Milan: A judge opened hearings on Monday to decide if Silvio Berlusconi should face trial in a corruption case, and lawyers presented documents which his defence said would clear the former prime minister.

Milan prosecutors have accused Berlusconi of paying lawyer David Mills, the estranged husband of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, a kickback of $600,000 for not revealing details of his media empire when he testified in two court cases.

Lawyers for Mills presented information yesterday which Berlusconi's lawyers said proved the money was not connected to the politician or his family holding firm Fininvest.

"This paperwork proves that we are talking about money that has nothing to do with Berlusconi and Fininvest," Niccolo Ghedini, one of Berlusconi's lawyers, said, adding that they had received a voluminous file. "We are completely at ease."

UK Chancellor Gordon Brown has launched an outspoken attack on the rising tide of protectionism across Europe, accusing its governments of blocking cross-border takeovers for reasons of economic patriotism.

The Chancellor also urged EU partners to accept the need for steeper cuts in farm subsidies as the way to strike a new deal on world trade that would deliver £300 billion ($888 billion) of economic growth.

Both issues will be centre stage at meetings of EU finance ministers this week and of the G8 rich nations at the weekend.

Speaking to business leaders at a CBI dinner, Mr Brown said there had been a backlash against globalisation across Europe.

"In the last few months - as talk of national champions rather than global companies resurfaces - we have seen France block Italian takeovers, Italy block Dutch banking takeovers, Spain block German energy bids and Poland block Italian financial service bids," he said.

He said there was a "danger of a relapse into protectionism ... and economic patriotism" in Europe and Latin America.

"What we must do is win the argument that is raging throughout the world showing that embracing globalisation, not retreating into protectionism, is the best way to growth jobs and prosperity for all.

Prime Minister Halldor Asgrimsson of Iceland has announced he is stepping down following his party's poor performance in local elections.

Mr Asgrimsson, 58, told reporters that Foreign Minister Geir Haarde would take over as prime minister.

He said he would retain his seat in parliament, but would not hold a position in the cabinet.

Support for Mr Asgrimsson's Progressive Party fell sharply in last month's municipal elections.

"I take personal responsibility that the party lost," the prime minister said.

Ségolène Royal, the rising star of France's opposition Socialists, yesterday caused renewed turmoil on the left when she broke one of the party's taboos by criticising the country's mandatory 35-hour working week.

Following hard on the heels of her explosive comments last week calling for a tougher stance on law and order, Ms Royal accused the 35-hour week of eroding the rights of the country's weakest workers.

The call is the latest step in Ms Royal's attempt to build a defining platform for her bid for the Socialists' nomination for next year's presidential election by offering a break with traditional party ideology.

Writing on her campaign website, Desires for the Future, Ms Royal said the 35-hour week had resulted in a "spectacular easing" of France's labour law, which meant executives could enjoy days off while those lower down worked less sociable but more flexible hours. "The proportion of workers on flexible hours has gone from 10 to 40 per cent," she said, more than their counterparts in the US.

Leading European Union companies feel excluded from decisions made in Brussels and are often frustrated about the way its laws are implemented by member states, according to a survey released by Clifford Chance, the law firm.

The research, which is based on interviews with more than 150 companies in eight EU countries, showed that many businesses consider EU laws are more effective than national legislation.

The European Commission announced plans late last year to repeal or amend more than 200 EU laws and almost 1,500 related legal instruments, as part of a three-year programme to simplify and improve legislation.

"We are seeing a clear trend of businesses feeling out of step with EU legislators as new regulations come out of Brussels," Stuart Popham, senior partner at Clifford Chance, writes in the introduction to the report.

"Smaller firms in particular cannot afford to keep tabs on new developments, and larger businesses appear to engage too little and too late."

· UK, Ireland, France and Spain in mining rights bid
· Environmentalists accuse coalition of 'land grab'

A vast tract of the Atlantic seabed more than 200 miles off shore is being claimed by a coalition of four European countries eager to expand their oil and gas prospecting rights.

The joint submission to the United Nations by France, Ireland, Spain and the UK is based on a novel legal approach that is transforming the international politics of underwater prospecting. Environmentalists have condemned the procedure as legitimising "land grabs".

The diamond-shaped zone straddles the outer edge of the continental shelf under the Celtic sea and the Bay of Biscay. It covers 31,000 square miles, an area the size of Ireland, at a point where the seabed plunges down to what is known as the Porcupine Abyssal Plain.

The waters there are up to 5,000 metres (16,500 feet) deep, almost double the depth at which commercial extraction of gas is viable at present. Deposits of frozen methane, which may provide another energy source, are expected to be found.

Microsoft plans to announce in Brussels on Tuesday that it is investing in a London-based computer networking company and a Dublin developer of mobile phone software, fresh evidence of what some leading venture capitalists say is a new blossoming of bankable innovation in Europe.

The value of the two agreements is so minuscule as to be immaterial to the U.S. software giant's massive bottom line, but the deals stand out because they involve the exchange of intellectual property.

In recent weeks, there has been a veritable drumbeat of technology investments of various sizes. Ericsson, the Stockholm-based mobile network company, said Monday that it would buy Netwise, a Swedish developer of Internet phone software, for 300 million kronor, or $42.3 million. Last week, Motorola offered to buy TTP Communications, a British wireless company, for £103 million, or $194 million.

To Patrick Sheehan, a managing partner of 3i Investments in London, European technology investment is entering a "late spring" after a long, hard winter. Ideas that have been bubbling along quietly since the technology crash of 2000 are now starting to come to the surface and attract investors, he said.

"The environment in Europe is much better than it ever was," said Sheehan, who has been investing in start-up companies since 1985.

The PSOE warns that the peace process is not going to stop because of the PP's crisis

The PP's general secretary, Ángel Acebes, made the break between his party and Zapatero's government official official on account of the peace process in the Basque Country. "Zapatero's project is ETA's", said Acebes. The Socialists warned Rajoy that the peace process is not going to stop because of the internal crisis they claim is hitting the PP.

"Forty years of death cannot end with the good guys losing. We have to stop."

"We would become accomplices with the least relationship with the Government"

KIEV, June 6 (RIA Novosti) - A decision by regional lawmakers to declare Ukraine's Crimea region on the Black Sea a "NATO-free zone" is nothing but political speculation, the country's president said Tuesday.

Crimean legislators earlier Tuesday declared the peninsula a NATO-free zone after a U.S. cargo ship, Advantage, called at the Black Sea port of Feodosia on May 27 ahead of a NATO exercise, Sea Breeze 2006, sparking mass protests in the largely Russian-speaking area.

"This decision is yet more political speculation," Viktor Yushchenko said at a meeting with media executives. "It does not introduce any dramatic changes in Ukraine-NATO relations."

Yushchenko said Ukraine had a plan of cooperation with NATO, like Russia and other former Soviet republics.

"Implementation of the plan falls directly within the competence of the central authorities, government, parliament and president," he said.

In February, the previous Ukrainian parliament banned foreign troops from entering the country to take part in military exercises on Ukrainian soil. But Ukrainian prosecutors said the Advantage had not violated Ukrainian legislation.

"The Advantage, which delivered hardware and arms for a military exercise, is not a warship," a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said. He also said that the troops on board the vessel had crossed into Ukraine unarmed and could not therefore be classified as a foreign military unit.

Alan García, whose 1985-90 presidency of Peru marked a period of political turbulence and left the country in economic ruin, has won back the office in a run-off against a nationalist ex-soldier endorsed by Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez.

Mr García had a lead of 55.5% against 44.5% for Ollanta Humala with 77.3% of the vote counted, the electoral agency said. That margin could shrink, however, as Mr Humala's support is strongest in rural areas, where vote reporting is slower.

Speaking before the agency made its announcement, Mr García said his victory showed Peruvians wanted no part of the "militaristic, retrograde model" that Mr Chávez was "trying to impose" in South America.

A Humala victory could have tilted Peru in favour of the "friends of Chávez", who have already extended his regional influence with the election of Evo Morales as Bolivia's president in December.

The Pentagon is drafting a new rulebook for military interrogators which omits the Geneva convention ban on "humiliating and degrading treatment", it was reported yesterday.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the army field manual on interrogation has not been finalised, and state department lawyers are fighting to have the convention protections restored.

Pentagon officials said yesterday that a final version should be published in the next few weeks.

A spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Ballesteros, said: "The document you refer to remains in coordination and it would be premature to comment on it prior to its release. The department of defence remains committed to the humane treatment of all its detainees."

After years of talking about the Goldilocks economy not too hot and not too cold all of a sudden it appears the little rascal just got mugged by the three bears.

While the US economy began the year growing at a strong pace, activity seems to have hit the skids in the spring.

Factory orders fell in April. The five-year housing boom is cooling, with home sales falling and price gains slowing. In the biggest shocker of all, the government reported Friday that businesses created just 75,000 new jobs in May 100,000 fewer than expected.

If the onslaught of weaker economic data was not bad enough, there also are signs that long-dormant inflation may be starting to be a problem, and not just in the pain from $3 per gallon gasoline.

The relentless rise in crude oil to above $70 per barrel seems to be starting to trigger price problems outside of energy. The core rate of inflation, excluding food and energy, is now above the 2 per cent upper limit favoured by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues.

Chaman: The Taliban are gaining strength in Afghanistan and are determined to intensify their attacks against foreign and government forces, a Taliban commander said yesterday.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent weeks to its worst since the 2001 overthrow of the hardline Taliban government but the district commander, Mullah Hayat Khan, said the violence was winning the militants more support.

"There is more anger against foreign forces and their brutality against the people," he said, referring to recent bombing by US forces that he said had killed many civilians.

"The people of Afghanistan have become fed up with Americans," said Khan, who said he was Taliban commander of the Spin Boldak area, in the southern province of Kandahar, opposite Chaman. "They break into houses, arrest people indiscriminately and torture them. These brutalities have increased anger among the people," he said.

The trial of an Auckland man charged with two counts of sedition is underway.

Tim Selwyn denies publishing pamphlets that the Crown alleges called on people to react with lawlessness and disorder.  He was involved in an incident in 2004 during which an axe was thrown through the Prime Minister's electorate office in Mount Albert.

The Crown told the Auckland District Court that Selwyn left pamphlets at the scene and in Ponsonby calling on others to react with similar civil disobedience.

The Crown says to find him guilty the jury must decide if the pamphlets did call on a similar response to his own and whether Selwyn knew that is what the material set out to do.

There's extensive coverage of the trial and the history of sedition in New Zealand on my blog.

When the Goddess Ganga, according to Hindu mythology, came down to Earth from the skies, the dolphin was amongst the creatures that heralded the descent of the holy river.

Today, the Ganga river dolphin, which was one of the world's first protected species, given special status under the reign of Emperor Ashoka, is crying for its existence.

The Ganga river dolphin is an extremely valuable species for monitoring the aquatic environment. It acts as an indicator of health for the ecosystem of the river system. Being at the top of the food chain, its presence in adequate numbers signifies a rich biodiversity within the river system.

But the IUCN's (World Conservation Union) red list of threatened animals has recently changed the status of this species from vulnerable to endangered.

Concerned over this alarming phenomenon, WWF India is organising a riverboat rally, as part of their "Save the River Dolphin" campaign, from May 7-8 on the Ganga river.

Dutch evangelical Christians are to hold a round-the-clock prayer vigil to ward off the forces of evil on Tuesday - the so-called Devil's Day.

They believe that the sixth day of the sixth month of 2006 has great significance for evil-doers and Satanists who revere the number 666.

In a bid to counteract the forces of evil, more than 2,000 Dutch Christians will hold "a violent day of worship".

They will be joined by Christians in 23 other countries, organisers say.

The reference to 666 is taken from the Biblical book of Revelation, which talks about the events leading to the end of the world.

Revelation 13:18 states: "If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666."

World Tai Chi and Qigong Day has recently come and gone, with thousands of participants in 34 countries giving free tai chi demonstrations and classes. Now in its seventh year, the event aims to send a "positive wave of energy" around the world and draw attention to the benefits of this ancient Chinese form of exercise which is steadily establishing itself in the West.

The early morning practice of tai chi, which can be seen in city parks throughout China, is now an increasingly common sight in Europe and America, too, where it is hailed as the new yoga. Its benefits have been validated by recent studies indicating that regular practice contributes to better balance, flexibility and mobility, can reduce cardiovascular stress, and can help with symptoms of arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Tai chi could well join a growing list of "alternative" therapies invoked by Western health authorities to counter the stress and strain of modern living.

Tai chi was originally developed as a discipline for Taoist monks and hermits who fled the restlessness of the cities to find quiet in remote and mountainous regions. Those places had their dangers, from poor climatic conditions to wild animals, bandits and other aggressors. How was the poor hermit to protect himself against all those threats? The answer, supposedly devised by a 12th-century monk of the Wu Tang monastery, Zhang Sanfeng, was a progressive series of exercises, based on Taoist observation of nature, which would become known later as tai chi chuan, meaning "supreme ultimate fist."

The name reveals it to be a combative art, but much practice and guidance with a master are required to be able to draw on tai chi in a situation of real conflict. Many will not get past first principles, but as the first stage is to make yourself mentally and physically fit and healthy, that is already well worth attaining.

Le Monde - French people do not want a politically engaged anchorman.

Eight out of 10 French people would be bothered by an anchorman displaying political convictions, and at least as many (77%) by an anchorman displaying religious convictions, according to an Ipsos/TV Hebdo poll published Tuesday by this weekly.

TV viewers would also be bothered if the anchorman made mistakes in French (73%) or if he displayed his sexual preferences (52%).

They however accept a non-white anchorman (97%), an anchorman speaking in his original accent (91%), who has a visible handicap (88%) and who is in a relationship with a political figure (80%) [a nod to anchorwoman Beatrice Schoenberg]. Finally, 80% are not bothered by an anchorman staying at his job for over 10 years nor by an anchorman in casual wear.

[..]

History suggests there are two routes to winning the Golden Boot, awarded to the top scorer at each World Cup: play in a lot of games; or batter in a hatful in one match against poor opposition.

Prime exponent of the second method was Oleg Salenko, the Russian forward who, in 1994, hit five against a dispirited Cameroon in a meaningless group match to finish as the tournament's joint top-scorer with Hristo Stoichkov of Bulgaria.

That was a case of an ageing team with nothing left to play for capitulating - as Bulgaria themselves did against Spain four years later. The side most likely to cave in like this in 2006 is Iran. Given that their final group game is against Angola, it is difficult to see any opposition forward cashing in.

Group D is, nonetheless, probably the one with the greatest disparity between teams and it would be no great surprise to see Portugal and Mexico scoring freely in their opening matches.

"Zidane participates in the collective effort"

And they put this title next to a picture of Zidane doing a nasty, illegal, tackle-from-behind: