London

Seven kids are swept to their deaths on a skiing trip. Seven astronauts are lost when a space shuttle breaks up over the United States. Only one story captures world attention. Why?

The head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Supachai Panitchpakdi, warned Western nations this week that their failure to agree to a deal on cheap drugs for developing countries could threaten the next round of global trade negotiations.

A report on the prospects for the genetic engineering giant Monsanto, which has 91% of the world’s market in genetically modified (GM) seeds, says the company ”could be another financial disaster waiting to happen”.

Tony Blair has raised the temperature in the confrontation with Iraq by insisting there is no need for United Nations weapons inspectors to find a ”smoking gun” for Saddam Hussein to be in breach of UN resolutions and face military action.

Iraqi documents obtained by the BBC appear to suggest that the country’s president, Saddam Hussein, is preparing to use chemical weapons against western troops in the event of war, it was reported on Friday.

Police questioned three North African men on Wednesday after an officer was slain during an anti-terrorism raid linked to the recent discovery of the deadly poison ricin in London.

Britain’s Foreign Office on Wednesday warned of a terrorist threat on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar in east Africa. The Foreign Office updated its travel advice for Tanzania to include a warning of a possible attack in Zanzibar, a popular tourist destination for Westerners.

British prime minister, Tony Blair, issued a defiant response to Israel yesterday by pushing ahead with his plan for a Middle East peace conference next Tuesday, even though it has been reduced to a skeleton of the original proposal.

Tony Blair yesterday warned President George Bush to ”listen back” to the international community’s fears over Iraq and other global concerns or risk ”pent-up feelings of injustice and alienation” pushing mainstream world opinion into the anti-US corner.

It is packaged in the lurid red and white of the Stars and Stripes and the logo mimics that famous swirl, but there is something different about this brand of cola.

Rebels in the Ivory Coast clashed with French forces yesterday around the western town of Duekoue, but the French foreign ministry said the fighting should not endanger peace talks planned in Paris later this month.

President George Bush will be forced today to defend a massive regeneration package designed to kick-start the US economy which has come under withering attack as a sop to the rich.

Unelected governors will be installed to run two cities in Zimbabwe where anti-government protests have intensified in the past week, the government said yesterday.

Israel’s cabinet today announced it would bar Palestinian officials from attending a meeting to discuss progress to an independent state in response to dual suicide attacks in Tel Aviv last night.

The UFO sect inspired by a 4ft high extra-terrestrial with almond eyes and olive skin claimed yesterday that three more cloned babies would be born by February.

Nigeria’s president, Olusegun Obasanjo, was fighting for his political life last night as the ruling party considered dumping him and selecting one of his rivals to lead it in elections in April.

Dual suicide bombings in the heart of Tel Aviv killed at least 23 people last night, many of them believed to be migrant workers from Africa, eastern Europe and the Philippines.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu criticised the United States on Sunday as an arrogant superpower bent on unilateral action, in an interview on the Iraq crisis to be telecast in Britain.

He is one of the most promising young pianists playing in Britain. Now he faces the threat of violent persecution after Britain refused his application for political asylum and decreed that he should return to his native Zimbabwe.

Tony Blair is to meet Palestinian leaders to press them into making widespread reforms of the Palestinian Authority as part of international efforts to kick-start the moribund Middle East peace process.

Asda may be powering ahead but its parent Wal-Mart and fellow US retailers have had a tough Christmas season.

President George Bush yesterday readied US troops for ”crucial hours” ahead in the crisis over Iraq, denouncing Saddam Hussein for showing contempt for the UN as the Pentagon ordered the dispatch of thousands of marines to the Gulf.

I used to know roughly where I was with French youth-speak. If you heard a word you didn’t understand, there was a fair chance that if you split it up into its component syllables and then inverted them, you’d end up with something Molière might have recognised.

John Edwards, a Democratic senator from North Carolina and a multimillionaire former lawyer, announced his intention to seek the presidency in 2004 yesterday, declaring himself a candidate for ”regular folks” against the stablishment ”insiders” of the Bush administration.

The landlocked African kingdom of Swaziland is believed to have the world’s highest rate of HIV, with almost four out of 10 adults infected with the virus which causes Aids.

Smokers will have to order cigarettes by colour, with words such as ”blue” and ”gold” distinguishing different ranges when a European edict bans the terms ”light” and ”mild”.