Though given a three-month extension of the 1 January 2003 deadline to bring airport security up to mandated levels, the required changes have yet to be made at Grand Cayman's Owen Roberts International Airport.

Airlines operating in Cayman were given written instructions that called for the screening of 100% of the baggage loaded onto departing aircraft by the first of April in order to be in compliance with guidelines set by the United Kingdom.

Two new baggage x-ray machines that can handle large checked-in luggage were to be installed in order to accomplish the screening. Failing the timely installation of the machines, airlines were told that they would have to provide security staff to screen every bag of every passenger by hand, according to an airline station manager who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, airline ticket purchasers have been paying an increased security tax since the first of October 2002 to offset the costs of the new security measures.
It was apparent to airline management that the new x-ray machines where not going to be installed by the deadline, and through 31 March, at least some airlines were under the impression that hand screening would have to be done the next day.

On Tuesday, 1 April, the morning of the deadline, as airline management scrambled to ensure compliance, word came out that another three-month extension had been granted. Cayman Net News has been unable to confirm that a formal extension was received. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) responded to questions in connection to the extension in a statement saying that it would be "inappropriate to disclose specific details" about the matter due to the "sensitive nature of aviation security."

One knowledgeable airline professional said he hadn't even heard about an extension as late as noon on Tuesday 1 April. "I haven't been told anything," he said, "We were instructed previously in writing that we had to do certain things in order to be in compliance. As far as I'm concerned, if we're not supposed to do those things now, we should receive instructions in writing."

An airline station manager of a United States carrier said he came to work on Tuesday not knowing what the situation was, and heard verbally from the CAA later in the morning that there was another extension granted.

In its brief statement provided to Cayman Net News, the CAA said: "It is accurate to say that airlines are in compliance with security mandates given the practices that are currently in place."

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Caribbean Nobel Laureate, Derek Walcott, to read here

Nobel Prize Laureate Derek Walcott

The Cayman Islands will be honoured with the visit of Caribbean poet, playwright, painter and theatre director, Derek Alton Walcott when he arrives to deliver the Cayman National Cultural Foundation's (CNCF) Distinguished Lecture, on 30 April, as part of the celebrations for CayFest, Cayman Islands Festival of the Arts. The event will take the form of a reading from his works.

Mr. Walcott, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 for "an oeuvre of great luminosity sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment," was born in St. Lucia and is a graduate of the University of the West Indies.

Literary critics the world over regard Mr. Walcott as the finest writer of poetry in the English language today and one of the twentieth century's greatest.
Among his other numerous distinguished honours are the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award, the Royal Society of Literature Award, the Queen's Medal for Poetry, the Cholmondely Prize, the Welsh Arts Council International Prize, and doctorates from several universities. He is also an honourary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Apart from his reading at the Harquail Theatre on Wednesday, 30 April, at 7:30 pm, Mr. Walcott will attend the CNCF/Bank of Butterfield Partnership for the Arts performance "Dance Vibes," which premieres at the Harquail for Cayfest, on Tuesday 29 April, 7:00 pm, and will be at Hobbies & Books, Piccadilly Centre, on 30 April for a book signing session between 11:00 am and 12:30 pm.

Derek Walcott's visit to the Cayman Islands is made possible with sponsorship from the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, Crescent Point Resort and Indies Suites. Parsons wishing to attend the reading, for which there is admission charge of $25, should contact the Harquail Theatre.

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Leroy Bodden, a Young 911 Hero

(L-R) Mary Ann McField, her son Leroy and Minister responsible for Emergency Communications 911, Hon. Linford Pierson, OBE, JP.

Would your child know what to do to save your life in an emergency? Twelve-year-old Leroy Bodden did and his mother is thankful for it.

Tuesday, 4 March was a normal day at Mary Ann McField's home in West Bay. Her son Leroy returned home from school and went into his room for a rest after a busy day. His siblings, Jordan aged five and Jamal aged two were playing quietly so their mother who was recovering from the flu, decided to lie down for a while.
Around 5:30 pm Leroy awoke to a loud thud and got up to investigate. He found his mother unconscious, lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. Immediately, he bicycled down the street to his cousin's house to use the phone. Not wanting his brother and sister to see their injured mother, he also asked his cousin to come back and help. "I asked her to call my older sister who was at work too," inserts Leroy.

911 received a call from Leroy shortly after 5:30 pm. He explained that his mother had fallen and 'buss her head' and to send the ambulance straight away. Leroy added that he had not seen what happened but that there was a lot of blood and he was a bit scared. "You would never have known that he was scared because he stayed calm. He gave me all the details I needed and followed the instructions we gave him," comments Manager for Emergency Communications, Juliette Gooding.
During the call Ms. Gooding heard Leroy talking to his mother, trying to keep her awake, even before she instructed him to do so. When asked to describe what was going through his mind at the time, Leroy said he felt like he was going to have a heart attack because he was so frightened. As he was given instructions he directed his cousin, who eventually arrived at the house, on what to do. When his cousin did not do exactly what he told her he was heard saying, "No, don't do that, the lady said to do it this way." He followed every one of our directions, adds Ms. Gooding.

"I'm so proud of Leroy!" exclaims his mother who is pleased that he is being recognised as a 911 hero. Ms. McField received eight stitches to the cut on her head. "I heard my youngest son crying and was rushing up to go to him when I slipped on a mat and hit my head on a concrete wall, knocking myself out," she continues. The doctor who treated her said that she was extremely lucky because if the wound had been one inch deeper she may not have lived. "I'm glad I could help my mom," concludes Leroy, explaining that he read about how to use 911 in the newspaper. "I love my mum very much and I don't want anything bad to ever happen to her."

Commenting on Leroy's actions, Ms. Gooding says: "Although what Leroy saw was terrifying for him, he was able to act fast and assist his mother. We at Emergency Communications 911 are very proud of children like Leroy and are pleased to award him with a certificate and medal for his bravery. This situation is a very good example of how important it is for children and everyone in a household to know their house number and street name. He knew both and even gave specific directions to his house."

Minister responsible for Emergency Communications, the Hon. Linford Pierson is also thrilled with Leroy's bravery and delighted with how the situation turned out, "Leroy used the 911 system appropriately and offered all the correct information that resulted in getting help for his mother. He is without doubt a 911 hero and an example to both children and adults."

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Day 15: World News Briefs on the war against Iraq

Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi

TOKYO (AFP) Some 65 percent of Japanese are opposed to the US-led war against Iraq and 70 percent voice concern that it could last longer than a month, a poll showed Monday, 31 March.

The poll by the leading daily Asahi Shimbun found 53 percent of respondents were against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's support for the war.
In a previous Asahi survey immediately after the war began, 59 percent of Japanese were opposed to the US military attack against Iraq.
The Asahi took the latest survey during the weekend by calling some 3,615 households and received a 57 percent response.

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Editorial

This year's Graduates, are next year's Voters

In approximately three months, about 1,000 high school students from both public and private schools will be graduating and probably entering the world of work for the first time in their young lives.

But are they really ready for the challenge that lies ahead? Have they, over the course of their five years in high school, learnt the skills and discipline that are necessary to succeed in the world of adulthood and responsibility?

These are the questions that young people, their teachers, parents and educators should begin to ask themselves as these workers of the future wind down their last days towards the end of school and the beginning of a new life.

Employers, government and business owners need to also ask themselves some serious questions. Employers particularly need to inquire also of themselves whether they are ready for these young people and whether there is room in their work force to accommodate these graduates?

Employers and government need to begin to look at this new crop of youth our leaders of tomorrow and decide to make a conscious decision to invest in training them with the necessary skills to succeed in the real world.

In these tough times, where budget cuts and belt tightening has become a part of the world's global economic structure, there are increasingly fewer and fewer spaces in companies. Job opportunities, especially for 'green' youth are few.

The authorities must pay serious attention to this issue now. While we understand that the forecast may be bleak, we feel that a 'marshal plan' of sorts needs to be put in place immediately, in an effort to ensure that teenagers leaving school in three months are not going to be unoccupied.

We have already had three tragic teenage deaths this year. We do not need any more added to this toll because youth are idle, lack supervision and community-wide activities to engage their minds.

Private companies, especially financial institutions who are taking advantage of the tax-free economy here, should be urged to pitch in and help provide some funding to ensure that a training plan, preferably on island for our young people becomes a reality.

Such a plan should definitely be technologically driven. We see many young people from Jamaica and India who are obtaining training in their respective nations as IT professionals.

We in the Cayman Islands need to be providing the training ground to groom our own young people to take up employment in these fields instead of consistently having to rely on import labour.

Some students we are sure, will go on to the Cayman Island Community College to pursue their associate's degree. Let us look at the curriculum here and ensure we are graduating a crop of young minds that are marketable and qualified to operate with the discipline to service the international markets we serve.

We cannot afford to sit idly by and continue to rely on import labor. We have the power and the resources to mold our leaders of tomorrow to ensure that this nation and its people continue to travel along the prosperous road that we now enjoy.

It is time to do as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child advises to give the child the best we have to offer.

Many who graduate this year, will be next year's electors.

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News

Elgin and Goring Avenues soon to be connected with two mini-roundabouts

The coming road changes with both mini-roundabouts in place.

Cayman's first mini-roundabout will be constructed at the end of the new section of Goring Avenue, which connects to Elgin Avenue.

The junction will feature a central island built of a small raised white circular disc. The white disc is a departure from the traditional raised landscaped centre circle.
"The only difference between regular roundabouts and mini-roundabouts is that on mini-roundabouts the rear wheels of long vehicles and semi-trailers can ride over the central disc at low speeds," comments Transportation Engineer, Edward Howard.

He explains that when approaching a mini-roundabout, motorists must give way to vehicles approaching from their immediate right. On entry, it is important for drivers to signal the direction in which they plan to turn. This will allow motorists on opposing legs of the roundabout to know each other's intentions and facilitate more efficient traffic flow.

"As always, people should drive clockwise around the centre circle and never stop on a roundabout," he concludes.

The Elgin/Goring connector road and mini-roundabout represent the first phase in the Public Works Department's (PWD) new traffic circulation plan for central George Town. Once complete, motorists will have the option of avoiding the four-way stop at Hospital and Smith Roads or the busy part of South Church Street between Boilers Road and the museum to access Walkers Road.

PWD expects to complete the dual-roundabout scheme by the end of April 2003 with widening and resurfacing work on the existing section of Goring Avenue to follow.

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Faster administrative approvals from Planning

Planning Director, Kenneth Ebanks

The Planning Department is speeding up the administrative approval process for houses, swimming pools, fences less than four feet in height and ancillary structures such as garages.

Beginning 1 April, the department will dedicate Tuesdays to processing these applications. "In order to qualify for this process, applicants must submit all their paperwork at the same time," comments Planning Director, Kenneth Ebanks. This includes all drawings and construction details, which contain electrical, plumbing and structural plans.

"We're expecting to get through at least eight to ten applications each Tuesday since all staff required for the process will be working simultaneously," he explains, adding that larger houses and approvals requiring site inspections will take longer. He also notes that it is a good idea for applicants to make sure their agents are available on Tuesdays so that if a problem arises, it can be straightened out that day. The cut-off date and time to submit applications is noon on Tuesdays.

"This is just another way we're trying to improve our customer service," says Mr. Ebanks adding that although Tuesdays are being set aside for the approval process, members of the public should still submit all their relevant documents as soon as possible. "We'll continue to approve applications throughout the week as well," he concludes, adding that this will ultimately contribute to reduced processing time for all development types.

Applications, complete with all relevant paperwork, can be submitted to the department on the 3rd floor, Tower Building. For more information call 244-3482.

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Butterfield Asset Management achieves success with two first place awards from S&P

Butterfield's Investment Management team wins top accolade for sixth year running.

For the sixth consecutive year, Butterfield Asset Management (BAM) has won global performance awards for its Butterfield Funds from Standard & Poors (S&P). BAM, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Butterfield, received the following 2003 awards:

· Overall Group of Butterfield Funds placed first in the world for five-year performance of the Butterfield Funds (Offshore Funds Smaller Groups
Category)

· Butterfield Capital Appreciation Bond Fund placed first in the world for five-year performance (Offshore Funds, Fixed Income, Global Sector)
"We're very pleased that the Butterfield Funds' long-term performance has been recognized by S&P Awards. These prestigious awards pay tribute to our strong investment management team," said Managing Director of Bank of Butterfield Conor O'Dea. Standard & Poor's Fund Services sets the standard as a leading global provider of mutual fund information and analysis.

Their Fund Awards have come to be accepted globally as the performance standard by which fund managers and investment management groups are measured.
The calculation of the award-winning funds is not simply for performance alone, but also indicates consideration of fund volatility.

"This is the sixth straight year that Butterfield has won S&P Awards, which shows the consistent, strong performance of the Butterfield funds over the longer term," said Head of Asset Management, Sheree Ebanks. She continued by saying, "Their achievement is made even more impressive by the challenges experienced in recent years in both the fixed income and equity markets."

BAM offers a range of eight mutual funds in the fixed income, balanced and equity categories including a fund of funds, Butterfield Select, with three asset classes. The Butterfield Funds are listed on the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange.

Bank of Butterfield Group is a vital community bank in both Cayman and Bermuda and a specialist offshore financial services company. Established in 1858, the Bank offers a full range of banking, credit, investment, treasury, trust and custody services through its headquarters in Bermuda and offices in Barbados, Cayman, Guernsey and the United Kingdom.

The bank was established in the Cayman Islands in 1967 and has grown to be a leader in the provision of financial services domestically and internationally.
Bank of Butterfield is a publicly traded corporation with its shares listed on the Cayman Islands and Bermuda Stock Exchanges.

For further details on the Bank and its funds, click on www.bankofbutterfield.com.

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Hospital gets gift of Humidifiers for CPAP Machine

The Pink Ladies recently donated to the Maternity Ward at the George Town Hospital a number of Humidifier Chambers for the CPAP Machine. This machine is used to provide continuous positive airway pressure for very sick premature babies with breathing difficulties. Pictured with the CPAP Machine are Shannon Hydes and Sue Doak with Pink Ladies' Director Judy Massie.

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Civil Aviation Authority hosts interactive presentations for Cayman students

Director of Civil Aviation, Mr. Richard Smith describing the development of aviation to the Grade 8C class of Prep School.

Mr. Richard Smith and the Pre-K class from Triple C at the General Aviation Terminal.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recently participated in several schools' visits. These visits were designed to increase the children's awareness and knowledge about the development of aviation, its history throughout the three islands and the reality of air transport in today's world.

Director of Civil Aviation, Mr. Richard Smith accompanied by Mrs. Nikki McCoy, Manager for Corporate Communications and Marketing visited the Cayman Prepatory School delivering a compelling and interesting Powerpoint presentation to Grade 8C.

Interestingly, both Mr. Smith and Mrs. McCoy were past students of the Prep school. Teacher for this history class Ms. Nicola Sowerby remarked, "The presentation was excellent; informative and very interesting. The use of the electronic media captured the students attention and we all learned much about the history of aviation in the Cayman Islands."

Later on in the week, the CAA hosted a visit from Triple C's Pre-kindergarten class; ages 4-5 years old. This lively group of 22 youngsters were treated to a Powerpoint slide presentation detailing historic aircraft including seaplanes and DC-3's as well as modern day aircraft that operate throughout the three islands. The youngsters were also treated to a guided tour of the Air Traffic Control Tower, General Aviation Terminal and MRCU to see the 'mosquito plane.' Many walked away with dreams of becoming a pilot or working at the airport one day.

These visits, confirm that the Civil Aviation Authority is committed to enhancing the knowledge of the youth of these islands and to working with educational institutions to enhance their curricula.

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The Links 9th Anniversary Tournament benefits Humane Society

Michelle Reddy, manager of the Animal Shelter, holding one of the
beneficiaries of the Links at SafeHaven 9th Anniversary Golf Tournament.

On Friday, 4 April, the Links at SafeHaven will host their 9th Anniversary Golf Tournament. As in the past, proceeds from this tournament will benefit the Humane Society.

"We are so grateful to the Links at SafeHaven for their generous support and for donating the proceeds of their Anniversary Golf Tournament to us. We understand that there are many charitable organizations in Cayman in need of funds and really appreciate that The Humane Society is the recipient of this donation", states Michelle Reddy, manager of the Animal Shelter.

Mike Kelly, the golf Pro at the Links, is equally excited about this tournament. "Our Anniversary Tournament is always a great success and we are looking forward to another successful event. Contributing our proceeds to such a worthy cause as the Humane Society is our birthday gift to the community".

The tournament is a two-person team, best ball, Stableford point competition. In a Stableford competition the gross score is recorded for each hole and the following point system is calculated as follows:

Double bogey: 0 points

Bogey: 1 point

Par: 2 points

Birdie: 2 points

Eagle: 4 points

Double Eagle: 5 points

The highest number of points takes the first prize.

Entry fee is $65 per member and $85 for non-members, which includes a BBQ dinner during the awards presentation. Men will play from the blue tees and the ladies will play from the red tees. This is a 100% handicap competition with the maximum men's handicap as 28 and the maximum for the ladies is 36. There will be awards for the closest to the pin and longest drive for both men and ladies.

The Links at SafeHaven is the island's only 18-hole championship golf course, situated in the heart of Seven Mile Beach and directly on North Sound. It is a semi-private course offering excellent membership benefits, a beautiful course and reasonable green fees.

The Humane Society has already made plans for the funds raised by the tournament. They are in the midst of a small renovation program that involves painting the shelter, repairing and buying new animal cages and dog runs; and the general reorganization of the dog yard.

"The next few months are always a busy time for the shelter, as in the spring there is inevitably an increase in the number of animals needing homes, as there are a great number of litters born at this time of year", says Michelle. In addition to purchasing food, paying for veterinary services and the latest efforts to improve the shelter, financial support is required for the "hot-line" program.

This premise of this program is to pay veterinarians for spaying/neutering pets of families who do not have the financial means to do so on their own. Interested parties may call the hot line at 949-7003.

Anyone interested in participating in this celebration tournament in support of this local Humane Society worthy cause, should contact the Links Pro-Shop at 949-5988.

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Current Commentary

Constructive revenge

By Richard W. Rahn

So, you are mad at the French and have decided not to eat Brie or drink French wine. Or perhaps you want to get real tough with them and put higher tariffs or quotas on French products. The first solution is not likely to have much impact, and the second might get us in a trade war that will hurt us as much as it will them.

Don't despair. There is revenge we can take for their behavior, which will provide considerable benefit to us, and also hurt the high-handed French bureaucrats. The solution is to make a few changes in our tax laws that will encourage even more investment capital to flow out of France into the United States.

By way of background, over the last couple of decades a few hundred billion dollars from the citizens of "Old Europe" (primarily France and Germany) have been invested into the US The reason for this capital flight from Europe is that their tax rates and regulations have been much more punitive than ours. This capital flow into the US has enabled our businesses to invest more in new plant and equipment, resulting in faster productivity growth, more new and higher-paying jobs, and much higher rates of economic growth than Europe.

We have managed to attract this foreign capital, even though the Europeans engage in tax discrimination against our companies, by doing such things as rebating value added taxes (VATs) on the exports of their domestic companies. However, the US does have one stipulation in its tax law that has proved very beneficial. In 1984, Congress enacted the portfolio interest exemption, which has allowed non-resident foreigners to receive interest from bank deposits and bonds, without incurring any US tax liability. It is believed this provision has caused something in the order of an additional one trillion dollars to be invested in the US. President Bush's recently proposed tax reduction and reform includes a specification to eliminate the double taxation of dividends by giving taxpayers exclusion for dividends received from American companies. This provision should be strengthened by also removing the existing withholding tax on dividends owed to foreigners.

By making it unambiguously clear that the dividend exclusion also applies to foreign holders of US stocks, hundreds of billions of dollars of additional foreign capital will flow into our markets. This would significantly boost US stock prices plus give our citizens all the benefits of the resulting higher growth, as noted above.

It is important to understand that, unlike the US which taxes the worldwide income of its citizens, most countries have a territorial system of taxation that only taxes income made within the country or when foreign income is repatriated. Thus, so long as earnings from dividends, interest and capital gains remain outside these countries there is no tax liability.

The Europeans, and particularly the French and Germans, have been claiming that countries that do not tax foreign interest, capital gains, and dividend earnings are engaging in unfair tax competition. They have demanded that low-tax countries raise tax rates, withhold taxes on the earnings of their citizens, send the withheld sums to these bloated European governments and/or report the earnings of their citizens to the home country. These extraterritorial demands by the Europeans on other sovereign countries to engage in economic policies that are destructive are the Europeans last, desperate attempts to prop up their failed socialist economies.

By eliminating tax withholding on foreigners and blanket financial information-sharing, the US would not only be doing its own citizens a favor but one to all the world's people. These beneficial changes would increase tax competition, civil liberties and economic growth, and deny financial information to criminal and terrorist groups.
While most of the economists and other officials in the US Treasury are actively designing and selling pro-growth economic and tax policies, there is a small, etrograde group that is trying to move our policy in the opposite direction.

At the very end of the Clinton administration, this group of Treasury bureaucrats proposed an "interest reporting regulation" that would require those in the US who pay interest to foreign persons to report it to their governments, even though no US tax liability is due.

The regulation was proposed at the request of the European Union, led by France and Germany. It would hurt the United States by driving out foreign capital and increasing costs on our businesses. It would put the civil liberties of those reported on at risk by having such information passed to corrupt governments or those with a history of leaking information to dishonest individuals and governments, including terrorists states.

Every group that has testified or submitted comments on the proposed regulation has strongly opposed it (including public policy, banking, industry, small business and civil liberties organizations). In addition, dozens of members of Congress have written in opposition to this proposal, both because it is bad economic and regulatory policy, and also because it clearly is an attempt to undermine the will of Congress.

Given the depth and breath of opposition and evidence against this dreadful proposal, one can only surmise that those bureaucrats still pushing it do so out of arrogance, ignorance, naiveté or disloyalty to the US, but I understate. Some of these Treasury bureaucrats even had the gall to claim we could trust the French with sensitive information despite their long history of leaks to groups and countries hostile to the US.

The new Treasury secretary could give the French and Germans the diplomatic equivalent of a chiffon pie in the face by withdrawing the "interest reporting regulation" in a very public way. He would say, "We welcome and will protect your capital until that day when your own governments finally return to responsible economic policies" constructive revenge, indeed.

Richard W. Rahn is a director of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and senior fellow of the Discovery Institute and an adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute.

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News Analysis

United States fails cricket test in Iraq

By PETER ALMOND

LONDON (UPI) - Is it time Americans learned to play soccer or cricket if they have any hope of winning the war in Iraq without destroying the place and causing mass casualties?

Do they need to learn sports where they sometimes go backwards to go forwards - as in soccer and even bat a ball about for five days and be satisfied with a drawn result - as can happen in Test Match cricket?

These questions are being asked in Britain because British troops are using long-developed "carrot and stick," "hearts and minds" tactics to subdue and win over southern Iraq, while American troops appear to have hardened their tactics with more firepower aimed to keep Iraqis as far away from them as possible.

In an article in Monday's London Guardian newspaper, distinguished Yale University historian Paul Kennedy stuck his head over the American nationalistic parapet to argue that a deep-rooted sense of impatience in American popular culture has created an unrealistic expectation that war with Iraq would result in a swift victory.

"Above all," he wrote, "there is the impatient character of the American sports culture, which is so ingrained and taken for granted that few citizens appreciate how it looks from the outside - the quasi-military language, the impatience with low scoring, the stress upon offensive play, the sheer overwhelming size and power of most basketball and football players, the commercially driven system of frequent 'time-outs' which heightens the atmosphere of urgency and racing against the clock.

"Were one to suggest (tongue in cheek, I know) that all basketball and football games were banned for a month, and sports fans invited instead to watch television chess matches, or darts, or snooker or - heaven forfend - recordings of an Australian-India cricket test match, we would probably have another American revolution. Our psychological need for swift and decisive actions would have been denied us, and that is intolerable."

For the British, fighting and dying together with Americans in Iraq, the sports-driven cultural gap is the single most divisive issue between them. It is not language, for most young Britons were weaned on American movies and music, and even young Alabama soldiers quickly pick up the British lingo.

But forced by their governments to while away the hours together before battle, the two allies find they cannot appreciate each other's national sports. American soldiers pick up an oval ball and throw long passes to each other; the British kick a soccer ball. Given a stick and a ball, the Americans mark out a baseball field; the British, a cricket pitch.

The military impact of the difference is considerable.

"In the Cold War we used to joke whether our war plan against the Russians was going to look like gridiron football - big muscles and set offenses to take territory, or like British rugby - with scrums and flow and individual flexibility," Professor Michael Clarke, director of defense studies at King's College, London, told United Press International.

"What you have got in Iraq is the United States taking on the difficult job of assertive aggression against Saddam's main military forces, while the British have got more focus on a Bosnia-type job around Basra. It's working out, though, that the Americans need to slip as much into the latter mode if they hope to get the local population on their side and not get attacked on their supply lines."

Whether US troops can culturally make that switch, however, is doubtful in British opinion. Neither Clarke nor Adm. Richard Cobbold, director of the Royal United Services Institute defense think tank, said the United States had the long British experience of dealing with foreign civilian populations.

"We learned an enormous amount of patience and discipline for 30 years in Northern Ireland," said Cobbold. "It took us 12 years to beat the communists in Malaya (the United States was generally unsuccessful in adapting British methods there to Vietnam). I don't know if it is their sports that make Americans so or whether it is their frontier heritage and national experience that produces their sports."

Significantly, military doctrine - or developed procedures of warfare - was only established in the British military about 20 years ago.

Flexibility was and still is the most important military requirement, with the British army in particular built around its non-commissioned officers rather than the doctrine-trained officers of the US military.

Thus, British officials are aghast at new first-hand reports from US "grunt" Marines that they intend to revenge the deaths and capture of their fellow Marines by regarding all Iraqis as the enemy, to be shot at the first whiff of doubt.

British officers said such attitudes in the ranks would be quickly dealt with in the British military by NCOs.

But with experience of US forces in Bosnia and Kosovo - where US patrols rarely removed their helmets, walked the streets or talked to the locals - the British fear their work in winning the trust of Iraqi civilians in the south may be lost by the harsh US attitude elsewhere in Iraq.

Significantly, according to Clarke, the first British soldier to be killed in Iraq was shot when he got out of his tank to placate an angry crowd gathering around it. In a similar situation with a US tank, the commander closed his hatch and drove through the crowd, injuring several people.

With widely publicized reports from wounded British soldiers Monday that the pilot of an American A-10 tankbuster aircraft acted as a "cowboy" in strafing their vehicles and killing two of their colleagues, and should be tried for manslaughter - the latest in several "friendly fire" incidents that cost the lives of British troops - a resentful mood appears to be developing about US forces.

If the Americans were Aussies, or Italians - or even French - Central Command could perhaps draw the two allies closer together in their down time with games of soccer. But the only international sport considered possible once Baghdad or Basra has fallen is a British-organized game with Iraqis, as the British did to great fanfare in Kabul in February 2001.

Indeed, if Central Command was truly serious about liberating Iraq, according to British officials, they would hold out the prospect of high quality international games for soccer-mad Iraq. Saddam has recognized the political power of soccer and has appointed his son Uday as head of Iraq's football federation (reportedly torturing at least two players for not playing well enough in certain international games).

"Uday ought to be reason enough for the Americans to whip up a soccer team to play Iraq," said one official at the Ministry of Defense in London. But with second thoughts, he asked: "What if they got to be really good at international soccer? Oh, dear."

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Winning by losing

By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE, UPI Editor at Large

A British soldier escorts an Iraqi prisoner of war (PoW) to a RAF Puma helicopter to take him to a PoW
holding centre in southern Iraq, 30 March 2003.

AMMAN, Jordan (UPI) - Watching Arab television stations' reporting the war on Iraq is "Alice in Wonderhell."

Arab - and many European - reporters, TV producers and anchormen and women, are helping Saddam Hussein's disinformation apparatus win the propaganda war.
Some 30 Arab and European TV channels, monitored in Jordan, is a collage of bleeding Iraqi civilians, dead toddlers discovered in a Baghdad morgue by their desperate parents, gory shots of body parts and wounded in blood-soaked bandages moaning their pain from dirty hospital cots - all broadcast every hour, around the clock.

There is seldom any mention of precision US bombing that might have gone awry. Or of an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile that might have come back to Earth without hitting its target.

Some Arab commentators even say that these scenes of horror are the results of well more than $1 billion worth of smart bombs and cruise missiles that have hit Iraq's cities in the past 11 days.

Interspersed with scenes of dead and wounded innocent civilians in Baghdad is footage of Baath Party suspects outside Basra, sitting cross-legged on mud-baked floors, hands tied behind their backs and still swatted by British Marines.

For Arab TV channels, the "Anglo-American expeditionary corps" and/or "occupation forces" are stalled south of Baghdad and in the suburbs of Basra by stiff Iraqi resistance. Several units, they said Sunday, are down to one meal a day and have run out of ammunition and fuel. As they wait for re-supply, according to their reports, suicide bombers are hitting where coalition forces least expect it.

The Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV satellite channel, well known for its anti-US bias, seen the world over by Arabic speakers, and other Arab satellite stations, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai (both United Arab Republic channels), and Saudi-owned Middle Eastern Broadcasting Company, are clearly sympathetic to the Iraqi side.

If thousands of volunteers are flocking to Syria and making their way to Iraq, as Baghdad's Information minister claims, they are bound to have been influenced by slanted anchors on Arab TV stations. Volunteers are described as the successor generation to the Afghan Arabs who fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Arab newspapers pile on by editorializing that the problem is not Iraq or Saddam Hussein, but the United States and its dreams of global dominance. The image of the United States as a torch bearer for freedom has proved biodegradable in Arab media. The question is frequently asked, "How long can Bush deny reality?"
Palestinian refugees in Jordanian camps are quoted as saying the US occupation of Iraq is the extension of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

A harbinger of radical change to come in the Arab world as a result of operation "Iraqi Freedom" came today when Islamists won all nine seats, including the presidency and vice presidency, of the Jordan Agriculture Engineers Association. National elections are scheduled for 17 June and Islamists are expected to make the kind of dramatic gains seen in Pakistan last 10 October.

Absent any Iraqi popular support for the coalition armies, "the principal pretext to wage war against Baghdad to 'liberate' the Iraqi people is shot to pieces and therefore no longer tenable," according to the Jordan Times.

The US policy of encouraging democracy in the Arab world may not turn out the way the Bush administration anticipates. Anti-US governments would most probably be the result. Even if Iraqis eventually see the war as liberation, its neighbors will see it as a US occupation - and an invitation to intifada-type terrorism for Iraqi hardliners who first turned against the west in an army coup in 1958.

The world's most powerful, high-tech military vs. an Iraqi army depleted by two wars since 1980 and crippled by 12 years of UN sanctions is no contest. But Iraqi irregulars, Republican Guard fanatics out of uniform and suicide bombers, conducting asymmetric warfare, could prove to be troublesome for months to come.
Saddam's fedayeen and other paramilitaries may focus their attacks on the more than 300 miles of unguarded US supply lines. Hiding in village mosques and schools, they could suddenly emerge with rocket-propelled grenades and hit a soft-skinned supply truck. Saddam got almost 12 months to plan an underground resistance campaign. The seeds of protracted conflict were sown during a lengthy UN process.

Basra, the ancient port city of Sinbad the Sailor, was first liberated on the second day of the war, but not really. British Marines had no appetite for moving into a city with a population of 1.5 million and where their intelligence told them regime forces, against all expectations, were prepared for street fighting. A week later they were still moving cautiously through Basra's outer suburbs and doing body searches of the thousands of Iraqis walking to British lines, desperate for food and water.

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Overseas People

Wyman has 'no regrets' he left the Stones

Portrait of Bill Wyman, former bassist of the Rolling Stones, taken
22 January 2003 in Lille. He announced a tour in France for next
summer with his band the Rhythm Kings, created in 1996 with
guitarist Terry Taylor.

PARIS (AFP) Bill Wyman, longtime Rolling Stones bass guitar, said that he had no regrets about leaving the group in 1993.

"I don't have any regrets, not at all, in all honesty," Wyman, who turns 67 next October, said in a recent interview.

His last 10 years had been happy, he said, with his wife and his children now aged 8, 7 and 5 years. As for his life, "I would not change it for anything".
He had written four books and had his own band, he insisted.

"I see them socially", he said of the veteran rock band lead singer Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards and drummer Charlie Watts. Ronnie Wood, also guitarist, is seen as a newcomer though he has been with the Stones more than a quarter century.

"My kids play with Mick's children," Wyman said. His children were off on holidays next week with Jagger's children and his ex-wife Jerry Hall.

"It's like a family, which doesn't mean that you want to be together all of the time".

A pillar of the Stones for 30 years, Wyman real name William Perks was in Paris for the release of his book on life with the group, "Rolling With The Stones".
Legend has it that Wyman was asked to join the group in 1962 because he was the only one with an amplifier.

"If I had stayed it would have been only for financial reasons," he added. "I could be 20 million richer, francs, dollars or pounds, whatever, I never had that kind of money in my life anyway".

He denied reports that he was preparing to join the Stones on their current tour around China, India and other Asian countries, the second half of their 40th anniversary world tour.

Next month will see their first stop in China.

Wyman and his Rhythm Kings will play in France this spring, giving around 15 concerts between May and July, including one in Paris on 26 June.

The legendary Rolling Stones will be giving three concerts in Paris in July, on the 7, 9 and 11, and also playing in Marseille on 5 July.

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Campbell lends style to Korean Show

British supermodel Naomi Campbell (L) walks down the catwalk with South Korean models 28 March 2003, during a fashion show organized by Lotte Departement Store, South Korea's leading luxury shopping mall chain. The show, for which Campbell reportedly received a 360,000 USD fee, is aimed at giving a glimpse to Lotte customers of what the fashion trend will be this spring and summer. AFP PHOTO

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Help Me Harlan

Virgins Take Center Stage, Again

Harlan Cohen

Dear Harlan,
This is regarding the letter from "Still a Virgin," the woman losing hope of finding a partner who shares her beliefs. I was a virgin until my wedding night, when I was 25 years old. When I tell friends, their jaws drop. Someone once remarked: "That's got to be the greatest gift you can give to your husband on your wedding night. You saved yourself your whole life just so you can give yourself to him!" This is precisely why I did it.
I've had multiple boyfriends, some very close, but every one of them eventually wanted to test my resolve. It told me that these guys only wanted to get in my pants and didn't respect me as a person. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "You're waiting for the perfect man, and he doesn't exist!" Needless to say, those people were not invited to my wedding.
Last Virgin Bride

Dear Last Virgin Bride,
That's awesome that you stayed true to what you believe is right for you. But to these guys' credit, some of them might have respected you and your body. They just might have had a different set of beliefs than you.
I'm just happy I can spend a little time spotlighting the virgins of the world. So many feel like they're the last one. But that's far from the truth. For example ...

Dear Harlan,
I am a 27-year-old male, and I am still a virgin. I have been waiting for a girl who shares my same beliefs (referring to abstinence until marriage), and it seems that every female I see or meet doesn't share this. I feel like the older I get, the less of a chance I will have to find that special woman who wants to share her life and herself with only me. Am I being naive and unrealistic, or am I just looking in all the wrong places?
Holding Out Hope

Hello Holding Out,
Regarding the previous letter, she's not really the last virgin bride.
You're not being naive or unrealistic. Just make yourself available, and keep looking. Try faith-based organizations for singles. Consider advertising via an online dating service (again, consider faith-based services) or a print ad (in faith-based publications). Include the "virgin waiting until marriage" part. Just keep trying. They are out there.

Dear Harlan,
I'm a 16-year-old high-school senior. My social life revolves around school, church, neighbors and family. I have the benefit and example of older brothers and sisters, all of whom are happily married and committed to monogamy. Lately, an 18-year-old classmate is spreading the rumor that she is my prom date and is going to take my virginity. I have not so much as taken her to a movie or even to McDonald's. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but I want her to leave me alone. Do I have an obligation to explain my rejection of her?
Not My Prom Queen

Dear Prom King,
Happy Meal and a movie or no Happy Meal and movie, she shouldn't be running her mouth around the school. You don't owe her an explanation, but she deserves the truth. And don't worry about hurting her feelings. Tiptoeing around the truth helps no one. Tell it like it is. If she can't handle the truth, then she should be more careful about what she says. She doesn't need a prom date -- she needs someone to nicely tell her the truth.

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Chiropractic

What is Plantar Fascitis?

Dr Jemal Khan,
Chiropractor

Plantar fascitis des-cribes a condition that causes pain in the heel and sole of the foot. The pain is usually most severe with the first few steps in the morning and eases during the day. Possible causes include poor foot mechanics, training errors, muscle weakness and weight gain. It accounts for about 10% of running injuries, and is common among non-athletes as well.

The word fascia refers to a fibrous 'plastic-wrap' type tissue that surrounds all of our muscles. The plantar fascia stretches from the bottom of the heel bone (calcaneus) to the base of the toes.

Each time we take a step all of our body weight first rests on the heel of the foot. As our weight moves forward, the entire foot begins to bear the body's weight. The arch of the foot starts to flatten and this places a great deal of pressure and strain on the plantar fascia. There is very little "give" to the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia stretches only slightly, and pulls on the heel. This tensing of the plantar fascia is one way the foot 'springs' into the next step.

If the foot is properly aligned this load/spring mechanism of the plantar fascia causes no problems. However, if the foot is over "pronated" (the foot rolls inward during weight bearing), the arch will collapse excessively. This causes an abnormal stretch of the relatively inflexible plantar fascia, which in turn pulls abnormally hard on the heel. This repetitive microtrauma will cause a breakdown of the plantar fascia, creating inflammation, pain, and eventually scar tissue. Over time the ongoing pull on the calcaneus will lead to a heel spur.

Treatment of plantar fascitis is multi-faceted. Complete rest or relative rest must be considered. A non-weight- bearing activity like cycling or swimming should replace running. Application of moist ice to the inflamed plantar fascia will provide some relief. Your chiropractor will likely recommend other natural supplements to reduce the inflammation.

Chiropractic manipulation of the bones of the foot (carpals) can be very effective for plantar fascitis, as well as many other types of foot pain. Restoring proper alignment helps maintain the arch of the foot, and removes excess loading of the plantar fascia. After restoring the alignment of the carpals, chiropractors will often tape the foot to help maintain the treatment. Deep tissue massage can break up the scar tissue that forms and help the healing process. Strengthening exercises for the muscles of the foot can be very effective. Stretching of the calf muscles is important to remove extra loading of the ankle by the Achilles tendon. If these measures do not work, an orthotic device may be useful. Finally, correction of training errors and faulty shoes is essential.

Dr. Jemal Khan,
Chiropractor
Cayman Chiropractic Clinic

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Overseas Features

Slobodan Milosevic's wife denies ordering killing of former Serbian president

Slobodan Milosevic's wife Mirjana

PODGORICA (AFP) The wife of former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic on Monday flatly denied she had ordered the killing of a former Serbian president, who disappeared in 2000 just before her husband was ousted from power.

Police are intensively searching for Mirjana Markovic in connection with the murder of former president Ivan Stambolic, whose remains were discovered Friday, two and a half years after he went missing.

On Sunday, 30 March Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Zarko Korac accused the Milosevics of being behind Stambolic's killing, and also hinted that they were both behind the 12 March murder of reformist Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic.

"It appears that the order (to kill Stambolic) came from the Milosevic family," Korac told commercial TV station BK in Belgrade.

Regarding the shock murder of Djindjic, Korac said: "The investigation has not yet shown that the former Yugoslav president and his wife were at the root of the assassination of Djindjic, but the murder was certainly the work of the patriotic forces."

"Mira (as Mirjana is popularly known) Markovic is part of these forces," he added.

Mirjana Markovic, who is in Russia on a personal visit, denied in a letter to a Montenegrin newspaper any connection with the Stambolic murder, but did not address the accusations regarding the killing of Djindjic.

"I have been informed of these vile untruths and the reprisals against political rivals (referring to Milosevic)," Markovic said in the Monday edition of the daily Publika.
"It goes without saying that I have nothing to do with whatever crime that could have been committed in Yugoslavia," she wrote.

She also charged the "vile" accusations were aimed at undermining her husband's defense against war crimes charges at the Hague-based UN tribunal.
"The vile accusations against me essentially aim at destabilising my husband in The Hague and to tarnish the image of his brilliant defense" against charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in connection with the Balkan wars during the last decade.

Korac said Russian authorities would extradite Markovic to Belgrade "so that she can be questioned in connection with the Stambolic affair." Markovic's daughter Marija Milosevic said her mother was not on the run from authorities since it first surfaced Friday that Serbian authorities were looking for her.

Marija Milosevic told Publika on Sunday that her mother was in Moscow on a regular visa to visit her brother Marko, who hurriedly left Yugoslavia around the time of his father's ouster in October 2000.

Markovic's letter was sent to Publika by fax, but the paper said it was impossible to tell where the letter came from.

Stambolic vanished in August 2000 in what the interior ministry now believes was a kidnapping carried out by special police forces in a Belgrade park.

Milosevic kicked out Stambolic as Serbian leader in 1987 and saw him as a rival in the presidential elections of September 2000.

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First woman al Qaeda suspect

Aafia Siddiqui

By Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON (UPI) The first woman accused of links with the al Qaeda terrorist network has a doctorate in neurological science and is a mother of three, FBI officials said.

The FBI recently issued a worldwide search notice for Aafia Siddiqui, the first woman the federal investigations agency has accused of actively helping Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. Bin Laden is the Saudi exile suspected of being the driving force behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Siddiqui, 31, lived in Boston before she disappeared, the FBI says. She holds a Ph.D. in neurological science and has studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brandeis University, and other institutions.

She was born on 2 March, 1972, in Pakistan. Although her whereabouts are unknown, the FBI believes she is currently in Pakistan.

The agency says she's a "fixer" who moves money to provide logistical support for terrorist activities. She is also tied to radicals in Pakistan, it added.

FBI officials say that being a woman helps Siddiqui, as few would suspect a Western-educated woman with children as a terrorist. Siddiqui's three children are ages nine months through six years.

"The FBI would like to locate and question this individual," according to an FBI search notice.

Specifically, Siddiqui may have been providing logistical support to Adnan El Shukrijumah, a 27-year-old Saudi man sought by the agency on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks in the United States, agents say. She may also have accompanied El Shukrijumah in his travels inside the United States.

What have been described as credible reports placed her in Gaithersburg, a Maryland suburban town near Washington, in December or January.

They say that she wears both traditional Pakistani and Western clothes and may be traveling with or without her three young children. The FBI has issued two pictures of Siddiqui along with the search notice, with and without hijab, the traditional veil that Muslim women may wear.

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News from Our Region

C&W completes first call on new GSM/GPRS network

Cable & Wireless Jamaica's Head of Corporate Communications Errol Miller, is very animated as he completes the first test call on the company's new GSM/GPRS network on Wednesday afternoon. Also in the picture and obviously very pleased are, from left: Jon Pearce, Vice President, Engineering, CWJ Mobile; Michael Holgado, Head of Department, Radio Frequency (RF) Engineering, and Claude Petgrave, Head of Department, Network Maintenance, Kingston.

In a significant announcement last week, Cable & Wireless Jamaica disclosed that it completed the first test call on its new GSM/GPRS mobile network. The test call is the latest of a series of preparatory tests on the network that have all been successful.

Commenting on this development, Cable & Wireless Jamaica President Gary Barrow said: "This will be the most sophisticated state-of-the-art mobile network in Jamaica. We will bring unparallelled service capability and the most advanced features to our customers. We have some very exciting plans for our service offerings here in Jamaica. This is a critical and strategic investment for us as we vow to maintain our leadership position as the provider of the latest and best telecoms service in Jamaica."

Errald Miller, CEO CWWI, said "This state-of-the-art network will give us an added advantage in delivering the most cost-effective, feature-rich mobile service across the Caribbean. Our platform will be 3-G ready and will provide great flexibility for providing the most advanced voice and mobile data services including e-business type applications and "always on internet".

In November, last year, Cable & Wireless (West Indies) announced its partnership with Nortel Networks to provide the Caribbean's first GSM/GPRS network at a cost of over US$100 million. "Nortel's experience in deploying mobile networks across all major access technologies and spectrums, combined with their expertise in IP core networking, gives them a big advantage in delivering the most cost-effective and efficient mobile solutions available today", said Thomas Perez-Ducy, Executive Vice President for C&W Mobile operations across the Caribbean. "We are very pleased with their performance to date and we are fully on track for a commercial launch in the first quarter of our financial year."

Jamaica has now joined the over 180 countries world-wide to offer a full GSM/GPRS network. This will give customers of CWJ mobile service unparalleled roaming capabilities. In fact, CWJ has dubbed their expanded service the "best of three worlds" as there are now GAIT/tri-band phones that work on, and take full advantage of TDMA, GSM and GPRS network standards something that only Cable and Wireless will be able to provide.

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Thousands march against Aristide

Haitian students protest in Port-au-Prince against Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide, the cost of living and political violence in the country. AFP PHOTO/Thony BELIZAIRE (FILM)

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) Several thousand people took to the streets of Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti Sunday, 30 March in a peaceful call for President Jean Bertrand Aristide to resign.

The demonstration was organised by a group called Citizens Initiative and was attended by key opposition figures, including former Port-au-Prince mayor Evans Paul.

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Overseas News

Newspapers report split in Washington's Iraq planning

US General Tommy Franks, head of US Central Command, briefs the press at Central Command headquarters at the As-Saliyah base, some 20km south of Doha, on the progress of the US-led war on Iraq. Franks said the invasion of Iraq is running to plan with coalition forces at the door to Baghdad as he answered mounting criticism of his war strategy. AFP Photo/Paul J. RICHARDS.

By United Press International

The progress of the US-led war on Iraq and the internal divisions it has spawned was the focus of reports in leading British and US newspapers last Monday. They ranged from reports of a secret government being planned to differences Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was having with Cabinet and military colleagues.
The UK Guardian reported a disagreement in the Bush administration over a new government Washington was secretly planning in Kuwait to rule Iraq after Saddam Hussein is toppled. Both The New York Times and Britain's Daily Telegraph ran reports of differences US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was having with other members of the administration. The Washington Post reported that US commanders had told troops to assume the worst and use a range of tougher tactics to hunt down Iraqi militia.

The Guardian reported that a US plan for a secret government consisted of 23 ministries, each headed by an American. Each ministry will have four Iraqi advisers appointed by the United States, it said.

The government will take over Iraq one city at a time once they have been declared "liberated" by US Gen. Tommy Franks. The cities will then be transferred to the authority of Jay Garner, the former US general appointed to head a military occupation of Iraq, it said.

The newspaper reported that in anticipation of Saddam's defeat, members of the interim government had begun arriving in Kuwait.

The newspaper cited "sources close to the planning of the government" as saying the new regime's composition appeared to be the responsibility of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. Garner, who is annoyed by that, has had to accept a number of controversial Iraqis including Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the opposition Iraqi National Congress - in advisory roles, it said.

"Mr. Chalabi had envisaged becoming prime minister in an interim government, and is disappointed that no such post is included in the US plan," the newspaper said. "Instead, the former banker will be offered an advisory job at the finance ministry."

In its report, The New York Times quoted US officers in Iraq as saying the Pentagon, and Rumsfeld, had not sent enough troops to fight the war the way they want to.
"He wanted to fight this war on the cheap," a colonel told the newspaper. "He got what he wanted."

The report comes less than a week after Lt. Gen. William Wallace, the V Corps commander, said the military faced a longer war in Iraq than strategists had predicted. The Times said the comments echo the "bumpy" relationship between Rumsfeld and Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff.

The report also said some of Rumsfeld's advisers "now acknowledge that they misjudged the scope and intensity of resistance from Iraqi paramilitaries in the south, and forced commanders to divert troops already stretched thin to protect supply convoys and root out Hussein loyalists in Basra, Nasiriya and Najaf.

"But they also point to the air campaign's successes in the past few days in significantly weakening the Republican Guard divisions around Baghdad."

Meanwhile, the Telegraph reported that there was debate in the Bush administration over whether US Secretary of State Colin Powell's idea of using overwhelming force was discarded prematurely by Rumsfeld. The report said Powell's "supporters say Mr. Rumsfeld was guilty of hubris in failing to commit more troops to the Gulf."

It described what it called the "Powell doctrine" as stating, overwhelming force should be used in any war. Rumsfeld's supporters have backed a "shock and awe" campaign wherein air power could paralyze Saddam's regime and lead to a swift surrender by his troops.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that US commanders had told troops to assume the worst and use a range of tougher tactics to hunt down Iraqi militia. The instructions come after last week's suicide bombing that killed four US Marines. The bomber was dressed in civilian clothing.

As part of the plan, drivers and passengers at checkpoints will now be ordered out of their vehicles with their hands up before being searched. Cars and trucks won't be allowed to cross through US and British convoys. Vehicle blocking traffic will be rolled over. And if civilians with hands in their pockets approach troops and fail to respond, first to a shouted command and then to a warning shot, they will be killed.

"Everyone is now seen as a combatant until proven otherwise," a Pentagon official told the newspaper.

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WHO doctor dies of respiratory disease

Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO (World Health Organisation) DirectorGeneral.

GENEVA, Switzerland (UPI) Carlo Urbani, the Italian doctor who first identified a new deadly respiratory illness has himself died of the disease, the World Health Organization said last Saturday.

Urbani, who detected the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, was 46.

"Carlo Urbani's death saddens us all deeply at WHO," Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO's Director-General said in a statement. "His life reminds us again of our true work in public health. Today, we should all pause for a moment and remember the life of this outstanding physician."

The UN-based health agency said Urbani died in Thailand after becoming infected in Vietnam.

"Carlo was a wonderful human being and we are all devastated," said Pascale Brudon, the WHO Representative in Vietnam.

"He was very much a doctor, his first goal was to help people. Carlo was the one who very quickly saw that this was something very strange. When people became very concerned in the hospital, he was there every day, collecting samples, talking to the staff and strengthening infection control procedures."

Urbani was married and the father of three children.

SARS has killed at least 55 around the world and infected nearly 1,500 others, with the most cases and deaths in China's Guangdong province. WHO confirmed Friday that China is the country of origin for SARS.

WHO officials said several countries are taking steps, including quarantine, to prevent the further spread of SARS. Such measures are needed to protect populations against infection, keep the disease from spreading into the general population and help prevent international spread to other countries, particularly through air travel, officials said.

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US President's popularity rises with war

US President George W. Bush

NEW YORK (AFP) President George W. Bush's popularity has risen steadily since the start of the war in Iraq, Newsweek magazine reported in its latest edition.
Fully 70 percent of those polled approve of his actions in Iraq, his highest ranking since the magazine began tracking US opinion on the issue in September.

That also marks a 17 percent jump from the percentage who approved of Bush's "policies to deal with the threat posed by Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein" when respondents were last surveyed in late January.

In addition, 53 percent of those surveyed said they approved of the way Bush was handling the economy, the highest number since May 2001, the poll showed.
Fully 63 percent agreed "that the United States was right in taking military action in Iraq when it did.

However 32 percent of respondents said that more time should have been devoted to negotiating a diplomatic solution," the poll found, on an issue which has separated Washington and London in particular from Paris and Berlin.

Though the US move into Baghdad may be behind expected schedule, "nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of those polled say they believe that the Bush administration has a 'well-thought-out plan' for using military force against Iraq," up from 49 percent in late September.

"Nearly half of Americans polled (49 percent) say they would support continuing US military action in Iraq for more than a year, if that were how long it took to disarm Iraq and remove President Saddam Hussein," the report said.

The survey was conducted 27-28 March among 1,004 adults aged 18 and older, with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

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UPI International News Update

The Rolling Stones: (from L) Mick Jagger, Ronnie Woods, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts greet photographers at a press conference in Bangalore, 1 April 2003. The veteran rockers are due to perform in the city as part of the 'Rolling Stones Licks India Tour 2003' at the Palace Grounds 4 April. AFP PHOTO

Iraq bombing goes on; civilians killed

BAGHDAD (UPI) Baghdad's Iraqi National Olympic Committee office, long believed to house torture chambers, was among targets hit by coalition aircraft in overnight bombing. "Coalition aircraft used precision-guided munitions to target a regime office complex in eastern Baghdad," US Central Command said in a statement.

Saudi FM calls on
Saddam to step down

WASHINGTON (UPI) Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has asked Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to step down and end the war on Iraq, adding he believes a diplomatic solution to the war still is possible. "Since he (Saddam) has ... asked his people to sacrifice for the country ... he should be the first to sacrifice for his country," he said in an interview last Monday with ABC's Barbara Walters.

21 Iraqi soldiers
surrender to Kurds

ERBIL, Iraq (UPI) A Kurdish military source told United Press International Tuesday that 21 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to Kurdish forces after their positions in northern Iraq came under heavy US and British air bombardment. The source from the Kurdistan Democratic Party said the troops were not prisoners of war and were transported to Kurdish positions near the city of Irbil where they were treated well.

Iran: No Iraqi refugees in country

TEHRAN (UPI) Contrary to expectations, no Iraqi refugees have reported to camps set up in Iran's border with Iraq, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Tuesday. Ahmad Husseini, head of Iraqi Refugees Headquarters at the Interior Ministry, told the news agency 10 camps had been set up so far and they could accommodate some 200,000 Iraqis.

N. Korea didn't test missile: Seoul

TOKYO (UPI) Dismissing Japanese media reports, the South Korean Defense Ministry Tuesday said it had concluded North Korea did not launch an anti-ship missile off its west coast. Japanese media reports quoted Tokyo's defense officials as saying North Korea test-fired a short-range missile Tuesday morning into the Yellow Sea between the Korean peninsula and China.

Israel: No talks yet with Palestinians

WASHINGTON (UPI) Israel's new Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Monday his government would not move toward negotiations with the Palestinian Authority unless attacks against his country's civilian population end. "You have to understand that we won't be able to go forward and to get progress unless the terror relents, and that's something that is very acceptable and understandable by the administration," Shalom said after meetings in the White House and with Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell said Sunday evening at the American Israel Public Committee's 44th annual meeting: "The Palestinian state must be based on transformed leaderships and institutions that end terror."

Grande advances at Casablanca

CASABLANCA, Morocco, (UPI) Second seed Rita Grande of Italy snapped a five-match losing streak Monday in the opening round of the Grand Prix De S.A.R. La Princesse claycourt tournament. Grande posted a 6-3, 7-5, victory over countrywoman Adriana Serra Zanetti for only her third win on the WTA Tour since October. Two other seeded players advanced while one was eliminated.

NASA e-mail show
shuttle safety questioned

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., (UPI) NASA engineers questioned a Boeing analysis that provided the foundation for an apparently false sense of security that shuttle Columbia would safely return from space, internal documents released Monday show. The analysis was conducted after videos of Columbia's launch showed foam insulation from the shuttle's fuel tank coming off about 81 seconds after lift-off and striking the underside of the left wing.

American Airlines wins cuts from unions

FORT WORTH, Texas, (UPI) American Airlines Monday reached tentative agreements with three key unions on $1.8 billion in cost-savings that the world's largest airline hopes will save it from bankruptcy. Union negotiators representing pilots, flight attendants and ground workers agreed to the concessions sought since 5 February by the Fort Worth-based airline, battling for survival along with most of the nation's air carriers.

Asian shares
marginally higher

SINGAPORE, (UPI) Most Asian stock markets ended the day marginally higher, though Hong Kong continued to suffer from investors' concerns about the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. In Tokyo, the Nikkei Average rose 0.2 percent to 7,986.72, lifted by short-covering on a few blue chips such as Toyota and NTT DoCoMo. But the banking sector under-performed with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, down 5.2 percent and Mizuho down 8.1 percent.

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Community Calendar

Magna Carta: The Musical Trial of King John continues at the Prospect Playhouse through May. Call 949-5054 for reservations and times.

Thursday, 3 April

The 21st National Children's Festival of the Arts continues with competitions held at the Harquail Theatre, Family Life Centre and Chapel of God, Walkers Road. For more information contact Stephanie Williams at 945-1199.

Friday, 4 April

Bodden Town Girls' Brigade Company is holding a Fundraising Fish Fry from 5:30 pm in the Bodden Town United Church Hall. Dinner costs $6.00. Everyone is invited to support this worthy cause.

The Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce is holding its 9th Annual "Career, Education and Job Expo" from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Family Life Centre, Church of God, Walker's Road. For more information, call 949-0220.

Brac Fest: Cayman Brac will choose their King and Queen to compete in the Spirit of Cayfest contest on 6 April.

The final day of the National Children's Festival of the Arts, with performances at the Harquail Theatre, Family Life Centre and Chapel of God, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm For more information contact Stephanie Williams at 945-1199.

Saturday, 5 April

The National Gallery invites all children under the age of 16 to the Walkers Children and the Arts Programme opening at the National Gallery in Harbour Place from 1:00 4:00 pm. Learn all about the artwork in the FRESH! exhibition and get your Walkers passport stamped.

BBQ and Music Evening at the Lions' Centre, with entertainment by After Hours and Dexter Bodden. Tickets are $15 per person and are available at Hampstead, Josés, Funky Tangs, Lorna's Texaco and from Lions Members. Starts at 6:00 pm.

Sunday, 6 April

Spirit of Cayfest & Song Contest: Two elimination contests which will take place at the Harquail Theatre beginning at 6:00 pm. The first is to choose the King and Queen of Cayfest for this year, and the second contest is to choose the Cayfest song. For more information, contact 949-5477.

n DHL Duathlon takes place at the Rugby Pitch. This is a 2-mile run, 12-mile bike ride, 2-mile run. Adult race starts at 7:00 am, and there are divisions for individuals, teams and mountainbikes. Children's race, which is significantly shorter, starts at 8:30 am with a 7:30 am registration. Bike helmets are mandatory.

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Sports

FINA Recognizes Cayman Swimming

Philip Hislop of Cable & Wireless and Dale Neuburger, VP of FINA
present Megan Duty with a well deserved award at the C&W Sea Swim.

Mr. Dale Neuburger, Vice-President of the Switzerland-based, worldwide swimming authority, the Federation Internationale de Natation Association (FINA), recently recognized the Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association (CIASA) as "having developed the most improved competitive swimming program across the Americas".

This area encompasses the United States of America, Canada, Mexico and all of the Central American and Caribbean countries, and Brazil and the all of the countries of South America.

FINA believes that Cayman Swimming may serve as a model for countries with small a populations and limited funding - yet wishing to establish a world-class programme.

Much of the success of Cayman's programme has been attributed to the quality, long-term stability of the coaching staff led by Head Coach Dave Kelsheimer.
Additionally, the significant, volunteer efforts by the parents of the swimmers, especially the Stingray Swim Club (SSC), provide the grassroots support that makes swimming a family, pro-social affair, while minimizing the need for extraordinary funding.

These elements tend to keep athletes in the program longer and encourage the growth of their competitive abilities.

Mr. Neuburger observed that the recent inclusion of major sponsors would allow Cayman Swimming to move to the next level. That is, competing against the world's best. Both the Senior and Junior Teams are fortunate to have the support of Cayman National Financial Services, the Department of Tourism, Cayman Airways and The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.

At the same time, CIASA and SSC are beneficiaries of the tremendous contributions of Foster Brothers Limited, and the involvement and support of the Minister of Sports, Dr. the Hon. Frank McField and the Cayman Islands Government. Cayman's Senior and Junior Swim Teams also hope to benefit from the funding pledged by the CI Olympic Committee.

Mr. Neuburger made his comments while visiting the island and attending the Texaco Swim Meet and Cable & Wireless Sea Swim held on 15 March.

CIASA's plans to build a 50-meter pool facility will complete the programme's ability to remain competitive for the future. The Government has formally approved the building of this pool on land adjacent to the existing 25m Lions Pool. They have also approved the necessary recurrent expenditure to operate both a 25m and 50m pool facility. The pressing goal of CIASA is to work with Cayman's corporate and private community to secure funds for construction of the 50m pool.

Recognising that all of these events will bring significant tourism revenue to the Cayman Islands, CIASA hopes that funding will be secured to allow them to bid for the 2004 CARIFTA Swimming Championships, a FINA World Cup Marathon Championship in 2005, and the FINA World Open Water Championships in 2006.

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Kenenisa Bekele claims historic second world cross-country double by Peter Capella

Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele (L) runs ahead of Kenyan Benjamin Limo (R) during the men's short course race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships at the Swiss national equestrian center in Avenches, Switzerland, 29 March 2003. Bekele won the race, Limo finished third. AFP PHOTO EPA/KEYSTONE / Martial TREZZINI

AVENCHES, Switzerland (AFP) Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele claimed a historic repeat double in the World Cross Country Championships on Sunday, winning the men's long course title for the second year running on top of the short course title.

Bekele is the first runner ever to repeat the title-winning feat on both the eight and 12 kilometre courses, upstaging even his idol, legendary Ethiopian long distance runner Haile Gebreselassie.

After fighting back from illness just over a month ago - and admitting he was tired after his short course title on Saturday - the 20-year-old almost single-handedly broke a strong Kenyan team with a series of surges in successive laps.

Although he was boxed in by five Kenyan runners for half of the race, Bekele shrugged off his east African rivals one by one after staying among the top six contenders from the start.

He left his last challenger, second-placed Kenyan Patrick Ivuti, behind with a powerful burst through a series of dips at the beginning of the last lap, finishing the race in 35 minutes 56 seconds.

"I'm alright, but the whole competition was tough and so was today's field," Bekele told journalists after the race.

"It's made me one of the very famous athletes in the world," he added.

Fellow Ethiopian, Gerbremariam Gebre-egziabher, 18, last year's junior champion, who backed Bekele up after the break, eventually faded and finished third.
Ivuti admitted that even Kenya's team tactics, which allowed them to take turns in controlling the pace at the front of the field, were not up to the lone figure of Bekele.
"With the tactics of the Kenya squad, I can't say that they didn't work, but I can say that Kenenisa is strong," he said.

Until his stunning performance as a 19-year-old last year winning the first ever men's double in the long and short course races, Bekele's performance had only been matched by Sonia O'Sullivan of Ireland in 1998.

But no runner has ever won a cross-country double twice, let alone in consecutive years.

Bekele claimed that he still had some way to go before he could match training partner Gebreselassie's success, but he said he would also be setting his sights on the 5,000 metre and 10,000 metre track events.

"I don't have as much experience on track, I also need to do more training and improve track tactics, I hope to work on those things," he said.

"I will try both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and the results I get will determine where I go from here," he added.

On Saturday, Bekele out sprinted Kenya's John Kibowen about 150 metres from the line to finish in 11 minutes 01 seconds in the short race.

Yet the night before, Bekele was inadvertently caught up on a boat for an official dinner, and missed several hours sleep as a result.

Meanwhile, in the women's short course race on Sunday, Kenya's Edith Masai successfully defended her title ahead of the newly crowned long course champion Werknesh Kidane of Ethiopia.

"It was a tough race because everybody was running fast, I had to push even harder," Masai said afterwards.

Overall, Bekele's win allowed Ethiopia to edge out Kenya in the gold medal tally for the championships as a whole, taking six titles against their east African rival's five.
But the Kenyans dominated the team standings.

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New Qualifications for Community Sports Leaders

Department of Youth and Sports staffers James Myles (L) and Collin Anglin.

Congratulating the organisers are (l-r) Permanent Secretary Carson Ebanks, Jerris Miller, Dalton Watler,

Winston Skinner and George Shepherd.

National coaches as well as qualified trainers and some informal leaders completed an intensive leadership course last week.

Director of the Department of Youth and Sports Dalton Watler told 13 graduates, "What was once a dream is now reality. We have achieved the objective of qualifying you as coaches using the Caribbean Community Sports Leader Course." Mr. Watler also spoke of the new emphasis on using sports as a tool to enhance social integration and cohesiveness which inspired the sports ministry's initiative to qualify and empower coaches.

This Commonwealth Sports Development Programme (CSDP) course was organized by the Department of Youth and Sports and was sponsored by the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee, whose President, Jerris Miller, anticipates that the new qualifications will bring positive growth in district sports. "This represents a very important step in building leadership. We have many leaders in sports, and this course will have solidified techniques and reaffirmed that much of what you have been doing for years was right," Mr. Miller noted.

Two similar courses were held locally last year, attended by 20 coaches and sports leaders. The CSDP training process begins at the community leadership level, and can progress to qualified coaches, course coordinators, then master course coordinators.

At the top level are the trainers of course conductors, and Mr. George Shepherd and Mr. Winston Skinner are two of only three such people in the entire Caribbean. They were accompanied on the local training by co-conductor Harcourt Wason. The agenda included issues such as communication skills, making sports fun, planning and reporting, and managing funds, facilities, equipment and volunteers.

At the graduation ceremony Permanent Secretary Carson Ebanks, JP shared the ministry's pleasure at the progress of the training. Two of his departmental staff, Youth Coordinator James Myles and Sports Coordinator Collin Anglin, have been identified to be qualified as coaches and course conductors, and others from the sporting community may also continue in this direction of advanced training. In addition, a new emphasis on family sports was mentioned, and family life education will be the theme of future training sessions, as will issues such as sports medicine and sports psychology.

Declaring the seven days of training as successful, Mr. Skinner said, "This was one of the most creative courses we've ever done, and the quality of the participants was outstanding. We did not expect such overwhelming results." He referred especially to the special presentations on sports as a tool for drug intervention. Small group presentations were conducted by the participants, using an impressive range of methods from lectures and debates to role-playing and panel discussions.
The newly-qualified sports leaders are Cherry Whittaker, Lyneth Montieth, Victor O'Garro, Theodore Cuffy, Ricardo Sealy, Shawn Pitterson, Delroy Brown, Collin Anglin, Roy "Hooda" Ebanks, Mitchum Stanford, Andres Kirchman, Andy " Kisco" Myles and James "Jamo" Myles.

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Lazio 'ultras' demand release of jailed members

ROME (AFP) Hundreds of hard-core 'ultras' fans of Serie A side Lazio gathered outside the prison here Sunday demanding the release of eight of their members held for violence during a match.

Twelve Lazio supporters were arrested last week by anti-terrorist forces for vandalism in the capital on 31 August last during a friendly match against Serie A rivals Juventus.

Eight have been detailed and face various charges relating to the wrecking of offices and burning of cars around Rome's main stadium including Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) offices nearby.

"The most important match is for the freedom of the detained ultras," proclaimed banners held by some of the estimated 500 gathered outside the prison. They were joined by fifty ultras of city rival's AS Roma.

Lazio's 'ultras' fans have gained a reputation for violence and have been fined on several occasions for racially abusing players.

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Sport Summary

Sports Summary

Kenya's Masai takes women's world short course cross-country title

Edith Masai

AVENCHES, Switzerland (AFP) Kenya's Edith Masai successfully defended her women's short course title at the World Cross Country championships on Sunday, beating newly-crowned long course world champion Werknesh Kidane of Ethiopia.

Masai, the 2002 short course champion, completed the four-kilometre race in 12 min 43 sec, surging ahead of her Ethiopian rival in the final 100 metres.
Kenya's Jane Gakunyi was third.

Kenya won the team title with three runners in the top four, with Ethiopia second ahead of Morocco.

Rahman and Tua fight to a draw

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AFP) American Hasim Rahman and New Zealand's David Tua fought to a 12round draw here on Saturday
29 March in a heavyweight elimination bout.

The winner of the fight was expected to have a shot at International Boxing Federation heavyweight champ Chris Byrd of the United States.
Rahman dominated the early rounds. But the American, who weighed in at 259 pounds, appeared to tire and let Tua back in.

The three judges scored it 116112 for Rahman, 116112 for Tua, and 114114. The draw was the first for each fighter. Tua remained at 42 victories 37 inside the distance and three defeats, while Rahman holds a record of 35 victories
29 inside the distance and four defeats.

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