The Russian leadership has decided to revive the Communist-era custom of featuring military hardware in the annual Victory Day parade. New President Dmitry Medvedev said the army and navy were getting stronger.
Observers say the point of the parade was to demonstrate that Russia is a serious military force. THE KREMLIN INSISTS THE EVENT, WHICH MARKS THE DEFEAT OF NAZI GERMANY IN 1945, IS NOT MEANT TO THREATEN ANYONE.

Marching bands and 8,000 troops goose-stepped across Red Square, and heavy weapons such as Topol-M ballistic missiles and T-90 tanks were on display. The cobbles of Red Square had been reinforced, in advance of the parade, to cope with the tanks and other heavy weaponry.

But analysts say that despite these signs of military might, there is evidence of the Russian army and navy suffering from lack of money, a shortage of training, and low morale. The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow says conscripts in the army can be subjected to shocking brutality. Last year 450 conscripts died from beatings or suicide.

The foreign ministry said Burma was happy to accept aid, but insisted it would control the distribution itself. The statement follows pressure from the United Nations to speed up the issuing of visas to foreign relief experts. The World Food Programme's Paul Risley said the delays were "unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts".

Dozens of aid experts are reported to be waiting for visas in neighbouring Thailand. The UN says that up to 1.5 million people may have been affected by Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the Irrawaddy Delta region on Saturday. Burmese state media say 22,980 people were killed, but there are fears the figure could rise to 100,000.

Hundreds of thousands of people have no food, water or shelter. International aid agencies on the ground say they have reached only 10% of those that need help. In a statement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the junta to prioritise the aid effort over tomorrow's nationwide referendum on a widely-criticised new constitution. It would be "prudent to focus instead on mobilising all available resources and capacity for the emergency response efforts", he said.

Vikram Pandit, the chief executive, will face investors to announce his turnaround plan for the bank, and is expected to reaffirm his pledge to cut annual expenses at Citigroup by about 20 per cent. Although Citigroup, the largest US bank, has already announced plans to boost its position by offloading assets, SOME ANALYSTS SEE THE SCALE OF THIS POTENTIAL SALE AS CONCERNING.

Jim Huguet, the co-chief executive at the fund manager Great Companies LLC, told Reuters: "THE ONLY REASON YOU'D SELL OFF THAT MANY ASSETS IS YOU HAVE A LOT MORE LOSSES COMING THAN YOU ORIGINALLY THOUGHT."

Citigroup was one of the worst-hit casualties of the credit crunch. Last month it announced a $5.11 billion loss for the first quarter, and its sub-prime related losses and writedowns stand at more than $45 billion. Mr Pandit's predecessor, Charles Prince, was forced to resign in November as the scale of the bank's exposure to the crunch became clear.

The airline has instead switched to a fish pie or chicken dish option for the so-called "cattle class" passengers. BA's second-biggest long-haul market is to India, where the majority Hindu population do not eat beef because of their beliefs. Yet Hindus are tolerant of the beliefs of others and do not expect everyone to stop eating a food because they do not eat it.

In the past three months world beef prices have risen from about £2,500 a tonne to more than £4,000 a tonne, largely because of the weakening dollar and rising feed costs. BA also said that cost is not a reason for the decision to stop serving beef

A proposal drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture would make SUPPORTING OFFSHORE LAND ACQUISITION BY DOMESTIC AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES A CENTRAL GOVERNMENT POLICY. Beijing already has similar policies to boost offshore investment by state-owned banks, manufacturers and oil companies, but offshore agricultural investment has so far been limited to a few small projects.

If approved, the plan could face intense opposition abroad given surging global food prices and deforestation fears. However an official close to the deliberations said it was likely to be adopted. "There should be no problem for this policy to be approved. THE PROBLEM MIGHT COME FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS WHO ARE UNWILLING TO GIVE UP LARGE AREAS OF LAND," the official said.

The move comes as oil-rich but food-poor countries in the Middle East and north Africa explore similar options. Libya is talking with Ukraine about growing wheat in the former Soviet republic, while Saudi Arabia has said it would invest in agricultural and livestock projects abroad to ensure food security and control commodity prices. China is losing its ability to be self-sufficient in food as its rising wealth triggers a shift away from diet staples such as rice towards meat, which requires large amounts of imported feed. CHINA HAS ABOUT 40 PER CENT OF THE WORLD'S FARMERS BUT JUST 9 PER CENT OF THE WORLD'S ARABLE LAND.

China alarmed the world in January 2007 by using a missile to shoot down one of its own disused satellites, demonstrating its burgeoning prowess in space and military hardware. Pacifist Japan's space scientists complain that separation of space development from the military under a policy maintained since 1969 is one reason why its own technological progress has been slower.

Unlike China, Japan has never attempted a manned space flight. Tokyo's spy satellites, launched to keep an eye on neighboring North Korea and controlled by a government department, provide far poorer resolution than other governments' military satellites. The new law would allow Japan's military to launch its own surveillance satellites and an early-warning satellite as part of the missile defense system it is building in cooperation with its top ally the United States, the Asahi newspaper said on Friday.

Acting Undersecretary of State Dan Fried said he does not believe the Russians want to go to war over Georgia's breakaway regions, and is sure that the Caucasus nation does not either. "But what we fear is that with so much tension, so many armed people in close proximity, and a record of provocations, that there could be a spark setting off a wider problem, and suddenly you're dealing with deaths and shooting and an out-of-control incident," he told a hearing of Helsinki Commission on Capitol Hill.

He echoed warnings from the White House a day earlier to Moscow to back down from increasingly provocative actions supporting the separatists in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgian authorities say war has only been narrowly averted in recent days.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia threw off Tbilisi's control in the early 1990s. Georgia wants to bring them back under its influence and resents the support and help Russia has offered them for years.

Security sources said the fighting killed at least 10 people and wounded 20. The thud of exploding grenades and crackle of automatic gunfire echoed throughout the night in the worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war. HEZBOLLAH LAUNCHED A NEW CAMPAIGN OF STREET PROTESTS ON WEDNESDAY, PILING PRESSURE ON THE GOVERNMENT AFTER IT DECLARED HEZBOLLAH'S COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK ILLEGAL and removed the head of airport security, a figure close to the group, from his post. Supporters of Hezbollah and its allies have blocked roads leading to the airport and other main streets, paralyzing much of the capital.

"Hezbollah needs to make a choice -- be a terrorist organization or be a political party, but quit trying to be both," said a White House spokesman. "They need to start playing a constructive role and stop their disruptive activities now."

Hezbollah has led a political campaign against Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's anti-Syrian cabinet. THE CRISIS HAS PARALYZED MUCH OF THE GOVERNMENT, LEFT LEBANON WITH NO PRESIDENT FOR FIVE MONTHS, AND ALREADY LED TO BOUTS OF VIOLENCE. The group was the only Lebanese faction allowed to keep its weapons after the civil war, to fight Israeli forces occupying the south. Israel withdrew in 2000 and the fate of Hezbollah's weapons is at the heart of the political crisis.

Believers may be partly responsible for the decline in faith by losing sense of the mystery and treating God as a "fact in the world", he said in a lecture. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor called for more understanding and appreciation between believers and non-believers. The leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales said that a "hidden God" was active in everyone's life. The Cardinal's lecture at Westminster Cathedral comes after a spate of public clashes over issues such as stem-cell research, gay adoption and faith schools.

He expressed concern about the increasing unpopularity of the Christian voice in public life, saying: "OUR LIFE TOGETHER IN BRITAIN CANNOT BE A GOD-FREE ZONE and we must not allow Britain to become a world devoid of religious faith and its powerful contribution to the common good." Last year, he complained of a "NEW SECULARIST INTOLERANCE OF RELIGION" and THE STATE'S "INCREASING ACCEPTANCE" OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS VIEWS. "I want to encourage people of faith to regard those without faith with deep esteem because the hidden God is active in their lives as well as in the lives of those who believe."

The Hon. Mr Justice Owen noted in his argument that "IT IS PLAINLY ARGUABLE THAT THERE IS NO MATERIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEIR PROVISIONS".

Open Europe Chairman Lord Leach has said: "This decision renders the Government's attempt to ratify the Lisbon Treaty sub judice. The Treaty is now in the House of Lords, where it is receiving the thorough scrutiny denied to MPs by the Government's business managers in the Commons. The Government can - and should - now stay its hand pending the outcome of this judicial review."

The judicial review will take place on 9 and 10 June. The Lords are due to vote on the referendum issue on 11 June and the Irish referendum is widely expected to take place on 12 June

The top jobs: the President of the Commission, the President of the Parliament, the EU Foreign Minister and the EU Council President should be appointed according to the strength of representation in the European Parliament of their respective political groupings. Conservatives in Germany, however, say that the entry into force of the treaty could be delayed by the appeals which will be lodged against it in the German Constitutional Court . The Court will PROBABLY TAKE SOME TEN MONTHS to give its ruling.

Jean-Claude Juncker is the current favourite for the job of Council President but he is making a number of demands. He wants his own large staff, his own representative offices abroad and he wants to represent the presidency in all areas. It seems that Tony Blair's chances of getting the job are now very small. Blair's strongest supporter was President Sarkozy, but he has apparently now said in private that whoever gets the job should come from a country which is a participant in all EU areas. That excludes a British citizen, which belongs neither to the eurozone nor to Schengen.

In an exclusive report, the Handelsblatt says that the post of President of the EU Parliament has already been "decided" between the two main parties represented there. THE JOB IS TO GO TO THE FORMER POLISH PRIME MINISTER, JERZY BUZEK, as a result of an agreement between the European People's Party and the Socialists. MARTIN SCHULZ CLEARLY WANTS THE JOB but he realises that he cannot succeed the present incumbent, Hans-Gert Pöttering, because they are both Germans. BUT SCHULZ MIGHT BE ABLE TO SUCCEED BUZEK IN TWO AND A HALF YEARS' TIME, and that would be why he has agreed to the appointment of a centre-right politician. [Handelsblatt, 21 April 2008]

The Irish edition of The Daily Mail has been conducting a vigorous campaign against the treaty, accusing the government of "HATCHING AN ELABORATE PLAN TO DECEIVE VOTERS". According to the paper, the Dublin government has received assurances from the Commission that Brussels will "TONE DOWN OR DELAY" THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANY CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES WHICH MIGHT FRIGHTEN THE VOTERS, such as on the EU's proposed military capability.

It has also revealed that the government deliberately BROUGHT FORWARD THE DATE OF THE REFERENDUM FOR FEAR THAT THERE WOULD BE "UNHELPFUL DEVELOPMENTS" DURING THE FRENCH PRESIDENCY. The revelations came when an e-mail from an official in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs to a British diplomat in Dublin was leaked. Other matters of concern include EU talks with the World Trade Organisation, which are unpopular with Irish farmers.

In an editorial, the paper accused the Irish government of "COLLUDING IN A CAMPAIGN OF DELIBERATE MISINFORMATION" AND OF "DELIBERATE LIES". It also accuses the government of cultivating uncertainty over the actual date of the poll (set for 12 June) in order to put the 'No' campaign on the back foot. "The political culture in which this is possible is the proof, also, of just how corrosive the departing Taoiseach's lying has been for public life."

Women are likely to be offered easier access to early abortions after Government research backed a relaxation of the rules. MEDICAL TERMINATIONS BY PILL COULD BE CARRIED OUT AT GP SURGERIES, family planning centres and cottage hospitals. The controversial move came a step closer yesterday when a pilot study found medical abortions outside "traditional" hospital clinics were safe and effective. The Department of Health, which backed the research, has already signalled its support for a wider range of early abortion centres as part of a campaign to cut waiting times. Around a third of 131,000 TERMINATIONS BEFORE TEN WEEKS are carried out using early medical abortion - as opposed to surgical termination.

However, Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who yesterday launched a fresh drive to cut the upper limit for abortions from 24 to 20 weeks, said: "Some of the girls who will be taking this tablet will be as young as 14 or 15 and what we'll be asking them to do is to go home and take this tablet, to experience pain like they've never known before, to bleed like they've never understood before and then to flush their own abortion down the toilet. I think that can only be scarring for a young girl and I think young girls need to be in a place where they can receive the assurance and the counselling and some kind of support. IT'S ANOTHER BARBARIC ASPECT OF ABORTION PRACTICE."

The earthquake occurred at 1:45 a.m. offshore at a depth of about 25 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 100 miles northeast of Tokyo. A second quake with a magnitude of 5.3 struck the same area about 30 minutes later, and more aftershocks could follow, Tamotsu Aketagawa, an official who monitors earthquakes for the country's Meteorological Agency, told The Associated Press.

"Since it was a very large-scale earthquake, we would expect to see some modest aftershocks," he said.

Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world because it sits atop four tectonic plates. Tokyo has not been hit by a major quake since 1923, when 140,000 people died in the Great Kanto Earthquake.

The coyote attacked the girl around noon Tuesday when her mother, Melissa Rowley, went inside the home for a moment to put away a camera, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in an incident report.
Rowley came out of the house and saw the coyote dragging her daughter towards a street. She ran towards her daughter, and the animal released the girl and ran away, said sheriff's spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire. Rowley took her daughter to a hospital where the toddler was treated for several punctures to the head and neck area, and a laceration on her mouth.

On Friday, a nanny pulled a 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote at Alterra Park in Chino Hills, a San Bernardino County community about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. The girl suffered puncture wounds to her buttocks and was treated at a hospital. A coyote came after another toddler in the same park Sunday. The child's father kicked and chased the coyote away.

Alterra Park is near Chino Hills State Park, a natural open space of thousands of acres spanning nearly 31 miles.