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[OMEN]

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern told an anti-corruption tribunal that a 5000 pound ($NZ12,000) cheque he paid into his bank account while finance minister in 1994 was "a political donation for my personal use".

Giving evidence at the start of his third, two-day session in the witness box since September, Ahern said he could not remember who had given him the money but that he was sure it was not intended as a donation to his Fianna Fail party.

"I would only do that if they said 'that money is for you, it's for Bertie Ahern, it's for your use'," Ahern said when asked why the money had been paid into his savings account.

Ahern, who has admitted receiving tens of thousands of pounds from friends, businessmen and family in the early 1990s, is being questioned as part of a wider decade-long investigation into relationships between politicians and property developers.

He has denied any wrongdoing, describing his finances as complex but not improper following the breakdown of his marriage. He won a third successive term last year despite an election campaign dominated by revelations about the payments.

Ahern said he believed he knew which company the cheque for 5000 Irish pounds, then worth about 5000 pounds sterling, had come from but that the firm had been unable to confirm it.

Asked to explain how a political donation could be construed as being for personal use, Ahern said that in the course of his regular political work he often incurred big personal expenses.

"I could spend four or five hundred euros in any weekend around the country in draws (raffles)," Ahern said.

"I have to use my own personal money to do that. Every politician does."

Lawyers for Ahern criticised the intrusive nature of the inquiry on Thursday and said it was straying from the point when Ahern was asked whether a further 7000 pounds he received from his own mother was originally from his father's estate.

"I didn't ask my mother how she got it. . . and I can't ask her now," Ahern said of his mother, who died in 1998.

Ahern has attacked the tribunal which he says is now delving into every area of his finances having failed to prove initial allegations that he accepted money from a property developer in return for favours.

The inquiry has not produced a "smoking gun" that might curtail Ahern's career after over a decade in office but his appearances before it have overshadowed his third term in a process local media have dubbed "death by a thousand cuts".

Reuters

[OMEN]

Forklift truck driver Steve Wright was found guilty of murdering five prostitutes during one of the most intensive killing sprees in British criminal history.
Wright, 49, had asphyxiated the five drug-addicted women, leaving two of their bodies in a cruciform position with arms outstretched.

The corpses were found dumped at rural locations around the town of Ipswich within the space of just 10 days.

He will be sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday.

The families of two of the women called for the return of the death penalty. Speaking through a police liaison officer, one of them said: "these crimes deserve the ultimate punishment, and that can only mean one thing.

"The public must insist this government looks at returning the death penalty in cases such as this otherwise many more families will go through the same suffering that we have had to endure."

The 2006 killings led to one of the country's biggest ever manhunts and drew comparisons with infamous 19th century serial killer Jack the Ripper.

Wright, labelled the "Suffolk Strangler" by the media, had murdered the women while his 63 year-old partner Pamela was working night shifts.

On Thursday, after two days of deliberations, the jury at the court found Wright guilty of murdering Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull of Suffolk Police later said the "appalling crimes left a community, a county and a nation in a state of profound shock".

"They left Suffolk Constabulary facing the most daunting challenge in its history."

The Crown Prosecution Service in Suffolk described the prosecution of Wright as one of the biggest cases it had handled, but said scientific evidence had proved he was responsible.

Prosecutors during the trial had said Wright could have killed his victims with an accomplice, although no one else has been charged.

The court had heard that in the three months before his December 19, 2006 arrest, Wright, the son of an RAF policeman, had sex with a dozen prostitutes, including the five he killed. His DNA was found on the bodies of three of the victims while bloodstains from two of the women were found on his jacket at his home.

The odds of the DNA matches occurring by chance were one in a billion, experts testified.

The pattern of the killings was similar to those of his partner's night shifts.

In one fortnight period when she was not working nights, prosecutors said the "prostitutes of Ipswich were not subjected to any campaign by a random psychopath".

Police said after the case they were not aware of any evidence to link Wright with any other crimes.

Reuters

[OMEN]

BURNING RAGE: Protesters gathered in front of the Serbian government building light torches during a mass protest rally against Kosovo's declaration of independence in Belgrade.
LATEST: The United States is outraged by the attack on the US embassy in Belgrade and will ask the UN Security Council to condemn it, US Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said.

"I'm outraged by the mob attack against the US embassy in Belgrade," he told reporters ahead of a previously scheduled Security Council meeting.

"I'm going to go in to the Security Council and ask for a unanimous statement to be issued expressing the council's outrage, condemning the attack and also reminding the Serb government of its responsibility to protect diplomatic facilities."

Smoke billowed from the embassy after protesters broke into the building, cheered on by crowds outside, in a protest at US support for Kosovo's independence.

The embassy was closed at the time and was not being protected by police. Black smoke could be seen after a small group of protesters started a fire in the US mission, located in the centre of the Serbian capital.

Up to 200,000 Serbs had massed in Belgrade to protest against Kosovo's secession, refusing to accept the loss of their religious heartland.

"As long as we live, Kosovo is Serbia," Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told the crowd from a stage in front of the old Yugoslav parliament building in Belgrade, to applause.

"We'll never give up Kosovo, never!" protesters chanted back, as they waved national flags. A huge banner reading "Kosovo is Serbia" draped the front of the building.

"We're not alone in our fight. President Putin is with us," Kostunica said, paying tribute to the Russian leader who has opposed US and European states' recognition of Kosovo.

A few people waved the flags of Russia and of Spain – which has also refused to recognise Pristina's secession on Sunday.

Police estimated 150,000 people packed the square, with columns of at least 10,000 more demonstrators filling up nearby boulevards. Eye witnesses reported big crowds elsewhere in the city.

The "people's rally" was Serbia's biggest since protesters filled the streets in 1999 to protest at Nato bombing and then in October 2000, when they stormed the same parliament building to oust nationalist autocrat Slobodan Milosevic.

In the crowds were many hardline nationalist Radicals, from Serbia's biggest party, who shouted anti-Albanian slogans.

"Today Kosovo is in all our hearts," their leader Tomislav Nikolic told the rally.

Serbs of all ages listened to speeches, melancholic patriotic songs and poems about Kosovo, seen as the birthplace of a glorious medieval kingdom but now home to an Albanian majority.

A certain lack of passion in sections of the crowd appeared to support comments by Western analysts and some ordinary people here that most Serbs were bitter at, but resigned to, the loss of Kosovo, and tired of long years of conflict with neighbouring states.

"The politicians are trying to take advantage of the situation. This is not what people wanted. Not these empty words," said one protester, Dejan Pavlovic.

A few score protesters, some in balaclavas, later threw flares and stones at the US embassy and tore at boards covering its windows since they were smashed in riots earlier in the week.

In other protests, several hundred Serb army veterans at a border post between Kosovo and Serbia stoned Kosovo riot police who, backed by Czech troops in riot gear, stood their ground until the protesters dispersed. No one was hurt.

Nato peacekeepers said they were determined to stop a repeat of Tuesday's destruction of two other border posts by Serbs.

In Banja Luka in the Bosnian Serb Republic, several people were injured when protesters holding aloft portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Serbia's chief ally in its opposition to Kosovo, clashed with police in front of the US consulate.

Serbs from across Serbia and from Kosovo had poured into Belgrade earlier on hundreds of free buses and trains. Schoolchildren were given the day off.

After the speeches, marchers began to head to the city's biggest Orthodox cathedral for prayers for the salvation of Serbs in Kosovo.

Some 120,000 Serbs live there among 2 million Albanians, half in the north next to Serbia, the rest in southern enclaves. Belgrade wants them to stay, to keep alive its claim on the region.

Serbia has protested at Kosovo's secession in world forums and recalled envoys from Washington and European states recognising Kosovo, most recently from Italy on Thursday.

There is little else it can really do, though Russia will ensure Kosovo never gets a UN seat.

The government has said it will not resort to violence to try to regain the province it lost to UN control when a Nato air war forced its troops out in 1999.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

Republican White House hopeful John McCain has rejected a newspaper report that suggested he had an inappropriate relationship with a female lobbyist.



Mr McCain said the New York Times's claim that close ties to the lobbyist had led him to favour her clients were false and she was "a friend".

Speaking in Ohio with wife Cindy by his side, he said: "I'm very disappointed in the article. It's not true."

The claims date from early in his failed presidential campaign in 2000.

According to the New York Times, his close ties with the telecommunications lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, caused concern among his aides.

She accompanied him to fundraising events, visited his offices and travelled with him on a client's corporate jet, the paper said, leading aides to believe a romantic relationship had formed.

Quoting an anonymous source, the article claimed that Mr McCain's advisers instructed staff members to block the woman's access, "privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him".

Public trust

The Washington Post, in a follow-up article, quoted former McCain campaign aide John Weaver as saying that he had urged Ms Iseman to stay away from Mr McCain.

Mr McCain and Ms Iseman have denied ever having a romantic relationship. Mr McCain said he was unaware of having had any conversation with Mr Weaver on the subject.

Speaking at a hastily arranged news conference in Toledo, Ohio, Mr McCain said he had done nothing that would conflict with his ethical standards.

"At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust or make a decision which would in any way not be in the public interest and would favour anyone and any organisation," he said.

He said he would continue to focus his election campaign "on the big issues and on the challenges that face this country".

Chance to respond

Mrs McCain also said she was "very disappointed" in the New York Times.

"More importantly, my children not only trust my husband, but know that he would never do anything to not only disappoint our family, but more importantly, the people of America," she said.

Campaign manager Rick Davis, speaking on US television network CBS, criticised the article as "the worst kind of tabloid journalism on the front page of the New York Times".

A few hours later, in an e-mail to McCain supporters, he urged them to donate to the campaign, saying: "We need your help to counteract the liberal establishment and fight back against the New York Times."

In a written statement, New York Times executive editor Bill Keller defended the story's content, adding that it had been "a long time in the works".

"On the substance, we think this story speaks for itself," he wrote. "On the timing, our policy is we publish stories when they are ready.

"'Ready means the facts have been nailed down to our satisfaction, the subjects have all been given a full and fair chance to respond, and the reporting has been written up with all the proper context and caveats."

To support its allegations that Mr McCain may have acted inappropriately, the New York Times cites letters he wrote and legislation he promoted while on the Senate Commerce Committee that might have benefited companies Ms Iseman represented.

'Honourable man'

Mr McCain is campaigning in Ohio ahead of presidential primary contests there and in Texas on 4 March.

He is the front-runner for the Republican nomination to run for president, with a substantial lead in terms of delegates over his closest rival, Mike Huckabee.

Speaking in Houston, Texas, Mr Huckabee said he accepted Mr McCain's response to the allegations and called him "a good, decent, honourable man" and someone of integrity.

"I take him at his word. For me to get into it is completely immaterial," he said.

Several high-profile conservative commentators - who have been better-known for their criticism of Mr McCain's record - also rallied to his defence.

Among them were talk radio hosts Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh, who said: "The story is not the story. The story is the drive-by media turning on its favourite maverick and trying to take him out."

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The US defence secretary has said that the shooting down of a disabled spy satellite with a missile shows the country's missile defence system works.



Robert Gates said the operation "speaks for itself", adding the US was prepared to share some technology with China.

The comments came after China said the missile strike could harm security in outer space.

US officials are confident that the satellite's potentially toxic fuel tank was destroyed by the missile.

Marine Gen James Cartwright said there was a 80-90% chance the tank had been hit.

A fire ball, vapour cloud and spectral analysis indicating the presence of hydrazine all indicated this, he told reporters.

Graphic of how the satellite was hit

It would take 24-48 hours for officials to confirm whether the operations had been completely successful, he said.

'Complete transparency'

The satellite, USA 193, was struck 153 nautical miles (283 km) above earth by an SM-3 missile fired from a warship in waters west of Hawaii.

New space race fears

Mr Gates said the issue of whether the technology would work was already decided.

"I think the question over whether this capability works has been settled," he said, quoted by AFP news agency.

"The question is what kind of threat, how large a threat, how sophisticated a threat [the US faces]."

The US approach was one of "complete transparency", he said.

"We provided a lot of information... before it took place," he said, adding: "We are prepared to share whatever appropriately we can."

China called on the US on Thursday to provide more information about the mission.

Russia suspects the operation was a cover to test anti-satellite technology under the US missile defence programme.

Frozen solid

Operatives had only a 10-second window to hit the satellite, which went out of control shortly after it was launched in December 2006.

The missile needed to pierce the bus-sized satellite's fuel tank, containing more than 450kg (1,000lbs) of toxic hydrazine, which was otherwise expected to survive re-entry.

The US denies the operation was a response to an anti-satellite test carried out by China last year, which prompted fears of a space arms race.

US officials had said that without an attempt to destroy the fuel tank, and with the satellite's thermal control system gone, the fuel would have been frozen solid, allowing the tank to resist the heat of re-entry.

If the tank were to have landed intact, it could have leaked toxic gas over a wide area - harming or killing humans if inhaled, officials had warned.

The US has denied that it shot down the satellite to prevent parts of it from falling into the hands of foreign powers.

Gen Cartwright said most of the satellite's intelligence value was likely to have been destroyed.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Negotiators for the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebel movement have walked out of peace talks with the Ugandan government in south Sudan.



Talks broke down after the government refused the rebels' demands for cash and positions in government as a condition for disarming.

The government has given the LRA until 28 February to end the war.

Around 20 years of fighting with the LRA has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted some two million.

"We flatly rejected LRA's demands for cabinet posts and cash rewards," government spokesman Captain Chris Magezi told Reuters on Thursday.

"When they saw they were not getting anything out of their tall orders, they walked out of the talks this evening."

LRA negotiator James Obita said the rebel delegates were "extremely angered", AFP reports.

"The government does not want to talk about the issue of inclusiveness and participation of the LRA in the national politics yet," Mr Obita told the news agency by telephone from Juba.

Earlier this week a government spokesman said he expected a deal "soon", after an agreement on a special court to try war crimes cases removed one of the previous obstacles to a settlement.

Three LRA leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court.

BBC News

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