English News!

Hi Girls & Boys!
This is where you will daily find the news of the world in English s let's hope you will enjoy it! I will start tomorrow morning.

Hello Girls!

Voici un tout petit peu de news en english pour aujourd'hui si ca vous interesse
*Le Pen sentenced over nazi slur:

A Paris court yesterday handed French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen a three-month suspended prison sentence and a €10,000 fine for denying the brutality of the Nazis' World War II occupation of France. Le Pen was convicted on charges of "complicity in justifying war crimes" and "complicity in contesting a crime against humanity" for comments he made during a 2005 interview with the far-right weekly 'Rivarol'.
*Bush pays visit to Tornado victims:
President George W Bush toured tornado-battered parts of the US South yesterday after the worst rampage of twisters in nearly a quarter-century killed 58 people. Mr Bush, seeking to avoid the mistakes of his administration's heavily criticised response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, flew to Tennessee for a look at some of the worst damage from tornadoes that whipped across half a dozen states this week.
*10 dead after a fire in a nursing home:
At least 10 people have died in a fire at an old people's home in western Austrian, authorities said yesterday.Firefighters battled to try and put out the blaze late last night at the facility, which is located in the town of Egg, according to police in Vorarlberg province.
*I am a victim of coincidences:
The man accused of murdering five prostitutes in Britain said he was the unlucky victim of dozens of coincidences.Steve Wright (49), of Ipswich, Suffolk, said he began picking up prostitutes on streets near his home less than two weeks before vice girls started vanishing.Mr Wright accepted that he could have been with all the women on the nights they disappeared.He said he had sex with four of the women and was intending to have sex with the fifth before changing his mind.And he agreed that forensic evidence connected him to every victim's body. However, Mr Wright told Ipswich Crown Court that he was not "any random psychopath'' subjecting Ipswich prostitutes to "any campaign''.He said he had nothing to do with the murders -- and agreed that he seemed to have been "singularly unfortunate''.Mr Wright denies murdering Gemma Adams (25), Tania Nicol (19), Anneli Alderton (24), Paula Clennell (24) and Annette Nicholls (29).

It's good for J Le pen!!
I must be punish !! He can't deny crime against humanity!!!

And for "the victim of coincidences!! " It' very strange!! He didn't have all his head!! (je sais pas si on traduit ca comme ca lol " french expression!! )
He should go to psychiatric hospital.....

thanks for the news!!
see you soon for news!!!

I totally agree with you for Le pen and as for the other man, he is crazy and yes, like you said he should be n a mental institut!!

no news today ?? :lol: maybe after your stroll!!
good walk and see you soon

I forget to tell you good idea for this subject!!!

Ah thank you Mel! Glad you like it!! I'll be back in a couple of hours to put the news on.

ok thanks !! I don't know if I could be there anymore today !! But i'll see tomorrow!!

I'll go back to study!!!

Hello People!!
The news of the orld for today. Sorry they are so late Mel!!
*Schizophrenia risk for babies of grieving mumsExpectant mothers who suffer bereavement of a close relative are more at risk of giving a birth to a child with schizophrenia, a new Irish-based international study has revealed.The research, published by an international team of researchers based in University College Cork, have discovered a link between stress in pregnancy and schizophrenia in the resulting offspring. The team has discovered that the babies of women exposed to severe levels of stress, such as those caused by the death of a close relative, during the first trimester of pregnancy may have an increased risk of schizophrenia. The study has already sparked much international interest among those in the medical fields and further related stress studies are pending from the team at UCC.The research had a number of key findings. Firstly, the risk of schizophrenia was increased in offspring whose mothers were exposed to the death of a relative during the first trimester of pregnancy.The death of a relative during the other trimesters, or up to six months before the pregnancy, was not associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia. Secondly, the findings were consistent with other pieces of evidence from whole populations exposed to severe stress. Thirdly, the results suggest that uterine environment may influence the neuro development of the foetus and the first trimester of pregnancy is the most important stage of this particular development.
*Iraq car bomb kills at least 23 people:
A car bomb near an Iraqi checkpoint in a market north of Baghdad has killed at 23.The US military says 25 others have been wounded.The military said US and Iraqi forces had secured the area and the wounded had been evacuated to hospitals.The attack took place near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad
*Winehouse expect to clean up at Grammy Awards:
Amy Winehouse could sweep the board tonight at the fiftieth Grammy Awards.The singer will still perform via satellite from the UK, despite now being allowed to travel to the States.She's up for six awards, including Best New Artist
*British man guilty of hiding wife's body in Australia:
A British expatriate in Australia has been found guilty of hiding his wife's body in a barrel for more than twenty years.Frederick Boyle murdered Edwina and sealed her into an oil drum in 1983.The former bus driver told her children she'd left to live with another man.The couple moved to Australia from Wales in the seventies.
*Japon & Russia engage a diplomatic row:
Japan is accusing Russia of violating its airspace over the Pacific Izu islands. Japanese officials have said a Russian bomber flew for about three minutes over an island south of Tokyo. Japan responded by scrambling 22 jets and lodging an official protest with the Russian embassy. A spokesman for the Russian air force has denied any incursion into Japanese airspace.
*Irish woman remains detained in Egypt:
There has been no indication when an Irish woman being detained in Egypt will be released.Treasa Ni Cheannabhain from Galway was arrested by Egyptian authorities after she entered Gaza illegally with her daughter.She was allowed back across the border on Thursday following the intervention of the Department of Foreign Affairs and is now at border police headquarters.Speaking from Egypt Ms. Ni Cheannabhain said 'it has to be President Mubarak, I think, that will give the word to open the international border. They said it could be a few days, it could be a week, they're not sure.'

it 's incredible about schizophrenia!! I didn't knew it !!

thanks for the news!!!!!

Citation :

it 's incredible about schizophrenia!! I didn't knew it !!

I know, I could not believe it when I read it!!

Here are some of today's headlines of the papers:
*€60 million of painting stolen from museum:
Armed robbers have stolen more than €60m worth of paintings from a museum in the Swiss city of Zurich.The raid took place yesterday, but few details have been disclosed by the police.Oil paintings by Cezanne, degas, van Gogh and Money were among the items taken during the robbery.The theft comes just a week after two Picassos were snatched from a cultural centre in Switzerland.
*Mills - McCartney court row:
HEATHER Mills will be able to cross-examine Paul McCartney personally over his multimillion-pound earnings when the estranged couple go to court today to hammer out a final divorce settlement.In a bold -- some say reckless -- move, Mills will be acting for herself at the London High Court private hearing after falling out with her lawyers, to whom she owes an estimated £2m (€2.6m) in legal fees. Her decision means that she will have to test any disputed evidence about McCartney's assets, including questioning him in court, which experts say represents a high risk strategy. It also imposes a burden on the judge, Mr Justice Bennett, as well as on the legal team for McCartney, including the family barrister Nicholas Mostyn, and the divorce solicitor Fiona Shackleton. James Stewart, a family lawyer with the London law firm Manches, said: "Because Heather Mills is a litigant in person, the court and particularly the judge will have to go out of their way to ensure that her points are made
*Model claims Dodi slept with her while seeing Diana:
Dodi Fayed indulged in all-night lovemaking with Kelly Fisher, his previous girlfriend, while wooing Diana, Princess of Wales, it was alleged at the couple's inquests yesterday.Ms Fisher, an underwear model, has already appeared as a witness at the hearings claiming that she and Mr Fayed were engaged when the son of the owner of Harrods began a relationship with the princess in 1997, only weeks before they were killed in a car crash.The jury heard a transcript of a telephone call said to have been made between Mr Fayed and Ms Fisher in August 1997, in which she accused him: "You even flew me down to St Tropez while you seduced Diana all day and f***** me all night". At one point she said: "You told me you didn't even like her -- why do you suddenly like her?" She branded Mr Fayed a liar and he called her crazy and hysterical. During the conversation, Mr Fayed did not dispute Ms Fisher's claim that Mohamed Al Fayed was taping his son's telephone calls.Having learnt from the press that Mr Fayed was seeing the princess, Ms Fisher telephoned Mr Al Fayed only to have him threaten her and call her a string of names, she claimed. During the telephone call, Ms Fisher threw doubt on the claim by Mr Al Fayed that the princess and his son had selected an engagement ring.
*John Paul's message goes mobile:
John Paul II's words of wisdom will soon be beamed to worshippers in Italy in the form of a daily text message on their mobile phones.A new service, offering a quotation and a picture of the late pontiff, has been set up by Vodafone and Joaquin Navarro Valls, who worked for 16 years as John Paul II's spokesman. The quotations, which cost 24c for a simple message or 34c with a photograph of John Paul, will be available at the end of the month.Mr Navarro Valls, who now works as a commentator on the Vatican, said that the strength of John Paul II's message would encourage worshippers in their every-day lives. "John Paul II had a great human message about Christian values to communicate to the world, and quite simply, this is what produced this phenomenon and the fascination that the public feels for him," he said. John Paul II was a fan of technology and used a mobile phone to send inspirational messages. Peggy Noonan, the author of 'John Paul the Great', said: "He would text us things like: 'Don't be afraid of your inability to reach God. Keep trying!'
*Baby survives being thrown from burning building:
IT was a gesture of sheer desperation. A father, his home engulfed by flames, dropped his baby from the third floor of his apartment block.The baby's parents threw him out the window and into the arms of a fireman waiting on the street below in a desperate attempt to save their son from the blaze. The baby was caught by a fireman and was said last night to be doing well. But nine people, including five children and a pregnant woman, were killed when the blaze ripped through the house in Ludwigshafen, an industrial city in southwest Germany. It is unclear whether the rest of the family survived the fire in Ludwigshafen, which killed nine people, including five children.
*Hospital blunder killed new mum:
NHS negligence caused the manslaughter of a new mother just minutes after she gave birth, a jury inquest found in a landmark case yesterday.Mayra Cabrera (30) died after giving birth to son Zac when Bupivacaine, a potent epidural anaesthetic, was mistakenly attached to an intravenous drip feeding into a vein in her hand on May 11, 2004.She died within minutes from a heart attack caused by Bupivacaine toxicity at Great Western Hospital, Swindon, where she had worked as a theatre nurse. No individuals were named in the verdict. This was the first time an unlawful killing verdict has been found against an NHS corporation. The deceased's husband now faces deportation from Britain to the Phillipines because his wife is dead, changing his residency status which had allowed him to stay provided she was working.

Sunday 9th March 2008:

*'Cold-blooded killer' jailed for executing family
A "COLD-blooded killer'' was jailed for life yesterday for the sadistic murder of a family-of-three he bludgeoned to death with a hammer. Pierre Williams (33) must serve at least 38 years for killing former girlfriend Beverley Samuels (36), her daughter Kesha Wizzart (18) and son Fred Wizzart (13), after carrying out horrific sex assaults on the two women. The victims were a close-knit and loving family, and Kesha was a bright and gifted teenager, who appeared on the television talent show 'Young Stars In their Eyes', the court heard. Williams was branded a "cold blooded killer'' by investigation head Det Sgt Ian Foster, of Greater Manchester Police, who said Williams may have been responsible for other sex attacks. Williams carried out the "execution-style murders'' with a 2lb engineer's hammer two days after Beverley spurned his sexual advances when he turned up unannounced at the family home in Fallowfield, Manchester on July 12 last year. The qualified gym instructor and Mrs Samuels met a year after she broke up with the children's father, Fred Wizzart senior, and they had what was described by the prosecution as a "disjointed, intermittent relationship'' for one year. Williams, who still visited Mrs Samuel's home occasionally at the time of the attack, had a history of sexual violence against women. A former girlfriend was strangled, bound and raped by him, and, on another occasion, she was force-fed drugs and made to re-enact a pornographic film. He had previously been in jail for harassment and assault, and was a former member of the notorious Manchester Gooch Gang. Mrs Samuels, a nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary, was raped and violated with a blunt object before being struck with at least seven blows to the head. Kesha was killed the same way, and died without knowing she had passed her A-levels and had won a law scholarship. Fred was killed after being dragged from his bed. Williams used cocoa butter oil as lubrication during the sex attacks, which had become mixed with his victims' blood. In a macabre twist, a bible was found on Williams when he was arrested, with three pages marked or highlighted in pen. In three separate places, "special oil'' was underlined, and a highlighted section read: "Moses took some of the special oil and some of the blood which was on the altar and he sprinkled them on Aaron and Aaron's clothes.'' He received three life sentences with a minimum recommendation to serve 38 years.

*Mum of murder nurse speaks out
The mother of a nurse jailed for murdering four elderly patients insisted yesterday that her son was wrongly convicted. June Morrison said she is standing by her son, Colin Norris, who was sentenced on Tuesday to at least 30 years behind bars. And she told how he has already been threatened in prison, where other inmates call him Doctor Death. Norris (32), from Egilsay Terrace, Glasgow, Scotland, killed four vulnerable women in 2002 by giving them massive doses of insulin while working at two Leeds hospitals. He was convicted of four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder following a lengthy trial. But Mrs Morrison said the jury was wrong to convict her son. She told STV's Scotland Today: "As far as I'm concerned they got it wrong because as far as I'm concerned Colin didn't do that."

*Sarkozy's ex-wife to wed in New York
The ex-wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy will marry later this month in New York, it was announced yesterday. Fashion house Versace made a brief statement confirming rumours Cecilia Sarkozy would get married soon to Richard Attias. He announcement follows Sarkozy's marriage to Italian model Carla Bruni last month in a private ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Cecilia, who will be wearing a Versace dress at the ceremony, first left Sarkozy for Attias, who works as an organiser of special events, in 2005. "I met someone, I fell in love, I left," she told a French regional newspaper last year. She returned to Sarkozy in January, 2006 but played no part in his presidential campaign in early 2007 and on October 18, 2007 their separation was officially announced. In January this year, Moroccan-born Attias denied a report that the two were set to marry.

*'Mr Paparazzi' gives Di evidence
A bomb threat was sent to a celebrity picture agency days after Diana's death, her inquest heard yesterday. Darryn Lyons, the self-styled 'Mr Paparazzi' and chairman of Big Pictures, recalled returning to his London offices on September 5, 1997, believing there had been a break-in and that a bomb had been planted. The power was out and he could hear "ticking noises'' and see a suspicious fuzzy light, possibly from a flashlight, Mr Lyons told the jury via videolink from Sydney. He was worried because the day after Diana died, someone had made a telephone call to the office threatening: "You killed Diana, we are going to kill you, we are going to blow up your building.'' However, no further threats were received. Nicholas Hilliard, for the coroner, noted that police computer records say the "ticking sound was a clock in the newsroom'' and the light may have been a computer that had been left on. The court heard that photographer Lionel Cherruault, who had taken pictures in the tunnel, was also burgled a day after the crash. With this in mind Mr Lyons felt it was possible that the security services may have broken in to his offices. Within hours of Diana's death, the agencies were rung and told that none of the photos were to be used, Mr Lyons said. None of the photographers that he was dealing with in Paris on the night of the crash confirmed if there had been a tip-off about the couple leaving the Ritz Hotel, he said.

*Europe declares war on the tax havens in £77bn battle
The European Union will declare war today on Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and Switzerland. Weary of losing billions of tax euros, the EU's 27-strong high command of economics and finance ministers, Ecofin, is meeting in Brussels to agree a strategy aimed at bringing the continent's tax havens under control. Their weapon of choice will be a strengthened version of the EU's 2005 savings tax directive, which has proved pathetically easy for armies of accountants, lawyers and specialist tax planners to outflank. Urged on by Peer Steinbruck, the German Finance Minister, the new directive will seek to close the loopholes. Mr Steinbruck says tax evasion costs Germany about €30bn, the EU may lose €100bn in all. The stakes are high. But tax experts remain sceptical about the prospects for this new offensive. Mike Warburton, senior tax partner at Grant Thornton accountants, commented yesterday that, while he and his firm condemned tax evasion, which is illegal, "tax avoidance is the second oldest profession in the world, and just as difficult to control. The tax havens will survive. There are stacks of money out there. If they close down the ones in Europe, the money will move to Dubai and Singapore". Such defeatism has not infected European governments and they are expanding their armouries. Berlin, in particular, has turned aggressive. The BND, the German intelligence service paid about ¤4m to a former employee of LGT, Liechtenstein's biggest bank, for a list of some 900 German tax avoiders, the most high profile being Klaus Zumwinkel, chief executive of Deutsche Post, who resigned after he was rumbled. Last night, in a potential embarrassment for the UK Government, it was reported that billions of pounds of private finance initiatives including in the Treasury and the Home Office have been moved offshore. By its nature, the extent of tax avoidance, evasion and plain fraud is what Donald Rumsfeld might term an "unknown known". Everyone knows the money is out there in mind-numbing quantities; it is tricky, however, to be definitive about how much, and where. It goes where taxes are low or non-existent and secrecy is guaranteed. The Cayman Islands, a UK overseas territory with a tiny population mostly concerned with the tourist trade and fishing, is home to $1.4 trillion of offshore money including $300bn worth of hedge funds, a third of the world's total. Nauru, a Pacific micro-state best known for its guano, saw some $70bn of Russian money turn up over the past few years, for reasons easily guessed. Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man attract about $1trn, much of it ex-UK. Globally, estimates of the total funds parked by individuals in offshore havens vary from $7trn to $12trn. Depending on assumptions about returns and tax rates, such sizeable funds could yield around $250bn for legitimate public spending. That ought to be enough, for example, to achieve many of the UN's Millennium Development Goals by 2015. But how much more for corporate profits dispatched to tax havens? A multiple of 10? Or a hundred? Either way, such monumental achievements as an end to global hunger, routinely dismissed as a pipedream of lefties, suddenly become a realistic prospect. At the very least, it might relieve the tax burden on the rest of the world. Hard-up finance ministries are one reason why tax havens are on the defensive; crime is another. Much of the money that winds up in them is tied into the illegal international trade in drugs, corruption and embezzlement - and terror. Tax havens launder money, much to the annoyance of other governments, and grant terrorists current account facilities. Michel Camdessus, a former managing director of the IMF, put the amount of cash laundered globally at about 2 per cent of its GDP, or about $2.1trn (£1trn). Crime has pushed many governments against tax havens. In 2000, for example the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development published its blacklist of 35 "uncooperative" tax regimes; action was taken. Now the blacklist is down to three; Monaco. Liechtenstein and Andorra. The US, normally in favour of "tax competition" and home to its own mini tax haven of Delaware, has also seen a shift in mood since 9/11. Barack Obama has co-sponsored a "Tax Haven Abuse Act" in Congress, a sure sign of changing times. "What are they going to do - send the tanks in?" asked one tax expert yesterday responding to the EU's plans. The answer to that, hopefully, is no; but official sanctions, levies and a general will to make life difficult for tax havens is defiantly there. Hostilities have begun.

Monday 24th March

*Family faces Easter without Shannon
The family of Shannon Matthews is today facing the agony of not having her back home for Easter. As her siblings enjoy Easter eggs and the school holidays, the nine-year-old has still not been reunited with her family and friends back in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. Shannon is now in the care of Kirklees Family Services on a voluntary basis and it is thought that she will not be going home for some time. Her mother, Karen (32), stepfather, Craig Meehan (22), and siblings, Tony, Cameron and Courtney, will have to try to enjoy Easter without her. Shannon disappeared on February 19 and was eventually discovered less than a mile from her home 24 days after she went missing. On Wednesday, family members planted a pink magnolia tree in the centre of the front garden at their home in Dewsbury Moor. Karen Matthews's cousin, Susan Howgate, said it still remained unclear when Shannon would be coming home. "I was going to buy her an Easter egg but my husband said there's no point as we don't know how long she will be away. When she comes home I'm planning a big party just for family members," she said. Shannon vanished after going on a school swimming trip. The police mounted a massive investigation involving hundreds of officers and a team of 60 detectives to try to find her. The youngster was discovered last Friday in Batley Carr.Michael Donovan (39), of Lidgate Gardens, Dewsbury, has appeared at Dewsbury Magistrates' Court charged with the kidnap and false imprisonment of Shannon. He was remanded in custody to appear at Leeds Crown Court on March 26. Donovan, formerly known as Paul Drake, is the uncle of Shannon's stepfather, Mr Meehan.

*Sarkozy's ex-wife to marry 'in revenge'
The former wife of Nicolas Sarkozy is to remarry in New York tomorrow, a wedding which friends claimed was brought forward "in revenge" for the French president's recent marriage to Carla Bruni. Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz (50) will marry Richard Attias (48) a Moroccan-born multi-millionaire events organiser with whom she had an affair while married to Mr Sarkozy. It will be her third marriage. The couple were to hold a party last night at Mr Attias's home in Greenwich, Connecticut, and to see a Broadway show with friends today, according to 'French Morning', a New York website for French expatriates. The wedding will be followed by a reception for 150 guests at the Rockefeller Centre in Manhattan. Miss Ciganer-Albeniz and Mr Sarkozy ended their 11-year marriage last October. Within four months, Mr Sarkozy had married Miss Bruni, the Italian-born former supermodel. There have been reports that the future Mr and Mrs Attias are looking to buy an apartment in New York's former Plaza Hotel building off Central Park. Their attempts to keep details of their wedding secret have been thwarted at every turn. Last week, Miss Ciganer-Albeniz fired Versace after it publicised the fact that it was making the outfits -- as well as the date and location of the wedding. The wedding list, meanwhile, was revealed by the chic French department store Au Bon Marche. Its wedding gift website shows that the couple's list is relatively modest. The most expensive single item is a €450 duvet. In an interview for a book published in January, which she later tried to ban, Miss Ciganer-Albeniz revealed that Mr Attias was the only man that she had truly loved.

*Carla in attack on 'gutter press' over text affair
Nicolas Sarkozy's colourful private life made headlines again in France yesterday when Carla Bruni denounced a journalist who claimed that the president planned to dump her days before their wedding. An indignant article by Ms Bruni (40) in Le Monde was an attempt to close the "text affair" that has dogged the couple since a magazine website published what it said was a message from Mr Sarkozy to Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, his former wife. Airy Routier, a veteran reporter for Le Nouvel Observateur, a leading weekly, claimed that a week before the February 2 wedding, Mr Sarkozy had sent Ms Ciganer-Albeniz a text saying: "If you come back, I'll call everything off." The previous Mrs Sarkozy walked out on him in October for Richard Attias, an events organiser whom she is to marry in New York on Saturday. Furious, Mr Sarkozy took the unusual step of having Mr Routier prosecuted for forgery and the alleged text took on a life of its own, becoming the refrain to a hit song on the internet. It was two weeks before Ms Ciganer-Albeniz denied in a police interview, that she had received such a message. Ms Bruni, who is to stay at Windsor next week as a guest of Queen Elizabeth, said the president was dropping the charges because Mr Routier had apologised. "The story of the false SMS is now closed," she said in her article. The former model turned folk singer said she regretted that a distinguished magazine had stooped to "gutter press" level. "If great newspapers stop separating the facts from the gossip, who will do it?" she asked. However, the affair is unlikely to die because Mr Routier insisted again that the message was indeed sent. Mr Routier confirmed that he had apologised but added: "I never called into question the authenticity of the SMS. I am totally firm on that point." Mr Sarkozy has been avoiding the limelight. The new premiere dame, however, has been posing for photos in celebrity magazines and is to release a new album next month.

*Chocolate Faberge Now that's eggs-travagant
Beate Woellstein, at the Grosvenor House Hotel in central London, adds the finishing touches yesterday to a chocolate egg based on the famous 'Imperial Napoleonic' Faberge egg of 1912, which Tsar Nicholas II of Russia gave to his mother.
More than 30kg of chocolate was used to create the one-metre high egg priced at £5,000 (€6,400), which took Beate 70 hours to make.

*'English Patient' director Minghella dies at 54
British film director Anthony Minghella, who won an Oscar for his movie 'The English Patient', died in a London hospital yesterday after a short illness. He was 54.
Minghella died from complications following surgery last week for cancer of the tonsils and neck, his agent said. "The surgery had gone well and they were very optimistic," she said. "But he developed a haemorrhage last night and they were not able to stop it." The son of an ice-cream maker, Minghella was married to Carolyn Choa and had two grown-up children, Max and Hannah. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was a close friend of the director, said he was "deeply saddened". "He was one of Britain's greatest creative talents, one of our finest screen writers and directors, a great champion of the British film industry and an expert on literature and opera," Brown said.

Tuesday 25th March

*Britain warns of global 'water wars'
THE world faces a future of "water wars", unless action is taken to prevent international water shortages and sanitation issues escalating into conflicts, according to a British government minister. The warning came as a coalition of 27 international charities marked World Water Day by writing to British prime minister Gordon Brown demanding action to give fresh water to 1.1 billion people with poor supplies. "If we do not act, the reality is that water supplies may become the subject of international conflict in the years ahead," said International Development minister Gareth Thomas. "We need to invest now to prevent us having to pay that price in the future." His department warned that two-thirds of the world's population will live in water-stressed countries by 2025. The stark prediction comes after Mr Brown said pressure on water was one of the factors that could help countries "tip into instability, state failure or conflict". The coalition of charities has appealed for a global effort to bring running water to the developing world and supply sanitation to a further 2.6 billion people. It said international action was needed to prevent competition for water destabilising communities and escalating into conflicts. Charlie Kronick, senior climate adviser at Greenpeace, said the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, most of south Asia and western South America were at risk of water shortages if global warming continues. "There is no doubt that climate change is going to be potentially the biggest source of water stress," he said. "If average global temperatures go more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels you are looking at 2 to 3 billion people potentially suffering water shortages. It's a pretty serious business."

*'Grotesque' embryo plan denounced by Church
BRITAIN'S Catholic leaders are to deliver a concerted Easter message of condemnation against government plans to create "Frankenstein" human-animal embryos. One Archbishop condemned the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as "monstrous" and called on Catholic ministers in the Cabinet to stand down rather than support it. The Catholic Church was heading for its most serious clash with the British government yet, as Gordon Brown refused to follow the tradition of allowing a free vote on matters of conscience. The Archbishops of Birmingham and Cardiff led the charge against a Bill of "repugnance". Scotland's Cardinal Keith O'Brien will use his Easter Sunday sermon tomorrow to mount a scathing attack on the bill, describing the proposals as "grotesque" and "deathly". Experiments: He will tell Easter worshippers at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh: "One might say that in our country we are about to have a public government endorsement of experiments of Frankenstein proportion -- without many people really being aware of what is going on." In his sermon, the text of which was released yesterday, he adds: "It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which more comprehensively attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life than this particular Bill." "This Bill represents a monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life. In some other European countries, one could be jailed for doing what we intend to make legal." The Cardinal's remarks come amid growing anger with the Mr Brown over his refusal to offer a free vote on the issue. At least one Catholic minister is understood to be considering his position as a result. The failure to grant a free vote on the Bill has caused a "tremendous amount of bad feeling" in the cabinet, particularly between Geoff Hoon, the chief whip, and the Welsh secretary Paul Murphy, a devout Catholic, one source said. Mr Murphy was in the congregation and read the lesson when the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev Peter Smith, asked worshippers to pray for the country's Catholic MPs. Ministers who defy a three-line whip have little alternative but to step down. Preposterous: Archbishop Smith said yesterday: "It is not just Catholics, most people who looked at the Bill would object. Creating half-human, half-animal embryos is a step too far, it is preposterous. There have been 70 or 80 therapies already produced from adult stem cells." In his sermon at the annual Mass for men on Monday at St Chad's Cathedral, the Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, will warn that the Bill represents the "commercialisation" of aspects of birth and that its repercussions will be felt for years. However, Jim Devine, the Labour MP for Livingston, who is a Catholic and a psychiatric nurse, expressed strong disapproval of the cardinal's remarks. "I find the type of language used by the Cardinal totally unacceptable," he said. "This Bill could enable research into diseases such as multiple sclerosis and motor neuron disease. There is the distinct possibility that people could be helped by this research." A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "This is not about 'creating monsters'. It is purely laboratory research."

*Russians target oil giant BP in spy raid
THE Kremlin appeared to have renewed its hostile campaign against British interests in Russia yesterday when the secret police arrested two men on espionage charges after raiding BP's Moscow headquarters. The arrests came a day after officers seized computers and documents at the offices of TNK-BP, the energy giant's joint Russia venture. They raised fears that the Kremlin was planning to grab one of the last sizeable oil and gas assets not under state control. The strong-arm tactics, which will rekindle memories of the Kremlin's systematic destruction of the Yukos oil company, are likely to sour already strained relations between Russia and the West. The raid represents the latest, but potentially the most serious, escalation in the government's campaign against TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil company. Ilya Zaslavsky (29), an executive at TNK-BP, was arrested on espionage charges along with his brother Alexander (33), who does not work for the company. They are accused of industrial espionage.

*'Genius actor' Paul Scofield dies at 86
The film world was last night mourning the loss of "genius actor'' Paul Scofield (above) following his death at the age of 86. The Oscar winner, who had been suffering from leukemia, died peacefully in a hospital near his Sussex home yesterday, his agent Rosalind Chatto said. Felicity Kendal, Kenneth Branagh, Dame Judi Dench and Corin Redgrave were among the stars who paid tribute to one of Britain's greatest classical actors. Scofield, known for his distinctive voice, made his name on the London stage, playing many of the greatest roles in theatre and winning several BAFTAs. He won an Oscar in 1966 for his portrayal of the Tudor statesman Sir Thomas More in the film 'A Man For All Seasons'. He twice rejected a knighthood -- because he wanted to remain "plain Mister''. Scofield leaves a widow, a son and a daughter.

Friday 28th March

Teens convicted in park murder of 'goth' .
Two drunken youths who acted like "wild animals'' in a brutal attack on a 'goth' woman because of the way she looked were yesterday convicted of murder. Ryan Herbert (16) and Brendan Harris (15) savagely kicked and stamped Sophie Lancaster to death as she begged them to stop beating her boyfriend. The 20-year-old's pleas as she cradled Robert Maltby in her arms went unheeded as Harris delivered a flying kick to her head and Herbert volley-kicked her in the face "like a ball in flight'' during the assault in a park in Bacup, Lancashire. Neither of the defendants knew their victims and the only motive was that they simply looked different to them, Preston Crown Court heard. Miss Lancaster, a gap year student, died from serious head injuries two weeks after the attack in Stubbylee Park in the early hours of August 11 last year. Her boyfriend, art student Robert Maltby (21), also a goth, survived but suffered memory loss and has no recollection of the attack. Yesterday, Mr Maltby, who did not attend court, said he had lost his "entire world'' and wished he had been kicked to death instead so his girlfriend could have been spared. A jury of nine men and three women took just two hours to unanimously find Harris guilty of murder. Drinking: Harris, of Spring Terrace, Bacup, had denied the murder charge but pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Maltby after drinking two litres of cider, a bottle of Stella Artois lager and "quite a lot of'' peach schnapps. Herbert, of Rossendale Crescent, Bacup, who had also been drinking alcohol throughout the night, admitted murdering Ms Lancaster before he was due to go on trial. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting her boyfriend. Three other youths, two aged 17 and one 16, who cannot be named, earlier pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Maltby. Charges against them of murdering Miss Lancaster were dropped. Sentencing was set for April 28, along with the three other youths who were remanded in custody at the start of the trial. The judge explained that he was duty bound to give Harris and Herbert life sentences.

Royals roll out red carpet for Mr and Mrs Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy lavished praise on the courage and dynamism of the British people yesterday but urged them to play a fuller part in Europe. The French president made an impassioned plea that Britain and France "write a new page in our common history" as he addressed both houses of the UK Parliament. Calling for greater co-operation over the issues of energy, immigration, security and defence he called for a new Franco-British "brotherhood" to drive through reform. His most powerful rhetoric was used to express gratitude for Britain's help for a free France. President Sarkozy insisted France would "never forget" and was not "entitled to forget" the sacrifice the British had made during the Second World War. "On behalf of the people of France, France will never forget," he said. "France will never forget that when it was virtually wiped out, down on its knees, it was Britain who stood by us. France will never forget the heroic resistance of the British people without which all would have been lost." While he said that Britain was seen in many countries as a "political and human ideal", it was with France that it had the "tightest, closest ties". "The destiny of our countries has been intermingled for some thousand years since William the Conqueror landed from Normandy, right through to the reverse trend whereby thousands of young British men and women contributed to the liberating of Europe," he said. He said that the Entente Cordiale was now better described as the Entente Amicale because the countries had not fought for so long. The praise was mixed with coded criticism for Britain's failure more fully to engage in Europe. President Sarkozy said that while he knew Europe was a sensitive issue the Continent "needed the UK". "If we want to change Europe, we need you inside Europe to help us do so, not standing on the outside." He said that the "French-German axis" was an "indispensable driving force", but, to bring its 27 nations together, "we need a French-British entente". The President also hinted that France might be open to reform of the Common Agricultural Policy -- and said that the two countries had to work together in the Middle East. He confirmed that he would propose increasing his country's commitment in Afghanistan at a NATO summit in Bucharest next week. Today he and Gordon Brown will co-host a Franco-British summit at Arsenal Football Club's Emirates Stadium at the conclusion of the first state visit from a French President to the UK in 12 years. They are expected to sign a series of deals on issues including international affairs and immigration. Agreement: Mr Brown will also discuss a joint energy initiative with President Sarkozy. They are expected to strike an agreement under which British and French nuclear industry regulators would work more closely together, including on licensing the designs of nuclear reactors. Britain, which has a liberalised energy market, has often been at loggerheads at European Union summits with France over its reluctance to open up its gas and electricity markets to overseas companies. France has a much bigger nuclear energy sector, while Britain is seeking private-sector bids to build a new generation of nuclear power stations. John Hutton, Britain's Business Secretary, said that nuclear power could be Britain's biggest energy asset since North Sea oil and gas.

First lady makes quite a first impression
The French president's wife Carla Bruni looked "sophisticated" and "chic", fashion experts said yesterday after she arrived in Britain wearing a French-designed high-necked coat and matching grey hat. Ms Bruni arrived at Heathrow in a Dior light grey wool and jersey belted coat, with a black leather bag and hat and gloves by the same designer. The ultra-demure image was in stark contrast to a nude picture from her modelling days which appeared in yesterday's papers, and which is to be auctioned in New York next month. Nicole Smallwood, shopping editor of 'Marie Claire' magazine, said the outfit was fitting for such a formal occasion. She said: "She does not want to overshadow him [her husband], she wants to be there to support him on this first occasion. "I think she looks sophisticated, and she looks chic, which is much more important.'' Ms Bruni was also keen not to overshadow her husband in the height stakes. The 5ft 9in Italian-born supermodel was wearing simple flat black shoes. Meanwhile, her husband, a reported 5ft 5in tall, opted for chunky stacked heels.

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