Google News and AlJazeera reported this morning that several Al Quaeda terrorists were killed in last Friday's raid on the Afghan/ Pakistan border. Unfortunately there are no bodies to confirm this. Apparently the insurgents made off with the bodies of those killed. Now, who is fooling who when there is no evidence to back up claims that senior Al Quaeda members were killed in the raid? Where are the totally identified bodies of the Egyptian explosives expert and his cohorts? Personall...

How the Reverend Pat Robertson manages to have such a large following evades my simple brain. His comments on Ariel Sharon (His illness is "divine intervention" for treating the Palestinians so badly), are an embarrassment to the US government and the American people. In fact, I believe this man who "thinks" he sits at God's right hand, has made embarrassing statements before. I cannot understand how he is revered by the thousands who hang on to his every word. My handbook on Psychology ad...

The press in recent weeks has reported, adnauseam, on the jibes and irresponsible statements President Ahmadinejad of Iran has made on Israel. On January 6th this "leader" stated that he hoped Sharon would die and that he should take the Israeli leadership with him. Now we hear that the Iranians refuse to co-operate with the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency and stood up Mohammed El Baradei , head of the IAEA, when talks were arranged in Vienna. These talks were to be aimed at seek...

I write in complete ignorance as I have not been to Iraq. I know the following facts: * Suicide bombers will do anything to get to their targets. They are becoming more sophisticated as I speak. * Suicide bombers form the second arm of the insurgent attack to disrupt Iraq and prevent it from becoming a democratic, peaceful country. * Suicide bombers use explosives strapped to their bodies or hidden in vehicles. Now, and bear in mind that I have not been on the ground in Iraq, I ask, why...

Just two miles away from my home in Cairo an international incident happened three days ago.(plenty of coverage on TV all over the world). A group of Sudanese refugees was "cleared" from their camp next to the UNHCR offices. Over 20 were killed by a brutal Egyptian police assault on their camp. I have seen the camp: Over 2000 people lived on a garden site no bigger than a tennis court. It appears, and I have no inside information, that the UNHCR itself called in the authorities to disperse th...

have said before that Saddam Hussein should not be tried in Iraq. I say it again. The trial is fast becoming a farce as Saddam continues to insist that he has been tortured---as have some of the other accused. We are now subjected to shows of "tennis elbow", minor scratches and a singular lack of evidence that anyone could have abused the men behind the barrier. How we wish that their victims had only suffered "tennis elbow". (I allude of course to one of the accused exposing his elbow on TV ...

South Africa suffered a fuel crisis last week due to poor planning caused by the government's intended "clean fuel" programme.It seems that refiineries were gearing up for a clean fuel introduction and forgot about yesterday's needs, today's needs, or next week's for that matter. A fuel crisis is common in Zimbabwe and other under-developed countries in Africa but when it happens in the Economic Giant of Africa, questions need to be asked. Energy Minister Lindiwe Hendriks is patting herself o...

Comrade Robert Mugabe, eternal president (no capitals deserved), of Zimbabwe, Great mongoose of Africa, Heavenly God of nothing, King of disaster mismanagement etc. etc. has refused tents from the UN to house the 700 000 rendered homeless by his " Clear Out Trash" campaign. Jan Egelund, UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, a man I greatly admire, has been touring Zimbabwe and has offered to give the crippled government tents for the homeless who were evicted/hounded out, by the "C...

Britain: Tuesday: 21 June 2005. The Daily Express reported today that people have a "helpline" if they want to report "sneaky smokers", i.e. smokers who try to sneak a quick puff in a banned area. Nothing wrong with telling smokers off if they smoke in a non-smoking area. We smokers go along with this. What we do not go with is the fact that we may be spied upon, tittle-tattled upon and looked upon as social outcasts. If we are going to be reported so that we have to be fined then I think ...

This is a completely new column from the United Kingdom. It is topical and controversial, as it's meant to be. No conclusions should be drawn as to bias, but there will be anti-US sentiments and pro-US sentiments expressed. I sit on the fence as there's bad and good in every society. I admire the United States of America and the United Kingdom as well so let's say that I praise where praise is deserved and come down hard on the lawmakers when it is deserved. NEWS AT FIVE will report weekly on...

Dear Comrade, I fully believe that there is something wrong with your mind. I mean, you are starving MDC supporters to gain votes. You are sleeping uneasily at night because of Tony Blair. You are screwing up a perfectly good country (once the breadbasket of Southern Africa), because of the disease invading your brain cells. You are dribbling and falling over during your speeches. Alas, you cannot be like Hitler, Comrade, no, God forbid that you do not wish that. But, you do act like an Afri...

Michael Howard said it all. I quote, roughly, " We can only provide privileges to those in Britain, we cannot provide welfare for the world." How on earth can any country expect to provide refuge for every Tom, Dick and Harry from Africa, Europe and Asia. Britain is not a lucky packet or a charity? I agree entirely with any move by the Conservatives or Labour to clamp down on illegal immigration and asylum grabbers. For goodness sake, some people try to send young children into Britain to ...

Auschwitz today bowed its solemn head and was the scene of recrimination, sorrow and forgiveness. As the fires and candles burned overhead, an amazing scene was played out in the former Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Former prisoners re-lived their experiences behind the cold barbed wire fences---fences guarding secrets so horrible that it beggars belief. The barrack buildings,the towering chimneys of death, the horror and the deprivation----it must have shocked the newcomer and, worse, brought bac...

The British media is full of the Queen's visit to Germany. The papers (like the Daily Express), have headlines blaring: " The Germans say you should apologise for the war Your Majesty! I hope that Bild Zeitung and the British papers have it all wrong---in fact, I hope this is just cheap publicity to sell newspapers. No way is my Queen going to apologise for the destruction of Dresden when Adolf and his chums screwed Poland and killed 3 or so Million Jews. No way! My father fought for King ...