Foreign

Zim farmers 'strike' in protest against invasions
HARARE -- About 60 farmers in one of the most productive agricultural areas of Zimbabwe shut down their farms yesterday to protest against the land invasions by self-styled guerilla war veterans. The sprawling, emerald green fields of winter whea...

MDC confronts Zanu-PF as new govt is sworn in
HARARE -- Zimbabwe's new Parliament, with a strong opposition for the first time since independence in 1980, met here yesterday amid signs of dramatic change after two decades of virtual one-party rule by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. ...

Biscuits to bank on
Tomoko Kinoshita of Fugetsudo in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district nibbles off the confectionery's latest hit merchandise, a biscuit shaped as a 2000yen bill. The bill, featuring a Shureimon gate of Okinawa's Shuri castle on the front, is bein...

Freed hostage welcomed with flowers, fruit
GOETTINGEN, Germany -- With enough flowers and fruit baskets to bury the front porch, neighbours and strangers alike waited eagerly yesterday to welcome home Renate Wallert, the German housewife held hostage for almost three months in the Philippi...

Middle East talks seem to stall around Jerusalem
THURMONT, Maryland -- Non-stop negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians were in their scheduled final day yesterday in an all-out effort to overcome final obstacles to a peace agreement before US President Bill Clinton leaves for Japan. A...

My bell's bigger than your bell
The overall leader in the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong of Texas, rides past a herd of cows yesterday while climbing the Saisies Pass during the 16th stage of the race between Courchevel and Morzine in the French Alps. (AP) ...

The Winds of Change
The world's largest sailing ship, the Royal Clipper, travels past the Greenwich Millennium Dome and up the River Thames yesterday on her maiden voyage. The 135metre vessel is the first five-mast sailing ship to be built in almost 100 years. S...

Hutu rebel leader joins talks
ARUSHA -- Burundian Hutu rebel leader Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye arrived here yesterday to take part for the first time in peace negotiations, the independent news agency Hirondelle reported. Ndayikengurukiye, who leads the Forces for the Defenc...

Census on Rwandan dead
KIGALI -- Six years after hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the government has begun a census to work out exactly how many were killed, an official said yesterday. "We are going from home to home recor...

Coup leader warns of unrest
SUVA -- Fiji coup leader George Speight yesterday bitterly attacked the new government named by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and warned its appointment could trigger further unrest. "This list has not been finalised or discussed with us, and it...

Wheely Wonder
Kerry McLean, the designer and builder of this unique one-wheeled motorcycle, cruises through the Streets of Walled Lake, Michigan. A seat inside the tyre faces a 40hp water-cooled snowmobile engine. It can reach speeds of up to 160km/h. (AP...

New UK embassy for Berlin
BERLIN -- Queen Elizabeth II officially opened a new purpose-built British embassy building here yesterday, on the site of the first one which was destroyed by Allied bombs in World War 2. Like the original embassy, it stands near the Brandenburg...

Last czar to be canonised
MOSCOW -- The Russian Orthodox Church is to canonise the last czar, Nicholas II, as a martyr, officials said as services were held to mark the 82nd anniversary of his execution by the Bolsheviks. The church is to hold a synod from August 13 to 19...