1

CONTENTS
S Korea cloning expert suspended..............................................................................................................4
Royal Mail fined for missing post...............................................................................................................4
Stuntman tries Empire State leap................................................................................................................6
N Korean heroin ship sunk by jet................................................................................................................6
Islam-West divide "grows deeper'...............................................................................................................8
Japan PM "suspends' royal plans................................................................................................................8
Iran "moves assets out of Europe'.............................................................................................................10
Ferrari Enzo destroyed in 100mph crash...................................................................................................10
Tehran plane crash....................................................................................................................................12
Madonna shrugs off song criticism...........................................................................................................12
Australian anger over Singapore hanging.................................................................................................14
James Bond car sold for over Elm............................................................................................................16
Lost wallet returned 39 years on...............................................................................................................16
200 million dollar typing error..................................................................................................................16
Lobbyist Set to Plead Guilty in Florida.....................................................................................................18
Fuel explosion throws a giant shadow......................................................................................................20
Bush adviser charged with thefts..............................................................................................................22
More bodies found at German rink...........................................................................................................22
Shoe alert shuts New York airport............................................................................................................22
EU pledges $100m to bird flu fund...........................................................................................................24
Former Russian minister deported............................................................................................................24
Spying against US.....................................................................................................................................26
Rescuers race to save lost whale...............................................................................................................28
Colombia smugglers "used puppies'..........................................................................................................28
The latest in gadgets in near future...........................................................................................................30
India retires Cold War spy MiGs..............................................................................................................32
French fugitive "regrets actions'................................................................................................................34
Italians clash over gay marriage................................................................................................................34
Manhunt after Brazil bank heist................................................................................................................36
The spies watching while you type...........................................................................................................36
Russia Accuses Britain of Spying.............................................................................................................38
British spy rocк'........................................................................................................................................40
Cold War grandmother KGB spy dies......................................................................................................42
Partner, or Bully?......................................................................................................................................44
Russian Roulette for Unflinching Investors..............................................................................................46
Final round for global trade deal...............................................................................................................48
Snake bursts after gobbling alligator.........................................................................................................52
Cruise ship repels Somali pirates..............................................................................................................54
Stardust capsule falls to Earth...................................................................................................................60
The business of future gazing...................................................................................................................62
Alligator kills jogger in Florida.................................................................................................................62
Energy gap: Crisis for humanity?.............................................................................................................64
Eyewitness: My fight against hunger........................................................................................................66
Pharaonic tomb find stuns Egypt..............................................................................................................66
What is the Kyoto Protocol?.....................................................................................................................68
Weil-Known Tiger Killed by Poachers.....................................................................................................70
Three winners scoop EuroMillions...........................................................................................................72
Boxing hero delights Russia.....................................................................................................................72
The Classic Films Review...................................................................................................................74
T h e L a d y k i l l e r s ...................................................................................................................74
2001: A Space Odyssey............................................................................................................................76
Cult novel becomes Russian TV hit..........................................................................................................78

Весь мир открывается перед тем, кому удается

преобразовать свои мечты в цели
2
 Предисловие
Уважаемый читатель, вы держите в руках очередной номер специализированного журнала, которому, по
удобству и эффективности освоения учебного материала, нет аналогов на российском книжном рынке. Это
мнение многих наших читателей. Мы надеемся, что с его помощью изучение иностранного языка станет для
вас легким, удобным и вполне интересным занятием. По крайней мере, наш коллектив стремился именно к
этой цели.
Теперь вам нет необходимости тратить дорогое время на техническую работу - искать и выписывать
незнакомую лексику из словарей. Все это мы сделали за вас. Вам же остается лишь сосредоточить свое
внимание на чтении и проработке учебного материала так, как мы рекомендуем это делать на первой странице
этого издания. Строго следуйте всем нашим рекомендациям! Это обеспечит вам нужный результат и
качественные знания в максимально короткие сроки. (Продолжение см. на стр. 80)

Наши рекомендации
1. Возьмите маркер или цветной карандаш приятного для вас цвета (желтый, оранжевый...) и
аккуратно закрасьте им все незнакомые слова в тексте. Затем найдите эти же слова в словаре
на следующей странице и проделайте то же самое. Не смущайтесь, что появилось много
"цветных" слов, со временем их станет значительно меньше.
2. С помощью словаря тщательно проработайте содержание каждой статьи. Добивайтесь
полного (стопроцентного) их понимания. Переходите к новому материалу после того, как
хорошо усвоите предыдущий. Руководствуйтесь принципом "лучше меньше, да лучше".
3. Особый упор делайте на запоминание новой лексики. Не пропускайте ни одного
незнакомого или "трудного" слова! Рано или поздно они все вам понадобятся. Имейте в виду,
что слабое знание иностранного языка чаще всего проявляется в недостаточности словарного
запаса.
4. По мнению специалистов, новая лексика лучше всего запоминается в конкретном тексте
путем ее многократного повторения. Поэтому выработайте для себя правило: каждый раз,
открыв пособие или принимаясь за новую статью, повторите весь новый лексический
материал в предыдущих, путем быстрых "пробежек" по выделенным словам. Эт O положение
носит принципиальный характер, поэтому обращаем на него ваше внимание.
5. Для облегчения этой задачи рекомендуем обьединить (путем подчеркивания ручкой по
линейке) "цветные" слова с рядом стоящими так, чтобы образовывались короткие смысловые
фразы (например: "провели переговоры с представителями...", "независимые эксперты в
области..." и т.д.).
6. Работать над текстами надо до тех пор, пока не появится та легкость, с которой вы читаете
прессу на родном для вас языке (быстро, без напряжения, с одновременным, автоматическим
пониманием содержания). Различий быть не должно!
7. Постоянно сверяйте правильность произношения английских слов с транскрипцией.
Обращайте внимание на ударения и длительность звуков, от которых нередко меняются их
значения.
8. Не забывайте на досуге почитывать грамматику - это очень полезное занятие! Повторять
грамматику лучше по грамматическим справочникам, а осваивать - по самоучителям. Обычно
это не занимает много времени.
9. Помните, что частота общения с изучаемым предметом имеет прямую связь с качеством
ваших знаний. Поэтому старайтесь максимум свободного времени уделять иностранному
языку. Со временем судьба непременно отблагодарит вас за ваше упорство и терпение и
откроет новые пути в вашей жизни. Хорошее знание иностранного языка - это поистине
большое богатство!

Подробно о методе и принципах изучения иностранного языка

читайте на нашем сайте www.periscope-review.ru

Желаем успеха!
Коллектив издательства "Ритм планеты"

3
THE FINANTIAL TIMES, 10.02.06.
S Korea cloning expert suspended
The disgraced South Korean cloning expert, Hwang Woo-
Suk, has been suspended from his university post. He and six
members of his team have been temporarily barred from teaching
or research work, Seoul National University said.
The university apologised last month after Dr Hwang was
found to have faked some of his famous stem cell research. At the
time University President Chung Un-chan called for "heavy
punishment" for Dr Hwang and his colleagues. The suspension is
temporary, but the university's disciplinary committee is still
considering whether to implement further measures, which could
include formal dismissal. "The disciplinary committee is still following procedures to punish them.
It is looking into their misconduct in research and their breach of ethical standards," said Byun
Chang-ku, dean of academic affairs at Seoul National University. Dr Hwang and the six others also
face criminal charges of fraud and embezzlement.
The disgraced scientist caused Shockwaves late last year, when he admitted flaws in his
research, but has insisted most of the fabrications were carried out without his knowledge. A final
report from experts at Seoul National University, published last month, said that Dr Hwang had
faked his most famous work, the production of a stem cell line taken from cloned embryos. The
panel had previously rejected another of his landmark claims - to have produced individually
tailored stem cells. But it did conclude that Dr Hwang produced the world's first cloned dog, an
Afghan hound called Snuppy. Dr Hwang has already apologised for the mistakes. However, he has
insisted that most of the fabrications were carried out without his knowledge, by collaborators on
the project.

4
THE MIRROR, 16.05.06.
Royal Mail fined for missing post
Royal Mail is facing a record £11.4m fine for failing to
adequately prevent mail being lost, damaged or stolen. Regulator
Postcomm said Royal Mail was guilty of "serious breaches" of its
licence in relation to mail security measures and staff vetting.
Postcomm launched an investigation in 2004 after media reports
claimed that some staff were tampering with mail. Royal Mail
said it would appeal against the fine-the largest ever proposed by
the regulator-calling it "unfair". Royal Mail could also be fined
£270,000 for poor delivery performance in London during 2004-
5. Royal Mail has admitted that more than 14 million letters and
parcels were lost, stolen, damaged or tampered with last year.
However, it insists that its service is one of the safest in the world. In its investigation, Postcomm
found that many Royal Mail agency staff were not properly vetted before being employed and that
this had compromised the safety of deliveries. It also concluded that co-ordination of measures to
prevent theft and damage were "ineffective" and that Royal Mail had failed to adequately monitor
the effectiveness of its own procedures. "Customers are entitled to expect that when they post mail
it will reach its destination," said Nigel Stapleton, Postcomm's chairman. "A Postcomm review
uncovered serious shortcomings in Royal Mail's application of its procedures for properly
protecting the mail."
Postcomm said Royal Mail had made significant efforts to tackle the problem over the past
nine months. However, it said the proposed fine of £11.3m reflected the "extent and seriousness" of
the identified shortcomings, most of which could be put down to "management failings". Royal
Mail said the fine was "unreasonable", stressing that it had significantly tightened up its security
procedures since 2004. The amount of lost mail had halved over the last three years, it said, while
stolen mail accounted for just 0.001% of the 22 billion items handled every year. "Clearly we have
substantially improved," chief executive Adam Crozier told the BBC. "But clearly it is very
important we continue to improve our service. We are aware of that." Royal Mail was fined £7.5m
in 2003 after it was found to have missed performance standards for delivering business mail.

5
6
THE DAILY NEWS, 22.04.06.
Stuntman tries Empire State leap
A man has been arrested after trying to parachute from the
86th floor of the Empire State Building in New York. Stuntman
Jeb Corliss was apprehended on the observation deck and
handcuffed to railings. Mr Corliss had hidden a parachute,
jumping gear and a helmet with a fixed camera under heavy body
padding to get through security.
Police Inspector James McCarthy said the man had got
through security disguised in a "very expensive, elaborate
costume that made him appear like an older and a heavier
gentleman". When Mr Corliss got to the 86th floor, he took off the
padding and attempted to carry out his stunt - wearing the helmet
with a video camera attached. Mr Corliss climbed over a security barrier on the side of the New
York landmark, but a guard grabbed his leg before he could jump. "He was fighting with us to get
off. He wanted to jump off in the worst way," said building official Timothy Donahue. Building
staff and a police officer restrained the man before handcuffing him to a railing and taking him into
custody.
Mr Corliss is the host of the US Discovery Channel's Stunt Junkies, a show dedicated to the
adventures in extreme sports like skydiving. He is an expert base jumper - someone who parachutes
from fixed objects. Mr Corliss has jumped off the 1,483-foot (452-metre) Malaysian Petronas
Towers and from a 3,000-foot (914-metre) cliff in Norway. The Empire State Building, which
opened in 1931, is the city's tallest building. The 102-floor tower has 85 floors of commercial space
below the 86th-floor observation deck. The 30-year-old has been charged with assault, reckless
endangerment and other offences, police said.

7
THE WASHINGTON POST, 23.03.06.
N Korean heroin ship sunk by jet
A North Korean cargo ship that was used to smuggle
heroin into Australia has been sunk by an Australian fighter
jet. An F-111 aircraft bombed the Pong Su during target
practice on Thursday at a secret location offshore.
Australian troops seized the ship in 2003 after spotting it
unloading part of a huge heroin shipment at a beach. The
Australian government said the bombing was a warning to
North Korea to halt its involvement in drug smuggling - an
allegation Pyongyang rejects. "It is appropriate that we
publicly demonstrate our outrage at what has happened by
sinking this ship," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
"We are concerned about possible links between the North Korean ship and the North Korean
government." The Pong Su's cargo of heroin, worth about US$115 million, would have provided
four million hits of the drug on Australian streets.
Earlier this month, an Australian jury cleared the captain of the Pong Su and three officers of
involvement in an international drug ring. But four crew members who were involved in
transporting the heroin from ship to shore pleaded guilty to drug charges. Two have been sentenced
to 22 and 23 years in prison and the other two are awaiting sentence.
The 3,500-tonne Pong Su was used to smuggle in more than 125 kilograms of heroin. It had
anchored off the town of Lome in Victoria state while the cargo was carried ashore by dinghy. The
fighter jet then dropped the bomb that sank the ship. It was seized in April 2003 after a four-day
chase by the Australian navy.
Although North Korea has denied any link to the smuggling operation, Mr Downer said it
was hard to imagine a shipping company acting on its own in Pyongyang's Stalinist-style economy.
"I mean this isn't, after all, a private sector economy where private companies are doing things on
their own accord," Mr Downer said. Australia and the United States have said the case of the Pong
Su strengthens their suspicions that Pyongyang deals in drugs to help support its failing economy.

8
9
THE EXPRESS, 10.02.06.
Islam-West divide "grows deeper'
Malaysia's prime minister says a huge chasm has opened
between the West and Islam, fuelled by Muslim frustrations over
Western foreign policy. As he spoke at a conference in Kuala
Lumpur, thousands protested outside at cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad. Their publication in Europe has led to demonstrations
across the Muslim world.
Friday's demonstration was the biggest in Malaysia's capital
for years. "Long live Islam. Destroy Denmark. Destroy Israel.
Destroy George Bush. Destroy America," protesters shouted as
they marched to the Danish embassy in the rain from a nearby
mosque. The satirical cartoons include an image portraying Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.
Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits any depiction of Allah and the Prophet. The cartoons were first
published by a Danish newspaper in September, but have since been reprinted in several other
European publications. Abdullah Badawi described their publication as "insensitive and
irresponsible". Some papers had apologised for what it called an editorial oversight. The prime
minister had also declared possession of the cartoons illegal.
Around 10,000 Muslims stage a silent protest rally in Bhopal, India, carrying banners
reading: "Stop all anti-Islamic activities... Do not invite disaster." Around 3,000 Muslims march in
the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and more than 4,000 in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, in
demonstrations organised by hardline Islamists. Nato defence ministers seek to soothe the dispute
in scheduled talks with counterparts from six Arab nations in Sicily.
Addressing an international conference intended to promote dialogue between Western and
Islamic thinkers, Mr Abdullah said Islam and the West should stop demonising each other, and try
to curb extremism and promote moderation. He said mere talk and being nice to one another were
not enough, and mutual respect should replace hegemony. "The demonisation of Islam and the
vilification of Muslims, there is no denying, is widespread within mainstream Western society."
But Muslims for their part had to avoid "sweeping denunciation of Christians, Jews and the West",
he added. "The West should treat Islam the way it wants Islam to treat the West and vice versa.
They should accept one another as equals," he said.
THE NEWSDAY, 16.03.06.
Japan PM "suspends' royal plans
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has
reportedly suspended his plan to introduce a bill to allow
women to succeed to the Imperial throne. The decision follows
Tuesday's news that Princess Kiko is pregnant, raising hopes
that a male heir may yet be born. Princess Kiko and Prince
Akishino currently have two daughters.
A government-appointed panel recently recommended
changing the rules of succession, as no boys had been born into
the imperial family for 40 years. Under existing rules only men
are allowed to become emperors. The bill gained wide public
support, but many conservatives were against it. Before the news
of Princess Kiko's pregnancy, Mr Koizumi had pledged to propose the bill to parliament before it
ended its session in June. But he now wants to wait until there is broad parliamentary support for
the idea, Kyodo news agency said, quoting an unnamed government source. It said the prime
minister's decision followed a meeting with top ruling party leaders late on Thursday.
On Friday, Mr Koizumi denied he had given up on the bill. "We should make a decision after
having a clearer grasp of the situation," he told reporters. "I don't think the issue should trigger
political conflict". Analysts said Mr Koizumi faced growing opposition to the plan within his own
party and Cabinet. There have also been calls to wait until the sex of Princess Kiko's baby is
known. Opinion polls in Japan suggest a majority of people think that women should be allowed on
the throne.
10
11
CNN NEWS, 20.01.06.
Iran "moves assets out of Europe'
Iran has started moving its foreign exchange reserves out of
Europe in a bid to shield the country from the threat of sanctions,
reports suggest. Iran's central bank governor said the country had
begun withdrawing assets from European banks. Iran is embroiled in
a row with the US and European Union over allegations it is
attempting to build nuclear weapons.
The UN's atomic agency is due to meet on 2 February to discuss
the crisis. A possible solution to the growing dispute may have
emerged, after Russia said Iran has expressed interest in a proposal to
enrich uranium on Russian territory. The highly sensitive process of
enriching uranium is what lies at the heart of the dispute between the West and Iran. Low level
enriched uranium is used as fuel in nuclear power stations, but uranium enriched to higher levels
can be used in nuclear weapons. Western countries are afraid that oil-rich Iran is secretly pursuing
nuclear weapons and that allowing it to master the enrichment process will inevitably lead to
weapons acquisition. Iran denies the allegations, claiming it wants the technology for energy
purposes alone. Moscow's offer to carry out enrichment for Teheran, but supervised on Russian soil
was first made last year, but rejected.
Now the head of Russia's atomic energy agency, Sergei Kirienko, has told President Vladimir
Putin that Iran is ready for detailed discussions about the proposal. Mr Kirienko added that Iranian
officials may come to Moscow for talks in the near future. The plan could be the best hope of
defusing the escalating tensions over Iran's nuclear programme.
Western nations have been pressing for the issue to be referred to the United Nations Security
Council, which could impose sanctions on Iran. The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will hold an emergency meeting to discuss whether to refer Iran to
the Security Council. The council has the power to impose international trade or diplomatic
sanctions against Iran.
But Iran had begun the process of shifting its assets from Europe." Iran has started
withdrawing money from European banks and transferring it to other banks abroad, " a senior
Iranian official told the Reuters agency. It was not immediately clear where the assets were being
moved to, although reports have suggested that Iranian funds could be heading out of Europe to
Asia. Iran's assets in the US were frozen after the revolution of 1979, which saw the pro-Western
Shah toppled and a clerical regime installed in Tehran. It is difficult to estimate the amount of
assets that Iran has abroad, but the Arabic daily said that about $8bn had already been moved,
mainly to Asian markets. Other sources have put the total value of Iran's foreign assets at
somewhere between $30bn and $50bn.

Ferrari Enzo destroyed in 100mph crash

THE SUN, 23.02.06: A Swedish millionare has destroyed his
million dollar Ferrari Enzo in a 100mph crash on a Californian
freeway. Stefan Ericksson, 44, was travelling at triple figure speeds
on the famous Pacific Coast Highway when he lost control of the
Enzo. The car was torn in half when it struck a telegraph pole, ending
up with the engine and other wreckage scattered across the highway.
Ericksson told investigators that he was a passenger in the car and
that the driver was a German man he knew only as Dietrich who fled
to the surrounding hills after the crash. A three hour search failed to
find anyone. Ericksson suffered a cut lip in the crash. Sergeant Philip
Brooks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said: "For $1 million, you get a very good
passenger-safety system, and apparently in this case it did work." Originally 399 Enzos were scheduled to be
built, powered by a 660bhp V12, accelerating it to 60 in 3.3 seconds and on to 220mph. A final car was built
and presented to Pope John Paul II, before being auctioned to charity, taking the total number built to 400.
Chris Banning, a Beverly Hills based author and Ferrari owner said: "He destroyed one of the finest cars on
earth, maybe the finest. It's like taking a Van Gogh painting and burning it. "
12
13
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, 6.01.06.
Tehran plane crash
An Iranian military plane with 94 people on board has crashed into
a 10-storey apartment building in a built-up suburb of the capital Tehran.
There was a huge explosion and fire in the building. Police said everyone
had died on the plane and many deaths were feared on the ground. The
plane had been due to fly Bandar Abbas in the south-west of Iran.
Passengers included more than 70 journalists and photographers sent to
cover military exercises there.
The C-130 plane had just taken off from Mehrabad airport when the
pilot reported an emergency and turned back. He apparently lost control as
he attempted to land. Emergency services went to the scene in the
Yaftabad district and the area was sealed off while the fires were extinguished. Scores of people were taken
to hospitals suffering from burns and the effects of smoke. The semi-official news agency said at least 40
bodies had been recovered so far. Tehran state radio said at least 34 people had been killed in the building
and 90 were injured. Eyewitnesses reported that relatives of those inside the residential block where the
plane crashed were so desperate that they broke down a 3m tall metal gate to get inside. Journalists at the
site have reported being beaten by police. They said police broke two cameras belonging to state television
and confiscated tapes and all mobile phones being used to take pictures.
One shopkeeper described how something appeared to be wrong with the plane before it crashed. "We
are used to aeroplanes but I thought: 'Oh my God, this one is going to crash'. Then it struck the building with
a big bang and smoke came pouring out." Amir, who reached the scene shortly after the crash, said the
building was engulfed in smoke and dust and a huge fire swept through the block before the fire brigade
arrived.
The country's civil and military aircraft have a poor safety record. Officials blame the high frequency
of crashes on a lack of aviation spare parts due to US sanctions. Mehrabad is the oldest airport in Tehran and
handles both domestic and military flights. When it was built more than 60 years ago it was located outside
the capital, but with the growth of Tehran's urban sprawl the airport has become surrounded by residential
areas.

Madonna shrugs off song criticism

THE TIME, 3.01.06: Madonna has shrugged off
criticism of a song on her latest album, saying all she had
done was challenge authority. Rabbis in Israel accused the
pop singer of sacrilege, saying she used the name of a
Kabbalist rabbi for profit on her song Isaac. She told
reporters in Japan: "I like to challenge authority, and a lot of
people perceive that as controversial." Madonna said she was
influenced by Japan's culture, adding she kept in shape by
eating Japanese food.
In October Rabbi Rafael Cohen told the Israeli newspaper
that Madonna would receive a "punishment" for dedicating a
song to Rabbi Isaac Luria. "Jewish law forbids the use of the name of the holy rabbi for profit,"
said Cohen. "Her act is just simply unacceptable and I can only sympathise for her because of the
punishment that she is going to receive from the heavens." On Wednesday Madonna dismissed the
criticism, saying: "As soon as you have an opinion that is outside what is considered to be the
conventional way of thinking... you're considered controversial." She said she was glad to be back
in Japan, where she is promoting her album Confessions on a Dancefloor. "I've always been very
interested in Japanese culture," Madonna said. "Some of my videos, some of my performances on
stage have been inspired by Japanese cinema, martial arts, Japanese music, Japanese fashion,
Japanese food." She added: "I love Japanese food. I have a Japanese cook in London that travels
everywhere with me. I probably eat more Japanese food than you do."
Madonna repeated a recent admission that she would like to direct films, adding that she
wanted to make "a love story - a story that will really inspire people".

14
15
THE EVERNING TIMES, 12.01.06.
Australian anger over Singapore hanging
Once a colonial outpost of Britain, Singapore has developed
into one of the world's most prosperous places
- with glittering skyscrapers and a thriving port. The citizens enjoy
one of the world's highest standards of living, but also a system of
strict social controls and punishments for acts such as busking
without a licence or not flushing a public lavatory. The country was
referred to - less kindly -by the writer William Gibson as
"Disneyland with the death penalty". Singapore argues that its use
of capital punishment
- applied mostly for drugs trafficking offences - has stopped the
growth of narcotics syndicates.
Time has run out for 25-year-old Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van, who has
been executed at Singapore's Changi prison. Nguyen was arrested carrying almost 400 grams (14
ounces) of heroin at Singapore's Changi airport in late 2002. He said he was trying to smuggle the
drugs from Cambodia to Australia to pay off the legal bills incurred by his twin brother, a one-time
heroin addict. Nguyen was born in a refugee camp in Thailand in 1980, after his mother fled from
Vietnam. The family eventually settled in Melbourne.
His death sentence sparked widespread criticism in Australia. The Canberra government
repeatedly pleaded for clemency, as did lawyers, trade unions and church groups. But Singapore
remained unmoved, and insisted that the hanging would go ahead as planned. Several last-ditch
efforts to save him were suggested, including taking Singapore to the International Court of Justice
or arranging a prisoner swap. But Simon Rice, a lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, said
that Singapore was not a signatory to international human rights covenants. The Australian
government believed Nguyen should not face the gallows because he had no previous criminal
convictions. It also argued that he could help investigations into drug syndicates if allowed to live.
But in a letter to his Australian counterpart, the Speaker of the Singapore Parliament, said
there was no room for compromise. "Singapore has the right to retain the death penalty. We have
an obligation to protect the lives of those who could be ruined by the drugs Nguyen was carrying.
He knew what he was doing and the consequences of his actions. The Singaporean government has
gone through careful consideration in order to safeguard the rule of law and people's interests. This
is the correct procedure, and other people should not be allowed to interfer."
According to Amnesty International, about 420 people have been hanged in Singapore since
1991, mostly for drugs offences. If these figures are correct, they would give the
prosperous city-state of 4.2 million people the highest execution
rate in the world, relative to its population. At the weekend
Australian Prime Minister John Howard made his fifth personal
plea to the Singaporean leadership, during the Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting in Malta. Mr Howard warned that
Singapore should prepare for "lingering resentment" in Australia if
the execution went ahead. He has, however, rejected calls for
boycotts of Singaporean companies, as well as trade and military
sanctions with one of Australia's closest Asian allies. "I believe
John Howard has done as much as he could do. Listening to talk-
back radio, there are some people who think that heroin smugglers
deserve the death penalty, but I believe that the majority of Australians hold a different view" said
Gerard Henderson, from the conservative think-tank The Sydney Institute.
Some church leaders have called on Australians to observe a minute's silence for Nguyen on
Friday, but overall opinion remains mixed. "No-one has the right to take the life of someone else,"
said John Karousos, a 66-year-old retiree in Sydney. "It doesn't matter what he's done or his
mistakes. The death penalty is unacceptable." But Gilly Parminter, a 40-year-old mother, was less
sympathetic. "Personally I think if you go into a country you have to abide by their laws, and you
have to live with the consequences."

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James Bond car sold for over Elm
THE WEEK, 21.01.06: The legendary 1965 DB5 model,
complete with a host of high-tech gadgets, went under the hammer in
Phoenix, Arizona. Driven by Sean Connery, the car boasts built-in
Browning machine guns, tyre slashers, an oil slick ejector and a
retractable rear bullet-proof screen. It was bought for $2,090,000 by a
European collector. When last sold in 1970, it fetched £5,000. Before
the sale began, lights in the auction house were turned off and Auctions
spokesman Terrance Lobzun drove the car on to the stage. He
demonstrated all the features -including the guns - in return for a
standing ovation from the audience."It was just amazing. The
atmosphere was electric, it was so exciting," he said. "Every seat of the 1,500 in the house was sold
- it was standing room only. It was the biggest crowd we've ever had. Needless to say the previous
owner is quite happy with his investment." The car had been bought from Sir Anthony Bamford in
1970 by a Tennessee museum owner.

Lost wallet returned 39 years on

AFT NEWS, 2.02.06: A US man has praised the "good, honest" people of Utah after a wallet
he left behind 39 years ago was returned to him in Pennsylvania. Doug Schmitt, 57, left his wallet
on the counter of a petrol station in Logan, Utah, in the spring of 1967. The owner put the wallet in
a drawer in the hope Mr Schmitt would come back to collect it. Decades on, his son-in-law found
it, tracked Mr Schmitt down on the internet and sent it to him.
The wallet still contained $5 in cash and 8-cent airmail stamps. An equivalent stamp today
costs 39 cents. It held Mr Schmitt's student identity card from Utah State University. "I had a real
full head of hair back then," said Mr Schmitt. He also found pictures of his high-school girlfriends
and a dry-cleaning ticket in there. "It makes me wonder if I still got some dry-cleaning out there,"
he said. "I don't know." Ted Nyman was clearing out his father-in-law's estate when he came across
the wallet and sent it 2,158 miles (3,472 km) across the US.
Mr Schmitt, an antiques dealer, said he was used to looking through people's old relics and
letters, but was surprised to find himself looking at his own history. "I never thought I would be the
object of something like this - not at this age, anyway," he said. "It's wonderful that people will take
the time to research that, then return something to someone they don't even know," his wife,
Vickie, added. "It's great to see how he looked when he was a freshman in college."

200 million dollar typing error

(BBC): One of Japan's top financial firms is struggling to limit
enormous losses caused by a by one of its brokers. Mizuho Securities,
the brokerage arm of Japan's second largest bank, says it will lose at
least 220 million dollars because of a typing error. The advent of
computerised share trading has opened up traditionally-exclusive stock
markets, making them more accessible to ordinary investors and making
the process of buying and selling shares much faster for professional
brokers. Now Mizuho Securities in Japan has discovered that there's a
down side to all this. Under instruction from one of its clients to sell a single share in a Japanese
recruitment company at the market price of 610,000 yen, or around 5,000 dollars, one of its brokers
made what may be the most expensive typing error in history. Instead the order went out to sell
610,000 shares, more than 40 times the total number of shares in the company, at a price of just one
yen each. Mizuho spotted their mistake in less than two minutes but it was too late. The sale had
already been authorised and sharp-eyed online investors began snapping up the non-existent shares
at bargain prices. Mizuho, which failed to own up to the mistake for several hours, is now trying to
buy back all the shares at something close to the price it sold them for, but it admits it will lose at
least 220 million dollars. The government has demanded an inquiry into how the stock exchange's
computer system failed to spot such an obviously nonsensical trade. Mizuho has cancelled its
annual office party and there will presumably be fewer Christmas bonuses this year as well.

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THE NEW YORK TIMES, 4.01.06.
Lobbyist Set to Plead Guilty in Florida
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - A day after he pleaded guilty to three
felony counts here, Mr. Abramoff, a once prominent Republican
lobbyist, instantly became the star witness in a sweeping federal
investigation into public corruption in Washington when he pleaded
guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials as
part of a settlement with federal prosecutors in a case stemming from
his purchase of a casino boat line in 2000. The inquiry could involve
as many as a dozen lawmakers, people involved in the case said.
Mr. Abramoff, 46, accepted a recommended reduced prison
sentence of about 10 years in exchange for testifying against former
associates in the influence-peddling case. The agreement also requires
Mr. Abramoff to pay more than $26 million in tax penalties and
restitution to former clients, although he has told associates he is
broke. The corruption inquiry involving Mr. Abramoff, potentially one
of the most explosive in Congressional history, has expanded in recent
months to encompass dozens of political operatives, including former Congressional aides and
lobbyists suspected of arranging bribes in exchange for legislative work, participants in the case
said. His testimony, coupled with that of Michael Scanlon, a former Abramoff business associate
who pleaded guilty in November, reaches into the executive and legislative branches and appears to
be drawing an ever-tighter ring of evidence around the former House Republican majority leader,
Tom DeLay, and other senior Congressional Republicans.
Standing hunched in a dark suit in front of a Federal District Court judge, his eyes downcast
as the plea deal was announced, Mr. Abramoff bore little resemblance to the brash operative who in
hundreds of e-mails messages obtained by prosecutors once boasted about his financial kickbacks,
referring to them as a "gimme five" scheme.
Mr. Abramoff confessed to making "a multitude of mistakes" during a decade or so of
lobbying work. In a soft, grainy voice, he pleaded guilty to defrauding at least four Indian tribes of
tens of millions of dollars, enticing government officials with bribes and evading taxes."All of my
remaining days, I will feel tremendous sadness and regret for my conduct and for what I have
done," Mr. Abramoff said. Emerging from the courthouse into a light drizzle wearing a black
fedora, he slipped into a waiting car and was driven away. Mr. DeLay, who has taken in thousands
in campaign donations from Mr. Abramoff and accompanied the lobbyist on a lavish golf trip to
Scotland in 2000, has denied any wrongdoing. Richard Cullen, a former United States attorney
representing Mr. DeLay, said his client "is confident that when the Department of Justice completes
its investigation and gets to the bottom of this that they will conclude that he did nothing wrong."
Court documents filed Tuesday gave a snapshot of what Mr. Abramoff has been telling
investigators during their plea negotiations over the last year and a half. In one instance cited in
court documents, Mr. Abramoff directed favors to a senior DeLay staff member -referred to in
documents as "Staffer A," but identified by lawyers as Tony C. Rudy, now a Republican lobbyist.
Those favors came in the form of payments to Mr. Rudy's wife, Lisa. Mr. Abramoff paid $50,000
to Lisa Rudy through a charity organization in exchange for her husband's "agreement to perform a
series of official acts," the plea agreement said.
Also mentioned in the plea agreement was a "Representative No. 1" who, along with
members of his staff, accepted gifts, travel and free meals at Mr. Abramoff's restaurant, signatures,
in exchange for legislative help, including inserting a comment into the Congressional Record
designed to help Mr. Abramoff with a business deal. Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio,
was identified as this figure after court documents were filed in connection with Mr. Scanlon's plea
deal. Although Mr. Ney did not deny his association with Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon on
Tuesday, he insisted, as he has in the past, that he was tricked by the two men into doing work on
behalf of their lobbying clients.
Mr. Abramoff helped funnel more than $1.5 million in campaign donations to hundreds of
elected officials, more than half of them Republican, since 2000, according to analyses of his work.

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As Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher put it on Tuesday, Mr. Abramoff "went far beyond
lawful lobbying." How much time Mr. Abramoff will spend in prison will be determined later, after
he has fulfilled most of his obligation to help investigators. He has been in talks with prosecutors
for some 18 months. According to people involved in the case, all of whom spoke on condition of
anonymity because the broader investigation is continuing, Mr. Abramoff at times offered guidance
to investigators as they pursued other targets.
According to participants in the case, he has shared information about David Safavian, a
former Bush administration official indicted last year, and Tim Flanigan, the Tyco executive who
withdrew his nomination as the second-in-command at the Justice Department after his ties to Mr.
Abramoff came into question. Mr. Abramoff told Tyco "that he was negotiating on their behalf " to
try to save them money "when in fact he was simply setting a high price on services that he
controlled and from which he would profit."
"With most cases, the plea is the end, but with Abramoff, the plea is just the beginning," said
an F.B.I, official who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding, "This one has legs."
BBC NEWS, 14.12.05.
Fuel explosion throws a giant shadow
Analysts were last night trying to assess the
environmental impact of a fuel depot explosion that caused
the biggest industrial fire since the end of the Second World
War as a vast cloud of smoke threatened to dump oil residues
over large tracts of south-east Britain. The explosion at the
Buncefield fuel terminal yesterday morning ignited millions
of gallons of fuel and sent a thick plume of smoke across
southern England and towards the Channel.
The fires could burn for days and the cost of the
disaster and the subsequent clean-up operation is expected to
run into hundreds of millions of pounds. The Environment
Agency said the main areas of concern involved the potential for pollution to groundwater, rivers
and streams and also damage to land quality which could occur if any of the substances, including
kerosene, diesel, gas oil and gasoline, were to escape. Meteorologists also warned that soot falling
in rainfall could contaminate grazing land. Peter Kidds, a forecaster at the Met Office, said it could
result in milk from the south-east of England being un-usable. "This is going to affect grazing
animals because the grass could be contaminated," he said.
The explosion happened shortly after 6am, ripping through the fuel terminal in Leverstock
Green, close to Junction 8 of the Ml. Despite the severity of the blast, which sent flames shooting
hundreds of feet into the sky, only two people were seriously injured among 43 casualties. The
force of the blast was such that it could be heard up to 100 miles away, prompting fears of a
terrorist attack or a plane crash, but Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley said police were
treating the incident as an accident, despite the appearance on the internet four days ago of an al-
Qaeda videotape calling for attacks on facilities carrying oil.
A security guard working at a nearby building reported smelling fumes moments before the
blast. Raheel Ashraf said: "It was really bad. I had popped my head outside and smelled it there
too, then it was difficult to tell if the smell was coming from inside or outside the building." He
said that moments later there was a massive explosion. "It was awful. It was like you were in hell.
The flames were as high as 200ft and kept rising. You could literally see the fire growing."
The depot - which holds millions of gallons of various fuels - also supplies Heathrow and
Luton airports. About 2,000 people living nearby were evacuated, while police advised others to
keep windows and doors closed because of the thick plume of smoke rising, clearly seen by
satellite pictures as a thick blob dispersing east, west and southwards. Experts believe that the
explosion may have occurred after fuel leaked from one of the tanks and vaporised. Hans Michels,
professor of safety engineering at Imperial College London, said that although a malicious act,
including terrorism, could not be ruled out, it was most likely to have been caused by either a
crack in the wall of a tank or a computer problem with the oil pipeline. Each of the 20 tanks on
the site is believed to hold three million gallons of fuel, worth an estimated £10 million.

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Bush adviser charged with thefts
THE OBSERVER, 11.03.06: US President former political adviser has
been charged with stealing more than $5,000 from department stores. The
president said he was "shocked" and "sad" on hearing the news about Claude
Allen, who resigned abruptly as his domestic policy adviser last month. Mr
Allen, 45, has denied at least 25 thefts from Target and Hecht's stores. The scam
allegedly involved Mr Allen claiming refunds for merchandise that he did not
buy. A Target employee said he saw Mr Allen put items in an empty Target
bag, which he then took to the refund desk with a receipt, and claimed money
back, Reuters said, citing a police statement. He was credited more than $5,000
to his credit card through similar transactions at other shops, police said. Mr Allen reported the 2 January
incident to White House staff the next day, saying it was a misunderstanding related to his credit cards, a
White House spokesman said. "He assured them that he had done nothing wrong and the matter would be
cleared up".
Mr Allen, a lawyer born in Philadelphia, was promoted to White House domestic policy adviser in
early 2005, having been the No 2 official at the health and human services department. Mr Bush had
nominated him in 2003 for a seat on the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia, but withdrew him
because of political opposition. "When I heard the story last night, I was shocked, and my first reaction was
one of disappointment, deep disappointment - if it's true - that we were not fully informed," Mr Bush said on
Saturday. "Shortly thereafter, I felt really sad for the Allen family. If the allegations are true, something
went wrong in Claude Allen's life, and that is really sad; Snyder, a lawyer for Mr Allen, called the arrest and
charges "a misunderstanding", and said he wanted to meet Target investigators to clear things up.

More bodies found at German rink

THE SUN, 4.01.06: Rescuers working in the rubble of a collapsed ice rink in southern Germany have
recovered another body, that of a girl, raising the number killed to 14. A woman is still missing, but rescue
officials say there have been no signs of life from the wreckage. Earlier, the bodies of two boys were pulled
from the remains of the ice rink, which collapsed after heavy snow on Monday. Pope Benedict XVI, who
grew up in the region, has sent his condolences.
Searches were carried out during the night after heavy lifting equipment was brought in to help secure
the building, but the likelihood of finding survivors has faded since morning. There had been some hopes of
finding people alive, even 36 hours after the roof collapsed, if gaps in the snow and ice had created an "igloo
effect", with warm pockets of air where a person could survive. But the chief administrator of the district
announced the latest grim discovery. "We have to give the sad news that we have found another victim," he
said. "Only one more person lies buried under the rubble." The search is continuing for the woman, but
much of the debris has already been cleared. One of the survivors, teenager Elfriede Datz said "all I know is
there was a very loud bang, and more I can't remember".
Initial reports suggested the roof caved in after heavy snowfall, but local officials said the roof had
been examined on Monday and that the amount of snow was below the building's limit. But with snow
continuing to fall, town officials had been planning to close the rink at the end of Monday's skating session.
German police have begun an official inquiry into the accident.

Shoe alert shuts New York airport

CNN NEWS, 4.04.06: New York's LaGuardia airport evacuated passengers and grounded flights for
about two hours after a man's shoe raised a false alarm during screening. The man was let pass through
security around 1500 despite setting off the alarm for explosives residue and a search was launched.
Officials could not say immediately why the man was allowed to pass through. Hundreds of people were
evacuated from the Delta Airlines terminal and departures temporarily suspended. But incoming flights were
allowed to land.
Ms Clark said the man, who had been selected for secondary screening, afterwards "put on his shoes
and exited the area". Several hours after the alert was raised, the man had still not been found. The screening
alarm was sometimes triggered by substances other than explosives, including traces of fertilizer that can be
found on the bottom of shoes. Shoe checks have been routine at US and other airports since British "shoe
bomber" Richard Reid tried to blow up a Paris-Miami flight in 2001 using explosives hidden in his
footwear.

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THE GUARDIAN, 7.01.06.
EU pledges $100m to bird flu fund
The European Union has pledged $100m to help countries deal with
the global bird flu threat. The disaster is already on the EU's doorstep with
three deaths among 18 cases of infection in Turkey. Meanwhile, France
says it will conduct exercises simulating an outbreak to test the country's
readiness. French Prime Minister said he would extend a ban on rearing
outdoor poultry to cover more than half of France - Europe's biggest
poultry producer. The agricultural ministry said the measures had been
extended to risk areas "where there could be migratory birds", adding that
further measures could be introduced "if the threat nears". Europe's
second-largest poultry producer, the Netherlands, has said it will submit a
request to the European Commission to vaccinate its poultry against bird flu.
Scientists analysing the virus in Turkey say it is a particularly nasty form, but one which has been
seen elsewhere. The analysis of a sample from one Turkish case showed a genetic change which has been
seen in previous human cases in Hong Kong and Vietnam. However, a team from the National Institute of
Medical Research in London stress the alteration does not make the virus more likely to pass between
humans. More than 70 people have died worldwide since the latest outbreak started in late 2003.
There have been no known outbreaks of the highly dangerous H5N1 strain among birds within the
EU, but it has been found in Romania, which is due to join the bloc next year. EU External Relations
Commissioner said the aid, in the form of grants, would help poorer countries, including those in Eastern
Europe and Africa, tackle the disease and risk of disease. "Never before has an animal disease posed a
global threat of such a dimension and spread at such a pace," she said. "The disease is not only a threat to
health, but where it strikes it jeopardises economic growth and poverty alleviation."
Residents of the eastern Turkish town hit by a fatal outbreak of bird flu in humans have besieged a
local hospital seeking treatment for symptoms. Three children have died this week, at least two of them from
the virulent H5N1 strain. Despite no evidence that the disease has begun to spread between humans, locals
have sought treatment at a poorly-equipped hospital in the town. Turkey will speed up a poultry cull this
weekend to contain the virus. The World Health Organisation has attempted to play down fears of the
disease, as Turkish officials sought to defend themselves from accusations they were slow to act.
Tests carried out in a UK laboratory confirmed that Mehmet Ali and Fatma died from the H5N1
strain, which has killed more than 70 in south-east Asia and China. All children developed symptoms
including a high fever, coughing and bleeding in the throat. Doctors said they had been playing with the
heads of chickens who had died of bird flu.
Some 3,500 birds have been culled so far in the Van region and extra supplies of Tamiflu medicine
have been sent. "We don't expect a pandemic or anything like that in Turkey but there is a real risk for
people who are in close contact with fowl," said Health Minister Recep Akdag. Experts from the EU have
been sent to Turkey to help them deal with the outbreak.

Former Russian minister deported

CNN NEWS, 12.02.06: Russia's former nuclear energy minister has been extradited to face corruption
charges in his homeland, rather than the US, where he is also wanted. The Supreme Court in Switzerland,
where Yevgeny Adamov was being held, this week overturned an earlier ruling to hand him to the US. The
US accuses Mr Adamov of embezzling up to $9m it gave to improve security at Russian nuclear facilities.
Moscow filed its own extradition request shortly after the US. Mr Adamov, who was held on a US warrant
in Bern in May, will now face charges in Russia of embezzling $17m.
Russia was fighting for Mr Adamov to be returned for fear that his detailed knowledge of the
country's nuclear weapons programme could fall into US hands. The nuclear physicist, who was Russia's
atomic energy minister from 1998 to 2001, accepts his extradition to his homeland but continues to deny the
charges. Mr Adamov was flown out of Zurich airport late on Friday aboard a specially chartered Russian'jet,
the Swiss justice ministry said.

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THE WASHINGTON POST, 21.01.06.
Spying against US
A former Defense Department analyst was sentenced to more
than 12 years in prison yesterday for passing government secrets to
two employees of a pro-Israel lobbying group and to an Israeli
government official in Washington.
The 58-year-old Larry Franklin has pleaded guilty to giving
secrets to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He said he
had been unhappy with aspects of US foreign policy and had hoped
the lobbyists would use their contacts to get policies he was
unhappy with changed. He thought he could influence it through
"back channels." He did not specify what US policy he was
particularly frustrated with. According to the charges against Franklin he passed information from
2002 to 2004. He also said he had met the political officer from the Israeli embassy at least nine
times during the same period. He had also given information to an Israeli diplomat, but played
down its importance. But he said he believed the Israeli government was already in possession of
the information.
U.S. District Judge Ellis said Franklin did not intend to harm the United States when he gave
the classified data to the employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC,
one of Washington's most influential lobbying organizations. "I believe, I accept your explanation
that you didn't want to hurt the United States, that you are a loyal American," said Ellis, who added
that Franklin was "concerned about certain threats to the United States" and thought he had to hand
information about the threats to others to bring it to the attention of the National Security Council.
But Franklin still must be punished, Ellis said, because he violated important laws governing the
non-disclosure of secret information.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Gregory told Ellis that Franklin had reason to believe that the
information could be used against the United States. "When you disclose national defense
information to people not entitled to receive it," he said, "the U.S. government loses control of that
information and there is no way to know in whose hands it might fall." Plato Cacheris, Franklin's
attorney, emphasized that Franklin is "a longtime dedicated public servant" who has had "a long
and distinguished career." He said that Franklin has been cooperating extensively with investigators
and that he expects the government to file a motion later to reduce Franklin's sentence. Franklin has
been freed on bail until their prosecution case is concluded. The sentencing in U.S. District Court
closed one chapter of a long-running investigation into an alleged conspiracy to obtain and illegally
pass classified information to foreign officials and reporters. But with the case still shrouded in
secrecy, yesterday's hearing cast no new light on the information Franklin provided, whether its
transmission harmed the United States and whether anyone will be charged other than the two
lobbyists, who have been fired by AIPAC and are awaiting trial.
Franklin pleaded guilty in October to three counts: conspiracy to communicate national
defense information, conspiracy to communicate classified information to an agent of a foreign
government, and unlawful retention of national defense information. Court documents said
Franklin provided classified data — including information about a Middle Eastern country's
activities in Iraq and weapons tests conducted by a foreign country — to the lobbyists and to an
unnamed "foreign official." The Middle Eastern country was not named, but Franklin disclosed at
his plea hearing that some of the material related to Iran. He also said in court that the foreign
official was Naor Gilon, who was the political officer at the Israeli Embassy before being recalled
last summer. Israeli officials have said they are cooperating in the investigation, and they denied
any wrongdoing.
Franklin is expected to testify against the two former AIPAC lobbyists, Steven Rosen and
Keith Weissman, at their trial, which is scheduled for April. Rosen is charged with two counts
related to unlawful disclosure of national defense information obtained from Franklin and other
unidentified government officials on topics including Iran, Saudi Arabia and al Qaeda. Weissman
faces one count of conspiracy to illegally communicate national defense information. The FBI
monitored a series of meetings between Franklin and the former AIPAC officials dating back to
early 2003, multiple sources familiar with the investigation have said.
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THE REUTERS, 21.01.06.
Rescuers race to save lost whale
Rescue teams are working out how to save a whale which
has been stranded in the River Thames since at least Friday. This
is extremely rare in British waters as they are normally found in
deep waters in the North Atlantic. The whale was first spotted at
0830 GMT on Friday by a man on a train and has since attracted
massive public and media attention with thousands of people
flocking to the river to see it. It soon became clear there was
cause for concern, as the animal came within yards of the banks,
almost beaching, and crashed into an empty boat, causing itself
slight bleeding. The exhausted and disoriented whale was seen
struggling against the river's strong currents.
The novelty of a whale in the Thames has now given way to concern that it should not be
there. Crowds were again expected to flock to the riverbank to catch a glimpse, prompting appeals
for sight-seeing boats to keep well clear. Paul Jepson, vet with the Zoological Society of London,
was said to have seen the whale from a boat and expressed concern about injuries on its head and
tail, and the disorientated manner in which it was swimming.
"We need it to beach - that sounds really harsh but we can't put people into the water to grab
this animal. It's way too strong for us, people would get hurt," he said. If that happened then
rescuers would use inflatable booms, a harness and an giant floating crane to rescue the whale and
have it assessed by a specialist vet. But there's little else they can do.
There were reports of a pod of whales in the Thames estuary earlier in the week, and it was
possible that the whale had become separated from this group. It is the first sighting of the
endangered species in the river since records began nearly a century ago.
23.01.06. A rescue operation was launched to try to save it but ended in tragedy on Saturday
night when the whale died after being lifted onto a barge trying to take it back out to sea. Marine
biologists from the ZSL carried out a post-mortem on the seven-ton female whale in a secluded
riverfront yard in Gravesend, Kent, on Sunday. They took blubber samples and examined damage
to the 15ft northern whale's skin. They also studied the echo response areas of the brain which
could reveal if they were damaged, causing the animal to become distracted. Preliminary result are
due on Wednesday. When the tests are complete the whale's body will be released for disposal.

THE INDEPENDENT, 2.02.06.

Colombia smugglers "used puppies'
A Colombian drugs network has been trying to smuggle heroin into the US by surgically
implanting it into pedigree puppies, US drugs agents have said. In one case, 14 packets of liquid heroin were
found sewn into the bellies of six Labrador puppies by a vet. The network also allegedly used human
couriers, who either swallowed or hid the drugs in a variety of containers. The Colombian authorities,
working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), have arrested 22 people.
The gang's alleged activities were revealed when local and US agents who raided a farm in Colombia
found 10 puppies, six with scars on their bellies, the DEA said. Ultrasound scans revealed the packets,
weighing about 3kg and worth some $200,000 , inside those dogs. Three of the puppies died as a result of
infection after the drugs were removed but three survived and are said to be "alive and well". John Gilbride,
head of the DEA's New York office, said it remained unclear how many dogs may have been used by the
gang. "I think it's outrageous and heinous that they'd use small, innocent puppies in this way," he said. "It
just demonstrates what lengths drugs dealers will go to get drugs into the country."
The network, based in the Colombian city of Medellin, allegedly used puppies and other methods to
transport drugs on commercial flights into New York and across the eastern US. Heroin was also found in
moisturising creams, aerosol cans, pressed into bead shapes and stitched into the lining of purses and
luggage, US agents said. The DEA, which backed the two-year investigation by the Colombian authorities,
hopes to extradite some of the suspects to face charges in the US. Colombia is the main supplier of heroin to
the US.

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THE DAILY NEWS, 9.03.06.
The latest in gadgets in near future
The Cebit technology fair is taking place in Hanover. Here
is our second look at some of the coolest gadgets on display.
Laptop veteran Toshiba has become the first computer maker to
ship a portable computer with a HD-DVD drive onboard.
Unveiled at Cebit and likely to go on sale in Europe first, the
Qosmio G30 is due to be on shop shelves in April and is aimed at
consumers with deep pockets, as the price for the machine is
likely to be well in excess of £2000. Under the hood it has a
2GHz dual core processor, two 120 GB hard drives and digital
and analogue TV tuner. It has a 17-inch display that can cope
with the high-definition images on HD-DVD discs. The HD-DVD standard is one of two, the other
is Blu-Ray, that are aiming to replace DVDs. To help show high resolution images the Qosmio G30
uses the GeForce 7600 graphics card made by Nvidia.
Small form computer specialist Shuttle chose the Cebit show to unveil its XPC M2000
machine that is one of the first to match the ViiV specifications laid down by Intel. The
specifications are intended to help turn PCs into media centres and entertainment hubs for the
home. Shuttle is best known for the small, powerful PCs beloved of gamers but the M2000 is
intended for the lounge rather than a teenager's bedroom. It has two tuner cards so can be used to
watch digital or analogue TV on either a monitor or old-fashioned television set. Eight channel
audio means it can act as a surround sound system to play any music stored on it. The machine can
also play DVDs and CDs and has an eight-in-one memory card reader for easy transfer of images
or sounds collected on other devices. The M2000 is due to go on sale in the summer but prices
have yet to be announced.
Cebit technology fair was dominated by news about
Microsoft's mini PC project Origami. The first working devices
were unveiled along with information about its capabilities. Korean
electronics firm Samsung said it would start selling Origami in the
next few weeks. Samsung, which has dubbed its first Origami
handheld Ql, showed off the black, paperback sized computer at its
opening press conference. The machine has a 7-inch touchscreen
and a 40 gigabyte hard drive. It also boasts an Intel Celeron
processor onboard, runs the tablet edition of Windows XP and uses
wi-fi and bluetooth to communicate. Extras for the gadget include a
Bluetooth keyboard and a card that lets it use mobile phone
networks to communicate. As first described by Bill Gates at the
Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in 2005, the device is
intended to be an ultra-portable PC.
Samsung said the Ql could do everything a regular PC could
do and runs in two modes. One involves using it as a cut-down PC
running the familiar Windows operating system. The second is as a
pure media device that lets users watch video or listen to music
without turning on the operating system. Samsung's device also
includes a Digital Media Broadcasting tuner so it can handle TV programmes broadcast for mobile
gadgets. Introducing the Ql, Dr David Steel, Samsung's vice president of digital media business,
said: "This is a very good sign of convergence coming into the computer industry. "Now the
consumer has a single mobile computing device that combines the mobile functionality of many
different devices." He claimed that the Ql would act as a replacement for mobile media players,
game handhelds, palmtop computers and notebook PCs. When it goes on sale the Ql is expected to
cost about 1,000 euros. Other ultra-portable computers are expected soon from Asustek and the
Chinese Founder Group. Intel too has been working on different designs for the ultra-portable PC.
Microsoft is expected to flesh out its vision for the product later on at the show.
As well as being a showcase for gadgets that are about to go into the shops, Cebit is also a
show that looks to the long-term future. Japanese hi-tech company NEC used Cebit to show
32
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 off some conceptual ideas for what products of the future might look
like. Under the umbrella term of Resonantware the products aim to
investigate how technology might
evolve. NEC showed an idea it called Sala that integrates a radio
tag into an item of jewellery, such as a wedding ring -associated
with an important event. When the ring, earring or brooch is
placed near a display device that can read the tag it calls up the
images, movies or sounds the owner has associated with it. It
also showed off a concept see-through mobile phone called
Flask which is powered by a fuel cell. Like many disposable
cigarette lighters, the transparent sides of the phone let users see when they need a refill.
German retail giant Metro AG used the Cebit trade show to
give shoppers a glimpse of what might be coming to department stores in the next few years. On its
Future Store display stand, Metro showed a prototype smart changing room that could help those
looking for clothes see what they look like wearing them without actually having to put them on.
The system used radio tags to identify clothes and when the items of apparel are put near a large
display, sensors read the tags and show an image of a model wearing an outfit made up of those
items. Early versions of the system show all the clothes on models but future versions will include
a body scanner so the exact shape of shoppers can be used in the display. Instead of having to put
endless combinations on to find the best outfit to suit the system will allow people to combine
shirts, suits and shoes at the touch of a button.
Sports clothing firm O'Neill is set to launch a jacket with a built-in keypad that lets you
control your iPod or mobile phone without exposing your hands to the cold. Developed in
conjunction with German firm the winter sports jacket has five buttons on the left forearm that link
via a control box to your phone or music player that sits snug in an inside pocket. The sales
manager said the O'Neill jacket will have buttons to turn devices on and off, raise or lower volume
or make and end calls. A microphone sewn into the collar of the coat works via Bluetooth short
range radio with the control box in the jacket so wearers can make and take calls while skiing. The
jacket should go on sale in time for Winter 2007 and should cost about 500 euros.

India retires Cold War spy MiGs

THE STATE, 24.04.06: The Indian Air Force
(IAF) has announced it will retire its fleet of MiG 25s,
Cold War-era spyplanes, previously shrouded in
secrecy. A spokesman said the last of the IAF's four
surviving MiG-25s will be phased out of service on 1
May. "It will be a nostalgic event and a flypast will be
held," Air Vice Marshal S Mukherjee said. He said the
aircraft would be shown at various installations after
they had been retired.
The MiGs, capable of flying at over three times the speed of sound, were bought from the
USSR in 1981. "It was a darned good machine but even today we are not permitted to speak of the
daredevilry these stratospheric planes have been used for," an unnamed MiG 25 pilot was quoted
by news agency AFP. "All I can say is that I more than once hit Seven Plus (70,000 feet) with
them," he said.
India originally bought 10 of the MiGs from the Soviet Union and nicknamed the 20-ton
reconnaissance planes Garuda after the mythical Hindu eagle king. The aircraft were based at an
undisclosed location. The MiG 25, which was built in both reconnaissance and interceptor versions,
is the fastest combat aircraft ever built, apart from the US Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spyplane. It
was designed in the late 1960s to beat the US Air Force's XB-70, a supersonic bomber which never
entered service. The Pentagon's misplaced belief that the MiG was a highly-agile dogfighter
spurred the development of the US F-15 and F-16 fighters. In 1976, a Soviet pilot defected to
Japan in a MiG 25. The US subsequently stripped the aircraft and studied it before returning it to
the USSR. They found the MiG was a heavy but powerful aircraft with a 1950s-vintage radar
capable of burning through protective electronic countermeasures. MiG 25s were later exported to
several nations, including Algeria, Syria and Iraq.
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THE NEWSDAY, 28.04.06.
French fugitive "regrets actions'
A French woman arrested 24 years after she fled into
exile after a Paris bank robbery has admitted she was
involved. Prosecutors say Helene Castel, 46, fled to the
United States and then Mexico after the 1980 raid and started
a new life under a false name. She was living as a
psychotherapist in Xalapa before police arrested her four
days before the statute of limitations on her case in France
was to expire.
She told a Paris court she regretted taking part in the
hold-up. "When I was arrested it was like a cold shower in
the middle of a heat wave," she said. "But I realised that I
needed to live through this, I needed to be reborn in France
to be whole." Mrs Castel added that the year and a half of
detention awaiting trial had been "very constructive". "It has forced me to put the truth about myself into
words and I do not regret it," she said. "I can say today that I very much regret taking part in the hold-up.
"She is charged with "armed robbery in an organised group" and "taking of hostages to facilitate a
crime," and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail if convicted. The charges relate to the raid on a
Paris branch of the BNP bank by seven masked attackers on 30 May 1980. They took hostages as the police
arrived and one of the raiders was killed in an exchange of gunfire. Three were arrested and three fled -
Helene Castel among them.
Her three alleged colleagues were given eight-year jail sentences. She was convicted in her absence in
1984 but under French law is allowed new trial after having been arrested. Convicted members of the gang
are expected to give evidence in the trial. The fact that she was arrested prompted some debate in France.
French newspaper Liberation questions whether it is right to try the woman so long after the alleged raid.

Italians clash over gay marriage

THE SUN, 14.01.06: Gay rights activists are set to stage a
demonstration in Rome later on Saturday in support of same-sex marriage.
A magistrate will celebrate "weddings" for 10 same-sex couples, though the
ceremony is symbolic rather than legal. The move has been denounced by
Pope Benedict XVI, who says gay marriage will "obscure the value and
function of the legitimate family". Gay marriage - illegal in Italy - has
become an important issue ahead of forthcoming general elections.
The Pope dismissed gay marriage, saying it was "a serious mistake to
obfuscate the value and functions of the legitimate family based on marriage
by attributing legal recognition to other forms of legal union for which there is no real social demand". The
Vatican newspaper came out with an editorial denouncing the planned gay wedding ceremony, to be held in
the centre of Rome, as a provocation. But gay rights activists hit back with a statement which read: "What a
pity the Pope has not taken advantage of the occasion to affirm that Christianity means love and acceptance
of all people.""The Pope has closed the door, but in any case history does not stop at the gate of St Peter's,"
it added. Gay marriage and the legalisation of cohabitation arrangements between unwed couples of the
same or the opposite sex has become a political hot potato in Italy. Italy's left-
wing opposition has said it will change the law if it wins the April general
election to allow common-law partners of opposite sexes to obtain legal
recognition of their unions, but it stopped short of proposing to allow gays
and lesbians to wed.
The leader of the left, Romano Prodi, who could become Italy's next
prime minister if Silvio Berlusconi is defeated in the general election, is
caught in an awkward dilemma. He and his wife are practising Catholics and
are under pressure from the Church to uphold traditional Catholic family
teaching and values. Gay unions are already legal in several European countries, including traditionally
Catholic Spain. Last month Britain introduced a law allowing same-sex couples to formalise their
relationships.

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THE MIRROR, 18.01.06.
Manhunt after Brazil bank heist
Police have launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of the
biggest bank robbery in Brazil's history. Thieves, posing as workers,
tunnelled their way into a heavily reinforced Central Bank vault in the
north-eastern city of Fortaleza over the weekend and got away with
nearly 150 million reals ($85 million).
The thieves built an 80-meter-long tunnel from a house near the
bank, digging about 4 metres below the floor of the vault, police said in
a statement. Neighbours said between six and 10 men worked at the
house, rented in the name of a company making artificial turf. The
tunnel had wooden panels and plastic sheets lining the walls as well as
electric lighting. Inside, police found a bolt cutter, drill, electric saw
and a blowtorch. "It's something you see in the movies... They dug a
tunnel that goes underneath two (city) blocks. They've been digging for
three months," investigator Francisco Queiroga told the Reuters news agency. The theft was not
even discovered until Monday morning because the bank had been closed over the weekend.
The amount of money stolen weighed 3.5 tons, and cameras and motion detectors inside the
vault did not function when the thieves broke through the floor. Earlier, the Central Bank said the
thieves dug the tunnel to break into five containers filled with 50 real notes. The 500-square-metre
vault is surrounded by 2-metre-thick reinforced concrete walls, the bank said. The heist took place
sometime between б pm local time last Friday, when the vault is closed for the weekend, and 8 am
local time when shocked bank employees arrived at work. It is thought the massive heist is the
biggest bank robbery in the country's history. The biggest previous bank heist in Brazil took place
in 1999 when thieves got away with 37 million reals ($21 million) from a bank in the biggest city
of Sao Paulo.

The spies watching while you type

The Sun, 17.03.06: The computer criminals who tried to steal money from Sumitomo Mitsui
bank used a tried and tested technique to gather confidential data from the financial institution. As
its name implies keylogging is all about recording every key that someone presses when using their
computer. It is a great way to discover confidential information such as login names, passwords
and answers to security questions that people use to get access to online bank accounts, corporate
systems and websites. Keylogging has been around almost as long as computer keyboards, and it
has been used by some programmers to help debug code they have written. Some firms use
keylogging software to monitor staff productivity and some parents use it to keep an eye on what
their kids do with the home PC.
More recently many computer viruses, such as Mydoom and Gaobot have keylogging
programs built-in that try to gather personal details from the machines they infect. More recently
keylogging has been turning up in so-called spyware programs created by computer criminals to
steal information that can be used to carry out identity theft or to empty bank accounts. Spyware
bearing keyloggers can infect a Windows PC if it is used to visit the wrong website. Anti-spyware
firm Webroot reports that 15% of the machines it tested for malicious programs have keyloggers
on them. On average, it claims, PCs in firms have almost 18 unwanted pieces of software on them -
mainly spyware.
There are also hardware keyloggers that plug into a port on a PC and record everything that is
done to that machine while the device is in place. With both software and hardware keyloggers, the
hard part is getting the data back to those that want to use it for criminal purposes. "A criminal
could one day turn up as a cleaner, having gone through the extensive vetting process, and put one
on a PC. The next day they could go and retrieve it " said James Kay, officer at security firm
Blackspider. The gang could also have written a virus containing a keylogger specifically to target
the bank. As many firms worry most about viruses that hit thousands of machines, ones that appear
in low numbers might go unnoticed. Often, such keyloggers hide information on a corporate
network in very obscure places such as printer spools to make the stolen data hard to spot.

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THE NEW YOURK TIMES, 23.01.06.
Russia Accuses Britain of Spying
An espionage scandal redolent of the cold war unfolded here
today after Russia accused four British diplomats of spying and
linked some of their activities to financing oprominent private
organizations, including the Eurasia Foundation and the Moscow
Helsinki Group.
A grainy, black-and-white video - broadcast on state
television on Sunday night and shown repeatedly again today -
purported to show a British diplomat picking up a rock that was
said to conceal a communications device used to download and
transmit classified information through handheld computers. The
rock, the size of a watermelon and able to transmit and receive data at distances of more than 60
feet, was seized near Moscow, prompting a search across the city for similar devices, Sergei
Ignatchenko, the chief spokesman for Russia's intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service,
told Russian reporters. A second device was found, but "the British intelligence service managed to
retrieve one of the gadgets," he said.
The programme said four officials from the UK embassy and one Russian citizen, allegedly
recruited by the British secret service, downloaded classified data from a transmitter in the rock
onto palm-top computers. Hidden camera footage appears to show individuals walking up to the
rock. One man is caught on camera carrying it away. A Russian citizen has been arrested for
complicity, but another spokesman, Nikolai Zakharov, declined to say when he had been taken into
custody and whether he had been formally charged. Mr. Zakharov would say only that the spy ring
had been discovered and broken up at the beginning of winter. The fate of the British diplomats -
identified as middle-ranking secretaries in the embassy - remained unclear. Mr. Ignatchenko said
their potential expulsion would be determined "at the political level."
The scandal, one of the most serious in years, threatened to raise diplomatic tensions, even as
Russia assumed the presidency of the G-8 group of industrialized nations, which includes Britain.
Mr. Ignatchenko accused Britain of violating an agreement in 1994 to end espionage in Russia. "In
fact," he said, "we have been deceived." Prime Minister Tony Blair, answering questions at a news
conference in London, declined to comment. "I'm afraid you are going to get the old stock-in-trade:
'We never comment on security matters' -except when we want to, obviously," Mr. Blair replied."I
think the less said about that, the better," he added. The nature of the espionage was shrouded in
secrecy, but the link to private organizations came amid a politically charged campaign against
charities and advocacy groups here, many of them financed by the United States and European
countries to promote such things as democracy and independent media. Earlier this month
President Vladimir Putin signed into law new legal restrictions on such groups that critics have said
could be used to exert new pressure on those critical of Russian policies. But the relation between
the espionage charges and the organizations appeared tangential.
Mr. Zakharov said in a telephone interview that one of the diplomats, identified as Marc Doe,
a political secretary, approved grants distributed by the British government to Russian and
international organizations, even as he was involved in covert activities."He gave money to them,"
Mr. Zakharov said, referring to the organizations. "That is all documented."
A spokesman for the British Embassy in
Moscow declined to comment on the affair but
cited a statement by the Foreign Office that
said, "We are surprised and concerned by this
allegation. We reject any allegations of any
improper conduct in our dealings with Russian"
private organizations, the statement went on.
All of our assistance is given openly and aims
to support the development of a healthy civil
society in Russia." One of the groups supported
by Britain and cited by officials was

40
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the Eurasia Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Washington that provides an array of
grants across the former Soviet Union. Irina Akishina, director of the Moscow office, said in a
telephone interview that the organization had received a grant worth about $105,000 in 2004 to
promote independent newspapers in provincial Russian cities. She expressed bewilderment at the
accusations, saying the television report, which appeared on the state's Rossiya channel with the
cooperation of the Federal Security Service, was the first she heard of any questions surrounding
her organization. She said the accusations reflected the government's growing hostility toward
private organizations that operate independently of the Kremlin."We certainly do feel there is some
danger," she said, referring to the new law on organizations like hers. "We do not understand at all
why we were mentioned in this program. We are not involved in any illegal activities. "The
Moscow Helsinki Group, also linked to the case, is one of the country's most prominent human-
rights organizations and is often critical of the Kremlin.
Russia's intelligence chiefs have publicly warned about the threat of
espionage from the West. The warnings have underscored a growing
wariness in Russian intelligence and diplomatic circles about what is widely
seen as foreign interference in domestic affairs, especially following
American and European support for democratic movements in Ukraine,
Georgia and other former Soviet republics. "Reconnaissance is not only
waning," Nikolai Patrushev, the director of the Federal Security Service, said
in an interview in the official state newspaper in November. "It is
strengthening."
Last year counterintelligence agents had exposed 20 agents working for
foreign governments and 65 foreigners working for secret services, he said in
the interview. Earlier last year Mr. Patrushev singled out several non-
governmental organizations, including the Peace Corps and the British
charity Merlin, as fronts for foreign espionage. "Under the cover of implementing humanitarian and
educational programs in Russia regions, they lobby for the interests of certain countries and gather
classified information on a wide range of issues," he said of representatives of the private
organizations. Mr. Patrushev's remarks, sharply criticized at the time by the American and British
governments, nevertheless became a basis of the new law putting such organizations under greater
scrutiny.
The latest scandal involved espionage of a more traditional sort, though with a high-tech
twist. The fake rock was used as a dead drop, an agreed place for exchanging classified information
or otherwise communicating with agents. Where exactly it was remained unclear, though the
television report showed it on a sidewalk near what was identified as a park on the edge of
Moscow. The hidden communication device allowed a Russian agent to transmit information in
bursts lasting no more than a second or two, the officials said. The British operatives could then
download the information with their own hand-held computers, the officials said, declining to
discuss the nature of the information that the Russian provided to the British agents, or its
significance.

British spy rocк'

Correspondent Mark Ward considers how such a rock might
work, and the potential pitfalls of such technology.
Q: What kinds of devices could be used for
this?
Any gadget that can swap data wirelessly would be able to work
with the rock but the most likely candidates would be mobile
phones and handheld computers - known as Personal Digital
Assistants (PDAs). These are used very widely and it has become
easy to use them to move data - be it a text message or an image
or video clip - over short and long distances. To avoid looking
suspicious, those involved in the alleged data theft might have
turned to a widely available gadget because the basic data transfer capabilities would have been
built in and it would need minimal tweaking to get working. Many phone and PDA users regularly
swap data, such as contact details or images, via Bluetooth short-range radio or via infra-red.

42
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 Q: What capacity do such devices have? The latest devices can use wi-fi or even newer
technologies to move data around faster. All can transfer many thousands of bytes of data per
second. One byte is equal to one character and one million characters is roughly equivalent to the
amount of data in a large paperback book.
Q: How would it work? Without more details it is hard to be precise about how a rock and
phone/PDA combination might work. However, from what we know it appears that those who
allegedly stole the confidential information walked close to the rock and then uploaded data to the
device beneath it. Later, others came and downloaded the data and walked off with it. It is most
likely that radio of some kind was used to pass data back and forth. Infra-red demands a line of
sight between the devices swapping data and would not penetrate the fake surface of the rock.
Many investigation firms use custom-built devices when trying to spot insurance fraud. Some have
made "smart bricks" with cameras concealed in them which they toss into a suspect's garden.
Typically these use short range radio to send images back to a van close by.
Q: What are the potential problems with this sort of thing? The main problem is likely to
be the battery life for the device beneath the rock that stores the data. Sending data via short-range
radio is a notorious gobbler of battery power. If lots of data were being passed back and forth the
useful life of the rock could be very short.
Q: Are there any other problems, more specific to this situation? Yes. One is the speed at
which data can be uploaded or downloaded. While standing in the street tapping on a phone or
PDA does not raise much comment any more, it would if you had to stay in the same place for
hours. But using faster speeds tends to be even more battery hungry. Another problem is ensuring
that only the right people upload and download data. Unprotected wi-fi networks are notoriously
easy to find and log on to. It might prove hard to find ways to continually update the alleged spies
on regularly changing passwords, encryption keys and the like. The final problem is the clumsiness
of this method for passing data. If a PDA has a wireless link there are likely to be lots of public
places that would allow that data be sent more anonymously. For instance, many tech-savvy
criminal gangs use hijacked servers to store stolen data.

Cold War grandmother KGB spy dies

BBC NEWS, 28.06.05: The Cold War spy Melita Norwood,
whose secret life was unmasked six years ago has died aged 93. Mrs
Norwood, from south London, worked for the KGB for 40 years and
was believed to be the Soviet's longest serving spy in the UK. In the
1940s she was a secretary with the Non Ferrous Metals Research
Association and passed on vital secrets of Britain's nuclear weapons
programme. The story caused a sensation but the great grandmother
was not prosecuted. The then Home Secretary Jack Straw ruled that it
would not be in the public interest to prosecute her. He later told MPs that lessons had been learned from the
case. A lifelong communist, Mrs Norwood said in 1999 she had wanted to help Russia's "new system".
Money was not the reason she had worked for the Russians. She said she thought some of the information
she had access to "might be useful in helping Russia keep abreast of Britain, America and Germany". She
said: "I did what I did not to make money but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had at great
cost given ordinary people food and fares which they could afford, good education and a health service."
She added: "In general I do not agree with spying against one's country." She admitted to the programme's
journalists that she began providing information to the KGB in the 1930s, and continued until she retired in
1972. Mrs Norwood secretly joined the Communist Party in the 1930s and was recruited by Soviet
intelligence in about 1937. The secrets that her job gave her access to were well-received in Moscow. She
became the most important female agent ever recruited by the USSR. Mrs Norwood told the BBC that
during the war she had handed over documents about Britain's atom bomb project to the KGB. This material
helped the Soviets to build an exact replica, speeding up the development of the Soviet nuclear weapons
programme. The files she passed on meant that Stalin was better briefed on the construction of the British
bomb than some Cabinet ministers, who were not trusted with the secrets by the then Prime Minister.
Mrs Norwood, who said her late husband Hilary was opposed to her actions, was considered among
the most successful spies of the Cold War era. Her secret role was revealed by a KGB archivist, Vasili
Mitrokhin, who defected to the West in 1992. Mrs Norwood's death on 2 June was announced by her
biographer.

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THE NEWSWEEK, May 2006
Partner, or Bully?
Should Europeans worry about their growing dependence on
Russian energy? For a not very reassuring answer, they need only look
to Georgia. It's a case study in intimidation.
Vladimir Putin was feeling indignant. Why don't Europeans trust
Russia? "I constantly hear complaints" that Europe is "overly
dependent" on Russian energy, he griped last week to German
Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Siberian city of Tomsk. "But Russia is
a reliable partner. It always has been. "Really? Ask the Georgians— or
almost any of Russia's former satellites. Rather than a reliable partner,
they've found Moscow deeply vindictive toward any neighbor that
crosses its interests. Ever since the pro-Western Rose Revolution of
November 2003, Georgian leaders say, Moscow's been trying to ruin
the country's economy—first by raising gas prices, and in recent
months by blocking imports of fruits, vegetables, wine and mineral
water. Ditto for Ukraine, hit with a doubling of gas prices, a gas
stoppage and a blockade of meat and produce in the wake of its own Orange Revolution. Even poor
Moldova, which hasn't had a revolution of any color yet, was hit with a gas hike and a ban on wine
exports to Russia after it struck a deal with the European Union sealing the borders of the tiny, Russian-
speaking enclave of Transdniestr, which Moscow regards as a protectorate. "Russia treats us like it
treated Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Germany in the '50s and '60s," Georgian president Mikhail
Saakashvili tells NEWSWEEK. "We are being punished for our attempts to be free.
"So maybe it's not so surprising, after all, that Europeans worry. Given Russia's track record of
bullying its close neighbors, won't it eventually bully distant ones too? "Europe is relying for a large
portion of its energy supplies on a country that does not hesitate to use its monopoly power in devious
and arbitrary ways," wrote the international financier George Soros in The Financial Times last week.
"European countries are at Russia's mercy."
If Georgia is any indicator, that isn't a good place to be. Last month, shortly after Tbilisi declared
that it would oppose Russian membership in the World Trade Organization, Russian health officials
declared that Georgian wine was tainted with heavy metals and pesticides and banned all imports. "That
means three more bottles per person for us to drink here," jokes Kakha Bendukidze, a businessman
recruited by Saakashvili to be minister of Economic Reform. But the ban is deadly serious—wine
accounted for 12 percent of Georgia's exports last year, or more than $90 million. Shortly after came a
ban, also on health grounds, of Borzhomi mineral water, wiping out another 3.5 percent of Georgia's
trade balance. That comes on top of yet another ban on Georgian citrus fruits and vegetables, a staple of
the country's agricultural exports. "We hear threats like, 'Georgia will die of hunger'," says Saakashvili.
"But we won't. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Perhaps. Georgia's economy grew 9 percent last year. And while the blockade will certainly put a
severe dent in that rise, the Georgian president argues, it will also force Georgia find to new markets.
"We've been thrown into the open sea. The time has come for us to learn to swim." It remains to be seen
just how receptive those new markets might be—especially a Western world awash in inexpensive
wines. Worse, Moscow is by no means finished with its harassment. Lately, the Russian Embassy in
Tbilisi has taken to delaying visas for Georgians wanting to visit Russia. The main Georgian church in
Moscow (spiritual home to an estimated 1 million Georgian expatriates) now conducts services in
Russian—at the insistence of the Moscow Patriarchate. And in Moscow's two Georgian schools,
teaching is now all in Russian after pressure from the Education Ministry. "Our time has come, I guess,
to go back to Georgia," sighs Diana Darchia, 28, a former Georgian chess champ living in Moscow.
Energy is Russia's most potent weapon. Raising prices is just good business, officials at the gas
monopoly Gazprom insist. Ending cushy subsidies to neighbors will also help them become more
competitive, they say. Fair enough. But there's little doubt that the price increases have been selective.
"The entire world knows that Russia's trading ethics are purely political," says Georgia's Prime Minister
Zurab Noghaideli. In December, Gazprom doubled the price Tbilisi has to pay to $110 per thousand cubic
meters; then, on Jan. 23, a mysterious explosion knocked out the main gas pipeline from Russia to Georgia,
and another destroyed trunk electricity pylons, plunging most of the country into cold and darkness.

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Russia blamed Chechen rebels; Saakashvili decried a Russian plot to destabilize his country. Either
way, it was a graphic reminder that for all Georgia's talk of independence, it's still fatally dependent
on energy supplies from Russia. Paradoxically, Moscow's attempts to punish its wayward neighbor
may push Georgia further into the arms of the West. "Life has forced us to choose a course towards
integration into international organizations such as NATO and the European Union," says
Noghaideli. Georgia has since signed gas deals with Iran, and hopes that a planned British
Petroleum-built gas pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey will some day end its dependence on
Moscow. Says Energy Minister Nika Gelauri: "What happened to Georgia hasn't happened to
Europe yet—but I believe that Europe is waking up to the truth.
"Don't bet on it. As Georgia and Ukraine struggle to find alternate suppliers, Europe's getting
ready to buy more gas than ever from Russia. Merkel signed one such deal in Tomsk just last week.
And Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander Medvedyev got a warm reception at last week's packed
Russia Economic Forum in London, where he predicted that European dependence on Russian gas
would rise from the current 26 percent to 33 percent over the coming decade, thanks in part to a
major $4 billion pipeline under the Baltic. "Gazprom is good for the world," Medvedyev said,
quoting the Bible to back up his argument. "He who has ears, let him hear." He might have added:
and those who have eyes, but choose not to see, are blind.
THE NEWSWEEK, May 2006
Russian Roulette for Unflinching Investors
Ah, May, that glorious month when spring is upon us. A month that
used to start with Russia's unveiling its newest and biggest weapons at an
enormous parade celebrating communism. So there's no better time for us
to examine the new thing that Russia's state capitalists hope to unveil later
this year: the world's biggest stock offering. To wit, the proposed initial
public offering of shares in Rosneft, Russia's state-owned oil company.
Should Russia succeed in selling investors a stake in Rosneft for the
widely predicted $20 billion or more, the deal would get top billing in
Thomson Financial's IPO rankings, topping the $18 billion that NTT
Mobile Communications of Japan raised in 1998. Normally, I'd wait to see
some documents, crunch some numbers and call the company and get the
usual "no comment" before writing anything. But this isn't a normal
situation. So here's my opinion about owning this stock: nyet. No. Don't
touch this unless you're a professional investor or a connected insider or
you just happen to enjoy playing Russian roulette with a pistol that has
five loaded chambers and one empty one instead of the other way around.
To be sure, the world's most prestigious investment bankers, lawyers and accountants are
lining up to embrace the Rosneft offering. But remember that financial markets (and financial
professionals) are frequently blinded by money—and there's enough money here to blind anyone.
The fees on a $20 billion stock offering could approach $1 billion. Then there are all those profits
for firms that will trade the stock for their own accounts, create derivatives based on it and work on
its financing and takeover deals. For this kind of dough, Wall Street would happily persuade itself
to certify rotgut as premium vodka.
The Rosneft risk isn't hard to see—you just need to open your eyes. First, despite brief
periods of liberalism, Russia remains an autocratic country whether its rulers call themselves tsars,
communists or Vladimir Putin. Second, this is a country that defaulted on its own ruble bonds in
1998. Third, a major reason that Rosneft's prospects are so rosy is that only two years ago, the
Russian government essentially confiscated the prime assets of Yukos, a publicly traded company
whose chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, had annoyed the Kremlin. So the government,
using imaginative enforcement of Russian law, such as it is, asserted that Yukos had enormous tax
obligations, then took over Yukos's assets to satisfy those obligations. Yukos's shareholders
screamed, but to no avail. Khodorkovsky went to jail, Yukos went broke. I've got no sympathy for
Khodorkovsky, whose fortune was based on buying state-owned assets ridiculously cheaply in
deals that smelled like rotten herring. What matters is that the Kremlin showed no respect for the
rights of Yukos's public shareholders. So why should you expect it to show any respect for the
rights of Rosneft's shareholders? Still not convinced? In January, publicly traded Gazprom,
Russia's natural-gas monopoly, cut off shipments to Ukraine because the Kremlin
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was displeased with political developments there. Brief as the cutoff was, it didn't exactly enhance
the firm's reputation or long-term prospects.
Unless you assume that the rule of law will take root in Russia overnight—fat chance! —
buying into Rosneft isn't like buying into British Petroleum when Britain privatized it. Gazprom
and Rosneft answer to the state, and are of enormous strategic importance to it. No matter how
many non-Russians end up on Rosneft's board, you can bet that when push comes to shove,
Rosneft will act in the Kremlin's geopolitical interests rather than in its own financial interests.
Rosneft shares may well run up after the offering, and I'm sure the stock will look cheap relative to
the ExxonMobils of the world. But beware. We're already hearing complaints from shareholders of
Rosneft affiliates that the price being offered for their stakes is way too low. As they say in
Moscow: good luck, tovahshchi.
THE TIME EUROPE, 21.12.05.
Final round for global trade deal
With the world economy ever more dependent on trade for
economic growth, the year 2006 will be a crucial one for the
global trading system. The Doha Round of world trade talks are
entering their crucial final year, with little sign as yet that the
world's leading economies are prepared to reach the bargain that
will unlock a new round of trade liberalisation.
And the growing economic imbalances - the US trade
deficit is approaching $700bn annually, while China's growing
surplus is fuelling a continuing economic boom - are adding to
protectionist pressures in leading countries. With European
economies still suffering from slow growth, expanding trade could be the key to an economic
revival. But in return, Europe's highly protected farmers would have to open their markets to
developing country exporters like Brazil and agree to weaken the Common Agricultural Policy.
Meanwhile, as trade talks falter, countries like the US and China are pursuing their own separate
free trade deals with their political allies.
The World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December made only
modest progress towards the goal of expansion of free trade. Trade ministers from 149 countries
were unable to firm up any definite plans for how to open up markets - but pledged to come up
with a definitive plan by April. The talks, which began in 2001, have a practical deadline of the end
of 2006 to reach a deal to open up agricultural markets in rich countries, and markets for industrial
goods and services in some developing countries.
Rich countries offered several concessions to poor
countries, including a promise to end all agricultural export
subsidies by 2013, and an offer of duty-free, quota-free access
for products from the poorest (least developed) countries - but
with some strings attached. Although trade ministers often call
trade liberalisation a "win-win" situation, a new World Bank
study shows that the gains of a trade deal are more limited than
previously thought and not equally distributed. The widely-
quoted study suggests that complete trade liberalisation -
something more than is on offer in the trade talks - could
increase worldwide economic growth by $287bn per year by
2015. But two-thirds of those gains would go to the industrialised countries. And while big
agricultural exporters like Brazil would be big winners, many developing countries who are food
importers - like Bangladesh, Cameroon, and Mozambique - would lose out in the early years of any
deal, the report shows.
The problem is that for a trade deal to gain political support in the north (especially the US
Congress), it will have to include such significant market openings in agriculture, industry and
services. And key developing countries have very different views in each of these areas, depending
on where their competitive advantage lies. Brazil prioritises agriculture, India focuses on services
and China stresses manufacturing.

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 As global trade talks have stalled, key countries are moving to establish regional or bilateral
trade deals to meet their own political and economic objectives. In the eyes of many economists,
such deals are much less desirable than a global agreement because the countries negotiating them
have unequal bargaining power. Although it failed to push through a plan for a Free Trade
Agreement for the Americas, a new free trade deal with the five central American nations and the
Dominican Republic is due to start on 1 January 2006.
China, too, is ploughing its own furrow. Beijing aims to
build an East Asian free trade bloc, and has signed bilateral
deals with the Asean countries and is in negotiations with
New Zealand and Australia possibly Korea and Japan in the
future.
And the EU is looking to bring in a new economic
partnership agreement with the 69 African, Caribbean and
Pacific nations who were former colonies, alongside
tightening ties around the Mediterranean. The emergence of
rival trade blocs could increase tensions over a number of
simmering trade disputes - including the rapidly growing Chinese imports to the US and the EU,
the EU-US row over state aid to Airbus, and the EU worries about the import of GM food.
Underlying the political difficulties of the trade talks is a growing public ambivalence about
the benefits of free trade. Recent opinion polls show that in the US and five major European
countries - France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Poland - only 46% of Americans and 45% of
Europeans are in favour of globalisation. In contrast, big majorities in developing countries want
the fruits of free trade. Only 9% of Africans and 10% in developing Asia say that globalisation has
a negative effect on their countries. The biggest fear in industrial countries is the effect of trade on
jobs. Less than half of respondents say they will personally benefit from trade liberalisation - but a
majority in these countries think that multinational companies and rapidly growing countries like
China will benefit most. However, the Western public are not isolationist. Two thirds support
global trade, and three quarters say trade contributes to global stability. But there is very little in
here for developing countries. That's why the poorest countries have found it hard to make
headway in these talks.
The key concrete concession they won in Hong Kong, which dominated the conference, was
an agreement that rich countries should end export subsidies to farmers by 2013. Their claim that
the cuts would remedy inequalities of the past does not carry any weight at the negotiating table.
But most of these subsidies were being phased out anyway. The US had already promised to
abolish export subsidies before coming to Hong Kong. A separate requirement to reduce US
domestic support for cotton farmers in the final Hong Kong text is not mandatory. US cotton
farmers receive funding worth more than the entire GDP of any of the four west African countries
who are campaigning on this - Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali.
In return for modest gains in agriculture, the poorest countries have made modest concessions
in the other two pillars of the WTO process, services and
non-agricultural manufactured goods. But there was
significant disappointment among interests in the richest
countries that these did not go further towards a more
comprehensive free trade treaty. Most countries united
against Japan, the European Union and the US on farm
subsidies, in an alliance of four-fifths of the population of
the world. This unity did not extend to services and non-
farm manufactured goods. Larger developing
countries like Brazil and India want more liberalisation in
these sectors and liked the progress made. Poorer
countries still want to be protect their economies while
they grow, and are concerned that they may have given away too much.
The key new element gives them the right to sell their goods into developed countries without
paying tariffs or being limited by quotas. But it is too full of exemptions to make a real difference.
America is expected to continue to put obstacles in the way of textile imports, while Japan has
proposed to exempt rice, fish, sugar and maize. The offer should, however, allow the poorest
countries to sell goods with added value at the tariff-free rate, enabling them to develop
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food-processing industries. At the moment they have to pay high tariffs to sell processed food. But
in Hong Kong it was opposition to any deal on agriculture, the subject being pushed by developing
countries, that was the centre of the anti-globalisation protests. Many of the protesters are small
farmers from Asia who are worried that free trade will ruin their livelihood. The largest group of
protesters were South Korean rice farmers, who among the most heavily subsidised in the world -
and the most militant. Over 1,000 - dressed in white peasant clothes - chanted "Down with WTO".
They fear that new agreements Korea says it is prepared to sign will lead to the disappearance of
the 3.5 million farming jobs and an end to food security for the country. But it is the fact that the
fears of the losers in any global trade round are outweighing the hopes of the potential winners that
is paralysing the talks. But unless the world trading system finds a better way to compensate the
losers in any trade deals, especially in developing countries, it could find further trade liberalisation
an uphill struggle.
In May 2006, in Geneva WTO trade ministers are hoping to revive the ongoing Doha round
of talks that have stalled over problem areas such as agriculture. Poorer nations want greater access
to richer markets, while the US and Europe are fighting over subsidy levels. US trade chief Rob
Portman said the sides are now "relatively close". However, added the outgoing US representative
in a joint statement with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile: "We now have a short time
to make necessary breakthroughs. To take this round forward we urgently need flexibility on all
sides."
The US and the European Union have disagreed over the extent to which they should reduce
the levels of support they offer their own farmers, and the import tariffs they put on food and other
agricultural products from the developing world. Mr Portman said that the EU has indicated that it
is "prepared to strengthen its offer on agricultural market access". "This has been and will continue
to be the key to resolving outstanding differences," he added. EU Trade commissioner Peter
Mandelson had earlier said that the US was not willing to match the EU and was "demanding
completely unrealistic tariff reductions in agriculture".
Accusations of intransigence have come from all sides and there have been growing concerns
that the Doha round of talks- which was meant to be finished by 2004 - will fail to produce an
agreement. US negotiating authority to agree a deal in Congress expires in July 2007. On Monday,
WTO boss Pascal Lamy said a deal was still possible and called for all nations to do their utmost to
end the logjam.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, 5.05.06.
Snake bursts after gobbling alligator
An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-
foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in
Florida's swamps. The Burmese python tried to swallow its
fearsome rival whole but then exploded. The remains of the two
giant reptiles were found by astonished rangers in the Everglades
National Park.
The rangers say the find suggests that non-native Burmese
pythons might even challenge alligators' leading position in the
food chain in the swamps. The python's remains with the victim's
tail protruding from its burst midsection were found last week.
The head of the python was missing. "Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild... And
here we are," Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor, was quoted as saying by
the Associated Press news agency. "They were probably evenly matched in size. If the python got a
good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win," Professor
Mazzotti said. He said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach, leading it to burst.
"Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species," Prof Mazzotti said.
He said that there had been four known encounters between the two species in the past. In the
other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw. Burmese pythons - many of
whom have been dumped by their owners - have thrived in the wet and hot climate of Florida's
swamps over the past 20 years.

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THE NAVY ARCHIVES, 16.02.06.
Cruise ship repels Somali pirates
A luxury cruise ship sailing off Somalia has beaten back
gunmen in speedboats who opened fire on it in an apparent pirate
attack which terrified passengers. At least two boats closed in on the
Seabourn Spirit, firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled
grenades at the cruise liner. But crew took evasive action, repelling
the attackers without returning fire. One crew member was lightly
injured in the early-morning incident in waters notorious for pirate
attacks.
The Bahamian-registered ship was carrying 302 passengers and
crew, most of them are believed to be Americans as well as some
Britons. "My daughter saw the pirates out our window. There were at
least three RPG that hit the ship, one in a stateroom four doors down
from our cabin," said one passenger. Fellow passenger Norman
Fisher, from London, said he had seen some of the attackers. "Later I
realised that two of them had rifles and one had some kind of rocket
launcher. "They were firing the rifle and then fired the rocket
launcher twice. One of the rockets certainly hit the ship - it went
through the side of the liner into a passenger's suite. The couple were in there at the time so it was a
bit of an unpleasant experience." The attack happened about 160km off the Somali coast. Ships
sailing in these waters are advised to be extremely cautious.
The crew used an on-board loud acoustic bang to deter the gunmen, making them believe
they were under fire. The pirates were scared off with an ear-splitting acoustic device developed as
a "non-lethal" crowd control weapon. A scheduled stop in Mombasa, in neighbouring Kenya, has
been cancelled and the cruise, which began in the Egyptian port of Alexandria is now due to end in
the Seychelles on Monday. David Dingle, a spokesman for the Miami-based company said
passengers were "somewhat surprised and shocked" when they woke to find the ship under attack.
The passengers were mustered in a public room, told what was going on and reassured that we
were fighting off the attack," he said. We are extremely pleased that all the measures worked." He
added that the company had no reason to believe it was a terrorist attack and all the evidence
pointed to pirates. It appears to be the first attack on a luxury cruise liner in the area. The SAP is
due to discuss the incident and its implications for tourism in the region .
Capt Neale Rodrigues had to take over a ship after its former captain and chief officer had
been killed by pirates. "It takes something like the Seabourn to highlight the issue but
merchant ships are attacked every single week," he said. Capt
Rodrigues took command of a small container ship after it was
attacked on route from Australia to Singapore. When the 10-men
crew heard shots in the night most of them locked themselves in
their cabins but the captain and chief officer were later found shot
dead. It is believed they were killed after the pirates demanded
money. The unmanned ship continued on its course for an hour
and a half before the crew emerged to find their shipmates killed.
The survivors were first accused of having mutinied but were
later accepted as victims. When Capt Rodrigues took over the
helm he had a new crew as the other men were too traumatised to
return. "We agreed everyone was on piracy watch. I never had to force anyone to go out. They
were always up on the bridge." On first boarding the ship, he said: "I told myself lightning doesn't
strike twice." But he may have thought he had spoken too soon when one night a few months later
the ship was approached by a couple of speedboats off the Indonesian islands, south of
Singapore."We got out the search lights and torches and sounded the alarms," he recalled. The
measures worked as the speedboats gave up their pursuit. But he later heard pirates had boarded
another ship, tied up the chief engineer and ransacked the vessel. Capt Rodrigues said the best way
to avoid being taken by pirates was to keep them off the ship."Once they are on board they are
armed and you lose control of the ship. You are defenceless," he said.

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If ships are hijacked it is the job of Alex Pinto to help track them down on behalf of shipping
companies and insurers. In Somalia, pirates tend to be more concerned with getting a ransom rather
than stealing the ships for parts or cargo, said Mr Pinto, director of marine and risk consultancy. He
warned speed is crucial in combating a trade worth hundreds of
millions of dollars a year. "After about 24 hours, it becomes like
finding a needle in a haystack. And with every passing day it
becomes less possible to recover it. Pirates can take a smaller vessel
to a remote location and dispose of the cargo and cut it up quickly,"
he said. Ships may be stripped down and components resold or
altered and then sold. Alternatively they may lie undetected and
rusting for months in a remote cove. He said the success rate of
getting ships back had improved since the introduction of tracking
devices. His firm is currently helping recover a ship and its cargo of
tin, after it was attacked by pirates on route from Indonesia to
Singapore last year. The pirates scuttled the ship after the crew had thwarted their hijack attempt by
disabling the engine. Thanks to the tracking device the vessel has been found. He helped a ship
where a crew had been set adrift in lifeboats with few rations and resorted to drinking their own
urine before they were rescued a fortnight later.
The pirates generally use speedboats to steal trading goods or food aid - sometimes
impounding ships and crew at gunpoint and then demanding ransoms before they are released. At
least 23 hijackings and attempted seizures have been recorded off the Somali coast since mid-
March, according to the International Maritime Bureau (1MB), which has warned ships to stay as
far away from the coast as possible. Two ships carrying aid for the UN World Food Program were
among the vessels attacked this year. "The southern coastline is among the most dangerous in the
world," said Mr Mwangura. He stated: "The 1MB is very concerned about the recent increase in
piracy activities. The threat posed to vessels operating off the eastern Somali coast is very real and
should not be understated. The IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) has confirmed that armed
pirates in speedboats and gunboats are frequently opening fire on ships, seeking to hijack the vessel
and hold the crew to ransom."
Thirty five piracy incidents were reported in Somalia last year compared to just two in 2004,
according to the 1MB. In the past four months, the likelihood of attack on vessels off the eastern
Somali coastline has increased significantly. In the recent past, any vessel slowing down, or
stopping close to the Somali coast has risked being boarded by gangs of Somali militiamen. Using
violent means, these pirates have been extorting substantial sums of money from ship owners in
exchange for the return of vessels and crew. Somalia's poor record is partly because of an unstable
government and the lure of ransoms, said Mr Abhyankar. "They hold the crew to ransom and
shipowners are left with little choice but to pay, when human life is involved". Shipowners can
improve security with electrified fences, searchlights locked, accommodation and employing a
loyal, vigilant crew.
Somalia has been without a functioning central authority for
15 years, since 1991, when warlords took power after Mohamed
Siad Barre was ousted. Attempts to relocate a new transitional
administration - set up in neighbouring Kenya last year - have so far
failed. The problem does not affect the northern coast of the self-
proclaimed and more stable Somaliland as much. These are the
expected consequences in a region where there has been a long civil
war and no effective law enforcement infrastructure. This makes it
ideal ground for any kind of crime, particularly maritime crime. But
security measures can only go so far in tackling a problem which,
according to the 1MB, costs transport vessels $13-$15bn a year in
losses in the waters between the Pacific and Indian Ocean alone. In June 2005, the 1MB warned of
a surge in piracy in the region and recommended that ships remain at least 50 miles offshore if
possible. While many mariners have headed this advice, the pirates operating in the area have
become more audacious and are venturing further away from the shoreline. A number of recent
attacks have occurred over 100 miles from Somalia's eastern coast. In a ten day period towards the
end of July there were eight attacks.
On 26 July 2005 an LPG tanker was attacked by pirates approximately 85 miles from the east
coast of Somalia. Eight pirates armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades chased
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 and fired upon the ship from two fibre glass speedboats. Fortunately, the ship managed to increase
speed and get away with no injuries to the crew or the tanker. There have been a number of other
attacks since then. The United Nations' food agency has suspended all aid shipments to Somalia
after one of its ships was hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast. "We have suspended all
shipments of food aid to Somalia due to the insecurity of Somali waters," said a WFP statement.
"The decision will be reviewed depending on the release of the vessel." WFP provides an average
of 3,000 tonnes of aid a month to 275,000 people in Somalia.
The US navy says it has captured a number of suspected pirates
in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia. The guided missile
destroyer Churchill went in pursuit of a suspect vessel after receiving
a report of piracy and pursued it through the night and into the next
morning. When other efforts failed, the Churchill fired warning shots
to bring the boat to a halt. The vessel cut speed and went dead in the
water, the statements said. Later an unspecified number of sailors
were taken off the vessel and a quantity of small arms was recovered.
Ten Somalis arrested by the US navy have been flown to the Kenyan
port of Mombasa, where they are to be charged. Kenyan sailors, taken
hostage on a ship carrying UN food aid to Somalia, have reportedly identified some of the men.
The fractious authorities in Somalia, keen to be seen to be doing something about piracy,
signed a $50m contract late last year with a private company based in the United States which said
it would begin coastal patrols. When the contract was announced, some Somalis wondered how it
would be paid for, since the authorities are severely short of resources. Somali government officials
said "foreign friends" would finance the deal. However, it is not clear where this money would
come from, as the government has not effectively taken office. The security company has not
started work.
The Dominican Republic flagged tanker, the Steadfast, loaded a cargo of 16,585 mts of
vegetable oil at the Indonesian port bound for China. The ship left the berth at Palembang after
loading a cargo on 18 December 2005. The last message received by the owners from the vessel
was on 19 December. Inability to contact the vessel suggested that the vessel may have been
hijacked. The PRC immediately sent out alerts to all ships and authorities in the Region.
Intelligence received by them suggested that the vessel was headed towards Vietnam or
Kampuchea. The PRC worked closely with the Vietnamese, Kampuchean, Singapore authorities
and the Indonesian Navy providing them with timely information to seize the vessel if it entered
territorial waters. The vessel turned back towards Indonesia and the pirates finally left the vessel in
Indonesian waters. The Master brought the vessel safely back to Singapore arriving there at 1330
hours on 24 December. The Singapore authorities are investigating. The 25 crew, cargo and vessel
are safe.
This was the first case this year where a tanker of this size was hijacked, in an attempt to steal
the vessel and the cargo. Director of the 1MB, commented that "it was vital the authorities deal
with this hijacking effectively to deter further attacks of this kind. We congratulate the law
enforcement agencies, particularly the Indonesian Navy, for their prompt and positive support. We
believe it was the actions taken by them which dissuaded the pirates from proceeding with the
illegal discharge of the cargo. "The PRC collates information on
piracy attacks from around the world and provides shipmasters
with daily intelligence on high risk areas. The Bureau advises
sailors who don't have to visit Somali ports to stay at least 200
nautical miles away from the coast. This is an advisory figure
which has been increasing, from first 50, then 100 nautical miles in
the past few months.
Andrew Linnington said the region had become so dangerous
it should be declared a war zone - a technical term that would grant
extra rights to sailors working there. It's got to the stage where it's
anarchy, and this latest incident shows it's time governments got
their acts together. But the problem will clearly not be resolved in
the long term until there is more political stability in Somalia and
more economic development to discourage people from turning to

60
piracy to make a living. The 1MB PRC will continue to monitor activity in this region and
provide updates as required.

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THE HERALD, 15.01.06.
Stardust capsule falls to Earth
A capsule containing comet particles and interstellar dust is
plunging towards Earth after being released by an orbiting
spacecraft. The material was gathered by the US Stardust probe
after a seven-year mission to fetch fragments of a comet.
Scientists believe the pristine samples will yield clues to the origin
of the Solar System. The capsule is expected to land in the Utah
desert at 0312 after a fiery descent slowed by parachute.
Mission controllers at the US space agency (Nasa) clapped
as the capsule was released by its "mothership" 111,020km above
the Earth. "We are extremely excited that the sample return
capsule has separated from the main spacecraft as planned and we
are looking forward to a successful entry and landing on time,"
said Ken Atkins former Stardust project manager. Four hours after
leaving the probe, the 45kg capsule is expected to enter the Earth's
atmosphere 125km over the Pacific Ocean. It will reach speeds of
46,660kph - the fastest re-entry of any manmade probe and should
be visible from parts of the American northwest as a streak of light
in the sky. At about 32km altitude, the capsule will release a small
parachute to slow its descent. The main parachute is designed to
open at about 3km, and bring the capsule down to a soft landing
on a military base southwest of Salt Lake City. If all goes to plan,
the samples will be picked up by helicopter and flown to an army building, then to a special lab.
Meanwhile the mothership probe will go into permanent orbit around the Sun, after travelling
almost 4.7 billion km around the Solar System. Stardust was launched on its mission to capture
dust and debris surrounding a comet in 1999. It swept up particles from Comet Wild 2 in January
2004, as it flew within 240km of the frozen body of ice and dust. As part of its trip, the probe also
captured a sprinkling of dust that would have originated in distant stars. It did this by extending a
retractable device containing cells filled with aerogel, a porous substance designed to trap dust
molecules. One side of the collector was used for chasing the comet, the other for interstellar dust.
Comets are thought to be cosmic "time capsules", containing material unchanged since the
formation of the Sun and planets. Some even think they may have seeded Earth with the chemical
building blocks required for life. The goal of Stardust is to collect the original building blocks of
the Sun, the planets and even ourselves. Hundreds of scientists around the world are waiting to
analyse the precious samples, including planetary experts. Dr Ian Franchi said it was a fantastic
opportunity. "This is the first planetary material
brought back from beyond low-Earth orbit for 30 years - since the
Apollo and Russian lunar samples. The stuff from the comet is as
it was 4.5 billion years ago when everything in our Solar System
formed. This will help us understand how the Sun and the planets
formed, and what they formed from."
Dr Franchi's research group has been trying to recover
samples from the ill-fated Genesis mission, which collected
particles that had been blown off the Sun. The Genesis capsule
crashed into the Utah desert in September 2004 when its
parachute system failed to open. The mission was not a complete
failure, however, as researchers have been able to extract precious
atoms from the smashed remains of the sample chamber. Pre-
launch tests of Stardust's capsule suggest it does not suffer from
the same flaw that afflicted Genesis. "The spacecraft has been
checked out to the nth degree after the Genesis crash." The
Stardust mission cost $212 million.

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USA TODAY, 4.06.06.
The business of future gazing
The future comes in many shapes and sizes. One
minute it is giant leaps to the stars, the next it is a journey
through inner space. From contacting life on other worlds to
creating artificial life down here on Earth, any future is, in
theory, possible. Big companies still employ futurologists to
make radical predictions about the next few years.
It is the futurologist's job to map out a path for their
employers, spotting business opportunities and risks,
identifying social changes, and steering their company
towards the best profits. Futurologist for ВТ, Ian Pearson
says: "I've got a lot of experience of working in different
aspects of engineering, so I've got a good feel of how fast
the different areas are going. So if I'm tracking what people
are starting to do research and development on today, by
going to conferences and reading technical magazines and
stuff, I've got a fair idea of what's likely to be around, and I
can guess fairly accurately how long it's going to take before
it comes. Of course it is much easier to explain why
something did not work, than trying to predict what will work in the future."
Flying cars were another idea that still has not quite taken off yet. But even while laughing
off the internet fridge and the flying car, today's futurists continue to make outlandish predictions.
Technology journalist Tim Phillips says: "It's important to be able to say to people that you've got
some idea coming down the road, and futurologists are a way of doing this. The problem is
revolutionary, radical, big ideas very rarely come true. A gadget can become popular if people can
bond with it. If you cannot rely on a revolution, the alternative is to take today's technology,
continue to shrink it down, and find new ways in which it can infiltrate our everyday lives. But
even the relatively small steps of predicting the next big thing are easy to get wrong.
The latest technology Timeline released by ВТ suggests hundreds of different inventions for
the next few decades including: 2012: personal 'blаск boxes' record everything you do every day
2015: images beamed directly into your eyeballs 2017: first hotel in orbit 2020: artificial
intelligence elected to parliament 2040: robots become mentally and physically superior to humans
2075 (at the earliest): time travel invented.
These predictions may sound far-fetched, but we have to bear in mind that they are really
only suggestions. The futurologists are not trying to make them happen, they are just considering
the implications of them happening. Many companies perhaps realise that they are short of really
big ideas, and because we're all so focused on doing what it takes to get us to the end of the day,
week, month, and even in management terms only to the end of the next quarter, sometimes they
forget that they have got to be around in 10, 20 or 30 years time. After years of development, this
possibility is finally coming true.

Alligator kills jogger in Florida

THE NATURE, 12.05.06: An alligator killed a woman whose dismembered body was found floating
in a canal in Florida, a US medical examiner has concluded. The body of Yovy Suarez Jimenez, 28, was
found in the town of Sunrise on Wednesday - a day after she disappeared while jogging near the canal. "The
alligator attacked her... bit her... and pulled her into the water," medical examiner Dr Joshua Perper said. A
hunt was under way to find and kill the reptile, local officials said.
Dr Perper - who performed the autopsy - said that the alligator "basically amputated" the woman's
arms, and bit her on the leg and back. "She died extremely fast. By the time she was pulled into the water
she was already dead," the medical examiner at Broward County said. No-one is believed to have seen the
attack, but some people saw a woman matching Ms Jimenez's description dangling her feet over the canal's
edge, reports in the local media say. The alligator is estimated to be up to 10ft (three metres) long, based on
the woman's injuries. There have been 25 fatal alligator attacks in Florida since 1948, according to Florida's
wildlife officials.
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BBC NEWS, 14.01.06.
Energy gap: Crisis for humanity?
The reason for concern can be found in a set of factors which are
pulling in glaringly different directions:
• Demand for energy, in all its forms, is rising • Supplies of key
fuels, notably oil and gas, show signs of decline • Mainstream climate
science suggests that reducing greenhouse gas emissions within two
decades would be a prudent thing to do • Meanwhile the Earth's
population continues to rise, with the majority of its six billion people
hankering after a richer lifestyle - which means a greater consumption
of energy.
Underlying the growing concern is the relentless pursuit of
economic growth, which historically has been tied to energy
consumption as closely as a horse is tethered to its cart. The immediate
question is whether the crash comes soon, or whether humanity has
time to plan a comfortable way out. Even if it can, the planning is not
necessarily going to be easy, or result in cheap solutions. Every energy source has its downside;
there is no free lunch, wherever you look on the menu.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts a rise in global energy demand of 50-60%
by 2030. If all else remained equal, that rising demand would be accommodated principally by
fossil fuels, which have generally been the cheapest and most convenient available. But oil supplies
show signs of running down; this, combined with concerns about rising demand and political
instability, conspired to force prices up from $40 a barrel at the beginning of 2005 to $60 at its
close. The oil-producing countries and companies prone to exaggerate the size of their stocks.
Natural gas stocks - in recent times the fuel of choice for electricity generation are also
showing signs of depletion, and there is growing concern in Western capitals about the political
instability associated with oil and gas supplies from the Middle East and Russia. Coal, the fuel of
the industrial revolution, remains relatively abundant; but here the climate issue raises its
provocative head most volubly, because of all fuels, coal produces more greenhouse gas emissions
for the energy it gives. Based partly on the predicted availability of cheap coal, the IEA forecasts a
50% rise in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Mainstream climate science, meanwhile, indicates
that to avoid dangerous consequences of climate change, emissions should fall, not rise, by 50%.
The economic and environmental horses are clearly pulling in mutually incompatible directions.
Nuclear fission is at the head of the queue. According to the World Nuclear Association,
there are now about 440 commercial reactors in the world, providing 16% of its electricity. But
concerns over waste have set other countries such as Germany on a determinedly non-nuclear path.
Waste apart, nuclear faces another potential obstacle; stocks of uranium are finite. Analysts differ
over how soon a uranium deficit might emerge; some believe that a significant ramping up of
nuclear capacity would exhaust economic reserves on a timescale of decades. That could be
extended by adopting "fast breeder" reactors, which create more fissile material as they go. Too
good to be true? Perhaps, because there is a major downside; the creation of Plutonium, with its
attendant dangers of proliferation. The other nuclear technology, fusion, is full of hope but even its
most ardent supporters admit it is decades away.
Most of the energy we use on Earth comes directly or indirectly from the Sun. It is the Sun
which stirs winds and the great water cycle, depositing rain on highlands, grew plants which
decayed to form the coal and oil that we have extracted so determinedly in our industrial age. Is it
now time, then, to use its energy directly. Certainly it could be done, but at costs up to five times
that of coal and gas, it is not going to be soon. Wind, wave and tidal power are all fine
technologies, but their potential is limited, not least by the fact that they do not generate
continuously. That could be overcome by storing energy.
Hydrogen, meanwhile, is touted as the great climate-friendly hope. But hydrogen is just a
carrier of energy. It must be created, for example by using electricity to split water molecules, in
which case replacing petrol-driven cars with hydrogen vehicles would vastly increase the global
demand for electricity. No free lunch, indeed - but a desperately tortuous and risk-laden menu and a
kitchen where political or environmental fires could flare up at any moment.

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THE OBSERVER, 19.05.06.
Eyewitness: My fight against hunger
Doula Mokao is a nomad from northern Niger. His people were
gravely affected by last year's drought, but as he explains, he is
determined to fight back. Last year, the earth was bare. Nothing grew.
There were no rains. Tchiena - a cold and strong wind - was blowing
everywhere. Our animals had no shelter because there was no grass left.
Our animals could not hide, their bellies were empty and they started
shivering. We tried to find bags of millet, there was no millet. Bags of
groundnuts, there was no groundnuts. Beans - there were no beans.
Those who had food benefited from our plight. They sold it on to us at
double the normal price. A lot of elderly people died, as well as children
who could not get milk. My family lost 59 - we've only got 14 left. This
is why we've stopped travelling. We are all staying around the well I
bought three years ago.
Last year, the nomads lost thousands of animals. It's very hard for
a nomad to lose his animals. He lives with them, can eat because of
them, can buy clothes for his children because of them. We also need animals to get married. We
cannot live without them. And we don't know any other job. If we lose our cattle - it's very serious.
We don't know where to go and what to do. A lot of our youths have left their families to work for
other people in towns. A lot of people now rely on outside help for food. Since December 2004 we
have been meeting regularly to try and find solutions. A lot of Europeans driving big luxury cars
came to help us. They didn't stay for very long - so they could not really grasp everything that was
happening to us. The situation has now improved - the rains came at last, so now our animals have
enough pasture to eat. But we have not been able to rebuild our herds yet - we need many more
years of good rains and harvests before we can get back to where we were before the drought. Now
that we have got no more cows, we need to find another way to earn our living.
I'm now in France looking for people to sell our traditional goods such as embroidered shirts,
jewellery and leather bags. But it is very difficult. First, it was very hard to get a visa. Then, I was
questioned by French customs officials for about an hour before they let me into the country. I have
been able to sell some goods but just to friends of friends, when they organise little exhbitions in
their houses. The other day, I was stopped in Marseilles by some policemen, who asked me for my
papers - and if I was selling drugs. I was astonished. We are not asking for Europe's help - we want
to deal with them, as equals.

Pharaonic tomb find stuns Egypt

THE SCIENCE, 27.03.06: Archaeologists have discovered an intact, ancient Egyptian
tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the first since King
Tutankhamun's was found in 1922. A team led by the University of
Memphis found the previously unknown tomb complete with
unopened sarcophagi and five undisturbed mummies. The
archaeologists have not yet been able to identify them. The Valley
of the Kings near Luxor in southern Egypt was used for burials for
around 500 years from 1540BC onwards.
The tomb, the 63rd discovered since the valley was first mapped
in the 18th century, was unexpectedly found only five metres away
from King Tutankhamun's. Patricia Podzorski, curator of Egyptian Art
at the University of Memphis, said the team had not been looking for
it. "The excavation team was focused on the tomb of a 19th Dynasty
pharaoh, King Amenmesses," she said. Underneath these workmen's
huts, they found a shaft. Four metres below the ground was a single
chamber containing sarcophagi with coloured funerary masks and
more than 20 large storage jars bearing Pharaonic seals. The discovery
has come as a surprise to many.

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THE ENVIRONMENT, 16.02.06.
What is the Kyoto Protocol?
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement setting targets
for industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. These
gases are considered at least partly responsible for global warming - the
rise in global temperature which may have catastrophic consequences
for life on Earth. The protocol was established in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan,
based on principles set out in a framework agreement signed in 1992.
What are the targets? Industrialised countries have committed to
cut their combined emissions to 5% below 1990 levels by 2008 - 2012.
Each country that signed the protocol agreed to its own specific target.
EU countries are expected to cut their present emissions by 8% and
Japan by 5%. Some countries with low emissions were permitted to
increase them. Russia initially wavered over signing the protocol, amid
speculation that it was jockeying for more favourable terms. But the
country's cabinet agreed to back Kyoto in September 2004.
What does it mean when the Kyoto Protocol comes into force?
The Kyoto Protocol became a legally binding treaty on 16 February
2005. It could only come into force after two conditions had been fulfilled: • It had been ratified by
at least 55 countries • It had been ratified by nations accounting for at least 55% of emissions from
what the Treaty calls "Annex 1' countries - i.e. those given specific targets for reducing emissions.
These are the richer nations of the world, members of the OECD and the former Soviet Union.
The first target was met in 2002. But following the decision of the United States and
Australia not to ratify, Russia's position became crucial for the fulfilment of the second condition.
It finally did ratify on November 18th 2004, and the Kyoto Protocol comes into force 90 days later
- on February 16th 2005. Its targets for reducing emissions then become binding on all Annex 1
countries which have ratified - and 34 of the 38 have, the exceptions being Australia, Croatia,
Monaco and the USA.
Why did Russia decide to back the treaty? The deciding factor appears to be not the
economic cost, but the political benefits for Russia. In particular, there has been talk of stronger
European Union support for Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization, when it ratifies the
protocol. But fears still persist in Russia that Kyoto could badly affect the country's economic
growth.
Have the targets been achieved? Industrialised countries cut their overall emissions by
about 3% from 1990 to 2000. But this was largely because a sharp decrease in emissions from the
collapsing economies of former Soviet countries masked an
8% rise among rich countries. The UN says industrialised
countries are now well off target for the end of the decade
and predicts emissions 10% above 1990 levels by 2010.
Only four EU countries are on track to meet their own
targets.
Is Kyoto in good health? Before Russia's backing,
many feared Kyoto was on its last legs. But Moscow's
decision has breathed new life into the protocol. The
agreement stipulates that for it to become binding in
international law, it must be ratified by the countries who
together are responsible for at least 55% of 1990 global
greenhouse gas emissions. The treaty suffered a massive blow in 2001 when the US, responsible
for about quarter of the world's emissions, pulled out. The additional uncertainty over Russia's
position was seen as another nail in the coffin, but observers are now hopeful the 55% threshold
can be reached.
Why did the US pull out? US President George W Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol in
2001, saying implementing it would gravely damage the US economy. His administration dubbed
the treaty "fatally flawed", partly because it does not require developing countries to commit

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to emissions reductions. Mr Bush says he backs emissions reductions through voluntary action and
new energy technologies.
How much difference will Kyoto make? Most climate scientists say that the targets set in
the Kyoto Protocol are merely scratching the surface of the problem. The agreement aims to reduce
emissions from industrialised nations only by around 5%, whereas the consensus among many
climate scientists is that in order to avoid the worst consequences of global warming, emissions
cuts in the order of 60% across the board are needed. This has led to criticisms that the agreement
is toothless, as well as being virtually obsolete without US support. But others say its failure would
be a disaster as, despite its flaws, it sets out a framework for future negotiations which could take
another decade to rebuild. Kyoto commitments have been signed into law in some countries, US
states and in the EU, and will stay in place regardless of the fate of the protocol itself. Without
Kyoto, politicians and companies working towards climate-friendly economies would face a much
rougher ride. What about poor countries? The agreement acknowledges that developing
countries contribute least to climate change but will quite likely suffer most from its effects. Many
have signed it. They do not have to commit to specific targets, but have to report their emissions
levels and develop national climate change mitigation programmes. China and India, potential
major polluters with huge populations and growing economies, have both ratified the protocol.
What is emissions trading? Emissions trading works by allowing countries to buy and sell their
agreed allowances of greenhouse gas emissions. Highly polluting countries can buy unused
"credits" from those which are allowed to emit more than they actually do. After much difficult
negotiation, countries are now also able to gain credits for activities which boost the environment's
capacity to absorb carbon. These include tree planting and soil conservation, and can be carried out
in the country itself, or by that country working in a developing country. Are there alternatives?
One approach gaining increasing support is based on the principle that an equal quota of
greenhouse gas emissions should be allocated for every person on the planet. The proposal, dubbed
"contraction and convergence", states that rich countries should "contract" their emissions with the
aim that global emissions "converge" at equal levels based on the amount of pollution scientists
think the planet can take. Although many commentators say it is not realistic, its supporters include
the United Nations Environment Programme and the European Parliament.

Weil-Known Tiger Killed by Poachers

THE SCIENCE, 17.03.06: The first wild Siberian tiger
ever fitted with a radio collar was killed by poachers, officials
believe. The 14-year-old tiger, Olga, has been missing since
January. She is presumed to have been killed by poachers who
destroyed her radio collar, according to a statement released by
the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
Wearing the collar for 13 years, Olga roamed a 200-
square-mile (500-square-kilometer) swath of forest north of
Terney in the Russian Far East. She gave birth to six litters
totaling at least 13 cubs, six of which survived. The well-known
tiger appeared in National Geographic" s "Tigers in the Snow"
documentary. "To our knowledge, Olga is the oldest, and the most intensively studied tiger in the
world," said Dale Miquelle, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Russia Program and
one of the people who first radio-collared Olga. "For many of us, Olga was a symbol of the tiger's
resilience and capacity to live side by side with humans."
Since January, scientists have been unable to locate the collar's signal despite extensive aerial
and ground searches. Staff of the Siberian Tiger Project have documented other cases in which lost
signals from radio collars were result from poachers killing tigers and destroying collars. Of 23
tiger deaths recorded by the project, 17 were at the hands of poachers.
"Olga has been living in the same place for 14 years and resident tigers don't just pack up and
move long distances," said WCS conservationist John Goodrich. "It's unlikely that her collar failed.
We've used about 100 radio-collars on tigers and bears during the life of the project and have only
documented one premature collar failure." Tigers are considered extremely rare, and in danger of
extinction throughout their range.

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THE SUN, 3.02.06.
Three winners scoop EuroMillions
Three winners have won the EuroMillions lottery, sharing the
Ј126m jackpot, UK National Lottery firm Camelot has said. One
ticket was bought in Portugal and the other two in France. The
winning numbers were 9, 21, 30, 39 and 50, and the Lucky Star
numbers were 1 and 3. Some 1.4m UK ticketholders won prizes
ranging from £179,829 to £7.10. The draw, which had rolled over
for the past 11 weeks, had been estimated as Ј125m but Camelot
said "exchange rate fluctuations" and the final calculations of ticket
sales meant the jackpot came to Ј126m.
EuroMillions players had to match five main numbers from
one to 50 plus two Lucky Star numbers from one to nine to win the
jackpot. A Camelot spokeswoman said: "There has been a record
sales rush." She added: "Over the last 12 weeks Ј15m has been
raised good causes from EuroMillions alone." Camelot said past
jackpots in US lotteries had been higher than Ј125m, but the winners chose a reduced one-off lump
sum payment instead of having the full amount paid in instalments.
The draw was also open to players in Austria, Belgium, France, the Republic of Ireland,
Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. The top EuroMillions winner to date is Dolores
McNamara, from Limerick, who scooped Ј79m last July. The UK's top jackpot winner is Marion
Richardson, from Gateshead, who won £16.7m on 9 April, 2004, two months after the game was
launched.

Boxing hero delights Russia

BBC NEWS, 23.12.05: You can always tell when Nikolay Valuev walks into a room.
Everyone in there tilts their heads 45 degrees to see him. Two metres 13cm tall and weighing
147kg, Nikolay is the tallest and heaviest world champion in the history of boxing: a Slavic
skyscraper who towers over his opponents. Last weekend in Berlin he notched up the 43rd victory
of his career by beating American John Ruiz to snatch the WBA world title. Now the champion
known as the "Beast from the East" is back home in snowy St Petersburg.
"I'm really NOT a beast," Nikolay says down at his local sports centre. "I'm a very calm
person. I even used to write poetry. "But what I like about boxing is the feeling of danger, all that
adrenalin. I don't get enough of it in my normal life." When Nikolay begins laying into a punch
bag, before my eyes the calm poet transforms into a fighting machine.
As the punches rain down, I can imagine how the battered John Ruiz must have felt during
last Saturday's big fight. After his victory, Nikolay has become Russia's latest sporting
hero. But that does not stop old friends from giving friendly
advice. "I watched the fight on TV," one acquaintance tells
Nikolay at the sports centre. "I wrote down all your
mistakes. I'll tell you if you like." "If I listened to everyone's
advice," Nikolay grins, "I wouldn't have time to do anything
else!"
I ask Nikolay to show me his big prize - the WBA title
belt. "I don't have it," he replies. "It wasn't big enough - it
didn't fit round my waist. They're having to make me a
larger one." Instead the world's newest heavyweight
champion takes me home to meet his family. He lives in a
tiny one-room flat on the edge of St Petersburg with his wife
Galya and Grisha his son.
Nikolay hopes his success will
help promote Russian boxing
on the world stage and give
other fighters here the chance
to challenge for top titles. He
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is also planning to help the younger generation get into boxing.
The Nikolay Valuev Boxing School will take in street kids, young
drug addicts and other underprivileged children.

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 The Classic Films Review

The Ladykillers
by Trevor Brown
Famous for its films in the 1940s and 50s, Ealing
studios produced some of the wittiest and best British
films ever made. However by the mid 1950s, television
in Britain had started to become popular and as people
stayed at home to watch entertainment transmitted
directly into their houses, British cinema audiences
started to drop massively. As the audience numbers
dropped so did the number of films made, and this
inevitably meant that the production facilities were no
longer required. It is therefore ironic that the last
comedy film made at Ealing studios in London would be
one of the most revered and best loved films ever made
in Britain, The Ladykillers (1955, dir. Alexander
Mackendrick).
Made in glorious Technicolor (the name used to describe the American colour process, and
note the American spelling of the word 'colour'), The Ladykillers was a wonderfully cruel and witty
comedy about five criminals who attempt to steal a considerable sum of money in transit from a
railway station. Everything goes well until they are thwarted in their attempt to smuggle the money
out of London by a little old lady. It is once she discovers what they have done that things start to
go wrong for them...horribly wrong! Suddenly their dreams fall apart as they decide to try and kill
her so they can make their escape, and yet they find killing her a far harder task than it seems.
Possibly where this film succeeds is not only in having a very funny script, but also in having
an excellent cast. Legendary English actor Sir Alec Guinness plays the leader of the gang,
Professor Marcus. Marcus is the 'brains' of the gang and the one whose decision it is to befriend the
old lady proves to be the downfall of the entire crime. Other actors in the cast include the Czech
actor Herbert Lorn, future Hollywood star Peter Sellers (both Sellers and Lom would appear in the
incredibly successful Pink Panther films a decade later), and respected English actor Cecil Parker
as Major Courteney. Completing the line up of criminals was the lesser known actor Danny Green
and almost completely upstaging everybody else as the little old lady, Mrs Wilberforce, is actress
Katie Johnson (who would die just two years after the film was released).
Facts and figures about this film are hard to find but the
fact that it was one of the few Ealing films made in colour is
testament to the faith the producers had in this film, and it was
certainly a big success on its release. Although some critics
failed to see the funny side to the joke, it should be remembered
that despite the technical limitations imposed on the production
due to a tight budget (and the need to get the film finished
before the studios closed down), it is one of the most highly
regarded and witty comedies of its time. Comedic moments
flow throughout the film, from the extraordinary relationship
between Mrs Wilberforce and her lodger Professor Marcus (she
keeps interrupting his planning of the robbery by asking him if
he'd like a cup of tea), through the hilarious moment when the
gang try to leave with the stolen money but are inadvertently
thwarted by Mrs Wilberforce's friends who think the criminals
are musicians, down to the blackly amusing and inventive way
in which each of the criminals meets an unfortunate end and
Mrs Wilberforce ends up with thousands of pounds of stolen
money because the police think her story is just the ramblings of
an eccentric old lady!

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 The Ladykillers was remade in 2004 in America, with Tom Hanks in the Professor Marcus
role. By all accounts the American remake is hugely inferior to the original, lacking both its sense
or irony and eccentricity. In some ways the original film is a comedy of British manners, bringing
to mind the playfulness of an Oscar Wilde farce. The absurdity of the situation (that five armed
criminals are stopped by a little old lady) is never lost on the audience.
Britain is no longer the country of smiling policemen, mild mannered eccentrics and
high morals that was in this film, but the charm of its production still shines through.
However, above everything else the reason to watch it is obvious to anyone who has ever
seen it....that this is a very, very funny film!
London. May 2006.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Whilst some films are
universally loved and some films
simply loathed, has there ever been
a film that has so divided opinion
as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968,
dir. Stanley Kubrick)? When the
film was premiered in April 1968,
the world was a very different
place. Man had yet to set foot on
the moon, the American
involvement in the Vietnam war
was about to peak, the cold war
between Nato & the Warsaw Pact
countries was still a major source of tension, and youth culture (certainly in the west) was starting
to advocate the use of drugs as a form of relaxation and pleasure. Amongst this period of great
political and social change, Stanley Kubrick (the director of Spartacus just 8 years earlier) had
emigrated from the U.S. to England, where he believed he would be afforded less interference and
more artistic freedom than if he was still based in Hollywood. Since emigrating, Kubrick had made
both Lolita (1962) and Dr Strangelove (1963) in England. However whilst both these films were
reasonably big projects in themselves, his next project was to make a film based on a story by the
British science fiction writer Arthur. C. Clarke. This story was called The Sentinel' and was the
basis for the story of the final result, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
2001 was to prove one of the most technically complicated and expensive films ever made
until that point (originally budgeted to cost $6 million, the final film ended up costing MGM
studios $10.5 million). Of that money, over 60% went on the film's incredible special effects. When
watched, it is possible to see where most of the money went, for the beautifully detailed film sets
and models are so carefully built and photographed that they took the special effects industry onto
another level. For example, the model of the 'Discovery 1' spaceship was 18 metres long, allowing
incredible detail to be sculpted and creating a further sense of realism. This devotion to detail helps
explain why Kubrick took nearly three years to make 2001.
What also helps 2001 to stand out as a film of high technical accomplishment is that it was
made at a time long before computer graphics were to become a tool of the filmmaker (even the
computer screens and graphics we see in the film were faked by using animation). Another
accomplishment is the complicated set design, using huge expensively made and technically
complicated film sets. The film also utilised state of the art make up effects to create the 'Dawn of
man' segment at the beginning of the film.
However, what is the film about? Any answer will not be definitive as the story is wide open
to personal interpretation. For me the film is about why we (humans) were to become the dominant
life form on this planet. The film starts millions of years ago at a time when we were little more
than apes. The film follows a tribe of apes who wake up one day to discover an enormous black
monolith has appeared from nowhere. This monolith is a frightening curiosity at first to the apes
but it seems to affect those in its vicinity and could be representative of intelligence (from god?
from another world? this is deliberately never fully explained to us). From this discovery the apes
develop intelligence and the ability to discover weapons that are used to kill. The story then moves
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on to the year 2001 where another monolith is discovered on the moon by the American space
administration. Hiding the discovery from the world (including the Russian space administration),
the Americans detect a transmission from the monolith to the planet Saturn. The Americans then
decide to send a manned spaceship to Saturn to find out what is at the location where the
transmission was made to. However, during the 18 month journey things start to go wrong as the
ship's computer, HAL 9000, starts to make mistakes and then starts to murder the crew
(incidentally HAL was the name chosen after the IBM computer company refused to let their name
be associated with the film).
In many ways, the story is of less importance than the beautiful imagery of the film. 2001 is
also famous for its use of classical music to underpin the visual quality and the excellent editing.
Watching this film is possibly as near to cinematic poetry as it is possible to get. There are many
stories surrounding the reasons why classical music was used instead of a specially written film
soundtrack, but the real reason was that whilst the composer Alex North was writing the music for
this film, Stanley Kubrick needed to have a temporary soundtrack that would assist in the editing
process. The result was that Kubrick used classical music recordings and was so impressed at how
much it complimented the film that he stuck with it. Although North's score was finished, Kubrick
never used it and anyone who has seen the film will surely agree with that decision, as Johann
Strauss's 'Blue Danube' is used to so perfectly within the film.
Kubrick removed approximately 20 minutes from the film after its premiere, as there were
complaints that it was too long. The film was not an instant success on its first release either, as
many people found it confusing. Yet it would go on to take $15million at the cinemas on its first
release, was then re-released in 1972 and would go on to become one of MGM's most prized and
prestigious films.
Many science fiction fans credit 2001 with being one of the most influential films ever
made. Without its visual style as a guide, perhaps Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972) and George
Lucas's Star Wars (1977) may have looked very different. 2001 also generated a decent sequel
called 2010 (1984, dir. Peter Hyams) which, whilst nowhere near as impressive, goes someway to
explaining some of the originals mysteries.
Whilst 2001 is not everyone's favourite film (some people find it boring, confusing and
pretentious) it is still a hugely important, popular and intelligent piece of entertainment. When
watched in the cinema it is still an incredibly powerful and visually stimulating experience and a
superb example of an artistic touch in capitalist movie making.
By TREVOR BROWN. MAY 2006.
THE CINEMA, 6.01.06. B.A.(hons), MA.
Cult novel becomes Russian TV hit
A TV adaptation of cult novel The Master and Margarita has become a ratings hit in Russia
despite superstition that it was "cursed". More than 55% of Russians aged over 18 watched the first
part of the 143 million roubles TV series. Mikhail Bulgakov started his satire in 1928 but it was not
published until his death. It was banned for 16 years until a government-edited version was
published in a literary magazine in 1966. It follows Satan as he causes murder and mayhem in
1930s Moscow. Vladimir Bortko, director of the 10-episode series broadcast on Rossiya state
television, said the book embodied freedom for several generations of Russians. "It was like a
breath of fresh air in the dead atmosphere of Soviet writing," he said. It includes surreal scenes
such as the devil's black cat riding a tram, Moscow women running around in their underwear and
a naked Margarita hovering above the city on a broom. Mr Bortko added that for many Soviet
citizens, Bulgakov's novel was their first encounter with the Bible - a book discredited by the
atheist communist government. Previous attempts to film The Master and Margarita failed or
adapted only limited sections of the story. A 1994 movie version was completed but was never
screened in public after disappearing from director Yuri Kara's home. It later resurfaced in a private
collection amid a copyright dispute between the director and producers. Filming on the latest
adaptation began in 2000 but was delayed after a descendant of Bulgakov sold the rights to the
story to a US firm. They were subsequently bought back by TV channel Rossiya. However, Mr
Bortko said: "All these stories of a curse are absurd. "The novel had never been filmed for banal
reasons - in the Soviet Union it was ideology, and once the regime collapsed, there was no money."

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Если чтение станет для вас более или менее регулярным занятием, хотя бы по 20-30 минут в день или через день, то
вы никогда не забудете английский язык. Даже в преклонном возрасте! Читайте наш "Перископ" так же легко и свободно,
как вы читаете прессу на родном языке. Именно для этой цели он создавался. Все необходимое для этого в нем имеется.
Постепенно вся незнакомая лексика станет для вас привычной и вполне обыкновенной. Со временем появится легкость в
чтении и понимании текста, а также автоматизм в выражении своих мыслей на иностранном языке. Грамматика, основы
которой вы знаете со школьной скамьи, естественным образом усвоится и закрепится через постоянное общение со
специально подобранными текстами, и вы никогда не будете испытывать каких-либо серьезных трудностей с переводом и
последующим общением с носителями этого языка.
Английский язык давно стал средством делового и межнационального общения между многими странами. Сегодня
он становится таким же необходимым элементом нашей жизни, как умение управлять машиной и пользоваться
персональным компьютером. Представьте себе коммерсанта, менеджера, банковского работника, ученого, инженера,
моряка, летчика, стюардессу или современного офицера без этих знаний. Людям этих профессий, по нашему мнению,
иностранные языки знать совершенно необходимо. И не только им, но и всем тем, кто стремится идти в ногу со временем.
Следует помнить, что во многих странах мира знание английского языка среди самых разнообразных слоев населения - это
весьма распростаненное и обыденное явление. Поэтому и наша страна не должна оставаться исключением в этом вопросе.
В России во все времена хорошее знание иностранного языка считалось признаком высокой культуры и
образованности человека. Помимо этого, оно всегда повышает самооценку личности и вызывает искреннее уважение со
стороны окружения. И весьма неосмотрительно поступают некоторые молодые люди, считая, что иностранный язык им не
понадобится. Жизнь нередко выносит самых разных людей на такие вершины и забрасывает в такие дали, которые в начале
жизни им просто не видны. Этому можно привести массу примеров.
Мы не стремимся убеждать вас становиться профессиональными филологами или переводчиками. Эти
специальности по-своему хороши и интересны. Однако лучше, когда человек помимо знания иностранного языка имеет за
плечами еще какую-нибудь специальность. В этом случае его ценность возрастает во много раз, в том числе и на рынке
труда, что в наше время становится немаловажным фактором. Эти знания всегда пригодятся вам в жизни. Мы с вами
живем уже совсем в другое время.
Учебное пособие предназначено для самых широких слоев нашей молодежи, которая сохраняет интерес к
иностранным языкам, стремится развиваться и дальше и, естественно, применять эти знания на практике, в повседневной
жизни, находясь за границей на учебе или отдыхе, либо работая рука об руку с иностранными специалистами в различных
сферах науки и экономики как у себя в стране, так и за рубежом. При работе с этим изданием необходимо помнить, что оно
преследует в первую очередь учебные цели, поэтому не обращайте особого внимания на то, что некоторые материалы
относятся к несколько раннему периоду времени. Любой язык даже на протяжении длительного времени претерпевает
совсем незначительные изменения.
Вы можете спросить: "Где же взять время, чтобы эти пожелания стали реальностью? Учащиеся и без того
перегружены другими учебными дисциплинами и повседневными заботами". Мы считаем, что безвыходных ситуаций не
бывает. Все должно развиваться постепенно и равномерно. Главное - это умение правильно распределять время и
постоянно придерживаться установленного для себя распорядка. Здесь надо проявлять настойчивость, волю и
определенную последовательность. Вперед можно двигаться и небольшими шагами. Пройдет время, и вы, обернувшись
назад, увидете, как далеко вы продвинулись.
Придет пора летних и зимних каникул. Это удобное время для занятий любимыми делами и хорошая возможность
основательно позаниматься иностранным языком. Будете ли вы отдыхать на море или на даче -не забудьте взять с собой
"Перископ"! В вашем чемодане или сумке он не займет много места. То, что вы не успели прочитать и усвоить в горячее
время учебы, можно не спеша, на досуге, догнать без особых напряжений. Помните, что чем чаще вы общаетесь с
иностранным языком, тем легче и интересней он становится. Читайте наш "Перископ" в любое свободное время и в любой
обстановке: в поезде, в самолете, на даче, на пляже, перед сном в кровати или в тихом сквере на лавочке. Количество
непременно перейдет в качество! Это диалектика. Придет время, и вы не будете ощущать большой разницы между родным
и приобретенным иностранным языком. Для этого необходимо читать и делать это нужно более или менее регулярно.
Это учебное пособие поможет вам легко сохранять и преумножать знания с минимальными затратами времени и
энергии, а также держать ваш иностранный язык в постоянной "боевой готовности". Пособие удобно и тем, что все тексты
не перегружены прилагательными и сложными оборотами, как это часто встречается в художественной литературе.
Информация излагается четко, в деловом повествовательном режиме, т. е. так, как люди (иностранцы) обычно общаются
между собой в повседневной жизни. Это как раз нам с вами и надо!
Рекомендуем бережно хранить все наши выпуски, так как они могут пригодиться вам и в дальнейшем, когда
понадобится быстро, в короткие сроки активизировать свой английский язык (лучше всего это делать по ранее хорошо
проработанному материалу). Пособие можно приобрести в центральных книжных магазинах Волгограда, Москвы, Санкт-
Петербурга, Ростова-на-Дону, Воронежа и др. (полный перечень магазинов указан на нашем сайте). Если у вас дома или на
работе имеется компьютер, то с его помощью вы можете следить за выпусками очередных номеров и делать заказы на их
доставку по почте. Мы выполняем как индивидуальные, так и коллективные заявки. "Перископ" выходит также на
немецком, французском и испанском языках.

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 Учредитель и издатель - ООО "Ритм планеты"

Главный редактор - Корнеенко Константин Яковлевич e-

mail: roza@reg.avtlg.ru моб.тел. 8-927-258-63-05

Дизайн обложки и сайта в Интернет: веб-студия "Гольфстрим" (г. Москва)

e-mail: info@gs-studio.com

Журнал "Periscope-review" зарегистрирован в Министерстве по делам печати,

телерадиовещания и средств массовых коммуникаций Российской Федерации. Свидетельство ПИ №
77-15544 от 20 мая 2003 года. Методика и форма изложения учебных материалов зарегистрированы в
качестве интеллектуального продукта и хранятся в информационном фонде ВНТИЦ (г. Москва).
Охраняется законом об авторском праве.

Основан в 2002 году. Издается два раза в

год (январь, август) Серия:
филологические науки

Консультант издания - Trevor Brown (Великобритания)

Periscope-review: World News: Учеб. пособие по англ. яз. № 8/Издат. ООО "Ритм планеты", 2006. -
80 с.
Материалы пособия состоят из газетных и журнальных публикаций англоязычных стран -
США, Великобритании, Канады, Австралии, а также информации от ведущих мировых
информационных агенств, сообщающих о наиболее важных и интересных событиях в мире.
Полностью исключен трудоемкий процесс работы со словарями, так как все тексты снабжены
необходимой лексикой. ЭтO позволяет быстро восстановить и усовершенствовать знания
иностранного языка, а также поддерживать их в постоянном рабочем состоянии при минималь ных
затратах времени и энергии обучающихся. Предназначено для широкого круга лиц - как учащихся 8-
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© ООО "Ритм планеты", 2006
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Periscope-review: World news. Учебное пособие по английскому языку № 8. Главный редактор - Корнеенко К.Я. Подписано к печати
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