Washington

Libya has agreed to take some responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and pay billions of dollars in compensation to the families of the victims, US officials said on Wednesday.

President George Bush has slapped sanctions on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and 76 other government officials allegedly tied to efforts at undermining democracy there, the White House said on Friday.

The United States on Tuesday launched a modest program to help bridge the digital divide between developing countries and the developed world.

The humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe is ”almost beyond comprehension,” World Food Programme director James Morris said on Tuesday.

The United States on Friday demanded an inquiry, an explanation and an apology from Zimbabwe, saying one of its diplomats was questioned in Harare in a ”serious breach” of international law.

The space shuttle’s skin almost was certainly pierced, allowing superheated air inside the left wing and possibly the wheel compartment during Columbia’s fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere, investigators said on Thursday.

The United States on Wednesday sneered at foreigners, mainly from western countries, who have volunteered to serve as human shields in the event of war with Iraq, likening them to moths flying mindlessly toward light.

Nasa released what it called the most vivid snapshot of the infant universe ever taken, capturing such stunning detail that it may be one of the most significant scientific achievements of recent years.

The space shuttle Columbia broke up on return to earth from a 16-day mission with seven crew on Saturday amid fears that all aboard had been killed.

US President George Bush has promised fresh proof of Iraq’s ”utter contempt” for peaceful disarmament and vowed to use overwhelming force to triumph in any war against Saddam Hussein.

The United States on Monday warned US citizens of the risk of travelling to Zimbabwe amid ongoing political, economic and humanitarian crises and said Americans in the country now should consider leaving.

American researchers have discovered how the human embryo attaches itself to the wall of the uterus about a week after fertilisation, in a study that could aid infertility and reduce miscarriages.

Thousands more males age 16 and older from Indonesia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Bangladesh will be required to register with US immigration authorities in the latest expansion of a post-September 11 program that has drawn strenuous protest.

US President George Bush on Tuesday ordered the release of up to -million to aid refugees from ongoing conflicts in the Ivory Coast, Liberia and Angola.

The United States is warning Eritrea and Swaziland that they will lose preferential trade and investment privileges unless they improve human rights and other conditions in their countries before the end of the year, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.

New Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki is ”eager” to assist the United States in its hunt for a Rwandan genocide suspect believed to be hiding in Kenya, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.

Washington’s battle to win public support in the Arab world has begun in earnest with the first broadcasts of what officials say will become a 24-hour satellite television network aimed at changing minds throughout the region with American-style morning chat-shows, sports, news and children’s programmes.

The United States on Tuesday accused a senior Kenyan official of harbouring a notorious warcrimes suspect wanted in connection with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and demanded action on the matter from the new, day-old government in Nairobi.

Washington edged closer to confrontation with all three members of President Bush’s ”axis of evil” yesterday when US officials accused Iran of secretly developing two nuclear plants which could be used to produce weapons.

The White House will announce today the start of a programme to vaccinate up to 11 million Americans against smallpox as part of the next stage of the US ”war on terror” and the threat of biological and chemical weapons.

The United States says a preliminary evaluation of Iraq’s arms declaration found that the 12 000-page document contains ”big omissions” and mostly recycled information from the last report in 1998.

Conservative activists are praising President George Bush’s apparent decision to send Secretary of State Colin Powell to the Jo’Burg Summit rather than attending the once-a-decade summit himself.

A US spy satellite has photographed some 60 trucks moving about a known biological weapons facility six miles northwest of Baghdad.

An al-Qaida plan to detonate a ”dirty” radioactive bomb in the United States has been thwarted by US agents who are holding a US citizen alleged to have been in the ”planning stages” of the attack.

DECIPHERING the mouse genome is the latest stakes in a race between public and private sector research teams to announce the results of their work.

A MICROSOFT official acknowledged on Tuesday that the company uses a new feature in its Internet Explorer Web browser to play digital music files even if the user has already chosen a different music player.

Environmental groups and biotech companies are accusing each other of exploiting starvation in much of southern Africa for political gain as countries in the region try to determine whether it is safe to use genetically engineered crops to relieve famine.

President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney call Saddam Hussein the ”enemy.” Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld compares him to Adolf Hitler.