Clutching a dented can of Stella Artois, the shaggy haired youth looked nonplussed when Cardinal Basil Hume’s close friend and former private secretary, Father Pat Browne, gently tugged his grubby T-shirt and asked him to desist “It’s only water” grumbled the drunk. After ushering the young man away, Father Browne, who had watched over his friend and spiritual mentor during his fight against cancer, carried on greeting the slow trickle of worshippers who had crossed London and its suburbs as soon as they had heard the news of the Cardinal’s death.
There was no huge rush last night, no laying of wreaths no mementoes on the cathedral steps. It was a scene of quiet, slightly awkward contemplation, made possible only because the cathedral staff had decided to keep its doors open beyond evening mass.Some tourists thought it was because there was a special event, another box to be ticked on their London guide book, but inside they were disappointed to see around two dozen worshippers at prayer, the mood punctuated by the gear changes of the thundering traffic outside and the occasional clink of another coin in the donation box.Pat Coughlin, aged 89, wheezing and clutching a stick, had come as soon as he had heard the news.”I decided to come and pay my respects to him – after all, he must have been a grand fella because the Pope asked him to stay on, didn’t he?”Dotted around elsewhere among the pews were people of all ages mainly but not exclusively women. One knelt before the single candle burning in front of the altar, with her carrier bags of shopping either side of her.William Arbuckle, who sells The Big Issue outside the cathedral said he had packed up for the night but returned when he heard the news.”Cardinal Hume was a very down to earth, good spiritual man,” he said “He sometimes bought The Big Issue from me. Sometimes he would say he didn’t have any change and would buy it tomorrow and he was always a man of his word.”Father Browne said he had spoken with Cardinal Hume the day before he died “He was very focused. He said `I’m ready to go’ and wondered what was keeping him from going There was no distress, no anxiety. He just had this tremendous sense that everything was going to be all right.”.

RELIGIOUS and secular divides were set aside last night as the country paid tribute to Cardinal Basil Hume – described as a man of humility, compassion, wisdom and courage. The accolades to the Archbishop of Westminster, spiritual leader of the four million Roman Catholics in England and Wales, poured in from every section of the community.
The 76-year-old Cardinal, who had fervently wished to see in the new Millennium – designated a Holy Year by the Pope – had lost his battle against abdominal cancer.With the serenity which had come to characterise his handling of the inoperable cancer, he slipped away peacefully – his close friends by his side.The man described by many as a true “English gentleman” was remembered both for the greatness with which he led- and kept together – the Catholic Church in Britain and the humility of his manner.The extent of his popularity was echoed in a heartfelt tribute from Newcastle United, the football team that Cardinal Hume, a keen sportsman, had supported from boyhood.Tony Blair led the accolades to a man he described as an inspiration to people of all faiths, while the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, spoke of his “profound sorrow” at the loss of a friend.”Although he had not been well for some time, Cardinal Hume bore his final illness with a courage, dignity and acceptance which were typical of the man we knew, loved and respected,” said Dr Carey.Buckingham Palace said the Queen was “deeply saddened”, while the Duchess of Kent, who became a Catholic in 1994, said it had been a privilege to have known him.All day, his supporters had been steeling themselves for the worst, aware that he was increasingly weakened by the rapid march of the disease.Shortly after 5pm, he died, with his nephew William Charles, his private secretary Fr James Curry, and his friend Fr Liam Kelly, at his bedside.A church spokesman, Fr Kieran Conry, said: “The Cardinal had just been anointed. They were praying with him and he died peacefully and without pain It is a tremendous blow to the Catholic community. I think the whole country will recognise that we have lost a great religious leader.”Dr William Oddie, editor of the Catholic Herald, said: “We knew it was coming and had prepared ourselves in our minds. But it has come sooner than we expected and a lot of people will be thinking that at least he has not suffered 12 months of agony The Catholic Church will never be the same. He was unique in many ways.”Other denominations were quick to offer homage. The Free Churches’ Council described Cardinal Hume as a man who earned the respect of all fellow Christians.The Rev Douglas McBain, president of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said the pain felt by Catholics was shared by every section of the Church.

“We all feel that we have been deprived of a true friend, ” he said.The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, said he felt “personal shock” at the news. Cardinal Thomas Winning, leader of Scotland’s Catholics, described Cardinal Hume as an “inspirational” man with a “gentle soul”.The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Sean Brady, said: “He used his great qualities of heart and mind tirelessly in the pursuit of peace and justice for all.”Ordinary Catholics flocked to Westminster Cathedral last night, which stayed open late for prayers. St Edward’s bell tolled slowly as the bishop’s coat of arms was taken down until a successor is appointed.But it was not just the devout who came to praise him. A Newcastle United spokesman said: “He was a greatly valued fan who will be sorely missed.

We know he kept up with the team whenever he could and we understand he was an ardent viewer of Match of the Day whenever the team was featured.”Michael Ancram, the Tory Party chairman, who was taught by the Cardinal as a schoolboy, described him as an “exceptional person” who was a “stalwart in the fight against injustice”.”My recollections of him are always of the warmth of the man,” said Mr Ancram “He was a great friend, he had a tremendous sense of humour He was a great sportsman … someone who lived life to the full and lived it in a very Christian way.”Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, said the Cardinal was “a kind and gentle man” who led the Church “in his own unassuming way”.Paddy Ashdown, the Liberal Democrat leader, praised him as a man of tolerance who had “reached beyond the confines” of the his church.Cardinal Hume announced two months ago that he was suffering from inoperable cancer. But he told his priests and bishops: “I have no intention of being an invalid until I have to submit to the illness.”At the end of May, he bowed to the inevitable and entered the Catholic Hospital of St John and Elizabeth, central London.Cardinal Hume won respect and affection across the denominations. He was regarded as a dignified and eloquent religious leader who showed skill in promoting dialogue with other churches.He faced the toughest test of his leadership six years ago when thousands of Anglo-Catholics abandoned the Church of England after its acceptance of women priests. Cardinal Hume resolved the situation by accepting married Anglican churchmen for ordination into the otherwise celibate Catholic priesthood. Cardinal Hume, formerly Abbot of Ampleforth, the Benedictine monastery in North Yorkshire that runs therenowned Catholic school, was initially reluctant to accept the job of Archbishop. Due to retire a year ago, at the age of 75, he stayed on at the Pope’s insistence.A monk from the age of 18, he often spoke of his desire to return to end his days in the monastery at Ampleforth and to be buried in a simple monk’s habit.Obituary, Review page 6.

It is up to the one who ties the knot to untie it,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said as Mr Pickering and his team headed back toWashington. They in turn warned that there was no other explanation to give and urged China to accept it.Already rocky Sino-US ties have hit rock bottom over the 7 May bombing, which killed three Chinese journalists and sparked protests across China against the alliance and particularly against the United States.While most Chinese still believe the bombing was deliberate, they blame Washington for the attack and have largely exonerated the other Nato members. Even Britain, which was singled out as the “running dog” to the United States in the protests straight after the bombing, is back in Peking’s good books.After fuming at the US explanation yesterday, top Chinese officials went on to hold talks with Stephen Byers, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, who was leading a trade mission to China.Mr Byers said Peking was in a conciliatory mood towards London and confirmed that the state visit to Britain by the Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, scheduled for the autumn, was still on the cards.”Both in tone and content, the meetings that I’ve held today have been positive … I’ve been made to feel very welcome by the Chinese,” Mr Byers said.. DR MARTENS shoes are not the symbol of Britishness they seem, an American company is claiming. Makers of the Union Jack-bearing shoes are being sued by an American company which alleges that thousands of Dr Martens shoe uppers are made in Thailand and not in England
Skechers USA has filed a lawsuit against the R Griggs Group for claiming that its shoes are “Made in Britain”.It is alleging false advertising and unfair competition claiming 70,000 pairs of the company’s shoe uppers are made in Thailand weekly.A spokesman for Dr Martens’ US distributors said the materials for the uppers were shipped to Thailand and stitched there before being sent back to Britain, and could therefore be accurately described as being made in Britain.The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Los Angeles on Monday, also alleges that some of the Union Jack flags on the shoes are sewn on in the Asian country..

THE “FATHER of Relativity” had a claim to the title of egg-head as well. The depth of Albert Einstein’s insight into the nature of the Universe was matched by the width of his brain, scientists have found. It was 15 per cent wider than that of people of normal intelligence, owing to extra development in what is known as the inferior parietal region. The findings are the first to suggest geniuses may have physically different brains.
Einstein, who died in 1955, insisted his brain be used for research. It was preserved but until now there had been no study of its anatomy. Canadian researchers have measured it and compared it with those of 35 men and 50 women of normal intelligence.It was similar to the others except for the inferior parietal region.

As a result of its extensive development, Einstein’s brain was 1cm wider. The researchers, writing in The Lancet, say this may explain why he tackled problems the way he did: “Einstein’s own description of his scientific thinking was that `words do not seem to play any role’ but there is `associative play’ of `more or less clear images’ of a `visual and muscular type’.Arguments about the biological basis of intelligence are unresolved, but with better measurement techniques and greater knowledge of the functions of parts of the brain, the researchers found a unique feature in Einstein’s: the absence of a groove, called a sulcus, through part of the parietal region.They think it may have allowed more neurons in this area to establish connections and work together more easily, creating an “extraordinarily large expanse of highly integrated cortex within a functional area”. In other words, where the rest of us have sparks, Einstein had fireworks.. LEGAL NOTE: Do not repeat false suggestion that McGartland was involved in/associated with drugs gangs or drugs crime. Ian Herbert and David McKittrick Former IRA infiltrator Martin McGartland last night had an armed guard by his hospital bedside Bob Collier

A FORMER police intelligence agent, who narrowly escaped being killed by the IRA in Belfast, yesterday had another close brush with death in Whitley Bay in the north of England.
Martin McGartland, who is credited with saving many lives while working as an undercover RUC agent within the IRA, survived being repeatedly shot at his home yesterday morning.Although he always feared the IRA would catch up with him, there were indications that criminals rather than Irish republicans may be responsible.Initial reports of the incident sent tremors through the Northern Ireland peace process. The political atmosphere eased, however, when the likelihood of IRA involvement diminished and a possible criminal motive emerged.Mr McGartland was in his back garden when a gunman climbed over a wall and shot him up to eight times in the chest.

The former agent was left lying in Duchess Street, a deserted back lane connecting the terraced streets.Blood was pouring from his side as paramedics carried him away but Mr McGartland, who was given an armed guard in hospital, was reportedly not in danger of losing his life. After surgery he was said to be in a stable condition.BBC reporter John Ware, who presented a documentary on Mr McGartland’s life, said: “It’s obviously possible that the IRA had a hand in this, but I know he did have friends on the fringes of the criminal world I don’t think he was involved in criminal activity himself. I know he became involved in a dispute a year or two ago with one side of a row between two gangs who were dealing in drugs. Marty himself had nothing whatever to do with the drugs but he was friendly with one of the gangs and I think he made his loyalty known.”Police investigating the shooting said they were keeping an open mind.Although Mr McGartland was for many years a thorn in the side of the IRA, the authorities latterly came to regard him as a major nuisance as he repeatedly criticised police forces and other agencies.In his book Fifty Dead Men Walking, Mr McGartland told the story of his extraordinary life in west Belfast, writing that as a youth he had been heavily involved in crime, in particular dealing in stolen goods.He was then approached by the RUC who urged him to infiltrate the IRA, which he successfully did, working with an active service unit and becoming the confidant of important IRA figures.

injuring hundreds. President Ernesto Zedillo declared the state of Puebla, 60 miles east of Mexico City, a disaster area Julie Plasencia/AP.

BELGIUM’S GOVERNMENT yesterday extended its ban on some Coca-Cola products but agreed to allow sales of some of the company’s other beverages to resume for the first time since Monday. Then they were ordered from shelves after dozens of people became ill after drinking Coca-Cola products. France partially relaxed its ban on sales of Coca-Cola, but Switzerland joined a move by other nations to block sales of Coca-Cola drinks produced in Belgium. Coca-Cola had been hoping for a lifting of the ban to help restore European consumer confidence in brands damaged by the health scare.
With Coke’s problems coming on top of a Belgian scandal involving dioxin- infected meat, eggs and dairy products, France said it would propose creating an international council to monitor food safety.In Belgium, the Heath Ministry said that it was allowing the resumption of sales of Coca-Cola’s Nestea, Aquarius, Bonaqua, Kinley, Lift and Minute Maid brands.

But the ban was extended on Coke, Fanta and Sprite pending further investigation into what caused the illnesses.”It is not possible today to explain in a calming and satisfactory way the appearance of these symptoms of illness,” said the Health Minister Luc Van den Bossche.”Coca-Cola must withdraw all these products from the market and destroy them.”. NATO DEFENCE and foreign ministers will today take informal soundings on who should be their new secretary-general as Jean-Luc Dehaene, the outgoing Belgian prime minister, became the latest name to join the list of possible contenders. Speculation about Mr Dehaene’s prospects was fuelled by the Belgian daily Le Soir, which quoted an unnamed diplomat arguing that the lack of strong candidates to fill the post could help his chances.
Mr Dehaene, who announced that he is standing down as prime minister after his party received a drubbing in Belgium’s general election on Sunday, might be backed by France and perhaps the United States, Le Soir said. The Belgian delegation to Nato yesterday declined to comment, adding only that it had read the reports “with interest”.Other delegations gave the idea a cool reception, partly because the last Belgian secretary-general, Willy Claes, was forced to resign after a corruption scandal which culminated in a trial last year.One Nato diplomat said that “given the experience with Claes, I am not sure how good Dehaene’s chances are, especially if you look at how scandal- ridden Belgium seems to be”. Mr Dehaene came close to becoming president of the European Commission in 1994.

As one who has so recently been proclaiming the virtues of mercy, she needs to sweep this registered anomaly aside.All told, this Merchant is a terrifically rewarding experience.Paul Taylor. This review appeared in February in `Your Money’

“This is the rebirth of Rover, the beginning of a new era for the company.” If I had pounds 10 for every time a Rover executive had uttered those words I’d have enough money to mount a takeover bid for the firm.
“Crucial new model”, “developed without compromise”, “proof that Britain can build a world beater”.. They were all there – the cliches, the rallying cries Some things never change. But fortunately for Rover, some things do change, and the quality of the engineering is one of them.The new 75 is an extremely competent car that deserves to sell well. It is classy, mature and genteel, and should appeal to people who want a quality car but not the Flash Harry badge that can go with it. If BMW is Versace and Audi is Hugo Boss, then the Rover 75 is Austin Reed or top-range M&S.It is the first car developed since the BMW takeover of 1994, and is the first Rover for 20 years that is not just a rebodied, re-engineered Honda. It is aimed at the BMW 3-series and the Audi A4 (small, prestige cars, in other words) and the top-end tinselled Mondeos, Passats and Vectras Mid-size Volvos and Saabs are also a target. The 75 is priced above Passats and Mondeos, in keeping with Rover’s desire to be seen as a premium brand.The ride is soft, and can be a bit floaty over undulating roads Yet the handling is sharp, and the steering feels good..

WITH A fanfare written by the rock musician Dave Stewart and performed by Vanessa-Mae and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rover yesterday launched the car on which its survival may depend. The Rover 75, a retro-style model that borrows heavily on Rover’s heritage, is the first all-British car it has designed and built from scratch in a quarter of a century. It mixes new technology with old-style accessories such as round dials on the dashboard
Priced at between pounds 18,300 and pounds 26,500 for the top-of-the-range 2.5 Connoisseur, Rover hopes to make 140,000 of the new cars a year, three-quarters of which will be for export.The Royal Philharmonic yesterday gave three live performances of Mr Stewart’s composition, “Arrival” on a specially-constructed stage next to Tower Bridge in London with Vanessa-Mae positioned on top of a Rover 75. The horn-section was provided by 75 Rover 75 cars.Jim Macdonald, managing director of Rover Cars UK, insisted that the hype was justified by the reception the 75 has received. Rover says it has taken 80,000 orders or serious enquiries for the car and anyone walking into a showroom today to buy one will face a three-month waiting list.BMW, Rover’s owner, has invested pounds 700m in the car, which is being built at a new factory at Rover’s Cowley works in Oxford.A pounds 6m television advertising campaign, based around the theme of the reaction created by the Rover 75, began last night.The press launch of the car at last October’s Birmingham Motor Show was a public relations disaster, overshadowed by BMW’s threat to shut the Longbridge car plant unless the unions agreed to 2,500 job losses and new working practices.Yesterday, though the sun was shining, the PR was slick and the only thing Rover had to worry about was Mr Stewart’s unscripted remarks. Asked if he planned to buy a Rover 75, he replied: “I don’t need a car right now.”. UNIVERSITIES ARE discriminating against ethnic minority academics in appointments and promotions, according to the first major study of racism in the higher education job market.

We are now at the stage of looking at everyone’s sensitivities,” said a diplomat close to the talks yesterday.The talks, at the government guesthouse in Pretoria, were chaired by the Zambian leader, Frederick Chiluba, and attended by representatives of major players in the conflict: Sam Nujoma of Namibia, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Pasteur Bizimungu of Rwanda, Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, Banjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Salim Ahmed Salim, secretary-general of the Organisation of African Unity, and President Mbeki.The embattled president of the former Zaire, Laurent-Desire Kabila, was represented by his presidential affairs minister, Victor Mpoyo. The rebels’ new leader, Emile Ilunga, is believed to have been in a separate guesthouse and to have used Sydney Mufamadi, the South African minister for provincial affairs, as an intermediary.The leaders agreed that they or their representatives would convene in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, on Monday for talks leading up to the signing of a ceasefire document on 26 June.. ONE OF South Africa’s most brash and controversial politicians, Nkosazana Zuma, became one of Africa’s most powerful women yesterday when President Thabo Mbeki named her foreign minister. But announcing the first cabinet of the post-Mandela era, the new South African leader did not fail to make a gesture towards the markets by reappointing the respected finance and trade ministers, Trevor Manuel and Alec Irwin.
The markets responded by strengthening the rand.The Inkatha Freedom Party leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who remains minister for home affairs, allegedly turned down the deputy president’s post. This has been rendered largely ceremonial by the creation of a new “ministry to the presidency”, to be headed by Essop Pahad, a friend of Mr Mbeki’s since their days at Sussex University.

Jacob Zuma, the jovial second in command of the African National Congress – which holds two-thirds of seats in parliament after the latest election – takes the deputy president’s role. This means that two divorcees, Jacob and Nkosazana Zuma, will face each other once a week in cabinet meetings.Ms Zuma, who is seen by her supporters as frank and outspoken, is very close to Mr Mbeki – a factor which protected her in South Africa’s first democratic government, in which she was health minister and he was deputy president.A former ANC militant, she has often been at the centre of controversy, taking on the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. She was once the subject of a scandal for her ministry’s sponsorship of a lavish Aids-awareness musical that cost a fifth of the government’s budget for fighting the disease.Mr Mbeki is expected to make the fight against HIV a personal campaign. He always wears an Aids ribbon and, in Pretoria yesterday, so did most of his cabinet members.An absentee in the appointments was Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who had been tipped for a government role after working hard during the ANC’s election campaign. Also missing were several ministers of the Mandela era with dissenting voices, such as Pallo Jordan and Derek Hanekom. This will confirm the view that Mr Mbeki intends to run a tight ship.The new president, 57 today, has appointed professionals to their own fields, such as Kader Asmal, a former teacher, who moves from a successful spell in water affairs to education.Mr Mbeki said his nominations were mainly a reshuffle, and that he was “not visualising any major changes in policy”..

THE UNITED Nations mission to East Timor uncovered a secret cache of weapons yesterday, as speculation increased that the planned referendum on the territory’s independence will be delayed due to a campaign of intimidation by pro-Indonesian militias. A team led by Ian Martin, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor (Unamet), discovered the weapons during a visit to the Liquisa district where thousands of villagers have been driven from their homes by armed members of the so-called Red and White Iron (Besi Merah Putih or BMP) militia. The militias, who support continuing rule over East Timor by the Indonesian government, are accused by local people of threatening to kill anyone who votes for independence.
Yesterday morning the Unamet team encountered a group of Besi Merah Putih in training on the outskirts of the town of Liquisa. The men, who were commanded by a former Indonesian soldier, denied they had weapons, but a UN policeman discovered a cache of home-made guns concealed in a nearby hut.According to local witnesses, the militia is actively supported by the Indonesian army and police. “We’ve raised reports of the Indonesian military not preventing actions by the BMP, but actually being involved with them,” Mr Martin said in Liquisa.

In one recent case the financial group Norwich Union paid pounds 450,000 to a rival firm because of allegedly defamatory internal e-mails.Mr Pullen also gave warning that Internet users were increasingly open to litigation.. BRITISH SCIENTISTS have devised a new breed of slower tennis balls which could turn the men’s game at Wimbledon from a demonstration of high-speed serving back into a battle of skill. Developed and tested at Sheffield University with help from the US space agency Nasa, the new balls, which are seven per cent wider, but no heavier, than standard balls, would slow serves by about 10 per cent. Tennis’s governing body will vote next month on whether to introduce them to the game’s top levels.
That would eventually offer receivers the crucial few hundredths of a second they need to react in the face of 140mph rockets such as those sent down by Britain’s Greg Rusedski. On fast surfaces like grass, few points last more than three shots – serve, return and winning volley.Interest in men’s tennis has waned in the past few years as the prevalence of fast surfaces and space-age rackets in the hands of highly trained athletes has turned matches into shootouts far removed from the rallying epics of the 1970s and early 1980s involving players like Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe.Increasingly, tiebreaks at six-all are the only way to resolve sets which could otherwise go on for ever: last year almost a fifth of the sets in men’s matches at Wimbledon were resolved by a tiebreak. When the tiebreak was introduced in 1968, only about 10 per cent of sets required it.The International Tennis Federation (ITF) will vote in three weeks’ time on a plan to introduce the slower balls in junior tournaments around the world, as a test of their effectiveness. If successful, they could then be used in senior professional tournaments.”The larger ball does look just that bit bigger, though it weighs the same,” said Dr Steve Haake who led the research at the University of Sheffield’s sports engineering group.

“The result is that they have more air resistance, so they drop more steeply to the ground and bounce higher.” That means receivers get about three-hundredths of a second extra to react to the ball, enough to increase the chances of a successful return.Other versions of the balls, devised by three postgraduate students led by Dr Haake, would speed up play on slower surfaces such as clay, used at the French Open in Paris.The new balls could solve the problem which has troubled the ITF for the whole decade. Previous suggestions included a serving line behind the baseline, forcing servers to stay on the floor, banning graphite rackets and cutting the number of serves from two to one. All were deemed unsuitable because they would introduce artificial differences in rules between amateur and professional games.t The Mayan people of Mexico were making elastic bands and solid rubber “superballs” for games almost 3,500 years before modern rubber production, scientists have discovered.Centuries before the accidental discovery of the vulcanisation process made rubber commercially widespread, the Mayans were mixing latex rubber from a native tree with a vine extract to produce solid balls, rubber bands able to hold axe heads on hafts, and solid and hollow human figurines, according to a report in the journal Science. Excavations at a site in Veracruz in Mexico have uncovered balls ranging from 13 to 30 centimetres (5-12 inches) in diameter, and weighing from 0.5 to 7 kilograms.. SOLDIERS WHO became ill after serving in the Gulf War may have a genetic trait which makes them more vulnerable to certain poisonous chemicals.Experts believe that this could account for some becoming very ill while others remain healthy. Research published this week, from the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, reveals that some veterans of the Gulf War may have suffered from certain chemical exposures while others did not because of variations in a gene known to produce an enzyme which destroys the damaging chemicals.
Gulf War syndrome, which has symptoms ranging from fatigue, double vision and headaches to severe urinary and sexual problems, has caused a lot of controversy with ex-soldiers accusing the Government of hiding evidence and ignoring their suffering.The existence of Gulf War syndrome was disputed earlier this year when British researchers found that although troops who had served in the Gulf had three times more illnesses compared with troops who had served in Bosnia, there was no single cause or illness that could be identified.

Despite United States and British rejections of an Iraqi appeal to halt their patrols over the no-fly zone, observers at the camp at Dair Matti, 30km from the country’s second biggest city, Mosul, reported clear skies. IRAQI ASTRONOMERS were given unimpeded views of the last solar eclipse of the century yesterday as Western warplanes skirted their camp. What we are seeing in the current panic about boys’ underachievement is the strategy of single- sex teaching being used to counteract the poorer results of boys in English.”These initiatives are, however, being carried out with no supporting evidence that such strategies in themselves actually improve performance.”Both the authors of the review have recently moved from the Institute of Education to other jobs.. But the separation of boys and girls for some subjects has become more popular during the past decade.The report says that there is some evidence of the positive effects of such separation but warns against “quick fixes. In addition, girls at single-sex schools are more likely to choose to study maths and science and boys in single-sex schools are more likely to continue studying music and languages.The number of single-sex state schools in this country has fallen from about 2,000 in the late Sixties to around 400 now.

By contrast, boys-only schools are unpopular with parents.The researchers say that the evidence supports parents’ views that single- sex schools and classes both do improve girls’ self-esteem.An Australian research project found that girls in co-educational schools were much more likely than boys to rank themselves in the bottom half of the class.In single-sex schools girls were as likely as boys to put themselves among the high-flyers. Most studies in Australia, the United States and Ireland have reached similar conclusions.However, many parents are enthusiastic about single-sex education for their daughters for other reasons. “Parents preferring single-sex education tend to believe that, in the absence of boys, girls develop more self- confidence, are more likely to encounter female role models in leadership and traditionally male subjects and are less likely to choose stereotyped subjects,” the report said. The findings, drawn from an Equal Opportunities Commission study in the early Eighties to a recent important study by Professor Alan Smithers and Dr Pamela Robinson, suggest that single-sex education has little impact on girls’ academic performance. The findings of researchers at London University’s Institute of Education come just before the publication of A-level and GCSE results tables, in which girls’ schools have excelled for many years.
Since the introduction of league tables, girls’ schools have used their exam results to argue the case for single-sex education.But Jannette Elwood and Caroline Gipps found that social class, ability and the history and tradition of the schools had a much greater impact on the results girls achieve.They concluded that “girls’ schools in both the independent and state sectors are well-placed in the performance tables because girls do better than boys generally in examinations at the end of compulsory schooling.”Nor, they argue, is there any conclusive evidence that the popular practice of teaching boys and girls in separate classes for some subjects raises achievement.They reviewed research evidence on single-sex education for the past 20 years both in this country and abroad. GIRLS’ SCHOOLS do well in exam league tables because they have clever pupils, not because they are single-sex, according to a new review of research evidence. If the scheme is successful it could be extended across the country.
Grants will be directed at young people from deprived backgrounds.

But all teenagers whose parents earn less than pounds 30,000 a year will get some money under the pounds 100m education maintenance allowance scheme. Teenagers from households with pounds 13,000 or less will receive full grants.Bonuses, ranging from pounds 50 to pounds 140, will be paid as students complete each term and pass exams at the end of the course.The 15 local authority pilot areas will be Bolton, Nottingham, Cornwall, Doncaster, Gateshead, Leeds, Middles- brough, Oldham, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Walsall, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Greenwich.. But pupils aged 16 to 19 who fail to turn up for lessons or do not complete homework could lose the grants of up to pounds 40 a week, under the government project, to be tested in 15 areas. NEARLY 60,000 teenagers stand to gain up to pounds 140 if they pass exams, under a pilot scheme starting next month to encourage them to stay on at school or college. In addition to the Premier League rights, Sky will cover the home fixtures of England clubs in the Uefa Cup.BSkyB declined to comment yesterday on reports that it was seeking to buy a 9.9 per cent stake in Leeds United..

THOUSANDS OF people who are paying for long-term care in private nursing homes may be given it free after the Government ordered a national review of the rules determining eligibility yesterday. The public also needs to feel confident that we are exercising them both effectively and fairly on their behalf.”Asked if the figures showed there was still a problem with institutionalised racism in the Met, Mr O’Connor said: “I think if a public institution is not working to win consent and understanding in using powers, especially intrusive powers like this, then that’s an accusation that can be made.”But I think the Metropolitan Police are actively working to see that the proper safeguards are being applied in the use of this power and that therefore, as an institution, is walking in the right direction.”Mr O’Connor said “apprehension over accusations of racism” was one of the factors responsible for the drop in stop and searches since the Law-rence inquiry report.Leading article, Review, page 3. The Metropolitan Police stressed that those planning searches were made fully aware of demographic trends and the need to avoid stereotyping. Partly as a result of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, stop and search operations had dropped despite an increase in street crimes.Assistant Commissioner Denis O’Connor said: “The Metropolitan Police believes these powers are an essential tool for community safety, but it is determined to renew the tactic in ways which meet current needs and expectations. The report showed that a police pilot scheme, which began last year, raised arrest rates from 11 per cent to 18 per cent over 12 months.

In four out of seven sites being tested in London, people from black and Asian backgrounds were more likely to be apprehended.
But Scotland Yard maintained that the new scheme has led to a fairer system. I expect a fall to 2 per cent would ring alarm bells at the Bank.”Bank split over inflation, Business, page 16. YOUNG PEOPLE from ethnic minority backgrounds still make up a disproportionate number of those stopped and searched on the streets, according to independent research published yesterday. That would put ministers on a collision course with the Bank of England.”We are OK with further falls in unemployment,” Jonathan Loynes of HSBC said “But there’s a limit and it can’t go on for ever.

DESPITE APOCALYPTIC forecasts that the Moon would become glued to the Sun and the Mir space station would fall on Paris, the most untoward incident in France before or during yesterday’s brief mid-day darkening of the skies was a sunglasses riot in Marseilles. Scores of people – mostly middle-aged men – fought over 5,000 free pairs of “eclipse glasses” that were being distributed in the car park of a shopping mall. In Naples, the superstitious played Lotto numbers pertaining to the eclipse.. In Italy’s economic centre, Milan, where there was a 92-per-cent eclipse, thousands of people abandoned offices and shops to gaze upwards. Police in the capital had issued warnings that thieves might go into action while the city was distracted, but there was no reported surge in thefts.

Two young Israeli boys on holiday in the city took advantage of their parents’ distraction and disappeared but were found soon afterwards in a nearby street. Welders’ helmets and sheets of special glass were shared around.Four babies were born in Rome during the eclipse. In most cases, eclipse-viewing glasses were scarce, after a last-minute run on opticians and hardware stores. The few remaining functionaries at the Prime Minister’s office flocked on to the terrace and the labourers involved in roadworks ahead of the Holy Year 2000 took a break from their diggers.Though the Sun was only 84 per cent obscured over Rome, the sky darkened and there was a slight drop in temperature.

Press reports had indicated he would watch the entire event from the helicopter but pictures shot by Vatican television showed him staring through tinted glass from the terrace of his summer residence with a group of Polish astronomer friends.
With most Romans having fled the city, those left behind poured into the streets to glimpse the astral phenomenon. “I’ll stop now, as I know that some among you are in a hurry to view the eclipse,” he told his audience in the Vatican before flying by helicopter to his holiday residence at Castelgandolfo in time for the event. THE POPE joined millions of Italians scrutinising the sky yesterday after cutting short his weekly audience so as not to miss the last eclipse of the millennium. That work, probably the finest novel to be written about the belief in Communism, referred to an ideological, rather than celestial, darkening of the heavens.For some, events such as eclipses and a new millennium are a sign of a coming apocalypse.In nearby Bulgaria, still- believing Communists say the eclipse signifies at last the end of capitalist days, when, finally, the proletariat will march on towards the new socialist dawn.”The world will be covered with darkness and then the Sun will rise again to bring back to life the idea of Communism, the most humane system,” said the Bulgarian Communist Party leader, Viktor Spasov.”Misery, poverty and exploitation will be buried, the working class will rise to strike back against cruel capitalism,” said Mr Spasov, who was an anti-fascist guerrilla in the Second World War.. The end of the world will come when it comes.”But others see the darkening across the former Soviet bloc as a sign that the end of its days is at hand.It was the Soviet empire that inspired the Hungarian-born British author Arthur Koestler to write Darkness at Noon. At 2min 23sec it beat the Balaton resorts by a second or two.A few miles away, in the Govora monastery, run by Romanian Orthodox nuns, the sisters dismissed the popular belief that the eclipse is a portent of doom.”There is no use in worrying,” said Mother Hurvima “We are not interested in the eclipse. Some Hungarians argued that it was the country’s roots in shamanism, which reveres forces of nature, that triggered such interest in the eclipse in the Magyar psyche.The total eclipse lasted longest at the Romanian city of Ramnicu Valcea, about 100 miles north of Bucharest.

The speed of events and the flickering changes in the phenomenon were bewildering. Afterwards, many of us in that vast crowd on the headland compared notes and agreed roughly what we saw. But none seemed to see everything.I did what I had been told by a hundred pundits not to do. Then the light over the sea changed from dark grey to a brilliant light green and 20,000 people began to roar with a single voice as the entire sky seemed to open and the great dark disc of the dying Sun, with a single, thin slice of blazing white light on its edge, glared down on us.The next few minutes cannot be described in exact terms. People first noticed that the hundreds of gulls who had been wheeling and squealing over the rocks below had suddenly gone silent and still.

The old Cornish preacher repeated the Lord’s Prayer, and when he had finished, looked up and brought roars of laughter by saying: “C’mon, you old bugger, let’s see you.”At exactly seven minutes past 11, the final, stunning sequence in this Cornish day of miracles began. To our amazement he began saying the Lord’s Prayer, ending by asking if we could see the Sun. And it was the young mother who looked up and saw it first.To our east, and across the bay, the Sun – half eaten by the shadow of the Moon – suddenly appeared in a great hole in the cloud, turning the dark edges into a brilliant blue.It was the beginning of 15 minutes in which the Sun played a kind of fantastic strip-tease act, vanishing for minutes among the clouds, and then reappearing. Next to them, a Cornish lay preacher, a man in his nineties, told them to hush. Hardly anybody on Headland Point knew where the Sun was or where they were supposed to be looking.A bunch of young men, stripped to the waist and into their third crate of Foster’s, were upsetting a young mother holding a child in her arms, as they made obscene remarks to the hidden Sun. Portable radios told us that the cloud blanket was thickening, and – worse – that there was bright sunshine elsewhere in Britain We felt like guests who had come to the wrong party. A large squall was moving in from the west, bringing sudden freezing downpours when I joined the trek on to Headland Point, a 200ft hill that juts out into the sea from the holiday town of Newquay and gives a huge panorama of beaches stretching for miles along the coast in both directions.Every foot of sand seemed to be packed, and out on the flat, calm sea scores of surfers and body-boarders were waiting to come in with the approaching darkness But the mood was bad.