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Last Updated: Monday, 12 May, 2003, 14:54 GMT 15:54 UK Many killed in Chechen blast A suicide attack on local government buildings in Chechnya has killed at least 37 people and injured 197, local officials say. A lorry loaded with explosives was driven at a compound containing the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the northern town of Znamenskoye, sources in the pro-Moscow administration said. The blast left a crater at least 15 metres (yards) wide and four deep, gutting buildings at the scene and causing other serious damage within a radius of up to 500 metres. Russian...

Saddam's missing billions and link to al-Qaida Julian Borger in Washington Wednesday April 16, 2003 The Guardian In the days before the fall of Baghdad, and the explosion of looting on the streets of the capital, a far more damaging form of looting was already under way as Iraqi bank accounts were ransacked and millions of dollars were transferred into private accounts abroad, Middle Eastern banking sources said yesterday. The flurry of transfers that have been spotted, going mainly through Europe to accounts in Jordanian and Palestinian banks, are thought to be the tip of a vast financial iceberg, kept...

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Long-term interest rates can't possibly go lower, can they? And if they do, isn't that a good thing? I figured I had roughly picked the bottom in long-term interest rates when I refinanced my mortgage recently. There is just no way America could get trapped in the same deflationary spiral that has crippled Japan for over a decade. But then I watched incredulously as the yield on the benchmark ten-year Treasury bond took another dramatic dip last week despite belief in the stock market that the worse was over. The rate fell through one chart point...

Of the Muslim political leaders who came to the fore from the 1980s, two stand out: the late Turkish President Turgot Ozal and Malaysia's retiring Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed.The two stand out both for their character and their political vision. Neither used power for amassing personal fortune or paving the path of relatives and cronies with gold. Both managed not to become the subject of a cult of personality, a disease that has destroyed many Muslim leaders.At the same time they were arguably the only senior Muslim politicians to rise above the day-to-day management of affairs and to develop...

Hong Kong (dpa) - A restaurant in western China has been ordered to shut down after being caught using old underpants as dish cloths, a news report said Monday. Health inspectors swooped on the restaurant in Chengdu, Sichuan province, after getting a tip-off about the old underpants being used in the kitchens. The inspectors ordered the restaurant to shut down temporarily while an investigation into its hygiene standards is conducted, the South China Morning Post reported.

Summary: Texas Senator John Cornyn has just held a hearing to discuss ways of reforming the judicial nomination process. Many of President Bush’s judicial nominees have been blocked by Democrats for more than two years.Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) held a hearing on May 6th to discuss ways of reforming a broken judicial nomination process. Cornyn’s hearing included a series of experts on the constitution and judges. Providing testimony were such men as Bruce Fein, a former Deputy Attorney General in the Justice Department, Douglas W. Kmiec, a former law professor and also an attorney in the Justice Department; John...

Now watching President Bush live on Fox speaking in Albuquerque. The lefties in Santa Fe must be going 'nuts' and 'fruity' with their bright 'green' rage turning thier faces 'red'.

Let's talk a little about the systemic corruption of the United Nations, shall we? Here's a recent news story that reveals the UN mentality, and should warm the cockles of your heart. It was aired on local television in the greater New York City area -- On Friday, May 2nd, UN cafeteria and restaurant workers walked off their jobs in a "wildcat strike". UN employees, including diplomats, then participated in an extensive looting spree, stealing all available food and even stripping the UN's five eateries of their silverware. Nice bunch! I'm sorry to be so blunt, but these UN employees...

UK medics took thousands of brains without consent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Gideon Long LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - British pathologists removed the brains from tens of thousands of human corpses over a period of 30 years without the permission of the victims' relatives, the government acknowledged on Monday. In a sinister reminder of scandals in the late 1990s, when hospitals were found to have secretly kept the hearts of dead children for research purposes, the government said the illicit removal of brains had been "widespread in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s". It said the true scale of the scandal would...

MAYNARDVILLE, Tenn. — Every year, hundreds of Union County students take a field trip for the soul. Children are excused from class, loaded onto school buses with teachers and sent to a three-day Christian revival. "I am going to ask you a question," an evangelical leader recently yelled to a sea of students ready for their field trip. "If you are glad to be here, say amen!" With the ardor of a pep rally, the students shouted back: "AAAA-men!" Not everyone is so enthusiastic. Fourteen-year-old India Tracy said she was harassed and attacked by classmates for nearly three years after...

For the Record The value of gold reserves held by the Central Bank was $3.736 billion on May 1, $1 million up from $3.735 billion on April 1, the bank said in a statement Thursday. (Reuters) The country's foreign trade surplus rose to $5.62 billion in March from $4.63 billion in February, the Central Bank said Thursday. (Reuters) Diamond giant Alrosa sold $394 million worth of diamonds in the first quarter, almost 44 percent more than in the same period last year, Interfax reported. In the first quarter, Alrosa exceeded the plan for extraction and sales of diamonds by 2...

This list includes ship visits by presidents, during their terms as president, presently known to the Ships History Branch. There have undoubtedly been others; any additional information would be appreciated. Commissioned presidential yachts are included though these were not, strictly speaking, "visits to Navy ships" since these yachts were not part of the operating forces. The yacht Sequoia is listed under F.D. Roosevelt only, the only period during which she was in commission. Small craft, such as the motor boats used by a number of presidents after World War II, are not included. Individual ship histories are included in the...

LONDON (Reuters) -- OPEC said Friday it has invited seven rival exporters, including Russia, Norway and Mexico, to attend its June 11 meeting in Doha, Qatar, at which ministers are expected to discuss output cuts to make room for Iraq. A spokesman for OPEC at its Vienna headquarters said it was the first time non-OPEC countries had been invited to an extraordinary conference.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- The budget surplus, boosted by high oil prices and lower debt payments, surged in the first four months of the year, according to preliminary data released Thursday. A Finance Ministry official said the surplus hit 31.7 billion rubles ($1 billion), or 0.8 percent of gross domestic product. That compares with a 1.95 billion ruble surplus, or 0.1 percent of GDP, in January-March. The primary surplus, which excludes foreign debt payments, amounted to 121.3 billion rubles, or 3.2 percent of GDP, he added.

The calendar moves ahead, albeit ever so slowly, toward February 2004, when Prime Minister Jean Chretien is destined to ride off into the Canadian sunset. A date with destiny, to which so many look forward. Chretien detractors in this country and abroad are asking, "Who could be worse?" Prime-Minister-in-waiting Paul Martin, that’s who. Although much has been made of their rivalry, both Chretien and Martin are controlled by the same powerbrokers, and that’s just the beginning of this story. If there is one latter day saga proving the age-old adage that truth is often stranger than fiction, the story of...

There it was, just outside of Albany, New York, a brand new church dedicated to the Virgin of Czestochowa. Save for the fact that there was no cross on the steeple, it looked like an ordinary, even devout church: stained windows, rosaries in a basket as you entered, a crucifix, a Risen Jesus behind the altar, and to the side, angels and a statue of the Sorrowful Mother. From all appearances Our Lady of Czestochowa was the model of a new church (there's even bingo) -- until one noticed that the nameplate did not say "Roman Catholic." This one said,...

Turkey takes a dive in the fortunes of war By Ian Bremmar Published: May 12 2003 5:00 | Last Updated: May 12 2003 5:00 Investors looking around the world to identify who stands to gain from the war in Iraq are in for some surprises. Russia looks good. Turkey doesn't. That is different from pre-war expectations. Russia's decision to join France and Germany in opposition to the war surprised many in the Bush administration, rekindling Cold War voices that said "you can't trust the Russians". Relations between the two countries cooled as the war unfolded, with Russian technology - and...

History textbook tells buried military past Not taught in schools: Canadians in Conflict emphasizes how strife shaped country Heather Sokoloff National Post The first high school textbook on Canadian military history, published by Edmonton's school board because existing school books largely ignored the subject, has proven so popular they cannot be printed fast enough. The 203-page text emphasizes the importance of war in shaping a sovereign Canada. It comes at a time when parents have objected to teaching children how to spell ''gun'' and teachers' unions are among the most vocal opponents of the recent war in Iraq. But the...

Harare - The trial of Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was set to resume in Harare on Monday against a background of widening political and economic tensions in the southern African country. Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has been charged with plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe ahead of last year's presidential elections, which Mugabe won. Tsvangirai denies the charges, alleging he was framed by Mugabe's government. If convicted of treason, he faces the death penalty. "It (the trial) is going to resume tomorrow," Tsvangirai's lawyer Innocent Chagonda told AFP on Sunday. The high-profile...

Jack of Spades!