has been referred to publicly only as Mr X, is in custody after being extradited from Armenia. He faces up to three years in jail and a £6,000 fine if found guilty of making and distributing the film, which contravenes Iran's strict indecency laws.

Asia
UN council backs Nepal peace plan
The UN Security Council has given its support to plans for a quick UN response to a plea for help from Nepal's government and Maoist rebels in enforcing their landmark peace agreement.

The Security Council said on Friday that it "agrees that the United Nations should respond positively and expeditiously to this request for assistance".

Meanwhile Human Rights Watch said on Friday that both sides should show their commitment to the peace agreement by providing accountability for human rights violations that took place during ten years of fighting.

The group said the army has still not provided information about more than 600 Nepalis who were taken into custody by troops and have not been seen since. It also said the Maoists were notorious for severely punishing any Nepalis they deemed as insufficiently committed. Punishments included mock executions, cutting body parts and severe beatings.

Star guilty in Mumbai bomb trial
Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has been found guilty in connection with India's deadliest series of bomb attacks. Dutt, 47, was convicted of possessing illegal firearms but cleared of conspiracy in the 1993 Mumbai attacks. He will be sentenced at a later date.

He was among 123 defendants facing trial over 12 blasts that killed 257 people and injured more than 700. The attacks were allegedly ordered by the Muslim-dominated underworld in retaliation for Hindu-Muslim riots.

Dutt was acquitted on four more serious counts, including being part of the wider conspiracy behind the bomb attacks and trying to destroy evidence. He denied those charges but admitted possessing the weapons, saying they were to protect his family.

Defence lawyer Satish Maneshinde told the BBC his client faced a possible sentence of between five and 10 years. The actor was arrested 13 years ago on terrorism charges and spent nearly two years in prison before the Supreme Court ordered his release on bail.

Correspondents say the connections between the Mumbai film industry and the criminal underworld in the city have long been one of Bollywood's worst-kept secrets.

Sanjay Dutt is the most high-profile defendant in the trial yet. Proceedings have gripped Bollywood, the world's most prolific film industry.

Typhoon mudslides sweep hundreds to their death in Philippines
A devastating torrent of mud and volcanic ash triggered by typhoon rains swamped villages and swept at least 388 people to their deaths, Red Cross officials in the Philippines said.

Another 96 are still missing, Red Cross spokeswoman Teresa Arguelles said, with all the deaths occurring in the eastern province of Albay in the eastern Bicol region.

With power and communications still down in large parts and flights remaining cancelled, rescuers battled against time to reach areas ravaged by typhoon Durian.

Albay governor Fernando Gonzales said the death toll was expected to rise, as more reports from isolated villages trickled in. President Gloria Arroyo directed troops and police to back up provincial disaster relief agencies overwhelmed by the scale of the tragedy.

The Philippines is still recovering from the impact of typhoon Cimaron, the strongest cyclone to hit the nation in more than 10 years, which left 38 dead or missing in late October. In September, Manila was hit by typhoon Xangsane, which caused widespread damage and cut off electricity in many parts of the capital for days. By the time Xangsane left the Philippines there were more than 200 people dead and a damage bill running into the millions of dollars.

Africa
UN troops face child abuse claims
Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found.

Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money.

A senior official with the organisation has accepted the claims are credible. The UN has faced several scandals involving its troops in recent years, including a DR Congo paedophile ring and prostitute trafficking in Kosovo.

The assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations acknowledges that sexual abuse is widespread. "We've had a problem probably since the inception of peacekeeping - problems of this kind of exploitation of vulnerable populations," Jane Holl Lute told the BBC.

The UN is scheduled to hold a special conference in New York on Monday 4 December, to address the issue. Under UN regulations, military personnel cannot be prosecuted in the country where they are serving, and it is up to the courts in their home countries to prosecute crimes committed.

The UN said it had firm knowledge of only two concrete examples of sex offenders being sent to jail, although it believed there could be others it did not know about.

S. African Jewish paper causes storm
The South African Jewish Report, published weekly in Johannesburg, is engaged in a heated public spat with the country's Jewish minister of intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, and the South African Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), over the newspaper's refusal to publish a letter by Kasrils that, the paper's editor says, compares Israel's actions in the Palestinian territories to those of the Nazis during WWII.

The Report last week refused to publish Kasrils's reply to an article that questioned his stance on Israel. SAJR editor Geoff Sifrin initially approved Kasrils's request to reply to an article by Anthony Posner entitled "Some Pertinent Questions to Kasrils."

Posner had concluded the article with the challenge: "So Mr Kasrils... now is your chance to engage in 'civilized discussion.' But perhaps this 'kitchen' is too hot for you? I am sure that the readers of the SAJR will be interested to see whether you have the ability to respond in a rational manner to all the points I have raised in this letter."

Sifrin refused to print Kasrils's reply, arguing in an editorial that it would not contribute to constructive debate and would offend the SAJR's readers. Kasrils told The Mail and Guardian newspaper he suspected Sifrin had been pressured not to publish his views.

Sifrin rejects that claim. In a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post, Sifrin said he had initially agreed to publish Kasril's letter but that "what he sent, in my estimation, was too offensive to publish. It referred to an analogy to Nazi action in the Warsaw ghetto and Nazi action after [SS leader Reinhard] Heydrich's assassination after which the Nazis destroyed [the Czech village of] Lidice. He basically said the Israelis are doing the same, and that crossed a red line as far as we were concerned."

Nigerian president takes HIV test on World AIDS Day
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, 69, has taken a voluntary HIV-AIDS test in Abuja in a move to encourage Nigerians to emulate the practice. But the result of the test, made as part of events to mark World AIDS Day, will only be made known to him, ThisDay newspaper reported Saturday.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 130 million people, has around 4.5 million HIV carriers, according to official figures.

Obasanjo said as he launched the National Counselling and Testing Programme that the scheme would enable many people have access to HIV-AIDS response information services.

He said that the spread and prevalence of HIV-AIDS was reducing in Nigeria. Around 100,000 HIV patients are receiving free treatment in more than 100 centres across the country, he said.

Australasia
New Zealand cancels arrest warrant for Israeli general
The former head of Israel's army continued unimpeded with a trip to New Zealand yesterday after the country's attorney general rescinded a warrant issued for his arrest to face allegations of war crimes.

Moshe Yaalon, who was chief of staff until June last year, said that he was still in New Zealand despite the warrant for his arrest. The decision by the Auckland district court on Monday last week was overruled on Thursday by the New Zealand attorney general, Michael Cullen.

General Yaalon told Israel's army radio yesterday: "I am continuing to travel in New Zealand. I did not run away from anywhere and I don't intend to run away."

The petition sought General Yaalon's trial for his part in the assassination in Gaza of a leading Hamas figure, Salah Shehadeh, who was killed by a one-ton bomb dropped by the Israeli air force on his house in 2002. The bomb, which fell in a residential area, killed at least 14 civilians, including seven members of the Mattar family. A surviving member, Ra'ed Mattar, was named as one of the complainants.

The legal move was the latest against senior Israeli security personnel made on behalf of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and their London-based firm of solicitors, Hickman Rose, who said Palestinians were "devastated" by the attorney's decision.

Major General Doron Almog, who recently completed an official military investigation into the conduct of the Lebanon war, flew back to Tel Aviv from London without leaving his aircraft in September last year when he was tipped off that he faced arrest because of a similar type of warrant.

Iraq bribes probe clears Australia, condemns executives
An official inquiry into the corruption that riddled the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq has cleared the Australian government but cited 12 top executives for bribing Saddam Hussein's regime.

Monday's findings have ramifications for 2,200 companies in 66 countries accused in a UN report of breaking sanctions to make money from Saddam's dictatorship even as the United States and its allies planned their 2003 invasion.

Australia's monopoly wheat exporter AWB, formerly the government-owned Australian Wheat Board, was found guilty of paying some 220 million US dollars in bribes to secure 2.3 billion dollars worth of wheat contracts.

The inquiry recommended 12 senior executives be considered for prosecution over the corruption of a program designed to ensure vital food supplies for Iraqi civilians under the tight sanctions designed to bring down Saddam.

But, in a declaration crucial to the re-election chances next year of Prime Minister John Howard, it found that opposition charges of government complicity in the corruption were unfounded.

Timor truth commission to question Indonesian generals over 1999 violence
A joint Indonesia-East Timor commission plans to question former Indonesian military chief Wiranto and other officers over the violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999.

"It has been decided that starting in January 2007, the commission will begin to 'invite' concerned parties, including Mr. Wiranto," Ahmad Ali, an Indonesian law expert and member of the Commission of Truth and Friendship, told AFP.

The body was set up in August last year and is to probe past events to establish the truth about the violence during that turbulent time.

The truth commission, comprised of five Indonesians and five East Timorese, is not a judicial body and will submit its findings to both governments. Modelled along lines similar to South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it aims at reconciliation rather than recrimination.

Militia gangs, which the United Nations has said were recruited and directed by Indonesia's military, went on an arson and killing spree before and after the East Timorese voted for independence in a UN-sponsored ballot.

They killed about 1,400 people and laid waste to much of the infrastructure in the half-island, which was a Portuguese colony before Indonesia invaded it in 1975.

Coup fears as military claims to control Fiji
Fiji's military commander claimed that he was in control of the South Pacific country yesterday as fears continued of an imminent coup. While Cdre Frank Bainimarama pledged a peaceful transition to martial law, his rival, prime minister Laisenia Qarase, accused the military chief of being mentally deranged.

The bitter clash between the two men threatens to plunge Fiji into its fourth coup in less than 20 years.The Fijian army had threatened to overthrow the government by midday local time but the deadline passed without incident and has reportedly been extended until Monday.

"Qarase had better come out of hiding because right now I'm in control of him," Cdr Bainimarama told the Fiji Sun. "Why is he hiding? Only people with a guilty conscience hide. I assure him that he will not be kidnapped or put under any form of house arrest. It will be a peaceful transition."

Mr Qarase told a New Zealand radio station that he believed his rival was "deranged and unstable". Cmdr Bainimarama said the remarks were "the action and words of a cornered rat".

In a nationally broadcast interview, the prime minister urged Fijians to stand up and fight for democracy. "We want freedom to live within a democratically civil government, where the government is elected by the people. We do not want a dictator," he said.